interview with Drugstore Fanatics
How was the band formed? Me (Aviv) and Daniel started jamming after a mutual friend brought us together. Shortly after that, Daniel asked me if I'd like to play some original material that he's been writing and demoing. I of course agreed and during the next few years we use to meet up and try out different ideas and songs in different ways, with different musicians, until we ended up with 10 songs we loved and recorded them all in Daniel's parents' basement, producing and playing all the instruments ourselves, which resulted in our first album "What's Born in the Basement" that came out in 2009.
Can you tell about your band? It's a group of super normal, nice people who own music instruments and enjoy cool handshakes and high-fives.
Where are all band members from?/Who does what in the band?
Aviv, Daniel and Amit are originally from Tel Aviv, Israel and Cash is from Pilly but we all live in LA.
Aviv Cohen - Drums
Daniel Brecher - Vocals/Guitar
Gregg Cash - Bass
Amit Ofir - Guitar
What was the ambitions of the band when you started? To spread our music everywhere and hopefully have a positive effect on people in the same way our favorite artists had on us. And have an awesome time doing it, of course.
Could you explain your music to someone that haven't heard you? Pounding, often heavy, multilayered, melodic rock music.
Where was your first gig? The AC lounge in Venice, CA
Where was the latest gig? Bar Sinister in Hollywood, CA
Who writes your songs?/Who writes the music who writes lyrics? Music and Production by Aviv and Daniel. Lyrics by Daniel
Who has the best sense of humor in the band? That's a trick question. We all hate laughing.
What's good/bad with the band?/What genre do you feel you are?
Good - We like having substance in our music :)
Bad - We like having substance in our music :(
We're an Alternative Rock band, whatever that means.
Why did you pick that particular style?/What are your songs about?
We wanted to create something that excites us and this the "Style" that came out I guess. After the first album, we were looking into some other styles of music for inspiration and we may have consciously incorporated some of that into the newer songs.
Our songs are often about self reflection, state of the world, personal fears, growing up, letting go of dreams and pondering about the future.
Do you write your own material or mainly covers? It's all original
Have you made any albums?/If yes what are they?
Yes. Two.
What's Born in the Basement (2009)
Spielplatz (2014)
Do you have any clips on YouTube? www.youtube.com/drugstorefanatics
How old are you?/What got you started in music?
We're all 30-33 years old.
We thought it was the coolest thing in the world and hoped we would get girls.
At what age did you start playing? Around 14 I would say
How old were you guys when you first stood on stage? Probably 14/15 in my basement with the band I was in then
What year was the band started? Me and Daniel started messing around with some material way back in 2002 we recorded our first album between 2008-2009
What places will you be playing in in the immediate future? Hopefully space.
Where have you played from then till now? California, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and Youtube
Which band is the best you´ve seen? Queens of the Stone Age, Gogol Bordelo, Balkan Beat Box, The Weeknd, NIN
Is it always the same songs live? No, set changes.
Have you had any bigger tours from start to now? No, they mainly get smaller. We usually play public restrooms now.
How big crowds do you usually play for? Depends on how many employees work at the venue
What are the plans for the rest of the year? Write more music. Record it, mix it and then never release it. Play a bunch of shows so people can see we exist.
How do you get psyched up for a gig? Xanax
What are your goals with your music? Have it reach as many ears as possible, and hopefully it won't make people want to stab someone.
When did you decide to go all in for the music? Probably around 14/15/16. and then later it was just too late to learn how to do anything else.
Is it easier to get your inspiration from older bands or from bands more modern? That's a good question. As far as rock bands go,personally i'd say it would be easier to find inspiration from the older bands. And not that many of them, too. Personally right now, I think it's easier to find inspiration from obscure/unusual/unique artists that have nothing to do with rock music. Can either be old or new. Obscure has no age.
What are your sources of inspiration? Film, Art, Thoughts, Dreams and Music
What's the first step when making a new song? It canbegin with a drum beat or a guitar part. Sometimes Daniel might write a full song on an acoustic guitar and we just take it from there. Both of us have different little ideas that we'll come up with over time and we'll bring them up once we decide to work on new music and just see where it takes us.
