Jeffrey Paradise of Poolside on inspiration for first album, “Pacific Standard Time”
Courtesy of Chris Juarez
By Manjot Singh
Sept. 4, 2012 12:34 a.m.
You don’t have to be at the poolside to enjoy this up and coming band’s music, but it doesn’t hurt. The L.A.-based duo Poolside, which is comprised of Jeffrey Paradise and Filip Nikolic, have made their presence known through what they describe as “daytime disco.”
It’s a style of music intended for a typical summer day, infused with sounds from the congas and old analog keyboards. Paradise spoke with Daily Bruin’s Manjot Singh about the band’s first self-released album “Pacific Standard Time” and the influence that location has had in forging their style. They are set to perform on Sept. 15 at the Getty Museum.
Daily Bruin: How did you come up with the name Poolside?
Jeffrey Paradise: The studio that we work in is a converted pool house, so it’s literally like feet away from a pool. We’ll be in there working on a song and we’ll go out to the pool, put it on the boombox and be like, “Yeah, this is good.” … We just kind of finished some songs and we were like, “Yeah man, this is perfect for listening to in the pool.”
DB: What are you most excited about for your first album “Pacific Standard Time?”
JP: We’re excited that it’s out. We worked a long time on it, and we were really happy with it … We were debating on who was going to release it. We weren’t really sure, but we decided we really wanted it out this summer. And that was our main priority, so we were just like “Let’s do it. Let’s make it happen.”
DB: How has being in Los Angeles influenced your music? What do you like the most about the West coast?
JP: Los Angeles inspires our music a lot, and that’s where we made all our music. That’s where the studio is. We were always going to our friends’ houses and (one day we) noticed that all the music was pretty much the exact same thing you hear when you go out to a party at night. We were kind of like, “This is not what we want to be hearing.” We want to hear something way more soft, and everyone is still playing dubstep or electro and bangers, and there’s nothing wrong with that music. It just wasn’t cool for every setting. We set out to create a soundtrack for those kinds of experiences. L.A. influenced our sound a lot. It’s just really laid-back and just really supportive for musicians.
DB: Which artists are on your recently played list on your iPod?
JP: I’ve been listening to a lot of Tony Allen, he’s an African drummer. We’ve been listening to Jimi Hendrix a lot. Also we’ve been listening to Jesus and Maryjane, an ’80s group, early shoegazy pop. We’ve been listening to those three the most in the last two days so that’s about as up to the minute as you get. We love all kinds of music and we listen to all kinds of music. We’ve been listening to some cumbia as well. We have a friend over who’s been introducing us to cumbia and explaining the difference between the Colombian cumbia and the Mexican cumbia.
DB: What do you want people to do while bumping your music?
JP: Pretty much just enjoy themselves. That’s kind of the idea. I think when we first made it, we imagined people playing it at BBQ or a pool party, or on a Sunday drive. And then we got a lot of feedback from people saying, “I’m on like a snowy mountain right now, and your music is transporting me to feeling good,” and stuff like that … We’re making people happy who are in a more sad place. We imagine people enjoying themselves and having pool parties, but it’s actually even cooler when people are kind of in a place where they’re maybe not happy and it helps them be in a more peaceful, chilled out mood.
Email Singh at [email protected].
