Day In Day Out Fest 2022: interviews with Animal Collective, Shabazz Palaces, and more!

Aug 16, 2022

Mitski performing at Day In Day Out Festival in Seattle, WA, 8/12/22

On Thursday 8/11/22, the day after my mom’s 63rd birthday (and 11 days before my 27th (and 9 days before my sister’s 31st)), I flew from JFK to Seattle, arriving at about 8 p.m., to attend a three-day music festival called Day In Day Out. My brother lives in Seattle as a PhD student at the University of Washington, and I stayed with him, sleeping on the couch in his cabinlike one-bedroom apartment that is its own tiny building in which he and his girlfriend live for $1350 a month. I went back from Seattle to NYC on Monday, arriving at JFK at 10:30 p.m. I saw 14 bands that weekend, and missed Turnstile (whose Glow On I really don’t like), Julie (whose EP I really like), and Japanese Breakfast (which is a goddamn crying shame—don’t ask). Armed with the handy Pentax K1000 that my first girlfriend gave me for my 18th birthday, I ended up interviewing five of the artists—a member of the band I call my favorite ever, a favorite rapper and producer of mine, and three artists I frankly didn’t know until seeing their name on the poster. (I didn’t know who The Kerrys were until the day before the first day of the festival, when they functionally replaced the COVID-troubled Soccer Mommy.)

For what it’s worth, barring the dreamlike All Tomorrow’s Parties New York festival that unfolded at Kutsher’s Hotel (?) in goddamn Monticello, NY around the turn of the 2010s, Day In Day Out was probably the best music festival I’ve ever been to. Masterfully curated, albeit for a taste in modern music that skews slightly more toward that of my bro (who skipped the fest) than mine, the festival also felt shockingly intimate and just kinda fuckin’ special, subtle electricity in the air and all that. This sense of intimacy was bolstered by the tiny but idyllic and very green space (something called Fisher Pavilion) in downtown Seattle, the good vibes emanating from the crowd and from the Space Needle (salute to the goddamn Space Needle) up above, and pretty lighting throughout and two great food trucks and a festival layout that actually made sense and outlets in the indoor space, my God. Oh, yeah: it’s also only one stage. I think this was the second Day In Day Out; there should be a hundred more.

Please enjoy reading the following interviews with and photographs of (in order) Avey Tare of Animal Collective, The Kerrys, Hollis, Ishmael Butler of Shabazz Palaces, and La Luz. I took all of the photographs and recorded the interviews (you can probably tell I came up with the questions) on the iPhone Voice Memos app. I kept myself to three questions written in the iPhone Notes app, though sometimes I piped in otherwise. I also added photographs of other artists’ performances and random stuff from the area surrounding Fisher Pavilion.

Avey Tare of Animal Collective

Alexander Francis Robertson: I'm not sure how much you want to reveal here, but you have a new song [“Defeat”] that's quite long--and it's not structurally like other long Animal Collective songs, like "Visiting Friends"; it's quite different. I see it referred to as a "suite"/"not suite"...

Avey Tare: Yeah, that's part of the title, was "A Not Suite," kind of in parentheses.

AFR: What did it mean or, like, what was the process like, composing in that mode?

AT: The way I actually...uh, the way I remember it, it kinda just all came out of me one night. I was just...we had started writing, just trying to come up with songs we were gonna play at the Music Box, in New Orleans, in 2018.

AFR: Oh, cool.

AT: And, um, Josh and Brian and I were all trying to contribute some stuff, and it was--it was nighttime, and I just sat down at my Juno, my keyboard, and, uh, yeah--I just started coming up with all the parts, and...in terms of, like, now, I feel like Josh sort of plays what I kind of, like, originally...plays along the lines of the vibes of how I kind of originally wrote it, which is sort of, like, very free-form, kind of organ-y...

AFR: Yeah.

