Filthybird spent the past year migrating from Greensboro to Graham and winning over everyone with their lush, Americana charms, but can they handle a round of our questions? You be the judge after the jump.
1. If you band were a cleaning product, which would it be?
baking soda. gritty, old and new fashioned and not bad for the environment. versatile. you can bake or brush you teeth with it.
2. When was the moment you realized there was something to this musical partnership that needed to be shared?
when all of our friends and family told us there was. we never intended to be a “real” band and were enjoying being a two piece recording project, giving cdr’s of our recordings to the people we loved and knew. They were the ones that said “hey! you need to do this”….that was seven years ago.
3. Describe your typical band practice.
someone is late. food is eaten. some youtube videos shared. sometimes setting up if we just have a gig, sometimes not. some time playing covers or weird spontaneous noise. then we practice a set list for a while or work on something new.
4. Who/what might be a few inspirations or influences that would really surprise people?
there is a lot of metal in there. and some of what is typically considered bad 70’s songwriter music, like Dan Folgelberg. between all of us, our influences cover pretty much most of the music spectrum.
5. What did you dream of being when you were a kid? (how ’d that turn out?)
When I was really little and people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up I always said inanimate objects like “a grape” or “a police car.” My sisters made fun of me for this, I was also obsessed with being a dare devil, wanted to jump off of billboards onto moving cars and fly, shit like that. When I got a little older I wanted to be a marine biologist. I was obsessed with dolphins and whales and started a campaign in middle school against unethical tuna fishing practices. I studied science for a long time and have done some pretty cool things with neuroscience engineering and research, but am not currently in that field. Moving away from the ocean definitely shifted my attention from the water to other things. I am now in Grad school for technical communication. Brian and Mike pretty much have their dream jobs I think (Brian has his own shop where he builds and repairs guitars and records music.) Mike works for a record label where he gets paid to talk to people (which he is very very good at : ) ) and entertain folks and also be entertained! Pretty sweet. Jim Bob too, has always been in love with music (performing and recording) and also enjoys computing. I think at this point, we’re all kind of on a path towards something good. Of course, we would all be ecstatic if we could make a living making music : )
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Gussy up and fly on over to Kings Barcade in Raleigh to hear Filthybird live this Tuesday, February 22nd. And by all means, give Renee a high five when you see her!