Fun Fun Fun Fest Interview: Harlem's Jose Boyer

What have you noticed has changed about the recording process and the music itself between this experience and the one with Free Drugs?

Well, it wasn't done at Coomers' mom's house, and the drugs weren't free this time.

You guys have played everything from house parties to boat parties to bigger venues. Which do you prefer? Is there a certain performance that sticks out in your minds as something you won’t soon forget?

We really like house shows with friends there. We want to keep doing those. On the other hand, we also like really nice, expensive sound systems where we can hear ourselves and everything sounds perfect, which is probably why we always end up splitting the difference and playing club shows with blown out speakers and a deaf sound guy. The boat was fun. It'd be cool to do one of those rooftop shows they have in Brooklyn. But, one of us has height issues and would be on so much Valium.

Girls and drugs seem to be a theme in your music. Do you guys pull content and inspiration from your daily lives and personal experiences? Are you guys concerned at all about writing songs with a deeper message?

No, not really. We really don't do as many drugs or girls as the songs might imply. We just piece together like fortune cookies and text messages from our friends to get lyrics. We stay totally sober, actually. Promise.

Dancing is something that is hard to resist at your shows. Have you made any observations or generalizations about the quality of dancers in Austin and beyond?

I like when people dance. When we play other towns we always say, "In Texas we do a fun thing called dancing, wyncha try it?" and then people either walk away or go bananas. Girls are usually better dancers than dudes, but an obscure National Geographic photographer once said, "You can't take a bad photo of a pig, there's no such thing as an ugly smile, and nobody looks bad if they're dancing." Wait, what?

Do you guys consider yourselves to be in the right place at the right time with the repopularization of stripped-down, danceable garage rock? When you first started playing music, was there another genre you were a part of? Was there an evolution to the sound your at now?

When Curtis and Coomers first started out, they recorded a really loud, abrasive screamy demo. I heard it in Coomers' mom's car once, and it was pretty rad. That Black Eyed Peas song “Sweet Escape” just came on the radio, and Coomers was saying that when they first decided to have a band, Curtis got kicked out of his girlfriend's bedroom and they were half passed out on the couch listening to that song, thinking "Yeah, maybe we could do a song this good." Coomers loves that song. We like pop.

What would be the pinnacle of your music making existence? What would be the absolute top for you?

One day maybe we'll get to open for Nirvana. That will be so cool.

Harlem [MySpace]