Music Connection: How has your SXSW experience been?
Sarah McTaggart: It’s been a sweaty experience for us but an enjoyable one nonetheless. We have one last performance this evening at Sidewinder, for the Double Dutch Festival with Swim. We’ve played eight other shows, making nine total. What other shows have we done?
Jon Garcia: We just got done playing the hype hotel yesterday with Gallant. Gallant was so, so good!
McTaggart: So amazing! Yeah, we played the Sony PlayStation House. That was really cool. Jack Garret was there. Yeah, we played the New Shapes, Neon Gold, played the Whole Foods Southwest Invasion. Hung out with Roland. What are some of the other shows we played?
McCarthy: We played all of them!
McTaggart: All the shows! Every show there ever was. It was good, it was fun!
McCarthy: We were joking about it the other day. This is like band boot camp. It’s nonstop.
McTaggart: Yeah, it was like a marathon, like an endurance test. I still have a voice so I feel like I passed.
McCarthy: I don’t.
MC: How did you prepare for the festival?
Michael Panek: Practice.
McTaggart: Hours of practice. Lots of ginger tea and honey for me.
Garcia: Lots of push-ups.
McTaggart: Yoga, meditation.
Garcia: I think we just kind of get in the mindset that it is what it is. We all know that the second we get on stage we are gonna have fun and play the music that we love to play.
McTaggart: Yeah, there’s moments of it being miserable where you’re like dragging bags and you’re sweating your face off.
Garcia: When you’re walking with all your gear a mile in the hot sun, you want to just quit and give up.
McTaggart: Yeah, yeah, there’s been moments where I was like, you know when the ground starts looking real good. Judah and I were joking. He was like, “Those steps look so good. I’d sit all over those stairs!”
McCarthy: I’d sit on any of those stairs. It’s great though. I like the weather.
McTaggart: I heard that before I came. Someone said that if you don’t like the weather in Austin, just wait 10 minutes and it’s pretty true. It’s been different from day to day. There’s been days when it’s been super-hot and humid and we’ve been sweating, and then rainy days, and today was like freezing cold. I didn’t have any warm clothes.
MC: For your first time at SXSW, what expectations did you have?
McCarthy: I thought I was going to be able to see a lot more shows. I had this whole schedule in my phone, like I’m seeing these 19 bands today. Tomorrow I’m going to see these 20 bands. There’s no way. I don’t know if it’s just our schedule but I only saw bands that played immediately before us or after us. I did see great bands but I was kind of bummed because there were so many great artists here. Their line-up was stacked.
McTaggart: So many great artists. People told us how big it was but I don’t think you can really fathom how huge by area and by how many artists there are until you actually get here. It’s like holy crap, this is like over miles and there’s so many venues and there’s so many artists. There’s so many good ones you just want to see them all. It was amazing.
MC: How has a festival like SXSW affected your career to move forward?
McTaggart: I mean it’s been really cool. We got to meet some really amazing people like Zane Lowe was at one of our shows and we got to shake hands with him, which was really cool. He really helped us out with playing “Bloodstream,” which was one of the songs on our EP on Beats 1. So it was really cool meeting him. We met a bunch of people from radio and different labels and stuff like that. And a bunch of different artists as well. Just the networking alone with the artists has been incredible. We got to meet AudioDamn!, who are now like our BFF’s. They’re so cute, we love them.
McCarthy: Grizfolk. We met them actually right before SXSW.
McTaggart: We met them in Atlanta but there here too.
McCarthy: It was a similar festival feel that we did there. I think meeting the bands has been awesome because half these bands are from L.A. where we’re from anyway, so now we have friends!
Garcia: And on top of all the connections too within the industry and other artists, you know, for an artist like ourselves, it’s also good to be able to get on stage and only have 10 minutes to set up, everyone’s frantic, we’ve only had two hours of sleep, and you know, getting used to that so that when we do have two hours of sound check, we can do it in our sleep.
McTaggart: It’s just as easy as pie. And there are some really amazing companies that are out here too. Just before we came here we talked to Roland. They were at our last show at the Southwest Invasion and they were like, “We really like your set. We want to hook you up with some gear.” So that kind of stuff is really amazing because as a band you’re always strapped for cash. You’re always needing new gear or breaking gear. So it’s a great opportunity if you’re an artist to come out.
