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Home > Austin Music Source > Archives > 2008 > December > 08 > Entry
For Uglysuit, a pretty good indie life
Three years after four of the six childhood friends in the Uglysuit dropped their experimental hardcore outfit to pursue sweeping, hook-laden pop, the band is beginning to live what pianist Jonathan Martin aptly describes as “an indie dream come true.” In August, the early twentysomething Oklahoma City natives released their expertly crafted self-titled debut on Touch and Go, and have since toured internationally with some of their favorite bands, including the Sea and Cake. Martin took a few minutes to talk by phone about the band’s progression and what concert-goers can expect from Tuesday night’s gig at the Mohawk.
American-Statesman: What’s the response been like to your album?
Jonathan Martin: It’s been amazing. We just got back from Europe and we weren’t sure what the response would be over there. We played a couple of shows in really nice, sit-down theaters. It’s really more mature audiences going to sit down with their kids to watch. We were a little nervous because we’re a pretty noisy band, but the response was really good. We sold a bunch of albums and people seemed to enjoy it. It’s been better than we really could have hoped for.
How did you get connected with Touch and Go? We recorded an EP about three years ago in our lead singer’s bedroom. A friend of a friend from Chicago knew a guy who worked for Touch and Go, and we gave him our album and he really liked it. He had his own record label that he was putting bands out on, and he asked us to come up and record a full-length in a studio, which is the album we have now. It took us about a year to record it, because we had to make a bunch of trips up there. But after it was done, he started passing it out up at Touch and Go, and the two main guys at Touch and Go offices in Chicago picked it up and really liked it.
How have things changed since? The biggest thing that I think has changed is that we’re touring a lot more, which is good to be out doing what we love to do and making a little bit of money. Other than actually being out touring and trying to build a name for ourselves, things haven’t changed that much. We still work when we come back to Oklahoma City, we just get to make music a little more now. We get to tour with bands that we really like, which is a lot of fun.
What can people expect from your live show? Anybody that’s going to come watch us should expect a very energetic, completely different from the album spectacle. We like to jam, and we make sure everybody who watches us knows that we like to jam and that we love what we’re doing.
The Uglysuit plays at 10 Tuesday night at Mohawk with Til We’re Blue or Destroy. 912 Red River St. 482-8404, www.mohawkaustin.com.
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