By now what was about a million years ago at Austin City Limits, Jessica and Joshua got to chat with the entire Austin-based quartet Electric Touch. Jessica was really excited since she’d seen them play in Philadelphia not long before, but in between gushing, there is some great conversation. Check it out:
Jessica McGinley, PopWreckoning: So here we are with Electric Touch. Thank you guys so much for taking the time to chat. I saw you, you’re currently touring with The Fratellis and…
Louis Messina Jr., Electric Touch: The Airborne Toxic Event.
JM: The Airborne Toxic Event. I was at the Philadelphia show.
Shane Lawlor, Electric Touch: Oh! That was a killer night!
JM: It was SOO good! The crowd LOVED you guys! I was having some parking issues so I got there a little late, but I walked in on the cover of “Come Together” and I was blown away.
SL: Oh, nice. Yeah.
JM: So I assumed you were all English, I don’t know why just because of a Beatles song, everyone covers the Beatles. But then I found out the rest of you are local [to Austin]. Have you ever played Austin City Limits before?
LM: This is our first time.
JM: So what’s it like to play such a huge festival that is one of the defining events of your hometown?
LM: We’ve been playing all these major summer festivals, every major summer festival this whole summer and this is the last one and it’s in our hometown. So how much awesomer can it get? Is that, is ‘awesomer’ a word?
JM: It is now. So how is the tour with The Fratellis and The Airborne Toxic Event going?
LM: It’s been amazing. They’re all very, very excellent people as well as great, talented musicians. Just being around them for this long has been a pleasure.
JM: That’s good to hear.
LM: I feel like we’ve made some really good friends.
JM: Any good tour stories?
Christopher Leigh, Electric Touch: One time Tré Cool came up to us. He came and saw us play. His band [Green Day] is the reason I play guitar. So seeing him coming up to us and screaming our name, my jaw was to the floor. He was hanging out with us and he told us everything they were doing. So I got the down low before Rolling Stone. So it was pretty cool.
JM: Yeah, that is pretty cool. So I guess you guys when you’re on tour you get to meet a lot of cool bands like that, huh? You’ve been touring pretty extensively.
SL: It’s great because you have friends in bands and you don’t see them for a long time ’cause everyone’s working away but then they’re at the the festivals. I grew up with the guys in a band called Spiritualized so I just ran into them earlier down the way at the food tent. It was awesome just catchin’ up with old friends.
We met Sean Penn earlier in the year. That was pretty mind blowing. And Steven Tyler.
CL: Aerosmith.
SL: For four lads that just love music, to be in that setting is pretty mind blowing.
JM: Obviously you’re the odd man out with the British accent. How did you end up here in the States?
SL: I came here as a musician about three years ago and toured a lot over here. I just fell in love with Austin, really and the people in the South. I was living in London and I’d had enough of the big city; I wanted to go somewhere new. I did kind of a D.H. Lawrence on Nottingham and left for good.
I just bumped into Christopher in a coffeeshop, we had a mutual friend. I was just hanging out in Austin at the time. We hit it off as buddies and then the guitars came out. We did one demo and we managed to get signed. So dreams do come true. They do.
JM: That’s fantastic, they do! And the live EP was #1 on Amazon for a while.
SL: I thought someone was playing a joke on me. I an email on that and I thought someone had been Photoshopping it. So I had to go on Amazon meself and it was true! Yeah, it was nuts.
LM: Right up there with Coldplay and Beck.
SL: It was our first ever release so it was just…that day was amazing. Yeah, I’ve never experienced anything like that.
JM: The full-length just came out in August. How has the reception for that been?
LM: Amazing! I can’t complain with all the great responses we’ve been getting.
SL: Yeah, we’ve been selling boxes and boxes of ‘em at the shows.
JM: It’s such a great live show, I’m not surprised.
SL: Thank you so much!
JM: Honestly, when I walked in [to the Philly show late], I thought, ‘I wish I’d gotten here for the beginning of the set.’
SL: Oh, well next time! You live in Philadelphia, right?
JM: Yeah.
SL: We’ll be coming back to Philadelphia soon, hopefully. Maybe October or November.
JM: You still have to play today, right? I’ll catch you here! This [the media lounge] is a fun area, but we’re not gonna stay here all day. We’ll be there.
