Abe Vigoda Interview
Interview with Juan Velazquez and Michael Vidal of Abe VigodaBy Kevin Morby
So you’re in Abe Vigoda, where does the name come from?
M: it’s the name of an actor
J: me and Michael thought it’d be funny to name a band that when we were in highschool and chatting on AIM and when we finally formed a band we named it Abe Vigoda because we couldn’t think of anything else and also, its kind of catchy, and I don’t know, its not a very good band name, but its funny.
Whats a movie that hes in?
Both: GOOD BURGER!
So the band started in highschool, what year?
M: I was a sophomore
J: was it that early? Okay, so I was a junior.
So 15, 16 years old, and how old are you now?
J: im 22 years old
M: im 21.
So about a year ago you went on your first US tour, and I heard that was the first time any of you had been east of the Mississippi, how was that?
M: it was way more beautiful than I thought it was going to be, I had no idea the South was going to be so green and like “crazy jungle.” It was pretty mind blowing. Heard cicadas for the first time!
J: It was beautiful, a lot of cool new American experiences, and I got to meet a bunch of cool new people, and people I had talked to on the internet but never met, and people in bands and shit.
So being from LA, an epicenter of the world, were there any cities/towns in particular that really stuck out that you weren’t expecting?
J: Pensacola! It had a really nice beach and the show was really fun and everyone was really nice in a very specific way
M: Pensacola was wonderful. White sand!
J: so yeah Pensacola was a surprise, and on this last tour with No Age, Jackson, Mississippi, was a surprise
M: amazing!
So you liked the South?
J: yeah, I feel like people had said shows can be bad there, so you kind of expect that, BUT, it’s been really good.
So Pensacola, Jackson, anywhere else?
M: Ashville the first time we played there, we played outside in this courtyard and it was really crazy.
J: yeah it was really cool, we got to hang out with our friends band Ear Power which is our friend Devon and his girlfriend Sarah and they’re really great and they’re like…the nicest people…like SO NICE….but not like nice where you’re like ah they are so nice, but its like they’re fun and funny and just like…great.
M: and they say shit like….it’s a humor you’ve never even heard or thought about
Like what’s an example?
J: just like funny…
M: like Sarah, man, she was nuts!
J: it’s a combination of her accent and her demeanor in general is very like…
M: Like southern sass!
J: southern sass! Like she’s a total diva and she just like loves you, like, she loves me!
So how many records do you have out?
J: we have three full length records out, which is crazy. We have one that came out on LP and CDR which Dean who does PPM put out.
M: and Not Not Fun put it out too…
J: Then we put out a CD only record called Kid City like two years ago on Old Factory
M: which is Jims from the Smells label
J: and then now Skeleton, which is on PPM, and Bella Union in the UK and that’s our newest one, but a lot of people seem to think it’s our first one, which, in a way its our first one in a different way.. It’s the first one where we put it out and there was a lot of press about it.
Is it the first one you’ve released since moving from Chino to LA?
J: We recorded it before we moved, right?
M: No, during!
J: oh my god you’re right
M: yeah, totally during.
J: but we wrote the songs earlier that year and some really close to that time, I guess around winter last year is when we recorded it.
So did leaving chino and entering LA influence the record at all?
M: maybe a little, some lyrics.
J: but a lot of songs were written before
M: it kind of gave it focus a little bit more
So we’re in New York, you just played at Monster Island in Brooklyn, and you’re about to embark on…
J: a month long Canadian and US tour with telepathy and Diplo! And we don’t know them
(Diplo) so that’ll be new, and we sort of know Telepathy which I think are very nice ladies. And were going on a TOUR BUS of all things, which is very weird and different and new, so it’s a new kind of tour which is exciting to say the least.
M: the tour bus will be strange
And after that?
J: after that were gunna go home for a little bit and hang out and then we’re gunna go to the UK for like 5 or 6 shows…
And this is your first time in Europe…
M: which is really crazy, the fact that playing music can take you to Europe…its nuts!
Are you excited about anything in particular?
J: London! And to meet the people at the label, and get to meet Simon Raymond who is the head of Bella Union, and to geek out on him
M: im excited to see Spain a lot
J: im excited to see our friend Borja from Spain
M: oh Borja!
Internet friend?
J: no real life friend actually! Met him in LA cause he was doing a thing for a magazine in Spain
M: he was just visiting LA and saw a show, and he came up to me after words and was like “your guitar! It sounds like you play with….
Both:”…WHAMMY!”
