I’m Erin Zindle from the Ragbirds!
And not with me, is the rest of the band. My husband, Randle More. My brother is TJ Zindle, our drummer is Lauren Kranz, and our bass player is Max Lockwood.
Almost a family affair?
It is! It is!
So how did you guys start the band? Just an introduction on how you guys met, started.
From left to right: Mike, Ben, Toko, Erik, Dale
How about a general introduction of how you guys started the band?
Erik: I met her (Toko) in Tokyo and then about three years later she moved here, then we started writing stuff, got together a record. Then at the same time we were playing open mic around Ypsi with all these guys. First we play the record, and then we started writing more stuff and the new record came out.
Toko: There is one thing I really want to say, these guys really supported. I just started to sing. I could only sing in Japanese because I couldn’t speak English at all at that time. I couldn’t believe I could sing in Japanese in front of the American audience. I had no confidence. But these people said “No Toko, you gotta do this.” Then this all came together with people’s love and support. And we have been a band now since 2007. (more…)
My Dear Disco - Image from Dancethink.com
This previous Thursday at Sonic Lunch, was the return of our beloved Disco House/Techno band from Ann Arbor – My Dear Disco. Returning to the local venue after Lollapalooza, MDD put on an excellent show in a hot summer afternoon. The crowd went crazy with the band’s great cover/ remix of Lady Gaga’s “Just Dance”, “Poker Face” and Michael Jackson’s “Beat It”, followed by some of their very own dazzling original hits.
After the show, the band agreed to a short interview with FORMzine.
FORMzine: How was Lollapalooza? How was the experience different from other live shows?
MDD: It was amazing.
Michelle: It was the most professional music festival ever I think I’ve ever been to. Everyone was on top of their game. We got an email before we play, that says “Bring your A-game!” I mean why would anybody go to Lollapolooza bringing anything else other than their A-game?
Tyler: Well, at first we were afraid about the reaction that people would have to our A-game. We don’t know what that would bring to some of the crowd so we brought our B-game.
Bob: B-game is a safe game.
Tyler: But B-game is also dangerous in other ways…So we have our C-game.
Michelle: Don’t get us started on our C-game.
FORMzine: So after Lollapalooza, does it feel different now to be performing at a more local venue here in Ann Arbor?
Bob: It (Sonic Lunch) is a hard show because it’s an unusual outdoor noon kind of show on a weekday versus like a typical club thing. And we will be playing in Ann Arbor for a club date at the end of November. So that will be a good opportunity for us to see how Lollapolooza affect other shows that we do in Michigan.
Tyler: It’s actually the first show we did since Lollapalooza and it’s kind of an unusual one. So it’s hard to say what kind of effect does Lollapalooza have on us. People will take us seriously, like, check out who’s playing (at Lollapalooza) even you don’t go, you know.
FORMzine: So do you guys have any upcoming plans?
Michelle: We are about to hit up Utah for a little tour.
Bob: In October, it’s pretty big. And we are still working on new music…
Tyler: And we have a new vehicle.
Michelle: Oh yeah, we’re trying to get it run with vegetable oil. We’re gonna start a Kickstarter campaign to get help because it’s really expensive. Just little help for the environment.
FORMzine: Well, that’s great! Good luck and thank you!
MDD: Thanks!
Check them out if somehow you haven’t!
Also, Sonic Lunch, if you support local musicians/ bands.
My name is Theo Katzman, and I represent Theo Katzman and Love Massive. Also, sometimes Theo Katzman solo, just me. Sorry, I’m a little tired today. I played on the radio this morning at nine. So I was up at six warming up, and then I’m also a music teacher so I did some teaching today.
So tell us a little about the musicians you worked with today.
Today it was a trio, usually I have like four or three people, depending on who’s available. The way it works with a lot of bands that aren’t doing it right now is everybody in a scene will play in a couple of different bands. You can’t tour in more than one band at the same time so sometimes people are on different tours and stuff. So anyway, today I had the trio, which is me, John Cassidy on drums, and Scott Brown on base.
