Big Guava Music Festival featured some huge names in their headliners this past week. Artists like Outkast, Chance The Rapper, and Foster The People brought in plenty of fans, but didn’t quite outshine some of the smaller tallent. Venice Beach’s Terraplane Sun rocked the Orchard stage on Saturday just before Vampire Weekend. The band has opened up for other big names like Surfer Blood and Imagine Dragons and their sophomore album Generation Blues is set to be released this July. The Minaret had a chance to sit down before the show with Ben Rothbard, the band’s lead vocals, guitar and harmonica player, as well as Johnny Zambetti, who plays lead guitar, mandolin, and vocals.
The Minaret: Who is Terraplane Sun? How would you describe yourselves as a band?
Ben Rothbard: Kind…
Johnny Zambetti: Gangsters…kind gangsters. From Venice Beach. Watch out.
M: How did you guys get started?
BR: We met on a random job and vibed..I thought Johnny had cool hair, so we started jamming.
JZ: We spawned out of a bedroom in Venice Beach.
BR: We spent our first year jamming on beds and stuff. It just happened organically. We just got lucky, you know?
M: How would you guys describe your sound?
BR: We always just like to call it Rock and Roll. Just because everyone likes to try and pigeon-hole everything, you know? We’re just kind of a mesh of a bunch different influences that each of us grew up with and listened to and turned each other on to. At the end of the day, it’s just about that rock and roll foundation.
M:Who would you say are your biggest influences on your sound?
JZ: The Rolling Stones are probably in there somewhere…and Doctor Dre.
BR: If Doctor Dre and the Rolling Stones had a puppy.
JZ: And Pharrell.
M: If you could work with any band, dead or alive, who would it be?
BR: Probably The Beatles. We’ll send a line out to them and see if they get back to us.
M: The music video for your song “Generation Blues” features a lot of different instrumentals. What made you want to use those types of techniques?
BR: It just happens. Gabe had just got that lap steel guitar and he was in rehearsal and we always just kind of jam at the beginning and he came up with this riff and I think he had the mandolin in his hand and came up with that part. It’s not trying to be too clever or anything. It just happened and made sense. Whatever fits with the song.
JZ: We have a lot of different instruments lying around. If it’s a good accompaniment we throw it in there, but it’s not like we’re trying to prove a point and say that we can play all this stuff. It’s just whatever the song calls for.
M: Even though you guys seem to be pretty relaxed do you have any goals for the band? Is there anything that you want to work towards?
BR: Just being able to do this and keep doing what we’re doing and keep making music. As long as we’re making records and people are diggin’ it.
M: How did you guys start learning to play music? Did it come naturally or were you forced to learn?
BR: It was forced on me. I had to play an instrument. I didn’t want to play piano as a kid but I I’m glad that I did and I had to pick an instrument.
JZ: I was the opposite. My parents were musicians so they weren’t trying to get me to do anything. With their shit laying around all the time it’s going to happen regardless. The timing was up to me.
M: Ben, You were forced to play an instrument so you can obviously read music. Right?
BR: No, not really. Maybe very minimally. I kind of stopped doing the piano thing. I was always turned on by these people that were creating and inventing as they went.
M: Is there anything you want college students and future artists to know?
JZ: Bring us to your college! Let’s have a party!
BR: Just support live music. DJ’s are cool, but people that are actually out there, I think that’s such a beautiful thing. Let’s not make it a dying breed.
Selene San Felice can be reached at selenesanfelice@spartans.ut.edu