Interview with Pine + Palm

November 26th, 2015 | If you're German, you didn't even have to get up early to listen to Pine + Palm play live at the radio some time ago – the morning show of Capitel Public Radio, that is. The siblings, based in Stockton, California, answered our questions we asked eagerly, because uptempo "Little Love" and the first taste of their coming EP, "Rough Trade" (a fan said: "It's really great for anyone who has any cause to need a semi-bitter love song, which we all do."), certainly won't be the last thing we'll hear from them.


Note: © myFanbase 2015 - The interview is exclusive to myFanbase and may not be published on other websites or the like. You may share the first 2 questions or up to 160 characters if you link back to this site. Translations other than English and German may be posted with full credit including the writer's name and link to this site.

Foto: Pine + Palm - Copyright: Pine + Palm
Pine + Palm
© Pine + Palm

1. How would you describe your music in one sentence?
Tanner Heard: Fresh and versatile pop-punk for depressed individuals.
Cheyenne Heard: Music you can cry and eat a sandwich on the beach to.

2. Was there something like a light bulb moment when you were young, maybe a concert, a certain song or a record that made you dream about a career as a musician?
TH: Probably the first time I listened to records like Piece of Mind by Iron Maiden, Paranoid by Black Sabbath and Kill Em All by Metallica. I just remember thinking that if someone could write these fucking awesome songs, I could certainly give it a try.
CH: I was in choir, theater, and dance all growing up, so performing was sort of just expected of me, hah. Not that I didn't love it, but yeah, it was just always what I was gonna do. I remember telling my first grade teacher I wanted to go to Juilliard. I was that kid.

3. Are there any artists that might have influenced you or inspired you some time?
TH: Mostly rock and metal artists early on, then kind of gradually transitioned to punk and grunge, that sort of thing. I like a lot of styles of music really.
CH: Lots of artists inspire me differently every day. I think a big moment for me was when my best friend gave me a copy of "10 Things I Hate About You" on DVD and for a month I watched it every morning getting ready for school. The soundtrack had all these great female led bands like Save Ferris and Letters to Cleo that made me want to be a front woman for a riot grrl band. But I only have a brother so …

4. How do you come up with your songs? What part comes first, music or lyrics?
TH: I have never once written a song where the lyrics came first.
CH: I have a little notepad where I write little lines occasionally that come to my head. Ideas for songs, single words, phrases, chord progressions. A lot of the time, I don't use them. It's honestly kind of a garbage can for all my bad ideas. Then my head is clear when I sit down with my guitar, and the lyrics and the music sort of comes together at once.

5. What song is most important to you? Why and how did it develop?
TH: "Wandering" (bandcamp), definitely. It was written by Cheyenne a long time ago and I sort of latched onto the style and mood of it pretty quickly. She hates the fuck out of it but I'll always be attached to that song.
CH: I don't hate "Wandering"!!! I swear! It's just cheesy. It's just true. I feel like all my songs are just my kids and I'm some jaded smoker mom just sitting at my computer mad at all of them, but I still love them, because I made them.

6. In what aspects did your music change compared to when you started to make music?
TH: My first couple of bands in middle school were strange, bordering on experimental noise rock shit so it's definitely changed a lot.
CH: I've always sort of been on my acoustic and writing pop melodies. Tanner makes me feel a little more punk rock but I think it's mostly an illusion.

Foto: Pine + Palm - Copyright: Pine + Palm
Pine + Palm
© Pine + Palm

7. What has been the best experience so far, together as a band?
TH: Playing our friend James's 21st birthday was pretty sweet; I don't think anyone was listening to us but the mood was right and I had a ton of fun. We got wasted afterwards so that's always a good sign.
CH: This morning, when I woke Tanner up because he was sleeping on the futon in my band room, and all my cats tackled him.

8. What can you tell us about your current projects?
TH: We just finished up doing two songs for Pac Ave Records's latest compilation release Soul Finesse and are in the process of recording our debut EP. It's gonna kick your balls off.
CH: You can get Soul Finesse on Spotify and iTunes! Part of the proceeds goes to a local charity in our hometown that funds music education for children.

9. And what are you aspiring to in the future, what do you want to achieve?
TH: I suppose make enough money off of music to quit my day job? That'd be cool.
CH: To write a song that impresses Tanner.

10. With whom would you like to go on tour?
TH: Cannibal Corpse.
CH: Tom Petty. Or STRFKR, their live shows are amazing.

11. What record would we find playing on your iPod right now?
TH: Joyce Manor's self-titled album. Do people still have iPods?
CH: I've been listening to Lady Lamb's After.

12. What do you think, as artists, about platforms like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube?
TH: I try to refrain from using YouTube as much as I can. Google is a fucking monopoly menace.
CH: We use Facebook a lot, mostly out of necessity. I think the music world is desperate for a new platform that is tailored for them. Soundcloud and Bandcamp just aren't appealing enough to the casual listener. We need some sort of weird hybrid between Tumblr, Twitter and Spotify. I think MySpace actually really had something going for music way back then, and something like that is bound to get popularized again.

13. myFanbase is a website that is devoted to American television shows. Do you have a favorite show?
TH: I actually just got done watching "The Sopranos". It changed me.
CH: Currently I'm obsessed with It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

Simone Bauer - myFanbase

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