Interview with Kite Flying Society

“Behind his eyes he’s hypnotized by the longitude…” were the words that came ringing from the tinny sound ports of my laptop one evening a few weeks ago. The sound of this particular song, “6000 Shipwrecks,” is captured well in this line, and is reminiscent of the Beach Boys or something you might hear in any of Wes Anderson’s movies. How appropriate then, that the band be called Kite Flying Society, a wink and a nod to the film “Rushmore.” After a moment or two I plugged in the real speakers, a move I save only for only the most exciting of the new. Something about the entire aesthetic of the music from the San Diego band resonates with me. Rarely does something hit me like that, so I decided to dig a little deeper. To my chagrin, there wasn’t a whole lot on the world wide web about my new favorite thing, so I donned my investigative journalist hat, and spoke with Dustin, the vocals/guitar/organ/PR maven of the crew. He was kind enough to give his time for a short interview with the newest member of the Rookie Press (my DIY term for the blogging/information gathering combo). Here’s what he had to say…

Rookie Press: Can you give me a quick rundown on the history of the band?
Dustin: I went to college (UC San Diego, BA English Literature 2005) with Derek (keytar, synths, glockenspiel), and played in Paper Saloon (myspace.com/papersaloonmusic) with Dave (bass). Everyone else came together through craigslist or friends of friends. (Laughs) And our violinist just showed up at one of the shows and said she wanted to play with us. She’s a great player, and the rest is history.

RP: For the gearheads out there, what equipment do you use when you record?
D: We use an mxl990 mic, and Sonar recording software which we record one layer at a time. Derek does all of the recording and plays analog midi keyboard with tons of plugins.

RP: Do you guys tour? If not, do you have any plans to tour in the future? In other words, how can I see you guys live?
D: We just play San Diego right now. We opened for Rogue Wave and Mazarin in Visalia and we want to do a west coast tour after the album’s finished.

RP: Any details on the album?
D: We have a bunch of songs, but it looks like it’s going to be the best 12 of them (four of which you can listen to the demos on the web page). (Note: at the time of the interview, the album didn’t have a title, but it appears that the debut LP is going to be called ‘Where is the Glow?’)

RP: What should music do, what is it’s purpose?
D: Music, much like reading a book, should transport you out of your time and space, and give you a perspective that you didn’t have before.

RP: What are your top 3 books, movies, and albums that come to mind right now?
D: books – “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man” by James Joyce. “Collected Poems” by Rainer Maria Rilke, and Virginia Woolf’s, “Mrs. Dalloway.”
movies – The Royal Tenenbaums, Adaptation, and Magnolia
music – Harry Nillson's "The Point", Magnetic Fields “The Charm Of The Highway Strip” and, despite this answer sounding a little cliche, I'm going to say The Shins' “Oh Inverted World”


The music is full of indiepop sweetness complete with handclaps and soaring backing vocals. Listening to the demos recorded on one mic in the garage, you can’t deny that the Kite Flying Society is definitely a band to watch. Keep them on your radar.

I leave you with the chorus from “6000 shipwrecks.”

And here’s to you the blue wide open/get me off this cursed land/back when my heart remained unbroken/time was a foostep in the sand/good day tempest where were you last Sunday/before this trip began/and we go…shipwrecked again/and we go…shipwrecked again.

You can find more information about KFS including the four aforementioned demos at their myspace page: http://myspace.com/kfsmusic