All you 9-to-5ers out there who loathe working, Aim Low Kid's got your number. Their debut album, aptly titled, Soundtrack for the New Depression, is a handbook for the thinking working folk. Listen to their track Couple Dozen People and imagine any given day in the Financial District.
Since we happen to be engaged to lead singer Daniel Phifer, we get asked what Aim Low Kid sounds like quite a lot. We usually get frustrated because their sound is pretty hard to categorize (and we're not the best with musical genres to begin with). We say, "Rock with a punk/folk/pop edge, and there's an electric violin that's sometimes switched up with a mandolin and even a musical saw!" Better yet, here's a great excerpt from SF Weekly's Hiya Swanhuyser's recent description of Aim Low Kid's sound (the blurb is no longer online): "A ringing but slightly fuzzed-out lead guitar, a solid but never perky backbeat, and an overall unwillingness to let go of the best parts of emo... The songs are elegiac and sound as if pulled from a deep well..." Right on, Hiya.
Aim Low Kid are playing their album release party tomorrow night at Hotel Utah, so go check them out!
Aim Low Kid Album Release Party
Saturday, February 10 at 9pm
w/The White Thighs and The 3
at Hotel Utah
500 4th St @ Bryant
We're also doing a giveaway! Enter to win Aim Low Kid's Soundtrack for the New Depression and a T-shirt, both featuring artwork by fabulous Oakland artist Teppei Ando. Be sure to tell us your American Apparel T-shirt size!
By SFist Leanne
How long have you been playing music and what are some other bands you've been in?
Daniel Phifer (lead singer/rhythm guitar): I've been playing music since I was a teenager. However, I've only made a serious go of it for the past two or three years.
Quinn Miller (bass/vocals): I've been playing music for twenty plus years. Other bands I've been in include Big Loco, Giving Tree, House Of Grady, and the Howard Community College Jazz Ensemble.
Name your biggest musical influences.
Daniel: The Sex Pistols. The Smiths. Pavement.
Quinn: J.S. Bach, James Brown, The Stones, Big Star, and my step-dad Howie.
What's the best live show you've ever attended and where?
Daniel: Maybe my first real punk show in LA at The Country Club. I don't remember who was playing, I just remember the energy and excitement of being in that world for the first time.
Quinn: Another tough question! I'm going with the Grateful Dead at RFK Stadium, Washington, D.C. (07-12-90) closely followed by Camper Van Beethoven/Cracker at The Warfield (05-15-04).
First album?
Daniel: Joan Jett I Love Rock 'n' Roll and Buckner and Garcia Pacman Fever
Quinn: The Knack Get The Knack
How do you describe Aim Low Kid's music to people?
Daniel: Rooted in Americana, but not bound by it. Harmony and noise and all the things I love about every band I've ever heard.
Quinn: Post-post indie that ranges dynamically from "super chill" to head-bangingly rockin'.
What other bands/musicians has Aim Low Kid been compared to?
Daniel: REM, Nick Drake, Robyn Hitchcock. Those are the ones I remember.
Quinn: Radiohead, Wilco, Velvet Underground, Weezer, Elvis Costello and the Attractions, and Steely Dan(?!)
Daniel Phifer answers the Standards
Name
Daniel from aim low kid
Introduce yourself in one sentence
Quiet, this will be much less painful if you stay still.
Age and Occupation
Over thirty. Musician and merch jockey.
Home Town
Can't quite pin that one down.
How long have you lived in the Bay Area and Where (city, neighborhood etc.) and WHY?
Seven years. All over SF. Why? I like spending obscene amounts of money.
Favorite place to spend time online (website/blog/RSS feeds)
Porn. Lots and lots of porn.
Favorite local business
Cala on California.
What I'm currently Reading
Lincoln by Gore Vidal
Best Deal in San Francisco
Street cart corn in the Mission.
Favorite mode of transportation
Feet.
Best Band or Musician to come out of the Bay Area
Probably The Dead Kennedys.
Favorite Bay Area Stereotype, and whether or not you buy into it
The dirty homeless Haight Street hippie. I buy into it, but I won't give them a penny to complete their peace sign made of change.
Favorite local hangout
I don't "hang out".
SF has the BEST
Sense of self satisfaction.
You've never lived in SF until
You no longer hear the cries of the homeless and drug addled.
Favorite Bay area politician of past or present
Willie Brown. He had the best hats since Harry Truman.
Now that Mayor Gavin is single, who are you going to set him up with?
Jim Beam.
You can tell someone is a local here IF
They ask for change.
SF would be soooo much better if only
I had a trust fund.
Best Burrito
First Place - Papa Lote. Second - El Faralito
Best Restaurant
Kitaro
Best movie scene filmed in or about SF
Did they ever do a Full House movie?
Favorite artist to come out of the bay area
Was Wavy Gravy an artist?
Favorite author to come out of the bay area
Was Wavy Gravy an author?
Place you always tell visitors to check out
The Windmills at Ocean Beach...after midnite. You should see the looks on their faces when they return.
Favorite Bridge in the area
Bay Bridge.
You have two hours and $15 bucks to kill in SF, what are you going to do?
How much does crack run nowadays?
I have found/sold/bought the following on craigslist
Hook-ups, band mates, hippie drums, humiliation, fat girls who claim to be skinny.
I want all the SFists out there to know
Frank Chu is right.
Question you'd ask if you were doing this interview
What makes you so fabulous?
Who would you like to see interviewed in the future (+ contact info if you've got it):
The Bush Man. You can find him at the Wharf most days.
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