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starringemiliaclarke · 5 years

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For Emilia Clarke, Ending Game of Thrones Was "the Metaphorical Undoing of the Bra"

Even the Mother of Dragons gets sick. A slightly congested Emilia Clarke mentions she’s getting over the flu as we talk on the phone days after the Academy Awards. Apparently, going to the Oscars and hitting up Beyonce’s private after party didn’t help with her recovery. (“I basically cried at her,” she gushes over the experience.) But what’s one night of feeling ill on the red carpet when you’ve spent months filming battle scenes in wintery Northern Ireland in the most grueling conditions? If Khaleesi could make it to Winterfell alive, then Clarke could survive the climax of awards season with the flu.

Throughout Clarke’s nearly decade-long tenure as queen Daenerys Targaryen on Game of Thrones, we’ve seen her walk through fire unburnt, devour a horse heart, and fly on the back of dragons. But in the fantasy juggernaut’s eighth and final season, which premieres April 14, Dany will find herself in completely new territory: at Winterfell with the Starks, on the brink of a war against the undead.

“She starts feeling pretty cocksure and confident, and then stuff happens,” Clarke tells BAZAAR.com of Dany’s arrival North and her first encounter with Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner), which HBO teased in early promos.

Clarke’s casting as the platinum-haired heir to the Iron Throne was first announced in 2010. She’s grown a lot since then; Season 1 Emilia and Season 8 Emilia are “two incredibly different women,” Clarke says.

As she moves on from the Thrones world, she already has other projects lined up, like the holiday rom-com Last Christmas (co-written by Emma Thompson) opposite Henry Golding. She previously hit the big screen in 2018’s Solo: A Star Wars Story, 2016’s Me Before You, and 2014’s Terminator Genisys. Clarke also landed a covetable role in the beauty sphere, as the face of Dolce & Gabbana’s The Only One fragrance, available now. In the ads, she’s a charming Italian chanteuse who breaks into song over dinner in Rome—a far cry from Khaleesi.

But nothing can compare to her experience on GoT, for better or worse. “Game of Thrones is probably the hardest shooting I’ll do, because it is so physical and you’re in a corset!” she emphasizes. “You’ve got the physical places of where you are, the weather is so extreme, and the hours are really long and there’s so much tension in each character towards the end. There’s so much tension in the room, and you’re concentrating so hard. It’s strenuous.”

After a long day on set, Clarke’s self-care routine ends with the ultimate release: “Taking off your goddamn bra and getting into your pajamas.” She’s also religious about removing her makeup (“You’ve put a lot on by the end of the day”), then cleansing and moisturizing every night. And once she’s in her PJs with a hot water bottle, it’s over for y’all.

Clarke’s journey on Game of Thrones culminated in a similar conclusion. “I think ending it was just the mother of all releases,” she says over the phone. “It was just the metaphorical undoing of the bra, except it’s like a 10-year experience.”

Here, Clarke tells BAZAAR.com about repping Dolce & Gabbana’s new scent, saying goodbye to Khaleesi, and promoting gender equality.

You’re the face of Dolce & Gabbana’s The Only One fragrance. What’s your experience with the scent like?

You know how you can get those fragrances that are really heavy and thick and kind of musty? That is not this at all. It’s very light, it’s very fresh, but also has quite a sexy undertone. When I was a kid, I remember me and my friends used to go out and spray boys’ perfume on ourselves ‘cause we thought it smelled so great. Obviously you’re attracted to it, your hormones are going crazy. But it’s got that bergamotty undertone that’s very sensual to smell whilst having this kind of light upper tone that’s very fresh and clean.

How does fragrance fit into your daily routine?

I have the whole ritual of: Get out of the shower, fully moisturize, and then spray on something lovely and you feel as fresh as possible. You feel like you’ve added a bit of yourself to yourself. You know when someone’s like, “Oh my God, I smelled you the other day on the tube?” I like that. I like having a specific fragrance that people know is yours.

On the topic of beauty, you’ve taken your hair back and forth from your original brunette to bleach blonde for Game of Thrones‘ last season, and now you’re back to brunette with a sleek bob. Tell me about your hair transformations in the past year.