J:”…but I don’t see no whammy!” so he liked that.
(laughs)
M: and he had this friend named Aldo who got online and showed us some music video for his band and it’s of him sky diving and he said he sky dives constantly, really, like he said “I have over 1000 jumps!”.
J: this guy is awesome and just insane, and probably hella loaded.
That’s cool, I saw a sky diving video. It was of my friends boyfriends step dad, and we went over to his house on some Jewish holiday and he showed us a video of him sky diving to some Red Hot Chili peppers song.
J: WOAH WHICH SONG! ?
Some California song…
J: oh, (sings) “Californication…”
No, no, no, not that one…the one like “California rest in peace…”
M: oh Danny California!
J: oh I know which one!
So about California…after all this touring, what’s your favorite thing to do when you get home?
J: oh my favorite thing to do is go to my parents house! I love it I love it I love it so much
M: ooh that sounds good. Say hello to my friends, lay in my bad, just chill the fuck out
J: oh lay in my bed, I already want to do that!!
M: say hey to the lady at the liquor store next door, tell her about my travels a little bit
J: she’s the bomb. Yeah, people always ask “how was tour how was tour” and then I get really excited to tell them stories, and then get online and message all the people I met on tour
M: yeah and this time we get back before thanksgiving so I get to go say hi to the fam.
J: yeah im excited to be with my family and my bed and my books and my tv.
M: were gunna get so cozy
J: me and Michael are gunna sit by our fire place!
Anything exciting happening in LA right now?
J: im really excited about this restaurant called Galagetse, at 8th and Irolo. It’s Mexican food, like very specific, it’s a lot of mole, and a lot of cheese, and I go there a lot. Me and Jenna took Vampire Weekend there! It’s close to me and Michaels house.
M: (laughs) I don’t really know…im not excited…I cant think of anything right now!
Okay so what do you think before you play shows?
J: I get really tense before we play
M: during the shows I think of what the amps are sounding like since we usually borrow stuff, I think of the set list, I think of songs going into one another,
J: sometimes I think about banter, I like to talk too much sometimes, so sometimes I think about things I want to say, and sometimes im funny.
M: Morby do you find banter annoying?
I love banter, im a banterer.
J: I love it! I love when people do it! I love it. BUT, sometimes people can think im annoying, people have said that our banter is very annoying, sometimes maybe cause I say stupid things or I sound like im being condescending, but im just nervous.
And what do you think after a show?
J: afterwards im either like “oh that was so fun, or FUCK, that was really bad!”
M: I think “that was crazy” or im uncertain, like there’s a huge 15 minute uncertainty and then I find a friend and ask them how it sounded.
J: but 95 percent of the time I think our shows are very good even despite stupid things, and im usually feeling pretty positive, very little do I feel very shitty afterwards, sometimes I do – not gunna lie – and sometimes I have to be by myself a little bit afterwards so I don’t get upset
So what can we expect for the future of Abe Vigoda
J: well we’re going to get a new drummer, which is a sad thing
M: but on good terms…
J: yeah, so we have to figure that out, and then recording a new record.
M: we have a new EP coming out in January probably
J: oh yeah! In late January, and its called Reviver and its 5 songs,
M: it’s a little different than Skeleton…
J: we played almost all the songs from it tonight, and Michael covers a Stevie Nicks song and its really beautiful…
So favorite thing about being in New York?
J: DUDE! eating so much pizza, so much snacks, walking so much!
M: yesterday we just wandered all day
J: I loved it! Just like did regular stuff, like I needed to buy this thing, and then I bought it, like I live in New York, like oh man I gotta go to Best Buy…
M: constant stimulus, just like a feast for the eyes, the city…its crazy, there’s so many people that come out to shows,
J: yeah it seems like there’s more of that going on out here than in LA to be honest
Okay, so to wrap it up, any shout outs you want to give?
J: My Mom, Ziggy my dog at my parents house, Robert who we’re going to see in Seattle
M: Robert M. Walsh.
J: yeah we have a song about him called live long which is named after his tattoo and that’s on Skeleton, and we’re going to have t-shirts made in the UK with his face, and a 7” with his face..
M: it’s going to be like a classic Smiths style t-shirt with the font, and then a sad boy looking down…
J: so yeah, shout to him cause I love him and miss him
M: yeah great guy, who else do we shout out?
Oh! Any bands you’ve seen on tour that stuck out?
J: TV Ghost from Indiana!
