Category Archives: Interviews

Entertainment, Interviews, Music, People, The Features, We Love Music
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Q&A with Black Hills

photo courtesy of Black Hills

We Love DC Music Editor Alexia Kauffman had the chance to chat with DC-based musical mastermind Aaron Estes recently. Estes previously fronted the indie band Bellman Barker, but is now focusing on going solo with his dreamy-synth-pop project Black Hills. 

Alexia Kauffman: So I never got to see Bellman Barker, but I became aware of you as a performer when I saw you at Run for Cover*, as part of my favorite acts, two years in a row.

Aaron Estes: Oh cool, which acts?

AK: In 2010 it was the C&C Music Factory cover group, and then in 2011 it was the Daft Punk group.

AE: Yeah, those were pretty fun shows. (laughing)

AK: They were so above and beyond awesome, not just the theatrics and visuals that went into them (which were both hilarious and spectacular) but really the music- it was so well done. Plus I’m a fan of anything that glows in the dark. So once I found out who you were I filed it in my mind that I needed to see what music you were doing. And time passed, and I just saw your picture up on the Black Cat website recently, that you’re performing as Black Hills, and I knew I had to check it out. I really dig the tracks you have up on Bandcamp.

AE: Oh awesome, thank you! Continue reading →

Entertainment, Interviews, Media, Music, The Features, We Love Music
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Q&A with Chris Glover of Penguin Prison

photo courtesy of Penguin Prison

We Love DC’s guest writer Jonathan Druy had a chance to talk to Chris Glover, who records under the name Penguin Prison. Check out his interview below!

While multi-instrumentalist Chris Glover has been remixing under the name Penguin Prison for a few years now, playing with the music of Lana Del Rey, Kylie Minogue, Kimbra, Marina and the Diamonds, and Goldfrapp, it is also the name of his electronic-pop outfit, hailing from the Brooklyn that gave us LCD Soundsystem, DFA records, bands like Holy Ghost!, Light Asylum and a host of others. Glover sings catchy, infectious, and lyrical pop songs over his own production, which draws inspiration from classic and Nu Disco as well as the French House of the last ten years. It falls squarely into the kind of indie-dance territory fans of Friendly Fires, Miike Snow, LCD, Hot Chip, Cut Copy, and Junior Boys are going to immediately recognize.

Penguin Prison is sort of a next phase in this realm, flirting with mainstream, and not in a bad way. The music is not compromised by its catchiness, because the hooks are good and the grooves are deep. Glover’s a straightforward and stylish vocalist and a sometimes expressionistic lyricist, but has the looks and charisma to pull off a kind of indie-dance Timberlake vibe. The video for one of his album’s several great singles, “Don’t Fuck With My Money”, shot in gritty black and white last year, shows Glover singing against the backdrop of New York City’s Occupy protest. It’s an odd juxtaposition – pretty-boy crooner, electro-pop, citizen activism – he pulls it off with a coolness and unique spirit. Continue reading →

Entertainment, Interviews, Music, People, We Love Music
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Q&A with Kelley Deal

photo courtesy of the artist

We Love DC guest writer Jonathan Druy had the chance to interview Kelley Deal. Read his account of it all here!

Breeders guitarist Kelley Deal is touring with her beautiful new acoustic project R.Ring, and they’re stopping by DC9 on Tuesday night, in what may prove to be a truly talent-rich night of acoustic-based indie-folk-rock-thingies, with Mike Ganancias and Mean Season. A new release from Misra Records is on its way.

From Dayton, Ohio, R.Ring is Deal and Mike Montgomery of the band Ampline, performing acoustic, spare, melodic explorations led by Deal’s unique and sometimes distorted vocals, her voice familiar to those who remember the once-ubiquitous Breeders. If you were sentient 20 years ago, you probably owned “Last Splash”, with it’s beautiful singles “Cannonball” and “Divine Hammer”, and its surfy instrumentals, and the sweet chick-rock vocals led by twin sister and Pixie Kim, and harmonized sweetly by Kelley. You probably also loved the “Cannonball” video on early-90s MTV, an unimaginable pre-WWW/Youtube/Smartphone era when the cable network stumbled into post-Cobain indie-land, and played these things called music videos, because it was the only place you could see them, kiddies.

