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A couple of weeks ago, I’ve been given a chance to interview this awesome group of music geniuses and art aficionados. Pop Noir, a duo made of Joe and Luke McGarry, is in the center of TRB’s latest exclusive interview and they sat with me to talk about their music, art, growing up surrounded by legends, and yea, a hilarious story of mistaken identity.
Read on…
THE RECORD BLOG: First of all, can you tell me a bit about you guys?
JOE MCGARRY: Well, starting with the obvious, we're twin brothers. We're originally from Manchester, England, but we've been based in Southern California for a few years now!
TRB: How did Pop Noir started?
LUKE MCGARRY: We've been playing music together forever. Growing up, there were always instruments lying around the house… acoustic guitars, an old Casio keyboard with Rick Astley as the demo song… we just sort of gravitated towards music naturally. We realized in high school that it's what we really wanted to do, so we saved up to buy a drum machine and a loop pedal and started a band – or a duo, technically!
TRB: How would you describe the Pop Noir sound to our readers?
JOE: We've always been really into electronic music, but with that human element behind it... less Kraftwerk and more New Order! We like the idea that the rhythm section would be computer-generated and metronomic, and everything else on top of that is organic with a bit of life and soul.
LUKE: One journalist described our sound as "New Order meets the young Rolling Stones" and another said "Oasis meets LCD Soundsystem", so that's how we'd describe it, somewhere between those two comparisons.
TRB: I bet you guys got loads of new projects going on right now. Care to tell us a bit about ‘em?
JOE: Right now, we're in our little studio working on the follow-up to ‘Don't Fool Yourself’. We've not decided whether it's going to be another single or an EP yet, but we've got a load of tracks we're really excited about. When we need a break from that, we've been playing around with some mashups and remixes, and doing a bit of production for friends' musical projects.
LUKE: Weirdly, we're also recording some original Christmas songs. It feels really strange to be in that mindset in July, but it's a fun diversion.
TRB: Is there anything we should anticipate soon?
LUKE: There's actually an animated music video in the works at the moment. We can't say too much about it, as we don't want to spoil the surprise, but we're putting a ton of work into it and it should be really cool. We're collaborating with some musicians and visual artists we love and admire on that project, which we're hoping will be ready to go later this year!
TRB: OK, moving on to a much lighter territory: being twins, how can fans differentiate you two?
JOE: One of us is handsome and the other – haha! If you get to know us, we actually look pretty different!
LUKE: Typically, I'm singing and Joe's playing guitar. But if you're trying to tell us apart offstage, I'm sorry, I can't help you.
TRB: Any case of mistaken identity?
LUKE: It happens all the time, but only in a minor way, like someone will call me Joe and him Luke. We're both too polite to correct people, though, so we now just answer to whatever name we're being called. The other week, Joe awkwardly sat through the same conversation twice with a guy who thought he'd just met us both separately!
JOE: By the time I realized what was happening, he was too deep into it! I had to let him finish.
TRB: What do you love and hate about each other?
JOE: We actually get along really well. Obviously if you spend enough time with someone or work with them long enough, you have little arguments, but we're not the Gallagher brothers or anything… yet.
TRB: I recently found out your old pop (Steve McGarry) is an award-winning album illustrator, which is really cool. And I know you guys are also in the art world as well. Can you tell me about it?
JOE: Yeah, our dad did a few great sleeves back in the day, most famously Joy Division's first EP, An Ideal for Living. That one's actually on display right now at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, which is absolutely brilliant.
LUKE: Aside from growing up playing music, we've been drawing and painting since we were old enough to hold a pencil! I guess it's genetic? But I do all the poster artwork for FYF Fest here in Los Angeles, as well as the illustration for Jack Black, Tenacious D's Festival Supreme. It's a ton of fun and we've met a load of really cool people that we may not have met if we were strictly rooted in the music world.
TRB: Since you guys are highly involved in arts and music, and pretty successful at ‘em, what would you say to those who are scared to join this highly niched industry?
JOE: Just go for it! It can be a little daunting at first, but if you like what you're doing, there's bound to be other people out there who like it as well. Get out of your garage or your bedroom and find them!
LUKE: Create something you're really proud of, then make sure people hear it or see it!
Pop Noir is pretty active in their social media sites, so yea, go and send ‘em a “hey!” (give us a shout out as well, people!). Their music can be heard in Spotify, SoundCloud and YouTube, and available for purchase at iTunes. In the meantime, you can listen to my fav mashup produced by these talented fellas...
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