How do you feel about the downloading of music instead of buying albums? You mean illegal downloading? It's been the reality for a while now and you gotta work around it. Hopefully it would be possible for musicians to be compensated more fairly for their music within this new paradigm. I have some ideas but I won't get into it now.
What would be your dreams for the band? Play a private concert for the Pope with two male pole dancers on each side.
Besides your own music, what genres and bands do you listen to? Many different things. I love Flying Lotus and Thundercat these days. Probably my favorite artists right now. But really, anything that comes out of the "Branfeeder" label. A lot of hiphop like Kendrick, Schoolboy Q, Tyler, etc.. The Weeknd is fantastic. I listen to a bunch of Fela Kuti as well as some obscure electronic music from the 70s/80s and now as well. CAN and NEU! are two great strange German bands and every horror soundtrack by the Italian band Goblin is pure gold. Anything affiliated with Brian Eno is usually very inspiring (Remain in Light by the Talking Heads is always a great go-to record.) Black Flag, Misfits and Devo are some favorites off of the 80s. Real amazing stuff. Ever heard of a duo called Suicide? Their self-titled album is an absolute trip and I will listen to a lot of that. As far as rock goes, not a lot. I'd say it can be summed up to Soundgarden, Queens of the Stone Age, NIN and Foo Fighters.
What do you hold most dear? My Social Security card
When you are on stage, what do you fear most then? Getting too self conscious
Have you been part of any other projects? Yeah we do and have done many different things.
Have you been in any other bands? YUP
What do you work with outside of the band and the music? I doa lot of freelance session work as a studio and touring drummer. Daniel produces music and does a lot of mixing engineer work.
What would you do if there was no music? Get a real job. Buy a house. Be happy.
How important are your fans? Like, super important, omg!! Love you guys!
What's the funniest/most memorable thing a fan has done for you?
Well, some send us videos they make, inspired by our music, some will send beautiful drugstore-related art that they've created.
I think the best thing is when they send us a letter or an email saying how much the music has helped them deal with serious issues in their lives or just how it affected them positively. It really does make it all worth it, you know?
Oh, and there was this dude who ordered our cds and specifically asked we'd sign it and add some very offensive words for him. So we did. And it was dirty and disgusting. He loved it. Sick fuck :)
How often do you rehearse? We'll book a bunch of rehearsals before we need to record or perform
Where do you rehearse? Rehearsal studio in LA.
Name 2 of your own songs you like at the moment? Circus Dance, Short Cut
What drives a band that isn't all that famous and renowned to try to make a living on their music and to keep playing? Just the love of what they do while seeing no other option, as it is what they're truly passionate about. Also, stupidity.
Do you have any webpages? www.drugstorefanatics.com
Any pearls of wisdom for all other bands out there? Nope. Any other bands have some pearl of wisdom for us?
Describe your show, visually and musically A bunch of confused guys on stage, trying to go through a show without messing up. Some cool lighting.
How do you view the music indurty of today? There's only money left for Pop music.
What advice would you like to give other bands? Don't ever listen to any advice we give you.
What are the biggest obstacles for a band? Writing good music.
What is best/worst with playing the clubs? Clubs are great. Maybe a little too much greasy food.
Tell us about upcoming gigs and why we should be at them? Right now our up coming gigs our in our brains so once we'll book them in real life, I believe people should attend them because if you enjoy someone's music, the next logical step is attending their shows. I think that's how being a fan of music works, doesn't it?
How would you describe your sound in one sentence Easy listening, adult contemporary, top 40, super rad-chillaxing fun-party.
What is your favorite crappy instrument? Rubber Duckies? Also my little pink toy piano.
What was one of the most quarrelsome times for you in the band? When we had to deal with our manager at the time who was real shady and would just disappear. Possibly on a crack-cocaine binge.
Whats your Pre-show ritual? Crying in the corner of the room with a bottle of gin. Usually naked.
Do you have anything to add? Yes, Check out our music on our website. You can download our first album for free and our 2nd album for $2 www.drugstorefanatics.com