Linda Ferreira
09/25/09, 10:57 PM
Interview by Jenny Tate:
For years, Seattle and its surrounding areas have been home to an important and influential music scene, fostering bands such as Nirvana and Pearl Jam in the 1980’s and 90’s and more recent bands such as Death Cab for Cutie, Modest Mouse, and Band of Horses. While the scene in Seattle has changed, moving away from the grunge music that made it famous, new bands are still emerging from Seattle, promising to maintain Seattle’s place in the music world for years to come. One such fledgling band is the Seattle-based duo, Go Periscope. Joshua recently answered some questions about this band.
Go Periscope [ap.net profile (http://www.absolutepunk.net/artists/showlink.php?l=19321)] [website (http://goperiscope.net/)] [myspace (http://www.myspace.com/goperiscope)]
1) Please state your names, ages, and hometowns
Florin Mehedinti, 24, Seattle, WA
Joshua Frazier, 24, Seattle, WA
2) When, where and how did you get started?
Well, we have been friends since high school. Originally we were writing songs independently. We both would spend all of this time writing and practicing, but we never really showed anyone. And then a little after graduation Florin showed me something he was working on and I flipped out! I had no idea he played, and so I started showing him some of the songs I had written. We both then started collaborating on demos, commuting back and forth while he attended art school in Seattle, and I attended school in Bellingham, to work on music. Demos kept piling up, but we still never showed them to anyone or really even talked about it to anyone else. We posted a couple songs online, but never marketed it or anything because we were still working on finding our sound. Once our music started to form a consistent sound that really drew from some of our favorite artists, our eyes kind of opened up to what we wanted to do with this. So, about 8 months ago we just decided to get serious, form this band and write what will be our debut album.
3) How would you describe your music?
Our approach to song-writing is to take our favorite parts of the different genres we listen to, mash them all up, and create something that is fun, aggressive, and true to ourselves. Taking influence from an 80’s classic like Alphaville’s Forever Young, that has melodic synthesizers that invoke so much emotion and blending that with the aggressive vocals of one of our favorite bands like Anberlin, we write songs to feature both of those qualities.
4) What are your musical influences?
Our Lives. Our Past Relationships. The movie Top Gun… A lot of our songs are written from real life experiences; but from the point of view of someone much “cooler” than we are. For instance, one of our songs is about getting caught cheating, something that we both have been on the opposite side of and would never do ourselves. When you are cheated on, you feel so horrible and helpless; meanwhile it feels like the person who did this horrible act is in complete control, so much cooler, because they don’t even hurt from what they did. We wanted a song that switches the roles. A real life experience from a new vantage point.
5) What are some bands you are currently listening to?
Well, there are a few staples that are always cycling on my ipod: Anberlin, Owl City, Cartel, Morgan Page, Innerpartysystem, Death Cab for Cutie, Katy Perry.
I actually just got the You Me At Six album, and it hasn’t left the cd player in my car in over a month. I just can’t get enough of it.
6) What other bands do fans of your music typically also listen to?
We think our music is best described as “Lady Gaga meets The All-American Rejects.”
Alternative mixed with electronica and dance.
So the people that might like our music could be the fans of:Hellogoodbye, Owl City, The Postal Service, Metro Station, Shiny Toy Guns, The White Tie Affair, Cash Cash, United States of Electronica, The Secret Handshake, Daft Punk.
7) Is there a story behind your name, Go Periscope?
Well, the official definition of ‘periscope’ is: an optical instrument for viewing objects that are in an obstructed field of vision, but our name is more derived from looking to what is beyond your direct sight, and also looking at things from a new perspective. It's kind of an outlook on life, as well as the way we try to approach music in general. We look at what we like and try to put it through a different lens and create a unique sound.
8) How, exactly, do you make your music?
Many of our songs are first written either on the piano or on an acoustic guitar. Once we can match that up with whatever lyrics we have in our head, we then start to piece each part of the song together. We both play keys, guitar, produce and sing; so it works out well for us to bounce ideas off of each other and have equal contributions in every part of each song.
As far as recording and production goes, we set up a studio in the third bedroom. We use a combination of hardware and software synthesizers, as well as electric guitars and both electronic and live percussion.
9) I see you have a debut album coming out. How will that be available?
We are in the final stages of finalizing our album. We don’t have a confirmed release date, but it will be with the next month and a half. It will be on iTunes, Amazon, and available on our website at www.goperiscope.net and www.myspace.com/goperiscope (http://www.myspace.com/goperiscope)
In the meantime we will be selling 3-tracks from our album on download cards at our live shows.
10) Who produced your record/where did you record?
