SHARP PINS!!!!!!
Photo by Braeden Long
After releasing some revolutionarily fundamental music in early 2023, Chicago's Sharp Pins instantly became one of the city's leading youth revolution bands!! Founded by Kai Slater (Guitar & vox) with the addition of Joe Glass (Bass & vox) and Peter Alga (Drums & prob vox too) about a year ago, Sharp Pins has been tearing up stages across America with their incredible jangly-mod-powerpop-punk-rock music!!!! I'm honored to have gotten the chance to ask them questions about their aesthetic, popularity, music ideology, and more..... read belowwww
K: Kai
J: Joe
P: Peter
interview by reid isbell
What genre are you? K: Pop. J: Rock. P: Pop, rock n roll. Pop Guitar music. K: We're three words, rock pop mod. You could also put punk in there. J: Yeah, I was gonna say there's a little pit of punk rock in there. It's kinda the basis of all of it. K: Yeah, I mean punk rock kinda with the aesthetic sensiblities and the mod revival. Punk is a very important part of it.
What do you draw on? K: The mod revival and late '70s punk. Kinda going into the Second British Invasion of like power pop and stuff, that typa thing. And then like the classic British Invasion and the American- like Bobby Fuller Four and bands with names like that. And like Guided By Voices and lofi punk culture. Did I miss anything? The Kinks, you know? The Beach Boys. The Who. Big Star, rock on.
What are some similar-minded bands in Chicago? K: The first that comes to mind is Answering Machines, they're sick because they have like one minute pop songs. They're even more punk than me. J: Yeah, definitely more punk. K: Yeah, obviosuly musically, but like ethos-wise, they're so sick. They'll just like make ten tapes dubbed on jazz tapes from Village Discount, and then print J-cards on newspaper and tie them together with shoelaces from old shoes. Which like, that's fucking cool. And yeah, they're like cool punked up Ramones fast shit. I mean I'd call Joe and Peter's solo stuff as being in the same place. J: I'd put Good Flying Birds in there as well. Just kinda like '60s oriented, maybe a little bit of '90s in there, pop indie rock. Punk rock stuff, yeah.
You have such a strong image attached to your music, does that draw from the same influences? K: Yeah, I mean you wanna look like your favorite band. You get into a band and you wanna look like that. And I mean, most of my life choices have been based off of what I would think Alex Chilton would do or something. Not actually, that would be horrible. He would do bad things, but you know what I mean though. Mod and punk, and I think it's just super important to me. You know, when you see a band, a big part of it is like oh, they look cool, you know? It's also just how I dress normally, it makes me feel good to dress mod. J: I feel like Kai definitely, obviously because it's his solo project, maybe is like the status quo for dressing in the band a little bit. But I think Peter and I were like similarly kinda tryna dress sharp before Sharp Pins. Like, not super baggy clothing and like, you know, the standard of the '60s was to dress nice and fitted even if you weren't glammed out at all. And from the basis of all of us doing that, we ended up naturally coming up with whatever the Sharp Pins modern, current aesthetic is. K: Yeah, I think I knew Joe and Peter had established looks within the scene prior to them being hired. P: We're hired! J: Shit! K: Like Peter, you know, has this fucking great, slightly baroque shit going on. And then Joe's just total working class, slightly skinned, still aware that he's a Midwesterner, but likes punk rock typa thing. And those are two looks that- they got great looks, you know? So I'm glad they're in the band. J: Flattering, the way you describe me. Thank you. K: Well you're also ugly, so. I'm the front man so it's good that they're slightly ugly, fa- facial-wise. J: When I had you to myself, I didn't want you around. Those pretty faces always made you standout in a crowd. That was about Kai, so. Me: That's true? K: That's true, man.
