When people tell me that my pop sensibilities are a bit too sugary for their consumption, my response is always, “Blame Tullycraft.” When they wonder why I am blaming one single band for my sunny musical disposition, I sit them down, give them a fizzy soda pop, and make them listen to every song off of Old Traditions, New Standards. More often than not, I have a convert.Tullycraft is a special band. Sure they make what you could categorize as twee pop. But there is such amazing heart to their music. The songs are sincere, endearing, and so remarkably well performed that you can’t help falling in love with them. Even the most hardcore shoe-gazers I have known couldn’t help but crack a smile at songs like “Pop Songs Your New Boyfriend’s Too Stupid To Know About” and “Wild Bikini.”
Since their first full length release in 1996, Tullycraft have been steadily turning out hit records filled to the brim with memorable pop gems. The indie music world loves them so much there was even a tribute album released entitled First String Teenage High. Tullycraft may not have invented the twee genre, but they have become its strongest champions.
We caught up with the band while they were relaxing in their hometown of Seattle. They graciously agreed to answer some of our burning questions:
Viva: What's the most embarrassing band you loved as a kid?
Corianton: Phil Collins
Chris: Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band. I was about 12
Jenny: I still love ABBA and am not afraid to admit it.
Jeff: Jenny is correct. One should never be embarrassed about the music they love.
Sean: I guess that explains the John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band when Jeff drives.
Viva: What's the funniest thing that has happened to you on the road?
Chris: Maybe the elaborate pranks between Bunnygrunt and us when we were touring together.
Sean: That's true, that dirty diaper gag we pulled on Bunnygrunt had to be one of our finest moments, and it went on for days. We trashed their van so bad! It was absolutely disgusting!
Jenny: It's got to be a tie between Chris hanging out in the hotel room for hours wearing only a towel and Jeff falling on his ass on the sidewalk in Cleveland because he tried to do a drunken high kick on his birthday.
Jeff: Hey, I succeeded in the high kick - it was the aftermath that was not so good. And I'm still getting good milage out of the photos of Chris and his towel.
Viva: Who has the worst van etiquette?
Corianton: Jenny has the worst van etiquette.
Chris: Gary did, for sure! Though Sean shaving with his electric razor in the backseat is a close second.
Sean: It's true, I have shaved in the van and it drives Chris crazy. Maybe it's me?
Jeff: I actually have the worst van etiquette as I hog the front seat. And I don't care. Plus I have a habit of using inventive sign language with other motorists.
Jenny: Believe it or not, they were all perfect gentlemen!
Viva: A good number of your songs deal with falling in love, being in love, or falling out of love/breaking up. What's the best advice you can give to those looking for love?
Jenny: Find your passion, work towards it, along the way you'll meet someone who has the same passion as you. Is that too New Agey?
Corianton: Yes.
Chris: Love is a grave mental disease.-- Plato
Sean: The best advice I can give those looking for love: don't listen to indiepop.
Jeff: And don't listen to our music for advice on matters of the heart. What's wrong with you?
Viva: Please finally help set the record straight. Which is more twee: bunnies or kittens?
Jenny: Kittens, kittens, kittens!
Corianton: Turduckens.
Sean: Bunnies singing songs about kittens, and then releasing those songs on Matinée Records is by far the most twee. But seriously, how many songs about kittens sung by bunnies do we really need? Apparently, Jimmy thinks we need more.
Chris: Bunnies. Kittens are just small tigers and lions.
Jeff: Your concern on this topic is, of course, the twee-est thing ever. Fuck you, you're twee.
Viva: Who's in heavy rotation on your iPod?
Jenny: Rihanna and I'm loving that Lady GaGa song. The rest of the boys are much cooler than I am!
Corianton: Joanna Newsom. Is that too new-agey?
Jenny: Yes. Even I think so.
Chris: Feist, The Lucksmiths, M83, Jens Lekman
Jeff: Felt, Dead Moon, and Firewater.
Sean: Hello Seahorse, Iji, Suburban Kids With Biblical Names, Hefner and a playlist of Halloween Sound Effects.
Viva: What was the worst fight over nothing that you got into with each other after being road weary and exhausted?
Jeff: 10 years ago Tullycraft almost fell apart on a hot summer evening when one member of this band drove another member to a Manhattan, Kansas Greyhound Bus station. We have disfunctionally continued until today by leaving the details of the event in that dusty midwestern parking lot.
Sean: Manhattan, Kansas. Now that was a fight.
Chris: Uh, these things happen so often it's hard to separate them into individual fights, it just one decade long battle.
Jenny: The fights are my favorite part!
Visit Tullycraft Online:
Tullcraft Website
Tullycraft Myspace
Download Wild Bikini MP3!
See All the Tullycraft MP3 Downloads at Tullycraft Nation!
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1 comment:
Make sure you check out the song they recorded for the Bigtop soundtrack, "The Girl Who's Above Us," streamable here!
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