Brooklyn Vegan interviews SISTERS

photo by Leia Jospe. Bill is killing it with the interviews over at the Big V!

While they have yet to release an album, Brooklyn duo Sisters have been busy releasing split 7"s with JEFF: the Brotherhood and helping run Death by Audio the venue. Death by Audio, the label, will release their full-length debut in the spring of 2010. The guys don't have any local shows till February (when they'll open for Atlas Sound and Neon Indian) but they play Toronto on January 15 with Little Girls. Singer-guitarist Aaron Pfannnebecker, and drummer/keyboardist Matt Conboy sum up their 2009, and explain why two people need so much volume...

--

You spent 2009 working on your debut album. How's that coming along?

Aaron: Yeah, we started in September. We are starting to mix it this week actually. I am really psyched. It's sounding great.

Matt: It's coming along great. We're working with Jeremy Scott at The Civil Defense. I think some times I get impatient, and want the thing finished sooner, but I know that it will be worth the wait to make it exactly how we want it.

Sisters use more amps than the average person might expect from two people. What's with that?

Aaron: I send loops sometimes to one stack and sometimes play out of both. We also babysit, so sometimes kids can hang out in them if we need to play a show.

Matt: The short answer is that I can't really play drums quietly, so Aaron's guitar needs to be loud enough for me to hear it. We also try to fill out a wide spectrum of sound, but having only two members means compensating with amps etc. Plus I think we sound a lot better now than when we just had one guitar amp.

What was your most memorable musical moment of 2009?

Aaron: Making up music in my bedroom with some new toys and making music with Matt.

What about non-musical moment?

Matt: New years with my girlfriend in Lake Taho, CA.

Aaron: Swimming, traveling to see friends.

Favorite place to play in NYC?

We both really have fun at the Dead Herring.

Best new NYC-area band?

Aaron: I guess, she is not so much new, but new to me. I really like Noveller a lot.

Matt: Coasting.

What's the best and worst thing about being in a band in NYC in 2009?

Matt: It seems like NYC is more saturated with venues and bands. This is great because there are lots of awesome people doing inspiring things (both playing music and running spaces). But it's also frustrating because you often have to wade through a lot of mediocrity and crap to find them.

Aaron: The best is all the great bands and venues to play. The worst is I guess the uptight seriousness that comes with a place like this.

What were your favorite albums of 2009?

Aaron: Lots, Jeff: The Brotherhood - Heavy Days, Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion, Bill Callahan - Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle, Atlas Sound -Logos.

Matt: Jeff: The Brotherhood - Heavy Days, A Place to Bury Strangers - Exploding Head, Grooms - Rejoycer, Dan Deacon - Bromst, Lightning Bolt - Earthly Delights.

Favorite Singles/Songs?

Flight - Flowers 7" (from Memphis), Teengirl Fantasy - TGIF EP, Miley Cyrus - "Party in the USA"

What was the best show you saw in 2009?

Matt: Black Pus and Jeff: The Brotherhood at DBA in April.

Aaron: Jeff: The Brotherhood at Mercury Lounge was awesome, and I had a lot of fun at Deerhunter show earlier in the year.

Favorite Michael Jackson song?

Aaron: "Human Nature." It's the best.

Matt: "Shes Out Of My Life"

What is the proper way to incorporate "Meh" into your band name?

Smehisters

Shitgaze, Glo-fi or Dark Wave?

Aaron: I like the sound of a Dark Wave.

Plans/predictions for 2010?

Matt: Some things will be worse, others will be better. I am excited.

Aaron: It looks like it is going to be busy with music. Our album will be out in the Spring and then shows. I can't wait, and it will be weird to write 2010.

Brooklyn Vegan interviews Travis from GROOMS

Thanks to Bill over at the BV for this quick questionnaire.

Grooms released their debut album this year. How'd that go? It's been awesome and exciting. We're just finishing up our first tour. 4 out of 5 weeks down. I can't wait to get around actual shampoo again.

editor's note: the tour has since finished.

You also changed your name, which can prove difficult. How'd that go? I'm so glad I'm not in a band called The Muggabears anymore. Once we decided to change the name and basically start a new band, it just felt super natural (and necessary).