Is that how you two actually got hired? K: Nawww. J: It was Peter's Linkedin mostly. P: We're so good looking. I don't know, we liked the same stuff kind of. K: I would say definitely. P: Since we like a lot of the same stuff, I think we pull inspiration from the same places as far as how to dress and whatever songwriting we're working on. Me: So you're kinda drawn together by your influences? P: Yeah. J: Yeah, we're not all exactly the same, but there's definitely a shared aesthetic that- when we play a Pins show, and it's not that Kai's being a Nazi about it, but I know what I should wear, you know what I mean? Like it's been clear to me the Sharp Pins aesthetic and I like it. K: Yeah, and it's cool for a band to have a look. J: Yeah, that's an important part of it. K: Unless it's just you live, it is a band. And a band is it's own thing. We are our own organism and if it's a real band it's gotta have a look.
What band in history do you think had the best look? J: Probably like Gwar. K: I'd say Gwar- J: Ghost. K: Ghost, dude! J: The Darkness maybe. K: The Dare. The Muppets. J: The Wiggles. K: Yeah, here we go. J: Maybe the Who. K: Yeah, the Who. But- okay I'm gonna say the Kinks or the Who. But both of those bands kinda evolved into pretty not great looks in my opinion. When Pete had the white jumpsuit coveralls, so sick. J: So sick. But do you want them to all look similarly cool, or do you want an eclectic mix like pushing cool? Like Rock and Roll Circus Who. K: Yeah. J: Like they all look so sick, but then John Entwistle is wearing the leather daddy fit. That makes the whole thing way cooler that he's dressed like a complete buffoon. K: I would say the Who, the Kinks, the Gories, the Makeup for sure because they had like matching yellow suits which is cool, I can't think of anything else. Me: And Gwar. K: And Gwar. J: Yeah, don't forget Gwar. Maybe like Weezer or the Descendents. K: Actually the Buzzcocks. J: Yeah, they're great, but they're not like- I don't know. I kinda like the way they dress because it is kinda like blue collar simple British style of dressing, not over the top. K: Yeah, they looked great. And when they did the single cover and they all had the single cover suits it was cool.
When you perform live you pull a really huge young audience that's really enamored by you, why do you think that is? K: I think we've all been playing around a good bit. And we've all played house shows and all ages shows for a long time. I think the music is pretty exciting and youthful and loud. People can connect with us a lot, we're people playing guitars still. But it's really cool, I like it a lot. I've played a lot of shows where it's old guys and they think you're the worst. J: Sometimes I think though, and we're not drawing from classic rock in any way necessarily, but I do think we subscribe to some certain band tropes that just were really cool and were happening back in the day more than they are now. And I think some kids get excited to see a band play like they thought a band was supposed to play when they were younger. Like we're trying to do three part harmonies and play tightly, we're not trying to jam, we're not trying to solo, we're trying to be just a really good, tight band. And that's really refreshing nowadays with the fucking shoegaze renaissance of America. K: We were talking about how obviously slowcore and shoegaze are really massive right now because people are depressed and wanna, like, smoke weed. J: Yeah, I didn't want that to be a dig on all that in any way. K: No, I did. I'm digging on it. I'm trying not to but- but I do think it's getting really old for people. Maybe? I mean it probably isn't, but for certain people. I know it is for me.
Yeah definitely, I feel like you also embrace the youth-all-ages scene. K: Yeah definitely. J: That's the best shit. K: That's the best crowd to play to and- I mean if we weren't playing all ages shows... *gags* I don't know man. It's just weird sometimes. It's just like old guys. Not that if you're over 21 you're an old guy. We do play to a lot of fans that are under 21.
What are some other core principles of your beliefs as a band? K: Oh boy. P: Treat others how you wanna be treated. K: Joe Rogan. J: Good one. K: I mean, I think at the end of the day if you're a young person making music in a DIY way that is imporant for society. And I think we've had a giant revolution of the working class through music, so I don't there's one type of music that's the most important necessarily. Because the Jam and the Buzzcocks were arguably some of the biggest, if not the biggest, bands to come out of 1978 and like became bigger in general than the Sex Pistols. But they were not singing about the Queen, they were singing about love and shit. But they were able to attract such a big crowd of people and have young people able to dance and it did start multiple cultural revolutions. But I feel like playing shows is a political thing. And I feel like it's one of the only things I have the power to do. Because I'm not gonna be able to change the president. So I don't know, I think pop music is powerful.
