Archive for the Interviews Category

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Treefort 2023 Profile: Swaziland’s Dusty & Stones

Posted in Interviews with tags , on 03/13/2023 by korzeck

We begin this week’s installments of profiles on international artists playing Treefort Music Fest with the most compelling entry thus far in the series. Hailing from Swaziland, Dusty & Stones features two cousins breaking new ground by remodeling American country music as a Swazi sound of their own.

Fortunately for those who aren’t familiar with the musicians or the sound they’re trying to propagate, Dusty & Stones extensively answered our Treefort-related questions in great detail. Treefort organizers are surely well-versed with Dusty & Stones’ original — some might even say “newfound” — style of music, as they booked Dusty & Stones for three performances.

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Treefort 2023 Profile: New Brunswick’s Motherhood

Posted in Interviews with tags , on 03/12/2023 by korzeck

Most artists we’ve featured so far in this series on international bands playing Treefort Music Fest will step into Idaho for the first time when Boise’s music extravaganza runs from March 22, through Sunday, March 26.

But avant-rock trio Motherhood is an exception to that rule, as they’re playing Treefort for the third time this year.

The entire band — bassist/keyboardist Penny Stevens, drummer Adam Sipkema and guitarist/vocalist Brydon Crain — all generously set aside time to talk with the Bad Penny about Treefort and their experiences at the festival so far. The trio also revealed it didn’t know about Idaho until committing to participate in the festival the first time around.

Additionally, and they also shared an anecdote for the ages: Discussing marine biology while they soaked in a hot tub with their friends in garage-rock band (and Treefort alums) Serpentfoot.

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Treefort 2023 Profile: Toronto’s Debby Friday

Posted in Interviews with tags , on 03/11/2023 by korzeck

The most intriguing performance at this year’s edition of Treefort Music Fest could very well come courtesy Toronto’s Debby Friday on Day One. The experimental hip-hop extraordinaire will play Wednesday, March 22, when the five-day music extravaganza gets underway.

Signed to Sub Pop Records, Friday’s performance will be extra-thrilling given that she’s releasing a new studio album, Good Luck, two days after her Treefort gig.

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Treefort 2023 Profile: Mexico’s Son Rompe Pera

Posted in Interviews with tags , on 03/10/2023 by korzeck

Last week we introduced you to Petite Amie, one of two Mexican bands playing this year’s edition of Treefort Music Fest in Boise. But, as Yoda would say, “There is another.”

Son Rompe Pera — who, like Petite Amie, hail from Mexico City — will also perform at the festival, which runs March 22-26. The idiosyncratic band occasionally incorporates strains of traditional folk, rock and punk music. But Son Rompe Pera’s obsession with the marimba makes the band one of a kind.

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Treefort 2023 Profile: Ireland’s Modernlove

Posted in Interviews with tags , on 03/09/2023 by korzeck

One of the hallmarks of Boise’s Treefort Music Fest is that it doesn’t waste time rolling out many of the most promising acts on the bill. Set for the first night of the five-day event are Surf Curse, Covet, Rogê, Caitlin Rose and Orions Belte — and that’s just from 8 to 10 p.m.

But Treefort-ers would do themselves a disservice to miss, or at least not look into, another Wednesday night act: Modernlove. The bracing indie-pop quartet is coming all the way from Ireland to infuse the fest with its special blend of succinct, succulent melodies and hooks. If that’s not enough of a selling point, Modernlove’s Treefort set will mark their first at a Stateside festival.

Seven years after their formation, Modernlove have mastered the art of cutting to the chase. Their no-frills, no-nonsense approach manifests in instantly memorable tunes that burrow into the brain.

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Treefort 2023 Profile: Montreal’s Thanya Iyer

Posted in Interviews with tags , on 03/08/2023 by korzeck

The greatest gift that a new artist can bring to table is, well, something new. Montréal-based singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Thanya Iyer is doing just that, crafting a luminescent variation of experimental pop — and even coming up with a name for it: “future folk.” It’s a sound as infectious as Iyer’s huge smile.

