In anticipation of their short summer jaunt leading the tap-dancing, glitter-loving Tilly and the Wall to Kansas, I got the chance to catch up with one of the boys (yes, one of the two boys in that band). Here’s my interview with guitarist/vocalist Derek Pressnall:
Derek Pressnall, Tilly and the Wall: What is this for?
Bethany, PopWreckoning: A website, called PopWreckoning.com.
DP: Haha, ok. Just wanted to make sure I wasn’t on the radio or something.
PW: Oh no. I wouldn’t have surprised you like that.
DP: Haha.
PW: First off, congratulations. I hear you will be a dad soon, is that correct?
DP: Yeah, yep.
PW: So what does that mean for Tilly and the Wall?
DP: What do you mean?
PW: Well, with Jamie [Pressnall] as the primary tap dancer/percussionist, I imagine being pregnant or having a baby will cause some issues with tap dancing as much as she does.
DP: Haha. Yes. Well, for these shows coming up here, we’re just going to be switching up the set, you know? She’s always had break songs and we have songs with drums and electronic beats, so we’ll just end up playing more of those, I think.
PW: I bet it helps that the last album had a bit more actual drums than previous albums.
DP: Yes.
PW: Is that also why you’re only doing a short tour right now—just a few cities?
DP: Yeah, we just wanted to play some shows, you know? We had been taking a break really since our last tour, which was oversees. That was like November.
PW: So what have you guys been up to? It has been awhile since the tour and about a year since O came out.
DP: We toured on that for awhile and we just basically have been taking a break and laying low. We’ve worked on some other stuff.
PW: Like your solo project Flowers Forever?
DP: Yeah. I’ve been working on that, you know? Just whatever. We’ve all been working on different things.
PW: Now, I have noticed that art, especially with you, has been very important. How do you balance music with art as in the painting/drawing sort of stuff?
DP: I just work on art when I’m at home and we’re not touring. You know, just whenever. I just was doing an art show, a brief show, that my friend had. That’s just, well, whenever we’re back I work on stuff. Sometimes on the road, I’ll work on stuff, but not as much. It’s harder being on the road, obviously.
PW: Yeah, can’t make a mess in a tour bus. 
DP: Right.
PW: So more specifically, what sort of projects? It was your friend’s art show or you had the art show?
DP: My friend runs this boutique here in Omaha. She had a group show. It was a group show with a bunch of local artists. So I did a piece for that. I’ve just been working on some different kind of mix media stuff. I’ve been working on a video for my friend’s band Son, Ambulance. I shot a video for that, so I’ve been working on editing that and putting it together. I’ve been working on—I’m trying to write a script—like a movie script, but I don’t know. We’ll see how that works out. Haha.
PW: Staying busy. Are you guys still connected to the Bemis Art Center?
DP: Yeah, totally. We go down there for openings and stuff. We aren’t in the space or working there at all, but we’re still really close. It’s like an official figure in the art community here.
PW: What do you think of some of the other art centers that have opened in Omaha recently like the Hot Shops?
DP: Um, the Hot Shops? I don’t know much about them. I’ve been to a couple openings at the Hot Shops. It is like a big building that has a lot of space in it, so it’s like basically a big studio house kind of idea. They have a gallery. It’s cool. I think the people from Hot Shops are trying to open a school here, an art school, of some sort.
PW: That will be cool.
DP: Yeah. Everyone that’s involved in the art community here is pretty great. Everyone does pretty cool things.
PW: I think that a lot of people there, especially in the music scene does a good job crossing over different mediums.
DP: Yeah, there is definitely a lot of that stuff going on.
PW: So I know that your band has had some PETA praises in the past, but what do you think of PETA’s attacks on President Obama?
DP: I am unaware of them and I’m one of the band members that eats meat, so I’m not a vegetarian myself. So I, personally, am not really affiliated with PETA. I don’t really know what their practices are or anything nor their issue with Obama.
