Billy T Phones Pictureplane!

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[UTG] Billy T: How are you?

Travis Egedy of pictureplane: I’m fine – I’m really good actually.

[UTG]: Tell me your name, your band’s name and where you’re from.

pictureplane: I’m Travis Egedy, and my band’s name is pictureplane, and I’m from Denver.

[UTG] You’re on tour with HEALTH, how long is that going on?

pictureplane: The tour is 3 weeks and we’re a week and a half into it. This is my third national tour – make that fourth. There were two that were to the east coast and back, and one was the west coast. Each of those were with Denver bands.

[UTG]: I’ve noticed in videos and pictures of past shows you’ve had performance art with dancers, costumes and your music. Do you have any plans to do that again?

picturplane: You’re refering to some of the stuff on Youtube? My performance art is sort of separate from pictureplane though they are linked together. I started doing performance art after I was doing pictureplane. I like to challenge people [and] performance art is like a fun way to make people question stuff and I’ve done things with blankets and glitter and paint when I’m performing to sort of invite the audience to participate.

[UTG]: What are you inspired by?

pictureplane: Im really inspired by certain London underground dance music, grime, and a lot of forward thinking electronic acts from the area. There’s a lot going on sonically there, the rhythms, and the influence of the drums and the half tempo of the rhythms and combine that with influence on punk ideology and my performance art, and thats kind of where I gather from. A lot of London club music.

[UTG]: What gear do you use?

pictureplane: Real basic stuff. I have a MicroKorg and a SP 303 Doctor Sample, that’s my little baby, and I use an old computer program to build out and add all the flesh to all my songs. Its a sequencer on my computer, I got it when I was like 16 and its really old though I’ve sort of mastered the program. Its called Magix Music Maker 7, and its really old-school.

[UTG]: Where do your lyrics come from, and what are your songs about?

pictureplane: My songs touch on a lot of things and they deal with similar themes that my art work deals with, themes surrounding perception of consciousness, transitions of humanity and human existence and new fate of our evolution, and separate realities, and its very optimistic kinda and tapping into human potential and what we’re actually capable of doing. I sing about girls too, sometimes.

[UTG]: So what would your dream date be like?

pictureplane: I’d say star gazing, and we’re on a bed of moss in the forest with some deer…

[UTG]: Would she be wearing day glow?

pictureplane: Yea, and we could put face paint on each other in the forest.

[UTG]: Thats awesome! So what was your art education like?

pictureplane: I went to a small college in Denver called Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design and I was a painting major there, and a lot people hate on art school but I think its really influential on how I view the world. Learning about art really changed my life and I am fortunate to have that experience. I enjoyed the ruffled feathers of the established collegiate activities at my school, and I had a lot of fun and that’s what art should be, art should be play, art shouldn’t be work, and thats what I did at art school.

[UTG]: If you could collaborate with anyone, who would it be?

pictureplane: Ah man, I really want to get some female vocalists who sing on top of my production. No one really in particular, just talented female vocalists.

[UTG]: What is the song writing process like for you? Does it start with a sound or beat or….?

pictureplane: It starts with a simple rhythm and then riffs on my keyboard, then if I like something I loop it up and add a bass line… and its an organic process and starts to evolve and do whatever. Sometimes I’ll do something in a day or it’ll be months. It’s really weird.

[UTG]: Who do you think likes your music?

pictureplane: I think about this sometimes but I think its like… I’m on tour with HEALTH right now and we’re really different sonically but it somehow works together. Its not like full on club music, but its dance music at the same time. Its really hard because it can cross all boundaries – the punk kids can get into it as much as hipster/club kids who like it. Its really for everyone, I’m not trying to fall into a niche, its just pop music for everyone, anyone who wants to hear it.

[UTG]: How old are you?

pictureplane: I’m 23.

[UTG]: Do you have any tour stories?

pictureplane: I definitely do. I have a lot. A lot of it is getting to see amazing bands and performing with really cool people. Two nights ago I was with Wavves and got to smoke a joint with those dudes and he did a kickflip on a skateboard with no shoes on, and I bet him $3 he couldn’t do it and his foot started bleeding and it was pretty cool. Its just stupid things like that that are really fun on tour. Seeing bands play like I was in Baltimore with Video Hippos and we were all stage diving, and Sewn Leather is just the most fucked up music and people were really into it, and that its really abrasive music and they captivate the whole crowd. Things like that are really special to me and stick out in my mind.

[UTG]: What is next for pictureplane? Is there anything we need to know?

picturplane: What’s next, I need to be working on an album which should be coming out next year. Im going to be working with this small label by this designer in London to put out a 12-inch LP. Hopefully just touring and bringing some attention to the city of Denver. There are amazing bands out there that deserve to be heard, and a lot of my friends are doing really awesome shit and they need to be heard.

*Written By: Billy T*

James Shotwell
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One Response to “Billy T Phones Pictureplane!”

  1. Jinny says:

    Hi,
    Ugh, I liked! So clear and positively.
    Have a nice day
    Jinny