Q&A: UHH answers your fan questions

1. What bands would ya’ll like to tour with. Any tour dates planned? – Lauren

Cam: We would love to tour with so many bands, but just to give you a few, we would say: Goldfrapp, Ladytron, Blonde Redhead, Massive Attack, Annie Lennox, Arcade Fire, Interpol, the Cure and of course the lovely Bjork (sigh). We do have a west coast tour planned for mid-November and are playing some gigs in the UK in late November/early December.

2. I would like to know, what would you do that you haven’t done yet? – Natalia

Leisha: I’d like to learn to speak Japanese but I’ve never found the time in my life where I could really jump into it and focus. Arigato

3. What happened to Alicia? Don’t give me the PR answer either. What’s the deal? -Mattie B, Astoria NY

Cam: Alicia chose to leave the band to pursue other musical opportunities. We obviously didn’t want her to go, but it was her choice, and we weren’t making any money at the time to keep her as our drummer 24/7, which is what we needed. We still keep up with her and we’re all still friends. Good times.

4. What is the first job you ever had? -Katie, Grand Rapids

Leisha: I worked at the local movie theater in Bellevue. I was behind the concession stand. Twizzlers were a hot seller. We used to bag all the leftover popcorn in trash bags and dump it in each other’s cars at night. Later I upgraded to ticket counter. It was a banner day.

5. When writing songs, do you write only when inspiration hits you, or do you schedule a time to get together and bang out a song or two?

Cam: I’m always writing, but there have been times because of scheduling, that we’ve decided to plan to sit down and write even though inspiration hasn’t been a part of it. Although sometimes, when you don’t plan on being inspired you’ll play a couple of notes on whatever instrument and it will jog something in your brain which creates inspiration, which happens quite often. That’s when the best songs come out I think, when you aren’t planning and you’re just going. Stream of consciousness is lovely because more often than not, we’ll finish a song in one sitting without stopping or thinking too much, and it turns out to better than any of my calculated attempts. We tend to write in a lot of different ways. We’re schizophrenic about it really.

6. Leisha, tell me about the real you. What are you most like? Funny, serious, or both? -Anouk, Netherlands….

Leisha: I guess I have a little of both, but in general I lean to the funny side. It really comes down to my comfort level. My close friends get to see it all whether they like it or not.

7. Where was Cam born? She doesn’t look American. – thx. from Argentina

Cam: I was born in Dallas, Texas, but grew up in Austin, TX mostly. My ethnic background is German, Spanish, Scottish, and Mexican. I’m a mutt basically. Actually I just learned that part of my family comes from a place in France called “Alsace-Moselle”, formerly known as Alsace-Lorraine? Have any of you heard of that? I guess I’m a bit French too. You learn something new every day. It’s true.

8. What kind of guitar do you have ms. Hailey? -Hill from the south….

Leisha: I have a little Fender mustang bass now and I love it. It’s tiny and perfect for my size. Its creamy white and super adorable.

9. Cam still a member of Mellowdrone?

Cam: After being with them for a year and a half, we decided to go our separate ways. Weep. I will always love the drone. Talented lads.

10. Describe each other in 5 words…

Leisha: Cam needs more than 5 words but I’ll try. Like my bass she’s tiny, perfect and super adorable Gifted Intense Goodhearted Peculiar

11. Describe each other in 5 words…

Cam: Hmmm, this is hard #1 is…Soulful, Unique, Luminous, Dark, and Altruistic. Word!

12. I’ve got a quick question, who is responsible for the lyrics, and in particular who wrote lyrics to Explode? -Me, Portugal

Leisha: We write the lyrics together. We can come up with a concept and go from there or someone is doing a scratch vocal and says something random while singing and we use it to spin off of. We both wrote the lyrics to Explode.

13. What is your favorite accent? – Alanna, Glascow Scotland

Cam: British for sure. I always try to do a Scottish accent, but I just can’t and end up getting made fun of for it. My British accent is pretty decent though. Oy!

