Wednesday, March 7, 2012

New Interview: The Noise FM 's "Noise Boys" Stop By to Discuss the Replay, Erotic Fan Fiction, and SXSW

You probably know The Noise FM from their Boy Meets World erotic fan-fiction on Twitter, but you may not realize that they also have a pretty good little rock and roll band going on. The "Noise Boys" left Larryville for Chicago awhile back, but they return to the area quite often. You can catch them at the Riot Room in KC this Saturday and the Replay on Sunday before they trek down to SXSW and get into all sorts of wacky shenanigans. Here's our interview with Alex and Austin, which covers the band's meteoric rise from the Fort Scott "Good Ol' Days" festival to Chicago's hippest dive bars (with digressions regarding cuddly animals, boners, hanging out with Bill Murray, and--of course--erotic fan fiction).

Enjoy!

Richard: So how does Chicago’s hipster scene compare to Larryville’s? Is there any bar in Chicago that comes close to the Replay in terms of sheer greatness?

Alex: Cole’s is a really popular 3am bar in Logan Square right by our house. It smells like it was built on top of human cadavers soaked in urine and sulfur. The place is wretched but extremely popular with the hipsters. And it’s one of the few places to find $2 PBR. However, we have yet to find a venue that matches the greatness of The Replay’s restrooms.

Austin: Yeah, I would say Cole’s. It’s dank. And gross. Either that or this new spot called the Lincoln Park Shelter for the Homeless. I see a lot of hipsters go in there. It’s got a Replay vibe to it.

Chip: How does the Chicago groupie scene compare to the Larryville groupie scene?

Eh, groupies aren’t really our thing. Especially since Skyrim came out. But the groupie scene seems pretty similar – there are just more of them here and they have a different accent.

Richard: Please describe your sound in a few sentences using the kind of pompous music writing found in Pitchfork or Daytrotter? And what rating would Pitchfork be likely to bestow on your music using their 0.0 to 10.0 range?

Alex: The Noise FM are men made of their own making, and their aesthetic eccentricities are at once both uncomfortable and startlingly familiar. They eat fibrous cereals and are remarkably regular. Pitchfork Review: 10.0

Austin: “Listen to The Noise FM’s rare and awful stripped down set on Daytrotter right now -- only $39.99 for a monthly subscription.”

Richard: We’ve heard various tales about your SXSW exploits. What have you got lined up in Austin this year? And is it true you guys partied with Bill Murray down there?

Alex: Oh, it’s true. It’s hard for some odd encounter NOT to take place when you’re at SXSW. Bill Murray came walking through the street late one night with a handful of young kids in a band. I was wearing an oversize GAP jean jacket that I had just received as a free door prize. Bill saw me and said, “Hey, Jean Jacket, you coming with us?” I ended up riding around the city on his private bus before he drove us to an impromptu rock show in the middle of a bridge. The whole occurrence was as weird as it sounds.


Austin: I got yelled at by “comedian” Todd Barry for recording him with our video camera during a stand-up set. I didn’t think he was that funny when he was yelling at me. As far as this year goes, we have 5 shows lined up over 3 days, and we’re certain some major industry folks will be there to discover us.

Richard: You guys have been touring with Archie Powell and the Exports, who have an absolutely adorable press photo of themselves holding a cute dog? Have you guys ever considered posing for some press photos with cuddly animals?

Alex: We usually don’t go for cuddly animals. When we’re not working with our cat Mr. Budget we only use endangered animals for our photos, which are obviously getting harder and harder to come by. Our next record is tentatively titled Bald Eagle Scalps, and we’d prefer not to use CGI.

Austin: Perhaps you missed this highly reblogged photo of me and our cat Mr. Budget on the world-famous website CuteBoysWithCats.net .






















Chip: As many of our blog readers know, we share a Fort Scott small-town background. Do you guys remember that time I got a boner at the blackboard during history class?

They still talk about it back at Fort Scott High School. The legendary Blackboard Boner. You were a couple of years older than us. The school waited until you graduated to get new carpeting.

Chip: Your music is pretty decent, though I preferred your earlier work in Fort Scott's Pond Monkeys. However, I’m primarily interested in your Boy Meets World erotic-fan-fiction. How did you guys get into this and can you give us a preview of future installments?

How can you watch Topanga on TV and NOT want to write erotica. The only thing surprising about this book is that it took so long for someone to get around to writing it. Our goal was to tell the whole story in 140-character tweets. Our book is a collection of those tweets along with a handful of unreleased material. This whole trip is a promotional tour for our book of Boy Meets World erotica. It’s been wildly successful. We’re selling them for only $5 a pop, and so far we’ve sold one to our roommate.

Richard: What can we expect from a Noise FM show at the Replay very late on a Sunday night? Will the band be absolutely blitzed on PBR prior to taking the stage?

Alex: I’ll be honest, there’s a 75% chance we’re not going to end up performing.

Austin: I just recorded all our songs onto a cassette tape. We’re planning to just play the tape over the PA system while we sleep in the van. We figure Replay still has a cassette player hooked up.


Richard: What are the Noise FM goals for 2012 before the Mayan apocalypse arrives?

We’ve been talking about getting new business cards for ages. Hopefully we can get around to doing that.


Go to the official Noise FM site for a very entertaining account of their complete tour dates and plans.

And look at this "Noise Boys" photo via @carodgz :


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