Electric President Interview: SXSW 2010

Ben Cooper and Alex Kane make up the duo Electric President, a do-it-yourself low-fi electric rock group from Jacksonville, Fla. The pair are the first to admit they don't take music that seriously - they mess up on stage all the time and haven't played together in three years. Somehow, their album 'You Have The Right To Remain Awesome' impressed someone at SXSW, which gave the band one of its closing showcase spots for Saturday night. We caught up with Ben to learn more about the group.

Describe your sound in your own words.

It's really hard to say. I should probably develop a slogan for that - something I can say without thinking about it. We're sort of a sum of influences. I'd say we're lo-fi electronic. We intentionally distort stuff all of the time.

How did your band form?

There's just two of us, me and my friend Alex. We met in 2000 and he was already in a band and we worked together for about six months. I decided I wanted to be a writer and was dead-set on writing fiction. I quit my job and wrote two books in a year, but then I had a hard drive crash and lost everything. I got back into music because I was so devastated. It's what pushed me back into music. Alex and I got back together and started recording again. We're not a traditional band in the sense that we don't practice regularly, and we play shows only when we feel like it. It's more of a recording project; we'd been recording together for three years before we even gave our band a name. Sometimes we'd give ourselves really long names just to be annoying, or name ourselves after other bands. It wasn't until we realized that we enjoyed it and wanted to keep doing it that we decided to give ourselves the name Electric Presidents.

What are your musical influences?

We're a bit all over the place. Typically I prefer classical music and I really like folks like Tom Waits. Alex likes a lot of 80s pop like The Cure. Last time I talked to him, he was listening to Rush a lot, but I think he was a bit embarrassed. I grew up listening to 90s indie with bands like Pavement and Archers of Loaf. That's my bread and butter.

How did you come up with your band name?

I tend to carry around a mole skin notebook everywhere I go, and I like to write down phrases that stick out. I was at a friend's Christmas party and I overheard his mom's conversation next to me. I thought I heard her say "The Electric President," but when I asked her about it, she apparently didn't say that at all. It's just what I heard. We cleared it up, but I still thought it was funny and wrote it down in a notebook. When Alex and I were trying to think of a name, I opened my notebook of random phrases and that's the one we picked. It's an accidental name, in a way. It doesn't mean anything - there's no statement involved.

What type of bands do you generally open for?

I know the lady who books bands around town and she's booked us in places that she thought would be entertaining. She would have us open for metal bands -- we would try to take the weirdest shows possible. We always tried to be funny.

What do you mean by funny?

A bit of everything. We would play a serious song by Tom Waits, and then I would follow it up with a Miami booty anthem. It was more inside jokes for me and Alex -- I'm not sure if the audience got anything out of it.

>Did people laugh?

Some were very serious and would get upset by us. Others thought we were entertaining. We'd use to have a guy who would do the robot behind us, or we'd dress up like rabbits and pass out carrots to the crowd. Pretty random stuff.

Is it true that you record all of your music in a shed?

Yes, that's where I'm sitting right now. I buy one new piece of gear a year for my little studio and all the records are in the shed or in Alex's bedroom. It all started as a necessity: studios are expensive and sheds are free. Plus I grew up with a four track, listening to a lot of low-fi bands.

What are your live shows like?

We're not the most well oiled band. We don't show up and hit all of our notes. We're pretty loose; we just try and have fun with it.

What's your biggest vice?

I probably eat way too much pizza. I've been doing weightlifting for a while to help with a back injury I got from skateboarding. I'm supposed to eat proper, but I never do. I don't really drink anymore, so that makes pizza my biggest vice.

What's in your SXSW survival kit?

I eat a lot, and always bring sandwiches and fruit with me in my backpack. Even around town - my go to is peanut butter on wheat, but I also like bananas. And I always bring water.

Who was your first celebrity crush?

That's a tough one. I'm going to have to say Alf. When I was a kid, I totally I wanted to sleep with Alf.

What's your musical guilty pleasure?

I'll totally listen to a Cyndi Lauper record. I really like her voice and a number of her songs are surprisingly well written. I remember her as a kid, but once I got older, I realized that many of her songs are quite good. I also like Sinead O'Connor. 'Nothing Compares to You' is an awesome song.

What's the craziest thing you've ever seen on tour.

We were on tour in Orlando and we went down the street a bit and ran into a couple of hip hop groups who were playing the same show. They were all vegan and wanted to eat at a vegan hot dog stand they knew about. Across the street was this club and me and Alex happened to turn around and saw a car pull up. The car never actually stopped moving, but this guy jumped out of the driver's seat and yelled at his girlfriend to grab the wheel. As she steered into park, he ran toward the club and punched this guy in the face who was waiting in line. As this fight started, there happened to be a guy dressed as a clown on stilts. He saw the fight starting and ran away, ducking around a building. He stuck his head out from the building, but all you could see was his head, peaking out 15 feet in the air constantly looking around the corner, watching these guys fight. It was the most random thing I've ever seen.


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