Last year, we brought our chain letter interview series to South by Southwest for the first time, making bands sweat from more than just the sunshine. This year, the chain continues to tie up the festival circuit, bringing together some of our favorite touring bands in one giant kumbaya chant of masturbation stories, mom jokes, and fast food preferences. How does the chain work? We ask each band we talk to give us three questions to ask the next band, who proposed their own for the following band, and so on.
This year, we started the chain on our Imposition tour from Seattle to Austin, so by the time we hit the crowded city, we already had some fucked up questions from Toronto punk band PUP—a band strangely gifted at would-you-rather gross-outs. Read on to see how Boston’s Pile reacts, and then jerk off and shave (or is it shave and jerk off?) with some girls that run the gamut from Minneapolis rapper Lizzo to Brooklyn darlings Habibi.
PILE
Impose’s Wednesday night show at the Longbranch Inn could have fizzled, since the night’s headliner, Speedy Ortiz, had to cancel after their bassist dislocated his jaw. But instead of an early bedtime, we got an extended set from Boston’s Pile. After their sweaty, flying-elbow-filled show, we caught up with Rick Maguire and the band’s two Matts—one of whom, Matt Becker, let us into his wild mind by answering PUP’s questions a little too honestly, while Matt Connery offered an assist on devising questions for the next act.
If you could fart on any dictator in history, who would it be?
Rick: Uh…
Matt Becker: [whispering as he walks by] Pinochet! Pinochet!
Rick: Alright, Matt says Pinochet, so…
Why so sure about Pinochet, Matt?
Matt: He was actually installed by the CIA so that definitely adds something to it.
Would you rather fuck a goat and no one knows about it, or not fuck a goat and everyone thinks you have?
Rick: The latter.
Matt: The first one, totally the first one.
Rick: No way, totally the latter. I wouldn’t be able to get it up for a goat, first of all, so why would I even entertain the idea. And people have thought I’ve done shit before that I haven’t done, and I’ve fucking dealt with it, so I feel like I’ve created a thick skin to be able to deal with it.
Matt: I’d totally fuck a goat.
[All laugh]
Would you rather watch your parents fuck everyday, or join in once to make it stop?
Rick: Every day for, like, the rest of my life? I would join in once to make it stop. Yeah, I wouldn’t want to see that every day… maybe I’d become desensitized to it, but I feel like after a week, I’d just go in and be like, “Guys, come on!”
Matt: I don’t know. I don’t know what my mom is into, really, so…
You worried about pleasing her?
Matt: If you’re gonna get in there, you might as well do the job right, you know?
[All laugh]
Rick: Oh god, “If you’re gonna fuck your mother, you might as well please her.” I’m glad we’re sharing all of this. [Laughs]
What are your three questions for the next band?
When did you realize that being in a band wasn’t just a thing you were doing because your friends thought it was cool and was actually something you wanted to do for real?
What do your parents and relatives think of you playing music—specifically, do they see you as a rock and roll star or think you’re wasting your life?
Who jerks off the most in your band, and do you know how often they do it?
LIZZO
We got our batches and cookies closer to the convention center than Impose typically wanders during SXSW, not quite crossing those pearly gates to hell and instead meeting our new favorite lady rapper, Lizzo, on a curbside bench. As she called out the names of each tune the resplendent pedi-cabs were booming as they flew down the adjacent bike lane, Lizzo outed her crew’s cream habits and told us a bit about her mom.
When did you realize that being in a band wasn’t just a thing you were doing because your friends thought it was cool and was actually something you wanted to do for real?
When I was 18, I decided to actually do it. Me and my best friend in college were like, “Let’s do this!” We had this female duo thing—this Salt-N-Pepa thing—and we played our college at the time. We had back-up dancers. We thought we was hot! [Laughs] But that’s when we were taking it seriously. Before it was like, let’s walk down the street and rap. [Laughs]
That sounds cool too! What do your parents and relatives think of you playing music—specifically, do they see you as a rock and roll star or think you’re wasting your life?
I was a screw-up for a long time. I think this year—this year, finally!—I’m making wise decisions. But for a very long time, I was growing up. It was between college and now. When I was doing the flute thing, they loved it. “Well, at least you’re playing the flute and killing it.” But from 19 to 24, it was a little weird. It got weird.
But now they’re behind you, they support you?
Yeah, definitely. Proud and excited, finally. It takes a lot to impress my mom. [Laughs] She’s a tough cookie.
Who jerks off the most in your crew, and do you know how often they do it?
I do. [Laughs] No, I’m gonna say Quinn [Wilson aka DJ Clean Drop] is a chronic master debater. [Laughs] She is. You try to look on her phone, and it’s just porn. I don’t know how often, though. But she’s the one.
What are your three questions for the next band?
What’s your favorite pre-show food to eat?
How often do you shave your legs?
What is the greatest song ever written?
HABIBI
After the clusterfuck of downtown Austin, a short taxi drive up to the Whip In for craft beers, organic Indian food, a Burger Records showcase, and a chat with the smoking hot ladies of Habibi was just the living daydream we needed. The girls blistered in the sun outside of the neighboring liquor store (minutes before our crucial first brown bottle purchase of SXSW) to get nervous about nailing down the world’s greatest tune and put the next interviewee on the spot sexually.
What’s your favorite pre-show food to eat?
Rahill: Hummus!
Karen: Tacos. Tacos, all the time.
Erin: Pizza.
Lenaya: I like my kale salad, grilled octopus, and a glass of champagne!
[All “ooh” “aaah” and laugh]
Rahill: Hold up, what she’s having!
How often do you shave your legs?
Lenaya: In the winter or the summer? [Laughs]
Erin: Very intermittently. I don’t give a fuck.
Rahill: It had been four months before I shaved mine for SXSW, and that was in a rest stop—er, in a hotel.
Caroline: For me, it was two months, and I only did it because I had to wear a dress.
Erin: I think we all got razor burn trying to shave our legs in the van.
Lenaya: I shaved in the van. Because I realized…I never shave above my knees, but I realized in the sunlight, you can see everything! [Laughs] We’re not serial shavers.
More important things on the to-do list for sure. Last question: what is the greatest song ever written?
Erin: Woah, that’s really hard!
Caroline: I don’t know. I’m really into Mickey & Sylvia, “Darling.” We listened to it yesterday, and it just totally reminded me of how much I love it.
Erin: Best song ever written, wow… that’s so hard because there’s so many ways to appreciate a song. I love some super-simple songs and then there are others that I appreciate where it goes…I don’t know…
Rahill: I got one. Seriously, it touches my heart and makes me cry every time. Bijan Mofid, “Do Ta Cheshme Sia Dari.” It’s in Farsi. It means “you have two black eyes” in a poetic way.
Erin: I think I’ll say that, at the moment, I’ve gone back and listened to a lot of Gene Clark, and I really love that song, “So You Say You Lost Your Baby.” The melody gets down to your bones.
Lenaya: I can’t give you my favorite song, but since we’re in Texas, I’ll give you my favorite [13th Floor] Elevators sing, which is “Scarlet in Gold”
What are your three questions for the next band?
When did you lose your virginity?
Where was the last place you had a kiss?
What’s your hangover cure?
Tune into the next chain letter to hear Mozes and the Firstborn’s 19 year-old drummer answer these questions, and hear from Portland’s Guantanamo Baywatch and the infamous Black Lips.