The lead-up to our interview lead me to revisit “Last Splash” and “Pod” and “Safari EP”, and well-up all nostalgic-like with my memories of seeing the Breeders ’92 show at the old 9:30 Club, which almost made me forget that Deal has had plenty to do since then; first with Kelley Deal 6000, then with the reformed and rejuvenated Breeders, first in ’02 then in ’08. And while I did just see a friend of mine sing “Cannonball” at karaoke, fear not, middle-aged geezers, the Breeders haven’t gone away, but the other day Kelley talked to me about her new project and about being among the current crop of veterans that are still doing it and doing it well.

She also got curious about the Ethiopian food I told her about on 9th St. You haven’t lived until you’ve explained Injera to a Breeder…

Jonathan Druy: Are there any memories or feelings about DC you have from past tours?

Kelley Deal: I do remember our ’92 show at the old 9:30 club – DC at the time was considered really hip and really happening, and I just remember being a rube from Dayton, and I didn’t know about any of this stuff and I remember thinking “wow, this is really cool!”. Continue reading →

Entertainment, Interviews, Music, People, The Features, We Love Music
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Q&A with Electric Guest

photo courtesy of Electric Guest

I have been a fan of Matthew Compton for probably fourteen years now. (When I first knew him, and until recently, I knew him as “Cornbread”, but he now goes by Matthew.) I saw his band Engine Down play house shows when I was first at James Madison University, and from the first time seeing them, his hypnotic and powerful drumming captivated me and really stood out. In subsequent years I got to know and became friends (and housemates for a couple years) with Matthew, and my admiration has only ever grown. He’s a creative force to be reckoned with, and has always had this amazing drive and ambition, with whatever he’s doing , but especially music. On top of that, he has a super, ever-present sense of humor.  It’s hard to interact with him and not laugh.

So…I reconnected with Matthew about a year ago, after losing touch for some time. He was living in LA, and told me he was working on a new project, a band called Electric Guest, with a musician friend named Asa Taccone. Singer Asa Taccone is a driven creative force as well- his musical accomplishments include writing for TV (see: Family Guy episode “Hot Tub of Love”) and contributing/collaborating with comedy group The Lonely Island (of which his brother Jorma is a member.) Asa wrote the hilarious holiday classic “Dick In a Box“, performed by Justin Timberlake and Andy Samberg on SNL. Last summer the band only had a couple songs up on a bandcamp website for public ears, but upon first listen I loved it. It is a far cry from the brooding, post-hardcore Engine Down music. Electric Guest’s songs are soul-tinged, sunny, groovy, lighter, but inspired.

Since then the duo has been on fire- they played some super shows at last fall’s CMJ, have been touring the US and Europe, have a full-length album that came out last week, produced by Danger Mouse (a long-time friend of Taccone’s), stormed SXSW, and are charging full-steam ahead into the summer touring and gearing up for festival season. They’ll be making a stop in DC on Saturday, May 5th at the Rock and Roll Hotel. Amidst their super-busy tour schedule they were kind enough to answer a few questions for the We Love DC readers. Continue reading →

Entertainment, Interviews, Music, Night Life, People, The Features, We Love Music
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Q&A with Plants and Animals

 

photo credit: Laura Totten

Plants and Animals are a post-rock trio from Canada, currently based in Montreal. Their energetic, guitar-driven indie sound has garnered them acclaim and recognition from the likes of Paste, Filter, and Nylon, among others. They are currently on tour of the US and Canada, and are making a stop at DC’s Red Palace this Friday, April 6th. WeLoveDC’s Alexia Kauffman got a chance to chat with guitarist Nic Basque, and here’s what he had to say.

Alexia Kauffman: How’s your tour going?

Nic Basque: Oh, it’s going well! We’ve done a few shows where we’re from, in Montreal, Quebec, and we went to South by Southwest, and now we’re on the West Coast, driving to Portland.

