Read KVRX’s interview with Blood Club below.
Q: How are yall?
Jesse: Doing great.
George: A little hungry, excited to be in Austin.
Q: What are you guys looking forward to doing in Austin?
George: Aside from the shows?
Jesse: I’ve never been to SXSW.
Oh really?
Jesse: It’s like we get access to everything.
George: Yeah, checking out the festival.
Q: Are there any artists in particular you are interested in seeing?
Jesse: Oh you had one right? Amiture Music?
Daniel: Oh yeah, Amiture Music. I'm not sure when, but I know it's an off day [for us], so there's a chance for us to go check them out. I just like their music.
George: I wanted to meet John Fogerty. You know who that is?
I’ve heard the name.
George: CCR, you know that band? CCR.
Oh yeah, I heard that he was coming!
Q: Who are your favorite artists? Inside of SXSW or even just in general.
George: Man we’re so all over the place. This guy loves Interpol. (Talking about Jesse)
Jesse: That’s like my all time favorite band.
Daniel: Bloc Party for me.
George: I like everything.
Same.
George: If we were doing desert island band or something like that, one of mine would be Misfits.
That’s a good one.
Q: So in terms of learning how to play music, did you guys teach yourselves? How did that go?
Jesse: We’re all self taught. I think I was like 10. Just went on YouTube, learned guitar just by learning covers.
Daniel: Kind of just learning to play with people too, people who are better than you. You pick things up from them.
So like a trial and error thing?
Daniel: Yeah
Jesse: For sure
George: Yeah
Q: What’s your biggest inspiration when it comes to making music?
Jesse: Just the game of it all I guess. Ever since I was a little kid and I started teaching myself, I was like, “I want to be in a band.” Just watching YouTube videos of bands.
George: I think since we were all little kids, we all just wanted to play music.
Jesse: It's just cool, making something, and then you can play it live, and people just see the evolution of it. I love doing that. Just the fact we keep getting to do it inspires me.
Q: Do you guys have a dream venue you would like to perform in?
Jesse: Salt Shed in Chicago. That’s this new venue, or “newer venue” called Salt Shed.
Daniel: We just played a show at Talia Hall, which is a pretty big deal for me.
Jesse: Honestly same, I’ve been wanting to play there.
Daniel: We played the big stage. Usually they have people play on a smaller stage, but we were able to play on the big stage which was just pretty cool.
George: Wembley Stadium. It’s huge. You have to be like Oasis or something to play there.
Daniel: I guess maybe Glastonbury or something like that. That would be insane. Like a huge festival. That would be fun.
Q: Is there anyone you guys would want to collaborate with?
Jesse: Sometimes I hate collabs, because it’s not like I hate working with people, I just feel like I suck writing with people. It feels so intimate that it feels like I can’t be myself. If it’s someone that I’m close with …like these are my friends so it’d be natural. As far as a bigger artist?
Yeah, that makes sense.
George: Yeah, I think it’s just an organic process, so I have no idea who to collaborate with. Like what Jesse was saying, you can’t really be yourself with someone random.
I get that, like it doesn’t feel as genuine, right?
George: There’s no guarantee, even if you get a collab with the biggest artists in the world, that it would even come out good.
Q: So what is the creative process like for you?
Jesse: So I have a studio in my apartment, and then I always start with the bass line first and then just build off of that. I don’t know, I love making music so it goes pretty naturally. I think every song I’ve ever made, we put out for Blood Club.
Q: Do you ever get creative block, and if so how do you deal with that?
Jesse: I’m still trying to figure out how to deal with that, but I do get creative block. It’s just like other stuff in your life is stopping you from being able to be creative. So I guess trying to get your life together kind of helps. I guess we’re all pretty creative naturally, so it’s just other things in life that get in the way.
Daniel: I feel like a way to get over that is to clean your room, wash the dishes, do something that just completely distracts you from what your main goal is. You know, even going for a walk, like trying your best to do other stuff to focus on other things.
George: Consuming other art … even if it doesn’t directly affect you. If you watch a really cool movie, you might get an energy.
Jesse: That happened to me. One time I was watching a movie and I stopped because I’m like, “that made me want to write something”.
George: I think it’s important to always listen to stuff that makes you excited or watch movies or read books that make you excited. Whatever it is, you know, kind of always stay in that specific creative mindset. You’re looking at the world in a way where like, “Oh that’s a cool building”. or “That’s a cool table” or something.
Like inspiration in the most random places?
George: Yeah everything is art. Everything, like clothes we’re wearing, you know, the way someone styles their hair.
Q: Do you have a favorite movie?
Daniel: Wedding Crashers
George: Spirited Away is up there.
Jesse: I feel like I always say the same thing for this question. Buffalo 66.
George: Oh I just watched that. It’s so good.
Jesse: It just comes to mind. It’s like one of my top movies, but I don’t know if I have an all time favorite. It’s just a hard question for movies.
Daniel: I like this movie called Barton Fink. It’s a really good movie.
Q: What advice would you give to someone wanting to pursue a career in music?
Jesse: It’s a slow process. It’s not going to happen super fast, unless you're super lucky. I’ve been in bands since I was 12, and it took forever, and then you just gotta do it. Just like, think about it. You make songs and you release them. Don’t really sit on stuff too much because the more you sit on the song, it’s like, “I don’t want to put it out anymore” because then you start not liking it. When you first make it is when you really like it.
Daniel: It’s really cheesy, but believe in yourself and never give up.
George: Pretty much just do your thing. Yeah it doesn’t really matter what anyone says. Whatever you think is cool, just do that, and hopefully at least one other person will listen.
Jesse: I think it's cool to take constructive criticism, though, sometimes. Even if you don't take it in exactly the way they're telling you or, like, it's something bad, it still makes you reflect.
George: But like remember what you’re coming from and what you’re trying to do.
Jesse: Yeah, there's been times where, like, I have an older brother who makes music too, and he'll give me some hate comment on my music, [but] the next time I'm recording … I'm like, let me see. And then you change it. You don't let it bring you down. You do want to sometimes, especially if it's people who know what they're talking about. It's always like, the wise man knows that you can learn.
Q: I think that’s all the questions I had to ask, but is there anything else you guys wanted to say?
Jesse: Tour in May. We’ll be in Texas.
George: San Antonio, Dallas, Houston, El Paso.
Check out Blood Club here.