Emil & Friends Perform "Royal Oats" and "Ali Baba" in the PAPER Kitchen
Emil & Friends stopped by the PAPER kitchen to play "Royal Oats" and "Ali Baba."
After beginning his music career in Boston, Emil Hewitt made the leap to Brooklyn, signing a record deal and catching the eyes of music bloggers with his complex, synth-driven pop (and maybe a prank about his band really being the indie side project of actor Emile Hirsch) in the process. Last month, Hewitt and his bandmate Dan de Lara (also the writer behind popular music blog Asian Dan), stopped by the PAPER kitchen to perform acoustic versions of "Ali Baba" and "Royal Oats," the latter of which appeared on an EP of the same name produced by cult French label Kitsuné. Ahead of a headlining show at Glasslands this Friday and a new EP Vampire Bites, whose proceeds will go to Red Cross to benefit continued Hurricane Sandy relief, Hewitt and de Lara chatted with us about how they got their start, what happened when they pretended to be associated with Emile Hirsch and their thoughts on selling out.
How did Emil & Friends start?
Emil: I was living in Boston in 2009ish and I met Dan when he was in Boston for school. Besides being a great musician, Dan also runs a blog called Asian Dan and he was one of the first people to get in contact with me about my music. He showed me some of his music and after I ended up getting signed and moving to New York City, Dan got looped in when I needed to put together a live show and we've been playing together ever since. He's been a very supportive part of the project in every sort of the way.
Were either of you guys in other bands previously?
Dan: No, nothing serious.
Emil: The interesting part for me was that I was mostly a DJ and an actor when I was younger. I'd grown up being able to play the guitar a little bit but what really allowed me to make this project happen was recording software and being able to multi-track yourself in private as opposed to being in a band where the first two years or so can be kind of rough. If you really get a handle on recording software, you can take your ideas and on your own time get them together. I began to make music that was beyond my ability to perform live so once things started to get serious and I got a record contract, I was playing catch up. My first live performance ever -- singing in front of people -- was only two years ago. It just goes to show that we live in a day and age where some people do it that way.
In a way there's a disconnect -- technology can help you produce amazing sounds but it becomes a new challenge to figure out how to perform live.
E: They're two different beasts, really. There's a lot of amazing music that we listen to and love that really doesn't make sense live and that I probably wouldn't want to see live.
D: Even when there's a lot going on in the recordings, it's really cool to play it live -- even if you have to change it -- and to give people the [ability] to experience a new thing.
How would you guys describe the music that you make?
E: People will identify the project as being genre-bending and genre-hopping so it's difficult to classify. [It's] electro-synth-pop-soul-rock-folk and if I've had a little too much to drink before a show, it becomes funk.
I read somewhere that when you first started out a few years ago, you told people the band was founded by the actor Emile Hirsch?
E: I actually didn't! Someone else did. Dan should tell you the story.
D: I was blogging and got a press release that said Emile Hirsch had a synth-pop project and I was like, "What is this? Yeah, right." I brushed it off and then got another email that was like, "You should be honored that you're getting this email from Emile Hirsch. You're getting a first listen."
Whose idea was it?
E: It was my idea with one of my oldest friends, Ben, who managed me. We were sitting around and I was like, "I have this EP and I really want to get it out there" and bloggers get hundreds of emails a day and don't have time to open it all so what's going to make it stand out? What I was really trying to do was get at the fact that you can deny it if you want to but everyone is a celebrity-whore. If you hear a weird story and there's a celebrity's name in it, you're that much more likely to click on the link. My name is Emil Hewitt so Emile Hirsch is very similar. I was like, "We're roughly the same age so why don't we just claim that on the set of Speedracer, he made this indie thing and he's trying to cross-over?" I thought we should make the email laughably pretentious. The email was like, "You should be honored to check this out. Your blog's been picked." We thought it was hilarious.
D: It worked.
E: Within a month, we were on all these Hollywood blogs and international blogs. The best part was that the people who really understood -- who got it immediately -- were like, "This isn't Emile Hirsch but I'm listening to it and I like it."
D: Yeah, I was like, "This is good music!"
E: It just goes to show, some people can criticize that [method] and I'm totally okay with that but I tried to make a point and I think the point was made. There was a blog in France that I won't name that made a glowing review of the record and then after they found out that I wasn't Emile Hirsch, they tore it down and sent me an [email] that said the equivalent of "You'll never work in this town again!" You can't take that too seriously.
Did Emile Hirsch or his people ever get in touch with you?
E: No, not that I'm aware of. We tried to get in contact with him to see if he wanted to appear in a music video because it got to a point where it was obvious that he knew about the story. But now it's like "playtime's over" and there's no more making fun of blogs. We're trying to play good shows and put out good records. At the end of the day, if your music is going to last and you want to make a career, you need to do what all bands have eventually done, which is be respectful, play shows, open for people, work really hard. It's not going to happen for you if you're sitting at home with a laptop making great music [and not getting out there].
