Being given the chance to interview an innovative and amazing talent like Al Doyle is a dream for any music enthusiast. A truly significant part of the awesome, quirky and danceable Hot Chip and a critical piece of LCD Soundsystem, Al Doyle makes great music and is a well spoken music buff. BeatCrave had the opportunity to join in on a conference interview with other music writers nationwide on Wednesday, September 17. Knowledgeable music writers and the, dare we say, genius of Al Doyle should have been the perfect combination for a well rounded, in-depth look at one part of the awesome Hot Chip. Unfortunately, no, interestingly, the combination resulted in a voyeuristic experience in music snobbery, technical difficulty and a Britt’s uncanny ability to make it all worthwhile.
All good stories start, where they should, at the beginning. Calling into a conference interview is like visiting a speak-easy on the phone: one must give a code, wait for an indeterminable amount of time and then, suddenly, a voice let’s you enter the forum while introducing Al Doyle. No one but Al Doyle can be heard unless it is your turn to ask a question and depending on how quickly one dials *1 determines when the opportunity to ask a question will be granted.
For a while it seemed no one was going to say anything, and so Al Doyle simply started talking. First Doyle spoke about the hold music which reminded him of being on hold for the bank then about the awkwardness of the silence. Finally, a person was given the chance to ask a question.
“What is the main difference between being a part of Hot Chip and being a part of LCD Soundsystem?” Asked the interviewer?
“That’s a good question.” Stated Doyle, “LCD Soundsystem is certainly more of a dictatorship. James Murphy is the final say in what happens with LCD Soundsystem. Hot Chip, on the other hand, is more of a democracy, with some members feeling they have say in that democracy than others.”
Good. First question underway, things are going in the right direction. Hoping I would be next in line (I did, after all, push *1 quite quickly), I was preparing to ask my well thought out question, one that I just knew other people were curious about when…
Silence. Silence and then, more silence. Al Doyle, started talking again. This time about the sunny weather in Los Angeles and then about the fact that it’s a good thing this interview wasn’t on the radio because dead air was a definite taboo. Then more silence.
The silence was broken by the interview coordinator,”Next question will be asked by Steven So Cool” (to save the reputation of this person the name has been changed, you know who you are).
“Your music is so clever and has a great sense of humor; do you find it easy or difficult to continuously meet this high standard of writing?” asked Steven So Cool.
Al Doyle responded, “I don’t have much to do with the lyrics. I—”
“I know, I know. I meant if you found it difficult to make music to match the clever humor of the lyrics. I have been a fan of Hot Chip for a long time.”
Al Doyle went on to answer this question and was, yet again, interrupted by Steven.
“You guys definitely have fun on stage,” commented Steven.
“Yeah. We—”
“I mean, people are so surprised when they leave your show that they danced at a concert. I mean this guy and his girl will come out and the guy will be like ‘whoa’ I danced at a concert. I live in Chicago and…”
Steven So Cool goes on, and on, asks another question, interrupts and goes on and on. It became a bit confusing as to who this interview was really about. Finally through the wonder of a “technical difficulty” Steven was cut off and someone else (no, not me) was given the opportunity to ask a question.
More questions were asked and then Sue So Scene (not her real name but, again, you know who you are). Stated the following:
“Hot Chip is part of the large movement of electro pop music. How do you feel about the bands that primarily use technology to create music?”
“Synthesizers have been for a long time.” Al Doyle informed. ”Depeche Mode, New Order, etc. have used synthesizers in their music. I don’t know if this is necessarily a new, new wave, it’s more of a continuation and evolution of music —”
“Yes, but I mean bands that use only technology and don’t play instruments. I saw Mogwai last night (so what.) and this band Fuck Buttons —”
“Yeah, yeah, I know Fuck Buttons, they were playing with—”
“You know Fuck Buttons, oh, huh. Well, I had to close my eyes for a while during their set to try and appreciate what they were doing. But, I mean, they don’t play any instruments.”
Al Doyle, once again, graciously answered Sue So Cool’s rudely phrased “question” and the interview continued with someone else being given a turn to ask a question (fingers crossed but still, not me).
“Maybe I won’t get cut off this time.” What the heck? Steven was back and I still had yet to ask my super cool question. Steven cut in front of me and was now bogarting more of our precious time with Doyle. Steven went on and on and on about something to do with his fandom and reassured all of us that he was a bigger fan of Hot Chip, knew more about the band and was far more knowledgeable about all things music than any of us possibly could be. Lame.
More people asked questions and Al Doyle answered all of them with wit and intelligence. Never, however, was my amazing question given the opportunity to find its way into the forum. Then, without pomp or circumstance, Al Doyle simply stated, “I am hanging up the phone now, cheers.”
And so it ended. It was fun really, to learn all about Steven’s amazingly vast knowledge of Hot Chip and Sue’s experience at the Mogwai concert. That was the purpose of the call anyway, wasn’t it?
Fortunately, Al is a gracious interviewee and even with the overwhelming arrogance of Steven and Sue, was able to get one thing through to us quite clearly, Hot Chip is about fun and, if it wasn’t fun, he wouldn’t be doing it. Take a lesson Steven So Cool and Sue So Scene, music is for enjoyment and never should be used as a tool to “prove” your coolness (not that it was proven).
As for my awesome question: next time I’ll push *1 much, much faster.
Enjoy all of Hot Chip, without Steven or Sue (I hope, for everyone’s sake), this Sunday and Monday night at The Wiltern (Map) at 8:00 (buy tickets). Also, take a listen to their awesome new live EP, “iTunes Live: Berlin Festival” exclusively on iTunes
Photo by: Redheadwalking
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2 responses so far ↓
1 Matt // Sep 22, 2008 at 2:06 pm
hey, so could you tell me about the actual interview and not about a couple of interviewees?
2 Brian McConnell // Sep 23, 2008 at 8:29 pm
Matt - absolutely! I thought it would be fun to say “goodbye!” to LA.CityZine with a less traditional “interview.” Hope everyone got as much of a laugh out of it as I did while writing it!
I went ahead and posted the interview, in it’s more formal and in-depth format, on BeatCrave.com (which is celebrating its debut week!) Check it out by copying and pasting the following link:
http://beatcrave.com/2008-09-23/interview-with-al-doyle-of-hot-chip-3/#more-694
…and the beat goes on…
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