What do "Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, Moses, Chuck Norris, The Little Prince" have in common?
They're all awesome dancers. And they all serve as wellsprings of inspiration for Krisp, a four-member "indie/dance/chillwave/dance-rock" band -- Andres Ledesma, Jason Mavila, Alex Lopez, and Charlie Woods -- that's been bringing whimsical party tuneage to the 305 scene since early 2011.
Tonight, the quartet will be throwing a release party at Churchill's Pub for its new, limited-edition, 400-copy seven-inch "Will You Tell Me"/"Captain Hook" single on Sweat Records' in-house label, Sutro.
So we here at Crossfade chatted up the Krisp crew about nomenclature, genre tags, and fantasy live music experiences.
Crossfade: Justify the K in your band name.
Krisp: A couple of months into the creation of the project, after concentrating solely on music, the time came to name our efforts. With some past knowledge on naming projects, the consensus was that names don't make bands, bands make names. After all, there are bands that we love with pretty bad names and vice versa.
Alex had been using the word crisp to describe the sound we were striving for. And after he insisted, we simply opted for what seemed organic. The whole K spelling in the nineties seemed like an attempt for edginess that turned into kitsch. When we went for the K, we were aware of the whole spectrum and repercussions. But all in all, the idea of justifying your name just seems outdated.
What is the origin story behind your new record on Sutro?
We had been on the scene for a couple of years. And naturally, we started to have a relationship with Lolo Reskin and the Sweat Records family. Lolo approached us with the idea of putting out a single on vinyl and we immediately jumped on the opportunity. We know the other bands that were given the same opportunity and it was an honor to be a part of the greater good that has flourished from Lolo's hard work.
What do you have in common with the other bands on Sutro? What is different?
We have a lot in common with the other Sutro bands. Aside from the obvious things like location and label, we are all just hard working bands that have chosen to put music on top of our list. I guess the only difference is in how we choose to execute our work.
Is indie-pop a dinosaur in terms of relevancy? Are you guys a throwback act?
Everyone is jumping on the indie wagon nowadays, for better or worse. As for relevance, it's just as relevant as everything else and every band is a throwback in a sense. We have yet to see a band creating music without any previous knowledge of what music is.
Describe your fantasy live music experience as an audience member.
Our individual taste is extremely varied, but collectively we would all be pretty stoked to go back in time and watch Joy Division in concert.
Describe your fantasy live music experience as a band on stage.
There is something about John Lennon and Yoko Ono's album Double Fantasy that is just completely magical. Getting on stage with John and Yoko to jam out a song like "Every Man Has a Woman Who Loves Him" would have definitely been an incredible (double) fantasy live music experience.
Do you willingly embrace the tag dance-rock? Or do you wish rock came first? Or do you essentially consider what you do live electro?
I think all those terms apply. There is definitely dance, rock, disco, and electro elements in our approach. The order is just a matter of perspective.
-- Matt Preira and Sean Pajot
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Krisp's "Will You Tell Me"/"Captain Hook" Release Party. With Deaf Poets, Cog Nomen, and DJ Charlie Woods. Presented by Sweat Records and Sutro. Friday, January 11. Churchill's Pub, 5501 NE Second Ave., Miami. Doors open at 9 p.m. and cover cost $7 or $10 for a copy of the record. Ages 21 and up. Call 305-757-1807 or visit churchillspub.com.
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