N-Sider: You played in New York City's Blip Festival last year—how did that go?
Peter: It was incredible. Some freinds of mine, Jeremiah Johnson from Nullsleep, Josh of Bit Shifter, and Mike Rosenthal from The Tank had been organizing it for a little while—they found out some people from Japan were on the way and wanted to play some shows, so they decided that they should invite more people. Jeremiah wanted to represent more NY acts as well and we got a call since we're pretty good friends. He runs 8bitpeoples, which is the most active "netlabel" for this kind of music really. He's written tons of tutorials on how to create your own NES music cartridges. Incredible guy. Meeting all of the artists from those different countries was nuts. Everyone hit it off instantly and they were all really respectful, funny, and oddly enough more sociable than you'd think.
N-Sider: What are your musical backgrounds?
Spencer Casey: I listen to a lot of post-punk and a lot of brit-pop. That's really what I listen to, some shoegaze as well. I kind of just decided to play guitar in middle school so I picked it up and taught myself. Charlie and I were in several bands through middle and high school like Designated Hitler and The Flaming Rainbows.
Charlie Hankin: I like BRMC, The Pixies, The Police, Elvis Costello and Radiohead. I started playing drums as a little kid, and my dad always had music playing in the house. My older brother always used to write songs, so when I was older I had the requisite to do it myself.
N-Sider: So you've both been at it for a while. What about you, Peter?
Peter: My dad taught me how to play guitar when I was in 6th grade; I'd played violin since I was about 9. I was in one band throughout high school called Defective Electric that was influenced mostly by Cursive and Sunny Day Real Estate. Nowadays I'm really into a lot of stuff ranging from Dragonforce to Julee Cruise [from Twin Peaks] and The Pernice Brothers. I'm pretty much just into pop done well in any way, dreamy, powerful or simple.
N-Sider: How did you go about recording Power Supply? Any special equipment involved?
Peter: Power Supply was recorded in my basement in the summer of 2006 using only a normal SM57 microphone, Fender Deluxe 112 amp, a Fender Stratocaster, and Cool Edit Pro. I layered about 10 guitar tracks per song. It usually takes about a week or two to get everything sounding right. It's all a matter of getting the guitar layers to work together as one unit.
N-Sider: Anamanaguchi's music involves some pretty textured and dynamic instrumental work—how do you go about songwriting?
Peter: I usually come up with an idea when I've got a lot of free time, starting with a chord progression. I basically write music that I like to hear.
N-Sider: So it starts on the guitar?
Peter: A few songs might, actually the worse ones. The best songs I feel I've done start on Nerdtracker with a bass line in mind first.
N-Sider. I see. So after you have your initial riff, where does it go from there, as a band?
Peter: Well after Nerdtracker, once we're in that second stage, Charlie is an absolutely amazing drummer—he pretty much fulfills all my wildest outlines on the drums; things I write and consider pretty much unplayable by a human [laughs]. Spencer is a very good arranger and usually puts a song over the edge with a certain guitar chord. Like modifying something I've written subtly.
N-Sider: And how did you all come together?
Peter: Spencer and Charlie are from Baltimore—we met at NYU. Anamanaguchi started as just me in 2003, then looking for a way to play live I got together with the guitarist from Defective Electric (George Brower), so it was two guitars and my friend James DeVito from Stab the Matador on bass. When college came, George went to UCLA, so there was that distance problem. Spencer and George kind of had the same musical sensibilities so it kind of made sense to start playing together. And Charlie and Spencer were very good friends so a suggestion was made that we should have live drums as well. At first I was reluctant, but he learned the songs, we rehearsed and it completely blew me away. I can't even imagine playing without him anymore [laughs].
N-Sider: So what are you studying at NYU?
Peter: Spencer and I are studying Music Technology oddly enough. Charlie is studying acoustics—he's taking a few of the same classes as we are.
N-Sider: Do you find it difficult to market your music, being that you're using actual Nintendo-created data?
Peter: As of yet we haven't come to any obstacles, legally. The actual NES hardware I believe is in the public domain now, which is why there are so many knock-offs of it on the market now. We've licensed some things pretty easily in the past, passing the money through any legal system was never really an issue. In fact I feel that it's easier to market our music than most electronic groups. Many people hear the familiar sound of the NES and they get excited, which leads to a lot of interactions for media.
