To celebrate their 7th anniversary, Kids Like You & Me, have put together a show of many talents. Playing this Saturday night at the Lilypad are locals (New England) Patriots and Birthing Hips, former locals IAN SWEET, and touring from all over the country, folky punks Giving Up. Mikie of Giving Up took the time answer some questions on their deep history, freak flags, and their tour playlist.
Keeley: When and where did you guys meet and start playing together?
Giving Up: i met jenny in the first grade. we were reading buddies. we started playing together on the school playground. we would play TMNT. jenny would always play Shredder. she is still baddass to this day. sean is our bassist. he also grew up with us in a tiny town of 3000 people in northern iowa. he was 2 years younger than me and jenny so i didn’t start hanging out with him until i was in 8th grade. sean and i were in our first band together in 8th grade, but after our 3rd practice his mom grounded him from playing music with us. right now we are on tour. dakota loesch from the band ANIMAL CITY is filling in on bass for us. the first tour i ever went on was with dakota in 2007. right around the time that GIVING UP started writing songs. and also on the road is our best friend dusty who’s on drums and his partner toni. i met dusty at the skate park when i was in high school. i want to say that we met because we were both insturmental in building a since-defunct skate-punk scene in northern iowa. and i’d like to say that without sounding like a pretentious dick. we lived in different towns. when our highschool/ middle school bands started playing together and putting shows on, and kids started showing up from places we’d never heard of, it really was a magical thing. being a part of building that community is a big reason i still play music to this day. we all grew up about 15 miles from where buddy holly, ritchie valens, and the big bopper’s plane crashed in 1959.
K: Where are you currently based out of? And could you tell a little about your local music scene?
GU: GIVING UP is actually, strictly a touring band. none of us live in the same place. jenny lives in Louisville. Im in another band, STATE CHAMPION that is based there, but i don’t live in Louisville. there are a ton of incredibly sick bands in louisville right now. TROPICAL TRASH. VERN. CATHERINE IRWIN. CEREAL GLYPHS. INSECT POLICY. ANWAR SADAT. WHITE REAPER. SAPAT. JONATHAN WOOD. DRY SUMMERS. JAYE JAYLE. but you know louisville is kind of a jaded music scene from pumping out just years of incredible hard core bands. so the audience in louisville is usually smoking a cigarette outside the venue. Sean lives in chicago. WISHGIFT is a sick chicago band. so is ANIMAL CITY and LIFE PARTNER.
K: What are some of your biggest influences and inspirations?
GU: secret swim spots. carving your name into stuff. snoop dog and joni mitchell. back yards. richard brautigan. people who grow their own food. dogs.
K: What bands that you are friends with or fans of have a style that you really admire?
GU: well. theres a dillion. but let me just do this instead. jenny’s been spending two days making about the bitchin’est playlist we’ve ever heard, and now that she’s driving us to West Virginia to play at one of our favoritest places, KINSHIP GOODS in Charleston, we are listening to it. some of the tracks getting us most riled up in here are: TLC, FAT HISTORY MONTH, CURSIVE, SPIDERBAGS, TINA, BEAR VS. SHARK, KIMYA DAWSON, EVERCLEAR, CONVERGE, BRYAN CLOPTON, KAL MARKS, GUERILLA TOSS, GEFFIKA, GLOBSTERS, HELLO SHARK, MAGIC MARKERS, LITTLE GOLD, LANTERN, WHITNEY HOUSTON, SILVER JEWS, LIFE PARTNER, SKIMASK
K: How would you describe your sound or feeling you want to convey through your music?
GU: CUTE. GROSS.
K: Are there any artists whose careers you really admire and look at while thinking about your own future as a band?
GU: man. kind of stressing us all out with this question. being in a band is a pretty poor life decision if you are giving strong consideration to your “future.” are there any bands that make regular car payments from playing shows/ selling records? or have payed off their student loans from passing around the donation jar? that would be the dream. i think anyone who just keeps at it and makes it work being in a band is really inspiring. being in a band is the funnest thing in the universe, but it’s definitely not the easiest thing in the universe. darby crash’s career move to kill himself to make THE GERMS a famous band is something i really respect. John Lennon got murdered the same day or the next day??? and no one even payed attention to darby’s death. i think youre a selfish asshole if you commit suicide, but i think that story is incredibly poetic. after Dimebag Darrel was killed, Eddie Van Halen (having never met Dimebag) came to his funeral and put his guitar from the Jump video in his casket. my dream as a musician is to have Eddie Van Halen put a guitar in my casket. but for real though, the reason that i write and perform music is because music touched and changed my life for the better at an early age. and what i hope to do is continue that lineage. pay it forward. my goal is to be an example that you can fly your freak flag. you can live your life the way you want to. as shitty and fun as you want. you can do it yourself. hopefully you can do it yourself with all of your best friends. if you want to be an artist you should. your art can be bad. just make your art. be nice to people and do what you love.
Catch Giving Up Saturday July 23rd at the Lilypad!
10pm/all ages/$7-10/Facebook Event
