Papadosio is riding high these days. With a brand new album, Extras In A Movie, available this Friday, and a new tour with 40+ dates billed as “Act One”, including some major fall festival slots at Luna Light (more info here) and Suwannee Hulaween (more info here), the band is ready to bring their music to their fans old and new alike.  Our own Rex Thomson caught up with them for an attempt at interviewing the five person band on a single line conference call… while the answers were spoken by many voices, the words must be credited to the band as a whole.  Not only because of concepts like unity and togetherness on their part, but Rex’s brain melted while attempting to sort out who said what…

Read on to get the latest from Papadosio!

L4LM:  We appreciate you guys taking a few moments out of you busy schedule to chat with us.

Papadosio: Absolutely!

L4LM:  How many nights do you guys have lined up on this tour you’re just starting?

P:  I think right now we have 40 shows on this leg…of ‘Act One’ in the next two months.

L4LM:  So what are you guys travelling in right now?

P:  We’re on a bus with a trailer.

L4LM:  This always interests me…how many of you are cramming in that bus?

P:  (Laughs)  Eleven of us…well plus the driver…so there’s twelve.  Five band, six crew…the driver doesn’t stay on the bus though…so there’s that…

L4LM:  So it’s a bonding experience…that’s probably fairly smelly…

P:  (Laughs)  Yep.  (Different speaker) Absolutely!  (Different Speaker)  Well…it’s not that smelly yet…but it will be!  (Different speaker) We’ve bonded over the smell a million other times too though. 

L4LM:  You said it wasn’t smelly yet…just out of curiosity how long does it usually take to get smelly?

P:  Oh no…it’s not great now!  (Laughs)  (Different speaker)  Definitely.  (Different speaker)  You’ll get back on tonight dude…it’ll smell.  (Different speaker)  You guys are gonna stink it up for me?  (Laughs)  (Different voice)  Oh yeah!  (laughs)  Nice!  (laughs)

L4LM:  Now you guys are self-releasing your new album, Extras In A Movie, directly to the fans.  What made you this route to get your music out?

P:  We’ve always done that.  We’ve been independent since the first day.  One thing we do, we record  at our own home built studio, which has changed every time we’ve recorded.  I think we’ve done that mainly because…at this point…it’s better to have a lot of time, to try a lot of ideas out without being under the gun.  It’s been really nice to have that freedom.   I think we decided to go this route…well…partly based on circumstance but also because we’re a really self made kind of band and we enjoy the freedom that being independent offers.

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L4LM:   I like your spirit.  You said you guys move the recording around.  Do you just move the equipment or have you just ALL built private recording studios?

P:  We all have (Recording) gear to a certain degree, but we’ve got a decent collection of stuff that we’ve picked up over the years.  Telefunken Microphones  was nice enough to let us borrow some pretty high end mics this time so we were able to get the quality of the album up a bit.  For the most part it’s all just stuff we have at the house.  It’s amazing what you can do now that you couldn’t even do five years ago at the house, with just a laptop computer…pretty wild.

L4LM:  I have had the opportunity to watch your crowds grow from the small bars to the clubs to now headlining festivals.  What’s that progression felt like to you guys?

P:  Hmmm.  It’s been crazy…It feels like it was really quick but I know it took a long time really.  Being on tour so long…so many shows…everything starts to blur together.  It’s crazy and gratifying…getting to headline these festivals…people coming out to see us. 

(Different speaker)  We’ve just been going so hard for so long…I don’t know…I guess the past six years really we’ve been doing the “150 shows a year, on the road non-stop” thing with barely any breaks, and then it just got to this point.  Our fan base is just so receptive and amazing…they just keep coming, and following us around throughout our tours and the summer festivals. 

(Different speaker)  We’re so lucky…but it is crazy..it’s like it’s flying by…when we’re so busy time just goes so quick. 

(Different speaker)  This is Sam.  I came along a lot later in the game, from back in the day, like four years into it all.    Since I’ve been in the band it’s been kinda like how if you spend a ton of time with somebody like your brother or your room mate from college,  and you see them all the time.  You don’t really have the time to notice all their changes.  I feel like for me, that’s what it’s been like.   The crowds…in terms of like their size…y’know…it’s kinda just that it never stops.  It’s hard to take a moment to take the time to really understand what has happened.  I mean…it’s still going on.  And there’s no doubt that it’s awesome…for me it’s not like ‘Wow!  Tonight’s crowd was huge!”  It’s not like I am thinking abut how it was, say, four years ago…it’s morphed into this one giant crowd that is awesome! 

L4LM:  Like I said…I’ve watched you guys do it.  Like you said…150 shows a year.  there’s no denying you haven’t earned it.  Seeing you down on the main stage at the Spirit Of Suwannee, seeing you headline the Luna Light Festival this weekend…it’s just really heartening to see hard work and positive music paying off.

