THE PLURALS

HI AND WELCOME TO ANOTHER INTERVIEW ON THE RICHARD DREYFEST BLOG. WE ARE GETTING STOKED 'CAUSE THE FEST IS A WEEK AWAY AND THAT EXPLAINS THE CAPS LOCK. ALSO, I BROKE MY CAPS LOCK. THERE ARE SOME EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENTS TO BE MADE SOON, BUT BEFORE WE DO THAT, YOU SHOULD READ ABOUT LANSING, MICHIGAN'S THE PLURALS. 

Weirdest part: that's actually a shih tzu in the middle of the picture

Hi Plurals! Who are you and what do you do and what else would you do if you had the option?

The Plurals are Hattie, Nich, and Tommy. Tommy says "I pretend to work at a grocery store and do some odd recording jobs as well, and I'd really like it if I pretended to do mostly recording stuff and occasionally worked at a grocery store." Hattie says "I work at very nice grocery store, and soon I'd like to be making more art, writing more (fiction, non, and music stuffs), and learning how to be a well-rounded human being. Also, I like mycology."  Nich says "I worked at a grocery store about seven years ago and now work at a different job and have played in this band for a long time."

You have been a band for how many years now?

11-12 years since we were in high school and trying to learn covers in Hattie's parents basement, 7-8 since we started writing real songs and recording them, 5 since we started touring and being real-ish. There are no simple answers.

And you have a forthcoming new release, right?

Yes! "An Onion Tied To My Belt" was released on July 21st by our own label GTG Records, our friend Jimmi's label Infintismel Records in Jacksonville, FL, and our friends Logan and Lucille's label Diet Pop Records in Tucson, AZ. We recorded it with some of our best musician friends and got to release it with some good people that we've met from DIY touring so the whole record is a pretty cool summation of what we've been doing the last few years.

Being around as long as you have, you've got to have a good/bad bunch of tour stories. Please share one!

It's all a blur and it's mostly good memories as even at most "bad" shows we still make friends or something. One story that always sticks out goes back to one of our first tours ever when we were hanging out in Trenton, NJ (home of our good friends and label-mates Honah Lee, some of whom may or may not have been present) after a really fun show. At this show one of the guys in the crowd got hit with the microphone (I think) and it caused his head to start bleeding a little bit, not a serious cut though. Anyway, after the show we were hanging out at our friend's house at about 4 AM, this guy passed out and people started to draw on him and mess with him, pretty standard stuff. He eventually woke up and started wrestling with one of the other guys, and in the process the head cut opened up again and his face was pretty much covered in blood. Everyone was really rowdy at this point, laughing and screaming and we had all started to calm down and the guys that were wrestling (who were good friends) were just sitting on the floor when all of a sudden one of the neighbors kicked the door open holding a baseball bat and demanding that we "shut the fuck up" because he was "trying to watch TV." However, before he said anything else, he looked down and saw the guy slumped against the wall covered in blood while a room full of people were just standing there laughing at him, and the neighbor just said "oh shit" and walked out, clearly freaked out. It really says something about the wildness of a party when a guy who is fully willing to bust into a house with a baseball bat would rather just leave than try to deal with the situation. Everyone was fine and we still see most of these people when we tour out that way. Not the baseball bat guy though.

Is Michigan as scary as people make it out to be? ...Or is that specifically a Detroit thing? (And if so, is that really as scary as people say?)

People say Michigan is scary? Is that a Montana thing? We'd love to hear scary Michigan legends. Michigan is a beautiful state full of forests, fresh water beaches that look like the ocean, and a long history of cool, alternative art. Detroit especially! Though RoboCop is actually a documentary.

What is Lansing like, scene-wise?

Lansing has a bunch of tangential connections to the advent of punk and hardcore, and the college area was a minor hub of "alt rock" back in the 90s, so there's a lot of veteran musicians and promoters that are still very edgy and weird and who have a lot of stories about crossing paths with anyone from Gibby Haynes to Danzig or Anthony Keidis or whoever. What's really nice about Lansing is that the DIY thing is really ingrained in the artistic community and there's never a dominant style as everyone is pretty open to different things. Scenes always ebb and flow and for the last few years "our" group, the GTG Records community, has been sort of the torch-bearers of house shows and warehouse/ underground shows. We do a GTG Fest every October that happens at some of the cool bars as well as at DIY spaces.  

Your new Fleetwood Mac graphic is incredible. Whose work? Whose idea?

We all grew up on classic rock so we have a long history of celebrating and mocking a lot of the so-called "dinosaur bands." One of our earliest songs was about all of the spaceships on the cover of Boston's first album. The Fleetwood Mac posted was designed by our friend Corey Marie, who probably wants us to plug her webstores and such as she's a crafty maker of many things and pretty darn good at what she does. coreymarie.com!

Hattie, last time you were playing in Billings, you had to fend off a moron who kept trying to hit on you DURING the set. ...This was at a sports bar, so obviously this was not a typical show environment, but it brings to a few questions to mind. Most obviously: how often does that occur and how do you deal with it? Any advice to potential morons who might attempt the same thing?

H: I forgot about that! I generally am nice to people, and try to be understanding and compassionate. We are all products of our environment-but it does get uncomfortable some times, especially when I still occasionally get a totally innocent "You're a really good drummer for a girl!" comment. Advice for morons: give the ladies their space! If you want to impress me, be polite! I am a little out-of-it in a show setting, but we Plurals are usually open and friendly. Just wait til after we play!

What are you most excited for on your upcoming tour?  Cities/food/activities/friends/whatever!

All of the above. The burrito quality of the southwest and California is something we never take for granted. Most of the shows on this tour are at places we've played before so it's good to be seeing friends and familiar places. 

What do you do with your down time when not band-ing?

Play in other bands.

Best topping for ice cream? 

Hattie: Salty French Fries, OR any kind of crispy rice cereal (fruity, cocoa or plain). I would probably eat a lot of things on ice cream.

Nich: Best topping in ice cream is chocolate chip cookie dough.  On top?  I don't know.  I am partial to mixing up every single garbage flavor when I do the self serve frozen yogurt things, even if the flavors don't really match.  If the Jurassic World Blizzard is still a thing I can also vouch for that. Had it recently at the World's Largest Truck Stop in Iowa. It's cookie dough and crumbled peanut butter cookie flavored. It was the real deal.

Favorite fictional character at the moment:

Tommy: The Brawny paper towel guy. They don't make them like they used to, I think he's due for a gritty reboot. Him or Stevie Nicks.

Hattie: Bigfoot (the invisible one, not the one you see in commercials) or... the Little People Who Live Inside of Juke Boxes.

Plugs/advertisements:

gtgrecords.net!

HEY, THIS IS THE END OF THE INTERVIEW AND I HAVE NOTHING TO WRITE ABOUT TO CLOSE IT. I AM AN IDIOT AND SHOULD PROBABLY WORK HARDER. PLEASE KEEP READING THESE ANYWAY.

SEE YOU AT DREYFEST!