I went blonde and I was so excited about it. I was just like, “Yes! Fresh start.” With peroxide blonde hair, you literally need no accessories; you’re walking around with a permanent accessory on your head. That was really fun while it lasted, but my hair dyed to death during that process, then after a while I think I exhausted the look for as much as I can. Going back to brunette, when I first did it, I must’ve looked in the mirror and was like, “This girl? I walked away from this girl. She’s a different person from who I am now.” But now, my hair feels so much better for being brunette and it’s a bit more me, but a me that I’m much happier with than when I was brunette before.

How do you keep your hair healthy while it’s colored?

Literally, don’t put crap in your hair. I feel like there’s so many options for moisturizers and conditioners and hair masks and all of that stuff, but really, don’t put a lot of crap in your hair and try not to curl it or straighten it too much. Just let it be.

What was it like filming your last scene on Game of Thrones? Was it immediate tears or champagne and celebration?

I started to do a little speech, not because I’m a pretentious actor, but because every time we said goodbye to a character, David [Benioff] and Dan [Weiss], the showrunners would give us a gift and the crew would be around and everyone would stop and you’d sort of say a few words and it was really beautiful. I mean, I got three words in before I just completely broke down. You just hold it in and you’re holding it in and you’re holding it in, and then I just burst into tears like a complete idiot.

Then we cracked open the champagne, but it was then that I realized that alcohol is a depressant! So it was less a celebratory champagne, it was more kind of like, [pretends to sob] “We did it! We got to the finish line!”

From the teasers, we’ve seen Sansa meeting Daenerys and Drogon flying over Winterfell, two juxtapositions we’ve never seen before. What was it like for you bringing Dany to this foreign new place and meeting the Starks for that opening scene?

It’s really surreal. I mean, you play into what it feels like for the character as well, because it’s new and it’s odd, and you’re coming into someone else’s turf and you’ve got a lot of actors that you know really well, who were like, “This is our home.” Then you come in and you’re like, “I know this only from the television; I’ve never been in this space here before in my life.”

But also I must admit for the character, I felt it. I felt with every one of those moments that obviously the show is packed to the gills with. I felt for her. I was like, “Yes! Here we are! We’re in, we’re speaking with Sansa, we are that much closer.” It felt great. Very, very exhilarating.

What was it like sharing a scene with Sophie Turner for the first time?

It was lovely. She’s a really good friend of mine, so it was very fun, it was very silly, it was very then like, “Oh! We’re doing this now, we’re having like an actor discussion,” as opposed to just me and Sophie. With all of those scenes meeting new people, it felt like every day was a little party.

Daenerys does wear a new outfit with red fur, which is really different from what she’s worn in previous seasons with metal plating or flowy dresses. What can you tell me about her outfits this season?

Michele Clapton, our unbelievably talented costume designer, really takes each character’s journey and reflects that in the clothing. Every single piece that I put on made sense for the scene that I was in, and made sense with the place that the character’s in at that time. There’s a real throughline for this particular season, there’s a real arc and I feel like fans, like hardcore fans, will clock what’s happening within the reflection of the clothing. There’s definitely a story to tell there.

It’s funny that you mention the fans because I feel like whatever bait you give them, they’ll find something, some clue, in it. What’s the craziest encounter with a fan you’ve ever had?

People ask me this and I wish I could be like, “This one time this guy gave me a horse and bent down on one knee and gave me a sword and took me away to his fucking theme park about dragons,” and it doesn’t happen. People just get very shy, very retiring, very sweet. It’s more kind of overwhelmed. I love it when people are like, “You’re a badass.” I love it when I get girls who are just like, “Yeah you can do it!” but I don’t get a lot of crazy from them. If I do, they keep it under wraps.

What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned from being on the show?

You’re really good at remembering lines [laughs]. Oh heavens, I’ve learned how lucky I am to have the show. I’ve definitely learned how the people you work with can become such a family and such a support system, and to lean on them when needed because it’s a singularly unique trait that our show has had because you don’t normally get that much time with people. But more than anything, trusting myself and taking props for when it goes well, which I’m not very good at. Just tune out “shit.fm,” which is what I like to call the nonsense that your brain sometimes likes to tell you, and just try and relax and have fun.

