According to The Floozies, summer isn’t over yet. With their current tour, Summer Fling, But Like, In The Fall Tour, The Floozies hope to keep those summer vibes going well into the couple of months. Ahead of their stop in Athens, GA, at the Georgia Theatre, we sat down with Mark Hill (drummer) to get the inside scoop on this brother duo.
Vinyl Mag: Just to get into it, you guys are currently on tour, the Summer Fling, But Like In The Fall Tour. We are loving the name of the tour, how did you guys come up with it?
Mark Hill: My brother thought of it because he thinks of a lot of brilliant things. And I think because we had just released “Summer Fling” and we were really proud of it and we just wanted to keep the summer vibes going because summer is the shit.
VM: We’ll agree with you on that. Now, you have a couple more cities you’ll be stopping at on this tour including Athens, GA, this Friday. Have you been to Athens before?
MH: Yeah, we’ve actually played the Georgia Theatre twice before and I loved it and I like Athens a lot.
VM: It’s going to be really good having you guys back in Athens. Will you guys have any downtime and be able to do anything around town before the show?
MH: Last time I was in Athens, I went to a record shop and bought like 15 CDs that were really cheap, so I’ll probably do that again. Then I’ll probably eat some good food, take a shower, and play a show.
VM: Speaking of your show, you guys put on quite the live performance. I know you work with Hunter (LaserWolf FX) with all the lasers and visuals. How do you guys approach the design and feel of your live show?
MH: The ideas kind of come randomly. We do a lot of drawing when we’re on the road and we just think about what we would want to see that fits our music. And then we see who has the lights or who can get them and run them. And BOOM! Then we just blast everybody with lasers, because everybody loves lasers.
VM: Everybody does love lasers, I will agree with you on that!
MH: We don’t do video. We have a very live show and if you do video you have to pretty much have everything planned out. With the lights that we use, we try to leave us room and that’s how we provide unique shows.
VM: Do you guys have any pre-show rituals?
MH: We always tell each other that we love each other.
VM: That’s incredibly sweet…I’ve noticed on socials that you have a lot of videos that give your fans a more intimate look into your lives on tour. How did you guys come up with wanting to shoot these videos and what do you hope fans get out of watching them?
MH: We’ve always made videos. Our good friend Daniel Opperman is really good with video and we brought him out on the road. This is probably the first tour he has been able to work video for us so it’s just really fun. We wake up and we go get coffee and we start thinking about fun things to do. We’re always trying to have fun and then he’s always there with the camera and he captures it. I think it’s cool for people to see what we do outside of playing shows. I know I would watch it if it was of my favorite band.
VM: I think it’s a great personal look into your world and you seem like really fun guys. The videos just make us want to hang out with you!
MH: We get really excited about things and we want to show them. Like one of the videos we made was really exciting because we previewed a new song that we’re going to release soon. The song is called “Butt Rock,” so all day I was just going around throwing up the rock hand sign. It’s just fun to go out and do stuff and not just sit around on bus.
Thrashed pretty hard with SunSquabi last night in Knoxville! Chattanooga tonight!
Song: Butt Rock (unreleased)… (it’s siiiiick)
Posted by The Floozies on Saturday, September 17, 2016
VM: Well, keep them coming because we love to watch them.
MH: Yeah, most people like them. We do it just to make sure people keep enjoying themselves. We know that not everyone can come to all the shows. And our mom likes to watch them.
VM: That is so awesome….Being that you guys are brothers, have you guys learned anything about each other that you didn’t know or realize prior to creating music and touring together?
MH: Not really, we have always been extraordinarily honest with each other. I think more so than anyone else in the world these days. We also always got a long so it’s not that hard.
VM: That’s really great to hear because sometimes it doesn’t work out that way and you figure out weird things you never knew about each other even if you’re siblings.
MH: Yeah, well I kind of learned that Matt was a little bit of a diva. He really likes his sleep…
VM: Just wanted to touch upon your most recent EP, Granola Jones…what is the creative process behind your recorded material?
MH: We’re just constantly making music. Matt always likes to tell people that we don’t consider putting out a song unless it is going to make people dance. It’s just kind of constant, writing music while on tour, well most days, some days we sleep. It’s just kind of constant and inspiration can come from anywhere. It can come from Chet Porter, our opener, tossing a bottle and it landing really sweetly over and over again.
VM: And how was it to work with Karl Denson?
MH: It was great. Karl is a beast. He’s really talented, and he can shred for days, and he’s really buff. He’s really great and really nice. We sent him our music and he started cranking out the music right away. We didn’t have to wait a month for him to get back to us, which is always appreciated. And that’s how we are, we get really excited about a song and then we just really want to get it out.
Catch The Floozies on tour now!
It all started when a much younger Jackie dove into her parents’ record collection, grabbed that trippy Magical Mystery Tour album, and played “Strawberry Fields” over and over again until it was engrained into her soul. She grew up on the dreams and stories of Simon and Garfunkel, “Bleeker Street” being one of her favorites, the seduction of The Doors, Van Morrison, because “Brown Eyed Girl” is definitely her song, and the likes of Jefferson Airplane, The Who, Jimi Hendrix…you get the picture. It may not show on the outside, but Jackie has a hippie heart, and that reflects in her musical tastes today. While some of her favorites may or may not be jam bands, her taste in music feeds into many genres. From alternative, Brit, and indie rock - OK, maybe all rock - to pop, to rap, to electronic, she loves it all. As a northerner, she thought she would never understand country until she found herself on a Georgia farm in cowboy boots watching Luke Bryan shake it for her- yeah, she got that. She is a chronic wanderluster, she doesn't believe in guilty pleasures, enjoys a great Moscow Mule, and is an absolute music festival fanatic- you’ll find her wherever the music takes her.