DRAGONETTE: Hard Candy Interview and Fixin To Thrill (Video Premiere)

A few days ago we got the chance to speak with Dan and Martina from one of our favorite bands DRAGONETTE we are super excited to share with you the interview!

Martina answered these questions for us!

We love the name Dragonette... where did that originate?
Well that was basically us trying to be cool, maybe? Well I came from a solo project where I was just Martina Sorbara, but I always thought that when I had a band it would be so cool to come up with a name, but when Dan and I got together and it was time we were so stuffed! It was so hard to think of a name! I had originally called my ipod 'Dragonette' and it just stuck for a band name, we had some pretty bad ones.

Ahh I see, well we like it! Can you remember any of the names that didn't make the cut?
Hmm yeah the first one was Hawk Hawk, then I realized it was kinda like Talk Talk. Yeah that was kinda a joke band. Everything else we came up with was too pretentious.

Tell us more about the sound of the new album? Is it a similar sound to Galore?
Well its really hard to get a perspective on it, we stay in the same vein as Galore, its fun but a more masculine energy than Galore. I would say this album is less dark, but I'm sure there would be people with the exact opposite opinion! With Galore, we were really not used to working with synthesized sounds and drum beats and that was really exciting for me, so I think we were really going to town on that and really having fun with it. Now I think I have taken the stuff I learned before (as a solo artist) and used that with the synth sounds and now we have a bit more of a combination of acoustic and electronic. I think that I've really been inspired by people that do that so well like Beck and Gorillaz, every time I hear those records, the combination is so satisfying.

What was the experience of working with Cyndi Lauper on 'Grab a Hold' for her album 'Bring Ya To The Brink' like?
The project came about because she was interested in making a record that was full of different influences and people working together, like a jukebox which was originally the name of the album. The morning that we were supposed to meet her I was so nervous because she was like my first idol. I was so nervous that I almost made Dan call and cancel, I was convinced that was the right decision. Anyway, the experience of working with her was so crazy, I think I was nervous about being disappointed or let down, but she was exactly like you think she is, as kooky as ever in a really good way. She sings like a mother fucker! It was such a crazy trip standing beside Cyndi Lauper and giving her some kind of lyric or melody, it was one of the craziest experiences of my life!

So how do you guys make music together, I read that you really like to finish everything that you work on?
If we aren't so in to a song it just doesn't get finished, so the amount of song carcasses we have lying around a pretty few, well i mean we have little snippets but they are literally a few seconds, we don't really have any nearly complete songs lying around that we could say "oh we should release this sometime."
Mostly the way we write is that Dan plays around with some kind of beats and then if I'm excited about it then I'll kick him out of the studio and work on something, and hopefully after a few hours or day in the studio I've made him excited. Then it gets sent to Joel who works with the drums and we get a demo.

What bands are you listening to at the moment? Do you have a favorite record right now?
It's so funny cause I'm more likely to go through my vinyl collection and find something that came out like thirty years ago and then I hear new music and I think "Wow, I should really check it out." I think its the same as everything for me, and actually for a lot of people, I need to feel like I'm finding a treasure. I was just telling someone, I don't buy any clothing unless its from charity shop and that's almost how it is with music. I wanna go to a store and find an old record and put it on and miraculously its my favorite thing ever.
In terms of current artists - well actually it's a good example of the acoustic sounds mixed with electro - the Santigold album, I love it!

Are you gonna be touring in support of 'Fixin To Thrill'?
Yeah we are in the beginning stages of planning that, come the end of the summer to early fall we'll have some dates posted but I have no idea were they will take us!

Thanks Dragonette!