The Sour Notes

What's the meaning behind the band's name?

A few years ago, before I started the band... I used to write these little notes to myself on scraps of paper or notebooks lying around that said things like "Pay attention when people are talking to you", "Don't bite your nails", "Stop exaggerating stories or outright lying"... etc...  I used to call them my Sour Notes, as they were usually reflective negatively or bitter to some regard.  The first image I ever associated with The Sour Notes' music was a bunch of these crumpled up notes lying around a trash can that 'missed the bucket'...  

How did you guys get started with all this??
It started out as a bedroom recording project in Houston, Texas initially.  Then when I finished a collection of my first songs (The Meat of the Fruit, 2008), I decided I wanted to play them live with a band.  So I quit my job and moved to Austin, Texas where a like-minded musician friend of mine (Chris) lived and asked him if he would start a band with me.  We moved into a house together in East Austin and started recording our first real album in my opinion, (Received in Bitterness, 2009) and met some mutual friends (Brandi & Travis) to join on bass and drums.

What's the message to transmit with your music??
I'd like to think it's therapeutic for the lonely and/or down and out, but at the same has a real catchiness that can easily disguise all those feelings.  Most of the songs I write are usually self-reflective, like I tend to say the words 'Love, I, and You' to an absurd amount... but I'm working on extending my vocabulary.

What's your method at the time of writting a song??
It used to be that I would try and translate the feelings and/or scenarios I watched in old movies in a kind of 'summed up' pop-sensible 2 or three minute song... I used to particularly call upon the films of Ingmar Bergman for my darker songs and Jean Luc Godard for my more playful tunes.  I few of my song titles and lyrics use words, dialogue or even audio samples taken directly from these films.  More recently, I find myself just waiting around till a verse or chorus pops into my head.  It might sound unusual, but I rarely pick up a guitar or play the piano unless I have an idea for a song that I've already been humming for a week or so.

Who are your music influences??
Lyrically, I like the simplistic views in songs by '60s girl groups like The Ronnettes, I'm also a big fan of Francoise Hardy.  If you were to associate The Sour Notes' musical style to more modern bands, I would admit to listening to alot of Spiritualized and Slowdive.  When I first started forming my own musical opinions about what I liked and felt comfortable with in my teens, I really loved bands like Jawbreaker, Chisel, and Joan of Arc.  Those were probably the first bands I was exposed to that I understood.

What plans do you guys have for the future??
We've got a new 7-inch record coming out on New Years Eve, then heading out on our 4th tour up the East Coast and into Canada for a couple weeks, before returning to Austin to release our 4th album 'Last Looks'.  

What has been the greatest day in the band?
The band has grown and changed so much from the beginning and I've shared so many experiences with the different members of the band that I couldn't pick just one.  The days I'm most excited about sharing with the band are 'recording sessions', because when everyone starts to hear how new songs start to unfold and solidify, everyone just gets really excited and there's a burst of productivity for a while that carries us further.

What has been the funniest prank you guys have been or took part while on tour or after a show??
Everyone in the band is pretty reserved.  Though, there are/have been a few 'wise-guys' in the band, nobody's really tryied to pull a fast one, or at least they haven't on me.  We have gotten into some weird situations on tour... partying after shows with 'hosting bands', being involved in after-hours altercations, danger, etc, but no pranks... Like EPMD, "We're strictly business."

If you guys were stranded in the middle of nowhere after a show or while on tour. The help is 65 miles away from where you guys are, ¿Who would you guys send to look for help? And if while the rest wait, there's no food and the only way to feed yourself is by eating each other, ¿Who would you eat first?

Well, this being the 'smart-phone' generation of touring, I think we would just find the nearest helping hand and wait for their arrival.  I can't imagine what touring was like without GPS navigation systems or using physical maps. 

What are your hobbies?
I really don't do anything but work on the band non-stop.  There's always something to do everyday.  Making flyers, driving around town hanging flyers, recording, booking shows/tours, fixing what's wrong with the van and working full-time to support the band.  It's a full-time job.  There isn't really time for much more.

What country you guys would love to play?
We'd love to tour any country.

With what bands you guys would love to share stage??
I'd love to share the stage with Radiohead.  Other than that, we've had the opportunity to play with loads of talented bands across the country.  My favorite bands to play with here in Austin are Ume & White Dress.

Are you guys OK, with the direction the band is moving so far?

I don't really know where we're going, but the choices have been made.

"Psychological Thriller" Music Video from The Sour Notes on Vimeo.

Check Out more:  http://www.myspace.com/thesournotes