An Interview with Kevin of Knight School!

Knight School

I haven't done an interview for Skatterbrain in quite some time and so who better than to do a new with than my good pal Kevin Alvir of fuzzy Brooklyn pop band Knight School! Their debut LP The Poor And Needy Need To Party is an absolutely great record through and through and Kevin's unmistakable wit and natural ability of making catchy happen are widely evident. If you haven't picked up a copy yet, you must! You really must! Here's the interview!

How did it feel to get a fresh start, musically?
Good, I guess. It felt Refreshing. It felt like New doors opening. It felt like playing around in this unventured part of a construction site. I don't know. But it has that sort of feeling.

Did you feel like it was something you needed to do?
I felt that I had outgrown my old musical project and wanted to do something that I felt reflected.....uhhh.....myself.

Why name it Knight School?
It was just a funny name I thought of while driving around. Maybe there are some deep meanings in it. But I thought it resulted from a lack of a thinking and a disregard for anything hip.

How is living and playing music in ny different from back in philly or dc?
Well, it can be expensive in NY. But I have made a lot of friends in New York. There is so much to do, see, and experience. So it's pretty worth it for me. As for music, it can be a little overwhelming. I mean there is that "Brooklyn pop scene" that bloggers and kids in the UK talk about, but there are also bands like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, M.I.A, and the National amongst many others that come from Brooklyn/New York. So it's easy to feel VERY VERY small and insignificant. So I really embrace that. Philadelphia and DC had like one or two bands that I felt like I had some commonality with. I compare the transition to New York with my transition to art school. I was the prized "artist" in high school, then I went to "college (art school)" and realized that I wasn't very good and had a lot to learn. Am I divulging too much?

How did 'the poor and needy" go from something you were putting together in your bedroom, to be released overseas on Lost Music?
Well, I was planning on putting together "the poor and needy" album together on my own, which I was going to release. I thought I'd only have to make 5 copies of the cd. Then Lost Music was really interested and asked me if I wanted them to release it. So...

I've tried playing the cd on big speakers, it becomes white noise. was the extreme fuzzy lo-fi - ness an aesthetic choice or was it just out of recording necessity?
Oh really? It sounds pretty good to me.

What albums and/or bands would you say ended up most influencing the songwriting on the record?
Uhhh....hmm...that takes some thought. The songwriting is kind of unconscious. When I started recording the songs for "Poor & Needy" - I just remember being real inspired by the Cannanes and their attitude. I have this really lo-fi Cannanes tape, "Happy Swing" that seemed pretty reckless and I was like, "Why should I make this hard?" But there are lots of other bands that I found inspiring like Tall Dawrfs, TVPs, Pavement, GbV, the Clean, and a bunch others that have a similar spirit.

Your song titles are hilarious and brilliant, how do you come up with them?
Thanks. There is no formula. It comes from being bored. I dream of being a comedian but all of it just works itself into music that isn't necessarily Tencaious D. But seriously, they just come out that way and I guess my personality just comes out with it.

If you could only play one song on the guitar for the rest of your life what would it be? Why?
"Dream On" by Aerosmith because it has so many parts in it and it's kind of baroque sounding. Therefore, I think it would take my whole lifetime to learn it and play it. Also, it's a really good song in my opinion. Real dramatic.

What are some of your favorite new bands at the moment and why?
Favorite new bands??? I love Let's Wrestle from the UK. I've been listening to their album for the past year. They're really funny and touching at once. And recently, we played a show with them. I was kinda starstruck. But they're crazy young and already hitting all the right chords (lyrically and musically). I like some of the new wave of Lo-Fi bands....Times New Viking, Psychedelic Horseshit, Dum Dum Girls, Nodzzz, Brilliant Colors. Also, I really like this band called Pains of Being Pure At Heart, they're pretty new to the world. But to me, I remember when their drummer was just an ipod operated by Peggy 2 years ago. But they have a good balance with their music and lyrics - I feel like I'm taking in a really sweet, subversive yet touching indie film when I listen to them. But to sound like a lot of other jaded jerks out there, I find it hard to latch onto newer music. Just because it seems like a lot of bands come out as 2nd generation xeroxes of bands that were once fresh and new to me. So if new bands really need to get me, I need to latch onto their bottom line.

What do the coming years have in store for K. Knight?
I am not really sure. I am not even sure what the coming months have in store for me. I guess for the moment, we have a 2nd Knight School album half-done. More shows, more records. Hopefully a tour in the summer. I just want to have a good life.

And will you be taking over the world?
I don't think either party is prepared. But....we can make due.

