Austinist Interviews Of Montreal

Right, I read somewhere that you actually recorded the album entirely yourself.

Yeah, I did that before I started Of Montreal, back when I was just in my bedroom with a 4-track and just over-dubbing to create a fuller sound. So it's not anything really new to me, and especially with the equipment I have now, it makes it so much easier. Almost limitless.

Is this all done, still, in your house?

Yeah, any record that we've made has been done in our house -- whether it was a collaborative thing with the full band, or just me -- it was always done in a bedroom studio.

So who, or what, are the Sunlandic Twins?

That was an idea that my friend had that the two of us could have this kind of fantasy planet, where we were the only two inhabitants, and it was called Sunlandia. It was partially inspired by the Nicolas Roeg movie, "The Man Who Fell to Earth." And that's where we got the idea of these sort of, like, sexless, sunkissed aliens.

How about for the new album, have you come up with a title? I've heard that you've finished recording.

Yeah, I'm about 60-70% finished with it. It's going to be called Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?.

Let's talk about Of Montreal as Performers. I subscribe to the belief of the stage as spectacle—in other words, I go to a show to have a great time, not to leave feeling despondent. What’s Of Montreal’s touring philosophy? What are you trying to accomplish in a show?

We want it to be a sort of communal experience, where both the audience and the band are receiving something positive. It's kind of a "happening," sort of a special event. Each tour that we do we kinda put on this different sort of show (costume changes), so that each is different.

Speaking of which, when I saw you last at The Parish in 2005, you guys went through at least three or four costume changes.

We're trying to keep it interesting, so that it's not just a static image [onstage]. And it kinda makes it fun for me, because there's more movement, you know. I try on different outfits, try on different personas.

Yeah, it's great to see a band that's dancing onstage as you're dancing offstage -- you feel like you're feeding off that energy.

Yeah, that's what we're hoping to create!

What's your favorite song to play, live?

Probably "The Party's Crashing Us"

I hear there's a new remix album in the works, with names being tossed around like !!!, I Am the World Trade Center, Mixel Pixel. How did this whole thing come about?

We wanted to come up with something interesting that we could work on [before the next album came out], and bring in some people that we really respected and wanted to collaborate with. And we'd like to see what they would do with one of our songs.

So you actually chose all of these bands who appear on the remix album?

Yeah, we kinda had a list of people we thought would come up with something interesting. To be honest, though, I don't know what's going on with the remix record -- like, I don't know if it'll ever come out [laughs]. But it could be really cool.

On Sunlandic Twins and based on the stuff that I've heard live, it sounds like you guys are really delving into that electro-funk. Is this what we'll hear more of, with the next album?

Yes, it's sort of along the same vein, it's a little more personal, a little bit more intimate. It's not going to be quite -- I dunno, it's hard to say, but it's going to be more introspective.

So we're gonna see less of these fantastical scenarios and more real-world situations?

Yeah, pretty much. It's not going to be like -- it's hard to describe. Musically, it's going to be very similar, but funkier and with more electronic stuff.

The advantage that you guys have as a band is that the lyrics and the music aren't necessarily so tightly constrained to following one another -- it's like you can get a message from either, and it'd be entirely different.

Yeah, we like to do that, to juxtapose the two. Like the song, "Chrissy Kisses the Corpse," you have these strange, macabre lyrics, but then it's so poppy.

You like to catch people off-guard, I gather.

Definitely.

So you're set for a whole slew of shows at SXSW, and you've played in the past several years -

Yeah, this will be our third South-By.

What are some of your fonder memories of being here for these festivals?

We went in '98, when the band was just starting. It was exciting because everything was new. It was like, "Ahhhh!!! [deep sigh]

Now, when you come, do you still get that excitement? Or do you think, "Oh god, there are thousands and thousands of people here."

Yes, it a little bit different now, because it's so much bigger now even only a few years later. But it's still a lot of fun, because a lot of our friends' bands are playing and there are a lot of bands that I wanna check out.  It's a great chance to see stuff that you might otherwise never get to see.

Exactly. I think, so long as you can rush through the crowds, it's absolutely worth it.

Definitely.

So here's what I've noticed. With each successive album, you guys have become almost exponentially more known to the public. What do you suppose was the turning point, where you guys went from playing these small indie dives to selling out huge rock venues?

It's hard to tell if it was just because we've been working at it nonstop, or because somehow the music is resonating more now than it has in the past.