AT: But, you know, with--with a chord structure...y'know, it's basically, like, four chords, the first part, and then there's, like...yeah, and then there's kind of a middle part, which is baroque...kinda...

AFR: Baroque!

AT: Yeah–like, instrumental, y'know, um...meshed with a weird folk-y kind of singalong?

AFR: Yeah!

AT: And then it goes back into a more kind of, like, free-form-y...y'know, we all just kinda have to, to...just to link in, to know, like, how the chords change, but I wanted it to be very loose, too. Because, uh...I don't know, I guess my brain these days, too, is thinking a lot more in that way--just sort of, like, non-structured structures, and just kind of breaking apart structures again, y'know.

AFR: For sure.

AT: I feel like especially with what we've been doing with the Time Skiffs and that kind of material, it's been stuff that's all been very rhythmic and locked-in, and a little bit more maybe, like, traditional, sort of, I guess?

AFR: Yeah, that makes sense.

AT: I kind of...I'm like this, where my head is kinda moving from that space, now.

AFR: I imagine that's kind of a natural part of the creative process.

AT: But this, y'know, was written--this was 2018. But yeah, I just did--I basically just came out and I wrote it all through on the Juno.

AFR: It just flowed forth.

AT: Yeah, yeah, and then I got together with Brian and Josh and actually kind of did the first incarnation of it, where I played the keyboard...Josh might have played piano? Or maybe another keyboard. And then, um, once Noah got involved...um, because Noah really responded to the song, so we didn't want to do that yet, so we brought Noah in and reworked it.

AFR: Cool. Alright, thank you, that was very thorough.

AT: [Laughs]

AFR: So, I'm an English teacher; I just finished my first year, and I love throwin' the most bizarre stuff at my ninth graders. And one of the essays that means a lot to me, it's this guy named Viktor Shklovsky, and he writes, "Habitualization devours work, clothes, furniture, one's wife, and the fear of war," and he says that art can ward off "habitualization" by making objects "unfamiliar". What's an object that was successfully made "unfamiliar" to you by a piece of art?

AT: Object...unfamiliar...I think, to me...horror movies do that, where I sort of get myself in a frame of mind while watching horror movies where I sort of disassociate them from being necessarily these violent images, you know what I mean, and these images of death or murder, and they become more just about the colors, and, y'know, like, paintings or, like, living art, so I think...y'know, as far back as I remember and sort of, like, getting into things that are visual, and visual art and movies and stuff, like, yeah–horror movies.

AFR: Cool! And my last question is, some people think when it comes to the artistic process that there might be a substantive difference between an intellectual faculty that tries to figure stuff out and an intuitive faculty that just feels. Does that seem true to you, and if so, how do you keep those faculties in balance? Or maybe it's not true.

AT: I definitely think that's true, um, and I feel like I'm definitely the kind of artist or musician that weighs more on the intuitive side of things--I think having a balance of both, or a balance of anything in life, is probably the best...the best way to attack anything. I think there...there are artists, maybe, that approach things from a more intellectual, kinda thoughtful way, and artists that push things maybe from a more intuitive way. I guess I probably, like I said, lean more towards an intuitive way of playing, and I think it comes a lot from how, y'know, I'm used to playing with Animal Collective, but, uh...yeah, I dunno, I think you gotta try to find the best of both worlds.

AFR: Yeah.

AT: It's cool--I think...you can think too much, I think, um, about anything, and I--I'm, uh, not too much of a fan of...y'know...overthinking anything.

AFR: For sure.

AT: I think the best...sometimes the best versions of things are the first, kind of intuitive representation of the mood; the first thing that comes out is from the heart, y'know, and I think after that, you can start to overthink things, and you can lose sort of, like, the rawness, or the original intent, so in that sense I find intuition to be a great force.

The Kerrys

AFR: The guitars on In April sound like they've gone through a grand journey to end up sounding the way they sound. Can you describe, in audio-related terms, that journey?

