Pursuant to my post in the "meeting the band" thread, you may have read that I will be interviewing the band this October when they stop in my town on tour. I have plenty of questions for them, sure, but I'd like to open the opportunity to other fans to ask questions too! So go ahead, what would you like me to ask them? As a group or specific members?
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I had a few! You might already have these..
Group:
-Where there many recorded b-sides that didn't make it on to La Di Da Di?
-New piece(s) of gear that you're using?
-Any projects that individual members are working on/releasing?
-What other bands/artists do you guys listen to that you feel push the limits?
-Favorite song(s) to play live?
Live DVD?
Any old or new unreleased material?
Longer directors cut of "The Art of Repetition"?
EPC on vinyl?
Both Ian and John are doing or have done other projects while in Battles.
What about Dave?
Does Ian plan to release any of the solo material he's done recently?
Are Tyondai's parts on what became Gloss Drop really deleted forever,
or do versions of those songs with him on them still exist privately in a vault somewhere?
I want to second the Dave side project question. Is he a food photographer?
Also, i remember an interview on gloss drop where they said they where scrambling to learn how to play all the songs they'd written before touring. Was it the same for this record, or were they thinking about how to play the songs while writting them?
What's Ian's sense of humour like now that hes a dad? More puns/dad humor?
im curious to know how many gigs of recording files this album generated.
looping seems to be pretty popular nowadays whereas when I first listened to battles Id never heard anything like it before and was completely blown away. How do you manage to keep looping fresh on every record? Seems like it's relatively easy to make a cool sounding loop but takes some real skill to keep it interesting every time
I second the Tyondai/Gloss Drop deleted parts question. Always been curious if they really deleted them and if there's an original "White Electric" take.
Future EPs between records? Ian hinted at something like that, releasing music more frequently but this is Battles we're talking about.
Here it is!
I got the interview tonight in Dallas, they were very gracious and answered all my questions and lots of yours too! There were a couple I didn't ask for time constraints, and some I did ask but separate from the filmed interview. To answer those:
New piece(s) of gear that you're using?
Ian said he's still trying to get the most out of the current gear.
What's Ian's sense of humour like now that hes a dad?
He said he needs some more time before he can answer that question (more time as a dad).
im curious to know how many gigs of recording files this album generated.
John guessed 100 TB! However Dave said they had a 2TB hard drive, and they didn't quite fill it up, so he estimated 1.5 TB.
I also got some background info on the guys before the interview. And asked about their favorite band. Ian took a long time on that one, so I said it could also be a band he likes right now or one that he thinks is influential on him.
Ian: Born 8/31/70 in Pittsburgh, grew up in Johnstown PA. Studied history and political science in college. Took piano lessons as a kid, played guitar, bass, and drums as a teenager. Favorite band: Dawn of Midi
John: Born 8/2/68 in Baltimore, grew up in Pittsburgh and Florida. Was an orchestral percussion major in college (but didn't finish). Took a year off and never went back to school after going to NYC to play music. Favorite band: Rush
Dave: Born 9/2/76 in Worcester, MA and grew up there. Studied graphic design in college. Became a musician in 1997. Favorite band: Golden
Also, John was very interested in my Hi/Lo harpsichord transcription! I showed him the sheet music (he is the only one who reads music), and he asked for a copy so he can try to play through some of it. 
Now, from talking to Dave after the show, I won't repeat what all he said in off the record but it is very clear to me that Ty did not leave the band amicably contrary to what the official statement said. There are a lot of sour grapes between them unfortunately. One of my questions for the interview had been if they listen to any of his solo work but during the interview I decided to leave that one out and I'm glad I did, because obviously he left the band on bad terms.
Great interview!
EPC stands for Epic?! BEP stands for Beep?! Wow never knew that!
Thanks for asking some questions on my behalf.
They only made fun of us a little bit thankfully. HaHa!
Stellar job. Hope you get the opportunity to speak with them again and this is first of many.
Awesome!
