1. If I knew absolutely nothing about NPSH
how would you describe the group’s music to me?
-- Glistening electro-pop-rock thunderjams, chock
full of melodic hooks and a raucous, carefree, fun attitude.
2. If I were to buy your new album Glistening Pleasure,
what songs should I pay particular attention to and why?
-- All of them, of course! If you’re asking
us, we’ll tell you there isn't a bad song on the disc. I can't
choose a specific one because most of them have been around since we
were in high school. That's like making me choose between my children.
They're all our little babies--little sparkling gem babies.
3. When and where did the band form, and where didthe
name come from? -- We were all friends
in high school a few years back. Shaun and I had the idea to form an "a
cappella" electronic group by making beats and synth sounds with our
mouths, and them looping them to make songs. We quickly found that this wasn't
going to work out, so we started writing songs with a crappy keyboard and
drum machine in my basement. When we started getting some shows, we asked
our friends David and Claire to join to help pull if off live, and eventually
we added our live drummer Liam, whom we met on myspace through his old band.
The name originated when we were in class together one day playing a game
where we needed team names. It was around the time that the entertainment
news shows were all abuzz with talk of Natalie shaving her head for a movie
role. We thought it would be funny to call our team Natalie Portman's Shaved
Head. Our classmates seemed to like it, and we won the game, so we took it
as a good sign. Around that time it was just Shaun and me in the band, and
when it came time to put up our myspace page, we just slapped the moniker
on there and the rest is history.
4.
What was your worst on stage experience? What was your
best?
-- Aside from the occasional bad monitor mix or
cable coming unplugged, fortunately, we've had pretty good luck on stage
so far. One time at a recent show Shaun got a little crowd surf-happy
and jumped into the audience for the second time and the kids nearly
dropped him on his head. From the stage it looked like he plummeted down
to the watery depths, but Shaun says it didn't hurt a bit.
The best experience is pretty much every time we step on stage. No matter
what the stage or venue is like, if there are awesome people out there
screaming at you, you can't go wrong. We love the communal feeding frenzy--us
feeding off them, them feeding off us--when you're in sync like that
there is nothing better.
5. Do you think that the Internet (whether it be Internet
radio, legal downloading, MySpace, streaming audio, etc.) is a good tool
for musicians or is it a bad thing because it hinders profits?
-- I'm pretty sure we wouldn't be half as far along
as we are now without all that Internet stuff. It's absolutely a good, and
I would say vital tool for musicians today. I'm not so sure it hinders profits
at all; in fact, it might do just the opposite. It's great because we can
interact with fans all over the world that never would have heard of us otherwise.
Just a few days ago I understand that we got t-shirt orders from Norway,
Japan, Australia, Finland, UK, and other countries. It's amazing to be so
connected with people on a global level. It opens the door for us to connect
with them face to face in a rock show when we come to their town to connect
hearts and explode minds!
