Dustin Smith
Drummer
The Federalists
www.the-federalists.com
Q:
Tell me about being picked out of the hundreds of bands to play
on
Jan. 20 at 12 Galaxies in San Francisco? Why should people come
out
to it? (I know I’ll be there!)
It is always a thrill when people dig
what we're doing. Being picked to play the show was a real honor.
Supposedly they booked the 10 best bands they could find in the bay
area, so I'm looking forward to seeing our competition.
Q:What did
it take to get to this point with the band?
We've all been playing
music seperately for most of our lives. We've learned how bands work
and how they fall apart. Everything just happened to align naturally
to where it made sense for us to be playing together. Hopefully this
"point" is nowhere near our peak.
Q:What are some of the new sounds
your making for the EP that you
are releasing at the 12 Galaxies show?
Unlike
our first record, we are taking advantage of the studio and modern
technology. Our new songs are very precisely orchestrated with strings,
horns, background vocals, synths and anything else we can think of.
Q:You
describe yourselves and “Rebelling against modern gimmicks”
so is this
mostly because you guys don’t do the overdubs thing or
how would you
explain that further?
I'm not against doing overdubs. I just felt like
recording without them was necesary to achieve the sound I wanted
on that particular album. I think the way we rebel against modern
gimmicks is by not paying attention to them. After Green Day a bunch
of pop punk bands came out. After The White Stripes made it
big, a bunch of garage bands came out and after Franz Ferdinand a
bunch of dance rock bands came out. We are not planning on jumping
on any band wagon. We will continue to do what comes natural to us
and hopefully people will like it.
Q:Although your “style is continuously
shifting” would you agree to
calling The Federalist an alt- country
band?
No musician or artist wants to be put in a category. However,
it is fair to say that our first (and currently only) record is definitely
alt-country. The songs that we are working on for our next album have
more of an indie rock feel. I realize that people want consistency
from a band, but I think the melodies and the individual style of
each member of the band will keep the sound coherent no matter what
genre the music is.
Q:O.K. fun stuff now! I like to play a little game
where I say a
word and you say the first thing that pops in your head!
Alrighty?
GO!
Elvis? Costello
Popsicles? Otter Pops
Rabbit? Monty Python
Hula?
Lilo & Stitch
Sugar? Stevie Wonder
Puppies? Pound Puppies
Yellow?
Coldplay
Rum? Thumb
