Meet Pop. 1280

Pop goes the 1280 in this very special TFR interview. Pop. 1280 is NYC’s premier post-punk synth jugglers. With drum machines that smack and vocals that tear through waves of electronic whirls Pop. 1280 injects new life into a genre of music that they clearly hold dear. Pop. 1280 has spared some time to have a little chat with us, and I urge you to read on.

MASTERPIECE THEATER A MAD-Lib BY Pop. 1280

No story ever told seems to SMOOTHLY capture the hearts and HAIRS of ELECTRIC readers as does the legend of King Arthur and the DENTISTS of the STALE table. If we choose to believe the Arthur legend and go along with the story that this OPAQUE king removed from a RANK stone the CREATIVE sword called Excalibur, then we are giving ourselves permission to enjoy this evening's performance. So without further ado let us visit the kingdom of Camelot, where UNIQUE knights perform heroic BEANS, rescue a POLITICIANS in a CHAPS of armor, and ride off on majestic CALAMARI in search of adventure.

Would You Rather

all the glass in the world be made of stained glass, or every light in the world is replaced with a disco ball? Why?

Ivan Drip: All the glass of the world being stained glass would be my preference.  I love the stained glass in old houses and churches. It would mean most buildings would have a darker, softer, colored light.  Also, I think that cars might not be useable. We’d have to rethink a lot of things!

Chris Bug: I would also go with stained glass. I can’t name one thing I like about disco balls.

Some questions with Pop. 1280

How the heck do you translate your sound to a live performance?

Ivan Drip: Hmmm, our live set-up is the basic sound of most of the songs on the new record I think.  On-stage we have four synths, two samplers, a drum machine, guitar, and vocals. That makes up a big chunk of what is on the LP.

Chris Bug: Believe it or not, our albums are mostly tracked live, so it’s not that hard to translate to a live performance. On certain songs, we will record them with lots of overdubs and then have to reimagine how to perform them live by adding additional samples or synths or guitar. Other times we simplify songs for the live set.

Your album “Way Station” Came out pretty recently (Dec 6). How does it feel looking back on the work you put out?

Chris Bug: I feel proud looking back on our catalog. I don’t think we have put out any record that I don’t believe is great. They are important documents of our modern world, and I stand by them. 

If you had to record the theme song for one television show currently on the air which one would you pick? Why?

Ivan Drip: I don’t really watch any contemporary tv shows, but my pick would be Mindhunter.  I don’t have any clue what it is about, but the name reminds me of the Michael Mann movie Manhunter and I could see it having an eerie synth theme.  

If money was no object could you list for us a list of things that would go into the perfect music video for Pop. 1280

Chris Bug: If money were no object, I would buy YouTube and shut it down. I believe the contemporary obsession with music videos is a distraction and a waste of time. It diminishes the value of music and its only true purpose is to generate ad revenue for websites. Even if one in every thousand music videos is true art, it’s still not worth the effort. 

Who is the best cook out of all of you? What is their signature dish?

Ivan Drip: I’d give the nomination to Matthew on this one as he just cooked a lot at a holiday party and it was great.  He makes smashed potatoes that are really good.

Chris Bug: What about my ravioli?

Have you or would you ever break up with someone over text message?

Chris Bug: Ugh.

What is your dream bank robbery scenario? (location, methods, is it a success/mess,)?

Ivan Drip: I think about this sometimes.  I think I would go for an armored truck. I’d spend a lot of time watching the routes of the trucks that pick up money throughout the city and then wait for them at a certain location.  Probably box it in with cars in front and back and also use cars to block routes for support from the police. Small explosive to blow the doors off. Then we hightail it to a speedboat to get out of the city. 

Chris Bug: I’m pretty sure you lifted that plan from Heat. 

How do you approach the use of distortion?

Chris Bug: Jesus Christ.

Ivan Drip: I don’t really think about it any differently from other effects you can control.  Some sounds are better with gain, others with reverb, delay, etc. I find that a lot of the writing about us talks about how much noise there is and I wonder sometimes what these writers listen to--especially this new LP has a lot of songs with very little distortion or noise.  

Over the 7+ years your band has been making music have you noticed any dramatic shifts in the creative process?

Chris Bug: I don’t know that there have been any dramatic shifts in the overall process. Ivan and I have always been religious about songwriting, and I think that consistency has made our creative process endure throughout a decade of Pop. 1280. 

Any final comments? (This is your electronic soapbox for one last answer.)

Ivan Drip: If you live in NYC come see us 1/25 with Public Practice and Weeping Icon at Trans Pecos.  If not, come to Europe in February!