MDS: Tell me a little more about SUNGLASSES, how you started, what influenced you, etc?
Samuel: Well both of us have been making music separately for basically as long as we can remember... I'm from North GA; Brady is from Washington, DC. We both went to SCAD for different things. I came for film and Brady came for sound design... Eventually I had to work on a film that was trying to bridge my love of music and film together. It was basically a narrative, a musical narrative film. I got with Brady through some mutual friends, got him working on dialog, and we recorded some music together. Next thing you know, I showed him some samples I had, he showed me some beats he made and next thing you know people liked it and then... We were finished with "Miles" which is the movie we made... and we both constantly want to work, so we decided to make a music video with some of our friends. So I directed that, we had a friend that helped us edit it and we got it on the internet and people really responded to it... That's basically what has happened over the past six months, well less than that, it's happened really quick... And I come from pop, Beach Boys, Harry Nelson, Beatles love for songs and melodies and harmonies and Brady started off as a DJ and really loves Dub step and Hip Hop and we just kinda put the two together...
MDS: So the "Whiplash" video is pretty crazy, what were you guys thinking when you put it together? What was the concept behind it?
Samuel: Personally for me, I really wanted to do some green screen stuff, I just wanted to do it for fun and... The main guy in it is one of Brady's closest friends for a long time and he is just a character and we wanted to use him for something. We have these girls that came to all of our shows and wanted to be in the video... I wanted to do something completely different from what I did before ["Miles"], which was basically the opposite of "Whiplash"... it's just really us having fun, when we shot it we had a good time shooting stuff and then we got in the editing room and just kinda had fun with it. We gathered images that we all liked... and we wanted the video to enforce the themes that we were trying to support in the music which is kinda of a psychedelic collage if you will.
MDS: Where does the name SUNGLASSES come from?
Samuel: Brady was having some trouble with his solo name... So we tried to find something for him, we were looking through the cliché band names... somehow SUNGLASSES came up and he wanted to use it for his solo name, but then we decided that we both liked it so much that we wanted to use it for us. I think it also kinda works out well with the sound and the themes that we are playing with.
MDS: So what's the plan for the future? I know you’re traveling now, are you going to tour, record an album?
Samuel: We just signed with Lefse Records which is the same label as Neon Indian and a newer band called Keepaway that signed around the same time we did. So we just signed that and we are going to release an EP with them on vinyl and digital very soon. We are supposed to get our release date today... We are playing in... New York on Thursday at Home Sweet Home in the Lower East side and then a House Party in Philadelphia. Then we are going to go to Brady's parent's lake house outside of Baltimore and finish mixing the EP, send it to the label and then we have already started recording a full length which... the label will probably want to release before the end of the year so that will be our goal, we already have around five songs we've started for that.
MDS: Where do like to play, smaller venues or bigger venues with more of the light show type stuff going on?
Samuel: Well, our definite goal is to play for as many people as possible, a light show will definitely be involved as well as some video collages that we've already kind of made, playing behind us... Our live show is very much audience interactive, its very high energy. We played a house party on Saturday and there was like 400 odd people outside trying to get in this little attic... It was just good energy there and a lot of people and we almost broke the floor, they said the ceiling below was bending like rubber or something... We think the more people the better. We had to stop because people were jumping and it was endangering people's lives... We are shooting our next video as well, so we shot this, we are gathering footage... We've just been playing some shows and getting live footage, we will probably pull that together for some kind of video, it should be something to look forward to.
MDS: What is the most Savage thing you have ever done?Samuel: Umm hmm...
Brady: Hmmm... I don't know... wow...
MDS: I know you guys have done some savage shit...Brady: Well actually our last show was probably the most savage thing we've done. I mean with all the people we had in there and the fact that I had to get on the mic and be like "alright everybody, you guys need to stop jumping up and down because you are endangering your lives." That would probably be the craziest thing that has ever happened to us, its not the first time we've broken a floor at a house, we've broken one before. It fell 6 inches and we had to stop playing there. This time we played in an attic, where it was on the 3rd floor, the people below us said the cieling was moving about 6 inches up and down, chandeliers were shaking. People were runnning and coming up to us while we were playing telling us to stop playing, but I wouldn't stop because I wanted to finish the song first. A guy had to grab me and be like "the cieling is about to fall you need to tell people to stop jumping." So I had to get on the mic... and they were good, they listened but we couldn't play for too much longer because the amount of people that were outside the house. Supposedly 400 people were out there and they had to lock the door so they wouldn't come in...
Samuel: Yeah... those people that threw the house party got evicted because of us. They don't have anywhere to live right now.
MDS: Well, I'd say you passed the Savage test haha. What are your top 3 go-to songs right now?
Samuel: We are dealing with CDs right now because we're driving in the car, so here's what we've been listening to. Dark Side of the Moon we listened to that a couple of hours ago and took too many notes and had too many ideas with that one. Then we listened to a collection of David Bowie singles we did the same thing, took notes and talk about what we want to use or things we like. And right now we are in "Kaya," Bob Marley which we are just about to get in to too deep. We also have Miles Davis - "On the Corner", that's an amazing album and... "A Love Supreme" by John Coltrane
MDS: What is your vice?
Samuel: Hmmm we have too many... I'd say recently we've gotten back into Bloody Mary's, that's not really a vice but it's good... We've been taking a lot of whiskey shots lately too, that can't end up good. And then... one of our vices is to add consonants to the word wow. Like instead of saying "wow" we say "shwow" or "bwow" annoying things like that are probably more of a vice. We like wordplay a lot; it's annoying to everyone else but us.
MDS: And finally, do you guys like PBR?
Samuel: Yes we like PBR, of course. But for some reason, we don't really drink it anymore because in Savannah it got like really hip to drink Pabsts, so it costs more than like High Life or it even costs more than like Budweiser or something else. But we definitely enjoy Pabst Blue Ribbon.
Right now, you can hear their jams “Whiplash” and “Referee” on their page, and we can’t wait to see what else they’ve been working on. These guys will put on a Savage show wherever they are, so be sure to check them out!
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