Sebastian Salazar: Uhh...a fucked-up amp.

AFR: A fucked-up amp?

SS: A fucked-up amp that we found in the house that we rented as a band.

AFR: Oh, perfect.

SS: That's the amp that was on stage!

AFR: So you stuck with it!

José Flores: Yeah!

AFR: What is one way, big or small, in which living in Seattle seems to affect the music that you make?

SS: Ooh. Being around a lot of parks.

AFR: Parties?

SS: Parks!

AFR: Oh--how so?

SS: Just being surrounded by nature and pretty things...because we were living in a house where literally in all directions it was, like, a park.

Mauricio: In every direction.

AFR: So you'd walk for any amount of steps in any direction and it'd be just beautiful.

JF: Exactly.

SS: On our off time, as a band we'd play Smash Bros., and otherwise we'd all be walking to parks.

AFR: So it was like 50/50 Smash Bros. and nature.

SS: And two percent music! [Laughs]

AFR: Tell me a little bit about the neck that adorns the cover of In April.

SS [points to Bryce B.]: That's all you.

JF: Bryce B.!

Bryce B.: That would be me.

AFR: What's your name?

BB: Bryce B.

AFR: Bryce P.

BB: Bryce B.

AFR: Bryce B. Got it. And that's yours.

BB: And I exfoliated the neck, you know, the night before.

AFR: And then you were ready.

JF: We decided he had the nicest neck.

M: He did. He had the best.

Hollis

AFR: I just finished my first year as a high school English teacher, and I’m wondering if you’d like to brush up on your parts of speech. I’m gonna ask you about three of your song titles…

Hollis: Okay.

AFR: …and you have to identify the part of speech. Alright, “Subliminal”. What kind of word is that?

H: “Subliminal” is a…well, the thing is it’s an adjective…

AFR: Yes.

H: …but I use it as a noun. Like, “THE subliminal”.

AFR: For sure. OK, “Let Me Not”.

H: “Let me not” is like a dictum…a mandato, in Spanish.

AFR: Do you know each word? “Let”.

H: Okay. Hold on. “Let” is a verb.

AFR: Yup.

H: “Me” is a pre…pos…no. No, no, no, no!

AFR: Close. I get what you’re saying.

H: It’s a fuckin’…it’s a pronoun?

AFR: That’s it!

H: [Laughs]

AFR: And “not” is interesting.

H: “Not” is not a preposition?

AFR: It’s not.

H: Okay.

AFR: It’s a tough one.

H: “Not”…it isn’t an adverb, is it?

AFR: It is! And then the last one is…

H: It’s an adverb, baby! It describes an adjective!

AFR: There we go!

H: I’m back!

AFR: Yeah! And then finally is “Less Like”.

H: “Less” is an adjective.

AFR: Yes.

H: And “like” is…also an adjective?

AFR: No, it’s not. You had one earlier…

H: Is it a preposition?

AFR: Yes. Alright, that’s it.

H: It’s been a while.

AFR: That’s okay.

H: Me in college is like, “Bitch, what?”

AFR: No, that was well done. Alright, so one of the first uses of the word “Subliminal,” which is the name of your debut album, is in an 1897 book called Telepathy and the Subliminal Self by a guy named Rupert Mason. Mason, in the introduction, laments those who do not “think seriously regarding unusual occurrences and phenomena”. What’s something you’ve experienced personally that made you think seriously regarding unusual occurrences and phenomena?

H: Um…uh…okay, you’re saying—

AFR: Something that happened to you that made you seriously consider unusual phenomena.

H: Unusual phenomena?

AFR: Yeah.

H: I think even when I was young and I would see, like, floaters in my eyes. And I was like, “It feels a little alien. It feels like there’s kind of, like, parasitic sentience that I’m seeing and nobody else is seeing.”

AFR: Everyone can relate to that. Finally, what do you think it will take to get the SuperSonics back in Seattle?

