Tempo No Tempo: Completely in tempo
1. Tempo No Tempo- how did you come up with your band name? Why Tempo No Tempo?
After a series of very unfortunate band names (including "Bearfucker", which we still find pretty hilarious) we locked ourselves in a room and came up with a band name. "Tempo No Tempo" is a song by Os Mutantes, who are a huge influence on us, if not in sound then in spirit. Big ups to the tropicalismos. Mostly, we wanted a name that wasn't too clichéd or nerdy…so the ambiguity of "Tempo No Tempo" appealed to us.
2. What is your biggest inspiration for creating music?
Our biggest inspiration is definitely the rhythms the songs are built on. All of us have studied Ewe Dance-Drumming, a Ghana-based polyrhythmic drumming style that has provided the foundation for a lot of our ideas on our last record. When we first became a band, we wrote in more of a Killers/Franz Ferdinand style, but we knew we wanted to expand beyond that pretty early on, so we've always pushed to keep our music rhythmic without being straight New Wave white-boy dance music. And, as a bonus, we all know our way around a cowbell.
3. How do you all write a song? Describe your band's songwriting procedure.
Our songwriting usually starts with a basic song skeleton brought to the table by one of us, and then that's hammered out in hours of playing, arguing, and more playing. We're pretty tough on our own material – we have about 4-8 songs we've abandoned on the way to the ones we play live, which we like.
4. What is your favorite song off of Repetition E.P.? Why?
Our favorite song off that record is definitely "Irregular Heartbeats" – it's really fun to play live, and it was one of the songs that we knew we wanted on the EP right away. Writing "Heartbeats" was an early moment when we knew we had written a song that had moved away from strict dance-rock and towards what we wanted to sound like -- darker, weirder and harder.
5. What should new fans expect when they see Tempo No Tempo live?
Awkward, sweaty dudes onstage and/or the future of music.
6. Is it hard to be in a band and be successful?
It's hard to be in a band and be successful at school. All of us are graduating from UC Berkeley this year (we met in the dorms, actually) and it's been a challenge writing/recording/booking shows alongside trying to graduate…but being successful at music is really more a matter of not worrying about draw at shows, radio spins or myspace plays. It's really about surrounding yourself with musicians you like, playing as much as possible and figuring out who you are as a band. Although the draw/radio thing helps, too.
7. I noticed that you're "going big on the westcoast" soon. Another tour in the works perhaps? Please explain.
We've got a West Coast tour happening in June, before we join the work force full-time…keep an eye out for dates. Also, if you have a house, and want us to play a show there, we will do it. Seriously.
8. In finishing up this interview, do you have any advice for fellow Bay Area aspiring musicians?
Without getting preachy, I'd say I'd like to see more cohesion in the SF scene…there are too many good bands in the Bay Area for us not to band together and make the Bay a place worth listening to. Hustlers come together with hustlers, as the Clipse would say.
*TODAY ONLY!! Download their track "Repetition" off of their Repetition E.P. for FREE!! Go HERE
**Be sure to check out Tempo No Tempo playing at Bottom of the Hill- THIS SUNDAY NIGHT (April 27th) w/ PRE, The Mae Shi, and XBXRX
Befriend Tempo No Tempo on Fuzz: Tempo No Tempo!!
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