Down the stairs underneath the Great American Music hall after their show opening for the Handsome Furs, we sat down with The Railcars and through the thick smoke in their green room we discussed the state of the San Francisco music scene, LA DIY, and the 13th century.

What are your names and what do you do in the band?

Aria Jalai – write songs program electronics, play guitar, and shout things

Shaw – effects, doodads, synths, and drum box wiz.

We record most of our samples in logic and a Korg EMX drum machine. We also use a lot of iPhone; it’s like half the set. Yesterday we played a show with this band that said “we hate I phone touches” and we were like…. Uuhh.

How would you best describe the sound of your music?

I’d say it’s one part too loud guitar, one part Hyphy beats, one part broken electronics, and a guy just awkwardly shouting at you through a megaphone. We use the megaphone because I was always trying to find a way to affect vocals, cause who the fuck likes plain vocals, so we tried a number of inventions including a telephone and pedals but the megaphone worked the best cause in a DIY space if you don’t have a PA you can still be heard. Ultimately, I think it’s a really nice kick in the head with a soft slipper.

How do you feel about the SF music scene at the moment? Where does it thrive? Where does it lack?

Honestly, I hate San Francisco it has possibly the worst scene I’ve seen. It’s not the fault of the bands, there are great bands in SF, it’s that there are no really rad promoters; no one is doing any kind of local promotion. DorkFest is one of the best things I’ve seen here. There is nothing really DIY here, or it’s all over in Oakland, and few things open to all ages.Also, in San Francisco people walk out or don’t pay attention… here’s what you get: you play you best fucking set and you get this (stars blankly). They might like, but they rarely come back out. There’s no cohesion here. In LA people come up and talk to you… They’re generally interested.

What do you feel is holding back the SF music scene?

Lack of venues, lack of good promoters, and zines! In LA there are tones of little hand-printed zines handed out for free. Everyone gets them everyone reads them there’s a culture for that here, people here don’t really read local zines, otherwise the deli should be going crazy here, cause it’s all local coverage.

What are you favorite bands in SF?

Gowns are my favorite SF band and Religious Girls are fucking awesome… (laughs) yeah I saw that post. I have to say Xiu Xiu even though they’re not based here anymore. I haven’t really listened much to Maus Haus what I’ve heard is good. I love 60-Watt kid like it’s nobodies business, Little Teeth and most of Absolute Kosher’s local stuff. I don’t know… the sad thing is even though I don’t live in LA anymore I know like 600 local bands where as here I know of about 15 cause there’s just not enough coverage.

What is you favorite venue to play in/see a band in SF?

I would say Cellspace in the mission. It’s hard to get people out to but it’s the thing that’s felt the most home, it’s the closest thing to the Smell and it’s community in LA that I’ve found here. I also really like Kimo’s. It’s the shit-holist place ever but I love that you can do anything there. The only thing that sucks is it’s 21+.

What music magazines do you read/find informative? What is your favorite local mag?

Anything not Pitchfork. Lets see: Said the Gramophone, Post Present Medium Blog, a lot of the LA zines; Ports O Call and Lots O Crap are super awesome. Both are like 40 page Xeroxed zines and they come with CDs in hand sown packaging for free, everyone of them. The Deli would be my favorite local… I would have said it anyway but it is.

What band do you hear that makes you want to quit playing music or possibly just punch?

No comment…. Uhh… that’s a horrible question. Wait so it can be like John Mayer? Well I hate Bono’s fucking sunglasses, how about that? And I hate that the guitarist calls himself the Edge… that is wildly outrageous. Yeah I guess I’m going to go just U2, that’s an easy safe one.

If you could put yourself in any time for music what would it be?

Right now, and no minute before…. Or maybe ten years from now. This is such a great time to be doing something new cause this feels like it’s one of those time where there’s big something that is just about to happen… or maybe the 13th century, that would be hella tight, but not to play my music, they’d burn me at the stake.

If you could play with any band, who would it be?

Well again I’d like to play in the 13th century, I would play the lute. Or could it be to sabotage a band? Could I join the Beatles and sabotage them right off the bat? I feel like SF’s biggest problem is that it can’t get over the 60s and the Grateful Dead and all that shit. It’d be nice to join them and knock em out so we could all move on. What is the general theme of your song writing? Again 13th century stuff. The new album is completely themed on an Anglican Saint named Saint Edmund. The last one [Cities vs. Submarines] was based on a weird dream that I had that was really urban and futuristic.

What is the worst show you’ve played and the best show you’ve played?

Worst: Cellspace, I started with 300 people, full, I get 4mins into my set and the only people left are my roommate and his friend. Everyone emptied out. It all went wrong starting with that for the first time ever I tried playing the set by myself. On top of that all the beats were coming out of PA system 30 feet in the air in the back of the space. I was set up in the crowd with an amp I had no idea how to use. The guitar was painfully fucking loud slamming people in the face while the beats where faint in the background, and a wall of mud… I don’t blame any one for leaving.

Best: In Paris with Crystal Antlers, great psyche rock band from LA. The sound system was amazing. If had taken a shit on the ground it would have sounded thunderous and amazing.

Do you have any funny stories from the road?

In Santa Barbara, the broiest place ever and they were practically eating each other in the audience. It was the crumpingest thing I’ve seen, crowd surfing in the first song… it was bizarre. I don’t know if they were drunk or if it was the PA system, but it was fun.

What are your bands plans for the future?

Finish the new record, the Medieval one, that comes out the same day as DorkFest. October and November is a 7-week US tour. Plan to kick it in December in LA. Then January and February is European tour and March US again but mostly SXSW.

Do you think you’ll still be doing this when you are 60?

If I’m lucky. Well, I should want to do it, but you should try to kill me for my own sake.

-Ada Lann and Johnny Glass

The Deli Magazine presents DorkFest featuring: The Heavenly States, French Miami, Railcars, 60-Watt Kid, Anderson Congress, and Vitiligo on August 1st 2009 at Cafe Du Nord.

Permalink