What was your most memorable musical moment of 2009? Playing with Jim (on drums) for the first time. Emily and I had to go turn our amps up by about 100% immediately. He's crazy loud.

What about non-musical moment? Hmmm... how about getting back into the dating world again?

Favorite place to play in NYC? We played this show underneath the Highline park in Manhattan. It was beyond zany. I hope we can play a place like that again. I'm pretty sure that actual place won't be played again though.

Best new NYC-area band? Talk Normal. Deradoorian.

What's the best and worst thing about being in a band in NYC in 2009? Best - being around friends all the time who are also playing in bands and doing really really creative things. Worst - Having no money to replace broken equipment.

What were your favorite albums of 2009? Wye Oak - The Knot A Sunny Day in Glasgow - Ashes Grammar Atlas Sound - Logos Talk Normal - Sugarland

Favorite Singles/Songs? "High Road" by Deradoorian. A song on Wye Oak's album that I can't remember the name of (I listen to it straight through in the store I work in).

What was the best show you saw in 2009? Hank IV at SXSW. Amazing band from San Francisco.

Favorite Michael Jackson song? "The Way You Make Me Feel" or "Smooth Criminal"

What is the proper way to incorporate "Meh" into your band name? Groomehs.

Shitgaze, Glo-fi or Dark Wave? I really despise trends. But I'll say glo-fi.

Plans/predictions for 2010? New album coming out!

Swedish Love - Devotion Names CUT's "Junksmith" as a Top 10 song of '09

Do not adjust your modem. The Swedish music magazine DEVOTION has named Coin Under Tongue's barely released song "Junksmith" as a top 10 song of 2009. This is somewhat shocking considering it's ACROSS A FUCKING OCEAN and the song has only been available as a song on the downloadable version of the Pursesnatchers/CUT split 7". Please bear with us as we let the Googlebot do a hack translation of what they had to say:

Coin Under Tongue Leaving George Wilson - exactly, and quite rightly, the former Dirty on Purpose-guitarist - and the singer Joe Kelly as the main card in this Brooklyn Raised three-man lineup. Many American music genre writers continue like Coin Under Tongue at the intersection of post-hardcore and 80s post-punk, but it is certainly wide open to their interpretations in this case. The register is primarily British, but broad, very broad, and with one on the brink of endless life in care practices. There is noise. There is underground parking. It's Josef K meets World Domination Enterprises meets the 2000s and Silversun Pickups. It is on the verge of severe schizophrenia when Kelly more or less interpret the 80th century all the post-punk giants during the intro to the Junk Smith. But above all it is ingeniously produced. Where I and the doubts that there even is recorded on this page 1985, where my extended post-punk aortic pulse during foreplay and between games to the chorus and the biting, caustic, and much harder post-hardcore credentials, and then discarded in Kelly's schizophrenic voice registers . Coin Under Tongue is on Death by Audio Records, which also visiting hajpade Sisters is located, and where not surprisingly, both A Place to Bury Strangers, and now dispersed Dirty on Purpose previously has hosted. Last spring, I witnessed personally DEATH RINGO STARR, and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, drummer Kurt Feldman's side project Depreciation Guild at the intimate underground club with Death by Audio driver in Brooklyn. A room, with its atmosphere and spirit, must be experienced on the ground to not be left to utopias. And just the same way I could summarize Coin Under Tongue, and above all Junk Smith. A jewel of overeating Brooklyn Romantikerserien with one foot still in the 1980s in Britain.

SOOOO big super sloppy kisses to Devotion Magazine for the intercontinental shout out!

Download "Junksmith" by Coin Under Tongue- just CLICK HERE. (right click/cntrl+click to save)

Hello, My name is Ghost Manningham

Thanks to everyone who voted in our most recent poll, which was conducted to give a name to our cat that you see above. It was a close race, with Ghost (A.K.A. The Ghoster) beating out Manningham by a mere 2 votes. We've decided to use Manningham as the cat's last name, which is a more appropriate stage name if and when The Ghost decides to pursue an acting career. UPDATE: The Ghoster has become quite an annoying teenager since this poll began, interrupting her owners' sleep by jumping into bed and curling up on their faces and an uncanny ability to find bouncy balls at 4AM.