Interviewing ACL's Excellence: Matt Frazier of Local Natives

Yeah, because I was reading that you guys were doing that and I was like, “Man those guys are crazy as hell.”

(Laughs) Yeah, it sounds pretty insane but I think when we did move in together, we were still—we weren’t touring at all. I mean we would tour maybe like 1 month out of the year. I think it was a great thing for us because it’s kind of like, it was almost like practice for touring because, just being around each other so often, we kind of like got to know each other on a whole different level. You know which buttons not to press and which buttons to press with certain members. So yeah I think it was a neat experience for us to live together before we started touring this much.

Yeah, I’m tempted to ask who’s the diva, but…

(Laughs) Yeah, I think that that kind of mentality is definitely not tolerated in this band so I wouldn’t say that any of us are like that.

That must mean it’s you, right?

(Laughs) Yes, I am definitely the diva of the band.

That’s good to know. But really, one thing that stands out about you guys is the egalitarian element of your band - how you share vocals and creative responsibility. I was wondering if you think that kind of approach will work indefinitely, or if at some point somebody will have to take a more typical lead role?

Of course it’s hard to say how things are going to pan out five or ten years from now, but that is a current goal—to keep things how they are. I mean, before we started recording Gorilla Manor we were a band like three years prior, so we’ve been playing together for almost five years. And it used to be a little more focused - where it was maybe just one or two people were taking the reins or whatever. But I think this is what we found works best for this group of five guys, and all the songs that we wrote with all five of us were obviously our favorite ones. But I don’t know. Like I said, it’s hard to say in the future, but I think that’s the only way this band can really function.

To shift gears a bit, one thing that stands out on Gorilla Manor is in “World News,” when the Sunni marketplace is mentioned. Do you guys consider yourselves politically motivated, or do you think you might use your increased public presence to bring politics or personal opinions or things like that into the music more?

I’d say it’s not on our list of things to do. I mean, we all have our own opinions, but I think when it comes to like being in the band and playing music, I think we kind of like to steer clear of that kind of stuff. I mean, it can have a really positive effect on certain bands, but I think sometimes it has more of a negative effect than it does positive. I think for now we’re probably just going to keep doing what we’re doing and not really get too publicly involved with that type of stuff.

Speaking of “World News,” the video for that’s pretty awesome. I was wondering who on earth are the people in the ghost band and that little kid?

(Laughs)

Because those people are awesome.

Yeah, yeah, they were pretty amazing. It’s funny because our director Matthew had the idea and we kind of collaborated with him on little random quirks about the video and whatnot. He hired the band, but we didn’t even need them or see them until the day of the shoot. So yeah, I think they were just people he found on Craigslist, or friends of friends. Just really random, and he just wanted to have like a completely weird, alternate take on our band. I think he succeeded in doing that well.

That’d be pretty thrilling if people went to see a Local Natives concert and those guys walked out on stage.

(Laughs) Yeah, that’d be a little confusing, I’d imagine.

So, is there any word on a new album?

Uh, new album…I wish there was. But we’ve been touring so much that it’s been hard to write, really, just being on the road. And we’re still kind of getting used to this new lifestyle. When we wrote the album we were just at home and when we weren’t working or going to school, we pretty much had the rest of the night or all day and all weekend to write and record. I mean, there’s like little bits and ideas floating around, but nothing that’s even like close to fruition yet. Hopefully, I would imagine maybe December-January we’ll have some time to start writing again together. I think we’ll all excited for that time.

Do you guys feel like now that you’ve sort of gone through the cycle in the UK a little bit [note: Gorilla Manor was released in the UK prior to in the US] and now you’re really starting to gain some traction in the US, do you feel like you’re going to have a lot of pressure on you to repeat the performance and not just become a cliché of yourself or anything like that?

I think with any band, the second album is kind of…that is always one of the biggest tasks. So it’s a little nerve-racking. We definitely want to dive into the mindset of not repeating ourselves, or not putting ourselves into a—like stuck into one type of album or sound. We definitely want to go into the second album and try new things, and experiment and expand. We don’t want to do another Gorilla Manor. Not that we’re not stoked about our album or really proud of it because we definitely are, but I think we’re always in the mindset of just ever changing and always trying new things. So yeah, we’re definitely looking to try something different.

Any chance you’re going to sing?

Uh…there’s a definite chance, actually. That’s actually a goal of mine. So hopefully by the time the second album comes out I’ll be the fifth out of all five that will be singing.

That’s awesome. That will definitely make you guys one of a kind. So, as far as Austin is concerned, how do you feel about our fine city of Austin, TX? You guys have probably played here just about as often as anywhere right?

Yeah, pretty much. We’ve been there quite a bit in the past two years. But we love Austin. I remember the first time we played there was probably like three years ago or something like that, when we played this random show at Beauty Bar and it was to maybe like five people or some band we were on tour with. But we had a day off the next day and we got to kind of like hang out and experience it. I guess it’s just a nice surprise because I’d never been to Texas before, so I didn’t really know what to expect. Austin was just great. It reminded me a lot of Silver Lake, or like a Brooklyn—very music driven, artistic kind of thing. We’ve done SXSW multiple times which has been amazing for us, so we’re definitely always big fans of Austin.

Local Natives: [website] [myspace]