Hopewell Interview: SXSW 2010

New York psych-rock outfit Hopewell are making their ninth trip to South by Southwest this year, where they plan to showcase spacey tracks off 2009's 'Good Good Desperation' and hang with buds in bands, including fellow shoegazers Serena-Maneesh (more on that later). Spinner recently caught up with Hopewell's founding member Jason Sebastian Russo to discuss what constitutes "weird" classic rock, childhood crushes and how best to enjoy (and stay sane in) Austin at the big festival.

Please describe your sound in your own words.

It's not fair for me to speak for the others, but I would say drama queens hiding underneath layers of fuzz.

How did Hopewell form?

More or less, we got together in high school after seeing Agitpop on MTV's '120 Minutes.'

What was the inspiration behind your band name?

The town we grew up in is actually called Hopewell Junction [in New York]. We all went to Catholic school, so there was no music whatsoever and nothing to do -- this was like desolate suburbia. Our choices were petty crime or maybe make a band, so we did both.

What are Hopewell's musical influences?

Youthful hymns, '70s classic rock, prog rock and friends' bands. There's a really weird side of classic rock that we like, where it's compositional and weird. The classic rock radio station up in Hopewell is all we could hear growing up. And there's some weird s--- out there like 'Frankenstein' by Edgar Winter Band. 'Hocus Pocus' by Focus and basically anything by Queen. There is yodeling in 'Hocus Pocus.,' for example.

We were and still are heavily influenced by a band called Rollerskate Skinny. My friend Ken [Griffin] was actually in it and went on to form a band called Favorite Son. But lately I've been really into Serena-Maneesh. My friend Emile [Nikolaisen] is in the band -- such a good guy. I met him while I was in Norway last December. We both played ATP and he deejayed the gig we played in Oslo. I got a text from our mutual friend Peter [Holmstrom] from the Dandy Warhols and he was like, "You have to meet Emile!" It was sort of an instant best friends thing.

What's your biggest vice?

That is such a long and intense story that I don't even know if I want to touch on it. All my vices now are stuff that people wouldn't consider vices, they're more like OCD-style rituals that I refuse to give up in an interview. I survived in order to make music. Safe to say we are all addicted to anything that releases serotonin and dopamine and that includes but is not limited to cheering crowds, record sales and glowing reviews.

Any advice for those heading to SXSW this year?

Hydrate. And bring an extra battery for your phone. Oh, and don't believe the hype.

Any tips for first-timers?

Definitely try to get out of the festival at least once. We went to this barbeque place called The Salt Lick once -- it's about a half hour outside of Austin. It made a big difference and put everything in a better context to kind of step away from it all and see Texas. You're like, "Holy shit SXSW is incredible because it's this insane oasis in the middle of Texas."

Who was your first celeb crush?

Alyssa Milano, Marion from 'Indiana Jones' ... both Tom and Jerry.

I had pictures of Alyssa Milano on my closet door. All my friends were into Samantha Fox and I was like, "I don't know, that woman seems terrifying." I went to Catholic school so it was like her or St. Theresa. I had a very small bubble.

What's your musical guilty pleasure?

I was raised with no TV and now that I'm old enough to do whatever I want, I still have no TV. I don't keep track of [pop music] anymore. I love pop music from the '70s like the Carpenters and s---. I liked dance hall reggae for a while when it came out. I love Missy Elliott because [her music] is kind of psychedelic -- that s--- is for stoners. And I love any kind of hip-hop that is mind-bending, where the production is intense. I like that New York song ['Empire State of Mind'] by Jay-Z.

Beatles or Stones?

That's like asking "Air or water?" I don't think I would be able to choose between the Beatles or the Rolling Stones. It's like the Beatles were my uncles growing up -- my whole family loved them and my mom saw them at Shea Stadium. I felt like I knew them. And then the Stones were like "F--- my parents."

But there's a Beatles song called 'You Know My Name' which is a pretty rare B-side that had a bizarre influence on me because it's out there compositionally. And I love 'Tomorrow Never Knows' and 'It's All Too Much' -- a George Harrison song. They're both sort of shoegazy, to risk using a common word. Those two songs -- I try to recreate them on every album we have made.

Lyrically, when John Lennon was going through his psychedelic period, he was a huge influence on me. Like the lyrics to 'I Am the Walrus' and 'Come Together' -- anything that guy wrote in the later-era Beatles -- his trippier stuff was really amazing. They were all really abstract but meant things.

What's the craziest thing that's happened to you guys on tour?

We played a festival last year called Clean Air Clear Stars and they booked it in October, but the organizers forgot that the desert gets below freezing at night during that time. We headlined the last night and went on in zero-degree temperatures and we didn't know what to do. It was freezing. So we went to Walgreens [drugstore] at nearby Joshua Tree and bought leg tights [pantyhose] for women and wore those under our clothes.