Alexia: How did South by Southwest go for you?

Nic: It was great! A bit insane, but we got lucky. Our label and management company organized a showcase in a church, so it was pretty calm, and we had good sound. That was great. And we did a couple of bar shows, and those were fun too. I think it was the first time we traveled there with a sound engineer, and that made a huge difference. We were a bit more in control, so that was great. But it was insane!

Alexia: I’ve heard it’s like totally nuts! Did you have any favorite moments while you were there?

Nic: Well the show was fun, and we went to a Mexican place we go every time where they have avocado margaritas- that was fun. We saw some friends too…In terms of shows we didn’t see much except for the showcase. It’s so weird the conditions that bands are playing, that it’s tough to really enjoy bands there. Continue reading →

Downtown, Entertainment, Interviews, Music, People, Special Events, The Features, We Love Arts
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Celtic Air: Moya Brennan

Photo courtesy of Marvin (PA)
Moya Brennan – Triskell – Trieste
courtesy of Marvin (PA)

What better way to truly celebrate the spirit of St. Patrick’s Day than to join a céilidh? Since such intimate gatherings are a bit tough to come by here in the DC area, the next best thing would be going to National Geographic and immersing yourself into the music of Moya Brennan. On her last stop of a brief U.S. tour, Moya will be filling the air with her ethereal voice and Irish and Gaelic music tradition.

Known best as the front singer for Clannad, Moya’s solo career has flourished over the last two decades. (My wife – herself of strong Irish heritage – and I have been a fan of her music since Moya’s first solo album Máire, which came out in 1992.) Bono of U2 describes her as “one of the greatest voices the human ear has ever experienced.” Her seemingly otherworldly voice mixed with her mastery of Irish and Gaelic musical traditions have made her into a master of taking traditional, cultural music and making it “new” for the modern age.

I had the extremely blessed opportunity to chat with her about her life, traditions, music, and Saturday’s sold out concert. Continue reading →

Interviews, Penn Quarter, People, Special Events, The Features
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Scribblings: Max Holland

Photo courtesy of cliff1066�
Richard Nixon, Time cover April 30, 1973, “The Watergate Scandal”
courtesy of cliff1066�

On Friday, March 16, join author Max Holland for a look at Mark Felt, the FBI official behind “Deep Throat,” the secretive whistleblower of the Watergate scandal. Holland will be speaking at the International Spy Museum from noon until 2 p.m. on his latest book, Leak: Why Mark Felt Became Deep Throat.

Best known through Hal Holbrook’s portrayal in the film version of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein’s All the President’s Men, Felt was regarded for decades as a conscientious but highly secretive whistleblower who shunned the limelight. Yet even after he finally revealed his identity in 2005, questions about his true motivations persisted.

Max Holland has found the missing piece of that Deep Throat puzzle—one that’s been hidden in plain sight all along. He reveals for the first time in detail what truly motivated the FBI’s number-two executive to become the most fabled secret source in American history. In the process, he directly challenges Felt’s own explanations while also demolishing the legend fostered by Woodward and Bernstein’s bestselling account. Continue reading →

Entertainment, Interviews, Music, The Features, We Love Music
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Q&A with Hank 3

all photos courtesy of Hank3
Shelton Hank Williams, III, who now goes by Hank 3, is a rebel and an outlaw in the music world. The grandson of country music legend Hank Williams, and son of pop-country singer Hank Williams, Jr., Hank 3 has always gone against the grain. He refuses to conform to one style of music, or any set of rules, and tries to set himself apart, make his own name for himself. He recently broke free from the shackles of his former record label, Curb Records. In what could be seen as his declaration of independence he recorded and released four albums simultaneously on his own label- Hank 3 Records. Ghost to a Ghost/Guttertown is a double LP of Hank 3’s blend of country music, Attention Deficit Domination is his tribute to sludge/stoner/doom-rock, and 3 Bar Ranch Cattle Callin features Hank 3’s newly created genre- Cattlecore, a blend of auctioneer vocals and hardcore metal guitar. He is on tour now supporting the four records, and will bring his ambitious production to the 930 club this Thursday, March 15th.
 
