New Interview: We Chat With Adam Hess From Up the Academy / Plus: KU Boobs of the Day!

If you're an observer of the Larryville scene, you've certainly been listening to the recent wave of top-notch garage rock acts emerging from our fair city: bands such as Rooftop Vigilantes, Mouthbreathers, Dry Bonnet, and Up the Academy (many of which share members). And even if you're not an observer of the scene, you've probably also been listening to them, since all these sons-a-bitches play loud as fuck!

Today we're chatting with Adam Hess from Up the Academy about how they fit into the scene, their new 7" on Replay Records, hobo circle jerks at SXSW, and the sadly forgotten 1980 teen sex-comedy that gave the band their name.

Enjoy the interview and check out Up the Academy at the Replay this week (Wednesday March 28) with Texas' Church Shoes. Get prepared with a few songs from Up the Academy here and a few songs from Church Shoes
here . Play it loud (obviously).



Chip: Tell us about your band name. Does the title come from the terrific 1980 teen-sex comedy Up the Academy, starring a young Ralph Macchio?

Adam: Yes, it does come from that classic piece of American cinema. Part Porky's, part Animal House, all Macchio. Ron really liked that it was filmed at a military school in Salina and that if you had seen it in your youth it held some iconic significance. It's true, when people get the connection with the band name their eyes kinda light up like they haven't thought about it since they were a kid.

[Watch the Youtube trailer of Up the Academy here ]

Richard: There are a hell of a lot of garage rock bands in Larryville right now and most of them seem to contain the same people. What sets Up the Academy apart from the pack?

Adam: Absolutely nothing! We're just as much a part of this incestuous cesspool of dirty three-chord rockers as anyone and happily so. It's a cool scene. Even if the music sucks, at least something's happening.

Richard: Can you describe your sound using pompous Pitchfork-style music writing along with one of those “we sound like _______ meets ________” comparisons that music critics always use?

Adam: Hold on, let me pull out my "Pitchfork's Snarky Word Book." Let's see...feels like a banana split hitting you in the face, sounds about the same. I'd like to think we're like midget porn: a few people are getting off and the rest just can't look away.

Chip: You guys just returned from SXSW. Give us your best tale of SXSW debauchery, ideally involving an orgy with celebrities in a hot tub full of barbecue sauce.

Adam: Aside from our participation in multiple hobo circle jerks and a full on Carl Buddig deli meat fight with a tranny double amputee it was a pretty tame year for us.

Richard: We hear there’s new Up the Academy music on the way. What are the details and what else can we expect from Up the Academy in 2012?

Adam: We're pretty excited to be finally releasing a few songs we birthed, tit-fed, wiped, and coddled into the world on some sort of actual format. We have a 2 song, 7" coming out on Replay Records in a few days and a split 7" with Magic City out of St. Louis following soon after. For the Replay 7" release look for a projection of "Up the Academy" (the movie starring Ralph Macchio) while Up the Academy (the band) is playing music, and feed on free popcorn. The date for that is lookin like April 12th. Also sounds like the Replay's Spring Into Summer is happening again. I've heard rumors of an all day show with tons of bands and even a PBR orgy. You can guarantee we'll be there in some capacity.

Chip: You guys barely have an internet presence and hardly even announce your own shows. Is this some kind of carefully calculated punk aesthetic or just general Larryville rock-and-roll apathy?

Adam: We don't have a web presence because we don't want to. In some places, people don't even talk to each other. Fortunately for our fair town here, our people still talk to each other, and they come out to shows without a FB invite or email or some band's intraweb presence or even a show poster. They come out to shows because they're moved by the power of the....moved by the.... uhhh yeah we'll have to claim total laziness on that one. Oh, by the way we're playing Wednesday March 28th at the Replay Lounge with Church Shoes (awesome band from TX).

Here's a peek at Ron Miller's cool front and back vinyl jacket art for the 7":





































And here's a photo of the band at the SXSW Replay Records' showcase courtesy of I Heart Local Music (go here to check out the full gallery and videos). We dig those air-brushed Playboy bunny shirts!

















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Tip for bloggers: a mere mention of "KU Boobs" in your blog headline will score you a record number of pageviews (even more than getting a blog post linked to the official Elvis Costello site, it seems).

Yes, America is crazy-horny for KU Boobs, and today's set comes courtesy of our Larryville Twitter-friend @christinamaki . Thanks for sharing your boobs with the world!