An Interview with Fang Island
June 22 2010
Today, it seems like every band that’s “blowing up” is instantly paired with a band that’s already made a name for themselves in the music world. With Fang Island though, a counterpart is harder to come by, although a few people have drawn comparisons to Vampire Weekend. Despite the similarities in band name and album art, these two bands are pretty damn different. The way I see it, Fang Island is much more relaxed and, well, way more ballsy than Vampire Weekend. There aren’t any polos, hipster shoes or manscaped faces in sight when talking to Fang Island, and that’s the way it should be. Besides being a band that started small and is now getting some big attention, Fang Island and Vampire Weekend have about as much in common as Celine Dion and Kiss.
Fang Island are down to earth, amazed at their own success and humbled to be getting the attention they are now. What started out as a B+ college project, Fang Island has been creating a huge amount of buzz virtually everywhere on the interwebs. Tastemakers got the change to speak with the breakout band of SXSW in Austin (before Daytrotter, might we add) to answer your questions from Twitter and more. Check out the audio on the Short Round Sound below (at the 37 minute mark), or read the full interview.
The Short Round Sound – 01 – Coachella 10 Fang Island by Tastemakers Magazine
TMM: So how did you all meet?
Jason: Chris and I actually went to school together at the Rhode Island School of Design. We’re all from Providence. Mike’s from Providence, Marc’s from outside Providence- Woonsocket, and we hooked up with Nick at school and started playing from there.
TMM: That’s awesome! Well, utilizing the technology kids use today, I got questions from your fans on Twitter for you! First off, someone wanted to know if your name has anything to do with vampires.
Nick: Just Vampire Weekend….
Mike: Well, kind of….
Jason: We heard Vampire Weekend’s name and were like, “That’s gooood.”
Nick: That’s working. That’s catchy. We should go with something similar.
Jason: I mean, vampires are cool.
Chris: Not really vampires. We’re actually fans of horror movies though. Nick really likes horror.
Nick: To be honest, I don’t really like horror movies anymore. When I was in high school I really did, so that’s behind me.
Jason: Well, you’re definitely still knowledgeable.
TMM: What’s your favorite movie?
Nick: Well for a while I was really obsessed with Street Trash. That’s a good one. If I had to choose one that just came out I’d say Antichrist, that Lars von Trier movie. It’s kind of a horror movie, kind of not. Definitely frightening, though.
TMM: Speaking of zombies, if you could resurrect three non-musical people, who would you pick?
(silence/pondering)
TMM: There are a lot of dead people.
Jason: True. There are a lot of dead people.
Nick: But we only like musicians.
Chris: My grandmother.
Mike: Yea, our grandmothers.
Jason: Can I throw my grandma in there?
Nick: Yea, so three grandmothers.
TMM: Nice! Grandmas are always cool. Now for another twitter question- Could you provide our readers with a complete literary analysis of your lyrics?
Jason: Well when we say “Whoa,” it’s really just like all about our past lives.
Nick: Have you ever heard of Herman Hesse? It’s like, “Whoa.”
Jason: It’s kind of like “Whoa” in that respect. Wait, a complete literary analysis? I don’t know if we have enough.
Nick: This is too hard. We’re in a rock n’ roll band. That’s too hard. We don’t read things.
TMM: Well, where do you get the lyrics from?
Jason: There’s a lot of our lyrics that aim to subvert and reinforce rock archetypes.
(Jason high fives Nick)
Mike: That’s very accurate. Very accurate.
Nick: I don’t know what that means. It’s like homage or something.
TMM: Nice. Very well thought out answer right there. Let’s see if you can do this one. If you could play with any other act, a la David Bowie and Arcade Fire’s Grammy performance, who would it be?
Mike: Yanni.
Chris: Um, David Bowie and Arcade Fire.
Nick: R. Kelly.
Marc: Rocky Ericson.
Nick: I love R. Kelly.
TMM: Would you film a whole series with him?
Nick: Maybe, if I didn’t have to be in it.
TMM: You could be the midget?
Nick: Feed me after midnight. See what I become.
TMM: Someone else wanted to know what “everyone high-fiving everyone” really sounds like.
Chris: It sounds like Gyle’s sonic boom from Street Fighter.
Nick: It sounds like the earth cracking in half.
