Get To Know Them
Rock the Vote: Exactly how many people are in your band?
Edward Sharpe: Ten. Sometimes more.
RTV: How did you all come together?
ES: I knew Christian since I was three. I met Jade four years ago on a sidewalk downtown and instantly knew I had to help her. Pico approached me at a late-night eatery saying he played trumpet - my eyes lit up as I had been doing the trumpet parts with my mouth and a kazoo mostly… Bryan, our manager knew Aaron and Nico and suggested I re-record the songs with them at their studio… I knew Nico from around. I met up with Jade at Burning Man once and met Nora and Tay there…Christian knew Josh… I was guided by a spirit friend to walk a certain path on a hiking trail to meet Orpheo and ask him to play with us… This kind of thing… One of the real bonding experiences we had together as this band was a trip to Marfa, Texas, on the giant white bus I has just bought on craigslist. It was the first time the band, as it is now (minus Nora) played and travelled together.
RTV: What is the inspiration for this all encompassing sound?
ES: My inspiration was giant vistas and horizons, emancipation and smiling, fire and community.
RTV: How long was the recording process?
ES: I wrote it mostly alone in a small studio apt, just having awoken from a looong slow life lesson. I made the decision to become a CHILD again, with THOSE BIG GOOD CHILD DREAMS! The songs sprang from there. Community was at the front of my thoughts…hence the multitude of instruments…It took me about a year to marinate with these songs, write them, record them on my computer… But then I met Nico and Aaron, both producers and musicians, and together we decided to re-record EVERYTHING to two inch TAPE. It was us reaching for something more authentic, more satisfying on spiritual and energetic levels… None of us had recorded onto tape like that ourselves, but Nico and Aaron figured it out rather quickly. We spent the next year and a half making, baking, simmering, drinking, eating, laughing, and recording the album. It was an 18 month daily- get together with all the guys and gals coming thru, recording, hanging out, and becoming family.
RTV: What song on this record could be THE song that says, we are Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes?
ES: “JANGLIN”! It is COMMUNITY, emancipation from crooked crusted traps, CELEBRATION and power.
Rock the Vote: What issue do you wish to tackle and conquer?
Edward Sharpe: The most fundamental problem in humanity is the desperate emphasis on possession. The SOLUTION is SHARING. This transition can only happen if people understand the JOY of sharing - and develop, via that joy, a new purpose on earth. A simple lack of sharing is why there is any lack of healthcare. There is enough of everything to go around - it is simply FEAR of NOT ENOUGH that makes people mad, anxious, rude. I want to help show the world that the DOG-EAT-DOG world is a CHOICE, not a fundamental quality of living, and that a DOG-LOVE-DOG world is a world waiting to happen - it is simply a matter of choosing.
RTV: You’re on tour right now. How do you recreate that entire musical experience while on tour?
ES: I think perhaps you just have to come see for yourself! Another tour begins November 3rd thru the US and some of Canada.
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