New York City's Parquet Courts occupy an interesting space. Often inaccurately hailed as “slackers,” Parquet Courts are a very busy and hardworking band; they currently hover prominently in both the underground and the mainstream, earning positive reviews from both markets. Rolling Stone hailed their break-through effort, Light Up Gold, as the 11th best record of 2013, and the album's single "Stoned and Starving" as the sixth best of the year. Their music has spread far and wide, as the band is currently on tour in Europe, and has recently had its network television debut on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.”

 

     Perhaps what is most intriguing about the band's popularity is the manner in which they've gotten their music out into the world. They are not involved in social media of any form, instead relying (at least initially) upon the efforts of passionate fans to spread the good word. In a time where the internet rules the world and people are becoming decreasingly less interested in firmly grasping music in their hands, Parquet Courts' first release, American Specialties was distributed only on cassette (later to be reissued on vinyl due to demand), and Light Up Gold was released exclusively on vinyl until, once again, demand dictated otherwise.

 

     Despite their success, Parquet Courts is still in touch with the fans of their music. I emailed the band in February, requesting an interview. Co-frontman Andrew Savage responded quickly, kindly agreeing to do an interview through email.

 

JO: What is the songwriting process generally like for Parquet Courts?                     Where does composition most often begin, and does improvisation                     play a role?

AS:  I tend to write without any sort of musical intent, so usually a song starts            with words, before it is paired with a melody or put to music.

 

JO: While your albums sound consistently Parquet Courts, there have                       been different styles showcased from one track to the next within a                    single album—how do you achieve this balance?

AS: From the beginning the band was dynamic in range of style, so it’s just a               part of who we are really.

 

JO: How would you describe your strengths as a poet and as a songwriter,                 and how would you describe Austin’s?

AS:  I don't really consider myself a poet in the true sense of the word, or                       rather I would never self identify with that title. I think Austin is better at               character based lyrics than me. I think my strengths are probably in                       economy and brevity.

 

An Example of Austin Brown's character-based lyrics. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JO: Do you believe location plays an important part in the sound of your                   music? (For example, could a sonic landscape similar to Light Up                       Gold have been possible had you remained in Texas?) Why/why not?

AS: Possibly yes. I think environment plays a bigger role than location, but                 yeah Light Up Gold is heavily indebted to New York City.

 

JO: The band’s voice has shifted from the recording of American                               Specialties to Tally All the Things That You Broke. Has any of this                       been intentional? Are you aware of any specific events or changes in                 influence that have lead to this shift, or has your music evolved by its                 own force?

AS:  It evolved naturally, with us growing with each other as song writers.                     American Specialties is the sound of a band learning to become a band. I             wrote most of the songs on there, and recorded many of them. "Other                     Desert Cities" is probably the first true collaboration between Austin and             I.

 

"Other Desert Cities" off of American Specialties. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JO: You recently had your network television debut on “Late Night with                   Jimmy Fallon.” I have a few questions about the performance.-Was                   performing on television something the band was hoping to do?

AS:  It wasn't a goal, no.

 

JO: How did the performance come about?

AS: They asked us to do it, we said "sure".

 

JO: Was it at all uncomfortable or strange to play “Stoned and Starving”                 at a faster tempo and in just barely four minutes? The song has                           stretched out to be as long as twelve minutes at live shows, making the              “Late Night” performance seem almost like a completely different                     entity.

AS:  Yeah it was. They basically said "look you're gonna play this song and                 we're giving you four minutes", which I thought was kinda rude, but it was           nice of them to ask us in the first place. That's just the way things go I                   guess. We practiced it a lot, it was good to work within a limitation. We                 are all pretty much past the Light Up Gold era at this point, so that                       performance was the last for a while.

 

JO: Do television appearances mesh well with your more personal                             approach to promotion (word of mouth, physical advertising, little-to-               no online presence)?

AS:  Does it mesh well? I'm not sure I wasn't really thinking about that, but I               don't see an incongruence in it.

 

"Stoned and Starving" on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JO: While on the subject of band promotion, does it warm your cockles to                 see fans making an effort to spread the word? I had the pleasure of                     meeting you and Max at TT the Bear’s Place in Cambridge, MA                         before the show; I had a homemade Parquet Courts shirt on and you                 seemed appreciative of it.

AS:  It definitely does something to my cockles. Oh yeah, that was great, your              shirt looked awesome.

 

JO: What do you think of the current state of rock music? In the liner                       notes of Tally All the Things That You Broke, it is stated that “you’re                 lucky if a song even pisses off a cop,” and that the record is an                            “artifact of a civilization that may already be long dead.” Obviously                   there is some humor in the phrasing, but are modern independent                       rock bands remnants of a cultural apocalypse? It often seems                               possible.

AS:  Those are Mel Kroewerker's words, so I can't quite speak for him. I dunno             it seems stuck to me, and I don't really make an exception with Parquet                Courts. I think "cultural apocalypse" is too grand of phrasing to apply to            rock music though.

 

Opening Track of the EP Tally All the Things That You Broke.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JO: What are your plans for the immediate future? The next LP is already               recorded—has a release date been decided upon?

AS:  I'm about to board a flight from Sydney to Adelaide. We have two more                 shows in Australia, then we do some shows in England, then it’s back                    home to New York for a while. I have to finish up album artwork for the                next record, and I have three releases on my label coming out right now,                so February and March will be busy months. We'll head back out on the                road in May.

  [The new album, entitled Sunbathing Animal is set to release June 2, 2014.]

 

JO: And now, the obligatory sign-off question: any advice for aspiring                       musicians?

AS:  Be yourself, it's all you got.

 

“Sunbathing Animal”