In honor of Women’s History Month, I remember you wrote an essay on International Women’s Day in 2017 about growing up as a feminist with a very strong view of equality in the home and wanting that to be reflected in the world. Two years later, do you feel like the landscape has changed at all to reflect your view?

I think it’s gonna take an enormous effort and amounts of time for society to really embrace that fully, but I think we’re making all the moves in the right direction. I definitely think we’re pushing the needle a little bit every day and every little helps. If we can try and empower young girls and young boys to value the quality of their minds, to value the quality of human interaction, that will provide growth for you as a person. If we can try and shift focus away from purely aesthetics into something much more long-lasting and reliable that is our thoughts, our minds, our connections, our words, and our deeds, then I think we’re in great shape. But let’s hope.

For Emilia Clarke, Ending Game of Thrones Was “the Metaphorical Undoing of the Bra” was originally published on Enchanting Emilia Clarke | Est 2012

#emilia clarke #game of thrones #game of thrones cast #GOT cast #daenerys targaryen #me before you #terminator

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nexusradiodance · 6 years

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Emily Perry Interview: ‘You Need People That Are Going To Lift You Up’

Australian artist, composer and dancer Emily Perry first exploded into the music scene with her 2016 debut single SUGARCOATED. The single was received with worldwide praise and it went on to reach number #40 on the Media Base Activator chart.

Her two follow-up singles BOOM and Walk in Silence went on to become Billboard hits, peaking at number nine and number thirteen respectively on the Billboard Dance Chart. Emily is currently touring the United States promoting her newest single Summer on Lock. The Summer on Lock Tour brought her to Chicago for a live performance at the House of Blues, the same weekend as Chicago Market Days.

During her tour stop in Chicago, Emily came by the Nexus Radio booth for a quick interview to talk about her newest single, her live performance on Good Day New York, her new music video, and to take the infamous Nexus Radio Take 5 Quiz. Here’s what she said (scroll down for the audio version):

RONS: This is Ron for nexus radio, talking to the gorgeous, lovely and talented Emily Perry.

Emily Perry: Thank you so much for having me, Ron- so happy to be here!

RONS: Is this your first time in Chicago?

Emily Perry: Yes, this is my very first time in the windy city and I love it so far. And Market Days is incredible!

RONS: You’re performing for the Circuit Mom (Chicago DJ and Promoter), if you had to choose- who would be your performance mom? Who would it be?

Emily Perry: I’m not sure. I’m really excited to be with Circuit Mom and DJ Hector Fonseca. It’s a performance that I never thought I’d be doing. And we’re all so excited I’ve never performed with Hector even though he’s done my last two records, so I can’t wait.

RONS: Everyone is playing your song. The video is so amazing. What was it like filming yet?

Emily Perry: Thank you. Yeah, this video is definitely my favorite. I got to do a lot of dancing in it. I started from dancing, so it’s obviously my favorite thing to do. And we put a lot into this video and I’m really happy with how it’s going. It’s getting a lot of reception. I premiered it on Good Day New York last week. So it’s been going great since then.

RONS: Was that the Fox 5 thing?

Emily Perry: Yes, that was,

RONS: What was it like being on TV?

Emily Perry: It was amazing. I’m so grateful to Fox 5 and the Star Groomer (Cindy Valentine) and Rosanna everyone in New York for helping me with that because it was my first TV performance and it was an incredible experience and I’m so glad I got to do my newest single. But I did the remix by DJ Tony Gia actually. So that was a lot of fun.

RONS: Going back to your dance, I saw a picture on instagram of you holding a certificate that you graduated from….

Emily Perry: Yes, I actually graduated from a two year certificate IV (certification in dance), in Australia, two years full time dance. So I graduated from that about a year ago and then moved over to the U.S.

RONS: How long did it take for you to learn the choreography for the video?

Emily Perry: The video was choreographed by Brinn Nicole, which was, she’s amazing. I think we had two rehearsals both for hours each and then we just filmed.

RONS: Well you are now certified so you can pick up anything, are there any funny stories of the video filming that you could share with us?

Emily Perry: The video was fun. We did the whole thing in one day, and it was all in different locations. So we started in the desert, which was a bit intense. We were all sweating trying to keep that make-up on; it was a lot of fun. And if you’ve seen it, the beginning we’re in a car and this car was amazing, super old fashioned. I loved it, but the car kept stalling and when you’re driving through the desert, the wind makes you cry. So all of us dancers were just crying our make-up off, the makeup artist was like, please stop.