H: It’s gonna happen sooner than we all think.

AFR: It’s gonna happen sooner than we all think?

H: It’s gonna happen sooner than we all think.

Ishmael Butler of Shabazz Palaces

AFR: There’s probably a lot of answers to this, but how is Seattle different now, in 2022, from when you grew up here?

Ishmael Butler: It’s just bigger…uh, more people…corporations took over, and a lot of people from out of town moved here so there’s less Seattleites. But, you know, Seattle grew; it was a cool place and it’s still cool.

AFR: Yeah! Your father was a longtime professor at the University of Virginia. So is my girlfriend’s…

IB: Right on.

AFR: He studied the lives and communities of Black Americans through time. What do you think is one takeaway someone should or would receive from reading his scholarship?

IB: I think…I think that I believe that there is no such thing as really getting one takeaway from anything. Like…everything is rich in learning and knowledge and information. Somebody could read something that somebody thought was conclusive, and that could be just the beginning of some extra thought that goes deeper into that thought. So always be open-minded and never try to take just one thing away from anything. No disrespect to your question.

AFR: No, of course—not at all. Finally, Thee Stasia gets the last verse on your first album, and she ends that verse like this:

“It was such a force, I tried to stop it but I can't

So still it morphs, this shit is way too advanced”

Thee Stasia’s lines could be said to apply to the complex process of change within a number of arenas, but I prefer to see it as a description of hip-hop itself, which is morphing constantly, much too “advanced” to be pigeonholed. Where do you see hip-hop going in the next 10 years?

IB: I feel like, you know, hip-hop has gotta start to get away from the murderous mentality, you know. It’s more like it’s some death cult shit right now. Everybody talkin’ about murder, murder, this and that, so, I’d like to see us movin’ away from that in a strong way.

La Luz

AFR: OK, so, whoever wants to answer this first--what's the best housing deal you've ever secured for yourself?

Lena Simon: Housing deal?

AFR: Housing deal--like, the cheapest, relative to quality, housing...

Audrey Johnson: You mean like as a band?

AFR: Or individually. Or as a band! Whatever you think. Like, you ever get a real good deal somewhere? Or is it just the dregs...

AJ: We were just talking about this! I have only gotten good deals! [Laughs]

AFR: Oh, really?

AJ: Because I'm willing to compromise, uh, comfort--everything, pretty much.

AFR: Perfect.

LS: Yeah, but it's like, who's getting the deal?

AFR: I mean, it is exactly the kind of answer I was looking for.

AJ: Lots of roommates...in a house, or rather, in a room that was basically the size of a closet...oh yeah.

LS: It didn't have a closet.

AJ: It was the size of my bed! That's pretty much it...

AFR: Yeah!

AJ: Pretty crazy!

AFR: Cool! No, yeah, that's a great answer. Question #2 is that the opening and title track of your album Floating Features is instrumental. What effect do you think this decision has on the album?

LS: Um...it's a really...powerful opening.

AFR: Yeah.

LS: You're like, "Boom, here we are."

AJ: I mean, I think that the...there's, y'know, there's different ways to open an album--you can kind of go and, like, take this...the quiet approach, where it's like, "We're not gonna give away too much! We're just gonna provide this gentle entry into the album."

AFR: Yeah.

AJ: Y'know...and I think that, yeah, this is, like, kind of the opposite, of just being like, "Here's everything." [Makes disquieting noise]

Shana Cleveland: Yeah.

AJ: And then the vocals come in, and you're so...stoked to hear the vocals! Because you haven't heard them yet.

LS: Right...it's kind of the opposite approach from the...the opener from the previous album. Very gentle...very tranquil.

SC: That one was, like, a very..."curtain opening" moment.

AFR: Cool! And then the final question is, uh, do you think poetry can change the world?

AJ: Yes! Of course.

LS: I hope so.

SC: Huh. Yeah.