Lost in the dark with The Long Losts
For our first interview, I thought, given the change of season, this band would do quite nicely. I first experienced The Long Losts almost 5 years ago at Aurelio Voltaire’s ‘Necronomicon’. I was spinning right after their way too brief set. As I was setting up and trying to be ever so careful and considerate, I kept pausing and looking over. I was captivated. I was the moth to their orange-colored flame. As I get older, few bands catch me right away. I will be impressed and curious but I won’t lend out my heart so easily. They had it and I chased them down or rather up (we were in the basement) cash in hand and demanded a CD and a shirt and I promised them on the spot that I was going to book the hell out of them. That was my first interaction with Patrick from The Long Losts. Here is my latest.
SEAN TEMPLAR: I really wanted to have a proper interview at A Murder of Crows, but time was very much against us, so I hope we can salvage something and maybe get some good hindsight now that the smoke has cleared.
THE LONG LOSTS: Yeah, I got you. We tried to do the interview after our set but everyone was pretty scattered.
SEAN TEMPLAR: So, first question would be then, how did your performance go over at Crows this year, were you happy?
THE LONG LOSTS: We were very happy. We decided to add a drummer to the show after so many years as a duo. We put in a lot of practice. We had a great crowd there. It made it all worth it.
SEAN TEMPLAR: I think a lot of people made the effort to get there early to see you.
THE LONG LOSTS: It definitely felt like that. Sometimes it can be rough being the first band of the night. But we were so honored to be part of the event and share the stage with the bands that came from all over the country and the world.
SEAN TEMPLAR: Having watched you perform over these last 5 years or so, you have acquired a very loyal following. What do you attribute that too?
THE LONG LOSTS: I guess we could attribute it to people really identifying with our music and lyrics and us personally as well. Our music has always been sort of a celebration of who we are and what we love instead of it being about the external world.
SEAN TEMPLAR: I have noticed that you are very approachable both before and after the concert. What was the nicest compliment you received?
THE LONG LOSTS: We try to be. It’s always harder for me since I’m so wrapped up in all the logistics of getting set up and broken down. Sometimes I could be inside my own head to much. At this moment I can’t think of a specific compliment, but I’m always flattered to know how one or more of our songs resonated with something in someone else’s life and that it transcended what it meant for us when we wrote the song.
Somebody wrote to us last year, a gentleman who asked us to record a video for his girlfriend, wishing her a happy birthday (or anniversary?) because we were her favorite band. That was really touching.
SEAN TEMPLAR: I have to ask, did you make the video?
THE LONG LOSTS: Yes we did.
SEAN TEMPLAR: That’s great, and are you still her favorite band?
THE LONG LOSTS: Hopefully :)
SEAN TEMPLAR: Is there one song of yours in particular that seems to connect with your fans or is across the board?
THE LONG LOSTS: I’d say either October Country or The Girl with the Haunted House Tattoo.
SEAN TEMPLAR: Neither you nor Anka were necessarily into Goth music but mostly Punk, is that correct?
THE LONG LOSTS: Well, we were into both. As far as me, I was definitely into Goth music before I got into Punk. When I was in junior high in high school during the 90s, I was listening to Metal and Goth music. I got more into Punk when I started playing music as a teenager.
SEAN TEMPLAR: When you started The Long Losts did you have a sound in mind, or was it something that grew organically?
THE LONG LOSTS: It grew organically. Believe it or not, we wanted to have a sound that was more in line with The Velvet Underground. When we sat down to write our first songs though, which were If Only Boris Karloff Was My Dad which was more along the Punk route, and the other song we wrote was Bishops Grave, which has a more classic gothy sound. We thought we were going to be experimental and artsy, LOL. What it ended up being is what we sound like now. It came naturally so we embraced it.
SEAN TEMPLAR: I think you are in your own right. We all can’t be sucking at the teat of Andy Warhol.
THE LONG LOSTS: For sure. I think in the best of cases you have that spark that gets you going.
SEAN TEMPLAR: I know you are both dedicated horror and Halloween fanatics, and I think it is very much evident in your songs. Have you ever been worried about being typecast as such?
THE LONG LOSTS: A little bit. But we also knew that was because the only record we had out at the time, Scary Songs to Play in the Dark, was a horror and Halloween record. The subject matter mostly changed on our second album To night... That wasn’t on purpose it was just the direction we were going. We really wanted to be personal with our music.