RONS: Let’s get serious for a second. The song Walk in Silence. What’s the story behind that song?

Emily Perry: So walk in silence. I wrote with Cindy Valentine and producer Joe Cruz. This was a really special one. It’s probably at the moment my only slow mid-tempo song and the song walk in silence is pretty much about not walking in silence and really being heard and saying what you think before it’s too late and I’m just so glad that it got the reception that it did in that everyone got to hear it.

RONS: I saw you got to meet Mike WiLL Made-It. If you were to collaborate with him, what would you do?

Emily Perry: I think if we got to collaborate, which would be amazing. We would definitely do something a bit more R&B, a bit more urban because obviously I’m a pop dance artist, but I love to go and all different lanes because I just love all music.

RONS: This is your first interview with Nexus Radio. Something we always do is Take 5, which is five fun, weird questions to really get to know you. So if there was one country or island that you could buy, which would it be?

Emily Perry: Probably like Santorini, Greece. Let’s do that!

RONS: What advice would you give your 15 year old self?

Emily Perry: I think I tell her not to listen to other people’s opinions because it just clogs your mind and you don’t need that kind of negativity around you. You need people that are going to lift you up and support you.

RONS: I love that. I wish I could tell myself that every day. When you get married, who do you want to Dj your wedding?

Emily Perry: There’s a remixer called DJ No breakfast. I feel like he’s from the UK or something and I’m really obsessed with him.

RONS: You’re going to be a superstar. We know that already. So when they make the Emily Perry perfume, what is it going to smell like?

Emily Perry: I feel like it’s going to be like subtle and sexy. Not like fruity and annoying because that’s like too much, like something subtle way, you know they’re wearing perfume, but it’s not in your face. Like you’re going to have a coughing fit, you know? Yeah.

RONS: Who is your spirit animal?

Emily Perry: Like a sloth. They’re really cuddly and “huggy.” Not that I am, but I mean I just like them. I think they’re funny. I’m funny. I don’t know Ron.

RONS: Who is your favorite Australian Dj?

Emily Perry: Oh, Flume. There it is. There it is. That was stressful.

RONS: What’s coming next from you?

Emily Perry: Well, I’m currently just finishing my Summer on Lock Club Tour, Las Vegas is my last date for that and I’m in Las Vegas next weekend. After that, I am doing a five week High School nation tour. So that’s my second North American tour, which is very exciting. That’s five weeks in a row and info on that will be coming very soon. So that’s what’s next for me.

RONS: If we want to follow you online, what’s the best place to go?

Emily Perry: Yeah, so I’m on Instagram, facebook, twitter, under @theemilyperry. My youtube is just Emily Perry, and my website is www.emilyperry.me.

RONS: And what would you like to say to all your friends and fans out there?

Emily Perry: I just want to say thank you so much for supporting me because ultimately I wouldn’t be where I am now if it wasn’t for you and I have new music coming soon. So keep your eyes and ears open. And thank you so much from the bottom of my heart.

Click here to follow Emily Perry on Spotify!

Listen to the audio interview below ↓

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from Dance – Nexus Radio https://ift.tt/2BKWdD4

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ulyssessklein · 7 years

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“You work hard or you die.” (An interview with Portugal. The Man)

How a mid-level indie-rock band became the crossover stars of 2017.

Portugal. The Man works hard.

Like, really hard. I mean, they create adventurous and catchy music too. But after talking to Portugal. The Man, I get the sense that the quality of their music has a lot to do with work ethic as well.

They credit that work ethic to an upbringing in Alaska, a place where “you work hard, or you die.” The now-Portland-based band has gone through stretches where they’ve put out an album annually, toured 300 days a year, and still found time to make videos, launch creative promo campaigns, and run their own label.

After signing to Atlantic that workload has only increased, along with their success.

And despite all the hard work (or maybe because of it), the band’s biggest song to-date, “Feel It Still,” which hit #1 earlier this year on the Alternative, AAA, Hot AC, and Spotify US Viral charts, arrived almost effortlessly.