When we first decided to get serious and write an album, we decided we really wanted to have complete control over our sound. We wanted to not only have the time and flexibility to grow as song-writers, but also have the freedom to experiment. This is why we built the (albeit modest) studio in our third bedroom. We have the equipment we need, and we built what we could with whatever we could get our hands on. (For example, our vocal booth, is made of closet doors and a couple of old mattresses.) Not the most glamorous, but we were able to really focus on learning to record, mix and produce our music hands on; which was very important to us.
11) How long did recording take and how was the experience?
The 4 month experience of writing, recording, and producing our album has been the most rewarding task either of us have ever had. However, there were inhumane amounts of pizza and red bull consumed during this time, from which my body will probably never fully forgive me.
12) What do you do when you aren't making music?
We both were cross-country runners in high school and also played on the soccer and basketball teams. And we never really stopped. We both love being outdoors, playing any sort of sport. (Including a recent infatuation with Ultimate Frisbee, at risk of sound like a hippie.) (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.) (I’m just saying, we don’t really wear tie-dye.)
Also, we both do graphic design/web design.
Oh, and watching seasons of The Office, Californication, Lost, The OC, and American Dad, pretty much consumes whatever free time we come across.
13) What are your plans or hopes for the future?
It is really simple. We just want to write and perform music. At whatever level we can get, we just want people to listen to our music. We hope people can relate to what we write about and that our songs make people dance. (Or at least sing in the shower.)
14) If you could go on tour with any band, who would it be? Why?
Owl City or Hellogoodbye would be amazing. Also it would be a blast do a show with Deadmau5. And of course Daft Punk.
15) Why should people listen to your band?
People should listen to us because our music sounds like the soundtrack to a kitten versus robot break-dance-fight.
Also, we truly love writing and performing music. So we genuinely appreciate every time we get to show our music to a new person.
16) What is your favorite song to play?
We have a song off of the debut album, that just started charting on our local radio station C89.5 called “Crush Me” and it is so much fun to play. Especially since people are slowly starting to recognize it, (locally of course) and nothing is cooler than seeing people who know your songs at a show.
17) What hidden talents do you have?
I am really good at napping. Like scary good. It’s ridiculous. I can fall asleep at 1 PM on the couch with the TV on full blast and the house full of people. I also played the Cowardly Lion in the 4th Grade for my school’s production of The Wizard of Oz, so, ya’know, I had to beat out at least 3 kids for that role… I could be the next Tom Hanks.
Florin can recite the lines from Zoolander, word for word. (Genius film. Pure Comedic Genius.)
For years, Seattle and its surrounding areas have been home to an important and influential music scene, fostering bands such as Nirvana and Pearl Jam in the 1980’s and 90’s and more recent bands such as Death Cab for Cutie, Modest Mouse, and Band of Horses. While the scene in Seattle has changed, moving away from the grunge music that made it famous, new bands are still emerging from Seattle, promising to maintain Seattle’s place in the music world for years to come. One such fledgling band is the Seattle-based duo, Go Periscope. Joshua recently answered some questions about this band.
Go Periscope [ap.net profile (http://www.absolutepunk.net/artists/showlink.php?l=19321)] [website (http://goperiscope.net/)] [myspace (http://www.myspace.com/goperiscope)]
1) Please state your names, ages, and hometowns
Florin Mehedinti, 24, Seattle, WA
Joshua Frazier, 24, Seattle, WA
2) When, where and how did you get started?
Well, we have been friends since high school. Originally we were writing songs independently. We both would spend all of this time writing and practicing, but we never really showed anyone. And then a little after graduation Florin showed me something he was working on and I flipped out! I had no idea he played, and so I started showing him some of the songs I had written. We both then started collaborating on demos, commuting back and forth while he attended art school in Seattle, and I attended school in Bellingham, to work on music. Demos kept piling up, but we still never showed them to anyone or really even talked about it to anyone else. We posted a couple songs online, but never marketed it or anything because we were still working on finding our sound. Once our music started to form a consistent sound that really drew from some of our favorite artists, our eyes kind of opened up to what we wanted to do with this. So, about 8 months ago we just decided to get serious, form this band and write what will be our debut album.
3) How would you describe your music?
Our approach to song-writing is to take our favorite parts of the different genres we listen to, mash them all up, and create something that is fun, aggressive, and true to ourselves. Taking influence from an 80’s classic like Alphaville’s Forever Young, that has melodic synthesizers that invoke so much emotion and blending that with the aggressive vocals of one of our favorite bands like Anberlin, we write songs to feature both of those qualities.
4) What are your musical influences?
Our Lives. Our Past Relationships. The movie Top Gun… A lot of our songs are written from real life experiences; but from the point of view of someone much “cooler” than we are. For instance, one of our songs is about getting caught cheating, something that we both have been on the opposite side of and would never do ourselves. When you are cheated on, you feel so horrible and helpless; meanwhile it feels like the person who did this horrible act is in complete control, so much cooler, because they don’t even hurt from what they did. We wanted a song that switches the roles. A real life experience from a new vantage point.
