No Age

Photo: Jeremy Hogan

Apologies for the lack of posts and radio show this past week - I've been jumping around to popular beat combos at Barcelona's glorious Primavera Sound festival. More on that coming soon, but in the meantime, here's something from No Age. Their Sub Pop debut Nouns is out now and it's chock full of scuzzy noise-pop gems. The LA duo werebitchin' at Primavera - catch 'em when they roll up in your area!

This is the full transcription of the interview with No Age I did for The List. I would liked to have asked more questions, but it was only for a short piece and I had limited time. But hats off to Dean Spunt for the righteous and fun things he has to say. They've played Glasgow by now, but hopefully they'll be back soon. You can read the published article here.

Tell me about how No Age started.

Dean Spunt:It started with Randy and I thinking about the type of music we wanted to hear. We wanted to make music we could listen to. Our first proper show was at the smell in April 2006. Randy and I love to play music together and it happens so natural that we decided to make it a two piece, instead of adding more members. The first songs we wrote were Dead Plane, Get Hurt and Neck Escaper.

The Smell scene has been gaining a lot of attention. How has being a part of that shaped you as people and as a band?

DS:The smell, for us, has always been a place we admired, so the attention is due i think. The amount of attention has nothing to do with us as people or as a band, we would still be doing the same thing (because we were!) if nobody had heard of us or the smell. In my mind the smell has been the coolest punk club around for the past ten years, so i have always seen it the same way, mystical and awesome. The Smell hasn't changed a bit either.

You have great merchandise, especially the bandanas. Any new lines being introduced for the next tour?

DS: We made a NEW ERA hat for the magazine FADER, designed shirts for the skateboard company ALTAMONT, a shirt for ART IN THE AGE OF MECHANICAL REPRODUCTION, some sunglasses with a no age / void logo... void was a hardcore band from the 80's if you didn't know, one of the best bands to ever exist. Only the glasses will be on tour, everything else will be in stores or are super limited items..

Some bands "are all about the music" but for you there's so much more - art work, personal politics, a DIY ethos. Do you think it's important to represent something?

DS:It is important for us to represent ourselves, to be honest and just make music. The other things are important because they are what we do, and become what we are. We are both vegan, we enjoy playing in places other than rock clubs, we like art, punk rock, etc. don't get us wrong,
we are "all about the music" too.

Your live shows are inclusive and joyous. As you progress to larger venues and festival stages how will you maintain that quality?

DS: By doing the same thing! Trying harder to make it more fun, and hopefully we will be able to.

Along with Times New Viking, you favour a scuzzy lo-fi sound. Is this a reaction against increasingly slick indie-rock production or more of a reflection of your influences?

D: Both. But mainly for us it was because we couldn't afford to be in a studio. All we had was our friend who recorded some stuff on 1/4 inch tape for us and we had a digital twelve track. The new record was mainly recorded in studio's on very, very nice equipment. That was exciting for us, a new challenge. That didn't stop us from bringing tape recorders, broken microphones, mini disc players etc into the studio with us to record stuff as well, all that stuff ended up on the new record too.

Your last Glasgow show, with Mika Miko was a blast. Are you looking forward to playing Optimo?

DS: we are looking forward to it VERY MUCH! since Glasgow was our favorite show of that whole tour by far.