J: Beets, I like the Beets! And last time we were here we played Fiasco, and I thought they were cool.
Well thanks guys!
Both: thank you!
M: it’s the name of an actor
J: me and Michael thought it’d be funny to name a band that when we were in highschool and chatting on AIM and when we finally formed a band we named it Abe Vigoda because we couldn’t think of anything else and also, its kind of catchy, and I don’t know, its not a very good band name, but its funny.
Whats a movie that hes in?
Both: GOOD BURGER!
So the band started in highschool, what year?
M: I was a sophomore
J: was it that early? Okay, so I was a junior.
So 15, 16 years old, and how old are you now?
J: im 22 years old
M: im 21.
So about a year ago you went on your first US tour, and I heard that was the first time any of you had been east of the Mississippi, how was that?
M: it was way more beautiful than I thought it was going to be, I had no idea the South was going to be so green and like “crazy jungle.” It was pretty mind blowing. Heard cicadas for the first time!
J: It was beautiful, a lot of cool new American experiences, and I got to meet a bunch of cool new people, and people I had talked to on the internet but never met, and people in bands and shit.
So being from LA, an epicenter of the world, were there any cities/towns in particular that really stuck out that you weren’t expecting?
J: Pensacola! It had a really nice beach and the show was really fun and everyone was really nice in a very specific way
M: Pensacola was wonderful. White sand!
J: so yeah Pensacola was a surprise, and on this last tour with No Age, Jackson, Mississippi, was a surprise
M: amazing!
So you liked the South?
J: yeah, I feel like people had said shows can be bad there, so you kind of expect that, BUT, it’s been really good.
So Pensacola, Jackson, anywhere else?
M: Ashville the first time we played there, we played outside in this courtyard and it was really crazy.
J: yeah it was really cool, we got to hang out with our friends band Ear Power which is our friend Devon and his girlfriend Sarah and they’re really great and they’re like…the nicest people…like SO NICE….but not like nice where you’re like ah they are so nice, but its like they’re fun and funny and just like…great.
M: and they say shit like….it’s a humor you’ve never even heard or thought about
Like what’s an example?
J: just like funny…
M: like Sarah, man, she was nuts!
J: it’s a combination of her accent and her demeanor in general is very like…
M: Like southern sass!
J: southern sass! Like she’s a total diva and she just like loves you, like, she loves me!
So how many records do you have out?
J: we have three full length records out, which is crazy. We have one that came out on LP and CDR which Dean who does PPM put out.
M: and Not Not Fun put it out too…
J: Then we put out a CD only record called Kid City like two years ago on Old Factory
M: which is Jims from the Smells label
J: and then now Skeleton, which is on PPM, and Bella Union in the UK and that’s our newest one, but a lot of people seem to think it’s our first one, which, in a way its our first one in a different way.. It’s the first one where we put it out and there was a lot of press about it.
Is it the first one you’ve released since moving from Chino to LA?
J: We recorded it before we moved, right?
M: No, during!
J: oh my god you’re right
M: yeah, totally during.
J: but we wrote the songs earlier that year and some really close to that time, I guess around winter last year is when we recorded it.
So did leaving chino and entering LA influence the record at all?
M: maybe a little, some lyrics.
J: but a lot of songs were written before
M: it kind of gave it focus a little bit more
So we’re in New York, you just played at Monster Island in Brooklyn, and you’re about to embark on…
J: a month long Canadian and US tour with telepathy and Diplo! And we don’t know them
(Diplo) so that’ll be new, and we sort of know Telepathy which I think are very nice ladies. And were going on a TOUR BUS of all things, which is very weird and different and new, so it’s a new kind of tour which is exciting to say the least.M: the tour bus will be strange
And after that?
J: after that were gunna go home for a little bit and hang out and then we’re gunna go to the UK for like 5 or 6 shows…
And this is your first time in Europe…
M: which is really crazy, the fact that playing music can take you to Europe…its nuts!
Are you excited about anything in particular?
J: London! And to meet the people at the label, and get to meet Simon Raymond who is the head of Bella Union, and to geek out on him
M: im excited to see Spain a lot
J: im excited to see our friend Borja from Spain
M: oh Borja!
Internet friend?
J: no real life friend actually! Met him in LA cause he was doing a thing for a magazine in Spain
M: he was just visiting LA and saw a show, and he came up to me after words and was like “your guitar! It sounds like you play with….
Both:”…WHAMMY!”
J:”…but I don’t see no whammy!” so he liked that.
