There are many great things about New York City. And there are a few things naysayers say are bad about the city. But there is one thing that no one tells you about moving to New York. The Mexican food here sucks. Now I know what you’re saying–New York is the most diverse city in America with hundreds of thousands of Mexicans. I know. There’s no sense to this. It’s just true. New Yorkers do not know the wonderful goodness that is an excellent burrito.

Tub Ring is right, going green might be the hip (and probably right) thing to do right now, but I understand how hard it can be for indie kids to radically shift their lifestyle to comply with living green. That’s why I’m pitching to my bosses later today The Uncensored Interview Green Indie Living Catalog. It’s time we transformed ourselves from a simple indie rock website to the hipster version of a Land’s End catalog. This is a fucking goldmine waiting to be pilfered, I’m telling you. Check out some of the products I’ve already developed that are certain to be best sellers among the indie rock crowd:

Biodegradeable Tight Jeans

– Don’t you just hate it when you’re driving through Williamsburg and all you can see for miles are landfills of unbelievably uncomfortable jeans almost touching the clouds? You won’t have to deal with those eyesores anymore with these earth friendly hamstring huggers.

Organic Pabst Blue Ribbon

– Worried about what’s actually in that can of $2.00 beer you’re imbibing? Well, given that it’s $2.00 at a bar, probably a bunch of shit. In fact, it might very well be cloned beer. Scary, I know. So why take chances when, for $1.50 more, you can enjoy a cold, crisp, certified Organic PBR?

Vegan Vegan

– Indie kids are just now starting to realize that there are TWO types of living things on this planet – animals and plants (don’t give me that “viruses are also living bullshit, they’re not), and who are we to value one type of life over another? That’s why I’m introducing Vegan Vegan, the first ever vegan vegan food. No plants or animals (or viruses, ok you’re happy?) were injured or killed to bring you this delicious mix of… dirt. And crunchy rocks. And maybe some worms feces, I don’t know. But what I do know is that when you dig into this delectable bag of top notch soil, you’ll feel a certain moral superiority over even the staunchest Vegans, knowing that no form of life, neither plant nor animal, was disturbed for your daily nourishment. Bonus – try adding water for a delicious mud-pie-like dessert, minus the pie.

Hey all.

As I sat on the subway today, scrolling through my Ipod, I began to wonder: do certain band/artist names have indie credibility? Are some names more indie than others, and, if they are, what makes them more indie?

Now I suppose this is a personal preference question. I, for one, think there are some terribly named indie bands. I wont go into them here, as I don’t want angry e-mails…however I will say that I’m not a huge fan of bands with overly long names or overly suggestive names. It seems that these guys are trying to compensate for something, perhaps a lack of musical ability.

The strongest band names, in my opinion, are short and simple without any ridiculously obvious references (ie naming your band after a character in Catcher in the Rye, a character in a cheesy 80′s movie , or another after band’s song).

I don’t think a band’s name has to have anything to do with their music. Matching the two just seems like the band is trying too hard, and everyone knows indie bands aren’t allowed to try hard. (note sarcasm here).

On that note, I will give you my top 3 UI band names:

3. Ex-Lion Tamer – Got the humor thing going here.

2. Dead Confederate – Packs a good punch

1. Kaki King — Yeah I know that’s her real name, but it’s awesome

“Indie” ruined my love life.

How, you ask?

Being the non-judgmental guy that I am, when picking a girl to fall head over heals for I tend to take their fashion sense into consideration. Now, I know you’re thinking something along the lines of “that’s lame.” Well, it may be lame, but I still say the only thing better than a really cute girl is a really cute girl wearing a Radiohead shirt. I guarantee I’m not alone on this one.

Anyways, here’s the part about how indie ruined my love life. Indie has become it’s own fashion movement. I’m not against this, as all music movements spawn their own styles. However, the indie fashion movement left the indie music scene behind sometime around 1998. Back in the day, you knew a girl wearing skinny jeans and a Pixies shirt had good taste in music. Now it just means she shops at Urban Outfitters.

As for me, I now have to actually talk to a girl to figure out what she’s like and what sort of music she enjoys. The humanity!

In the spirit of this post, I now give you my top 3 most indie, would have talked to her before Urban Outfitters came along, Uncensored Interview girls:

3. The Pierces
2. 1/2 of The Rosebuds
1. Au Revoir Simone – Where’s the 3rd member?

Hey everyone.

Since this is the first of many posts exploring the meaning of the word…err…abbreviation… “indie,” I though I’d start out by telling you what “indie” means to me, a somewhat grown-up kid from Los Angeles, California. Ask someone to name a city revered for its “indie” music scene, and you’ll get answers along the lines of Brooklyn, Austin or Portland. Conventional wisdom dictates that Los Angeles is a place for movie stars and plastic models, not independent musicians. However, I can honestly say that I saw some of the best “indie” music of my life while living in that city.

I remember gasping in awe of Elliott Smith’s guitar playing genius at the Roxy, jumping up and down to Superdrag and Nada Surf at the Troubadour, and discovering Grandaddy and Earlimart for the first time at the Brown Derby. Jon Brion & Aimee Mann made Largo into what I still believe is the most interesting bar in Los Angeles, and I even got to see 70s pioneers Love and Arthur Lee play Royce Hall at UCLA.

Now if you think I’m bragging about all the concerts I’ve been to (or perhaps you’re laughing at them, depending on your particular taste), I’m not. I bring them up because they illustrate my point that “indie” music transcends location. If it can exist (and thrive) in a city like Los Angeles, it can exist anywhere. That’s why you see small labels like Saddle Creek springing up in Omaha, music websites launching from Chicago (cough…Pitchfork…cough), and tiny venues growing from every empty building in between.

In part, this is why I find blogging on Uncensored Interview so interesting. You’ve got bands here like Irving, who are from Los Angeles, alongside Neimo, who come all the way from Paris. The bands and artists on this site literally come from all over the world. They dress differently, talk differently, and play different types of music, yet they each represent one of the many incarnations of “indie.”

With that, I’ll say that I don’t believe in a singular definition of “indie,” I believe in the concept, the movement, the idea or whatever you’d like to call it. In the future, this space will serve to explore all the different forms that “indie” can take. It’s a term that generates some strong opinions, so feel free to chime in and comment as much as you want as I continue writing.

See you again next Tuesday.

Aaron

So I’ve been checking out some of our interview clips with The Fabulous Entourage.

They seem to be having some sort of (intense) picnic in this clip:

Also seems to me they are learning much more about each other during the interview.

Which brings me to a key question…do you think any bands have actually broken up during an TV/Radio/ Interview because of something that was said/ something they found out?

If anyone can provide me with an example of this, I will buy you a glass of water.

Hey everyone,

I was trying to do a 6 degrees of seperation for LA bands. So far I came up with the following bands that have all played shows with one another, went to high school together or know eachother:

Phantom Planet, Maroon 5, Rooney, The Like, Big City Rock, Pete Yorn…

Please add more…I want to try and round out this scene….