We Love DC’s Alexia Kauffman got to chat with Hank 3 over the weekend, and here’s what he had to say.
 
Alexia Kauffman:  When you were growing up what music moved you; what were some formative artists for you growing up?
 
Hank 3: Heart, Ted Nugent, ZZ Top, KISS, Walt Disney. Queen, Adam Ant, Gary Numan, April Wine, all kinds of stuff.
 
Continue reading →
Entertainment, Interviews, Music, Night Life, The Features, We Love Music
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Q&A with Marcus Joons of Korallreven

photo courtesy of Korallreven

Swedish dreamy-electronic-pop duo Korallreven, aka Marcus Joons and Daniel Tjäder (of The Radio Dept) have announced their first US shows ever, with select East and West coast dates supporting their debut album, An Album By Korallreven, available now on Acéphale.

We Love DC’s Alexia Kauffman got the chance to ask singer Marcus Joons a few questions.

Alexia Kauffman: What music inspired you when you were growing up?

Marcus Joons: I remember getting touched real early by Velvet Underground, I must have been like eleven or twelve when I first came across their heroin romantic pop songs. Maybe too early. Apart from that I think that I, free from my mind, got the biggest kicks from Screamadelica, Spiritualized, everything by The Beach Boys and Daft Punk’s Homework. All of this has inspired me more to live and breathe than to make music though. Continue reading →

Arlington, Entertainment, Interviews, Music, Night Life, People, The Features, We Love Music
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Q&A with Justin Trawick

Justin Trawick is a local singer-songwriter, band frontman, and musical entrepreneur.  In addition to his exhaustive solo performance schedule he has created a series called The 9, that packages nine singer-songwriters into one show, joining their forces to create a theatrical and diverse night of entertainment. We Love DC’s Alexia Kauffman sat down with Justin to talk about his endeavors.

Alexia Kauffman: So first can you tell us a little bit about who you are, what you do, and what is on your plate right now?

Justin Trawick: I’m a musician in the area. I’ve been doing music full-time for about four years. I live in Arlington, and I play most of my shows in the Washington, DC area, and then I go out of town, a lot of east coast shows up and down from Boston down to Georgia. And I play in a lot of cities around the country via airplane- I go to Austin and L.A. a lot. Continue reading →

Adventures, Downtown, Entertainment, Interviews, Special Events, We Love Arts
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Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner: Scaling the World

Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner; Photo courtesy National Geographic

Tonight, Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner takes the stage at the National Geographic Museum. A prolific mountaineer, Ms. Kaltenbrunner is best known for being the first woman to summit all 14 8,000 meter peaks without supplemental oxygen or porters. She was nominated as one of NatGeo’s Adventurers of the Year for 2012.

She’ll be talking tonight about her daring climb of K2 in August 2011. Ms. Kaltenbrunner took a moment to answer a few questions for WeLoveDC before tonight’s event. Continue reading →

Interviews, Opinion, People, The Features
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Best of…DC Perspectives

Photo courtesy of Danilo.Lewis|Fotography
268|365
courtesy of Danilo.Lewis|Fotography

I’ll admit, I struggled a bit trying to figure out what to write a “Best of…” article around for this week. Sports? Covered. Food? Taken. I had to look deeper than the usual fare: what was it about DC—and about WeLoveDC in particular—that I really enjoyed over the past year? I realized that one of the perks we have is the slew of interview opportunities we’re given for the site. So why not look at some of the more interesting interviews we’ve done over the course of 2011?

