Timothy S. Griffin

Olivia Tremor Control talk Fleet Foxes, continue on tour, hit the Mohawk (pics & video), FYF Fest in LA is Saturday

September 2, 2011

Timothy S. Griffin

Olivia Tremor Control @ the Mohawk

Aquarium Drunkard: Although there was great showmanship of all the people onstage in the old E6 days, I never got the sense that it was, at its heart, more than just playing with your friends because you liked playing with them, and, oh yeah, it’s a great show, too. It wasn’t done in a super-calculated way.

JF: No, it wasn’t [calculated]. And there was still always a spontaneous element on the Elephant 6 Holiday Surprise Tour, where certain times on certain nights, you might say, “I usually play on this, but maybe not tonight!” [laughter] And maybe other nights, you’d play on something you don’t usually play on.

BD: There were definitely nights where I said, “You know, I think I’m just going to watch this tonight!” Like the Sun Ra thing, marching out to that? There was a night-or maybe two-where I said, “I’m just gonna go down and watch this.” I wasn’t the drummer or someone really necessary. I just want to see what it looks like. I just want to be in the audience and be entertained by it.

WH: It’s definitely entertaining!

JF: We’re going to have a tight show for the new Olivia shows we’re doing. There is a guitar player named AJ Griffin who played with a band called Laminated Cat, and he’s going to be playing some extra guitar and various other instruments. He plays everything, and he has a new band called Slaw and Order that’s amazing!

WH: Slaw and Order!

BD: God, they were great, it was him on the keys and a drummer, and he was ripping it up on the keys. I couldn’t believe it!

JF: Yeah, so it’s gonna Derek on the drums because Eric can’t do the tour, but Eric is going to play with us for All Tomorrow’s Parties…

DA: So there is going to be a random element! [laughs]

JF: Oh, yeah, at All Tomorrow’s Parties, there are going to be all sorts of random elements with people playing with us because there are so many good musicians…

BD: The whole Holiday Surprise group…

JF: Yeah, the whole crew is going to be there.

Aquarium Drunkard: Jeff [Mangum] is the curator, right?

JF: He’s the curator, but when you look at the whole lineup, I think they probably made a lot of suggestions. He probably picked half the bands and they were all “But what about them?” and he said “Okay.” They probably gave him a stack of stuff to listen to and said, “Can you pick from these?”

WH: Yeah, they definitely pick some. I doubt he’s heard of the Fleet Foxes ever.

DA: Well, they are there for the kids!

WH: I’m not trying to diss Fleet Foxes; I’ve just never heard them!

Olivia Tremor Control began their current tour in New Orleans. From there they moved on to Austin where they played their first of many tour dates with The Music Tapes at the Mohawk on Wednesday night (8/31). We stalked them to both states. New Orleans pics HERE. Austin pics (and a video) in this post.

This weekend OTC hit FYF Fest in LA and later this month it’s LPR in NYC. All dates HERE. More Austin pics (where Sounder also opened) below…

Sounder