The Houston Press's annual art party and hobnob mecca Artopia returns for another round of well-dressed, well-heeled revelry at Winter Street Studios. Each year we line up a handful of local acts who are too hip for words, and this time around Artopia presents the hirsute, burly Poor Pilate, icy indie outfit Bang Bangz, and dance-rockers Bagheera.
Rewind:
Artopia's Bagheera: "Dance Music For People Who Give a Damn About Dance Music"
Bang Bangz: A Rare Houston Band Brimming With Mystery
Poor Pilate is one of the most tirelessly gigging Houston bands we can think of at the moment. They play weddings, beer fests, art parties, ribbon-cuttings and old folks home dances, and somehow find time to play regularly at Fitzgerald's and Rudyard's.
We talked to the men of Poor Pilate about their plans for the next 11 months.
Rocks Off: What are the Pilate men up to now? Is new music afoot?
Poor Pilate: Well, we finally pressed our self-titled release to CD. As it turns out, people don't want to just download a record from the Internet. And yes, there is new music. A lot of new music, in fact, some of which we play in our live shows now.
RO: You guys play shows nearly once a week. Are you guys aiming to be the house band for Montrose?
PP: There's no denying that we play a lot of shows. And popular opinion is not to do that. You know, "Keep up the mystique," "Build tension," "Make your live shows a rare but good experience.' That's very well and good and likely a great strategy.
However, we love playing live. We love it. We love playing. There's just no other way to explain it. We have a lot of songs, so we change up the set all the time.
RO: Who do you love sharing bills with the most?
PP: Oh, man. That's tough. We'll share a bill with anybody. Recently, we've had great times with Deseret Band, Blackie Dammett, The Escatones, Buxton and many more.
RO: You guys have one of the busier schedules of any local band. Where do you find time to sleep?
PP: We sleep...sometimes. It's just not as fun as rocking your brains out onstage. But yes, we are guilty of having one of the busier schedules of any local band. Unfortunately for us and our Houston fans, we're going to be taking some time off to focus on finishing some recording work. Don't worry, though. It won't be too long.
