 "Photo: Photo courtesy of DISCO BISCUITS")
With more than a decade of work behind them,the Disco Biscuits, arguably the only trance-fusion band out of Philly, are still going strong. This generation’s Grateful Dead, the Biscuits masterfully blend track after track in their live sets, incorporating “inverted” or “dyslexic” sets where the band starts songs at the end and work its way to the beginning.
DT Weekend had the opportunity to speak with keyboardist Aron Magner in preparation for their Austin gig — which promises to be epic.
DT Weekend: Hey, how are you?
Aron Magner: Tired man, it’s been interesting couple of days on tour. I’ve been surviving on a few hours of sleep a week.
DTW: So you have a huge tour ahead of you — what’s the band feeling like right now?
AM: We’re pretty psyched for it! It’s always interesting to get back on the road. We took five weeks off before this weekend, but the first week back is always getting warmed up again. A lot of the songs are fairly intricate, so it gets a little tricky, and the first week of tour is unfortunately kind of a little weird.
DTW: What is the significance of playing your famous “inverted” or “dyslexic” sets?
AM: See, we have 150 songs in our catalog, and being an improvisational band, the whole idea of doing dyslexic or inverted songs was to offer different ways of getting from point A to point B. So instead of jamming at the end of song, if you break up the sections you can have infinite numbers of possibilities. It gives us different avenues.
DTW: You guys are really prolific when it comes to side projects; does it ever get confusing trying to coordinate schedules?
AM: We do have a lot of side projects, but our main focus is definitely the Biscuits. We make sure not to overburden ourselves with anything. When we were younger, we’d be on the road for two or three consecutive months, and we figured it was going to be too much hassle.
DTW: So what’s up on deck for the Biscuits?
AM: We have a new album that’s years in the making coming out in January. What we’ve been doing is releasing EPs that come out for free download on our Web site, and we’re releasing two more consecutive EPs that will be released at the end of the next few months.
DTW: So what can audiences expect on this tour?
AM: You’ll be hearing a lot of songs that are making it onto the album that we’ve never played live, as well as songs we created in a very prosperous last couple of weeks.
DTW: You said you’re releasing EPs for free up until the album drops — I’m curious to know how you feel about the Radiohead model of paying what you want for music.
AM: I think the goal is this: Get your music out there. “If you build it they will come”-type thing. The game and climate has definitely changed in the industry. The goal is to expose your music in any way possible, even if that means giving it out for free. That’s the most important part of the game — to make your fans happy. Do it!
WHAT: Disco Biscuits
WHEN: Saturday, 6 p.m.
WHERE: Stubb’s
TICKETS: $20-$22
Be the first to comment on this article!