Hello Sourpatch, discovering your band helped make 2009 a great year for me, and your wonderful hit single 'I Want You Either Way' made my Top 20 Songs list. What were your favourite songs, LPs, new bands, popshows of 2009?
Rich: My favourites of 2009 were Leaving Mornington Crescent, new Magrudergrind LP, Roskopp, Superbad (R.I.P), Fleabag, new Pants Yell LP, Grass Widow records.
Nicole: New Julie Doiron, the new Rose Melberg.
Christine: Raincoats reissue, Mirah, Brilliant Colors, Screaming Females, Songs for Moms.
Mander: Pains of Being Pure at Heart LPs.
And what does 2010 hold for the band? Any new records? World tour? We'd love to see you come to the UK and there's a Baby Honey gig waiting for you if you want it!
Mander: Robo tripping.
Nicole: More videos, new recordings, and spring tour with Fleabag!
Rich: We have enough to make another LP so hopefully something/anything new on vinyl and we'd love to go to England, but probably not till next year, can anyone help?
Your sound reminds me of some of my favourite bands ever; Velocity Girl, Spinanes, Tiger Trap and Go Sailor! particularly. Were these important groups for you? Any more influences we should know about?
Rich: Wow! Ummmm...yea, they are important, we have so many influences it would take a whole storybook to name 'em all, but here are some more...
Nicole: Mazzy Star, The Cranberries, Gayle Garnett, Victory at Sea, Pam Berry.
Mander: Billie Holiday, Henry's Dress, Crass, Cub.
Christine: Kate Bush, Boyracer, The Raincoats, Aisler Set, Odetta, Bessie Smith, Patti Smith, Chrissy Hynde, Amelia Fletcher, Janet Weiss.
Rich: Superchunk, Undertones, anything Tracy Thorn, Allison Statton, The Wipers, The Lemonheads, Mary Lou Lord, That Dog, KIT, Dear Nora, this list could go on a lot longer!
Crushin' is a nigh-on perfect debut LP, any plans to release it in the UK? The shipping costs are crazy!
Mander: That would be awesome!!
Rich: If anyone offered we'd probably do that..hint hint!
The video for 'IWYEW' is ace and makes me want to pack a bag and head for California every time I watch it. What's the 'scene' like in San Jose? Is it a big Indiepop town? Any other local bands you'd like to recommend?
Rich: I honestly think we don't know or fit in to a lot of the local indiepop scene. I would like to play with a lot more pop bands but we tend to stick to a more punk/d.i.y side of the bay area. No dis, it's just that we aren't very clean cut in looks or sound.
Christine: The indie pop scene as it's defined here is more radio friendly. and when I say that I mean that the sound is more like the newest Built to Spill or Modest Mouse or new Stereolab; bands that are well known but still have roots and connections in the indie scene. The sound that we like to play is more punk than it is pop, or at least we'd like to think so.
Rich: The bay area scene is very hit or miss, we usually have more fun at small house shows than at legitimate venues so we try to play those more. Some great bands to check out; Opt Out, Fischer, Trouble, Trainwreck Riders, Ovens, Young Offenders.
Mander: Fleabag, Godstomper, Songs for Moms.
Nicole: Ugly Winner.
Christine: Grass Widow, Brilliant Colors, Albert Square, Forever ( who live in Portland now), Younger Lovers.
Not many people actually read our blog at the moment, so we're trying to bribe people to come visit by giving them free stuff. Do you have anything knocking around on mp3 we could shove in their direction if we make them promise to buy the LP?
Rich: Umm, well the only thing we have is this acoustic version of a song that nicole had recorded to show us all.
Your Myspace status reads: "Fuckin' Pan! Fuckin' Cakes!" and, as it's recently been Pancake Day in the UK, this would seem like the ideal time to share Sourpatch's perfect pancake recipe with our readers.
Rich: You have a pancake day? Do your pancakes mean the same as ours?
Mandi: Go bananas for pancakes!
Christine: It's actually national pancake day here in the US on Feb 23rd, but I'm a waffle person myself.
Tell us a secret.
Rich: If Nicole drinks and smokes weed at the same time she freezes up like a vegetable and is scared of everything! It's pretty ridiculous.
Mandi: Plus she has four nipples. No joke.
Do you have any tattoos?
Rich: Yea, that's a weird one; I have two roses, two x's, a wooly mammoth/reaper sleeve on my left arm, a noise symbol on the other arm (I also play in a grind band - like Napalm Death), the words "empty head" above both of my wrists and a local vegetarian restaurant's logo on my other wrist (I got it on a tour as a joke - the joke is on me.)
Nicole: Red wagon, ice cream cone, k records logo, Rose Melberg tour poster logo (the one with the jumping boy.)
Christine: A replica of a tattoo my dad gave himself when he was 12, it's a rising sun but people think its a taco, a tarot card image meaning strength, the same Rose Melberg tatoo as Nicole (it was meant to be a friendship tattoo but she got hers 6 months later), and the words "though the return be never" on my forearm. It's from the Langston Hughes poem "No Regrets."
Mandi: A king on a bike on my thigh, I have 2 "W"'s tattooed on each butt cheek so when I do cartwheels it says "WOW MOM!" Hahaha!
Rich: Hahaha!
Christine: Hahaha!
Nicole: DUMB!
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