Thanks to Kevin for the interview!
You can find Knight School on MySpace HERE
Buy The Poor And Needy Need To Party from LostMusic Records

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:'(

How sad is this? Lost Music has come to an end.

Sometimes, life is about knowing when to stop.

Over the past month or so I’ve had to question my love for doing Lostmusic. A few times I’ve found myself not enjoying it as much as I used to. These doubts made me decide that it was better to end Lostmusic rather than let it linger. The easy option would be to continue and let it become something I do, rather than something I love. It was when I realised this that I decided to email Tom saying that I wanted to call a halt to Lostmusic.

I have invested a lot of love, time and effort over the past 4 and 1/2 years in Lostmusic, be it the blog, the shows and records we have released. I always said I was doing this because it was fun. And it has been so many kinds of fun. And I think it’s best to end while it still is fun. Looking back it’s been an incredible thing to have been involved with and I’ve got to meet so many wonderful people and see some very special performances during the years we’ve been putting on shows. I’ve got many great memories, far too many to mention and single out in this little messages. But the way Lostmusic grew from a humble webzine, to a regular night with top bands fills with me pride. That pride also burns fiercely within me when I think of the 4 7″ singles and 3 CDr releases we have released over the past 18 months (all but one are still available to buy - from our shop! - I guess it never hurts to plug your records!) - so I’d like to thank the bands we’ve released for making the great music that fires me up: so thanks Manhattan Love Suicides, The Fischers, Pete Green, Moscow Olympics, The Morning Paper, Knight School, The Candy Twins and The Wendy Darlings.

Tom and I merged Indie-mp3 and Lostmusic blogs as we were covering the same ground. Now that Lostmusic is coming to it’s end - Indie-mp3 will be returning with Tom at the helm - I may well pop over and post about some indiepop bands or other in the future.

Our official last day comes in July when we host The Smittens, One Happy Island, The Melting Ice Caps and Standard Fare for our final hurrah just a few days before Indietracks. I think that is a fitting way to go out – with 4 cracking bands and the excitement of Indietracks being only days away. We still have a few more shows between now and then and we aim to make these the best shows we’ve ever put on.

A few more thank you’s at the end - it’s been a pleasure to work with Savo and Tom on Lostmusic over the past 2 years – for it was Savo and I that started putting on shows and Tom joined shortly afterwards. I’d also like to thank anyone that read the blog, came to a show or bought one of our records.

Trev

I'm going to miss Lost Music a lot. I was ever able to ever actually attend any of the shows they put on, nor have I ever even met Trev or Tom, but they released some fantastic records and I just really admired what they did with Lost Music. Congratulations on everything you did with it, guys, you should be very proud. Now, as sad as I am to see Lost Music go, it will be nice to see Indie-MP3 up and running again. The show must always go on!

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The Manhattan Love Suicides: "Head Over Heels"

The Manhattan Love Suicides have a had a big couple of months. The released the Kick It Back EP on Magic Marker back near the end of August, and then on October 5 we saw the release their other new EP, Keep It Coming. The new EP also marks the debut release for the excellent new London label, Lost Music Records, a project of Lost Music Presents, who've been organizing fantastic gigs all across London since April. Back to the new record; Keep It Coming is a limited edition four-track 7" EP featuring three (!) new songs, and a great reworking of "Thinking Is Killing Me," which appeared on their self-titled debut last year. I've mentioned how much I loved title track "Keep It Coming" when I first heard it over a month ago, but now I've finally got the whole thing in my hands and I gotta say, "Head Over Heels" is my new favorite MLS song. Sounding like The Shop Assistants covering some long lost girl-group gem, The Manhattan Love Suicides have really outdone themselves on this one. I suggest listening to it immediately!

[MP3]: The Manhattan Love Suicides :: Head Over Heels (HIGHLY REC'D!)

If you like it, head over to Lost Music Records and grab yourself a copy!
The Manhattan Love Suicides on MySpace!

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Manhattan Love Suicides: "Keep It Coming"

Brand new video for the Manhattan Love Suicides' "Keep It Coming", taken from their forthcoming limited edition Keep it Coming 7" EP. As expected, "Keep It Coming" oozes with that fuzzed out, feedback-laden, JAMC and Shop Assistants inspired sound that the MLS do so so well, and the video's pretty cool, too. The 7" is out in October on Lost Music Records in the UK. You should DEFINITELY pick it up.



In other MLS 7" news, their recently released, also limited edition, Kick It Back 7" EP is out now on Magic Marker records in the US and Squirrel Records in the UK. Grab that one, too. I Hiiiiiiighly Recommend everything they do.

Manhattan Love Suicides on MySpace!

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