Often, I find that through the glimpse of someone else’s eyes and perspectives, we’re given a mirror to gaze into our own lives and see where we are, what we’re missing, and what we can hope to achieve. We wrote quite a few interviews and features on people who live, work, and/or visit the DC area this year and I wanted to take a moment and point out some of the ones that really stand out. I hope you take a moment to dive into these great features and either revisit some old friends, or find your own inspiration to make a better 2012. Continue reading →

Entertainment, Interviews, Music, The Features, We Love Music
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Q&A with The War on Drugs

photo by Graham Tolbert

Philadelphia’s The War on Drugs is the brainchild of Adam Granduciel- singer, guitarist, writer, Kurt Vile-collaborator. Their first full-length album, Wagonwheel Blues was released on Secretly Canadian in 2008, and they have toured extensively since then. Over the years the band’s members have changed, but Granduciel remains front and center. Their latest LP is Slave Ambient, released on August 16th, 2011. After a short break in their US tour they are continuing for most of December, and will be making a stop at DC’s Rock & Roll Hotel on Sunday, December 4th. During the break in their busy tour schedule Adam Granduciel took a few minutes to chat with WLDC’s Alexia Kauffman. Continue reading →

Entertainment, Interviews, The Features, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: Cirque du Soleil Skip Roper Adrienn Banhegyi & Quidam

Title : Zoé, John, Target Picture credit : Matt Beard Costume credit : Dominique Lemieux ©2011 Cirque du Soleil

Cirque du Soleil’s travelling show Quidam is coming to the Verizon Center this week (November 16 to 20). This particular show’s premise is: “A young girl’s escape into a world of imagination.” That leaves room for some provoking theater combined with acrobatics, live music, and a killer light show (among other things).

Skip Roper Adrienn Banhegyi, 28, took the time to talk about Quidam over the phone, giving We Love DC the 411 about what makes this Cirque du Soleil show special.

Here’s what she had to say: Continue reading →

Entertainment, Interviews, Music, We Love Music
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Q&A: Dan Haggis of The Wombats


courtesy of The Wombats.

The Wombats are performing at the 9:30 Club tonight, so we enlisted our music correspondent Mickey McCarter to have a chat with their drummer Dan Haggis about the group’s strong sophomore album and their biggest US tour to date.

Post-punk dancesmiths The Wombats, consisting of Matthew Murphy, Dan Haggis, and Tord Øverland-Knudsen, have mounted their first major tour of the United States and they are coming to the 9:30 Club for an early show on Friday. After inviting us to dance to Joy Division on their first album, “A Guide to Love Loss & Desperation”, The Wombats want us to dance some more on their second album, “This Modern Glitch”. The strong second album demonstrates that The Wombats are here to stay; they have grown their sound while staying true to the goal of making a great dance album.

We Love DC had a chat with drummer Dan Haggis to discuss the making of the new album, what it’s like to be a band from Liverpool, and a guilty pleasures on the dancefloor.

Continue reading →

Entertainment, Interviews, Music, The Features, We Love Music
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Q&A with Taylor Hanson of Hanson, part 2

photo courtesy of Hanson

In the midst of their US “Musical Ride” tour, Hanson‘s lead singer/keyboardist Taylor Hanson took some time to talk with WLDC’s Alexia Kauffman. You can read the first half of the interview here. In the second half of the interview Taylor talks about being in Katy Perry’s video for “Last Friday Night,” playing music with Adam Schlesinger (songwriter and bassist for Fountains of Wayne and Ivy) and how that led to forming the supergroup Tinted Windows, as well as Hanson’s charitable work and more. Continue reading →

Entertainment, Interviews, Music, Night Life, People, The Features, We Love Music
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Q&A with Taylor Hanson of Hanson, part 1

photos courtesy of Hanson

Most of you out there remember the band Hanson  (brothers Isaac, Taylor and Zac) as the cheerful trio of kid pop stars responsible for the infectiously catchy song “MmmBop” in the late nineties. What you may not know is that they were more than one-hit wonders. Their major label debut album Middle of Nowhere earned them three Grammy nominations, and produced six top 40 singles in the US. After that album the group split from their major label, formed their own label and has since released five studio albums. They have maintained a loyal fanbase, and are dedicated to giving their fans unique and personal experiences through their live shows. While Isaac, Taylor and Zac are still young (30, 28 and 25 respectively) they have the kind of  musical career that so many work for their whole lives to attain. They are successfully maintaining their own label, touring, and continue to produce albums that chart high on the Billboard Independent Albums chart. Their latest album, Shout It Out returns to their roots, bringing back a more pop sound, with some nods to Motown and old-school Rock & Roll.