5) What are some bands you are currently listening to?
Well, there are a few staples that are always cycling on my ipod: Anberlin, Owl City, Cartel, Morgan Page, Innerpartysystem, Death Cab for Cutie, Katy Perry.
I actually just got the You Me At Six album, and it hasn’t left the cd player in my car in over a month. I just can’t get enough of it.
6) What other bands do fans of your music typically also listen to?
We think our music is best described as “Lady Gaga meets The All-American Rejects.”
Alternative mixed with electronica and dance.
So the people that might like our music could be the fans of:Hellogoodbye, Owl City, The Postal Service, Metro Station, Shiny Toy Guns, The White Tie Affair, Cash Cash, United States of Electronica, The Secret Handshake, Daft Punk.
7) Is there a story behind your name, Go Periscope?
Well, the official definition of ‘periscope’ is: an optical instrument for viewing objects that are in an obstructed field of vision, but our name is more derived from looking to what is beyond your direct sight, and also looking at things from a new perspective. It's kind of an outlook on life, as well as the way we try to approach music in general. We look at what we like and try to put it through a different lens and create a unique sound.
8) How, exactly, do you make your music?
Many of our songs are first written either on the piano or on an acoustic guitar. Once we can match that up with whatever lyrics we have in our head, we then start to piece each part of the song together. We both play keys, guitar, produce and sing; so it works out well for us to bounce ideas off of each other and have equal contributions in every part of each song.
As far as recording and production goes, we set up a studio in the third bedroom. We use a combination of hardware and software synthesizers, as well as electric guitars and both electronic and live percussion.
9) I see you have a debut album coming out. How will that be available?
We are in the final stages of finalizing our album. We don’t have a confirmed release date, but it will be with the next month and a half. It will be on iTunes, Amazon, and available on our website at www.goperiscope.net and www.myspace.com/goperiscope (http://www.myspace.com/goperiscope)
In the meantime we will be selling 3-tracks from our album on download cards at our live shows.
10) Who produced your record/where did you record?
When we first decided to get serious and write an album, we decided we really wanted to have complete control over our sound. We wanted to not only have the time and flexibility to grow as song-writers, but also have the freedom to experiment. This is why we built the (albeit modest) studio in our third bedroom. We have the equipment we need, and we built what we could with whatever we could get our hands on. (For example, our vocal booth, is made of closet doors and a couple of old mattresses.) Not the most glamorous, but we were able to really focus on learning to record, mix and produce our music hands on; which was very important to us.
11) How long did recording take and how was the experience?
The 4 month experience of writing, recording, and producing our album has been the most rewarding task either of us have ever had. However, there were inhumane amounts of pizza and red bull consumed during this time, from which my body will probably never fully forgive me.
12) What do you do when you aren't making music?
We both were cross-country runners in high school and also played on the soccer and basketball teams. And we never really stopped. We both love being outdoors, playing any sort of sport. (Including a recent infatuation with Ultimate Frisbee, at risk of sound like a hippie.) (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.) (I’m just saying, we don’t really wear tie-dye.)
Also, we both do graphic design/web design.
Oh, and watching seasons of The Office, Californication, Lost, The OC, and American Dad, pretty much consumes whatever free time we come across.
13) What are your plans or hopes for the future?
It is really simple. We just want to write and perform music. At whatever level we can get, we just want people to listen to our music. We hope people can relate to what we write about and that our songs make people dance. (Or at least sing in the shower.)
14) If you could go on tour with any band, who would it be? Why?
Owl City or Hellogoodbye would be amazing. Also it would be a blast do a show with Deadmau5. And of course Daft Punk.
15) Why should people listen to your band?
People should listen to us because our music sounds like the soundtrack to a kitten versus robot break-dance-fight.
Also, we truly love writing and performing music. So we genuinely appreciate every time we get to show our music to a new person.
16) What is your favorite song to play?
We have a song off of the debut album, that just started charting on our local radio station C89.5 called “Crush Me” and it is so much fun to play. Especially since people are slowly starting to recognize it, (locally of course) and nothing is cooler than seeing people who know your songs at a show.
17) What hidden talents do you have?
I am really good at napping. Like scary good. It’s ridiculous. I can fall asleep at 1 PM on the couch with the TV on full blast and the house full of people. I also played the Cowardly Lion in the 4th Grade for my school’s production of The Wizard of Oz, so, ya’know, I had to beat out at least 3 kids for that role… I could be the next Tom Hanks.
Florin can recite the lines from Zoolander, word for word. (Genius film. Pure Comedic Genius.)