1. Tell us about your craziest touring experience?
Cecil Otter: I was on tour with a French DEATH METAL band named BERET! Years before we did any full Doomtree tours. We we’re held up in Denver Colorado for a few days because we we’re completely out of money (no money-no gas-no food). We got on a show a few days later in hopes to make enough money to get us to the next city. We made about 50 bucks and change, which wasn’t enough for us to eat with. I should also mention that when BERET! Takes the stage they are wearing berets, French navy shirts, and drawn on mustaches…which I would also dress up in after my set was done so I could join in the mayhem in the mosh-pit for the duration of there set. Anyway. We decide to get food the easy way…steal it from a grocery store. It was about midnight when we walked into the store. We split off into two groups and pretended not to know each other. That way one group could cause a distraction and one group could fly out the door with the cart of food. By the time we were ready to bust out one of the groups started the distraction by knocking some sort of display down. My group started heading towards the door when we were stopped by an old guy with a legendary moustache. We tried to explain that we had nothing to do with those other dudes knocking shit over and we just wanted to get home to our family so we could make dinner. He wouldn’t leave our side no matter how many displays the other group was knocking over. He finally grabbed the cart from me and told all of us to get out before he calls the cops. I told him again that we don’t even know those other guys. He finally got fed up with our shit and said, “Look into the f***ing mirror you stupid shits!” That is when we realized that we were all wearing the exact same outfits and drawn-on moustaches, pretending not to know each other. We then ran from the store to the van laughing so hard we were falling on the cement and into bushes and shrubs. The only thing I made it out with was a kielbasa sausage that I had stuffed in my pants during the quarrel inside the store. All in all a pretty nice score if you enjoy kielbasa and aren’t vegan like every member in BERET!
2. What type of college class would you most want to take and why?
Mike Mictlan: Thizz Ed, because it thizz what it thizz.
3. What city in America is the most fun to visit and why?
Dessa: Doomtree is touring No Kings, our most recent album, harder than we’ve ever toured before. We’re on the road for a month, home for a week, and then it’s back in the van. Lately it seems like Minneapolis is the most fun to visit–because that’s where my apartment is.
4. What’s some of the best advice you were ever given?
Lazerbeak: It was actually given to me by Sims last week, and we’ve broken it down into a handy acronym to be spoken in a Star Trek-esque language: SYLO YOLO ALOQ EOTO IWAC BOGO (Stretch Your Legs Out, You Only Live Once, A Life Of Quality, Each One Teach One, It Will Always Cost, Buy One Get One).
5. What’s in heavy rotation in your MP3/CD player right now?
Paper Tiger: I’ve been listening to Future Islands a ton. M83, The Middle East, cool stuff like that.
7. What’s the first concert you ever saw – how was it?
Lazerbeak: Mine is pretty lame. I saw the Black Crowes play in 7th grade, haha. For some reason I loved that Amorica album and dragged a couple friends along with me to the show. My dad had to come along and chaperone. I ended up buying a t-shirt that unbeknownst to me contained an image of a cartoon crow holding a huge pile of magic mushrooms, wearing an upside down star hat, and smoking a huge joint. Totally got in a bunch of trouble for wearing it at school the next day and had to turn it inside out. Not that tight.
8. What are three items you can’t live without on tour?
Mike Mictlan: My cap gun, my pinky ring, and my albino alligator attaché case full of vintage pogs and slammers.
Any random messages or tips you’d like to give to mtvU watchers?
Sims: I kind of already gave you my tips up above (SYLO YOLO), but I’ll leave you with one more: The game is to be sold, not told.
