Penguin Prison Talks Miike Snow, Touring, and Hologram Tupac (VTT Interview + Photos)
Penguin Prison recently stopped through Atlanta, GA to play at the Earl. It was one of the best performances we’ve seen along time and we were totally blown away. Check out what he had to say:
How has the tour been going that your headlining right now?
We’re on tour right now with Class Actress and we’re going all over the United States and a few places in Canada and it’s nice. It’s an interesting experience. I like to go to different places and meet people. Last night we played in Athens, Georgia and we were supposed to play on the roof, but it was raining so we had to move everything inside. The people who were there to see us had to help us move everything. It was a funny night. Now we’re in Atlanta, GA about to play at The Earl.
On the last tour you opened for Miike Snow, tell me a little about that…
Opening for Miike Snow was good. It was a lot of fun. I think their fans responded well to our music and Miike Snow, they were all nice people. We had a great time. Our styles meshed together really well. We’re on the same record label, Downtown Records. I made a remix for one of their tracks called “Paddling Out,” which came out right as the tour started which was cool.
Were there any previous projects released before your self-titled album?
Before the album came out I released a few 7” records with Neon Gold Records and I released a lot of remixes, that’s how a lot of people heard of me.
Neon Gold Records is out of DC right?
Neon Gold is out of NYC, but they’re associated with this thing All Things Go.
That’s what my buddy Brenton (Duvall) was talking about the other day actually. Where did you come up with the name Penguin Prison?
Penguin Prison just sounds like a funny name to me. It rolls off the tongue. It’s alliterative. People remember it I think. It’s a ridiculous image to think of a bunch of penguins inside of a jail side. It’s a mixture of something funny and not funny which I think is similar to my music. Combining opposite forces.
“Don’t Fuck With My Money,” was one of my favorite videos from 2011. How did you come up with the treatment for the video?
Well I wrote “Don’t Fuck With My Money,” a couple years before Occupy Wallstreet actually started happening. When I was thinking of something to do for the video I wanted to do something that involved the financial crisis we’re all in and just then the Occupy Wallstreet thing started happening. I decided to just do the video there, we went along with the protest and marched with them. We protested with everybody and filmed at the same time.
CLICK TO READ MORE SEE MORE PICS AND WATCH “DON’T FUCK WITH MY MONEY”
Did u have a feeling about how great the video was going to be while you were making it?
I knew it was a good idea, some people didn’t agree. I thought it was a cool thing to do; we captured a great moment in history that I think needed to be captured. A lot of other people obviously filmed there, but we got really great footage with the cameras used. Jake Sumner who directed it did a really great job.
What do u listen to when you have the time?
I listen to all sorts of stuff. I like to always know what’s happening and the new music coming out. I like to be aware of what everybody is doing. Some of my favorite new music is this band called Twin Shadow. I really like the new song by Major Lazer which has Amber from the Dirty Projectors on it, “Get Free.” I like ASAP Rocky now too.
Did you catch Rocky’s set at Coachella?
I didn’t get to see much at Coachella. I saw Bon Iver, which was good. I had a little tear come out of my eye when I was watching him (laughs.) I saw Dre and Snoop, 50 Cent, Eminem, 2pac Video-game version and all of that.
Awesome pics!!!