PW: That’s cool. I knew some of the girls were PETA’s coolest vegetarians before or something. I thought maybe you guys would have talked about the Obama thing. They got upset when he swatted a fly or something during a speech.
DP: Oooh, right. I was wondering, I saw that on the NYTimes.com and I was wondering if animal rights activists would be really upset about that.
PW: PETA was. So I wasn’t sure if your band had any thoughts about their practices.
DP: Yeah, I’m not too sure. It would probably be a better question for the vegetarians in the band because I’ve never really researched them and what they’ve done. They seem pretty active in what they believe.
PW: You are in a band that is predominately female. What is it like touring with so many females and being one of the few guys in the band.
DP: It’s great. We’re all really good friends. It is fine. It doesn’t seem very different to me because Tilly was the first band I ever really went out on tour with and I’ve been with them for a long time, then Flowers. We’ve really become a family on the road, so it feels natural to me. So I don’t really know.
PW: How does it compare to Flowers?
DP: It still feels natural. We tour and it will be all guys with Flowers. It really is the same. There’s a lot of keeping yourself entertained in the van. A lot of my guy friends are just like girls and a lot of girl friends are just like guys, you know? If that makes any sense? It’s basically all the same. I mean, with all guys, there is more guy talk, just like with girls, there is more girl talk. You know?
PW: You guys are playing Kansas City, well Lawrence, which is basically where I’m based out of soon, what can people expect at that show?
DP: At the Lawrence show? What can they expect? I guess they can expect a tap-light Tilly and the Wall show. They can expect fun, good times.
PW: I know you’re often praised for tapping, but now that you have to be kind of tap light, is there something else that you wish people would kind of give the spotlight to?
DP: Not really, no. It has really made any difference to us, I don’t think. We’ve been, from day one, doing a wide range of things as far as percussion goes, you know? We’ve played full shows without Jamie before because she’s been sick, while on tour. There have been shows where someone was ill and we’ve had to play without that person. It isn’t anything new for us, I don’t think. We don’t see the band any differently. Or at least it doesn’t feel any different, at least to me. 
PW: OK. I was recently at Bonnaroo and during Of Montreal’s set, someone had a sign that said Tilly and the Wall loves you. I also saw on-line that Of Montreal is described as a sister band. Can you kind of explain what that means?
DP: Haha. I don’t know who the hell wrote that sign, but I did hear about this. They’re really close friends of ours. We met them, we played with them and we opened one of their first shows in Omaha. We’ve become good friends and touring with each other and staying really connected. We became instant friends. We hit it off, so we’re just the same kind of people, I guess. They seem like family. Of Montreal actually played me and Jamie’s wedding reception.
PW: That would be pretty awesome.
DP: They were the wedding band.
PW: That would be a fun dance party for a wedding reception.
DP: Oh yeah. They were amazing. They played like three hours. It was incredible. We’re just really close to them and just really good friends.
PW: I understand you’re kind of a coffee aficionado. What is the best coffee drink to you?
DP: Haha. I don’t know. I like any kind of coffee really. I’m not picky when it comes to coffee actually. I’ll drink like the shittiest coffee to like whatever, it doesn’t bother me.
My favorite, I don’t know, that’s a hard one. I guess I would say like iced coffee. You know what my favorite coffee drink is, honestly is? If you brew coffee at your house, I like to get a jar—an old spaghetti jar, like a mason jar—and fill it with ice in the summertime. Then you pour the coffee on top of it until the ice melts like halfway. The coffee gets all watered down. I love that. I like to go to my house and drink that. That is my favorite way to have coffee.
PW: Sounds good. Thanks for talking with me and I look forward to seeing you guys on Saturday.
DP: Sweet. We’ll see you then. Thank you.
PW: Bye.
DP: Bye bye.
Tilly and the Wall: website | myspace | interview with Jamie Pressnall | O review | Phila 1, Phila 2, NYC live shows
