Seismic-Sound Interview: Boys Of Fidlar Talk About Touring Europe, Festivals and Everything DIY!

So it seems like 2012 has been pretty huge for FIDLAR, a lot of new stuff has been going on. What have been the highlights?

Brandon: We got signed to Mom + Pop Records and that has been a pretty big deal and we pretty much got a whole team this year, like booking agent, lawyer, label… All the stuff a band needs to like take it to the next level.

Elvis: Another cool thing was SXSW, we played a lot of shows and it was really fun! We put out a 7 inch and putting out another one in the UK pretty soon. It’s really exciting to have more product coming out!

Brandon: We recorded our full length too which will hopefully be coming out in September. We did it all ourselves at our studio in Highland Park and built the studio and recorded all the songs… And mixed all the songs.

What about SXSW. Have you ever been before to watch or play?

Elvis: We have all gone a couple years in a row now but this was the first full on show. 9 shows actually, during the week we were there. So that was kinda crazy like running around doing whatever SXSW entails. It was a lot of work but it was fun. We played with a lot of cool bands and stuff. We didn’t have too much down time to go shows though… It’s a really good festival. I think it’s the best music festival. There are always really good shows.

Brandon: I saw Jacuzzi Boys and that was really good. I’ve seen Thee Oh Sees there a couple times and Black Angels and stuff like that. Trash Talk … we almost got to play with them but the show got shut down before we got to play.

What do you mean it got shut down?

Brandon: AESOP Rock is like this new rapper that’s out. It was kinda bullshit because we were supposed to play first but then we got moved to play last and then he like started a fight with the audience and ran into the audience and tried to punch somebody and then the show got shut down.

And you’re going to Europe this summer?

Brandon: We are going to Europe in August. We are playing Pukklepop in Belgium, Lowlands Festival in Holland, and then Radfest in London, and then Reading and Leeds Festivals, and then I think we are doing our own show in London.

Elvis: Yeah, we are doing our own show in London.

Brandon: We’ve never been to Europe, I mean I’ve never been to any of those places before so like we are pretty excited because I don’t know, its somewhere we’ve never been and we get to play like cool festivals with bands we like and stuff. And then the Fuck Yeah Fest in LA in September. That’s like a huge deal for us, because we have all gone every year and the line-up for that this year is insane. Its literally like 15 of my favorite bands. We are pretty pumped.

Will the Olympics still be going on when your there?

FIDLAR: Oh whoa, I don’t know… I didn’t even think about that.

So did you say the studio is in your house?

Brandon: Me and Zach live with some other roommates in this house in Highland Park that is this old car dealership that has like been transformed. It was a studio before we got there. That band Trapt, that like super deuschy bro rock? So it was their studio originally and then we like sublet it from some other weird stoner guy. It’s a pretty unique space and we’ve had a lot of parties and DIY shows there and make all of our merch there, built our studio there… and live there. It’s like a fun-house/club house!

And you make all of your own merch?

Max: We have a bunch of the “Don’t Try” EP’s so we just spray painted all the cases.

Brandon: We have shirts and pins. Me and Max will like make shirts in our backyard. We have like screen and just screen print them. We order a bunch of shirts or like try to like steal them from Target or something. It was a lot to make shirts for this tour because we have been gone and we were like we are gonna needs like tons, or hundreds, of shirts. So it got a little intense. I don’t know how much longer we will be able to make our shirts but we like doing that stuff. We like creating. We are all pretty creative people. Usually we don’t have day jobs so on those days off its like “What should I do?” so we will just like make some CD covers or shirts. We are always trying to think of new ways to do cool shit for our band. It’s funny too because you can definitely tell they are made by us because there will be some weird ink spot on the shoulder. We actually played a show in LA not too long ago and we just took a bunch of our old shirts. Like Zac had trash bags full of old clothes that he didn’t want any more. So we pulled out all these other band shirts. So it would be like a Led Zeppelin shirt and we just screen printed FIDLAR over it and gave them away. We made 60 shirts and just gave them out for free. We thought it would be weird to sell someone like our old shirt. Selling a new shirt, even if you steal if from Target, is fine but some dingy old quicksilver shirt just seems fucked up.

Tell me a little bit about the DIY shows.

Max: We originally started playing these bike rides that one of our friends put on. And it would just be like a hundred bikers or so and they make periodical stops and at those stops they would have bands playing. So that was our first show, actually our couple first shows. And then a lot of them are just like house parties. We used to have house parties at their house but then it started getting too gnarly. Shit was getting stolen and our walls were getting spray painted and it was just not cool.  So now its like if someone wants us to play their house party they will just ask us and if we are in town and we want to do it we’ll be like “alright”. But its getting to the point now that its like almost a little too hectic to play because there is like no room to play because your on the floor and all your shit gets knocked over and the past 5 or so have been like power gets cut out and then there is 10 minutes of silence. And its become and issue. We are trying to work around it but more and more people are coming so its difficult.

Brandon: I don’t think there is a “scene” of DIY, I just think we play DIY shows. I always liked going to DIY shows because you don’t have to pay a cover and spend a bunch of money on drinks and there is no age limit or anything. And they were always more fun so it was just like “why don’t we just play a DIY show instead of some weird venue in LA where, I don’t know, where we have to like sell tickets and shit.

Alright FIDLAR, you need to see your openers show. It has been a pleasure meeting and talking with you and I can’t wait to see you live!

*After the show Max came up to me to find out if I had any contacts at El Corazon because he was hoping to get his fake ID back.
By:SARAH JOHNSON