Austinist Interviews World Leader Pretend

You guys met in New Orleans, are you all originally from there? How did the group form?

For the most part, everyone except for Alex is from New Orleans. I actually grew up about 30 minutes outside of New Orleans in the middle of a sugar cane field. Alex is from London. Arthur and Alex used to be in a punk band in England about 5 years ago. Matt and I went to Loyola University together.

You guys have been on tour for a while now and are about to wrap it up. What is your favorite thing to do when you get back home after such a long tour?

Do crossword puzzles...or play video games...read...I think Arthur
generally likes to have a lot of sex.

What has been the craziest thing that's happened to you guys on the
road?

Nothing crazy ever happens to us...we’re officially the most boring band on the face of the earth...we like to do alot of reading...and we¹re good at eating wendy¹s salads and closing out starbucks.

You just came back from playing some European dates, what were those crowds like? And do you think they are less jaded and more open to new bands than American audiences?

The European crowds are generally fantastic! They’re just much more
attentive and enthusiastic about music...regardless of whether it¹s
new or 30 years old.

You played Jazz Fest for the first time, what was it like to play to such a huge crowd in your hometown?

This year was actually the second time we played the Fest, last year
we played in a torrential downpour/lightning storm. This year it was
like 90 degrees and sunny and no one seemed to know who we were...they were all just hippie kids on acid waiting for Widespread Panic to come out and do their 5 hour set...it was actually kind of depressing because we saw a few kids O.D. on something or another and no one seemed to want to help them.

Who are some of your favorite New Orleans bands, and do you feel a sense of community amongst the indie rock bands in town.

We haven’t really been in New Orleans for a couple of years now, and
when we were around I don’t remember there being much of an indie rock scene...It’s only recently when we’ve gone back that we’ve noticed rock bands popping up here and there.

Your full-length debut is about to come out on Warner Bros. Did you guys ever consider signing to an indie label, or was the intention always to sign with a Major.

I don¹t really think we¹re an “indie” band...the only labels that
wanted to sign us were the majors...so we really didn¹t have much of a
choice.

I hear horns on several of your songs off the new album, what aspects of New Orleans music do you find creeping into your own.

The thing we really take from New Orleans, I think, is the soulfullness of the city...A lot of the drums on the record have that southern soul lazy backbeat...and vocals tend to be very soulful and gritty in that New Orleans way.

I heard you guys went up to record in New York, did you find it helpful being away from home.

We actually started making the record in New Orleans in our rehearsal
space, but we had an incident with a air conditioning unit falling out
of the window...and then a bunch of pigeons got into the room and made a mess of everything...at the time we had no label, no booking agent, no rehearsal space...so we went to the bank and took out a huge loan and moved to New York city for a few weeks where we started the record. But we did most of it in New Orleans...I definitely think the atmosphere of being in New York during Christmastime in the midst of a huge blizzard definitely influenced the record (sleigh bells?).

You recently recorded a segment for MTV's You Hear it First. Are you at the point now where you can finally say you "made it"? And if not,
when will that be?

We definitely have not “made it.” We will have “made it” when someone
recognizes me on the streets of New Orleans...that hasn¹t happened
yet...so...

You have been to Austin a couple of times now, do you have any
specific places in town you like to go to?

This really cheesy tropical island themed restaraunt downtown...and
there’s a bar-b-q joint...I think it’s called Sam’s...it’s
delicious.

Any plans on leaving New Orleans anytime soon?

Nope.

World Leader Pretend
Emo’s
Sunday, June 18th
10pm

World Leader Pretend - Punches [EPK]