MC: What kind of gear are you using?
McCarthy: We use Fender. We use Akai.
Garcia: I play Promark drumsticks. I play Evans drumheads. I play DW drums when I’m in L.A and then I also play Roland SPD-SX, Zildjian cymbals and then all DW hardware.
Panek: I do Dunlop picks Ernie Ball Bass strings, a Fender Bass and line 6 pedal board and a Roland synthesizer.
MC: How did you decide on that gear?
McTaggart: Just what works the best.
Panek: Yeah, after just years of trial and error, figuring out…
McTaggart: Yeah, I mean it’s different for everyone. Like I would never say like, “Oh yeah, this is what I use so you need to use this.” The microphone I love, you know, it works for my specific voice and actually it only works in certain rooms, so you really just have to test it out for yourself.
MC: How important is it for a band starting out to promote themselves and their music?
McTaggart: I think it’s extremely important. Especially now that technology has advanced in the way it has, anyone can write music, anyone can record music. It’s not like the old days when you had to have a label to have a record. Now I can just, at my house, record something at my computer and put it on the Internet. Which is great but now there’s a saturated market. There’s so many bands out there, which is amazing for fans, but as a band you have to find ways to differentiate yourself and to stick out and to reach the people that want to hear your music. For us, finding innovative ways to reach our fans has been a lot of fun for us.
MC: You’ve claimed to want to change the world. How will you go about accomplishing that?
McTaggart: I mean, I think music changes the world every day. When I listen to a Beatles’ song, it puts me in a different mood, it puts me in a different mindset. So I think just by listening to music, by letting yourself be inspired by new music, you know, music does have the power to change the world if you open your heart up to it.
MC: What’s coming up for Transviolet in 2016?
McTaggart: Yeah, we got a new album coming out. We’re gonna be on tour in the U.K. for our first headlining tour and then we are actually, in April, we’re going to be doing a residency in Los Angeles, with a few surprise bands that is gonna be a lot of fun. So get your tickets.
McCarthy: We’re playing Fire Fly, Governor’s Ball, the Great Escape in Brighton in the U.K. We plan on touring the states as well. We plan on just playing for the rest of the year basically, as far and as much as we can.
McTaggart: Until we are done.
MC: Some critics describe your music as moody, the younger sibling of Lana Del Rey. How would you describe your music to new fans?
McTaggart: I’d say that each song is its own universe and that there’s a lot of variety to our music. So there’s songs that are edging on the more indie side like “Girls your age” or “Night Vision,” and then there’s stuff that’s you know, like those big pop anthems like “New Bohemia” or “Bloodstream.” But I think throughout the music what we hold most important is the message and you know, we really take pride in our lyrics and taking time to tell the story. So yeah, if you like something that tells a story, if you like something you know… For me I just want to write something that’s honest and that’s all that really matters. I just want to find music that tells that story.
MC: What advice do you have for artists who want to play at SXSW?
McTaggart: I’d say be very polite.
McCarthy: Be polite. Every band you ever play with, every sound guy, whether he sucks or kills it—these are the people who run your career for you, you know.
McTaggart: Be humble. Be very humble.
McCarthy: Yeah, humility is everything.
McTaggart: You never know who’s listening, who you’re talking to. The person right next to you could be the journalist who’s gonna tear you apart in a blog post if you’re not nice to him. So be nice.
McCarthy: And 99 percent of the time, like us personally, when we pick a band to open for us or just when we pick people to be in our careers, it’s 80 percent relationship, 20 percent ability. Like, yeah you need to be able to do it, but we need to be around people that we love. It’s very important. Cause there are a lot of talented people that aren’t very nice.
McTaggart: You need to be a good person. You need to be respectful.
Garcia: Oh, and lots of socks too. I did not pack any socks.
McTaggart: Yeah, socks are important to for SX and wipes. Bring lots of wipes. Put wipes and water in your backpack.
Garcia: Oh, and if you don’t tan well, you need to bring sunblock. I tan well, and I’m starting to get burned.
Portrait photos by Jody Domingue
Live photos by Siri Svay
