With the adrenaline-pumping week of SXSW almost upon us, IMPOSE has a plethora of reasons to celebrate. One of them? We partnered with Invertebrate to bring you a stellar lineup of artists for a free showcase! Two of our showcasing bands – the punk gods PILL and “void pop” collective field trip – were excited enough that they did an interview together in anticipation of the event. Below, find the latest from both bands and an interview between field trip’s Noach Champ (interviewer) and PILL (interviewees).
What is your favorite city to play (besides NY) and why?
We just had a great show in Columbus, OH on this tour at Ace of Cups. Thanks to them!
What is your favorite venue, of all the venues you have ever played?
Death by Audio, R.I.P.
U guys have very cool symbols/designs that I have seen on patches, shirts, stickers etc. Do y’all design this merchandise or do you collaborate with other artists?
All our merchandise, albums, logos etc. are designed by Jonathan Campolo (guitar).
PILL’s earlier records came out on Dull Tools and you recently signed to Mexican Summer. How did PILL end up collaborating with Dull Tools, and are there any other small labels out right now that have you excited?
We ended up playing 3 shows in a row one week in 2015 with Chris Pickering (Future Punx, DULL TOOLS), and at the end of the 3rd show he insisted that we work with DT. They’ve made so much possible for us—permanent family. A couple boutique labels that are close to our hearts include NNA Tapes (Vermont), RVNG (NY) and Dark Entries (CA).
We’ve got a long drive ahead of us for SXSW … could you recommend some good road trip records/books/movies ??
Books on tape! We’ve listened to the entire LOTR trilogy and some Harry Potter books while on tour, as well as some lectures and TED talks. Important to not try to soundtrack EVERY waking moment.
I love how PILL sort of re-contextualizes the saxophone and makes it sound so vicious and idiosyncratic. How did this come about? Was it inspired by anything/anyone specifically?
The saxophone was not an instrument that PILL was necessarily looking for, but it was one of the four elements that came together to form PILL. The amplifier came about as a way to calibrate the tone of the horn, which was inspired already by years of feedback from guitars, burned bass amps, and crackling beer-soaked monitors.
What is your favorite restaurant in New York ?
X’ian Famous Foods is the best Chinese in NY; locations in Greenpoint and LES. They don’t let you take the food to go, because noodles.
I love pillpop.cool, and PILL’s online presence in general, and it reminds me of a lot of my favorite 90s band websites (like dead air space) Do you have any influences for this?
The site was designed by artist Nick Campolo (Jon’s brother). His practice involves a lot of web work; he’s invested in experimentation and getting back to a net of discoverable “pages” rather than an “everything, everywhere” approach (which is the 90s reference). Early on PILL was scrutinized for its lack of web presence, but we were (and are) more interested in having ONE cool spot on the net to get info from…
Favorite record of the year so far?
been listening to Obama Sima by ATA KAK (Awesome Tapes from Africa) almost every day. Also, shoutout to Meg of Hand Habits and her new record on Woodsist “Wildly Idle”
Lastly, anything coming up for PILL that you are excited about , whether it be a show, an upcoming release, etc?
We’re going to be heading back to Europe in May-June of this year after a few local and US shows… We’ve just finished a new EP for DULL TOOLS (shhh!) that will be out this summer, attached to a vinyl re-issue of our first EP (shhh! Both unannounced), then it’s time for LP2 for Mex Sum 🙂
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If you’re in Austin, be sure to make it out to the Invertebrate x Impose SXSW 2017 Showcase! RSVP here, or check it out on Do512.
