The Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt! are a colorful, enigmatic batch bunch who, by the time you read this, have already toured around the world bringing life, love, and laughter wherever they go.
Before their show at Crowbar in Tampa, Skope got the wonderful opportunity to talk to the Pigeons(Dan, Neil, and Jesse) However, not before going through at least three different locations that included a sofa, the stage, and a tiny area next to the bathrooms. Eventually, we decided that it’d be better outside for all the odd and snooty Tampa nightlife to see.
From there on, we talked about the beginnings of Terror Pigeon, skin rolls, and Anal Cunt… the band. There are few parts of the interview that will be presented in audio-form, that wouldn’t have done justice in text-form.
“Introductions”
[audio:http://skopemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Introductions.mp3]
How did Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt! come to be?
Jesse: Basically, Neil had been writing music called The Terror Pigeon, which was all this crazy dance music about girls he fell in love with in high school, and he had all this other music which was all about Jesus. He was like “Wait, these are two different projects! I don’t know what to do!” and he had moral dilemmas.
Then one day he turned to me and was like “Nope, it’s all The Terror Pigeon!” and now he writes songs that are about God, and girls.
Neil: That is what is sometimes considered to be the first Terror Pigeon show; a sculpture assignment that we did in my apartment which is us throwing bowls of cereal at each other.
With such a really crazy, awesome band name, what are some other band names out there that you really like?
Jesse: Why Are We Building Such A Great Ship, from New Orleans.
Neil: We actually were on a list of weird band names that The Onion put out, and one of the band names on there that I liked was Fuckface Overdrive.
Jesse: I also like The Plot To Blow Up The Eiffel Tower.
How about Anal Cunt?
Neil: I’ve heard a lot about Anal Cunt, they played our school before we were there. I know nothing about Anal Cunt, like their music or anything, but I do know an old wives’ tale about when they played our college six or seven years ago, SUNY Purchase.
They played there and were drunk and high, and were on the run by the cops. The cops were chasing them, but they crashed the car on one of the roads leaving campus, because they were so drunk. When the cops caught up with them, they convinced the cops that they were just a bunch of dudes who got run off the road by Anal Cunt. After the cops helped them out, they kept chasing this band that was actually them.
(Towards Dan) Are there any band names you like?
Neil: Dan doesn’t like any band names. Dan actually hates music! He just paints during our set.
You put out a demo before getting signed that included a few instructions on how to get it about two years ago. Did nobody really buy it?
Neil: That was our first real demo-y demo and we gave it to a bunch of people. I used to do shows at my school, so Jamie Stewart from Xiu Xiu has a copy, and Matt & Kim has a copy. I just gave it to all these bands I set up shows with.
In the Spring of 2008 we did our third show that kind of looks like the shows we play now. At that show, there was this weird dude with a funny shaped head and asked me if he could get a demo and I was like “Sure old-guy-who-I-don’t-know-why-you’re-at-my-college!”, and then it turned out that old guy ran a pretty ballin’ record label called Luaka Bop. Three days later he e-mailed me asking me “Do you wanna’ be on this record label?” and that was the story of how we became rich and famous.
How did the Diesel:U:Music Tour help?
Neil: Mostly we got to see a bunch of cool stuff and make a bunch of sweet friends. I would say it probably helped us career-wise, but whenever I think about it… I got to kiss Dana on top of the Eiffel Tower.
“Eiffel Girlfriend”
[audio:http://skopemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Eiffel-Girlfriend.mp3]
Neil: Dana is another band member whose not being interviewed right now, but she’s awesome… and we all wanna’ kiss her.
How many of you are there now?
Neil: Right now we’re five, but that’s because four of us are in a car that broke down in North Carolina. We are constantly expanding and despanding, and this tour was supposed to be nine. For the past two shows or so, its been five, but hopefully it’ll be nine again when we meet back up with them.
Are there any bands right now who you think are putting on really cool shows?
Neil: Final Fantasy puts on a f***ing ballin’ show. I’ve seen him by himself, and I’ve seen him with the Brooklyn Phil Harmonic and both of those were totally great.
There’s also a really cool band called Math the Band who I think puts on really diablocal shows. The funniest thing I can think about, is when he knocked his microphone on the floor in the middle of the audience, and a guy tried to put it back up for the next song, and he’s like “No dude, I’ll play where it lies”, and so he lied on the floor and sang the whole song.
He also has some adrenaline disorder where he throws up all the time, so he throws up and smashes his head on the ceilings and stuff. They’re awesome.
Have your shows always been this way, or have they progessively been getting more and more insane?
Neil: It depends on the room we get in the car, and the more money we get the more insane they become, but I think we’ve always shot for a really high standard.
Dan: Space in the venue matters, and the amount of time we have to bake things like cakes.
Neil: Temperature too. We played a show in the summer with a big cake, and the cake was melting. We also wanted to have live ice sculpture carving, but two days before New Years it went to 40 degrees so our big block of ice melted.
Where do most of the props and costumes come from?
Jesse: China.
Neil: We get it all from thrift stores, tag sales, garbage, but it all comes from China probably.
“Terror Pigeon Ignorance”(regarding fair trade)
[audio:http://skopemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Terror-Pigeon-Ignorance.mp3]
Are you still adding to the stuffed animal outfit?
Neil: The stuffed animal thing takes up half the car, and I pass out when I wear it, so we can’t really bring it on tour. When we have a bus, that shit is coming out of my mom’s attic.
What’s the most awesome thing thats happened at one of your shows?
Neil: Dan got a “beej” in the middle of one of our sets, and that was pretty cool.
Dan: That’s not true.
Neil: Caitlyn don’t worry, it did happen. I know you have your Google Alerts set to Dan getting a blow job.
Dan: I don’t know about getting a blow job, but my other lower hanging extremities have been fondled…
Neil: Dan might as well just wear a shirt that says “Please touch my d**k!”
Dan: This is just popping up, but in a giant warehouse in Spain of maybe close to 1,100 people we presented our friend Sydney with a really tiny birthday cake, and 1,100 Spaniards sang her the Happy Birthday song in Spanish. At that moment, I was just like “Yeah, this is beyond what I thought Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt! would be around to see”
Neil: At a show in Japan we couldn’t be in the audience, so Dan choreographed a dance and we were like a boy band on-stage in Japan with 600 people 100 ft. away from us at 5 A.M. Japan time. There was just a whole bunch of really cool girls that were totally cute stereotypical Japanese girls; basically like every girl that kills themselves in Suicide Club. All those girls that showed up at the concert were super amped on us. Jesse yelled Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt! a lot in Japanese. It was cool.
“Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt!(in Japanese)”
[audio:http://skopemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Terror-Pigeon-Dance-Revolt-in-Japanese.mp3]
Jesse: Next year, when we have the budget, we’re bringing skin rolls!
If you could play a show anywhere, at all, where?
Jesse: Japan again!
Neil: Atlantis.
Jesse: We wanna be the first band in Space!
Neil: An active volcano! I told Diesel we wanted to play on an active volcano, and they said “No”
Dan: It probably would be bad for jeans.