(laughs)
M: and he had this friend named Aldo who got online and showed us some music video for his band and it’s of him sky diving and he said he sky dives constantly, really, like he said “I have over 1000 jumps!”.
J: this guy is awesome and just insane, and probably hella loaded.
That’s cool, I saw a sky diving video. It was of my friends boyfriends step dad, and we went over to his house on some Jewish holiday and he showed us a video of him sky diving to some Red Hot Chili peppers song.
J: WOAH WHICH SONG! ?
Some California song…
J: oh, (sings) “Californication…”
No, no, no, not that one…the one like “California rest in peace…”
M: oh Danny California!
J: oh I know which one!
So about California…after all this touring, what’s your favorite thing to do when you get home?
J: oh my favorite thing to do is go to my parents house! I love it I love it I love it so much
M: ooh that sounds good. Say hello to my friends, lay in my bad, just chill the fuck out
J: oh lay in my bed, I already want to do that!!
M: say hey to the lady at the liquor store next door, tell her about my travels a little bit
J: she’s the bomb. Yeah, people always ask “how was tour how was tour” and then I get really excited to tell them stories, and then get online and message all the people I met on tour
M: yeah and this time we get back before thanksgiving so I get to go say hi to the fam.
J: yeah im excited to be with my family and my bed and my books and my tv.
M: were gunna get so cozy
J: me and Michael are gunna sit by our fire place!
Anything exciting happening in LA right now?
J: im really excited about this restaurant called Galagetse, at 8th and Irolo. It’s Mexican food, like very specific, it’s a lot of mole, and a lot of cheese, and I go there a lot. Me and Jenna took Vampire Weekend there! It’s close to me and Michaels house.
M: (laughs) I don’t really know…im not excited…I cant think of anything right now!
Okay so what do you think before you play shows?
J: I get really tense before we play
M: during the shows I think of what the amps are sounding like since we usually borrow stuff, I think of the set list, I think of songs going into one another,
J: sometimes I think about banter, I like to talk too much sometimes, so sometimes I think about things I want to say, and sometimes im funny.
M: Morby do you find banter annoying?
I love banter, im a banterer.
J: I love it! I love when people do it! I love it. BUT, sometimes people can think im annoying, people have said that our banter is very annoying, sometimes maybe cause I say stupid things or I sound like im being condescending, but im just nervous.
And what do you think after a show?
J: afterwards im either like “oh that was so fun, or FUCK, that was really bad!”
M: I think “that was crazy” or im uncertain, like there’s a huge 15 minute uncertainty and then I find a friend and ask them how it sounded.
J: but 95 percent of the time I think our shows are very good even despite stupid things, and im usually feeling pretty positive, very little do I feel very shitty afterwards, sometimes I do – not gunna lie – and sometimes I have to be by myself a little bit afterwards so I don’t get upset
So what can we expect for the future of Abe Vigoda
J: well we’re going to get a new drummer, which is a sad thing
M: but on good terms…
J: yeah, so we have to figure that out, and then recording a new record.
M: we have a new EP coming out in January probably
J: oh yeah! In late January, and its called Reviver and its 5 songs,
M: it’s a little different than Skeleton…
J: we played almost all the songs from it tonight, and Michael covers a Stevie Nicks song and its really beautiful…
So favorite thing about being in New York?
J: DUDE! eating so much pizza, so much snacks, walking so much!
M: yesterday we just wandered all day
J: I loved it! Just like did regular stuff, like I needed to buy this thing, and then I bought it, like I live in New York, like oh man I gotta go to Best Buy…
M: constant stimulus, just like a feast for the eyes, the city…its crazy, there’s so many people that come out to shows,
J: yeah it seems like there’s more of that going on out here than in LA to be honest
Okay, so to wrap it up, any shout outs you want to give?
J: My Mom, Ziggy my dog at my parents house, Robert who we’re going to see in Seattle
M: Robert M. Walsh.
J: yeah we have a song about him called live long which is named after his tattoo and that’s on Skeleton, and we’re going to have t-shirts made in the UK with his face, and a 7” with his face..
M: it’s going to be like a classic Smiths style t-shirt with the font, and then a sad boy looking down…
J: so yeah, shout to him cause I love him and miss him
M: yeah great guy, who else do we shout out?
Oh! Any bands you’ve seen on tour that stuck out?
J: TV Ghost from Indiana!
J: Beets, I like the Beets! And last time we were here we played Fiasco, and I thought they were cool.
Well thanks guys!
Both: thank you!
