Indie fans will recognize Jona Bechtolt as half of The Blow, which indeed blew up big on the blogs last year. Realllly indie fans will recognize him as YACHT, who just celebrated the release of his album with a party on an actual Yacht.
He plays the Che Cafe at UCSD on May 25.
YACHT is kind of a big deal in hometown Portland right now, and when the weekly paper's music blog, "Local Cut," interviewed Bechtolt for its Travel Light feature, he decided to have a little fun. Man, if you want to screw with an interviewer hilariously, this is how you do it (Q&A and YACHT on a yacht photo below, with a link to the page at the end)
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If there was a word beyond “exclusive,” this would pretty much be it: YACHT, a.k.a. Jona Bechtolt, fucking with me for nearly a dozen interview questions. What can I say? It’s at least entertaining. And, given his considerable time spent being probed at the Canadian border yesterday traveling to Vancouver for last night’s show with LCD Soundsystem, maybe he was just disoriented. I dunno. In any case: enjoy…TL: How fast did this tour really come up? Was it just something like ‘ we need you in San Francisco the day after tomorrow. You in?’
JB: Oh brother, you don’t know the half of it. So Terry from LDC leaves me a text message – of all things – at, I don’t know, four in the afternoon – day of show – which simply reads: “BAY AREA. 6:30 PM. $3800. YOU KNOW THE DRILL.” I tell you what, I’m lucky my buddy Sel has this Apache F-14 helicopter he’s been illegally working on in international waters. Baby barely stays up there, but baby makes it. Don’t even get me started on Oakland flight restrictions vis a vis dual rotors, or what a d-bag Terry was when we finally arrived. Sheesh.
Rock and roll, right?
How did it come up?
Original opener canceled. The thing is, I didn’t even know PM Dawn was still together. Go figure. Good for me though, in terms of money.
I’m assuming LCD’s touring full-band, fully live style…does it feel discongruous at all to be opening up shows as this solo skinny guy with everything pretracked on a laptop? I’m assuming you’re touring without backup…correct me if I’m wrong.
First of all, I’m relieved to learn that 165 pounds is still considered slim and trim. Thank you for that. Backup-wise, I’ve been accompanied most nights by one of the top sixteen bassists in Portland (Maine), Eric Prutt. He was gracious enough to trek out here for the tour. He’s amazing.
How are the LCD crowds reacting to YACHT?
The crowds have not been receptive.
Best moment of the past three days?
I want to say “I’m still waiting for it,” I really do, but to be honest the money has felt really, really good. I had some pretty substantial debts left over from March Madness, and now that Orlando tanked in the NBA play-offs, well, let’s just say I’ve certainly been in better financial standing.
If you could do something different regarding the YACHT on a yacht party what would that be? If anything… If this is the party of the year, what could make it the party of the decade?
I would honestly love to do something on the Earth’s sun. I’m not sure the logistics, or if it’s even possible without straight-up death, but, man, wouldn’t that be amazing? “Can you feel the heat Seattle?” Oh man, I would love to see the looks on their faces.
I know this sounds like a neg question, but I can’t help asking: does it feel presumptuous to get so massively extravagant for your own release?
Oh big time, big time. I’ll be honest Chad, (interviewer's name is Michael -B.H.) it feels downright gluttonous. Just gluttonous. It’s one of my—let’s be fair, many—vices. I love to spend, and I love to spend on myself. Shoes, belts, whatever. I just dropped $280 on this Fax machine. Get the picture?
Local Cut interview with Jona Bechtolt
YACHT - See a Penny (Pick It Up) (MP3)
As I said in the beginning, The Blow really caught on with bloggers around October, which helped them make a number of best-of lists. If you haven't heard them before or steered clear when everyone wouldn't shut up about them, give these tracks from their lo-fi "Paper Television" a try. With summer coming up, "Parentheses" is a great track if you're looking for indie wedding reception songs.
The Blow - Parentheses (MP3)
The Blow - The Long List of Girls (MP3)
1 comment:
ok this is a good post.
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