SEAN TEMPLAR: I heard that you have started work on your third album, how far along are you?
THE LONG LOSTS: We are in the midst of it yes! We have 11 songs. Drums and keyboards are done, I’m in the process of recording the guitar now. We are taking our time with this record. I feel like it’s definitely us.
SEAN TEMPLAR: I am a big fan of To Night… Will it be a continuation in that direction or can we expect something different?
THE LONG LOSTS: I feel like we were trying to nail down our sound over the past two records and this third album will be the culmination of that. I think it will be in the vein of To night... with a couple of songs that harken back to Scary Songs.
SEAN TEMPLAR: You do a fantastic cover of The Sister of Mercy's Neverland, I was just curious if you were playing with idea of another cover this time?
THE LONG LOSTS: We toss ideas for covers back-and-forth all the time. We don’t have one definitively planned at the moment. It will probably happen spontaneously. It’s not about doing a cover as much as it is about us coming up with our version of it.
SEAN TEMPLAR: I completely understand the logic behind that. Ok, let me wrap this mummy up. We are coming into the Autumn season and with it comes Halloween. Do you have anything special planned for the holiday.
THE LONG LOSTS: Next week we’re going to Salem, Massachusetts which we do every year. This year we’re bringing along our 8-month-old son. He will get to experience his first autumn in New England. We have an acoustic performance we will be doing there as well. It’s so quintessentially autumn up there.
SEAN TEMPLAR: I need to find the time to get back again this year. I love it up there. Where is the acoustic performance being held?
THE LONG LOSTS: It will be held at Die with Your Boots On. It’s a Goth and dark alternative clothing shop that opened not too long ago.
SEAN TEMPLAR: Love the name. I know, we tried to go, but they were closed for a photo shoot. It’s a shame because we had so much money to burn. Ok, 2 more questions both Halloween related. Ok then, what was the first Horror movie that really scared you and how old were you at the time.
THE LONG LOSTS: E.T. The Extraterrestrial, I was probably five. LOL. Then a few years later Ghostbusters.
SEAN TEMPLAR: Really, and what was it that scared you?
THE LONG LOSTS: ET was just really scary looking.
SEAN TEMPLAR: He really was not the cutest of extraterrestrials. But Ghostbusters, thank god you didn’t start with Friday the 13th.
THE LONG LOSTS: I was too scared to watch them. I remember when the commercials for those movies came on around Halloween, like movie marathons of Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street. Like on WWOR Channel 9. All I needed to see were the commercials to know that I didn’t want to have nightmares. It was only years later when I finally saw the movies that I realized what I imagined was a hell of a lot scarier.
SEAN TEMPLAR: I was going to say when I was young, I enjoyed being scared. May imagination would just get ahead of me and I found that really thrilling
THE LONG LOSTS: My room was the only one upstairs in my parents’ house. It was easy to feel alone and prone to your imagination. My room had all Wood paneling. It had knots all over it that look like eyes.
SEAN TEMPLAR: Mine was in the basement with no windows! My door was like that, I always saw a long face in the knot work. Very sinister.
THE LONG LOSTS: Exactly, that experience is what inspired me to write big dark room.
SEAN TEMPLAR: That makes for sloppy hand writing.
THE LONG LOSTS: LOL. I hope everything I said makes sense. It’s not easy writing it out as I’m thinking of it, ha-ha.
SEAN TEMPLAR: Well, you have one last question.
THE LONG LOSTS: Ok.
SEAN TEMPLAR: Ok, wait, 2 more questions. First to last, what would be the all-time best Dracula?
THE LONG LOSTS: Christopher Lee, as the classic (Bella Lugosi type) Dracula.
SEAN TEMPLAR: Solid choice. As promised, the last question, can you name one country where you would love to play that you haven’t played yet?
THE LONG LOSTS: Ooooo, Ireland
SEAN TEMPLAR: Let's see if we can make it happen next year then!
THE LONG LOSTS: Yay! We’d love to play WGT to for the experience of it.
SEAN TEMPLAR: Thank You so much for your time. I know you are a busy man. Please give a hug to the missus and child.
THE LONG LOSTS: Well, she’s here now, answering these questions with me.
SEAN TEMPLAR: Oh really, just lurking in the shadows. Now how am I supposed to format all this.
