originally printed in movers and shakers #2 - (thanks megan!)

Megan: When and how did #Poundsign# become a band? Had any of you been in bands previously?

Alicia: Well, I had never been in a band before, but Becky was in "the Wells" in high school and Stephen had been in many other avant-garde, cool bands throughout his life. Anyways, we met in Santa Cruz in 1992 and formed the band in late 1993. We were all friends and would drive around late at night and hang out at Ferrell's Donuts and then we just sort of did what came naturally and started practicing music together. At first it was Ravi and Stephen, an adorable duo writing about bumpy peas, and then I joined and brought some style to the band, and then Becky came on to give up some rhythm, and it was complete. We stayed like that for a long time.

Stephen: We have been doing our music for a while. Even though the instruments and sounds change from year to year, I think the songwriting and the kinds of melodies and beats we employ have been the same. The method stays constant.

M: What influences your music?

A: I would say there are a lot of things which influence the music, and it changes all of the time. A lot of it has to do with what we are each listening to at the time, and also, the personal events in our lives come in to the music in different ways, like in how the mood of the song is. For example, there were times when both Stephen and I were feeling a bit bitter about love, and so the songs reflected that, and sometimes we are happy. Just like everybody else, it depends on how your world is, what your context is in which you are writing music. As far as musical influences, we each have lived our lives listening to things like The Beatles, New Order, The Cure, Kraftwerk, rap music, jazz, all of that.

S: As for myself, the change from living in a college town to living in a big city has changed how I felt about music. I think that music is really necessary. It's not some frivolous thing. Some people can only express themselves through music. People like that are interesting to me.

M: That's interesting, can you [Stephen] expand? Is this a personal change, elicited from self-reflection, or more from noticing other musicians that you have come in contact with? I have always felt this way [about music], but if feels like this was more powerful for me when I lived in a small town and didn't have a group of friends who shared my interest in music, but it sounds like the opposite is true for you. Any particular experiences that brought about this change?

S: Well, in college there was more of a community and more resources for music: I could take vocal classes, I could practice on the piano, I could jam with whoever and all I had to do was walk down to the practice room. Playing with people and being in bands was just a normal extension of living and breathing. Now that I'm out of school, it's not so easy, you have to decide that it's important. This is bad, but it's also good: you are forced to take more personal responsibility for your music. Once I realized that it's our statement and no one elses, it made me more confident in making changes in songwriting and changing certain aspects of the sound of the band. You have to decide if you are really going to be an artist or not.

A: In San Francisco, the most inspired musicians I've met are those that seem to be doing it completely on their own, without much support from anyone. I've met several DJ types that are like this. I think we have all been influenced to some degree by the dance scene up here.

S: I also wanted to say that a lot of people really are frustrated trying to have a personality in our culture, given the limited options they are given. At some point in their lives, they rebel, and say, "No!" and this is often the same point at which they begin expressing themselves through art, which seems to be a better world than the one we have to deal with everyday.

M: You guys seem to enjoy touring, are there any words of wisdom someone wants to share regarding what you've learned about your music, one another, highways, rest stops, etc?

A: Never leave your bag of money out of your sight.... Enjoy yourselves and the places you are visiting. Pay attention to where you are, like don't just go watch a bad movie or something. My ideal tour would be staying in each place that we played for at least a whole day or two. This last tour was great, but often rushed and we had to drive a lot to get to the next place. It was like 11 shows in 14 days or something (all over the U.S. too). But, we really get along well when we are together, so that makes everything fun too. I think we all really enjoy touring a lot. We are the kind of people who like that too... [we] love to travel and see different things. Becky and I are also filmmakers, so we love to bring the cameras along and film different things. Maybe next time we can have a story too.

S: When you have to book your own tour, you sometimes end up making a scheme that is a bit unrealistic, like when we played in North Carolina and then had to play in Denver 2 days later, that is, drive halfway across the country. The first time you tour, this kind of insanity seems like fun, but it gets old fast. It's great to be able to go to a new place and be part of something going on there - you get a different insight on what the place is like. It's different and better than being a tourist.

M: Did you two major in filmmaking? What sort of films do you make? Like I said, I'm a Freshman in Tisch's film school, so though I don't have extensive filmmaking experience, I've really enjoyed my animation classes. Do you consider yourselves primarily visual or audio people? Mixture of both? Have you made #Poundsign# videos?