Do you think there are too many acts right now that are relying too much on the "record music on your laptop in your bedroom" model and not playing enough live shows?
D: You could say that the whole DJ bubble could pop very soon. People want to see real things, someone sweating and playing guitar. Even for me, I'm cut from the DJ/electronic world and I love that stuff. At the same time, I want to see someone working for it. It's cool putting your hands in the air and watching [a DJ] but...
You have an EP out to benefit Hurricane Sandy. Anything else coming up?
D: We'll be pumping away at the studio.
E: There's a record that's 75% done and I'd love to make a lot of content for it, two or three music videos.
Do you guys both make music full time?
D: I'm [blogging] on the Internet. I'm all up on the web.
E: Music is the type of thing where it can occasionally pay your rent and occasionally you find yourself [needing a day job]. The biggest way for a musician[to make money] is with licensing. It's not consistent.
So licensing existing Emil & Friends material?
E: Yeah. We had this song "Rain Check" that was used in a Target commercial. That inches you towards being autonomous in terms of [not having a day job] but I do have a part-time job working for a market research firm, where I travel around the country and spy on shoppers. All my co-workers are actors and writers and musicians who need this job because you work your own hours and I can turn down jobs if I'm busy and if I need to work, I can. My boss is John Engle who was in the band Codeine in the 90s. He's this genius guy. I was in the field with him and he was like, "We're re-releasing our stuff and I'm gonna go on a world tour so I'll be back [later]." It's humbling to see a great artist working part-time years after they made a splash in the music industry and who, for all intents and purposes, seems very happy.
And going back to music licensing, do you think there's less of a concern nowadays with the idea of 'selling out'?
E: If we were playing in the 90s, I would've been very hesitant to let one of our songs be used in a commercial but now I think it's funny. I showed that little Target clip to everyone. It's out of necessity. In the music industry, necessity creates the boundaries of what's cool. Things get clamped down and within that, people are like, "What's cool? What can we afford?" All of this laptop-based music where it's one dude touring around, it's really recession-based music. It's really cheap to make, you can make it yourself, it's DIY, it's cheap to tour... It's all related to how things are on a larger scale. If [the economy] bounce[s] back, maybe then licensing won't be cool anymore. At the end of the day, musicians will always do it, though, and I don't think an artist should ever be criticized for a commercial decision if that means making more art for more fans.
Catch Emil & Friends when they headline Glasslands Gallery this Friday, January 11 at 8:30 pm. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased HERE.
You can download their new EP, Vampire Bites, over at Pledge Music, where proceeds will go to Red Cross to benefit Hurricane Sandy relief.
Interview by Abby Schreiber
How did Emil & Friends start?
Emil: I was living in Boston in 2009ish and I met Dan when he was in Boston for school. Besides being a great musician, Dan also runs a blog called Asian Dan and he was one of the first people to get in contact with me about my music. He showed me some of his music and after I ended up getting signed and moving to New York City, Dan got looped in when I needed to put together a live show and we've been playing together ever since. He's been a very supportive part of the project in every sort of the way.
Were either of you guys in other bands previously?
Dan: No, nothing serious.
Emil: The interesting part for me was that I was mostly a DJ and an actor when I was younger. I'd grown up being able to play the guitar a little bit but what really allowed me to make this project happen was recording software and being able to multi-track yourself in private as opposed to being in a band where the first two years or so can be kind of rough. If you really get a handle on recording software, you can take your ideas and on your own time get them together. I began to make music that was beyond my ability to perform live so once things started to get serious and I got a record contract, I was playing catch up. My first live performance ever -- singing in front of people -- was only two years ago. It just goes to show that we live in a day and age where some people do it that way.
In a way there's a disconnect -- technology can help you produce amazing sounds but it becomes a new challenge to figure out how to perform live.
E: They're two different beasts, really. There's a lot of amazing music that we listen to and love that really doesn't make sense live and that I probably wouldn't want to see live.
D: Even when there's a lot going on in the recordings, it's really cool to play it live -- even if you have to change it -- and to give people the [ability] to experience a new thing.
How would you guys describe the music that you make?
E: People will identify the project as being genre-bending and genre-hopping so it's difficult to classify. [It's] electro-synth-pop-soul-rock-folk and if I've had a little too much to drink before a show, it becomes funk.
I read somewhere that when you first started out a few years ago, you told people the band was founded by the actor Emile Hirsch?
E: I actually didn't! Someone else did. Dan should tell you the story.
