The Apples in Stereo
Interview with Eric Allen
Words: Michael Spadoni
Photo: Josh Kessler

Appearing with Aqueduct:
September 26, 2007
Common Grounds, Gainesville

September 27, 2007
AKA Lounge, Orlando

September 28, 2007
The Culture Room, Ft. Lauderdale

September 29, 2007
Crowbar, Ybor City

September 30, 2007
The Beta Bar, Tallahassee

The Apples in Stereo are so stoked to play in Florida this tour that they didn’t even wait for a question to tell us about it.

Eric Allen:  I can’t believe how many shows we’re playing in Florida!

REAX:  I know! That’s awesome!
EA:  Yeah, in the past we’ve played Jacksonville before and I think we played St. Augustine, but that’s it.

REAX:  And this time, you have five dates!
EA:  Yeah, four or five. And it’s the best time of the year to come down, so we hear.

REAX:  Yep, it’s getting really beautiful right now. Ok, so I want to ask you some questions. To start, one of the things I really love about Apples In Stereo are the wisps of psychedelia in your sound. What are your views on psychedelics in general and when it comes to your music?
EA:  I think that everyone ought to take a psychedelic drug at least once. It’s not the kind of thing you need to do repeatedly, although that is enjoyable. But to do it once—it’s almost like a first communion or a rite of passage. It puts your mind in another space.  Taking LSD, or even mushrooms or other hallucinogens… you really can’t imagine what that’s like and how it changes your thought process. I really don’t consider them harmful drugs at all, but it should be done in a controlled environment.

REAX:  Do psychedelics affect your sound?
EA:  It’s definitely part of it. Also, in the band, we all grew up on psychedelic music, so I don’t really know which came first. The music probably… I mean, hearing things like Sgt. Pepper’s when I was 8 years old, I thought it was just crazy!

REAX:  As a member of Apples since ’95, tell me how the recording process has changed since the beginning?
EA:  Every record has changed. Originally, we were all about home recording and making our own records. From the beginning, Robert Schneider was very interested in the recording process, and had been doing it since junior high. And we also knew that if you sign a contract with a record label and get a recording budget, you can spend it all in a matter of days at a studio. If you buy the equipment and put it in your living room, then you can play all day and all night as long as you want, and that’s when you are able to really experiment.  You were talking about the psychedelic touches in our records—I can’t imagine doing that, off-the-cuff, in a studio, where you’re paying 150 an hour. You just can’t afford to experiment like that.

REAX:  With all the shows that you’ve played, which was the most surreal that you remember?
EA:  Years and years ago, I remember playing a show at a strip club in Reno. This place had poles in the middle of the stage, and was located next to the biggest porn shop in town. At the time, we had been touring with Beck, and the promoter in Reno included that on the flyer, like “Apples In Stereo! Just off tour with Beck!” But when the printer got hold of the flyer he thought it was a typo, that Beck was actually Jeff Beck, and he changes it to “Just off tour with Jeff Beck!” So, we play this show at a strip club, which was full of bikers that thought they were coming to see some band that was touring with Jeff Beck. That was a surreal experience, but we won over the bikers at some point.

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