Pocahaunted scares children.
Earlier this year, Amanda and Bethany played for a class of third graders, who described their sound as "scary Halloween music." It's not a bad description: their blend of drone, psychedelia and Native American music, full of reverb and foreboding, would make a great soundtrack to a haunted house. Remarkably prolific (their website lists well over 20 releases, often in runs of 100 or less), they are atmospheric in the good way, haunting without coming across as dark or gloomy, and of course, charming to talk to. The ladies of Pocahaunted:
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5. Favorite piece of equipment?
Amanda: Delay and reverb pedal.
Bethany: Holy Grail reverb pedal. I'd be nothing without one.
9. Favorite song to start (or end) a mixtape with?
Amanda: "Umi Says," by Mos Def.
Bethany: "Gold Dust Woman," Fleetwood Mac.
14. Favorite sound?
Amanda: Sax solos.
Bethany: The fan in my room blowing right at me when it's 400 degrees with 99.9% humidity.
20. Favorite new band?
Amanda: White Magic
Bethany: Vivian Girls.
22. Favorite vice?
Amanda: Dark chocolate.
Bethany: Mike's Hard Cranberry Lemonade.
23. Favorite natural oddity?
Amanda: Unibrows and lisps.
Bethany: Cats with thumbs.
25. Favorite historical figure?
Amanda: Queen Elizabeth and Nixon.
Bethany: Bruce Springsteen.
49. Now that you know a much larger audience will get to hear the music you've made, has your writing changed at all? How? What's changed and what's stayed the same?
Amanda: I'm always like to Bethany, "Oh man, in that last review they really didn't like this or that, we've got to grow or move away from our previous songs..." But you can't think like that, the writing should only change because we change and our influences change, and we try to stay true to that. I think we've gotten more sophisticated in our recording, with more collaborations with other amazing musicians, and that always morphs and improves our sound. But Bethany's voice is our rock and it's what makes us Pocahaunted, so that will never change. I'm just trying to get her to go off even more insane, deeper, crazier, with more soul, and more intensity. And she always brings it.
60. What's the worst show you've ever played? What would you have done different?
Amanda: Our worst show was at Echo Curio, when we played with our friend Jonathan. He was amazing, and the sounds he was making were totally beautiful but Bethany's amp was malfunctioning like crazy and feeding back, and I think we played for about six minutes. It was low... but when it was over we laughed. Like we genuinely laughed and hugged and got over it, so maybe that's not so bad after all.
61. What's the best advice you could give to a young, upstart band?
Amanda: Work hard and be sick and epic, I'd say. But I'd always say work hard, be sick and epic about anything. If you stay away from weird music trends and make yr own music then who cares if you don't get the recognition right away or ever? If they like punk and yr making experimental drone, keep on keeping on. If they like experimental drone and yr making experimental drone, then enjoy it while it lasts. And of course, work with the best people you can. They'll only make you sound better and go deeper.
Bethany: Move to Brooklyn.
65. Ever see yourself penning the score/soundtrack to a TV show or film?
Amanda: When we write a great song and we know it, like we hear it back and look at each other like, "oh yeah" — we always joke, oh just the perfect score for Last of the Mohicans 2. But it's changing now, we're trying to get more soulful... maybe like the soundtrack to an awesome movie about sad shit and redemption...
Bethany: The Sopranos movie.
70. What is a personal belief you hold that you would fight for to the death?
Amanda: My own aesthetics. And love, duh.
Bethany: Never eat mayonnaise.
72. A few years ago, Beck gave an interview for SPIN in which he lamented the glut of reality TV shows and blogs about musicians, wanting to know less details about their life because he felt they were more mysterious that way (he liked to envision Devo as living in a crazed art-deco pyramid when he was young, instead of just some guys in a tour bus). Do you feel that there's a lack of mystique out there for musicians in today's YouTube age? Do you feel your band carries any mystique?
Bethany: I guess it makes sense that there would be a total lack of mystique for this reason, but I am totally into YouTube—so I don't really worry about it. Pocahaunted doesn't seem to end up on the Internet as much, unless it's links to my personal Flickr site—so I think we are doing pretty good at keeping up the mystique.
Amanda: There's no mystique. My husband Britt used to be like, "I love that band, you can't even email them... they don't even exist on the Internet, it's amazing." We still get into that and get siked on it, then it comes time to email that band and it's like, oh shit, you can't even email those dudes. It's hard to stay mysterious when being out there comes with Flickr account pics, and YouTube videos, and Myspace comments... I hope we have a mystique, but we ruin everything when we speak. It's all jokes and Sopranos references. Not so strange at all.
