Tell us about your tour vehicle.
At the moment we use Alex’s sweet mini van. Not sure how many miles are on it, but it does have lots of character.
How do you eat cheaply and/or healthy while on tour?
We do pretty well with food. Keep lots of fruit and nuts around. Also we cook some pretty great breakfast. Eggs, avocado, toast.
How many strings do you break in a typical year? How much does it cost to replace them?
This is not something I’ve calculated. But we all know how to play our instruments and don’t break very many things.
Where do you rehearse? Are there any particular peculiarities or crazy experiences that you’ve had there?
We don’t have a rehearsal space at the moment. New York City is just too expensive. We used to have one, and although we never had crazy experiences in it. It was the size of a closet, and we made all of our past recordings in there. It wasn’t cozy at first, but then Layton put a blanket on the wall, the type college kids decorate their dorm rooms with. It was a joke, but it helped!
What was the title and a sample lyric from the first song that you wrote?
I’ve been writing since I was 10 years old. So this is impossible to remember, but I’m sure it was some over emotional journal entry.
Describe your first gig.
First gig was for the high school talent show. I played “No Rain” by Blind Melon while my best friend Mark ran around the crowd in a bee costume.
What was your last day job? What was your favorite day job?
Currently: Layton manages a lab that makes lenses for eye ware. Alex owns a bike shop in Brooklyn. I am an audio engineer and producer, I work as an audio engineer for Museum of Modern Art and The Julliard School.
How has your music-related income changed over the past 5-10 years? What do you expect it to look like 5-10 years from now?
Who knows.
What one thing do you know now that you had wished you knew when you started your career in music?
One fact I wish I knew is to worry only about the music. When we were in college, every one gave you these bullshit indie (corny) advice on how to market yourself and have all these MySpace pages and press kits and all these lame things to look professional. None of that matters. Make great music and be a cool and good human.