Mister Heavenly's Honus Honus Speaks on Michael Cera, Elvis Costello at SXSW
- Posted on Mar 20th 2011 2:15PM by Martine Paris
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Although it was Cera's celebrity that drew the crowds, it was the dark undertones of Modest Mouse and deep, soulful rumblings of Honus Honus that brought down the house. Spinner had a chance to sit down with Philly native Ryan Kattner (aka Honus Honus) backstage at the St. Pat's BAMM.tv Pop Montreal party at Beauty Bar.
Read on as the keyboardist reveals the story behind Mister Heavenly's name, why he hates when people scream "Michael" and his thoughts on Elvis Costello.
How would you describe the band's sound?
Doom Wop or maybe, yeah, Doom Warp, like Valley Girl set in the apocalypse with the Mad Max band.
Any guilty pleasures?
'Thunderheart' -- love that movie.
Why the name Mister Heavenly?
Picked it because we're anything but, sounded better than Mr. Stab and Grab or Mr. Hellacious.
Martine Paris for AOL
Michael is a buddy, never toured before, good bass player but he's not playing on the album. When the band formed a year ago, we thought it would be fun to have him on the road but it's been kind of a distraction. I hate the girls screaming "Michael."
You sound a lot like Elvis Costello. Has he been an influence?
You think I sound like Elvis Costello? Really? I hate Elvis Costello. Why would you say that? I mean, I really don't know him.
No, not his doo wop stuff. He's got great songs. 'So Like Candy,' 'I Want You' and 'Delivery Man.' How old are you?
29.
You have amazing stage presence, high energy and are very polished, pretty much stole the show at Mohawk's the other night with 'Reggae Pie' and 'Bronx Sniper.' Afterwards the crowd was buzzing that you're the glue that makes the band the next big thing. At that moment you could have made thousands selling T-shirts, CDs, DVDs, graphic novels, action figures, whatever. But there was no merch table, no signup sheet collecting emails, zips and cells for band alerts. Couldn't even find the songs on iTunes. Had to settle for posting YouTube footage on Facebook wall.
Hmm, we do have an album coming out in August/September and two free songs on Subpop.com and MisterHeavenly.com.
Where does Man Man fit in? Will you continue with them while doing Mister Heavenly?
Oh definitely, my fan base is a lot bigger for Man Man than Mister Heavenly. Check out 'Life Fantastic' on Anti.com.
- Filed under: Concerts and Tours, News, Q + A
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Elle
i think you have some wires crossed -- joe is on drums, and nick is on vocals. though, kudos for bringing up the unicorns! that takes me way back.
other than that, love that someone finally spoke out about how obnoxious the cera fangirls are. i'm a fan of his work, myself, but i had so much second hand embarrassment by all the retards making fools out of themselves at the concert by screaming "michael!" or worse: "scott pilgrim!" i'm there for the music, not to see cera do the bluth family chicken dance on stage whilst playing bass.
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