DIVIDES Interview
Posted: by Sean Gonzalez
DIVIDES is a clashing, genre defying band based out Alaska. They moved to Portland, Oregon to chase their dreams and have now released their debut LP, Brokentooth to the world. The Alternative were able to catch up with guitarist Paul on musical ambitions and general life.
Hello Divides, welcome to The Alternative, how are you today!
I’m doing great, how about yourself?
I just got done driving 12 hours yesterday, so I am recovering from that still.
Arn’t there laws against that?
I mean, I am not sure, i don’t drive for a company, one of my buddies was moving so we just said screw it. First of all, congratulations on the album, how has the response made you feel?
Kind of humbled. I mean, it is always nice to get positive response to your work. We just kind of went into it thinking “we hope people like it” the Positive response has made us feel good and humbled.
How was your day at Warped Tour?
Man, I can’t even remember playing, we were all so hyper buzzed about actually being there. We had a lot of people coming up to the mercy booth and interacting with us. Tons of people stopped to see the set, it kind of raised awareness for us at Warped Tour. it sent us into this sort of ‘Rock The House attitude.’ Let’s not let that be a vacuum, let’s live up to what people are saying.
Your sound is dynamic and comprised of so many different genres, what bands/acts helped make that?
We draw a lot of influences across the board. Brian and I are into indie-rock, like Death Cab For Cutie and The Postal Service. But we also love Deftones, Memphis May Fire and bands that are heavy but air out on the really light bands as well. Our influences are diverse. I don’t know if there is any way to pin it down, but we take everything into our music. C.J. is very across board in terms of her listening habits. It was kind of a round about way to say that and it is hard to make into a palateable taste.
I am from Denver Colorado and was recently told that Portland is actually MORE hipster than Denver, any comments?
Oh God, the hipsterness of Portland? I can’t comment on that man.
How was the overall transition from Alaska to Portland, what were the difficulties in moving to the new city for the band?
I have lived in Portland for about 10 years, I’ll speak for them. It was mainly leaving their friends and families behind. They are a really emotional tight knit group over there. They love each other for death, and for them to split off and move to Portland had a big impact on them. It has pushed what we write, sort of taking that homesickness, that fish out of water mentality and implying it to writing. I moved form the East Coast way back in the day.
Now I will say, Oregon has a a ton of beer, any favorites?
I’ll speak for myself on this one, I am pretty white bred when it comes to what I like. The Ruby is one of my favorite local beers, it is very light and refreshing.
Favorite toppings to put on a pizza?
Oh, sausage and jalapeños.
I am a pizza restaurant manager, so I can say that is a good pizza!
Have you ever done the ranch pizzas? Where there is ranch in lieu of the red sauce?
We have a pizza called the Chicken Bacon Ranch, try it out if you like ranch.
It might actually kill me, but I am willing to die happy.
What is up next for you guys the rest of this year? More touring or anything like that?
We are going to be playing as many shows as we possibly can. We have a show coming up with Slaves on the 21st which is going to be awesome in Portland. We also have a video coming out for ‘Supersymmetry’ coming shortly. We just finished filming it a couple weeks ago.
That’s a great song.
Im kind of partial now, but it’s a really dynamic video but it shows our playful side.
We are always in writing mode, Brian and I are kind of writing for the next album, typical band stuff I guess.
So what is your favorite song off Brokentooth then?
Initially it was Supersymmetry, but the more I listen to the album it is Sails And Anchor. Which is weird because we probably won’t play that song live very much, we may. The last chorus of that song really hits me.
That song is really explosive, it just builds. Any last words?
Thanks everybody for checking out the album. I hope you like it and come see us live when we come near you!