D: I was blogging and got a press release that said Emile Hirsch had a synth-pop project and I was like, "What is this? Yeah, right." I brushed it off and then got another email that was like, "You should be honored that you're getting this email from Emile Hirsch. You're getting a first listen."
Whose idea was it?
E: It was my idea with one of my oldest friends, Ben, who managed me. We were sitting around and I was like, "I have this EP and I really want to get it out there" and bloggers get hundreds of emails a day and don't have time to open it all so what's going to make it stand out? What I was really trying to do was get at the fact that you can deny it if you want to but everyone is a celebrity-whore. If you hear a weird story and there's a celebrity's name in it, you're that much more likely to click on the link. My name is Emil Hewitt so Emile Hirsch is very similar. I was like, "We're roughly the same age so why don't we just claim that on the set of Speedracer, he made this indie thing and he's trying to cross-over?" I thought we should make the email laughably pretentious. The email was like, "You should be honored to check this out. Your blog's been picked." We thought it was hilarious.
D: It worked.
E: Within a month, we were on all these Hollywood blogs and international blogs. The best part was that the people who really understood -- who got it immediately -- were like, "This isn't Emile Hirsch but I'm listening to it and I like it."
D: Yeah, I was like, "This is good music!"
E: It just goes to show, some people can criticize that [method] and I'm totally okay with that but I tried to make a point and I think the point was made. There was a blog in France that I won't name that made a glowing review of the record and then after they found out that I wasn't Emile Hirsch, they tore it down and sent me an [email] that said the equivalent of "You'll never work in this town again!" You can't take that too seriously.
Did Emile Hirsch or his people ever get in touch with you?
E: No, not that I'm aware of. We tried to get in contact with him to see if he wanted to appear in a music video because it got to a point where it was obvious that he knew about the story. But now it's like "playtime's over" and there's no more making fun of blogs. We're trying to play good shows and put out good records. At the end of the day, if your music is going to last and you want to make a career, you need to do what all bands have eventually done, which is be respectful, play shows, open for people, work really hard. It's not going to happen for you if you're sitting at home with a laptop making great music [and not getting out there].
Do you think there are too many acts right now that are relying too much on the "record music on your laptop in your bedroom" model and not playing enough live shows?
D: You could say that the whole DJ bubble could pop very soon. People want to see real things, someone sweating and playing guitar. Even for me, I'm cut from the DJ/electronic world and I love that stuff. At the same time, I want to see someone working for it. It's cool putting your hands in the air and watching [a DJ] but...
You have an EP out to benefit Hurricane Sandy. Anything else coming up?
D: We'll be pumping away at the studio.
E: There's a record that's 75% done and I'd love to make a lot of content for it, two or three music videos.
Do you guys both make music full time?
D: I'm [blogging] on the Internet. I'm all up on the web.
E: Music is the type of thing where it can occasionally pay your rent and occasionally you find yourself [needing a day job]. The biggest way for a musician[to make money] is with licensing. It's not consistent.
So licensing existing Emil & Friends material?
E: Yeah. We had this song "Rain Check" that was used in a Target commercial. That inches you towards being autonomous in terms of [not having a day job] but I do have a part-time job working for a market research firm, where I travel around the country and spy on shoppers. All my co-workers are actors and writers and musicians who need this job because you work your own hours and I can turn down jobs if I'm busy and if I need to work, I can. My boss is John Engle who was in the band Codeine in the 90s. He's this genius guy. I was in the field with him and he was like, "We're re-releasing our stuff and I'm gonna go on a world tour so I'll be back [later]." It's humbling to see a great artist working part-time years after they made a splash in the music industry and who, for all intents and purposes, seems very happy.
And going back to music licensing, do you think there's less of a concern nowadays with the idea of 'selling out'?
E: If we were playing in the 90s, I would've been very hesitant to let one of our songs be used in a commercial but now I think it's funny. I showed that little Target clip to everyone. It's out of necessity. In the music industry, necessity creates the boundaries of what's cool. Things get clamped down and within that, people are like, "What's cool? What can we afford?" All of this laptop-based music where it's one dude touring around, it's really recession-based music. It's really cheap to make, you can make it yourself, it's DIY, it's cheap to tour... It's all related to how things are on a larger scale. If [the economy] bounce[s] back, maybe then licensing won't be cool anymore. At the end of the day, musicians will always do it, though, and I don't think an artist should ever be criticized for a commercial decision if that means making more art for more fans.
Catch Emil & Friends when they headline Glasslands Gallery this Friday, January 11 at 8:30 pm. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased HERE.
You can download their new EP, Vampire Bites, over at Pledge Music, where proceeds will go to Red Cross to benefit Hurricane Sandy relief.
Interview by Abby Schreiber
This story was published on Jan. 9, 2013
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