Picking things up after some witty banter backstage in the Hard Rock Artist Lounge at Riptide Music Festival, Silversun Pickups and Audacy’s Brad Steiner came up with the superior cover band name, Sensible Heels, thanks to Nikki Monninger’s shoes.
LISTEN NOW: Silversun Pickups at Audacy's Riptide Music Festival 2023
The group continued their rowdy repartee, with Brian Aubert discussing the humorous hardships of ordering coffee with his name, after Brad showed off his misspelled Ashley O-made friendship bracelet that read “BARD.”
"When you get coffee do you ever get bard?" Brian asked, revealing that “one-third of the time, I’m not joking, it says brain.” With Nikki and Brad going on to suggest, “you should switch it up and give them a Brain and see how they drop it.” Leading Brian to jokingly get up to indicate the interview could conclude after such a marvelous idea.
The tangent continued a bit longer, before the conversation veered to discussing the show. First comparing the way their “records feel big like a film score,” Brad noted their shows are a “different kind of big.”
"When you listen to an album, I think you have to translate things differently," Brian expressed. "And we respond to music emotionally in a weird way," adding, “as we get older we’re realizing that if we learn a little bit more about music it won’t rob us of coming at it that way.”
"When you listen to your record… it has to feel big, but not necessarily sound that way. But live, especially a show like this, where we have a certain amount of songs we’re able to play, you kinda just go out and throw your loudest foot down.”
After discussing the differences and their preference between festival shows and house shows, the four opted to view their favorite band in a Troubadour setting rather than in a festival lineup. “But honestly," Brian added, “there is something magical about when your band is really poppin’ on stage and you’re with all these people, and you’re seeing it, and they’re like crushing it, that is amazing.”
“They're kinda genuinely two different things,” Joe Lester chimed in. “Festival shows its like a circus… you kinda just catch the vibe and the energy of what's going on… you’re not the whole thing.”
“We also equated them to a dog park,” Nikki quipped, “where you go and everyone’s just meeting each other and having a good time.”
Watch the interview with Silversun Pickups, plus listen to the extended audio of the entire conversation above.
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