The Spooks have been scaring up plenty of buzz from their rockin’ live performances. We asked them a few questions to give you a preview of what you might see tonight at Kung Fu Necktie when they share the stage with Matador’s Harlem and garage-y buddies Junkers. We’re guessing that it might be what their drummer had for dinner.
The Deli: Where did the name “The Spooks” come from?
The Spooks: Well, contrary to popular misconception it hasn’t got anything to do with secret agent slang or antiquated racial slurs. Think ghost.
TD: What are your biggest musical influences?
TS: Probably Daft Punk or
Free Energy. You know, the retro stuff.
TD: What artists (local, national and/or international) are you currently listening to?
TS: Mostly those lo-fi beachy chillwave bands, especially the ones with aquatic names. That and the new MGMT and Vampire Weekend albums.
TD: What’s the first concert that you ever attended and first album that you ever bought?
TS: We’ve only known each other for a few years or whatever, but it turns out that we were all at the same concert when we were kids. Back in ’91, coincidence had us all at the Tom Petty show when he played Philly on his "Touring the Great Wide Open" tour.
As for albums, I’m sure we were all listening to something by The Offspring by the time we’d gotten our first hand jobs…which is unfortunate.
TD: What do you love about Philly?
TS: The El Bar.
TD: What do you hate about Philly?
TS: These kids that seem to think that each new pair of shoes they buy from Urban Outfitters is going to bring them one step closer to living in Brooklyn.
TD: What are your plans for 2010?
TS: We’ll be releasing our first LP, which we’re recording with Adam Granduciel from
The War on Drugs. It’s coming out on Trig Club, a new label started by the bloggers behind Yvnyl and Frightened By Bees.
Other than that, we’ll be on our second national tour. We’re headed down South and out to California in July, so that’ll be rad. The dates should be posted pretty soon.
TD: What was your most memorable live show?
TS: The memorable ones usually have something to do with Alex, our drummer.
We were playing a basement in Philly, when we started to notice the crowd looking uncomfortable. We looked back to Alex, and he was still playing (and even keeping rhythm), but his cheeks were full of vomit. He got to a bathroom in between songs, but it was pretty gnarly.
Then, there was this house show in Austin. We’d just finished our set, and everyone was cheering and sort of laughing, which we assumed was a show of appreciation. Then the smell hit us. Apparently, Alex had spewed everywhere during our last song. It was pretty great watching him carry his pukey snare through the crowd of gagging Austin
scenesters.
TD: What’s your favorite thing to get at the deli?
TS: Drunk.
(Photo by Tiffany Yoon)
– The Deli Staff
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