P:  It’s different for bands these days.  You know, in the DJ scene a guy can explode overnight, but a band has to sometimes tour for a decade just to get recognition.  And you need fans that stick it out with you.  It’s a slow grow kinda thing and it keeps going… you have to keep playing and it DOES get better. 

L4LM.  You’re headlining the Luna Light Festival this weekend. Got any surprises in store for them…that you wanna ruin by saying them here?  (Chuckles)

P:  (Laughs)  Our album release is this Friday and Saturday at the Boulder Theater in Colorado.  We are super stoked to be able to play all our new material, and Luna Light will definitely be getting some new songs, for sure.

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L4LM:  Did you not play any of this new material until now, or have you been road testing some of it?

P:  We haven’t played a single new song at all, which is very, very different from what we’ve done in the past.  Before “T.E.T.I.O.S.” we played almost all fo it.  People even made compilations of unreleased songs of ours that they would release before we released our versions.  For this record what we decided to do this time was to not play any of it at all.  For me it was the biggest act of restraint that I’ve had to do for a long time. 

P:  Just to have to hold on to that material, and not even play it…but we released a couple of compilations and singles, and at Resonance we started to trickle them in.  That’s gonna be our strategy.  I don’t think we intend to play the entire album at one show specifically. I think people are gonna want variety.  And people can get the album on Friday and at that point..all’s fair game.  I think we’ll probably be debuting something at Luna Light…I mean 16 new songs and we’ve only played four of them thus far, live, so I think we’ve save something really special for that night.

L4LM:  So all 16 of the new songs are in the repertoire completely?

P:  Not yet, but Friday.

L4LM:  That’s what I like to hear.  That’s confidence in the new material right there. 

P: We will have 72 playable songs at that point of our own, original material, which is real exciting, because we were working with 60 before.  I might be off by a couple, but we’re up to 75 or 76…I’d have to look at the thing again but that’s some serious set list freedom right there.  We sometimes let songs fall on the wayside, but we can pull off any of those and it’s pretty exciting to have that diversity.

L4LM:  You guys definitely have a rabid fan base who’s gonna be happy to hear that, I’m sure.  You’re also coming down to the Hulaween Festival down in Florida.  You guys always a big fan of Halloween growing up?

P:  (Laughs) That was definitely my favorite holiday…I guess it’s a holiday… (Chuckles)  We started to play in Athens, Ohio, and Athens has this gigantic, crazy Halloween party, and we used to play that…then I started liking Halloween even more! Now we get to play…pretty much every year, a cool show somewhere.  I always look forward to those. 

L4LM:  You guys got any group costume ideas?

P:  We’re working on it.  It’s tough.  Last year was the first time we really got organized…we’re trying to keep doing that when, everybody’s, y’know…aloof.  (Chuckles)  …we’ll just say.  (Chuckles)

L4LM:  (Laughs)

P:  It’s just hard to get all of us to agree on something, to say yes.  Not because we don’t want to.  They’re all like…”We’ll think about it…”  (Chuckles) (Different speaker) I just wanna have somebody just give me a costume.  (Different speaker)  If somebody wants to make us a costume, and just give it to us we’ll wear it. How about that? 

L4LM:  See!  that’s where an interview like this could help!  If you guys want to just shout out your sizes real quick, I’ll make sure people know you need costumes…

P:  That would be dangerous… (Laughs)  (Different Speaker)  That would be very dangerous.  (Laughs)   I would say…don’t do that.  (Laughs)

L4LM:  (Laughs)  I’m telling you…I think the “Dress Papadosio for Hulaween” contest would go pretty well. 

P:  Yeah…but for who?  (Laughs)

L4LM: …okay, fine…(Laughs)

P:  (Laughs)  We’d end up being giant penises.  (Laughs) 

(Different speaker)  Yep…pretty much, that was what I was gonna say. 

(Different speaker)  They’d probably dress us up in cop costumes or something…(Laughter) 

(Different speaker) That’s actually a pretty good idea…(Laughter)  We should be cops…(Laughter)  That would be hilarious!  (Laughter) 

L4LM: You guys just came out with a new video didn’t you?

P: A Glimpse of Light” music video and “Epiphany” music video.

L4LM:  Were those fun to make? 

P:  Sam threw a birthday party at his house for the “Epiphany” video.  that was fun.

L4LM:  I always thought that would be the best part of making a music video.  Just using it as an excuse to throw yourself a big ole’ party.

P:  That’s kinda how it went…but then…y’know…it’s hard to get everyone organized, and while they’re partying it’s even harder…but it was fun…(Chuckles)

L4LM:  Do you have any messages for fans coming to see you for the first time?

P:  Bring a helmet.Â