2AM Club Interview: SXSW 2010

Posted on Mar 8th 2010 2:15AM by Rob Needham
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2AM Club will be making their SXSW debut this year, bringing with them a style identified as funk, pop, rock, blue-eyed soul, hip-hop, new wave, and electro all converging to create a genre-bending sound that's completely unique, instantly relatable, and practically begging to be danced to. These six 20-something guys bring a diverse array of influences to the table, effortlessly synthesizing the very best of all that has come before them to create music that is resoundingly modern. The band has been working hard perfecting the tracks for their first album, expected this summer, but, as they emerged for their SXSW trip, Spinner.com was able to have a quick conversation with emcee Tyler Cordy and singer Marc Griffin about who they are and what's to come.

Describe your sound in your own words.

Tyler: Party music with a brain. It's the combination of all the things the six of us love and listen to, from indie stuff to hip-hop to old school soul and rock n roll.

How did your band form?

Tyler: Marc and I met at college in Santa Cruz, California, barely knew each other but got on craigslist and looked at apartments in LA and decided we should one day go down there and try making songs together. So we both left school, spent a year apart making music with old friends, then took those old friends (and some new ones) and made a band happen.

Marc: Yeah, we have the same story as a lot of bands I guess. We lived on bunkbeds in LA, four of us in one room, the good life. Matt and I have been playing in bands together since we were 16, Dave and Tyler go back to pre-school basketball. Our formation was very natural. I think you can tell when you hear us.

What are your musical influences?

T: Kanye, Fiona Apple, the Dream, Rilo Kiley.

M: Tupac, Sly and the Family Stone, Musiq Soulchild, Bob Dylan.

How did you come up with your band name? Presumably to do with the bar in Mill Valley?

M: I asked my girlfriend at the time for an idea. She suggested 2AM CLUB, our hometown dive bar. For some reason it works perfect.

You've got several excellent tracks out and an already respectable fan base without even having released an album yet. When can we expect your debut album?

T: Thank you! Yeah we've been happy to get to spread some of the music around before the album. It will be out this summer.

Is this your first trip to SXSW?

T: Yes it is! We've heard it's crowded so I'm prepared for my shoes to get stepped on a lot.

What's in your festival survival kit?

T: Hand sanitizer and coconut water.

M:My Eeyore pillow and EO shampoo.

What's your biggest vice?

M: Alcohol.

T: Right now these chips called Takis Fuego...basically anything with the combination of lime and chili.

What's your musical guilty pleasure? What's hiding on your ipod?

T: I really really really like Ace Of Base. I don't even feel guilty about that though. Maybe the new Adam Lambert song.

M: That new Justin Beiber song with Ludacris.

Beatles or Stones?

T: Beatles.

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

T: Last night in Providence, Sauce our bass player was feeling sick before the show. So then we go onstage, and, midway through our set, he leaves, throws up in a trash can in the back of the venue, then comes back and we finish. That's never happened to us before.

Rob Needham is a contributor from Seed.com. Learn how you can contribute here.