Interview: I Love You

Last month a radio promoter sent me Bell Ord Forrest, the new album by Kansas City band I Love You. It said "RIYL These Are Powers, Abe Vigoda" and those bands are both pretty cool. On their MySpace, I saw they'd be playing in December at Whitehaus, who I also like. Then I actually listened to their album, and it was really fun. I unfortunately had something else going on when they played Boston but was intrigued enough to interview the band about their music, Kansas City, and their Boston show. I totally recommend reading their responses and downloading that free mp3 down there!

How would you explain I Love You to someone who has never heard your music?
Art punk African house, or art punk African kraut rock dub punk. Loud obnoxious and weird.

What is I Love You's mission?
Be Your Own Boss

What is it like to live and play music in Kansas City?
Living here can be great. It's extremely inexpensive and there's a huge/supportive art scene. Lots of great things are happening here now because of bad things that happened earlier. Land here has always been cheap and at one point the cheapest in the nation; therefore, white flight hit us hard and now Kansas City is one of the most vacant cities in the nation. But that also means that half of the people I know bought a house or warehouse space for about $1000-$3000 at the land auction or through land trust. Urban farming is huge. Really though, the greatest thing about this city is that if you want to do something and need help there is always someone willing to help you out and that's how most of KC's finer points survive, like the bike collective or co-op housing.

If you had to make a 5-song mixtape of essential bands from Kansas City, what 5 bands would be on there?
Abbe Findley, Expo 70, New American Trance, Ad Astra Akrestra, Gross Plank

How was your recent Boston show?
It was a lot of fun! We were able to play with our friends in the band CAVE and the Whitehaus people are super nice. I've (Justin) have played with I Love You in Boston once before Charlie had joined the band. We played at P.A.'s Lounge. It was a nice place, but the show was not too awesome. Are you aware that the 'P.A.' stands for Portuguese American?

What were some high and low points of your recent tour?
Low: Having a cup of tequila go into a laptop and being told it would cost $1255 to fix it. High: Fixing the computer with a $5 can of electronic connection cleaner.

Free mp3: "The Colloquialism is simply Gas" - I Love You