Interview with indie band Look Mexico
While at the Lydia Reunion Tour on October 12, 2011 at 1982 bar in Gainesville Florida, I had the opportunity to interview Ryan Slate, guitartist of Look Mexico. They are currently on tour with Lydia and All Get Out. Check out the tour dates on Look Mexico's website posted below :
Q. Do you enjoy being on tour with Lydia? What is it like?
A. Yeah, it has been awesome so far. They can definitely pack a room.
Q. How did your band get started and where did you get your name from?
A. 7 years ago, Matt and old guitar player Dave met at a show at a club down under SEA and CAKE. It started in 2004. They went through a few different bass players at first and wrote like a handful of songs. They released a few EPs. The original guitar player left to go to seminary school and then I joined the band a year later.
The name originally came from Matt who wanted to name it Mexico, like a city. Then Dave didn’t like that and wanted to add something in front of it. No real hidden meaning in the name.
Provocative.
Q. Why did you join the band?
A. I was in another band at the time and we actually played a lot of shows with Look Mexico. I really liked the music a lot before I joined the band. They asked me to join the band and I said yeah, definitely. Ryan Smith, the current bass player, was in my old band before I joined called “Mosey”
Q. Where do you see the direction of your band going?
A. Probably I don’t know I guess we are trying to write smart, pop music and I continue the same sound but focused more on creating perfect pop songs.
Q. Is this your first time on tour?
A. We’ve toured at least 6 months every year for the past 5 years.
Q. Where is your favorite place you have gone to perform?
A. I like Philly.
Q. What was the most embarrassing moment you have had with the band?
A. One time I was doing this interview in this venue on tour with this girl and I couldn’t think of anything embarrassing, so this is it. This is embarrassing. There was also this one time earlier today that I knocked down all the signs outside of the venue, including a few water bottles and gear. I was so embarassed.
Q. What’s your favorite song to perform live?
A. Right now, our new single “Arrest? I don’t feel like I’m under arrest”.
Q. Do you have any more tours planned out?
A. We are going to Europe after this tour for five weeks. We are headlining for the first time in Europe and this will be our first time in Europe actually. We are extremely excited for the opportunity!
All photos by Allison Newbold / www.allisonnewbold.com