Best Fwends Interview: SXSW 2010

Posted on Feb 15th 2010 5:32PM by Allison Davis
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Best Fwends, a duo from Austin, Texas, were discovered on a website they had completely forgotten about. Eight years and three releases, later, their sound is much louder than their band name implies. Spinner recently chatted with Anthony Davis and Dustin Pilkington about their band, their favorite beverage and their unpredictable behavior.

Describe your sound.

Three words: Hard. Secular. Rock.

How did your band form?

Anthony Davis: We were in a band together when we were in high school, and on days where we wouldn't be practicing or playing a show we would still hang out and write songs. I had a 4-track and some music-making software on my computer, and we would just play around with it. We never really considered that a band. We gave it a terrible name, and we locked those songs away and didn't show them to anyone. Then somehow this guy Stephen, who does Moshi Moshi Records in England, found one of our songs on the Internet. We just had the MP3 on a website. He emailed us saying, "What is this? Can I put it on a record?" and we said, "Yeah, of course!" I think he thought we were a real band. We were like, "Yeah, we can get together and make more songs." So we did, and we started going on tour and blossomed into this beautiful flower.

What are your musical influences?

AD: Robert Palmer, Kenny Loggins, Hall and Oates. We listen to a lot of adult contemporary. Lots of abrasive punk.

Dustin Pilkington: The two CDs in my car right now are both Mariah Carey. We don't really listen to the music that people would categorize us as.

How did you come up with your band name?

AD: Our first songs were about being kids. It just fit the fact that we were talking about being young. It's something a five-year- old would say, but now it's inappropriate, because we've grown into playing loud rock music. We're not too into our band name, but at this point it's just too late in the game to worry about it. We have an open submission policy for band names.

What's your biggest vice?

AD: Drinking soda. Usually, drinking soda really late at night whenever we should be going to sleep. Another one of our vices that we can't get away from is talking like total idiots. We just sit around all day and say the stupidest things.

DP: Eighty percent of our day is walking around talking like rednecks and drinking Sunkist.

Who was your first celebrity crush?

DP: Lark Vorhees [Lisa Turtle from 'Saved By The Bell'].
AD: Jenny Lewis in 'Wizard.'

What's your musical guilty pleasure?

AD: The Moffatts, the Goo Goo Dolls and every intro to a Pearl Jam song.

What's the craziest thing you've seen or experienced while on tour?

AD: When we're in the heat of the moment, we'll do pretty much anything. We've slapped thousands of dollars' worth of alcohol out of people's hands.

DP: A girl who put on one of our shows, I slapped her drink out of her hand and stomped on the wine glass with my bare foot.

AD: To be fair, it would not matter what was in your hands. If you're holding something, it's going to get knocked out. That's for future reference for anyone who's coming to see our shows. Don't hold anything of value.

You've played SXSW a few times now. Do you have any advice for first-timers?

AD: For someone who's just starting out, they're probably making a list of all the bands they want to see. If you made a list of 100 bands you wanted to see, you'll see about three or four bands that you actually want to see and a million bands that you've never heard of. And that can be pretty exciting. Get some good walking shoes. Bring a smile. Bring a happy attitude. Don't be afraid to take a walk on the dark side. At 4AM, take a walk on the dark side.

Allison Davis is a contributor from Seed.com. Learn how you can contribute here.