77. What was the hardest part about recording your current release?
Amanda: Raising ourselves to the highest level. Each release has to be just a bit better or stranger or cooler than the last one for us. I get so stressed and go crazy over every song, and Bethany just trusts our performance and relaxes. Working with Bobb Bruno and Cameron Stallones is so dope, though. So there's a lot of trust there.
Bethany: I think just the timing. I was about to move, and was trying to finish up my last semester at school in LA—and Amanda was working hard on Crops and Rawbers stuff, and trying to leave her job... so we both had a lot on our minds, and were pretty stressed out... but we finished it, so I guess stress doesn't matter now.
80. Worst run-in with the law (to date)?
Bethany: The time Amanda and I got yelled at for peeing in a vineyard.
Amanda: The cops yelled at us because we tried to pee in a vineyard on the way to our Halloween show opening up for Thurston. We were totally late, had to pee of course, and didn't realize it was illegal. Which led to my famous (not so famous) quote, "Whatever, I pee in everyone's wine, it's fine."
81. If you could sync an album of yours to a movie (like Dark Side of the Moon and The Wizard of Oz), what movie would it be?
Amanda: Probably some James McAvoy movie. We love him.
Bethany: The Dark Knight.
83. Have you ever thought of pulling a Jack White-styled Raconteurs/White Stripes thing and be in multiple bands at once? If so, what would the other band sound like?
Amanda: Bethany's would probably sound more beautiful than anything in the world (Enya meets Kate Bush meets Mazzy Star) and mine would just be straight up afro funk or stupid acid jazz. Or we'd probably just try to hang around with rappers and hope someone would let us sing the hook.
Bethany: Yeah, I'm down. I'd like to be in a really poppy band that just sounds like The Beach Boys. Amanda would probably hate it.
84. Most disappointing concert you ever attended?
Amanda: Kraftwerk at Coachella. It was like a car commercial. Straight up.
Bethany: I don't know. It wasn't Billy Joel, that's for sure.
94. What's your hardest song to replicate live?
Amanda: We can't replicate any of them. We can't replay any of them. So I guess, all of them.
100. Even with the gradual decay of the B-side, most artists still have vaults of unreleased songs. What's in yours?
Amanda: So many weird live sets with different awesome friend musicians. And a few songs that I was like, no no no not good enough for the album. It gets shelved, and then Britt just archives it for us in case we get wistful one night and re-listen and go, ooohhhhhhh yeah.
Amanda: Delay and reverb pedal.
Bethany: Holy Grail reverb pedal. I'd be nothing without one.
9. Favorite song to start (or end) a mixtape with?
Amanda: "Umi Says," by Mos Def.
Bethany: "Gold Dust Woman," Fleetwood Mac.
14. Favorite sound?
Amanda: Sax solos.
Bethany: The fan in my room blowing right at me when it's 400 degrees with 99.9% humidity.
20. Favorite new band?
Amanda: White Magic
Bethany: Vivian Girls.
22. Favorite vice?
Amanda: Dark chocolate.
Bethany: Mike's Hard Cranberry Lemonade.
23. Favorite natural oddity?
Amanda: Unibrows and lisps.
Bethany: Cats with thumbs.
25. Favorite historical figure?
Amanda: Queen Elizabeth and Nixon.
Bethany: Bruce Springsteen.
49. Now that you know a much larger audience will get to hear the music you've made, has your writing changed at all? How? What's changed and what's stayed the same?
Amanda: I'm always like to Bethany, "Oh man, in that last review they really didn't like this or that, we've got to grow or move away from our previous songs..." But you can't think like that, the writing should only change because we change and our influences change, and we try to stay true to that. I think we've gotten more sophisticated in our recording, with more collaborations with other amazing musicians, and that always morphs and improves our sound. But Bethany's voice is our rock and it's what makes us Pocahaunted, so that will never change. I'm just trying to get her to go off even more insane, deeper, crazier, with more soul, and more intensity. And she always brings it.
60. What's the worst show you've ever played? What would you have done different?
Amanda: Our worst show was at Echo Curio, when we played with our friend Jonathan. He was amazing, and the sounds he was making were totally beautiful but Bethany's amp was malfunctioning like crazy and feeding back, and I think we played for about six minutes. It was low... but when it was over we laughed. Like we genuinely laughed and hugged and got over it, so maybe that's not so bad after all.