Peter: It was incredible. Some freinds of mine, Jeremiah Johnson from Nullsleep, Josh of Bit Shifter, and Mike Rosenthal from The Tank had been organizing it for a little while—they found out some people from Japan were on the way and wanted to play some shows, so they decided that they should invite more people. Jeremiah wanted to represent more NY acts as well and we got a call since we're pretty good friends. He runs 8bitpeoples, which is the most active "netlabel" for this kind of music really. He's written tons of tutorials on how to create your own NES music cartridges. Incredible guy. Meeting all of the artists from those different countries was nuts. Everyone hit it off instantly and they were all really respectful, funny, and oddly enough more sociable than you'd think.
N-Sider: What are your musical backgrounds?
Spencer Casey: I listen to a lot of post-punk and a lot of brit-pop. That's really what I listen to, some shoegaze as well. I kind of just decided to play guitar in middle school so I picked it up and taught myself. Charlie and I were in several bands through middle and high school like Designated Hitler and The Flaming Rainbows.
Charlie Hankin: I like BRMC, The Pixies, The Police, Elvis Costello and Radiohead. I started playing drums as a little kid, and my dad always had music playing in the house. My older brother always used to write songs, so when I was older I had the requisite to do it myself.
N-Sider: So you've both been at it for a while. What about you, Peter?
Peter: My dad taught me how to play guitar when I was in 6th grade; I'd played violin since I was about 9. I was in one band throughout high school called Defective Electric that was influenced mostly by Cursive and Sunny Day Real Estate. Nowadays I'm really into a lot of stuff ranging from Dragonforce to Julee Cruise [from Twin Peaks] and The Pernice Brothers. I'm pretty much just into pop done well in any way, dreamy, powerful or simple.
N-Sider: How did you go about recording Power Supply? Any special equipment involved?
Peter: Power Supply was recorded in my basement in the summer of 2006 using only a normal SM57 microphone, Fender Deluxe 112 amp, a Fender Stratocaster, and Cool Edit Pro. I layered about 10 guitar tracks per song. It usually takes about a week or two to get everything sounding right. It's all a matter of getting the guitar layers to work together as one unit.
N-Sider: Anamanaguchi's music involves some pretty textured and dynamic instrumental work—how do you go about songwriting?
Peter: I usually come up with an idea when I've got a lot of free time, starting with a chord progression. I basically write music that I like to hear.
N-Sider: So it starts on the guitar?
Peter: A few songs might, actually the worse ones. The best songs I feel I've done start on Nerdtracker with a bass line in mind first.
N-Sider. I see. So after you have your initial riff, where does it go from there, as a band?
Peter: Well after Nerdtracker, once we're in that second stage, Charlie is an absolutely amazing drummer—he pretty much fulfills all my wildest outlines on the drums; things I write and consider pretty much unplayable by a human [laughs]. Spencer is a very good arranger and usually puts a song over the edge with a certain guitar chord. Like modifying something I've written subtly.
N-Sider: And how did you all come together?
Peter: Spencer and Charlie are from Baltimore—we met at NYU. Anamanaguchi started as just me in 2003, then looking for a way to play live I got together with the guitarist from Defective Electric (George Brower), so it was two guitars and my friend James DeVito from Stab the Matador on bass. When college came, George went to UCLA, so there was that distance problem. Spencer and George kind of had the same musical sensibilities so it kind of made sense to start playing together. And Charlie and Spencer were very good friends so a suggestion was made that we should have live drums as well. At first I was reluctant, but he learned the songs, we rehearsed and it completely blew me away. I can't even imagine playing without him anymore [laughs].
N-Sider: So what are you studying at NYU?
Peter: Spencer and I are studying Music Technology oddly enough. Charlie is studying acoustics—he's taking a few of the same classes as we are.
N-Sider: Do you find it difficult to market your music, being that you're using actual Nintendo-created data?
Peter: As of yet we haven't come to any obstacles, legally. The actual NES hardware I believe is in the public domain now, which is why there are so many knock-offs of it on the market now. We've licensed some things pretty easily in the past, passing the money through any legal system was never really an issue. In fact I feel that it's easier to market our music than most electronic groups. Many people hear the familiar sound of the NES and they get excited, which leads to a lot of interactions for media.