Camp Counselor Ålexander Interviews The Accidentals

The Accidentals came up and mentioned that they were playing the upcoming SCamp. After I hooked them up with their wristbands for the festival that they were there to play, we decided to conduct an interview shortly after their set under the California sun. So here it is, my interview with Summer Camp Music Festival sophomores, The Accidentals. And to start things off in the right step, I decided to talk about cats. Me: Cats, are you cat people? TA: Um, my best friend is a cat, but its not in the way you think, he’s more like a cool bro you can hang out with and watch Star Wars with, so ya I’m a little bit of a cat lady. I love all animals equally, I just happen to have a really chill cat named Nashville. Me: Cool! So we will talk about the name a little bit, where did it come about? It seemed as if me wearing my Summer Camp shirt and running into you guys was anything but an “Accident.” TA: Thats just how everything in our band seems to work out, many random perfect coincidences happening plus lots of hard work and luck. Also, an accidental in music theory is a note that doesn’t quite fit in yet makes sense in some way. We all seemed to have met each other in weird ways that could be looked at as being accidental and we happen to be quite accident prone. Cars breaking down, instruments break, that kind of stuff. Me: I totally understand what you guys mean by the accidental in music theory being a musician myself. I love those spontaneous and seemingly accidental things that often happen within playing that just work out perfectly. That being said, what does your writing process look like? TA: Actually, we all write pretty separately. So we will all go off and write something and bring it to the group. We will work together on that if we like it, it’ll work itself into a song. We’ve also been doing a lot of film scoring and commercial work so we’ve been working more together on our processes with that. So that’s been a new journey. Me: You guys played a song called “The sound a watch makes when it enveloped in cotton” in where you asked the audience to meet you after the show to get a free CD if anyone knew what book that phrase came from. Was anyone able to give you the correct answer? TA: Yes! Immediately after the show a guy asked if it was Edgar Allan Poe which it was. Me: Cool! Any new novels you guys have been reading? Read a lot on the road? TA: Oh yeah, actually Sav is writing a book. Me: Really? Whats that about? TA: It’s a sci-fi novel about a boy who accidentally gets ahold of death’s phone book. Ya, it’s a pretty epic adventure. Gonna be good after it’s done but it takes forever to write on the road. Me: Influences, I get a lot of The Beatles from you guys. Are they an influence? Any other influences? TA: Oh yeah, thats awesome. We love The Beatles. Thinking of how many people the Beatles have inspired. It’s amazing. We actually cover “Taxman” by The Beatles but in Nickel Creeks version of the song bringing it back to our own funky fit. Other influences include Radiohead, Andrew Bird, Punch Brother, and Queen. Of course many many others. Every genre. Me: How about any new material you guys are working on? New releases? TA: Yep! It’s a six song EP being released for free on June 1st called “Parking Lot.” Building up to a full release later in the year, possibly next year. We just have a huge catalogue of maybe 40 songs just waiting to be released so this is our transition phase of getting all that stuff on record. Me: Awesome! So that makes me think of vinyl then… will there be any vinyl pressings for any of the new material? TA: Yes actually. We are planning a 7″ two-sided single release of our songs “Parking Lot” and “Michigan Again” tentatively released next fall. Me: Anything to say to fellow Summer Campers? TA: See ya there!!!! And find us on the schedule!   The Accidentals will be playing on Friday at the Camping stage at 12:30 PM. To check them out and get their new release, make sure to go to their website: http://www.moreaccidentals.com/          ]]>