Doris

Doris, playing in a band with your husband is the insurance that a lot of people will listen to your music. Do you feel any pressure because of that?

Doris: If anything it relieves pressure because I'm playing music with my other half, which is bound to come naturally! But I see what you mean, I'm sure people have expectations and it would be nice to meet those but that's not the reason why we started a band. It's about what we want to share with people and weave our message in between the lines.

Did you play in bands before, if so, can you tell us the names and the kind of music involved?

Doris: No, this is my first band. Before that I have only done piano concertos and classical music.

Was power pop/glam rock a music that you listened to a lot?

Doris: Yes, I enjoy that kind of music too!

For how long did you know Warm Soda/Bare Wires music?

Doris: My first introduction with Warm Soda was on the night we met. From there on I found out about all of Matthew's incredible music!

You are credited on Symbolic Dream. Can you tell us more on that?

Doris: Matt was recording this band who had a Fender Rhodes over at the house so I played it on a couple of tracks as well as some backup vocals.

Lastly, ain’t you afraid some people will be angry because Matthew has decided to end Warm Soda for Dream Machine?

Doris: No, I don't really care. You have to realize this is 2017 where people obsessively stalk and judge one another on their stupid smart phones, and people will get upset about literally anything. It seems like we live in a world with smart phones and dumb people. Their phones have become an addiction, and it's making them weak because they're focusing on judging everything - not on self growth and strength. When we go out in public people stare at us because they can't distinguish reality from fantasy - they think everything around them is virtual. They don't realize simple things like staring is rude, instead they just treat people the same like they would on their phones: stare at you, click like or dislike with their eyes, and move on to the next victim. Also the genre shift from Warm Soda to Dream Machine is pretty different so I'm sure Warm Soda fans will be sad about it ending. I don't blame them because Warm Soda is great!

The Illusion





You are releasing this LP on Castle Face Records, and not on your own label, Fuzz City. Why that? Why not co-releasing it?





Matthew: I've released stuff on other labels, but Castle Face are my homies and they've been good to me so I gotta stay with the winning team. They keep my records in print and Matt, John, and Brian are all good people and have always treated me well. I haven't released anything on Fuzz City in years! I just can't find the time to deal with all the orders and computer stuff. Would much rather be working on anything not on a computer.





Was Salem and witches an inspiration for The Illusion? What did you intend to create in terms of atmosphere with this album?





Doris: The inspiration for the Illusion is all about the behavior of people we have been observing recently. It's kind of like the old Hieronymus Bosch paintings where everyone is suffering, there's a grand illusionist deceiving everybody into thinking a sinful life is a happy life - The seven deadly sins. We see people getting drunk, poisoning themselves, sleeping around with people they don't care about, and believing in everything their little illusion inducing smart phone is telling them. That's what the illusion is about, nothing to do with witches, but the illusion of a life created by artificial means. That's why we are against social media and don't use it including Facebook, Instagram, smart phones, it's all taking away from people's lives while pacifying them with an illusion of an imagined life they project for themselves.





Warm Soda music was very bright, it showed the light side of life. Dream Machine manages to do the same, even though a lot of song deal with death + have stoner influences. Was it on purpose? Did you work on that, staying positive besides the theme?





Matthew: The songs don't deal with death specifically, but look at the lives many people today are leading. We clearly see a fate worse that death, a living hell. It's like everyone is living a warped smart phone addicted version of Faust. And we fully oppose that lifestyle. It's so easy to exist in the simulated echo-chamber inside the internet world they hold in their hand. It's easy and safe and meanwhile their souls become hollowed out, empty. In The United States I think this is the worse problem. Safe spaces make people weak, and today people should be demanding Liberty not safety and comfort. That's the Illusion in a nutshell. They opt-out of reality and into this alternate 1985 timeline, it's pretty dark stuff and if you don't notice it now -just give it a couple years. I've even recently overheard a married couple arguing over another couple's Facebook profile. The wife was holding up an IPad and saying "Why aren't we happy like they are!" Not realizing that the photos she's comparing her life to are taken out of context and for all she knows couple be staged, posed, airbrushed, etc. So if you participate in that [social media] world, its not actually real, but it's everyone's enhanced version of whom they long to be, so just like Faust you sign your soul away to the devil in exchange for the illusion of connectivity and far reaching knowledge.











Some songs remind me of Vanilla Fudge, and it’s a compliment, even though saying that you love that band isn’t very hype/trendy. Are you claiming any link with dad rock from the 70s?





Doris: I wish we lived in those times when people were a little more down to earth. It seems like most everything in 2017 has to be at least part seizure-inducing computerized robot music, or lazy attempts at garage rock. It means a lot to be compared to Vanilla Fudge because their music actually meant something. Now, when you turn on the TV, it's someone shaking their ass and singing about having meaningless encounters with people. It seems like the romance has been sucked out of people, romance is almost extinct. It's sad because a big part of being in love is romance, without it you're just left with meaningless physical gestures. Bands back in the day like Vanilla Fudge actually sang about getting their heart broken because they truly cared about somebody.





The people I see here in Austin sleep with a different person every week. It just doesn't make sense to me. When you sleep with that many people it can't mean anything, it has to be meaningless. Everything is meaningless nowadays. And when you do put effort and care in what you do in life, you're a ''weirdo'' or a ''nerd''. I've had so many people here tell me that we're a really weird couple. We're just a husband and wife that enjoy making music, nothing weird about that! But I guess in modern times it truly is unusual to care about others or to aim for your goals, it makes people uncomfortable because you're a human being expressing emotions. It seems like people are more comfortable ''interacting'' with a metal box than with a real human.





It’s very common for first LP to be "too much", because bands try to show ALL they can do. The Illusion does not suffer from this weakness, the LP is constant and has a real coherence. How long did it take you to compose it? Also, how long did you have to wait before recording it? I imagine that owning your own studio was a big help…





Doris: Often times when we think about the first album we don't remember ever even recording it. It went really fast. Doing it at our home is definitely nice, that way you can just record when you have a wave of inspiration. We're half way done with our second album too and just like the first one we couldn't really remember starting the process, perhaps because it's so easy to record at home, you can do it at your own pace, and I like making snacks for him when he's mixing!





The organ is very present. Will it be Dream Machine distinctive mark or is it just for this particular LP?





Doris: Working on that one as we speak. There will be organ but the 2nd album is almost entirely getting composed on the piano.





"Back To You" is an amazing song! I feel like The Illusion is more instrumental (in %) than most LP I listened these past few months. Could it be true? If so, could it be because you wrote the music first and then the lyrics, at two different times?





Doris: We usually record all the instruments first and then write lyrics while listening to just the instrumental version, for some reason the words just flow in easier when you can listen to the instrumental version. Matthew is really good at writing lyrics. For me it's a bit harder because English isn't my first language, but when I do write lyrics he gets to be my translator.





Do you have plans for a new LP already? Maybe some EPs before…?





Doris: Dream Machine #2 will be done soon! It sounds different from the first one but it's still very early on to tell. We're just letting it fall into place.