Hanson is currently on tour, and will be playing Wednesday, October 19th at the State Theater in Falls Church. Lead singer/keyboardist Taylor Hanson took a break out of his busy tour schedule to talk with We Love DC’s Alexia Kauffman (and make one of her teenage dreams come true) about tour, becoming famous as a kid, the music industry, and even Katy Perry. (Full disclosure: Alexia was a big fan back in the 90s, and knows all the lyrics to every song on Middle of Nowhere.)  Continue reading →

Entertainment, Interviews, Music, We Love Music
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Q&A with Debbi Peterson of The Bangles


courtesy of MSO PR.

The Bangles are performing at the 9:30 Club tonight so we asked our 80’s/New Wave correspondent Mickey McCarter if he’d like to have a little chat with Debbi Peterson about the band’s past, present, and future.

The Bangles, founded by sisters Vicki and Debbi Peterson along with Susanna Hoffs, have returned with a new album, ‘Sweetheart of the Sun’. To borrow a phrase from their previous album, they perhaps started a “doll revolution” with a tide of girl bands that began in the early 1980s and that really took hold in the 1990s. Hitmaker Prince liked the The Bangles so much that he gave them the song “Manic Monday,” which became one of their most memorable hits in 1986.

The Bangles have been touring a lot in the past decade and now they are back at the 9:30 Club on Thursday, October 6. We Love DC chatted with the lovely drummer Debbi, who is so refreshingly bubbly and modest, about breaking up and reforming the band, making an album without bassist Michael Steele, and what’s next for The Bangles.
Continue reading →

Interviews, People, Special Events, The Features, We Love Arts
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Juliet and the Demon Fish

Photo courtesy Juliet Eilperin and National Geographic

A first glance at the title “Demon Fish: Travels Through the Hidden World of Sharks” would probably invoke visions of bloody feeding frenzies, mouths full of razor-sharp teeth, and the sleek arrow-shaped bodies of deadly sharks. With, of course, the appropriate Jaws theme rolling around in our heads. And we couldn’t be more wrong with that impression.

Juliet Eilperin, a national environmental reporter for The Washington Post, has the spotlight this evening at the National Geographic Museum. And what she’ll be sharing with tonight’s audience will be somewhat removed from that first glimpse of her book. Despite its fearsome title, her work is more of a revelation of this sleek, deadly species that cruise the ocean’s depths (and shallows). Let’s face it: sharks have held a solid spot of fascination in our collective conscious, often as one of fear or as an image of ‘terrible beauty.’ Eilperin shines another light on sharks, however – conservation. Demon Fish strives to expose the intricacies and personalities of the shark-human relationship and reveals it’s not all about blood, teeth, and gore.

The idea bloomed after Eilperin began looking for something to write about. The oceans have had a long pull on Eilperin; they’re a subject she can fill conversations about, and for good reason. “It’s still unknown territory to humans, to a large extent, so that’s what intrigues me,” she confided. “So much of our world has been explored and documented, but when it comes to the sea, we’re still in a period of intense discovery. Also, it’s just so different from the environment in which we operate on a daily basis.” Casting about for the right angle, a colleague suggested the shark and it intrigued her enough to explore further. Continue reading →

Entertainment, Interviews, Music, Night Life, The Features, We Love Music
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Q&A with Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. is a talented duo from Detroit. Blending electronic elements with traditional rock instruments and vocal harmonies reminiscent of the Beach Boys and Paul Simon, they have crafted a unique and catchy sound.  Their live shows demonstrate their flair for the dramatic- with hand-crafted marquees flashing their moniker “Jr. Jr.”, bubble machines, and fans-onstage dance parties. Riding on the high of playing Lollapalooza 2011 this summer they are touring the US, spreading good times and harmony as they go.

Co-founder Daniel Zott took some time out of his busy tour schedule to chat with WLDC’s Alexia Kauffman about the band, their roots, and living your dreams.

Continue reading →