{"id":23827,"date":"2020-07-14T14:57:03","date_gmt":"2020-07-14T18:57:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/?p=23827"},"modified":"2020-07-15T09:40:57","modified_gmt":"2020-07-15T13:40:57","slug":"interview-poindexter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2020\/07\/14\/interview-poindexter\/","title":{"rendered":"INTERVIEW: Poindexter"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Reed Romanko<\/em><\/p>\n

On his show ska is dead and we killed it that aired on July 13, WTBU\u2019s Reed Romanko chatted with Poindexter’s Nick Furlo, Gracie Pryor and Keira Woodword. Check out the transcript below.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Reed Romanko: What exactly is Poindexter?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nick Furlo:<\/strong> Do you wanna take that one, Gracie?<\/span><\/p>\n

Gracie Pryor:<\/strong> Sure\u2026 We\u2019re a ska band, a ska collective. We\u2019ve used both terms. We play ska and there are eight of us.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RR: As per norm laughs. How\u2019d you come up with that name?<\/strong><\/p>\n

NF:<\/strong> I don\u2019t even remember who came up with that\u2026 Was that yours, Gracie?<\/span><\/p>\n

GP:<\/strong> I felt like that was a name you recommended.<\/span><\/p>\n

Keira Woodword:<\/strong> Yeah, that was me!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RR: So is there a story behind it, just thought it sounded nice?<\/strong><\/p>\n

GP:<\/strong> Yeah, we had been throwing some name ideas back and forth. Some of them were based around the idea that at least two of us were teachers. So that\u2019s why the word came to mind, cause we\u2019re all either teachers or nerds.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RR: I gotcha, big teacher energy. How exactly did the band get together then? What\u2019s your origin story?<\/strong><\/p>\n

NF:<\/strong> I\u2019ll make a long story short, but it started with Gracie and our trombone player Kenny and I used to play in a queer punk band called The Vulnerable. Then that band broke up, just from too much stress with the band, we all had other stuff going on. Kenny and Gracie and I were trying to do other projects for a while, but they just kept \u2013 people were like \u201cHey, I actually can\u2019t do this anymore\u201d or we were like \u201cAh, this music isn\u2019t very good, let\u2019s try something else\u201d or whatever. One day I got another text from Kenny which was like \u201cHey, you want to try another band?\u201d Gracie and I showed up, and then we just kinda slowly accumulated members. Kiera joined shortly after that, and then Merlin joined a little bit later. It was mostly Kenny trying to assemble something to do, and Gracie and I were among some of the first people hit up because we were trying to make stuff for a while. Then we just kind of found other friends to join in as we went.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RR: That\u2019s fun and wholesome! So you released your self-titled EP this past spring, really great first debut. What went into that EP, what were some of your inspirations?<\/strong><\/p>\n

NF:<\/strong> You wanna do that one Keira?<\/span><\/p>\n

KW:<\/strong> I mean, I don\u2019t know\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

NF:<\/strong> Actually, Gracie, do you wanna take that one? You wrote a lot of the music.<\/span><\/p>\n

KW:<\/strong> You did a lot of the song writing, I just did horn good [laughs].<\/span><\/p>\n

GP:<\/strong> I\u2019m just over here honkin\u2019 [laughs]. A lot of our stuff is just taken from old stuff that me and Nick wrote together for our previous project that we had tried to work on, just the two of us, and never really amounted to anything. A lot of them are old songs from that project which we repurposed, and made more ~ska~ for the purpose of Poindexter.<\/span><\/p>\n

NF:<\/strong> Yeah\u2026 A number of them right now are from doing that, just repurposing old stuff that Gracie and I wrote. Gracie, you also wrote at least one new song that\u2019s finished, and then we\u2019re also trying to have other people throw in other stuff that they\u2019ve written as well. It\u2019s kind of like an amalgamation.<\/span><\/p>\n

KW:<\/strong> A lot of the horn parts and lyrics is a group effort, I\u2019d say. It\u2019s not one person in particular that\u2019s doing\u2013 like Kenny normally does most of the lyrics, I and the other horn players make horn parts. We just kind of get together and write music together.<\/span><\/p>\n

