---

BY EMILY CRAWFORD

In print | Published October 23, 2008

Quirky pop band The XYZ Affair has experienced a sudden surge in attention from the press in the last year; the virtually unknown Brooklynites have suddenly become the kinds of buzzworthy stars written about in such auspicious publications as The New York Times and The New Yorker. Somehow, this New York based band has skipped the step of cult-like indie blog acclaim, moving straight to the big leagues of major intellectual media. They themselves seem to be a bit confused as to how this happened, though the jump does seem fitting considering the bands’ academic background (the majority of the four-man pop group attended New York University). Their first and only album, “A Few More Published Studies,” retains its title’s educational theme throughout; their complex and euphoric sound prevents their subject matter from ever seeming boring. The XYZ Affair will be gracing Olde Club this Friday, Oct. 24. I was able to ask their frontman and vocalist Alex Feder a few questions over the phone beforehand.

Emily Crawford: So, I’ve heard that you guys met while going to NYU together. Did the band play together then too?

Alex Feder: Yeah, we started playing quite a while ago and then it wasn’t until after we graduated that we started getting a lot more serious about it.

EC: So what was your college experience like? Were you mostly a college band, playing shows at NYU, or did you also play at places around the city?

AF: Yeah, I mean the thing is because we went to NYU, like, you’re in the middle of it there. The impression we’ve gotten playing at other schools is that there are a couple of big bands that everyone knows about, but because we were playing in a city where not only were there a billion other bands of people our age, but also, like, obviously all huge bands come to New York, so it was hard to get serious in that way. But on the other hand, had we gone to a smaller school, I guess we would have had to start from scratch again as soon as we graduated.

EC: Yeah, that makes sense. So how would you describe what your band sounds like?

AF: I would describe us as pop music. I mean, we have a wide range of influence, but I would say pop.

EC: So do you guys like being called pop, or are the connotations of the term ever frustrating?

AF: Right, I know it has sort of a negative tone, but that’s like half of what I listen to, and we all have a pretty wide variety of stuff that we like. And pop doesn’t necessarily mean, like, you know, the Pussycat Dolls … Yeah no, I definitely don’t mind being called pop.

EC: Right. Ok, so if you say half of what influences you is pop, then what artists have influenced your music?

AF: A lot of the time the things that we are listening to and trying to emulate covers all music genres. Like, right now I’m listening to a ton of Michael Jackson, and lately that style is a lot of what I’ve been listening to, but it really varies a lot. We all like rock in general too, I did more so in high school; Sam grew up playing a lot of jazz. You know, it’s a pretty wide variety.

EC: You were recently written about in The New Yorker, which is awesome. Was that a big moment for you guys?

AF: I mean, it’s pretty funny; we went completely unnoticed for like, the past few years; We worked on a press release, and we went through like, everything we could think of, we had a big show, but got no press for it, and so we sort of gave up on the whole press routine, because it was so much work. So sometime last year we just like, stopped doing it, and all of a sudden people just started writing about us. We got in like what, The New York Times, The New Yorker. Now we have a publicist who sets that stuff up for us, but there was a good period of time where we put in like, no effort at all.

EC: Okay, last question: if you could have lived through any decade, which one would you choose?

AF: I guess the ’60s? That’s what I’m supposed to say, right? I mean I wouldn’t like wanna live during, like, the Civil War … so I guess the ’60s.

---

« RETURN TO LIVING & ARTS

« PREV ARTICLE | NEXT ARTICLE »