PAPERMAG: Do you guys have any pre-show rituals?
Alex Naidus: Uh, we just kinda like, sit quietly amongst ourselves and think... do a lot of thinking.
Kip Berman: Maybe we could use a pre-show ritual.
AN: Yeah, if you wanna give us one we'll try it. We'll try anything. I feel like right before we go out, I try to like, psych myself up. That sounds so cheesy but just like get into the moment. There's not like anything we do together. I mean, I don't like to be checking emails right before.
KP: I would hate to think that I'm watching a band that was just checking their email right before they got on stage.
PAPERMAG: So you don't get wasted and roll on stage.
KP: We try to be just as good as we can. Sometimes it's not that good. But we don't wanna give ourselves any unnatural handicaps.
AN: I mean, it definitely works for some bands.
KP: There's been times... I'm not saying it hasn't happened.
AN: Knitting Factory basement... three years ago.
PAPERMAG: You guys have gotten pretty big. You can't really play your favorite spot Cake Shop anymore, can you?
AN: So big man. I can't believe you haven't asked for my autograph yet!
PAPERMAG: Is there anyone playing today you'd want to collaborate with?
AN: Collaborating is always such a tricky question..
KP: Everyone else's songs are much harder than ours. But I was so impressed with Screaming Females -- just an amazing, amazing performance. Obviously, we couldn't even like carry their jock. When you see something that's so good that kind of like puts a chill in your spine and a little moisture in your eye region -- that just makes me really happy that that exists.
AN: It's cool to get to see a lot of bands play at one place.
KP: We're kind of fans. We don't even wanna interfere with what other bands are doing. I don't think we'd really add anything, we'd probably just subtract things.
PAPERMAG: OK now for some major fun. Marry, Fuck or Kill: Snooki, Gaga, or Justin Bieber.
AN: I mean, I actually did not watch Jersey Shore but I can't imagine either of the two good things with her, so I'd probably just kill her, as entertaining or not as that show was. Bieber... I'd probably just marry Bieber because it could be a project. He's so young, I could like shape him into my ways. And he's obviously talented and rich, so that's cool. And he's less erratic than Gaga is -- you wouldn't wanna marry Gaga.
KP: He could teach us how to sing!
AN: I'd totally have to fuck Gaga because you could just tell people for eternity that you fucked Gaga.
PAPERMAG: And you could put the is she/isn't she a tranny rumor to rest...
KP: Dude, even if she was, I'd still go for it.
AN: Totally, that's an even better story!
KP: That's totally not a problem, that's an encouragement.
PAPERMAG: Do you have any guilty pleasures on TV?
AN: I don't own a TV.
KP: You're so alternative, Alex.
AN: You know what I used to really like that I just read an article about... Rock N Jock on MTV! Remember that?
KP: I loved, Beavis and Butthead. They're bringing it back! Our goal in life actually right now is to make a video that Beavis and Butthead make fun of. And I think they're just gonna say (in his best impersonation), "I think these guys are like from England and stuff."
Photos by Angela Pham
Photos by Angela Pham