NF:<\/strong> And then Gracie and Josh, our other music player, he is a music teacher! So he\u2019s very good with creating melodies and stuff, and so Gracie and Josh work together to come up the vocal melodies and stuff, so we\u2019re kind of all got our hands in different pieces of it.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RR: You love to see it, cooperation! With that said, is there anything you\u2019re working on now? Is quarantining prompting any musical creativity?<\/strong><\/p>\n

NF:<\/strong> I don\u2019t know how much we can really say at the moment. We do have a couple things in the pipeline. I don\u2019t want to spoil too much, but we may or may not have some videos that we\u2019re working on, which will hopefully be out within a month or so, maybe a little longer. I\u2019m not really sure, kinda working on timelines and stuff. It\u2019s hard to get everybody\u2019s stuff. But we did just purchase, amongst all of us, we all purchased equipment in order to record things remotely. And so hopefully we\u2019ll have some new tracks coming out after we\u2019re able to get some stuff recorded and mixed. That can take a little while, but keep an eye out and that\u2019ll definitely be coming soon, and then Keira, do you want to talk about our new merch store?<\/span><\/p>\n

KW:<\/strong> Yeah, we also just launched our merch store<\/a>. We have a lot products including T-shirts and pins and stickers, all designs by Gracie. Shout out to that.<\/span><\/p>\n

NF:<\/strong> And we have patches as well, and that\u2019s all on our bandcamp<\/a> under the merch tab, so you can check that out there. If you do combined shipping, or get a couple things, the shipping is cheaper as well. Also half of all of the proceeds from the album sales as well as the merch are going to the Ruth Ellis Center<\/a> in Detroit, which is a center for LGBT youth. We\u2019ve worked with them a bit in the past, Kenny and Gracie and I worked with them with previous projects, they\u2019re a great organization. Highly recommend checking them out and donating to them. It\u2019s a good cause and they can use the money.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RR: Yeah, it\u2019s funny I was actually just about to bring that up, using your platform to raise money for all these great causes. What made you choose the Ruth Ellis Center? I know you\u2019ve worked with other groups before, right?<\/strong><\/p>\n

NF:<\/strong> I don\u2019t know if Poindexter has, but I know Gracie and I have with previous projects. And Keira comes from an organizing background, so Keira\u2019s done a lot of work with other organizations. Yeah, Ruth Ellis is an organization we\u2019ve worked with a lot in previous bands, and they do a lot of really great work for LGBT youth in Detroit. They provide housing and food and medical care, and all kinds of different things that people have trouble financing, especially if they were kicked out of their house or something like that. They\u2019re a local organization, and they\u2019ve been doing good work for a long time. It\u2019s a black-owned organization and a black run organization, which is great. They do a lot of good work, so we want to continue giving them as much money as possible. Also, a lot of the members of the band are LGBT, and so we saw that as kind of an organization that hit close to home for some of us. We wanted to help out with that.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RR: Understandable, makes sense. You know, right now lot of bands in the DIY scene are really trying to use their platforms for good, raise money for good causes, spread awareness, promote good things. For the ones who aren\u2019t and are interested, what do you suggest they do to start getting in that space?<\/strong><\/p>\n

KW:<\/strong> To start getting in that space, I think you should try to choose a couple of front line issues that you find important as a band. These can often be issues that are connected to your community, whether that be the queer community or your physical community or your racial identity. Just stuff like that is really important as well. Identify a few key issues that you feel as a band you can contribute towards, and start using your music and stuff, do what we did laughs, Give proceeds to organizations, talk to people in your communities about what organizations are good. Just establish a lot of connections that are important to sustain and keep working at those connections, don\u2019t leave them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

