So I thought it might be fun to interview all the Sound Off! bands this year, asking them 10 questions. I’ll usually be posting them days leading up to the semi-final they are in, but I sent the questions out a little late for the first one. I’ll be posting them as they come in, and one of the first ones I got was from our friend Teo from Candysound.

1. How did you all meet?
2. How long have you been a band?
Tom and I played in bands in high school/college and knew each other through those shows/parties, and about six months ago we realized that we really wanted to do music much more seriously than we had been.

3. What are your biggest influences?
Jazz, punk, lo-fi music… hip hop, gospel, and indie… we play a lot of sounds off our ipods because the van rides are long…

4. How do you write your songs? What do you find important when writing a song?
Though they usually start off as an acoustic demo, the songs are taken apart and reconstucted to work for two people with Tom and I discussing what we like/don’t like, and then rewriting. A lot of songs still seem to be in progress.

5. How do you record?
Wherever, whenever we can. At home on laptops individually, and we’ve gone into the studio twice - once w/ Bob Biknell at Bikbilt Studios, and once with James Moffitt (of Mouseheart Factor) at The Rattle Room.

6. What’s your favorite record right now? Of all time?
I can’t answer for Tom, but know he’s been listening to a lot of A Tribe Called Quest, and I’ve been listening to this Portland band called Woods. We also really like Mazzy Star’s first album (hoping to start a Mazzy Star cover band soon).

7. Who’s your favorite local artist?
The Oregon Donor, The Cat From Hue, The Ronz, The Masques, Maple Nightingale, Great Waves, Lonely Forest, The Globes, Council of Lions, Cumulus… this list goes on, we’re surrounded by a lot of incredibly talented people!

8. What’s the weirdest/craziest/best live show you’ve played?
Night’s at The Hell House are always epic.

9. What are your practices usually like?
Intro Jam / Drink Newcastle / Run Through Set / Drink Newcastle / Work on set or new songs / Drink Newcastle / Finish with me destroying Tom at Call of Duty, though he may deny this.

10. Any plans for the future?
West Coast Tour, March 19th - 28th!