By Alex Chapman
Passion Pit is not shy about admitting the simplicity of its success. Rather than taking a preaching tone and explaining how hard they worked to come up with such a unique sound, Passion Pit’s drummer Nate simply states that everything came together perfectly without any real type of difficulty or stress. This effortlessness could help make sense of Passion Pit’s multi-layered genius. Still a young band, Passion Pit formed in 2007 when Michael Angelakos became aware that his solo project would be a hell of a lot more interesting with a band. Lucky for Michael, he was able to recruit some brilliant musicians to fill his void, and together the band started gaining buzz from BBC, CMJ, MTV, and many more.
The band still continues to have one of the biggest buzzes of any this year, but as Nate and I sit in the upper level of Michigan Avenue’s Apple Store, he seems more like an antsy teenager than an alternative superstar. Caroline of Chairlift walks past us and Nate compliments her on the shiny, golden pants she is sporting for the band’s perfomance on the Apple Store’s upper level later that night. Nate is a nervous guy, constantly fiddling with his backpack as we start to talk, and dodging long-term eye contact. However, as we begin to talk about Passion Pit’s music, he starts to light up just a little, transforming his voice from a shy mutter to an enthusiastic bounce. Nate will later become one of the more memorable artists I talk to that weekend, as will his organized yet chaotically fun performance with Passion Pit later that night.
URB: You guys have done a few different festivals this year. You guys a performance band, the arrangements are overwhelming and just like really cool, I wanted to know how does your live performance change when you’re doing a festival, is there more on your back because there’s so many people?
DONMOYER: Well this is the first time we’ve ever been playing festivals. First time I ever went to a festival, I didn’t think we knew what to expect. I always had this idea in my head that it’d be all jams bands just like “Just make your songs 20 minutes long and it’ll be perfect.” But really we’ve found that shorter, quicker, fast-paced sets at festivals have been way more successful than trying anything too crazy, because I think it’s a lot of people’s first time hearing us, and we’re trying to get as many punches in as possible as quick as possible. The main difference in a club is that we’ll play some of the slower tracks and longer arrangements of things. But still nothing too hugely different for us yet, but we don’t have that level of production where we have different light shows–we’re not David Bowie. Hopefully we’ll have dancing mascots and choreographed routines soon.
URB: Anyone you’re excited to see this weekend?
DONMOYER: Well, our friends Chairlift, of course. Yeah, it’s cool because the whole festival circuit seems to follow each other–we’ll run into the same people at the catering tent in every spot. I don’t know who’s playing this Lollapalooza, I’m assuming this is the same lineup–St. Vincent, is she playing? Grizzly Bear?
URB: [Laughs] No, you’re missing all the ones you wanted to see!
DONMOYER: No? Well, we’ve seen them. I’m just trying to think of the ones people should check out.
CONTINUES
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