Did you get a chance to see or hear many of the other bands when you played Coachella last month?
Each band got a camper with a white picket fence around it, like a little oasis, and ours was across from Amy Winehouse and near Jarvis Cocker—it was interesting to hang out with lots of bands you’ve been fans of over the years. And then we were eating right beside the stage, having dinner and hearing Jesus and Mary Chain in the background, which was kind of a surreal experience.
Seemingly every story written about you guys draws comparisons with The Smashing Pumpkins. Do you view that as a compliment, or has it become bothersome?
We’re getting compared to a band that we like, so that’s a good thing. People need to relate any newer band to another band so people know the general realm that they’re coming from so I don’t have a problem with that at all, and I would say it’s a fair comparison. At Coachella we were signing autographs at the Virgin tent and somebody gave us a Smashing Pumpkins album to sign, so I signed under D’Arcy. I don’t know what the guy’s intention was, but we had fun with it.
Did you have a feeling [single] “Lazy Eye” might be the song to put the band on the map when you guys first wrote it or first started playing it live?
“Lazy Eye” has always been one of our favorites to play, but it was a surprise to us that it got picked as a single. It’s a longer song, and we never thought of it as being radio-friendly; we just thought it’d be a good album track. It wasn’t the first choice of our record label, either. Live 105 in San Francisco [105.3-FM] shortened it themselves and started playing it, and it’s grown from there. I’m pretty sure everyone’s still using that Live 105 version. –Spencer Patterson
With The Bravery, They Might Be Giants, Plain White T’s, Shiny Toy Guns. May 18, 7 p.m., $21. The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel, 693-5066.