S: I have several ideas for films. One is an idea for a video to one of our songs, the really euro-disco one. I want it to be all in superfast motion, of teenagers getting ready to go to a dance club, driving on a highway to the city, the fast pulsing lights in the disco tell a story of futuristic dreams combined with suburban alienation. Somewhere in there, a couple meet and have a conversation while overlooking the dance floor, smoking cigarettes. Towards the end, everyone drives home, alone, and the video ends with the sun rising through venetian blinds that project sunlight onto the sleeping protagonists of the video (in fast motion). I also want to do a film about the house that I live in. It will be the story of a day from the point of view of our house. There will be no people in this film. I imagine it having Beethoven as the soundtrack. Visuals are very important. When I make music, visual images always seem to creep into the concept of the music. I seem to need a visual image of a song. I think it may be because MTV was really important in getting me into pop music in the first place. The early '80s were the first time that music was required to have a solid visual component. As far as live performance, we are trying to make the stage show more interesting. Whether dancing or standing still, the performers on stage should be an image that you can lose yourself in.

M: What are your favorite road snacks? (I personally miss Dr. Pepper Big Gulps for $0.69 and Sweettarts.)

A: Last year, I was in love with Watchamacallits and Taco Bell tacos. ALWAYS, always drink SNAPPLE Ice Tea beverages. There is nothing better than Snapple Ice Tea Peach flavor ON THIS WHOLE PLANET! We thought about approaching the company to do a commercial, like "When we're on the road, we like to drink Snapple ice tea beverages! It really keeps us going!" The whole car would get full of emtpy bottles. Though Stephen loves Kern's too.

S: Yes, Kerns won't let you down. One should be conscientious of what is eaten. Sometimes you just gotta eat candy, but you know you'll feel gross afterwards. It's a choice everyone makes at every service station. Sometimes you need candy to get through a day of driving, though.

M: What would be the ultimate #Poundsign# show? (Uh, I'm trying to stay out of hypothetical question world, but think I'm starting to stray dangerously close.)

A: If we could play with Kraftwerk and the Magnetic Fields and Stereolab that would make me die. My partner's band got to tour with Stereolab last year on the West Coast and I almost died of jealousy, but I got to hang out with the group and they dedicated a song to me in L.A. "La Boob Oscillator," and I almost had a heart attack. They are great people and I love their music. Magnetic Fields and them make me crazy. S: We recently played at an art gallery. That was pretty cool.

M: Have you gotten to see/play with the Magnetic Fields as yet?

S: I don't know about a Magnetic Fields/Poundsign show. It may never happen.

M: What are everybody's favorite non-band related hobbies?

A: Filmmaking and photography, though it is expensive. Also eating food. And art.

S: I like to garden, and I am getting into electronics. My room is like an electronic garden.

M: Did you guys go to college, and if so where? What did you want to become (career choice)?

A: We all went to U.C. Santa Cruz, which is a great liberal school, with lots of wonderful professors, like Angela Davis, Victor Burgin, and Chip Lord (who did Ant Farm- "Media Burn", and "Cadillac Ranch"). I wanted to become a professor of Art History, but then it changed and I got really into filmmaking. So that is what I am trying to do. But, first of all I am myself, so that makes me happy. Just doing what I want to do and getting by. Its very important to believe that whatever you are doing is what you are doing, when people ask "so what are you going to do?", you answer by telling them what you are doing, not about where you work. Some friends of mine, who are like 80-something, are good examples of this. He is a photographer and she is wonderful, I think she used to teach or something. But, when they ask me what I am doing, they don't want to hear about some stupid job or something, even if its a job some people think of as successful, they want to hear about my life, my music; things that are important when you think about what you did with your life. They are really wonderful.

S: When I went to college, I didn't really have any idea of what I would do, or I thought, "Well, I'll just go teach." Now, I realize that I would have to do, like, 5 years of graduate school in order to become a professor, or else 2 years and teach high school, which I don't really want to do. So it's pretty complicated. I feel like I'll be 30 before I really know what I want to do.

M: Do your songs ever have basis in real incidents, or are they primarily made up stories? Does "Michigan" relate to anything?

A: For me, the songs are made from my life. Some of them are very personal, though maybe indirectly. Like I've found I write these collages of the feelings I've been having, even if they aren't actual events. Some of them have to do with my ideologies about life and the way I want to live it or how I think the world is. Some are ironic or just the opposite of maybe how I am feeling, and then the undertones give the real meaning. Then sometimes, I say, I want to write about something I empathize with, like being a kid and playing soccer or being hunted.

M: What do you mean by being hunted?

S: This comment refers to an incident that occured once when we were practicing at Becky's house, which borders on rolling countryside. We were playing this one song, a dark instrumental tune, and there seemed to be a strange silent power guiding the force of the music, coming from beyond the scope of human understanding. That is, coming from nature.... Anyway, when we finished the song, we looked out of the window and there were several deer looking at us from the field across the way. We only played the song a couple of times, but we thought it should be called "The Hunted". Most of my experiences wouldn't sound right if they were translated directly into lyrics, they have to be manipulated a little.