Marc: That’s fair.
Chris: It’s like every Mortal Combat fatality combined.
Jason: At the same exact time!
TMM: What are your guilty pleasures right now? Any Gaga on the iPod?
Nick: Oh yea! I don’t even know if that’s a guilty pleasure anymore. I just flat out like it.
Marc: It’s a great pleasure.
Jason: All that R&B pop radio right now is pretty good.
TMM: How many times have you watched “Telephone”?
Jason: Just that one time the night it came out, but not since.
Nick: Is it better than “Video Phone”?
Jason: “Video Phone” trumps “Telephone.”
TMM: What? You think “Video Phone” is better than “Telephone”?
Jason: I think Telephone has a lot of issues. It’s ten minutes long. It was a little much I think. It’s definitely back to the old days of having ridiculous, over the top videos. So, I like that.
TMM: Well, the same person asked if you could cover any Lady Gaga song, what would it be?
Jason: I’d have to go with “Bad Romance.”
Nick: No, you’re right, because I’d want to say the inaudible parts, “WHADYOUBAROWMEAN?”
Mike: And she speaks French in the one part. I’d probably take that part.
Jason: Yea!
Nick: What were some of the other songs off that album?
Jason: There’s “Paparazzi.”
Nick: Oh, I like “Paparazzi.” That one I can bust out in the shower. (sings in falsetto)
TMM: Anyways, getting away from the Twitter questions now- How does it feel to be getting so much attention and having everyone freaking out about your album?
Nick: It seems like a bad practical joke.
Jason: That’s really the only way you can answer that question if you have any sense of modesty or if you know our background. It’s like, “People can’t actually like this.”
Mike: Or at least not as much as they are. But no, it’s awesome. We’re all really happy.
Jason: We’re surprised in a good way.
Nick: It’s good to be able to share our happiness over the album with so many people.
TMM: Have you been getting a lot of high fives?
Chris: Yes!
Mike: We give at least three high fives a day.
Nick: There were three people in Cleveland, so …
Jason: We gave each one of them a high five. I might have given one of them two high fives.
Nick: One guy was missing an arm.
TMM: Hey! I’m from Ohio!
Jason: I mean, Ohio’s nice. Our shows just were ill-attended. We didn’t play in Cincinnati though.
TMM: Well there you go. So when you guys formed back at RISD, did you have any idea that the project would get to the point that it’s at now?
Chris: I mean, we did it as an art school project. So, we could cut class, still get credit and make music. We ended up getting a B+ on the project.
Jason: So right away, we knew it was going to be big.
Chris: We thought we would be a B+ band.
Jason: We were like, “This is great! We have to do this more often!” It was amazing.
TMM: What were you guys majoring in there?
Chris: Printmaking.
Jason: I haven’t done a print since I graduated basically. I’m not sure I did many prints while I was in school.
TMM: Do you think you’re ever going to go back to printmaking?
Jason: Well I like silk-screening. I really like it actually. There’s always this process that you can’t always access. I mean, it’s all really time consuming. Maybe later. I’m not even sure I know how to do it all now.
TMM: So on the subject of art, could you explain the album art for Fang Island?
Chris: Yes, my roommate and good friend Susie had that Halloween photo from when she was a kid. She was a princess and her big sister is the castle. It was just such an amazing photo and we wanted to do something with it.
TMM: That’s awesome. That’s really weird, you just made me think of Vampire Weekend.
Chris: Oh no…
TMM: Their cover for their album is just this found picture that they fell in love with and had to use too.
Nick: Dammit Vampire Weekend! Damn them!
TMM: Sorry to bring it up! Anyways, are you guys pumped to play tonight?
All: Hell yea!
TMM: What can we expect?
Nick: Mosh pits! Slam Dancing! Rock! Hulk Hogan! Pepsi!
Chris: It’s going to be really loud.
Mike: Bring earplugs.
TMM: Are you looking forward to playing with the rest of the Sargent House family?
Jason: Definitely! We haven’t even met all of them yet. So that will be great.
Mike: In fact, I just found out we were on Sargent House. I had no idea.
Jason: Mike literally just found out when he parked the van for us.
TMM: Well welcome!
Mike: Thanks!
Check out the audio on the Short Round Sound.
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