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I talked to Portugal. The Man’s founding-member, bassist, and backup singer Zach Carothers about the band’s success, work ethic, the creative ways they’ve brought their music into the world, and where their tour is headed…

An interview with Zach Carothers from Portugal. The Man

CR: So you’re going to Mexico next?

ZC: I’m really excited about that. We have a blast in Mexico. It’s pretty much the most fun place. There’s something about it, the crowds down there are just fucking nuts. It’s really amazing. They go bonkers, for sure.

CR: Awesome. And it’s a good time of year to be down there. So I’ll just jump in with some questions: I know you guys have been releasing music for more than a decade and had a lot of success at a certain level, but obviously “Feel It Still” is kind of the monster hit of your career so far. Besides it just being a good song, I guess I’m wondering: why now? What did you do differently to push this one over the top?

ZC: Yeah, it was weird. Honestly, it’s incredibly frustrating because it was far and away the easiest song we’ve ever written. We had it pretty much done in about an hour. We were working on a different song, and John kinda took a break in a side room and picked up a bass and started playing that bass line. And our buddy Asa Taccone from Electric Guest who was working on something else at the time, heard it and threw a mic on the bass amp and said “lemme get that real quick.”

I think what it was is just the fun we started having. Asa started dancing around the room. He’s a theater kid. He’s very animated. And we are not like that in the studio. We are pretty dark and self-loathing, and always talking shit to each other. And he just started kinda dancing and banging on the desk and making a little fake beat for us to write to, and whooping into the mic and pitching it, and said “Ya got any ideas? Lyrics? Let’s come up with some stuff.” So we just started coming up with lyrics, and singing stuff.

And within about an hour we pretty much had the song done. And I think what was different was that it was just the most natural songwriting process. And honestly we didn’t really know what we had either. We basically finished it in that first day, and then we took a couple months to do what we do, which is absolutely overthink everything and try a million different things. But all we really changed in the end was we put a real drum beat on it and kinda changed the bass a little bit. But besides that we kept it the same. And it was funny, we almost changed the chorus right at the last minute, two weeks before we put it out, because we did completely use the Marvelette’s “Please Mr. Postman” line for the chorus. And honestly, we tried it with a bunch of different melodies and just it didn’t seem right. A lot of times we’ll sing somebody else’s lyrics or somebody else’s melody just as a placeholder, when we can’t think of anything, and then we’ll change it later. And he put down the please mr. postman melody and we just couldn’t really hear anything else. We tried a bunch of different stuff, I’m like “Man, it’s clearly just not as good as the ‘Mr. Postman’ melody,” so in the end we just decided to ask the songwriters if we could license it, and it worked out.

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That’s cool. So I know leading up to the new record, you’d been working for many years on an album that you ended up throwing out right?

Yeah.

You said about “Feel It Still” that you kinda didn’t know what you had. Do you think that could’ve also been the case with the stuff that didn’t get released?

We had amazing stuff on that record we threw away; it just wasn’t the right time. It wasn’t something that needed to be heard right now. We had written everything. We’d been working with Danger Mouse and Mike D from the Beastie Boys, and we had some of the best lyrics and best songs we’ve ever done, but at that same time, right when we were finishing up… I don’t know if you read the news but… shit started going a little crazy with American politics.

A certain someone got elected?

Yeah, yeah. And we were finishing up that record before he got elected and it was turning that way. And yeah, then he got elected, and we couldn’t just put out an album that said literally nothing about that. It was all cool stuff we had, but it had nothing to do with anything that was going on in a world that was drastically changing. And so it was kinda freaking us out; we’d just spent all this time and all this money on music that we thought was amazing but we took too long and the world didn’t stop turning. The world had changed before we could finish our album. So we decided to scrap it and just redo the whole thing.

I understand completely. It feels like THE important thing you can do as an artist. I think “People Say” was probably the first song of yours I heard. I don’t know if you consider that a political song, but it’s definitely a socially useful song, so it’s cool to know you sort of returned to that well.

Oh, for sure. And it’s funny because both of those ideas — for us to go back in and re-record was all John’s dad’s idea pretty much; or not his idea, but he was the guy who inspired us to do it — and then it’s funny: “People Say” was actually his idea too.

