[seattlest.com] We realized that Tuesday's show (at the Showbox, w/ Matt & Kim headlining) was going to be amazing as soon as we sat down with Fang Island and were bombarded with utmost kindness and sincere enthusiasm. The five-member group, formed in Providence, Rhode Island, exude such an infectiously warm excitement that although they've only been on the scene for a little over three years, it's hard to imagine that they've ever done anything other than play music with one another. It comes as no surprise that they've been pretty much adopted by fellow party anthem-er Andrew WK, which became even more blatantly obvious after we watched them play- they describe their sound as "everyone high-fiving everyone" and we couldn't help but agree, completely.
You recently moved to Brooklyn. What is the music community like there?
We’ve been on tour pretty much the entire time since we moved there. Basically, we haven’t spent much time there at all. We're not particularly roped in to any particular scene there, yet- We have friends that play in other bands, but for the most part it's just been us moving around. While we’re there, though, we eat really good pizza. Big, thin slices.
What is the creative process like with five members?
What's the opposite of organic? Inorganic? (the group laughs) In short, in the beginning it was unnatural. It had a lot to do with emails at first, because we all lived in different cities. It was an exchange of ideas and music coming from whoever, and when we could get together we’d try to hash it out as a group. It's come together since then, though.
Musicians and songwriters sometimes talk about how much easier it is when drawing creativity from a painful and dark place. How does the differ from tapping into a place of good, positive energy? What is it like to draw from that, instead?
We aim for positive results, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that we’re not drawing from all those other things, too. We like to draw from a full range of human emotions. It’s best not to depend on any one thing. Bands might run into some problems only writing from a place of sadness - there should be a full range of everything.
How was your tour with the Flaming Lips?
It was awesome! So great! They were great; every night they were absolutely amazing. They destroyed us every night. It was the best way to be destroyed. That was the first time any of us had ever seen them. Now we can say we’ve seen them, like, ten times. They've even said our name a couple times! (more laughter ensues)
What was it like playing in a kindergarten classroom?
It was a bit weird in the beginning. We tried talking to them about the powers of Rock and Roll but it was wwwaayyy over their head. (laughs) But once we started playing, they warmed up to us, and we had a really fun time. They asked a lot of great questions.
What kind of questions did they ask?
What our guitars' names were, if we liked clogging..
Do you guys like to play at parties? You create perfect party music.
The band was formed from that element. When we first started, we almost exclusively played at parties. There are no venues in Providence either - there’s like one. (the conversation sways to talk of a crazy party in an abandoned store, in which all they could think about while playing was what would happen if the floor collapsed)
What's coming up next for Fang Island?
We're touring until the holidays, and then taking a little break. We’re going to reinvent Rock and Roll at some point (laughs) The future is sort of up in the air. More touring, potentially just go straight to working on the next record, which we may or may not want to record in Seattle. We really like it here.
READ THE ENTIRE INTERVIEW HERE.
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