by Dena Hope (Members Only AV)

Earlier this month, another rainy day in the windy city, I had the pleasure of interviewing the drummer for Innerpartysystem, Jared Piccone.

Innerpartysystem is a band different from all others. They have gone in a direction that few bands can pull off. Moving further away from traditional rock & roll, Innerpartysystem have focused more on electronics—the final product leaves fans in a frenzy as to how the *%&# they have composed their songs. As for their live show, the band played with the PacSun tour on November 12th with a short yet high energy, glitch and effects-filled set. The band tours with their own light set up and the type of live show they play is simply incredible. You know just by watching that this band is in it for their music, the people who love it and nothing else.

Click "read more" to check out my interview with Jared discussing Innerpartysystem, how they create and their future plans for the group. Be sure to check out Members Only AV for some of my favorite Innerpartysystem tracks and remixes for your listening pleasure.  


MOAV: How did Innerpartysystem finally form as one cohesive group? I know that there were side projects going on (The Takeover)--what made you guys decide to start fresh with this new sound?

Jared: I have actually been in bands forever, as well as Patrick, Kris and Jesse. We all kind of split up after high school, I (Jared) went to high school with Kris; Pat went with Jesse. I sort of just stopped playing in bands when I became an adult at like 22, and then Patrick just started to write up some songs randomly so I started up a Myspace to promote it.

We didn’t have a name so we just named it “The Takeover”, and people started to call us to try and book us so Patrick and I thought, “Who are the first people we want to call to start a band?,” so we hit up Kris and Jesse and all came together and just started playing. The only reason we changed the name from “The Takeover” was because of a trademark issue.

I understand that you guys are no longer a signed to a label. How is that affecting you as a group?

It happened at a time when our album had already come out, and that is kind of what a label does: promote your album and sell your album and then keep all of the money . . . but that had already happened and we had a feeling that the label was having trouble at the time and we kind of knew that it was coming. Even though we got dropped we still went out for the summer on Warped Tour 2009 and now we are on the PacSun Tour, so we have just kept going and keep writing. The only difference now is that when recording time comes around we can’t call anybody and be like “Hey give us an infinite amount of money to spend to fuck around and make tunes.” But there are a lot of other labels that are stoked on us, so we may sign another deal… or we may not. We’ll see once that bridge comes and cross it.

I love all of the remixes you guys have been putting out, including the new 30 Second to Mars remix and the Innerpartysystem Mixtape Vol.2 Winter 2009. Should fans be expecting more remixes, or can we be looking forward to more IPS originals?

As of right now, I think that we are mostly just trying to write. We are releasing an original track in December. Other than that, I have been getting super into the whole “mixtape” thing. I think I am just going to start doing it and not even have a reason for it or a season, like I probably won’t wait until spring to do another one. But yeah, I think there are some remixes lined up but it’s kind of tough to do on the road, so we will have to wait until we get home. I can’t really say too much as for originals, we have a handful of songs but want to have three times the amount, so we need to go home and write some more and take some time off to do that.

Speaking of originals, as the song-writing process goes, how do you start out? Do you start with a drumbeat and add on, or do you get your inspiration from a melody or synth tone?

It’s funny; we don’t really have a formula. We are kind of reworking the way we do that, a better way to write, a more efficient way. Up until now we just didn’t really have a plan. Like one day it would be, “Ugh I have this awesome preset on this synth I just got, we should use this for something,” and another day it’d be “Oh, I made this sick beat, etc.” It has always been different, we don’t really have a plan of action so I think we need to grow up and get something together, get the next album going.

As a band, do you write separately and then combine ideas at the end, or is it more of a group process? What comes first, lyrics or music?

We have been doing most of [the songwrting] separately, but we want to actually start setting up and jamming as a whole band and writing because it’s so easy to get sucked into your own world when you are working on the computer. You just sit on the couch with headphones on and work on something for 10-14 hours a day, and then you get to the point where you can’t even tell if it’s good or not anymore. You have heard it so many times that you make something that you think sounds really awesome but it ends up to really suck. So I think it would be nice to go home and for everyone to set their computers together and speakers together and start forming songs as a traditional rock band, that’s my goal.

Being on the road is tough, especially when writing new material. I saw a recent video posted on your blog called “Van Sessions-The Waiting Time,” featuring the B-Side track “It’s Supposed to Be”.



How are you able to do that in a van?

