Interview with Sam Farzin of Windy, Moon Pearl, and Acrobatics Everyday
If you have gone to any shows at UCI over the last four years or been involved with the underground music scene in Orange County, you have probably encountered Sam Farzin in some capacity. He may have been behind the scenes booking the shows thru Acrobatics Everyday, working at the campus radio station KUCI, releasing music from local groups on his label Lifes Blood, or right in front of yer face playing in numerous bands over the years! A lot has been shaking up in the last year for Sam and after some introverted times for this young gentleman, he is back out on the scene playing shows with his new band Windy. In this interview we’re talking with the stalwart of the scene about his various projects, the state of underground music in Orange County, house shows, and last but not least, food and cooking! Here’s the edited transcript of our conversation over Facebook last Thursday, hours before Windy would take the stage at the Detroit Bar in Costa Mesa.
Diy4lyfe: What is the status of Acrobatics Everyday? Will there ever be shows again?
Sam: Well, Probably? I guess. Everybody who was involved has graduated from UCI pretty much--that's kind of the elephant in the room. We tried to pass it on but maybe not as emphatically as we could have...though that's not a lost cause by any means.
Diy4lyfe: You guys were officially recognized by the campus, and thus able to book shows in on campus facilities correct?
Sam: Right. We were a "club"/student org
Diy4lyfe: What sort of leg work does/did it take to become a student club/org?
Sam: almost none, any student can start any student org
Diy4lyfe: What challenges were there acquiring adequate spaces on campus to host the shows? With the loud noise and kids possibly bringing alcohol/drugs and promoting the shows to a (largely apathetic?) college crowd?
Sam: The biggest challenge was hauling equipment around a campus that got increasingly more difficult to navigate. Noise was almost never an issue surprisingly. As far as substances people were usually really well behaved and respectful.
Diy4yfe: Did you guys get any money from the school (like they were able to do for SBDIY at UCSB)?
Sam: Not usually. If we wanted to do something more ambitious we would ask for money but it was a very grueling task and we did not do it very often. Only 4-5 shows in total had any kind of school money behind them.
Diy4lyfe: Which ones? Like the Mackaye [ed- I mistakenly said Rollins originally] speaking tour or Dan Deacon?
Sam: Ian Mackaye, no that was a door show. Dan Deacon was funded yes. The first Mt Eerie show was funded. Both open melody fests had some funding, but were not fully funded. The first one was a gamble for them (ed- meaning UCI), but then they were a little more willing based on the impressive turn out
Diy4lyfe: What kind of promo did you guys do to get folks out to the shows? AE gained a great reputation in Orange County. Everyone wanted to play AE shows!
Sam: Facebook and email. We occasionally fliered and put up posters but Facebook and email were more effective overall.
Diy4lyfe: What was yer favorite AE show?
Sam: The Jandek show i put together was probably the most fulfilling accomplishment and probably my favorite overall experience. It was somethin’.
Diy4lyfe: How was it working with Corwood (Jandek’s representative and label)? Did the mystery kinda resolve itself or leave you more mystified than before working with them?
Sam: I talked with him for an hour the morning after the show and both of those options are valid. Ha!
Diy4lyfe: Did they have any special requests to preserve the artists privacy?
Sam: He honestly had almost no special requests of any kind outside helping select the other musicians
Diy4lyfe: How did you guys chose? The collaborators seem to have a large effect on Jandek’s performance.
Sam: He said he wanted a bassist and a drummer and that he wanted the show to be heavy. I pitched him [Mike} Watt and BJ from HEALTH. He immediately called me back and said that watt has to be involved, and that we could shift the date of the show if necessary
Diy4lyfe: good call on yer part heh! Has Mike Watt been an inspiration to you/yer bands/ethics when playing music and setting up shows?
Sam: to be honest not really. I respect him immensely but he was not a part of my formative years
Diy4lyfe: Cause lots of LA kids like to cite him and his bands. I think lots of people in LA/orange county feel like they are part of that tradition of punk that came out of SoCal in the 80s
Sam: Totally. I feel that lineage but more distantly than many others I know
Diy4lyfe: Lets move more toward yer music. I know you recently began playing live shows with a new band Windy. Yer Facebook page says you started back in 2012, have you guys been "readying up" so-to-speak and now yer ready to unleash?
Sam: Yeah, we started jamming a lot of the song ideas last summer and then moon pearl took over as a priority so it kind of got backburnered. When mp was laying low in the spring we started to work more seriously. I had only started playing drums last summer, and James had never really played guitar in a band that played shows so it was a fun thing for both of us.
Diy4lyfe: How did you guys become a trio? (a power trio fer sure!)
Sam: Decided to have bass. That’s about it ha
Diy4lyfe: Have you three known each other for a while? how did y'all meet?