We were hanging out in Alaska a long time ago and we were watching a Pete Seeger documentary or something like that, and we were over just hanging out at John’s dad’s house. Me and his family were always super tight; everybody’s always hanging out together. And yeah, he just looked over while watching this and said “Ya know, I haven’t heard a good protest song in quite a while. You guys should write a protest song.”

And we were like ‘fuck yeah.’

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And we always do protest songs a lot more mellow. I grew up on Rage Against the Machine, and we can’t do that, but we definitely have to throw in our two cents on a smaller level. We’ve gotta say something.

And John’s dad,… that was the whole reason we called the new album Woodstock. It was him asking us what was taking so long with the album and then he’d just recently found his original ticket stub to Woodstock, and there was something about holding that and hearing all those stories. I knew he’d been to Woodstock; I’d heard those stories before, but it just kinda hit us harder and seeing all the similarities with what’s happening today — we live in Portland, where there’s protests every other day — and ya know, seeing all the signs in the street and people coming together it’s just really made us sit down, pick up our instruments, get back into the studio, and get to it.

So I probably wouldn’t ask you this if you were from any other state, but I know a lot of people from Alaska who have that place imprinted on them, so is there a way that growing up there has informed your sensibilities, either as a songwriter or creatively, or just how you go about being in a band?

Oh, absolutely. One, it definitely instills a very serious work ethic in us. You work hard in Alaska, or you die. You freeze to death if you don’t.

And we grew up building houses, washing dishes, working at warehouses. We grew up working, and so I think we took that kind of theory into music. And so for years before we signed to Atlantic, we were pumping out an album a year and playing 300 shows a year. And I think it was just out of necessity, but that was our practice. Instead of going to school we were writing music and trying to get better until we thought that we were ready to sign to a major label and do things at that level.

We weren’t ready when we first signed, honestly. Our first Atlantic album we got thrown in with big producers and a big studio and we got thrown in the deep end and we started drowning for a while. It was not a good experience. But we finally made it through. We came out of there and every album we’ve learned more about ourselves, ya know?

Alaska, it’s a place where you really kinda have to know yourself. There’s not a lot of outside influence, which made us very hungry to get out and see the world. But it also gave us enough space and time to figure out what we wanted to do.

So when you say that you felt like you were drowning when you first signed to Atlantic, was it pressure, or just a ‘fish out of water’ feeling?

A little bit of both. And honestly Atlantic was always cool. We put the pressure on ourselves. We always do. It’s always us. We still do. We thrive in that kind of thing and we do it to ourselves. We basically do things wrong, but we do things in OUR way. They sent us in with producers who wanted to hear demos and to write songs before we came in, we don’t really do that; we normally go into the studio and write, and we had never done it with other people. It ended up being fine; it just took a little bit of getting used to.

And we weren’t in a good place mentally as far as the band went. It was dark days. The darkest days as far as us not getting along. People really going crazy. Very, very mentally unhealthy. So it was a combination of a million things going on. And the fact that we made it through that really made us stronger.

That’s what the whole next album was about; Evil Friends was pretty much about that terrible time, a terrible time between me and John mostly. But we got out of it. It’s crazy. There were a lot of things going on that are hard to explain to some people; it’s like the relationship with bandmates, I’d say it’s like a marriage but there are five of you, and a crew, and everybody’s children depend on you, and the manager’s children, and even in a marriage you go to work different places for ten hours a day.

And you don’t get the break…

Yeah, breakfast, lunch, dinner, it’s just on… forever. It’s like being brothers who are business partners AND married all at the same time. And it’s fucking wild. Some days are really good days and some days are really bad days. But a lot of people ask, of all the things we’ve got to do, what is the most amazing thing, your biggest accomplishment, and my answer is: “I can’t believe we’ve stayed together.” That has been the biggest accomplishment, it’s been the hardest thing, and it’s been nuts, but that’s unbelievable.

Do you feel like being at the center of this team of people — the crew, booking agency, publicists�� do you feel like managing all the moving parts comes naturally?

It’s all worked out. We did a lot of the stuff ourselves in the beginning, and then once we got more help we took a little while to let go, but honestly we have the best crew in the world now; we’ve got the best manager, the best booking agent, the best lawyer, the best label, our road crew is insane. It’s all one big highly dysfunctional family.

