Fest 9 Preview: Interview w/ Mixtapes

One of the albums that will easily be near the top of my “best of 2010″ list is Maps from the Ohio based pop-punk band Mixtapes. Additionally, the band has a new split with Milwaukee’s Direct Hit! that’s available from our good pals at Kind Of Like Records. Oh yeah, Ryan (singer/guitarist) from Mixtapes agreed to answer a few questions via email about Fest 9 and stuff…

Explain the origins of Mixtapes.

Mixtapes started when Maura and I met and talked about starting a musical project, we started writing songs acoustically with our friend Phil playing the piano, so just the three of us. Our friend Tim was in town and liked the songs so when he wasn’t on tour he decided to come down and record drums so over a quick whirlwind we recorded the album Maps, the songs meant a lot to us and came out great and that’s when we decided to focus on it and start playing out of town and just wanting people to hear the record. The name came mainly because the name Attack Attack was already taken, TWICE!

You’re from Cincinnati so what do you think about Chad Ochocinco?

I love Chad Johnson, I know Josh does as well, and I don’t particularly think Kamal or Maura care too much about football. I love his spirit and his attitude, and hate on him all you want for all the over-the-top antics, but he’s a world record breaker! He’s one of the most talented players on the field and he makes every game an event, and fun, I love it. I’m particularly excited for Chad and T.O. to be out there together this season, I’m not saying this is for sure going to be our Super Bowl season, but we are definitely getting [to the] playoffs. Also I just made all of that up, punks don’t like football.

Your album Maps and your newer EP were both released for FREE on Death To False Hope records. Why the decision to release them for free?

After we recorded Maps we put it up for free because we felt like we were not an active enough band to put out an album and charge for it. We didn’t even have a real lineup and we had never played a show, so people knew nothing about us. For that reason putting it our for free made sense. We just wanted people to hear it. Scotty approached us about putting it out and we said sure. Scotty is such an awesome dude, I don’t wanna say that cause everyone does and he might get a little ego, but dammit it’s true. Scotty loves music and his scene and just wants to help bands out with no other intentions, so we quickly recorded the follow up EP, Thought About Growing Up, and put it out the same way, and it benefited us greatly, so go check out www.deathtofalsehoperecords.com.

Have you ever played the Fest before? If so what is your most memorable Fest moment? If not what can you imagine it would be?

I have not had the privilege. This year is gonna be insane and we can’t wait. I’ve heard plenty of great stories, I can imagine it would be a lot of things involving Dillinger Four.

What band are you most excited to see at the Fest this year?

Do I have to pick just one? Iron Chic especially, their new album is so so good. Dear Landlord, Banner Pilot, Cheap Girls, Lemuria, New Bruises, Tim Barry, the Underground Railroad to Candyland… that’s a lot more than one isn’t it? I guess Iron Chic!

Aside from playing the Fest, what else are you currently working on?

We have a split 7 inch coming out at the Fest actually on Kind Of Like Records with Direct Hit! It’s a cool concept and will be awesome! We are also filimg a sweet music video for that this weekend! We are also releasing Maps on CD and vinyl, but Maps is actually all 14 of the songs put in the right order with actual artwork and other fun things, so everyone can have them in a physical format if they would like. We love those songs so I’m excited for that to happen. That will be coming out on All For Hope Records very soon! We also have a new EP / 7 inch coming out towards the end of the year sometime on Animal Style Records called A Short Collection of Short Songs. It’s 6 new songs that are awesome, 3 of them are acoustic, so there will be more info on that soon enough! Essentially we just love making music, and want to keep putting it out, and for anyone who supports us we will have more free music coming out as well.

What have you been listening to in your van/cars/etc?

We listen to alot of different music when were out of town, I know people say they listen to everything but we cover most of it. I’m a big fan of podcasts and talk radio and the like. In my car I’ve been listening to:

Iron Chic – Not Like This
The Hold Steady – Heaven is Whenever
Counting Crows – Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings
assorted Charles Hamilton mixtapes and mixes I’ve made
Rivethead (always)

And a bunch more I suppose, those are good ones!

How do you guys feel about music blogs? Some people love ‘em, some people hate ‘em.

I think they are awesome and a good way to get informed, and as for them putting up albums to download, well we put our stuff up for free in the first place, so oh well, be glad someones taking the time to listen to you!