SL: Right!
LM: It’s gonna be a great show.
Joshua Hammond, PopWreckoning: It’s my first time seeing you guys.
SL: It’s a hot one today but we’re gonna give it everything we’ve got.
JH: Yeah it is.
SL: Drink plenty of water.
JM: EVERYone has been giving us that advice. “Drink water! The Texas sun will sneak up on you!”
LM: It will.
SL: It really does. It’s a marathon, not a sprint, so take care. Stay hydrated.
JM: So after the festival and finishing the tour with The Fratellis and The Airborne Toxic Event, what are you guys planning for the rest of the year?
CL: Well our album just came out and we’ve got a lot of touring to do to promote this record. We would love to keep recording, and I bet we will, but there are definitely a lot of shows under this Electric Touch belt self-titled.
SL: We’re back here in Texas for a few days and then I think we’re gonna hit the road again. There’s no end in sight, which is great ’cause it’s what we want.
JM: It’s what you guys live for.
CL: Yeah.
SL: Exactly right. That set on stage is just the highlight of our lives really.
JM: For the next tour, if you could just tour with anybody you wanted, any band that’s still together, not together, whatever, who do you think you’d want to share a bill with?
LM: The Beatles.
SL: Yeah, I would. Who wouldn’t? That’s like saying, “I drink water. I like water.”
[all laugh]
JH: They might bring a couple of people to the show, too.
JM: Yeah, I think some people have heard of them.
SL: I bet they would let us play “Come Together”.
JM: Of all the Beatles songs to cover, why did you choose “Come Together”?
SL: The song we do before kind of tips its hat to the Beatles and, so rather than trying to hide that fact, we kind of go into the obvious really and play one of our favorite songs. And it’s something that everybody knows. For a new band that’s playing night after night to a new crowd, it’s sort of important to present them with bands they are familiar with.
JM: Yeah, I remember at the [Philly] show that everybody was just raging for you guys.
SL: Yeah it’s great. They know the words so you can get everybody to sing along and you can get the night started in the right way.
JM: It was such a solid cover. I love cover songs anyway and some just fall flat, but you guys were just so dynamic– oh, not to gush and praise you guys left and right…
SL: Oh, no, that’s fine. That’s fine! [laughs]
JM: Wonderful. It was wonderful. So what are you all listening to right now, or were there anymore bands you guys would want to tour with?
Ross DuBois, Electric Touch: I’ve been jamming the new My Morning Jacket album non-stop. They’re a great band.
JM: I’ve never seen them, but I hear they put on a great show.
RD: They’re so good. They’re a whole different beast live.
JM: What are you guys listening to now?
SL: I’m diggin’ a record by The Last Shadow Puppets. Fellows from The Arctic Monkeys and Miles [Kane] from The Rascals — I knew him years ago, Miles, when I was back in England. We used to hang out when I was in Liverpool, so it’s great to see him doing so well. We’ve been playing that a lot, haven’t we? We’re good friends with The Arctic Monkeys.
LM: Favourite Worst Nightmare is definitely…
SL: Yeah, it’s a killer record. It’s mind blowing.
CL: Even Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, that’s pretty awesome, too. That’s it, right? I tried Arctic Monkeys.
LM: It’s pretty cool, today we’re playing right before Roky Erikson, who is such a big influence on us. He created the whole psychedelic stamp. They have the whole San Francisco thing but he came from Texas and it’s just very exciting to play right before him. I’ll be hanging out watching him.
JM: You listening to anything special?
RD: Aside from My Morning Jacket?
JM: Oh yeah, you just haven’t talked much.
RD: Well, I listen to James Brown non-stop. That’s not new, but it never gets old. I’m also excited about The Black and White Years, they’re an awesome band.
JM: Yeah, they already played today, didn’t they?
RD: Did they? We’ve been so busy I haven’t checked the schedule.
JM: I think they might be now-ish.
LM: I think it was noon.
JM: Yeah, it was probably earlier today. Good luck at the show today and thanks so much for sitting down to chat. I really appreciate it!
SL: Oh, all our pleasure!
Electric Touch: website | myspace | live | acl ‘08
Photos 1 & 3: Brian Davis
Photo 2: Alexandra Valenti