Yeah, that’s the first song we ever wrote. The funny thing about the video is that you can’t see what anybody is doing the way the camera is set up. We didn’t do that on purpose—we just didn’t really know how to place the camera and just did it all in one take. I actually have a computer and a sampler that I hook into my computer and I’m using a little midi controller on my lap to trigger different drumbeats and other samples. Kris has an acoustic guitar, Jesse has a synth, and Patrick has a really old, cheap Casio keyboard like one you have as a kid that he was playing. Then we just have one little mixer that we plug into our stereo, and so that is just the Van stereo that you are hearing the music come out of. We did the song like that because we do like a down tempo quiet set for smaller stuff, and we didn’t have time to practice it, so we were literally just practicing it in the van on the way to the show. It was pretty fun. It is just something really cool that we can do when we are driving for 10+ hours a day and we can just plug in a computer and a synth and jam out.

How is the current PacSun tour going for you guys? I imagine it is a bit of a different crowd than you’re used to. How is it different from any other tour you’ve done?

The funny thing is, when we started as a band, we didn’t think that we would be playing these kinds of tours as much. Not that we are bummed on it or anything, we have actually been excited that this crowd has accepted us. We did Warped Tour; we opened for two hardcore bands, Underoath and Norma Jean, and we have toured with Kill Hannah. It has just gotten to the point where we listen to so much music across the board that we don’t really care, we’re just stoked that anybody likes it. And if we are going to play on more of a “screamo” tour and kids rock, then cool, lets do it!

In your IPS Cribs video, I noticed the awesome house you guys all live in together. Looks pretty cramped!



Do you guys ever just get super pissed off at each other? On the road as well, spending every single day with the same people over and over again— how do you keep things interesting?

Jared: Jesse sleeps in the studio, Kris sleeps in this little back room, Patrick sleeps in the living room and I actually don’t stay there. Ha, my mom lives about two miles away so I stay at my mom’s house, and it’s funny because it’s really not that bad. Any other human being would look at this situation with them not being in it, including myself, and just think that it is fucking creepy, who would want to do this? Even your spouse, like if you get married people don’t even spend that much time together. We are like beyond married to each other. I don’t know why, I guess we are just the right four dudes…we just don’t get crazy. We have never had a fight or serious argument. I mean we can get snippy with each other in the van like “dude, your fuckin’ feet stink,” or stuff like that. When we go home, we are definitely very respectful of our personal time. Everyone kind of does their own thing during the day but at night we sort of have this unspoken “hang time” at like 9 or 10 at night and then party or jam out.

What are some of your favorite cities to tour in and why? Any great restaurants or locations you have come across over the years that have really stuck with you?

You know it is really tough because in America a lot of cities feel the same. There are a few that stand out though; I really like New York and Los Angeles. Those are just amazing cities to play. Man, the United States is tough! I love Austin, and I love eating and everyone in Austin loves to eat. You don’t understand, most of my life consists of either eating food, thinking about food, or talking about food or watching The Food Network. I know the cities by food. We are in Des Moines, Iowa today and there is this place that only serves Chicago Italian Beef Sandwiches. A big favorite of mine would be In and Out Burger on the west coast.

What do you like to do on a day off?

Lately we have been trying to do stuff. The first couple years you are in a band it is kind of tough to do things because money is so tight and you get like 10 bucks a day for food. I mean we try to do things, but to be honest being in one place for a period of time is really relaxing. A great example is yesterday when we had a day off in Kansas City, Missouri and I didn’t even leave the hotel till six o’clock at night. It was awesome. I slept all day and watched “Inglorious Bastards” and then I just hung out and was on the computer for a while. I wasn’t even bummed out or feeling lazy, I was honestly having a great time and loving life.

What are some of your favorite remixes that other artists have done with your tracks? Do any of these give you inspiration?

Definitely the NumberNin6 remix of “Last Night In Brooklyn". And also the Plus Move remix of “Obsession".

What are some bands currently out there that you cannot live without?

Ah! My gosh I love Paper Route. They are seriously amazing. I am a super fan. I am literally a Paper Route super fan. I know every word, I have every album, they are fucking incredible. That’s really a band that I have no doubt in my mind that they will be successful on some level, they are amazing musicians and great songwriters. I am also pretty into City and Color. And also the DJ Collective Glitch Mob, that’s like what I want to do, I wasn’t really into electronic music until the band got going, I am like the least knowledgeable person in the band as far as electronics go but I am still intrigued by it. I had just heard of Glitch Mob a few months back and now I am just obsessed, like I want to twist knobs all day. I don’t even want to play drums anymore, I just want to twist knobs!!!!

Finally, perhaps some of you thought when you were youngsters that you would be doing something else with your life. If you had to pick one other career path, maybe a childhood dream, what would it be and why?

Some of the other guys would probably have a better answer, honestly I really don’t know. I have been playing the drums since I was 5 years old and my dad had always been in bands and since I was old enough to remember I would help him unload his truck and set up guitars and things like that. I’ve always been in music, so I really have just always wanted to be in a band. But there is something—building stuff. The house we live in I own, and when we bought it, it was in terrible condition and I started to fix it up and I got really into carpentry. I could be an interior decorator!