NF:<\/strong> I think a big thing as well is, when you\u2019re trying to figure out \u201chow are we going to generate money to give to these people?\u201d In non-quarantine times, it was great to have a benefit show where you give all the dough to the charity; that\u2019s pretty simple, it makes sense and it\u2019s easy. In times like these where we can\u2019t do things in person, there\u2019s a lot of options. We had our EP up for free or pay-what-you-want and we would donate it. For a while we were doing everything from that to Ruth Ellis, once we had the merch out, we were doing fifty percent because we had to pay for more merch. I think putting your music out for free or letting people pay whatever they want, so that way, if someone only has a dollar, they can give you a dollar. Also with merch, I know a lot of bands are like \u201cI\u2019d love to sell merch and give some of that money to charity, but I don\u2019t know how to finance that.\u201d Find someone who you know who does art and commission them. Know that you have to pay for that. You can\u2019t get art for free, it\u2019s pretty huge. A lot of people try to get art for free, especially if they\u2019re like \u201cOh, you\u2019re my friend, come on!\u201d No, pay your friend. They\u2019re not going to charge you out the butt, they\u2019re your friend, still give them money. Try to find a local screen printer. Maybe someone from the community. The person that does our screen prints is the person from the DIY community that I\u2019ve known for a long time that did merch for The Vulnerable. You get to know someone like that and usually they\u2019re going to charge a lot less than an online printing service or like a big shop is going to. And then you\u2019re giving money back to people that probably maybe need the money more because they don\u2019t have a big store and stuff, they\u2019re working out of their basement or whatever. Just find ways to make things as cheaply as possible and then sell them for reasonable prices and then donate as much as possible, I think is a big part of it. Once you find your organization, you can get all of your money stuff sorted out, and then keep a spreadsheet of your money so you\u2019re going to make sure you give enough money to the right people and you\u2019re not accidentally giving them too much or giving yourself too much. Also, as a band you need money to function, especially when you can\u2019t play shows. That\u2019s why with us we made it fifty percent because well, we need money to buy more merch and money to buy other things that come up like more equipment. And for Gracie, when we can eventually do shows again, we have to fly Gracie from Los Angeles to Detroit! We have expenses in order to exist. Just keep that in mind when you\u2019re putting your stuff up as well, that you gotta sustain yourself.<\/span><\/p>\n

KW:<\/strong> Also, it\u2019s not the same for every band. I know a lot of people in our band have purchased and have been able to purchase recording equipment on their own. That\u2019s like something that is also something we should talk about. We\u2019re self financing a lot of stuff in this project.<\/span><\/p>\n

NF:<\/strong> You don\u2019t play ska music to make money. You play ska music to have fun and go deeply in the hole.<\/span><\/p>\n

KW:<\/strong> That\u2019s also a privilege that we have, to be able to self-finance a lot of things.<\/span><\/p>\n

NF:<\/strong> Yeah, a lot of the people in our band have salaries and have good jobs. Not all of us, but a lot of them. It helps with being able to pay for stuff where it\u2019s like \u201cOh we need new T-shirts,\u201d and then one of the full time teachers steps in and they\u2019re like \u201cHere\u2019s one hundred and fifty bucks. Go get T-shirts.\u201d That helps a lot, it helps to have the money beforehand to go into it because you\u2019re not going to make money playing music hardly ever unless you\u2019re playing covers in bars. And most of us don\u2019t want to do that just cause we want to play our own stuff.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RR: Yeah, very well said. You mentioned a fair number of you are teachers, right?<\/strong><\/p>\n

KW:\u00a0<\/strong>Uh-huh.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RR: How do you think that affects the band dynamic, if at all?<\/strong><\/p>\n

NF:<\/strong> Mostly just around scheduling more than anything, because two of our members are full time teachers that work with K through twelve so they\u2019ve got to be up really early. Show\u2019s on Sunday nights, probably not a great idea. Meetings at eleven o\u2019clock at night, probably not going to work. Myself, I\u2019m a teaching assistant at the university, I\u2019m a grad student. For me, usually I don\u2019t have to get up early. Luckily, that doesn\u2019t play in, but also it\u2019s hard to coordinate with\u2013 cause teachers are very busy, and then we have a number of us as students, and that makes things very busy. It\u2019s mostly just hard to coordinate because there\u2019s frickin eight of us.<\/span><\/p>\n