It seems like you guys are the perfect example of that band that worked their asses off, and then finally made it -- I mean, you're on the new The O.C. soundtrack -- which, by the way, congratulations.

...thanks [laughs]

Has it changed, then -- I mean your attitude towards touring? There's certainly a contrast.

Yeah, it makes things a lot easier. I mean, we did a lot of tours where we were only drawing a couple hundred people a night if we were lucky, so we know what it's like. We have that perspective on things. And now, it's so much easier to get up for shows when you know that there are a lot of people and they're really excited and they just want you to do ... do what you do. It makes our life a lot easier, and it makes it more fun.

I have a lot of friends in Austin who are musicians -- in a city like ours, almost everyone you know is in a band. I think they need to hear things like that, that there's a chance for success as a struggling indie artist. But what is it that it takes, especially for someone just starting out or relatively young in their career?

I guess you just have to have some sort of slightly original vision, something that makes you stand out. And then just follow that voice that tells you what to do. ...And, I think, it's really a matter of believing in yourself. Everyone's going to get bad reviews, and there's always going to be really disheartening stuff written about you, and there are plenty of reasons to quit. But, if you really like to do it, or, if you really need to do it, [then it'll work out.] Like I've discovered about myself, [this is] the most fulfilling thing that I have in my life. Even if the records were getting really shitty reviews and no one was coming out to the shows, I'd still do it. Because I need to.

Do the negative reviews matter?

It's more of an embarrassment issue, because you think, "God, all these people are gonna read this and think it's true!" And then you also kinda think the world hates you. Even though it's just one dude or one girl, you still feel like the world's frowning at you. You just have to learn how to deal with negative criticism, especially nasty, unintelligent criticism.

Well, it's easy to be on one side and say, "I don't like this and this and this," but it still comes down to the fact that we're not the ones making it. That's the issue I have with music criticism; people will review things without fully realizing what it took to have created it in the first place.  

Totally! I've always felt that way, too. It's like, anybody can call themselves a journalist, and they don't even need to have, like, an extensive record collection or even like music. You could just fall into it, and write about it, without being qualified.

Let's talk about Kevin Barnes at home. Tell us what it's like when you're back from tour.

I kinda just get back into recording and writing again, because it's what I really like to do.

Do you get really antsy, feeling like you have to get back on the road?

Well, when I'm on tour, I definitely want to get back home and start working again. But when I'm at home, as long as I'm working on stuff and as long as I'm being creative, then I'm ok. But I do get restless if the record's complete, and I'm just kinda sitting around wiating for something to happen.  But it hasn't really happened recently, because we've all been so busy. It seems like every bit of free time has been taken up by something interesting.

Are you finding time to read anything right now?

I am, I'm reading Milan Kundera's Immortality. It's really good, especially as a writer -- you have to think about that, about what motivates you to write. And what motivates you to share things with the world, and want to be appreciated, want to be remembered.

Quickies:

Favorite albums from last year?

I really like the new Animal Collective, and Fiery Furnaces' [LP] is really interesting, MIA, Four Tet, Everything Ecstatic, Caribou, The Go! Team. There are also some really great Swedish bands that we're into, like The Knife and The Concretes

Favorite songwriters of all time?

Ray Davies (The Kinks) -- I went through this huge sixties phase where I was only listening to The Kinks and the Pretty Things and the Beatles and all that stuff, and then trying to find all of the underground stuff -- White Noise, the United States of America, you know, the lost psychedelic classics and stuff. Because every band put out that one psychedelic record ... there's always that one album where they sing about Pegasus. I was really into that for a long time, and now I've kinda gotten sick of it.

Too much, eh?

Actually, we were listening to the [Kinks'] Village Green Preservation Society the other day --

Nice.

Yeah, it's an amazing record. But now I'm just excited about other things. I'm getting into things from around the world, like Fela Kuti, Tony Allen and the big funk soul bands from Africa in the 70's. Really, really good stuff.

Are you finding that, as you're digging all of these up, a lot of the stuff we're listening to nowadays was heavily influenced by these afrobeat bands and other past genres?

Yeah, definitely! Like, you can hear a really obvious influence in Talking Heads recordings and a lot of the stuff that Brian Eno produced -- late '70s, early '80s David Bowie stuff you can hear it. 

I think it's a great thing.

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Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? is slated to release next January. For a bunch of mp3s, check out Of Montreal's Audio Lounge.

*Publicity photo by Courtnie. All other images taken at Jane Magazine SXSW Day Party at Beauty Bar, (c) AYC