What are some stuff that you're completely against? K: This idea that you could imagine reaching the end of the world easier than the end of capitalism. And I'm against the idea that you can't have goals outside of the capitalistic framework. And I think that music can be a catalyst for that type of thing. And I believe in being an idealist and dreaming of something like that. And so I guess I'm against compromising your music for something like that in terms of a framework of music.
Do you hope that your music has some sort of impact on society? K: Yeah I hope so, I mean we're only three people, but I do the zine stuff and I try to have spaces for young bands and stuff. I think that is a revolutionary thing in a lot of ways.
Have your ideas been shaped through making music? K: Yeah I think a lot of people start making in music in a way of being like oh, I like these bands and I want to try it out and stuff, but then you play more concerts and it's very much like oh, maybe I can make an impact on the world. So as you start to get more confident in your music you start to connect it to your political beliefs more naturally. That's just how it is for me, it's a very big part of it. P: I think we're all pretty like minded and trying to do something cool and positive. I think there's a lot of music that's good if you're angry at the world, I don't think Sharp Pins is music like that. Which is why it's refreshing. J: I agree and I feel like I was trying to bring similar energy to music kinda in like the post-Mac Demarco post-Boy Pablo musicscape of the indie world and I think Sharp Pins is really fulfilling for me because it's just like punk rock and '60s pop and Guided By Voices all rolled into one. It's just the most fun, energetic pop rock shit that I love in one band, so I just think kids need that. We're coming out of the '90s and early 2000s and the 2010s, like we don't need to be nostalgic for 1990, right now we need to be nostalgic for 1977 and 1964 when people were excited for music not because it was so emotionally relatable from a depression standpoint, but just because it was hopeful and it's really fun. When we played at Bricktown it was all these kids that are reasonably all into post-hardcore and more of the shaved mohawk punks side of things whereas we're into the punk rock, punk pop Buzzcocks side of things. And we came out and we played punk pop lovesongs or whatever and they all responded to it and they loved it. So that's super fulfilling. And you don't have to be angsty necessarily to find some kinda like catharsis in music, you know? K: That was great, both of what you said. Yeah, it kinda feels constructive to me, that's a big goal of mine. J: It feels like we're correcting it a little bit. You should be dancing to this. K: Yeah, I think were inspired by- the main two decades are 64-66 and 74-79, which were both times of huge revolution and hope for a future. And it wasn't depressing music, it was kinda constructive type shit. Type shit. J: Type ish. K: Type ish if you will.
Do you have any future plans of recording anything? K: Yeah we're gonna be doing some stuff in Olympia in January and seeing what happens.
What should everyone be listening to right now? K: On the Sharp Pins Spotify I have a playlist called "Nu Toon" and I think that has all the new bands you should be listening to right now whether it's Chicago or Midwest or UK or San Francisco or New Zealand or fuckin wherever the fuck. That's like my contribution. P: Whatever they want. I'm really into this record by this band called the Flame right now, you should check it out. J: You gotta listen to the new Daryl Johns record. P: Oh yeah, totally. It's really good. J: Otherwise I don't have much revolutionary music. The new Horsegirl single is also really great. Catchy as fuck. K: Listen to your mom. P: Listen to whatever you wanna listen to and whatever makes you happy. K: Listen to your heart. P: Yes, exactly. J: Listen to the purr of your engine. K: Just kiss her, man. P: Yeah. J: Plant one right on her cheek. P: I think you need to listen to the symphony of life man. That's what I think. J: You know what you should listen to? Really. Really! Your mom. K: I already said that! J: That is true though, your mom loves you, you gotta listen to her. Me: Thanks, Joe. J: Of course, Reid.
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