Looking for dark disco with a tinge of sexuality and a double dose of David Byrne? Look no further than the three-piece Kansas City group Molly Picture Club. This week we sit down with all 3 members to find out their views on gun control, Nickelback and disco balls.
The Deli: Gun to your head, 1 sentence to describe your music. What is it?
Molly Picture Club: Matt: Gun in your ass and I’d tell ya.
Mike: Why the fuck do you need a gun, dude?
Aniko: Giant exploding disco balls from the future are cooler than guns any day.
The Deli: Tell us about your latest release or upcoming shows. What can we expect?
MPC: Mike: We’ve been writing pretty consistently since May, so I think you should expect new songs to be coming up either at shows or somewhere on the Information Superhighway. We want to keep evolving into the next version of ourselves and I think the songs we have in the cooker show that natural progression of us becoming more aware of what we’re doing.
Aniko: We’ve been in the sandbox, just playing with whatever toys we find. We want to open our insides to experiment with cool sounds, conceptual ideas, sweet-ass dance grooves, and basically just shake off any preconceptions we may have made about ourselves. Wow, that sounds super pretentious! I just mean that we’re trying to stay free in what we do, have fun, and hopefully people will like it, like we like it. In September, look for new songs, new ideas, and a surprise or two here and there.
Matt: New song, fall shows, blah blah blah.
The Deli: What does "supporting local music" mean to you?
MPC: Matt: It seems pretty simple; If you want to be supported, then you better support me and we will all be happy with lots of people at everyone’s shows. It’s a community thing. You grow the tomatoes, I’ll grow the peppers, she will grow the onion and he can make the salsa. It works together.
Mike: Every band in the world was a “local” band at one point, with the exception of Nickelback, who came straight from Satan’s asshole.
Aniko: Well, Satan’s asshole is sort of a "locality"… but I digress. I think supporting local music means getting away from the egos—in other words, give it your all and don’t be trying to always compete for local darling status. Look at what cool stuff people are doing, and let yourself be inspired. Clap for the other team if they just pulled off something crazy, even if that made your shit look just a little less shiny. Then, go and put on the kind of show you’d want to go to. Every time you play, whether it’s to a big crowd or just your band mates and the bartender dude. KC represent!
The Deli: Who are your favorite "local" musicians right now?
MPC: Aniko: I can always trust Cherokee Rock Rifle to rattle me to my core, and Actors and Actresses to soothe my savage soul afterwards.
Mike: I really dig what Parts of Speech has going on, always interested in what Amy Farrand is doing, The B’Dinas, Ghosty, and I’m intrigued at what Soft Reeds could pull off on their next album.
Matt: I like the Snuff Jazz crew, Go-Go Ray‘s projects, London Transit, Hearts of Darkness, Sons of Brazil, and Miles Bonny.
The Deli: Who are your favorite not-so-local musicians right now?
MPC: Mike: Metronomy, Handsome Furs, Turnpike Troubadours, Louis Armstrong.
Aniko: Lately, I’ve been digging on Metronomy, RJD2, Hard-Fi, St. Vincent, Gogol Bordello, and on and on it goes.
Matt: Donald Byrd, Afrolicious, Antibalas, Freddie Hubbard, Jorge Ben, Gil Scott Heron, Cedric Im Brooks.
The Deli: What is your ultimate fantasy bill to play on?
MPC: Aniko: Hmm. There are lots of musicians on my fantasy list. With this band, I would melt over a bill with Metric, David Byrne, Daft Punk, LCD Soundsystem, and the Gorillaz. It’d be a super duper dance party!
Mike: David Byrne, Brian Eno, Polyphonic Spree, Wolf Parade, and Tiny Tim.
Matt: David Byrne would do for sure. David Bowie, David Gilmore, Fernando David.
The Deli: Would you rather spend the rest of your life on stage or in the recording studio?
MPC: Matt: Love recording and will definitely do that forever, but playing live is a special experience as well.
Mike: I don’t think I’ll ever not be on stage. I’ll be 60 and playing Talking Heads covers in a diaper. I’ve already got the Facebook invite up.
Aniko: 60 seems early for a diaper. I hope to still be just discreetly peeing my pants while playing at that age. But seriously, both please! I am in love with being in the studio and I absolutely love playing shows. That’s like trying to choose between your two babies. I guess who you love just a little bit more depends on the day.
The Deli: A music-themed Mount Rushmore. What four faces are you putting up there and why?
MPC: Mike: Wow. That’s the most awesome question I’ve ever been asked. Charlie Parker for revolutionizing jazz, Bob Wills for bringing country swing, jazz, and pop together, Michael Jackson because he was fucking Michael Jackson, and Ringo Starr as long as he has a moustache.
Matt: Easy. James Brown (USA), Bob Marley (Jamaica), Fela Kuti (Africa), Jorge Ben (Brazil) of course.
Aniko: Joan Jett for being a bad ass chick, one of the guys from Kraftwerk, and let’s be honest, no one can really tell them apart, for being pioneers in electronic music and also from another planet, ditto for mutha-f’ing Michael Jackson, and Mozart because inside of me lives a giant nerd who played violin since she was little tiny nerd.
The Deli: All right, give us the rundown. Where all on this big crazy web can you be found?
MPC: Just Google “Molly Picture Club." We’ve got that market cornered on the web. We’re all over the web, in your face, and behind your neighbor’s bushes.
The Deli: Always go out on a high note. Any last words of wisdom for The Deli audience?
MPC: Mike: Don’t fart in an elevator.
Aniko: Make sure you have a box of disco balls with you, wherever you go.
Matt: "I am the Walrus."
Molly Picture Club is (L to R above):
Aniko Adany
Matthew Hayden
Michael Tipton
This Saturday, September 22, Molly Picture Club will be throwing a big dance party along with London Transit and La Resistance at the recordBar. The show will be interactive, with an overhead projector allowing the audience to draw on the band while it plays (Facebook event page here). Don’t miss it! The group also recently formed Talking Heads’ tribute Found A Job, and they’ll be performing with other special guests at the recordBar on Tuesday, October 30 (Facebook event page here).
–-Zach Hodson
| Zach is a lifetime Kansas City resident who plays multiple instruments and sings in Dolls on Fire and Drew Black and Dirty Electric, as well as contributing to many other Kansas City music, art, and comedy projects. He is very fond of edamame, treats his cat Wiley better than he treats himself, and doesn’t want to see pictures of your newborn child (seriously, it looks like a potato). |