Interview with Miniboone

DOWNLOAD: Miniboone- The Other Summer

Miniboone is a breathe of fresh air, musically speaking. 3 of the 5 members play both keyboard and guitar, plus sing. Their music is bursting  rock/ indie-pop, recommended for fans of Pavement, Q and Not U, Jukebox the Ghost, and Bruce Springsteen. Their songs are frantic, one minute exploding with energy, the next calming down, yet not awkwardly. The harmonies are insanely good.

They just released a new free single, which you can grab above, and are gearing up for a 7'' release on Drug Front Records. The 5-piece Brooklyn band will perform six showcases at this year's CMJ Music Marathon. The band's live show is energetic and it's great to watch the members play. We spoke with guitarist, keyboardist, and vocalist James Keary about the band's 6-minute song, playing 3 shows in one night, good sandwiches spots, and accidentally playing with an unplugged guitar.

Miniboone released a new single this week called "The Other Summer." It's 6 minute long. It seems like the band's longest song. Tell me about it.

James Keary: That's probably right. It's very long. It's definitely one of our most ambitious songs to date, which I think is fun because there's just a lot to it. When we were working on it originally, it started as a song that Craig and Doug worked on together and it was still pretty long--about 4 minutes. Then we turned it  into this really amazingly epic pop tune throughout practice. It evolved into this powerhouse of a song and we all just really liked. We've been playing it for 4 or 5 months so we're really psyched to get it out there.

It's hard to wrap my head around it. The harmonies are insane. Where is this song going to be on? A new release?

JK: Right now we have that song and another song that we're going to release soon as a 7-inch single. They're recorded already. Either November or December it'll come out. After that we're looking to release possibly another single but really we have our sights set on a full-length.

What three words would you use to describe Miniboone?

JK: Fun. Energetic. (long pause) Insane, no Justin Timberlake.

That doesn't make sense (laugh).

JK: I know...

You're playing 6 CMJ showcases this year. On Saturday (Oct. 23rd) you're playing three shows in one night. Have you ever played that many shows in one day?

JK: No, we thought it'd be interesting for us. We've definitely done two.One day Taylor, the drummer, said to me in the car, “I think I'm going to get us a third show for that one night.” At first we were a little bit tentative ,but then we were just like, “Why not? It'll be fun.” It starts off at Parkside Lounge in Manhattan, Spike Hill in Brooklyn, then back into Manhattan at Ace of Clubs. We're going to have a full night of driving. We like to think of ourselves as the hardest working band in Brooklyn. We do stuff like that to show it.

What places will you be eating at to keep your energy up?

JK: We'll just bring a lot of power clif bars and bananas, so we don't have to stop.

You're not going to enjoy the fine dining of New York City?

JK: We won't have time for that.

True.

JK: We have to get to our next show. 

What places would you recommend people eat at?

JK: Whenever we practice in Williamsburg we always get sandwiches from this little Vietnamese place on Bedford and 7th next to the Charleston. They have these great spicy sandwiches. It's small, they make great sandwiches. There's a great deli on 7th and Driggs, too. We're into sandwiches. We like sandwiches. Cold cuts. Those keep us going.

What's the most bizarre thing that has happened at one of your shows?

JK: What generally ends up happening at any given show is that we'd be on stage running around so much that somebody will kick out all of the wires and unplug somebody's instrument. It's always crazy because there's always a couple seconds where somebody's like, “what's going? I can't hear the guitar anymore or whatever.” One time we were at the Space Gallery in Portland, Maine. We just finished up a stint of 4 or 5 days of touring. I remember this exact scenario happening and it was different than all the other times where it happened. We were standing right in front of the stage on the ground where the audience is. Doug starts running around on stage and he unplugs my guitar, but I don't realize that he unplugged my guitar. We're just so loud. I'm like, we sound so good that I don't even realize he unplugged my guitar for a little while and I look around and finally realize it. I look around and it's absolute mayhem. Craig is in the middle of the room standing on some barrel and Doug is running around on the stage and I've been playing for a minute with my guitar off and everyone's going nuts. Nobody really cared in the audience.  feel like if something like that happens, then it's good.

What are you looking forward to at CMJ?

JK: We had a fun time last year and we're glad to be playing more of it. We're really not expecting anything much more than just having a fun time playing, which is pretty much what we expect at all our shows. Have fun and have people have fun in the audience. We all just love playing. That's the best part of it for us.

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Miniboone CMJ Music Marathon Shows

10/20 Weds @ 9pm: Gigmaven Showcase @ National Underground w/ Life Size Maps, Quiet Loudly
10/22 Fri @ 8pm: Whitesmith Entertainment Showcase @ Otto's Shrunken Head w/ In Cadeo, Magnetic Island
10/22 Fri @ 9:30pm: RethinkPopMusic Showcase @ Crash Mansion w/ Aviation Orange, Young Mammals
10/23 Sat @ 7pm: Showcase @ Parkside Lounge
10/23 Sat @ 10:15pm: The Deli Magazine Official CMJ Showcase @ Spike Hill w/ A Million Years, The Press
10/23 Sat @ Midnight: AMI Entertainment Showcase @ Ace of Clubs w/ Reptar, Gunfight