5 Questions
with...
1. If I knew absolutely nothing about Seymore Saves
the World, how would you describe the group’s music to me?
-- Seymore Saves the World is a keyboard-driven indie
pop trio
from the Minneapolis, MN music scene. Many people say we sound like
Ben Folds and Supertramp.
2. If I were to buy your new self-titled album,
what songs should I pay particular attention to and why?
-- Well, I think "Love Song" is a great
song to start off with. It
gives a good peek into the Seymore "sound" and it's also
a song we've
gotten a lot of great feedback with. "Summer 2005," "Track
Star" and "Team
Player" are some good "story/narrative" songs. "Poppies" has
a trombone
duet and "So Cold" and "The Lake" are a little
break from the typical "
Seymore" sound. I really like how the entire album turned out...
3. When and where did the band form, and where did the
name come from? -- Shawn, Michael
and I all went to the same college, Luther
College in Decorah, Iowa. We played in some jazz ensembles and some
other bands at that time, but nothing similar to Seymore Saves the
Wolrd. I then went off to grad school at Bowling Green State
University, in Ohio (I'm a bit older that Michael and Shawn) and while
I was there I wrote all these songs for a project I wanted to call
Seymore Saves the World. When I came back to Minneapolis, I found
that Shawn and Michael were both playing in bands in the Minneapolis
music scene and I asked them to play with me and they said yes!
Seymore Saves the World is a name that comes from
two tragic "Seymore" characters. One is from Hubert Selby's book "Last Exit to Brooklyn" and the other is from the movie "Ghost World." I
thought it would be
cool if unlikely characters such as these were able to save the world.
I also changed Seymour to Seymore because I wasn't sure of the
spelling.
4.
What was your worst on stage experience? What was your
best?
-- My worst stage experience with Seymore Saves
the World
happened about a month before my best stage experience. Earlier this
year we played a lesser known club in Minneapolis to one person,
Michael's wife, it was horrible and made me kind of question the whole
thing briefly. However, a month later my best stage experience with
Seymore Saves the World was our CD Release Party for our debut cd in
front of a packed crowd of our family, friends and fans. It was quite
a turnaround in a short time.
5. Do you think that the Internet (whether it be Internet
radio, legal downloading, MySpace, streaming audio, etc.) is a good tool
for musicians or is it a bad thing because it hinders profits?
-- I think that the internet is a great tool for musicians.
Blogs like Stereogum and My Old Kentucky Blog were great for helping
us start out some buzz for our album. Pitchfork Media also gave us
some great coverage. Our myspace site has been a great tool to let
people know about shows and other news. And for booking tours you
can't beat email. However, we don't have to worry about profits too
much directly as we are on a record label, but even then the internet
gives fans a place to buy our album other than the local record store.
LISTEN TO "LOVE SONG" |
