SXSW Fol Chen Interview

Fol Chen (previously featured as a BeatCrave Fav and the winner of our Fav poll) is definitely one of the main bands to see at SXSW. Their music is new, inspired, and intriguing to see live. Instead of telling you what they’re about and playing such a huge festival like SXSW, I’ll let the bands leader, Samuel Bing tell you their story.

Check out what Bing had to say about playing SXSW below…

You’ve got a number of shows coming up at SXSW, what show are you most excited to play?

SB: We’re not really prioritizing. We want to be awesome at all of them.

Have you ever been to Austin before?

SB: Yeah. Well, the band’s never been here, but I’ve been here before. I was seeing people for the most part.

What’s the backstory behind Part 1: John Shade, Your Fortune’s Made?

SB: When I started making the record it was just a project that I started down at my friend Rafter’s studio. And then I went back home to visit my family on Long Island and the radio station (WLIR) I used to listen to when I was in high school had gone off the air. It was kind of like a new wave radio station. I didn’t always appreciate that kind of thing, but on Long Island if you were a weirdo at all, that was your only outlet.

You consider yourself a weirdo?

SB: It’s pretty easy to be considered a weirdo on Long Island – you don’t have to be that weird. Anyways, I went home and found out the station had gone off the air, so I was upset about that, and kind of nostalgic. Then it actually started appearing in my dreams in this kind of narrative form where it hadn’t just been taken off the air, it had been driven underground by a dark, evil force. I appreciate that it was funny and weird, but it was also like a nice impetus for making something.

Is it typical for you to draw musical inspiration from your dreams?

SB: No, definitely not. It wasn’t like I was trying to get into a dream state and create. I generally have anxiety dreams where I’m being chased by an almost un-seeable, evil force and fighting for the radio station, WLIR.

So does the spirit of your music kind of emulate this battle?

SB: Yeah and it’s also inspired, sometimes literally and sometimes not-so-literally, by the music that the station used to play. Some of the songs are definitely New-Wavy and then the other ones focus more on keeping the narrative going. Looking back I really appreciated that the station was really futurist. Against all odds they were pushing the envelope and I guess I wanted to honor the spirit of that. We were interested in making something that was trying to push forward.

Is the station of aware of your tribute?

SB: It’s funny that you mention that because I just got an e-mail from one of the DJs, a guy named Larry the Duck. And there’s a song, track five on the record, called “Red Skies Over Garden City,” and Garden City is where WLIR used to broadcast from. The song started with a sample from 1982 that I found on the Internet of Larry the Duck saying something like, ‘I’m looking out the window right now and the sky is bright red.’ And I guess he works at Sirius now, so he e-mailed us and he was really flattered. And of course I was super flattered, so when I wrote back to him, I got so gushy… and then he didn’t write back for two weeks and I thought I really freaked him out. But he did just write back last Saturday. When I wrote the song, of course it was my dream that one of them would hear a song, and it happened, so that’s crazy.

Sounds like you’ve come full circle with the record. Now for those people that have never seen you guys play, what can they expect from your shows at SXSW this week?

SB: You know, the record is very much not a live band record. It’s very much a digital and editing-heavy record, and I think what we really enjoy doing live is almost translating that into garage rock. I mean, it doesn’t sound like garage rock, but we take it and kind of make a mess out of it. We considered going the laptop route, and instead we kind of split the difference. We got some sampling stuff and the drummer can trigger the samples from his snare and stuff like that. But it’s actually kind of punk-y and fun.

Have you gotten a good response so far?

SB: Yeah – the show today went great. We were a little concerned about how it would go over, but it was a lot of fun.

Who are you most excited to see at SXSW?

SB: Our friends – in particular our friend Rafter. And I definitely want to see Dirty Projectors.

What are they like?

SB: They are the greatest band playing right now. And then us second. They’re playing at the NPR showcase tomorrow.

Have you been to Austin in previous years? What do you want to do this year that you haven’t had a chance to?

SB: Yeah I’ve been to SXSW before. But honestly I’ve never been here when it’s not SXSW. It’s a travesty, I know. Whenever we’re not out playing a show, I just go back to van and sit. I just don’t need to be walking around with a bunch of people. I have friends that live here and they’re like, ‘Dude, you really need to come sometime when it’s not this,’ but it seems like a great place.

Well hopefully you’ll be doing some more touring right after this?

We will. Definitely.

Fol Chen SXSW schedule:

• March 19th at 4pm | SXSW – Singing Serpent Party @ The Iron Gate Lounge
• March 19th at 11:45 pm | SXSW – FMLY Party @ HiLo
• March 20th at 1am | SXSW – Performing one Song for Presidents @ Habana Calle 6 (inside)
• March 2oth at 3pm | SXSW – Terrorbird/True Panther Party @ Baby Acupulcos