14. Which is your favorite song on the I see Red EP released on July 24th? – Maria and Clara, Spain

Leisha: I’ve always loved Run. It’s the song that constantly grows on me.

15. When do you think you will be coming to play a show in Austin, Texas? We ARE the live music capital of the world, you know? -Jen Perez, Austin TX

Cam: I want to come home so badly! I love Austin (grew up there) I love playing at Emo’s. It’s my favorite place to play, because on the stage there is this random pole, and I tend to lean on it if I’m tired. Appropriately placed if you ask me. We plan on touring more this spring, and I am lobbying for a stop in Austin. Will you spread the word Jen? Go Westlake.

16. What is the first concert you ever went to? -Tanya S, Indiana

Leisha: When I was too young to know any better, I went with my friend and her father to the State Fair where Amy Grant was playing. I had no idea who she was and I remember it smelled like cattle everywhere. Oh the Midwest. I’m sure Amy had some words with her booking agent.

17. Cam, does it ever get annoying that a huge part of your fan base are L word lovers? – Rikki, Atlanta GA

Cam: Yes and no. I think that we are lucky to have a built in fan-base, thanks to Leisha and “Le word” as I like to call it. It’s tough sometimes though knowing that some people are there just to catch a glimpse of their favorite TV star, know what I’m sayin? I hope that people will eventually move past that and see her as a musician and not just “Alice”. She started out in bands before all this, and she’s a really talented musician. I certainly want people from every walk of life to be able to hear our music, and hopefully be fans as well. I’m hopeful that once more people become familiar with us, we will transcend the L word. That being said, Leish and I are really grateful for the fans we do have thus far. We luf them. They are really great.

18. Were you both in the It’s not easy being green video? What do you guys do for fun except make entertaining indie films all day? -Lindsy, Huntington beach

Leisha: I think Cam played a waitress or something and was left on the cutting room floor. As far as fun goes, it really depends. Someone once said that if you’re bored it’s really just that you’re boring so I try to always entertain myself. My favorite thing in the world is laughing uncontrollably with my friends so whatever makes that happen is fun in my book.

19. Technology is making the world lazy and in some ways cold with stupid inventions (like puppy robots.) How do you think that will change the way to make music in the years to come? – Mabe, Ecuador

Cam: Good question. I think my parents bought me one of those puppy robots for Christmas one year. It broke. HA. To answer your question though, I think that technology has exponentially grown and gotten more complex over the years, and has been able to reach such a vast amount of people because its so much more accessible. With that in mind, people have been able to have musical systems like Pro-tools, Qbase, Garage-band and any other computerized music software at their fingertips to do with what they wish. In some ways, it levels the playing field by giving everyone equal-opportunity to create and produce music, all in their own bedroom without having to pay huge studio fees and hire big producers. We did our EP in my studio at my house with that same concept in mind. DIY (Do It Yourself). In the future I imagine limitless possibilities in the digital realm. Everything is already virtual when speaking about MIDI based software, and I can see perhaps being able to have virtual sessions with musicians across the globe digitally. You could open up a pro-tools session and sync it to someone, say in Italy, and you could both track your parts on the same session simultaneously. Actually I think they’re already doing that. WOW. I SOUND LIKE A NERD. I hope I answered your question. I will end with 2 quotes=)

“The greatest danger in modern technology isn’t that machines will begin to think like people, but that people will begin to think like machines” –unknown

“Ayo, I’m tired of using technology, why don’t you sit down on top of me”? -Curtis Jackson (50 Cent)

20. What’s the one thing you love or hate about touring in a music band? – Irma, Chicago
Leisha: Great things: seeing the world, meeting tons of people, traveling with your friends, doing what you love, playing live, adventure and amazing memories. Not so great things: the hotels can be really gross, you start to feel out of shape from driving long hours and eating nasty road food and you can’t have a private conversation on the phone.

Cam: Whatever you do, fold the sheets over your whole bed at hotels. They never wash the top blankets. Ever. Aye.

(A Q&A that was put on their official website in 2007)