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Flavorpill Interactive Interview Series

Music

Interactive Interview: Ladytron Talk ‘Gravity the Seducer’

By Doug Levy on

It’s a bit staggering to think of the number of bands — not to mention entire movements — that have seen their rise and fall since Ladytron released their debut album 604 in 2001. In the world of electronic pop, longevity is far from a common trait. However, a decade later, the quartet is not only still releasing gorgeously constructed analogue/digital musical hybrids, but doing so without a break or misplaced step. The traditionally black-clad foursome — Daniel Hunt, Reuben Wu, Helen Marnie, and Mira Aroyo — dropped their fifth album, Gravity the Seducer, last month; we caught up with Wu and Aroyo during soundcheck at New York’s Terminal 5 for our latest Flavorpill Interactive Interview, in which they talk about the record, the secret to long-term success, and how they found themselves in Ozzy Osbourne’s old house with Christina Aguilera. … Read More

Music

Emmy the Great on Singing with Florence and Sharing Her Virtue

By Doug Levy on

Emma-Lee Moss, aka Emmy the Great, is one of those artists whose music creeps up on you, seemingly unassuming in its soft-spoken approach, only to leave you aware you’ve become hopelessly ensnared in its complexity without even realizing it. The UK-based singer/songwriter’s second album, Virtue, is a strikingly poetic rumination on mythology, spiritualism, and lost love, rooted strongly in modern folk and fleshed out with intricate pop orchestration. In our latest interactive video interview, Emmy recalls her time singing backing vocals with Florence Welch for Lightspeed Champion, shares her harrowing personal experience of the UK riots, and explains why she doesn’t mind being overly confessional in her music. She also tells us why global charity WaterAid is so close to her heart, and provides further proof that you really shouldn’t believe everything you read on Wikipedia. … Read More

Music

Interactive Interview: CSS on Joan Jett, Drinking, and La Liberación

By Doug Levy on

Since releasing their debut album in 2005, Brazilian dynamos CSS have proven themselves as one of the most entertaining live acts around, combining over-the-top onstage antics with their unique brand of party rock. Writing mostly in English with occasional bursts of Portuguese, the group — also known as Cansei de Ser Sexy — gained international attention with energetic anthems like “Let’s Make Love and Listen to Death From Above” and “Music Is My Hot Hot Sex,” before moving into looser, dancier territory with sophomore album Donkey.

This month, CSS return with their third album, La Liberación, a hook-filled, song-focused collection heralded by a pop gem of a lead single, “Hits Me Like a Rock.” In our latest interactive video interview, frontwoman Lovefoxxx and guitarists Ana Rezende and Carol Parra join us to discuss the new record (which features contributions from Ratatat and Primal Scream’s Bobby Gillespie), their love of Joan Jett, and why their band is the equivalent of a fantastic meal. … Read More

Comedy

Reno 911′s Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon on How to Make It Big

By Doug Levy on

Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon have been known to a lot of people for a lot of things. To some, they’re cherished as members of cult-classic MTV sketch-comedy series The State. To others, they’re the faces behind Deputy Junior and Lt. Dangle from Comedy Central’s reality-cop show spoof Reno 911. What you may not realize is that they’re also extremely successful Hollywood screenwriters, having penned the scripts for commercial hits including Night at the Museum, and Herbie: Fully Loaded. And while they have no illusions about the artistic merit of those films, they also know they’re responsible for over $1 billion in box-office receipts. The two have just released a book, Writing Movies for Fun and Profit: How We Made a Billion Dollars at the Box Office and You Can, Too!, which details their experiences and serves as a guide to budding mainstream screenwriters. In our latest interactive video interview, they give us a pitch for the worst movie of all time, reveal what Zac Efron is like in real life, and cover Joy Division, a cappella. … Read More

Music

Video: Andrew WK on Blowing Things Up and the Life of the Party

By Doug Levy on

Andrew WK is an undeniably singular artist. Since he first attracted international fame in 2001 with his passionate rock paean “Party Hard,” the Michigan-born, New York-based musician has been preaching the party way of life, while always bedecked in white. With a string of albums behind him (including a full record of J-Pop covers), he now owns his own NYC club (Santos Party House), hosts Cartoon Network’s explosive live-action game show Destroy Build Destroy, and even has a sideline in motivational speaking. Of course, he’s still making music too, with plans for everything from a book to a movie swirling around in his extremely overactive brain. For our latest interactive video interview, we talked to him about blowing things up on TV, responding to Chilly Gonzales’ latest request for a piano duel, and two of our favorite common online friends, Party Cat and Lil’ Andrew WK. … Read More

