We interviewed one of our SXSW 2016 Top 20 artists, The Accidentals. Be sure to catch them as many times as possible during SXSW.
How old were you when you started The Accidentals?
Katie: It all started in the mid 90’s when our parents decided to birth us.
Sav: Then in September of 2011- we met when we were 15 and 16 years old at Traverse City West Senior High in the philharmonic orchestra. We were playing cello and violin in an “alternative styles group,” which was a group that stayed after school and played Led Zeppelin and MGMT on orchestral instruments. We were the only two to volunteer to represent the alternative styles group at a concert, so Katie came to my house to rehearse. We ended up playing The White Stripes instead…and that night, we started the band.
What do you expect to get from SXSW 2016, besides 10s of thousands of new fans?
Katie: When we performed at SXSW last year we were blown away at how much goes on there. We visited gear expos and art expos, panels, had meetings with industry folks, and tried to get into as many concerts as possible despite being under 21.
This year we all want to make time to see more panels, there are so many incredibly talented people down there and we can take a lot away from hearing others talk about their experience. We’re pretty geeky when it comes to music so we’ll probably have notebooks and pencils and scribbling down lots of notes. We’d also love to meet some new bands to collaborate with!
Sav: Tiny Desk and Austin City Limits. Mission Accomplished.
Are there any bands that you are excited that are also at SXSW?Katie: I wanna catch And The Kids and Sunflower Bean. I love seeing people who are our age doing their thing and being bad asses in the music industry.
I also hope to run into some new music that I’ve never seen before.
Sav: We have always loved Sarah Jaffe. She is a fantastic songwriter. We have been covering her songs for fun for a while, but we would love to actually see her in person. We’re also excited about BØRNS, since he’s a fellow Michigander…and we can’t help but feel a little familial because of that. 🙂
Have you been to Austin before?
Any Austin/Texas stereotypes you are looking forward to?
Sav: Been there. “Keep Austin Weird” just sounds like it could be our logo too. The stereotypical BBQ was off the charts and we drove out to Blue Rock Studios for a showcase and fell in love with the landscape and the history of the area. My dad went to UT Austin and played all over 6th Street in college so looking forward to keeping that tradition alive.
Katie: We attended SXSW last year, and I’m already anticipating the tacos/food trucks. I can’t wait.
Any Austin/Texas stereotypes you would like to avoid?
Sav: NOPE. If you are gonna immerse in a city, part of the beauty and excitement is embracing it all! Oh, except for the SXSW puking in the alleyway at 4am on 6th Street and walking into walls – probably just retire by 3am and avoid that.
Katie: We love Austin, but we will probably avoid some of the SXSW partying. If you need us we’ll be inside our apartment eating tacos, watching SXSW recap vids on Youtube.
Besides your music just being exceptional is there anything else you would like fans or SXSWsters to know about it?
Sav: Our music is pretty diverse…our friends in the press call it “genre-bending.” We have a lot of different influences and we want the audience to take that musical journey with us. We typically switch instruments every song and write songs that sound happy but speak heavy. Just enough to make you think but not enough to stay in one feel to long.
Katie: We’re going to be debuting some brand new music at SXSW this year, we’ve been writing and experimenting with new sounds, including octave-effected violin and cello, electric guitars, and possibly a Rush cover.
Anything else you would like the world to know about y’all?
Sav: We are a little awkward at the socials so please forgive us. We are working on it. We love books, crocheting, mac and cheese, science, and Youtube.
Katie: We’ll have a new album out this year! We have some exciting things up our sleeves so stay tuned…
Did y’all know that The Band-Aid Song is on the ultimate toddler playlist on Spotify? What do y’all think of that?
Sav: We literally found out two days ago via a parent on Twitter that Band Aid was on The Ultimate Toddler playlist and finally it made sense. We were just as surprised as everyone else, especially since the Band-Aid Song, of all the songs we’ve ever put out, is mildly explicit due to the word “hell.” (Yes, Katie curses at a band-aid for the entire song. We have yet to determine if it’s metaphorical.) It’s kind of funny though, because none of us could understand why the Band-Aid Song was such a hit on Spotify for MONTHS. We were all completely baffled by it. Twitter finally solved the mystery for us.
We were in the process of having our distributor remove it from Spotify this week – we will miss that fat $20 check each month from the thousands of toddler streams.
Katie: I am equal parts honored and shocked. Toddlers are totally an overlooked demographic, after all they are the tastemakers of the future…and they are adorable.
THE ACCIDENTALS SXSW 2016 SCHEDULE:
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