The Evens played a show in Syracuse, New York on June 26th. A review of that event is also published here in the Music section. The band is composed of Washington DC musicians Ian MacKaye (ex-Fugazi, Minor Threat) and Amy Farina (ex-The Warmers). While the definitive interview with The Evens can be enjoyed in issue #68 of the now-defunct Punk Planet, I had a short chat with Amy via email. I had informed that band that I'd show up in my Pancake Mountain t-shirt — a DC cable access children's program; hence, the first seemingly incomprehensible question.
Speaking of Pancake Mountain, did you guys write that vowel song? (Maybe I slept through that one in grade school...) How did ya'll get involved with it, and do you do any other education/kids arts stuff (outside of activist stuff that Dischord bands are notably involved in)? And are the dance parties as fun as they sound?
Yeah, we wrote "Vowel Movement." The folks who produce Pancake Mountain are good friends of ours and asked if we would write a song for the pilot episode. I haven't actually attended one of the PM dance parties, because they are for toddlers and young children, but from what I gather they are a serious good time. The Evens' have not been involved in any other children's entertainment; however we have been guests at a few high school music/art/humanities classes, not to perform, but to interact with the students: answer questions, tell stories, that kind of thing - and they have been great experiences.
Could you talk a little bit about your experience with The Warmers? The music sounds similar to Ignition and I was curious about how much of The Warmers' music was Alec's influence and how you contributed to its creation?
Alec MacKaye was the singer of Ignition and he sang (along with Juan Carrera, our bass player) and played guitar in the Warmers. His voice and delivery is totally singular, and I can see how his mark is central to both bands. He also has a totally unique guitar playing style which was integral to how our song writing developed. I think that all three of us contributed pretty equal and significant pieces to the creative elements and overall operation of The Warmers. We were all in the room together when every song was written, so it was a true collaborative process - sometimes easy, sometimes tedious too. Largely though just totally joyous to play music and travel with both Alec and Juan, and they taught me much about being in a band and being good human, period.
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