Sam: Yeah. Ian has been in our group of friends for a long time. He had been itchin to play with us in some capacity. Us being James and/or myself. An opportunity presented itself. Originally my girlfriend Courtney was going to play bass but she got overburdened with other things so Ian stepped in.
Diy4lyfe: Yer drumming style reminded me of Matt Towles from Dash Jacket. How do you play so propulsively for a whole set? It looks exhausting!
Sam: Ha, Matt is a much better drummer than I. He is a drum machine. I dunno! Just practicing I guess. Boring answer.
Diy4lyfe: I noticed yer song structures were much less pop than a lot of bands. Do you guys feel out song structures while jamming or plan it out? (like does someone come in with a lot of the song prewritten?)
Sam: James will usually come up with melodic ideas. I will work within my ability to do something interesting and we will jam out variations. James and I can feel each others playing pretty well, which is really important. I record everything and then I cut up the recording into the pieces that work and don’t work and we structure based on those ideas. Songwriting to me is like chipping away at a marble block.
Diy4lyfe: I love the alternately tuned guitar songs as well! What tuning does James use? Does the songwriting change for those songs (since they are more based on drones it seems)?
Sam: It doesn’t really! Though I suppose there is less melodic movement in those songs guitarwise. The tuning is i think all g#, I don’t remember 100%. Its something I was messing around with for some new moon pearl songs but we never really adopted. Those songs leave more room for interesting rhythmic ideas since the guitar provides a very holistic sound. Like you said! Drones.
Diy4lyfe: Speaking of moon pearl, what’s going on with that band? I know some of the members moved on to other projects and moved away, but its kind seemed like a rotating line up band with a few regulars..?
Sam: Moon Pearl is done. We had stabilized for about the last year and it felt like time to move on.
Diy4lyfe: Will we hear the final recordings you worked on?
Sam: The rough mixes are linked on the Facebook page. I suppose we might finish mixing them at some point but that's not a priority for me right now. James and I have another new project that is in the vein of moon pearl. With another person who was in mp and a newcomer on drums.
Diy4lyfe: Windy recordings in the pipeline?
Sam: Yes, a few demos soon.
Diy4lyfe: Is there a name for you and James other project?
Sam : Not 100% yet. Commitment is hard, ha.
Diy4lyfe: Is it gonna come out on Lifes Blood or have you talked to any local labels about Windy or this new project with James?
Sam: No labels yet. Lifes Blood has also been dormant so we'll see what happens there.
Diy4lyfe: What or who do you see as major life bloods of the orange county diy/underground music scene right now? What are some new bands, venues, and labels making a splash this fall?
Sam: Hm, I honestly just hope that house shows become more prevalent. It seems like burger is kind of the dominant force.
Diy4lyfe: I really dig what the revpoor are doing, sorta what the Jumping Chupacabra kids tried to do a few years ago. What do you think of the revpoor folks and bands?
Sam: Yeah, if Garrett and those dudes keep that on that would be great. I like those people, they are very sweet and real.
Diy4lyfe: Burger seems to be going more international and are really soaking in their widespreadness now. Focusing less on THE OC so-to-speak.. although they still do instores and stuff..
Sam: Yeah, it seems like almost all relevant oc music is connected to them
Diy4lyfe: Do you know of any cool peep taking photos around the orange county diy shows and bar shows the last year? I feel like documentation is super important to a thiriving music scene. Having labels and show bookers and bands is cool but I feel like we need local journalism, people writing and capturing on various forms of media to show the world what were doing is fucking awesome and meaningful.
Sam: For sure! I guess there isn't really an encompassing entity. Again, there’s brgrTV, that’s Burger.
Diy4lyfe: What about cool individuals you’ve met or heard about? That have been doing videos or taking photos or running labels or writing or booking shows? (I guess this is the shout outs to cool homies section haha)
Sam: Oh right right, haha. I mean I have been kind of introverted for the past year so to be honest. Thom Lucero is doing a lot of awesome stuff right now but he’s in la now [ed- and has a new band called Heathers]. Palm Reader is a [really rad] band from oc that has a lot of LA clout lately. Garrett from Fugue and revpoor prob!
Diy4lyfe: Cool, so ima take a page from Matt's cool/uncool zine and ask: Give me 5 bands/restaurants/record stores/albums/venues you think people should check out (a couple of local things for sure)?
Sam: ok!
Half Goon is a band that our other new bands drummer is also in. They rule, they are playing tonight with Windy. halfgoon.bandcamp.com
Palm Reader is a [really rad] band from oc that has a lot of LA clout lately.
I’ve really be down with Traditions Indian Food in Tustin lately.
Everyone should cook all the time as much as possible, so "Cooking". [ed- we’re gonna have Sam contribute a recipe in the future!]
I love Portola Coffee and Cafecito Organico and coffee in general
Oh, I am on the last episode of LOST. I never saw lost when it aired at ALL, but in the last 30 days I have watched all other 119 episodes of lost. Tonight I am going to watch the 120th and final episode of LOST.
