Annuals Interview Part 2 of 2

The second half of BBBD's interview with Annuals (MySPace) is below. Remember, there's more after the jump!
Q: In terms of your music, I was really impressed by the energy and verbosity with which you played. No one stayed on any instrument too long, extra drums lined the stage for sporadic banging sessions, you actually had two drummers on kits for some songs, and in general, I was blasted with this dazzling wall of sound. Any particular reason for this approach to the live sound?

Mike: We started doing the 2 drum-set thing a few years back and it's really started to catch on again. It's not a new trick (obviously) -- going as far back as Allman Brothers and as recently as Andrew WK -- but we have noticed a few contemporary indie-type bands we've crossed paths with starting to do it as well. We like to think we do it better than most because we have four fluent drummers in our band and as you mentioned -- we like to get them all fired up at once here and there. But we also know it's time to step our game up a bit and think of some new approaches. But from an audience standpoint, there's nothing like feeling a bass drum in your chest- and 2 at once gets the job done.

Q: And in terms of production, writing, and all that ... what's your development process like? Do you all sit down and hammer out lyrics and arrangements, or do you work separately?

Mike: Adam steers the ship for Annuals. He's the judge and the jury for it all but with that said, it's a fairly long process with a lot of different ideas being tossed into the blender along the way. We're all able musicians and writers and we have a great working-chemistry with each other, but we also all understand that Annuals is under Adam's direction.

Q: On a related note, what kind of music did you grow up listening to and what do you listen to now? Raleigh and Chapel Hill are pretty big musical cities, too ... any comments on growing up there and embracing that scene?

Mike: For myself, Adam, and Kenny we started out playing punk music. Something like 8-going-on-9 years ago. We listened to a lot of old top 40 like all kids did but our playing careers sprouted out of upbeat Fat-Wreck Chords/NOFX fast kind of stuff. Which lead us through the whole late 90s/early 2000s emo/indie/hardcore scene. There has always been a scene in the Triangle (Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill) so we were able to manipulate that and get ourselves out and playing shows from a very early stage. We started being weekend-warrior musicians from the ages of like 13 and 14. Which helped us have a little head start on performing. NC has a wonderful music scene and it really did a lot to help us grow.

Annuals - Complete or Completing

Q: I get the impression that everyone in the group is a weathered musician. You all sing with great skill, never miss a note on your guitars, keyboards, or basses, and have an uncanny and unusual sense of rhythm that most bands are not graced with! Where did you pick it all up!?

Mike: Just playing for a long time, and playing with each other for a long time. We all work really well together, understand each others capabilities, as well as each others playing backgrounds. There aren't a lot of things that compare to the feeling you get playing with people who know how to play with you.

Q: Lastly, do you have any plans for the future, any upcoming releases or projects ... anything like that?

Mike: First and foremost we're going to be coming out with an Annuals & Sedona split EP this spring. It'll have new stuff from both bands -- and by both bands I 'spose I really just mean our band. Following that we'll be releasing the first Sedona full length this Summer on Terpsikhore, and right after that we ought to have the 2nd Annuals record the following fall. So we're looking at a solid block of productivity. We're really very excited about it all. There will probably be a little bit of touring in the spring -- possibly playing a mixed set of Annuals and Sedona material -- then we'll be back on the horse in the summer and touring for Annuals LP2.

Q: It's been a pleasure. Come back to Los Angeles soon!

We love L.A.