Poolside – Life is Beautiful Interview

Las Vegas – As the late afternoon sun begins to fade the members of Poolside congregate around a picnic table to recuperate. Their live duties are done for the day. A slick ride though the band’s daytime disco chill brought out sweaty renditions of “Do You Believe,” “Next to You,” and the maxed and relaxed cover of Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon.” A strong set despite the sweltering conditions.

The brainchildren of the operation, Filip Nikolic and Jeff Fare, have a couple of DJ sets to tend to a bit later on in the night. Poolside has been busy lately. European tour dates, festival stops, DJ gigs – it’s a blur. When asked if the road is a place to get ideas going for new material it’s met with a story. Nikolic, bass and vocals, recalls recording a track on a drunken evening in the back of the tour van amidst some girlfriend drama. The song turned out “pretty cool,” but that’s about it for writing on the road. “I don’t’ want to force myself into bad situations just to write better songs.” He says. “I’d rather write shitty ones and not have drama.”

The creative process for Poolside is unique in that there isn’t one. Fare, guitarist and mescal enthusiast, puts it simply: “We just get drunk in the studio and see what comes out.” With the release of the group’s debut album, Pacific Standard Time, coming out July of 2012 the band is aware people are still discovering it. This past April, Poolside posted a Facebook photo of ideas for the upcoming record. The urgency to complete the follow up though has since cooled. They say early next year at the earliest, but who knows.

It’s like when they aren’t trying is when things seem to work out best. In early June upon return from their Euro dates the duo went into the studio to do some work, but couldn’t. The problem: sobriety. Not that they need to hit the bottle to get any tracks laid down, but the seriousness to which they were approaching the new material stalled their progress. “We have never been really serious in the process in how we make the songs.” Nikolic says. “Next time we go to the studio we’re gonna need some…” Fare, cutting off Nikolic’s thought, interjects, “Mescal?”

When on tour Poolside enlists Michael Gold, keys, and Jason Pipkin, drums, into the fold. Today’s jaunt out to Vegas came on the wings of a Cessna flown by the group’s newly minted commercial pilot, Gold. They flew out of Burbank and return promptly at 7:15 A.M. the following day. They think it’s hilarious. The duo’s last set begins six hours and 45 minutes before takeoff. While there are invitations to party from friends who are in town the guys are thinking some down time might be what the doctor ordered.

Poolside are refreshing in that they don’t take themselves too seriously. Between Nikolic and Fare’s shared love for “super fatty foods” and “challenging earthy wines” everything comes off a bit tongue-in-cheek. So, what would be the ideal setting for a Poolside gig? “I think the best place to see us live would be about sunset in a really nature oriented setting.” Fare says. “But, festivals are cool too.” Lucky for us.

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Ian Joulain

Somewhere between Sublime’s 40oz. to Freedom and Dr. Dre’s The Chronic something clicked inside a young Ian Joulain’s mind. His love for music had taken root and the only way to satiate this newfound passion was mass consumption of any and all genres. While gravitating toward punk rock, hip-hop, and jazz he discovered his distaste for pop-country, but blames that mostly on the excess of tractor and NASCAR mentions in the genre’s lyrics. That said, Joulain has never met a drink that was too stiff or a beach that he didn't like. He hopes to one day hug a koala and would love to ask Greg Ginn why he’s such a dick.