61. What's the best advice you could give to a young, upstart band?
Amanda: Work hard and be sick and epic, I'd say. But I'd always say work hard, be sick and epic about anything. If you stay away from weird music trends and make yr own music then who cares if you don't get the recognition right away or ever? If they like punk and yr making experimental drone, keep on keeping on. If they like experimental drone and yr making experimental drone, then enjoy it while it lasts. And of course, work with the best people you can. They'll only make you sound better and go deeper.
Bethany: Move to Brooklyn.
65. Ever see yourself penning the score/soundtrack to a TV show or film?
Amanda: When we write a great song and we know it, like we hear it back and look at each other like, "oh yeah" — we always joke, oh just the perfect score for Last of the Mohicans 2. But it's changing now, we're trying to get more soulful... maybe like the soundtrack to an awesome movie about sad shit and redemption...
Bethany: The Sopranos movie.
70. What is a personal belief you hold that you would fight for to the death?
Amanda: My own aesthetics. And love, duh.
Bethany: Never eat mayonnaise.
72. A few years ago, Beck gave an interview for SPIN in which he lamented the glut of reality TV shows and blogs about musicians, wanting to know less details about their life because he felt they were more mysterious that way (he liked to envision Devo as living in a crazed art-deco pyramid when he was young, instead of just some guys in a tour bus). Do you feel that there's a lack of mystique out there for musicians in today's YouTube age? Do you feel your band carries any mystique?
Bethany: I guess it makes sense that there would be a total lack of mystique for this reason, but I am totally into YouTube—so I don't really worry about it. Pocahaunted doesn't seem to end up on the Internet as much, unless it's links to my personal Flickr site—so I think we are doing pretty good at keeping up the mystique.
Amanda: There's no mystique. My husband Britt used to be like, "I love that band, you can't even email them... they don't even exist on the Internet, it's amazing." We still get into that and get siked on it, then it comes time to email that band and it's like, oh shit, you can't even email those dudes. It's hard to stay mysterious when being out there comes with Flickr account pics, and YouTube videos, and Myspace comments... I hope we have a mystique, but we ruin everything when we speak. It's all jokes and Sopranos references. Not so strange at all.
77. What was the hardest part about recording your current release?
Amanda: Raising ourselves to the highest level. Each release has to be just a bit better or stranger or cooler than the last one for us. I get so stressed and go crazy over every song, and Bethany just trusts our performance and relaxes. Working with Bobb Bruno and Cameron Stallones is so dope, though. So there's a lot of trust there.
Bethany: I think just the timing. I was about to move, and was trying to finish up my last semester at school in LA—and Amanda was working hard on Crops and Rawbers stuff, and trying to leave her job... so we both had a lot on our minds, and were pretty stressed out... but we finished it, so I guess stress doesn't matter now.
80. Worst run-in with the law (to date)?
Bethany: The time Amanda and I got yelled at for peeing in a vineyard.
Amanda: The cops yelled at us because we tried to pee in a vineyard on the way to our Halloween show opening up for Thurston. We were totally late, had to pee of course, and didn't realize it was illegal. Which led to my famous (not so famous) quote, "Whatever, I pee in everyone's wine, it's fine."
81. If you could sync an album of yours to a movie (like Dark Side of the Moon and The Wizard of Oz), what movie would it be?
Amanda: Probably some James McAvoy movie. We love him.
Bethany: The Dark Knight.
83. Have you ever thought of pulling a Jack White-styled Raconteurs/White Stripes thing and be in multiple bands at once? If so, what would the other band sound like?
Amanda: Bethany's would probably sound more beautiful than anything in the world (Enya meets Kate Bush meets Mazzy Star) and mine would just be straight up afro funk or stupid acid jazz. Or we'd probably just try to hang around with rappers and hope someone would let us sing the hook.
Bethany: Yeah, I'm down. I'd like to be in a really poppy band that just sounds like The Beach Boys. Amanda would probably hate it.
84. Most disappointing concert you ever attended?
Amanda: Kraftwerk at Coachella. It was like a car commercial. Straight up.
Bethany: I don't know. It wasn't Billy Joel, that's for sure.
94. What's your hardest song to replicate live?
Amanda: We can't replicate any of them. We can't replay any of them. So I guess, all of them.
100. Even with the gradual decay of the B-side, most artists still have vaults of unreleased songs. What's in yours?
Amanda: So many weird live sets with different awesome friend musicians. And a few songs that I was like, no no no not good enough for the album. It gets shelved, and then Britt just archives it for us in case we get wistful one night and re-listen and go, ooohhhhhhh yeah.
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