Cherub sat down with Music Connection at South by Southwest 2014 to discuss how the festival has been treating them, how the band have accepted the "donation method" and what to expect from them in the coming year.
Music Connection: How is SXSW treating you?
Cherub: Really good. South By has been awesome for us so far. We’ve been super busy. [We have had] a really awesome opportunity. It has been a really [tiring] South By for us because we rolled in from a week of touring and then we’re heading out for another six weeks of touring. It has been a really good one for us this year. Everything has been put together really well.
Music Connection: What do you think is the best way to harness SXSW’s opportunities?
Cherub: I think you really have to take SXSW seriously. Don’t go down there and just goof off and get drunk, but at the same time it is fun. It’s not going to make or break you. If you break a string during the middle of a show, it’s not like you’re never going to get signed. Say “Yes” to everything. Be a “Yes” man.
Music Connection: Your music has been described as tongue-n-cheek and it’s sometimes hard to distinguish when you’re being serious.
Cherub: That’s the catch 22 with our music. There is a lot of stuff that I write about that is not taken seriously because it is mostly just me talking sh*t. At the end of the day I’m being sincere about it. However people take it [all that matters] is that they are listening to it. Hopefully they understand it’s not going to be the exact same vibe every single song. It’s impossible for me as a writer [to do that].
Music Connection: You used to ask for donations if the audience that your music was worth getting for free.
Cherub: It is just a great way to share to music. It was really nice to see people actually do that because we never expected anyone to [donate]. We just wanted to give it to them. Some people would buy our album that we’re selling for six bucks and buy it for seventeen. It was really nice to get that kind of love. Especially nowadays with everyone downloading and sharing music. Trying to fight against that is a real uphill battle. Instead, we always said embrace it and use it as the best promotional tool ever. It is the reason we’ve been able to tour and make friends everywhere. We use bandcamp and it has been a really good way to collect people’s emails and stay in contact with them.
Cherub is releasing their new record on May 27th
For more information, check out http://cherublamusica.com
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