Ten Questions with “Ugly Kids Club”
1. Welcome to Kick Acts. Tell us a little about yourself and your band and were you can be found at on the web.
We are an electronic rock duo from Nashville. We formed last summer and we just finished our first ep which will be out in January. You can find us at www.uglykidsclub.com and www.facebook.com/uglykidsclub. Bam.
2. Who are your musical heroes, influences & why?
Musically, we look up to The Police, Talking Heads, Nirvana, My Bloody Valentine, The Kills, and Jack White. We feel like rock and roll will and should live on despite the continuously changing and cross-pollenating landscape of musical genres. We’re not sure exactly where we fit, but we like to think we are in the tradition of what used to be called rock and roll, but has grown into entirely new places as of 2011. We also have a healthy amount of the punk/DIY spirit that drives us to do everything we can ourselves and make sure we like our music before anyone else does. Many of our musical heroes were pioneers and genre-benders in this same way.
3.Do you have any advice for someone just getting started in playing music? Any pitfalls they should avoid?
Love music above anything else. Learn about songwriting early and always remain a student. It is a skill that must be honed over many years. Don’t wait on anyone to help you. No one will ever care as much about your art and your music as you. This is the music ‘business’, so become a business man/woman and you will have a much better chance at survival.
4.Do you have a greatest gig story you’d like to share?
Well, we’ve only had one gig a couple weeks ago and I suppose it was our greatest :).
5.On the same token as the above question. How about a “worst gig” ever story.
Hasn’t happened yet.
6.Do you have any other hobbies other than playing music? Collect stamps?Collect hats from off the side of the road? Draw pictures of boobs?
We like to laminate things. Aliegh has a pretty weird obsession with touching laminated stuff and plugging in cords. Salsa dancing. We both love space. Anything to do with that and we’re sucked in. Aliegh collects anything with owls.
7.What do you think about the present music scene or lack of in your area? Care to address that?
Nashville is a strange beast. Musically, we are pretty diverse. Outside of New York, I think it may be the toughest town to play a gig. Most people here that we know have a band, or are in the music industry in some capacity. Therefore there is a very thick air at most shows. Even when people are ‘into it’ they will typically listen with their arms folded and only give obligatory applause. Not to sound cynical, because I have behaved exactly like this at many shows. Nashville can do this to you, and it is important, I believe, as a band from Nashville to play other towns as much as possible. That said, we do have many wonderful venues such as The Exit/In and the Ryman that are second to none in this country.
8.Tell us something about each of your band members that we wouldn’t expect to hear… Like their hobbies or something like that…
Steve is a Grammy nominated producer and songwriter and he also is vegetarian who has dreams about flying to different planets. Aliegh is a passionate salsa dancer. It’s kind of a big deal… She also loves her telescope and shooting guns!
9. Hypothetical situation. You’re stranded on Gilligan’s island and you get to hook up with only one of the girls… Is it Ginger, Mary Ann or Mrs. Howell and why?
Is there any answer other than Ginger? Now let’s see what Aliegh has to say…
Ugghh for me, Aliegh, I feel pretty weird about making out with chicks but I’d totally go for Mary Ann. Mrs. Howell is a close second. I like ’em old. More experienced.
10. # 10 is called “Shout It Out Loud”. It’s were you get to talk about whatever you want to talk about. So go ahead and “SHOUT IT OUT LOUD”!
(Steve) Um, I really don’t shout much. But if you insist…I THINK SPOTIFY IS THE BEST THING IN THE UNIVERSE AND YES, IT BUGS ME THAT I DON’T KNOW HOW MUSICIANS WILL MAKE $ IN THE FUTURE, BUT I BELIEVE WE WILL FIGURE THAT OUT BECAUSE THE WORLD CLEARLY WANTS IT AND THEIR LIVES ARE HAPPENING TO THE SOUNDTRACK WE ARE ALL CREATING.
(Aliegh) STOP TRYING TO HAVE PERFECT HAIR AND HAVE SOMETHING REAL TO OFFER THE WORLD. LET’S ALL GO TO MARS! LONG LIVE NASA!!!
BONUS QUESTIONS:
Q: Without looking up it on the internet, do you know who “Rita Repulsa” and Lord Zedd” are and how do you know?
No idea. Makes me think of Rita Hayworth and the Legend of Zelda. Sounds like bad sci-fi names.Star Trek?
Q: Should singers and bands also be political too or just make music and keep their opinions to themselves and not go “Bono” on everyone?
It can be shaky ground for artists to go political, but some of the greats obviously have. (Dylan, Beatles, CSNY, The Clash) I think we appreciate when artists do choose to share their beliefs even at the potential alienation of some fans. These days, being an artist is more about finding like-minded people who love what you do, rather than attempting to gain mass appeal. If you share what you really believe, it will most likely draw some closer in, and push some away. We believe this is a good thing.
Q: At what point should someone that hasn’t made it give up on their dream and get over it or should they ever give up?
We believe this is the greatest time in history to be in a band. There is no need to have a record deal anymore just to make good recording, find fans, promote yourself, etc. The old dream used to be to conquer the world and achieve god-like status as an artists. These days artists and fans have the ability to have NO barriers between them. This is an entirely new paradigm. There is a place for everyone who feels the calling or the desire to express themselves in an artistic fashion now. It does not matter how big or small the audience is. Success is now however one defines it. If we are talking music as a full-time gig, there are not too many who can get there. But this does not mean that everyone who can’t do that isn’t worthy or capable of artistic expression. Some people ‘want’ to do music and they will mostly likely all eventually give up. Some people ‘have’ to do music. These people don’t have that option.
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