Music

Fitz and the Tantrums on Jilted Lovers, Spongebob, and Modern Soul

By Doug Levy on

With their debut album, Pickin’ Up the Pieces, LA soul purveyors Fitz and the Tantrums reinvigorated classic Motown tropes with a modern pop twist. Eschewing the use of guitars, the band builds its retro booty-shakers around horn blasts, keyboard runs, and even flute solos. Frontman and founder Michael “Fitz” Fitzpatrick found his perfect counterpart in co-singer Noelle Scaggs; and in our latest interactive video interview, they talk about being compared to Ike and Tina, covering the Eurythmics and the Raconteurs, dodging Spongebob underpants, and the clever pun behind their band’s name. … Read More

Music

Joseph Arthur on Michael Stipe, Loop Pedals, and Music Marathons

By Doug Levy on

Joseph Arthur is a creative dynamo. Since being discovered by Peter Gabriel in the mid-’90s, the extremely prolific singer/songwriter has delivered eight albums and ten EPs, staged gallery shows and released a book of his visual artwork, and even opened a museum. Last year, he debuted Fistful of Mercy, a side project that featured three-way collaborations with Ben Harper and Dhani Harrison, and this year brings the release of his newest album, The Graduation Ceremony. We caught up with the artist in the midst of a ten-show run at NYC’s Living Room to talk about the record, learn about his favorite collaborations, discuss his painting career, and discover his most surreal moment (hint: it involves Lou Reed and Dolly Parton). … Read More

Music

Chilly Gonzales on Orchestral Rap and Dueling John Mayer

By Doug Levy on

Chilly Gonzales has been on an artistic rampage for well over a decade now. The Canadian-born, Paris-based artist once known as Jason Beck has collaborated with Peaches, Feist, and Jamie Lidell; released numerous albums of rap, pop, and instrumental piano music; wrote, starred in, and released his own feature film; and broken the world record for solo piano performance (after playing for over 27 hours straight).

His latest is The Unspeakable Chilly Gonzales, an album that blends rap with orchestral music, arranged by his film composer brother, Christophe Beck. We caught up with Chilly at home in Paris for an interactive video interview, in which he reveals his love of Jewish humor, explains the connection between hip-hop and South Park, and challenges John Mayer to a duel. … Read More

Music

Chiddy Bang on Hip-Hop vs. Indie Rock and Breaking Records

By Doug Levy on

Things have been going well for Chiddy Bang. The Philadelphia hip-hop duo doesn’t even have a proper album yet, but Chidera “Chiddy” Anamege and Noah “Xaphoon Jones” Beresin have already developed a major following thanks to the success of their mixtapes, which build rap hits on indie-rock skeletons, sampling artists including MGMT, Passion Pit, Sufjan Stevens, and Matt & Kim. Their latest mixtape, Peanut Butter and Swelly, just dropped and is available to download for free; to celebrate its release, Chiddy did nothing less than break the world record for freestyling, rapping for over nine hours straight for MTV. As the duo preps for the release of its long-awaited debut album, Breakfast, we caught up with him for the latest in our interactive video series. Click through and control the questions yourself in our exclusive interview. … Read More

Music

Interactive Interview: Dean Ween on Music, Fishing, and Sharks

By Doug Levy on

It’s been almost three decades since a couple of kids from Pennsylvania met in class and decided to start making some extremely odd music under the moniker of Ween. Since then, Dean and Gene Ween (aka Aaron Freeman and Mickey Melchiondo) surprised everyone by tackling multiple genres, embracing the art of songwriting, and proving their musicianship — all while keeping one foot on the weird side. The band is still going strong, with its 12th album on the way, and in the meantime, Melchiondo has also started seriously indulging his other passion: fishing.

The man known to his fans as Dean Ween now runs Mickey’s Guide Service, a sportfishing business that gives you the chance to hit the water with him and reel in some major catches. (We sent a writer out with him last year to experience it firsthand.) In the latest Flavorpill Interactive Interview, we quiz him on camera about his aquatic adventures, the history of his band, and what his own favorite Ween album is. … Read More