KW:<\/strong> I think in terms of like how we function as a band, I think having teachers is very important because they definitely help guide us in our practices, especially Josh kinda take a big role there\u2013 and so does Kenny\u2013 moving our practices around and being efficient and working on stuff that needs to be worked on.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

GP:<\/strong> Especially because Josh is specifically a music teacher. He\u2019s corralling and taking care of instructing people and getting their music together all day anyway. He knows really well how to keep us on track and the things we wouldn\u2019t normally think about to efficiently write a song and get through a practice and be productive.<\/span><\/p>\n

NF:<\/strong> He knows what steps to take to get us there, and also working with us I\u2019m sure just really can\u2019t be that different than working with a bunch of middle schoolers, he\u2019s got the experience down, he\u2019s got it down, it\u2019s perfect.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RR: That\u2019s a ska sentiment if I\u2019ve ever heard one.<\/strong><\/p>\n

NF:<\/strong> That\u2019s why Gracie and I never got anywhere with our old project, we\u2019d spend too much time sitting around making fart jokes instead of writing music. Laughs.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RR: So what have your experiences been as queer people in the ska scene?<\/strong><\/p>\n

NF:<\/strong> Gracie, do you want to contest to that a little bit?<\/span><\/p>\n

GP:<\/strong> I honestly haven\u2019t spent a whole lot of time interacting with the ska scene, I just kind of keep to myself, practice with you guys, and then most of my time is spent in the art community, cause that\u2019s my full time\u2026 what do you call it?<\/span><\/p>\n

NF:<\/strong> Career?<\/span><\/p>\n

GP:<\/strong> Yeah, that\u2019s it. But I mean, the people I do interact with in the ska scene are all other queer people. For me, it\u2019s been a very supportive and nice kind of family community because those are the people that I choose to surround myself with. Even though I know there\u2019s a lot of people who are not like that out there, but those are the ones I keep the closest to myself.<\/span><\/p>\n

NF:<\/strong> Yeah, the ska community has historically been incredibly inclusive. Even like some of the earliest ska bands\u2013 Like at the time where black and white people didn\u2019t play in bands together unless they were ska bands.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RR: Two tones!<\/strong><\/p>\n

NF:<\/strong> Yup, exactly. There\u2019s a great community in ska in that they\u2019re very inclusive generally. I haven\u2019t really found anyone through ska shows that was bigoted or ignorant or anything like that, which is different than with punk music. When Gracie and I used to play punk music, in Detroit it was always great, never had any problems, no one ever said anything. Then when we went on tour, we were out actually Boston, unfortunately for this story, and there were people who showed up and started saying derogatory things to trans people at our show and that kind of thing. It depends on where you go and it depends on the scene, your local scene. I\u2019ve found in general that ska, even from place to place, tends to be much more inclusive. If you\u2019re somebody who\u2019s nervous about going to shows, nervous being discriminated against, ska is a great place to start because ninety-nine percent of those people are going to accept you for who you are and not care what you look like, what your gender is, what color hair you got, no one cares! They just want you to have fun.<\/span><\/p>\n

KW:<\/strong> Yeah, and also there\u2019s a huge online queer ska community, especially I find on Twitter. There\u2019s a big one, and it\u2019s a fun community to be a part of. It\u2019s not the same as physically going to shows with people, but often times there\u2019s a number of those people in shows anyway, it\u2019s just local people.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RR: Yeah, great! So, what do you think it means to make queer ska?<\/strong><\/p>\n