But everybody’s got there thing, strengths and weaknesses, and we just try to figure out what those are and look around and when somebody has traits that aren’t good in some way, somebody else steps in that has stronger ways of dealing with that, and vice versa. Collectively, between all these people involved, we make one okay guy that does pretty good stuff. Which is essentially the whole idea behind “Portugal. The Man” anyway — an alter-ego for one person, and all of our parts equal that guy that goes out and does good things.

Yeah, it’s like a collective individual…

Yeah, Voltron, ya know?

So one thing that’s always impressed me about your band is that rather than just saying “hey, we’ve got a new song; we’re gonna put it out,” there’s always some special hook. You’ve got the interactive video with the social prompts, and the Wieden+Kennedy pop-up thing, so I’m wondering how hands-on are you guys with those things? And what’s it like coming up with ideas for your campaigns and then having other agencies execute on them?

OH, we’re very involved with that kind of stuff. That’s always been extremely interesting to us. We’ve always loved the marketing side of music, and just business in general, but we have fun with that.

There’s always so much more that you can do than just a song, or just a video that goes with the song, and so we’re always coming up with ideas. And that’s how we started working with Wieden+Kennedy in the beginning, We’ve been friends with those guys for years, and they are just the smartest, funniest people we know, so that’s what we do; we go and have dinner and drinks with those guys and pretty much just brainstorm ideas, and sometimes it’s for our band and sometimes we just end up making fake business models and laughing. That’s just how we entertain ourselves.

And then it was crazy, we had an album coming out and we were having one of those nights, and then one of our buddies at Wieden+Kennedy said “hey, we’re a creative agency. We don’t do things normally.”

youtube

They’re always being very creative, helping businesses get out of the mindset that things have to look a certain way. And to spike creativity the boss lets them have a budget to just work on some fun projects. And we’re friends and we had an album coming out and we’re like “hey, want to make some music videos and come up with some ideas and actually work together instead of just sitting around talking shit like we usually do?”

So hell yeah, we got to make a few videos with them. And “Feel It Still” was the first one, and it was awesome. We kinda came up with the idea and they figured things out. They’re incredibly smart people, and we trust them.

So to change gears here, I’m wondering, if you could put yourself in the shoes of someone who’s just getting out there on the road for the first time, do you feel like in the world of digital distribution and YouTube and analytics and all this stuff that there’s still value in getting in the van and playing a bunch of shitty gigs in small towns?

Oh yeah. That’s how you get good, man. That’s how you prove it. In this day and age, you can write amazing songs in your bedroom with a computer. You don’t even have to be a musician, there’s some programs that pretty much make it like a video game. I mean, I don’t really trash those artists either, like some of the DJs, a lot of musicians say “Oh, that’s not real,” it’s a different thing, but some of those DJs are unbelievably talented: you have to have good taste, and you can tell the music is inside them; you just let it out through our fingers differently I think.

And we’re definitely more old school. Ya know, we still show up to festivals being one of the few bands that doesn’t have a laptop somewhere on stage running tracks. Nah, nah, we’re 47 inputs of weird analog synths. That’s just how we prefer to do it, and I think that’s the reason we’ve gotten so far. People can write a good song in their bedroom, but you’ve gotta go out on tour and prove that you can play it, and that makes it a whole other thing. And if you can do both, that’s where the magic really happens.

And also, as I said earlier, we’re just hungry to see the world. And if that’s how you do things now, sure you can get big off a YouTube video, and I know people that have had #1 songs that were made in living rooms, but you gotta get out there and prove it if you want it to last.

Prove it to yourself, or to the audience, or…

Yeah, to yourself and everybody else. I mean, live music is never gonna go away. There’s so many things now: you can watch concert footage from all over the world with bands that aren’t even alive anymore. But people want to go feel it; they need the giant speakers; they need that bass pulsing through their bodies. They need sweat. They need beer. They need to get out and let loose.

Now more than ever?

I definitely think now more than ever.

Thanks to Zach for making time to talk. If you’d like to check out Portugal. The Man’s music, visit their website.

[Photo by Maclay Heriot.]

The post “You work hard or you die.” (An interview with Portugal. The Man) appeared first on DIY Musician Blog.

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