Iyer will have backing players onstage when they play Treefort Music Fest together in support of their new EP, rest. Iyer recently (and graciously) set aside some time from making music and making people happy to talk with The Bad Penny for our ongoing series profiling the record number of international artists playing this year’s edition of Treefort.

As expected, the latest entrant in the series beamed as she answered questions — and didn’t complain at all about the 36-hour drive that Iyer and company will take to get to Treefort.

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Treefort 2023 Profile: Mexico’s Petite Amie

Posted in Interviews with tags , on 03/07/2023 by korzeck

Treefort Music Fest organizers looked north of the U.S./Canada border for this year’s installment of the music festival, reining in 10 artists by our count. They include arty instrumentalists Godspeed You! Black Emperor, new Sub Pop signee Debby Friday and Teke::Teke. But the organizers also turned their gaze past the southern border, locking down a couple of bands from Mexico.

One of those is Petite Amie, a psych-pop band that signed to beloved U.S. indie label Park the Van in June 2021. Petite Amie, whose new album drops later this year, seemed especially thrilled to play Treefort in part because one of their biggest influences, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, are headlining the five-day festival.

The Bad Penny recently caught up with Petite Amie for our ongoing series on international bands booked for this year’s Treefort. All six band members chimed in on what they’re most looking forward to at Treefort: catching UMO, eating delicious Basque food and making lotsa new friends.

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Treefort 2023 Profile: Italy’s Dumbo Gets Mad 

Posted in Interviews with tags , on 03/06/2023 by korzeck

No matter the size of your ears, you’d better have them wide open for psychedelic pop at Treefort Music Fest, lest you infuriate a certain Disney cartoon. Dumbo Gets Mad are Italy’s sole entry on the sprawling lineup, which includes more international artists than ever before.

To be precise, Dumbo Gets Mad currently calls Los Angeles home. It’s there that they’ll embark on a monthlong tour starting Friday, with Treefort smack-dab in the middle of the trek. Dumbo Gets Mad will surely perform some selections from their latest record, Things Are Random and Time Is Speeding Up, as it dropped in February 2021. But if we’re lucky, we might also hear some material from Thank You Neil, Dumbo Gets Mad’s 2015 record and tribute to astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson.

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Treefort 2023 Profile: Vancouver’s Mauvey

Posted in Interviews with tags , on 03/05/2023 by korzeck

Born in Ghana and currently residing in Vancouver, Mauvey’s life story is as wide-ranging as tastes in music, which span alt-pop, hip-hop and soul. But there’s a through line to his story, and it’s a hideous one: “My whole life, I have faced the unimaginable torture of racism. It has been unyielding and suffocating,” Mauvey said in a statement while reflecting on his life.

While no one would want to shoulder that burden, what makes Mauvey a magical artist is his desire — and success — at molding the perfect response to hate. Rather than focus his art around the abuse he’s faced throughout his life, the artist counters hardships with positivity. Call it turning the other check, taking a stand or whatever you will — Mauvey uses his opportunity at the mic to create a rising tide lifting everyone who listens. Expect nothing less when he performs at Treefort Music Fest in a couple of weeks.

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Treefort 2023 Profile: Brazil’s BIKE

Posted in Interviews with tags , on 03/04/2023 by korzeck

This year’s Treefort Music Fest in Boise will feature more international acts than ever before during its five-day stretch starting March 22. But as the Bad Penny learned while creating this lengthy series profiling most of those non-U.S. artists, we also learned that many of them haven’t even touched American shores at all.

Take, for instance, BIKE. The tropicália-tinged psych band hails from São Paulo, Brazil, and already played throughout that country and in Europe too. Plus, many years have elapsed since the four-piece group released its debut album, 1943. (Just to clarify, none of BIKE’s members are senior citizens; the record dropped in July 2015.)

But the timing couldn’t be better for BIKE to finally pedal their way to the States for a concert performance. The Portuguese-speaking band — which counts Danger Mouse as a huge fan — just announced a new full-length, Arte Bruta, due May 5. Fans of Black Mountain and other forward-thinking fans of psychedelic rock, take note.

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