NF:<\/strong> I think it just has to do with your motivation.<\/span><\/p>\n

KW:<\/strong> and centering queer experiences and what not.<\/span><\/p>\n

NF:<\/strong> Exactly, yeah, just trying to create music that explains the queer experience while also helping others to be confident in themselves. Especially with ska, a lot of ska music is about self-empowerment and self-embetterment. I think that comes out with queer ska music, where it\u2019s like, \u201cHey! We don\u2019t care what your identity is or how you were born and what your parents said you were or whatever.\u201d It doesn\u2019t matter, we\u2019re here to have fun and you\u2019re understood in these places. I think it\u2019s about just helping push those messages in the same way like queer punk music has done for a long time.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RR: Yeah, awesome! You mentioned a bit ago the ska scene in Detroit being very warm and welcoming. As I\u2019ve been looking around at the current state of ska in the US, it seems like there\u2019s a lot of bands coming out Michigan, which surprised me!. There\u2019s you of course, and also We are the Union (kinda), Run and Punch, The Tellways, Grey Matter, and that doesn\u2019t even account for earlier bands like The Suicide Machines and Mustard Plug. Why do you think that\u2019s happening right now, if you have any idea?<\/strong><\/p>\n

NF:<\/strong> I would say it\u2019s definitely like a chain reaction. Once one ska band from your local area is getting attention and people care, then other ska musicians or people who want to play ska are like \u201cOh, people care about ska again! I can go ahead and play these shows.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

KW:<\/strong> Also those more popular bands have taken the time to promote smaller ska bands in this area, and I think that has definitely helped the scene.<\/span><\/p>\n

GP:<\/strong> I think that\u2019s a really positive thing that\u2019s pretty unique to ska as well. People who blow up and have this recognition but still explicitly taking the time to lift up smaller local bands.<\/span><\/p>\n

NF:<\/strong> Yeah, and bands like The Suicide Machines and Mustard Plug have been doing that forever. Mustard Plug has been huge for local ska bands in Michigan. It\u2019s always Jay Navarro from Suicide Machines post stuff all the time. Jay and all the dudes from Mustard Plug will often repost or reblog or whatever local bands\u2019 stuff. Like, \u201cHey, this band from down the street from me put out their first EP, check it out. It\u2019s pretty cool!\u201d In Michigan especially, that\u2019s a huge thing. It\u2019s a big thing that local bands do. Grey Matter has done that a lot, and plenty other bands all do that. We all try to boost each other up. You got to stand on the shoulders of giants in order to get anywhere.<\/span><\/p>\n

KW:<\/strong> Mutual aid.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RR: Yeah, so any parting words for fans?<\/strong><\/p>\n

NF:<\/strong> Whatcha got, Gracie?<\/span><\/p>\n

GP:<\/strong> [Laughs] oh my god, put me on the spot baby. Keep your eyes up because we\u2019ve got those videos in the works. If you\u2019re going to get any merch from us, do it this month so we can donate as much money to Ruth Ellis as possible. That\u2019s brand spanking new, fresh off on our bandcamp for the first time. And yeah, what about you guys?<\/span><\/p>\n

NF:<\/strong> In terms of the merch, I will say if we don\u2019t have your size in something, we are working on getting more inventory. I know we\u2019re kinda low on mediums and larges right now, but we are getting more stuff as soon as possible. Keep your eye out. If you see it and it\u2019s not up there, wait a few days, check again. We\u2019ll have some stuff up hopefully pretty soon. But yeah, if you wanna play music, go play music with your friends and have fun. Don\u2019t worry about money and what not. It doesn\u2019t matter if you don\u2019t have gear, or you don\u2019t have merch, you don\u2019t have any of that stuff. If you\u2019re having fun, that\u2019s all that matters\u2026 What about you?<\/span><\/p>\n

KW:<\/strong> I\u2019m just gonna say yes to all of those. Seconded, ditto!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Reed Romanko On his show ska is dead and we killed it that aired on July 13, WTBU\u2019s Reed Romanko chatted with Poindexter’s Nick Furlo, Gracie Pryor and Keira Woodword. Check out the transcript below.   Reed Romanko: What exactly is Poindexter? Nick Furlo: Do you wanna take that one, Gracie? Gracie Pryor: Sure\u2026 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17168,"featured_media":23828,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16],"tags":[29,1611,783],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23827"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17168"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23827"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23838,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23827\/revisions\/23838"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}