It's True! Interview: SXSW 2010

Hailing from Omaha, Nebraska, It's True! have been making music and melodies that make the Midwest proud. The quintet, made up of Adam Hawkins, Andrew Bailie, Kyle Harvey, Karl Houfek and Matt Arbeiter, have been sonic collaborators since meeting at an open mic session and are currently gearing up to bring their musical stylings to SXSW in March. Spinner recently spoke with lead singer and principal songwriter Hawkins about his band, their influences and the perils of live shows.

How did your band form?

I played solo for a few years in Omaha and ran into a guitar player, Andrew. He was hosting an open mic deal where he'd play guitar with everyone, and he invited me to play a song. There was a drummer playing that night too. It just seemed like a good idea to start a band.

How did you come up with your band name?

That was something I'd been working under for a while. It came from a period when I was doing a lot of psychedelics and struggling with truth and reality.

Describe your sound.

Awesome cowboy mushroom music.

What are your musical influences?

We all have pretty different musical perspectives. Matt and Andrew, the drummer and the guitar player, are pretty jazz influenced -- they both got their chops that way. I grew up on vocal music, and then I found Black Sabbath, which was the first rock band I ever got into. As far as influencing the band, Bob Dylan, of course, has had a big influence on me, and there are a few songs I wrote while I was on a big Sigur Ros kick. I'm a big Velvet Underground fan, too.

What's your musical guilty pleasure?

Kelly Clarkson, 'Since U Been Gone.'

What's in your festival survival kit?

Food. We're just going to pack a lot of food. Probably also a watch.

What's the craziest thing you've seen at a show you've been to?

I was at a hardcore show where all these kids were jumping around, and somebody threw a live snake into the middle of the mosh pit. It was a good-sized snake, too, but most people didn't notice, so it got stepped on and ripped into a bunch of pieces. There were snake parts all over people. That was pretty wild.

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

I don't know if we've really seen a lot of craziness. It's been pretty meek and mild -- well, I wouldn't say meek and mild. Mostly it's been destruction on our parts. We've gotten carried away from time to time and broken a few guitars and a few cymbals. Omaha is kind of a laid-back crowd, usually. It's hard to get them riled up.

It's True or It's False: You guys like to mess around with tasers?

It's true. We played a show at Ames, Iowa, which is where I moved to Omaha from, so there were a bunch of my buddies there. They put us up, and since we were playing a few shows in the area we wound up staying with them for several nights. One night we all got a little loose and it was mentioned that there was a taser in the apartment, so it made perfect sense. Getting tasered wasn't really that bad. It wasn't that good, but it wasn't that bad.

It's True or It's False: Your band has a physical mailing list for your fans?

It's true. We remembered back when we were younger going to shows, and there were always mailing lists. It was always cool to just get stuff in the mail, like actual physical things in the mail from bands. We thought that would be neat to bring back a little bit, so that people would have something that we actually touched. It's a little more personal. We'll send out postcards while we're on the road with little notes on them, or send physical copies of information that's coming up.

It's True or It's False: This is the best interview you've done all day?

It's true, absolutely!


Ramit Singh is a contributor from Seed.com. Learn how you can contribute here.