Phantogram Interview: SXSW 2010

Joshua Carter and Sarah Barthel's, Phantogram is a hip new band from Sarasota Springs, N.Y., whose sound is a mixture of dope beats and dream pop. Spinner recently caught up with Josh to talk about Phantogram's upcoming venture to SXSW and how he is looking forward to the tacos, bbq, beer and warm weather that come along with all of the music.

Describe your sound in your own words.

Beat-heavy pop with kind of dreamy, swelling guitars, spacey synths and emotional lyrics; honest lyrics.

So, you guys are a two-piece. How would you describe your live show? What does Sarah play and what do you play and how does it all come together live?

Well, live we have drum machines and a couple of samplers. Sarah plays two keyboards. I play guitar with a bunch of pedals. It all comes together by doing some looping and live sampling of drums and instruments and the guitar. That's how we make our music live. We always try to write everything live so we know that we can perform it, because in the past we've made the mistake of just writing in the studio and then being like, "damn, how are we going to play this live?." So, we have made that mistake, but in those cases we've just kind of done different renditions of our songs live and that makes it kind of fun anyway.

So how did your band form?

We formed in 2007. We're almost three years old. So, three years ago in May we formed. I'd been working on a lot of my own material; my own solo stuff. Not that I wanted to be a solo artist or anything, but for years I've kind of been working on recording and writing my own stuff. I started getting into making beats and I quit the band I was playing in, in New York City and moved back home to Sarasota Springs and Sarah, she had just graduated college in Burlington, Vermont. So, we were both in our hometown again and we met up and I realized that Sarah has a really awesome voice and is really good at piano. I asked her to help me finish up a track with the vocals and she did and it turned out great. So, I was like, "we should start a band," and we did and as soon as it started, we we're like, "let's just keep going with this..." We work really nicely as a team.

What are your musical influences?

We listen to everything from like, French pop from the '60s to....Cocteau Twins, to Flaming Lips, Sonic Youth, um let's see here, we like a lot of a lot of underground hip-hop, like J Dilla and Madlib and 9th Wonder. We also like bands like Yes....We love the Beatles too. Sarah's really into David Bowie. Influentially, we experiment with what we like out of certain bands and just create from there.

How did you come up with your band name?

We were thinking about naming it Ghost Hands or Phantom Hands or something like that. We were racking our brains for a little while and a lot of band names are already taken actually, because there's a million bands out there. So, I was like, "how about Phantogram?" And Sarah, was like, "Hmmm, Phantogram, that sounds kind of cool." So, we go on Google and look it up and well first off, there's no bands named Phantogram and second, the definition of Phantogram seemed to fit our band to a tee. A Phantogram is a two-dimensional optical illusion that sort of pops out when you look at it at a 45 degree angle or with 3-D glasses. So, sound-wise, we're a two-piece band with a goal to create very stereophonic sound. We just thought it was very fitting.

Any musical guilty pleasures?

There's a song by Hannah Montana called 'Party in the USA.' I think it's Hannah Montana, maybe it's Miley Cyrus,but when we're touring and that comes on the radio, we both really love that song. It's just so cheesy, but good. It sounds almost like a Passion Pit song in a way. So, I don't know if that's a guilty pleasure or what.

What in particular excites you about playing SXSW? Is this going to be your first year there?

No, this is going to be our second year. What excites me? Tacos, bbq, beer and lots of awesome, awesome bands playing everywhere; and warm weather.

Do you have a lot of friends playing? Anyone you're looking forward to seeing play a lot?

Yeah, our friends School of Seven Bells, I think are playing. So, I'm going to be really excited to see them and hang out with them. Our buddies, The Pomegranates, I think are playing. These are bands we've become friends with and toured with. So, who am I excited about seeing? There's a lot of bands. I don't even know who's playing this year, but I'm sure I'll get excited once I see who's playing. It's going to be really hectic.

Are you playing a lot of shows?

Yeah, last year was hectic too, but we didn't really know what we were getting into but now that we know how crazy it is. I'm really looking forward to it. We're going to do a lot of shows and a lot of interviews and stuff. So, we'll be busy. We'll try not to drink too much and to stay hydrated.

What kind of things will you be including in your SXSW survival kit? What makes touring easier for you?

Things that make touring easy are, this Podcast called 'This American Life' that we've been downloading that's fun to listen to in the car on trips. Gee, just hanging out with Sarah and laughing a lot at Sarah, because she's really funny. I think laughter is a good thing. Then, books on tape, iPod, Emergen-C, and vitamins and a clean change of underwear.

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

Man, the craziest thing I've seen on tour...I don't think we've got to experience the craziest thing yet...I guess when we were in Germany, I got kicked repetitively by some weird drunk guy, after a show...He started kicking me in the back of the leg, trying to pick a fight with me. That was weird. He was just drunk, I don't know what he wanted, but he left me alone once he saw my guns. You know?


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