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Selebrities. Jer Robert Paulin

Publicat in: 23.02.2012, 06:16AM
Autor: Richard Constantinidi
Comentarii: 0
Vizualizari: 2604
Etichete: Brooklyn, Delusions, Edmond Lenarth, Jer Robert Paulin, Ladies Man Effect, Maria Usbeck, Max Peterson, New Wave, Selebrities, Slow Magic, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, Synthpop, The Independent Music Resistance, Time

Ladies Man Effect, the debut EP by Brooklyn-based Selebrities is compared to a sunset beach drive to an 80's New York goth club. Synthpop and New Wave fans should try out Selebrities.
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Can't make up my mind

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You don’t have to dip far into music history to find the ingredients of Selebrities nostalgic pop. It’s very New Order and it’s a bit Altered Images, but thousands of bands rip off these same influences and barely any make it sound this fresh.

- VICE

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Soon to perform its stage debut in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, we emailed the band and

Jer Robert Paulin (Guitar / Bass / synth) took the time to answer the CZB Interview.

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RiCo for CZB: How did you get together and decide to form the band?

Jer Robert Paulin (Guitar / Bass / synth, Selebrities): While attending art school, me and Maria met and attended many shows together. One day we decided to start playing music. The early demos of Time and Audition were made.

A few years later in New York, I met Max at work. Max then re-produced these demos and created some serious jams. So Selebrities was born, and the band exists due to our passion and love for music.

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CZB: What bands did you play in before Selebrities?

Jer Robert Paulin (Selebrities): The only one who played in a band before was Max, while he was in high school.

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CZB: What does Selebrities mean for you?

Jer Robert Paulin (Selebrities): The S stands for equality; we want people to admire us but also feel like they can be our friends.

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CZB: Would you prefer to work in a DIY fashion and promote your music as an independent through the Internet or will you try to aim at a major record company contract - and why?

Jer Robert Paulin (Selebrities): The success that we've had by doing it on our own has been pretty great. We will continue on this route but possibly consider a bigger picture if it fits with what we are then looking for.

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CZB: How did your music expand into the voguish summertime goth sound - who comes up with the melody lines and who writes the lyrics?

Jer Robert Paulin (Selebrities): Maria writes a majority of the lyrics, and I help out as well. The vocal melodies are also done by Maria.

The Ladies Man Effect EP has this essence of fun, brightness that meets sadness and darkness. A guy who wrote our bio had used the term Voguish Summertime Goth and we thought that was the perfect description of our music.

We are evolving constantly from that, but staying true to it as well.

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CZB: Are the people in the Time video your friends and is this a home video from one of your birthday parties?

Jer Robert Paulin (Selebrities): Yeah that is an unofficial video that was made by one of our fans. We do not know any of the people in it. I'm sure that they had a blast at that party though!

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CZB: How did you get invited to gig at the first ever Beauty & the Beats festival for the release of the 2012 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in Las Vegas and what new contacts have you made by playing there?

Jer Robert Paulin (Selebrities): We were requested to play after we agreed they could use Time for one of their videos.

It sounded like a great opportunity and Max and I have never been to Vegas. I guess it all started with the Sports Illustrated team's love for Time; they told us they played it in the office all time.

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CZB: What is your relationship to Slow Magic? How did you hook up and decide to tour Europe together?

Jer Robert Paulin (Selebrities): An European Booking Agency put us together; we love his music so it feels like a perfect fit for a great tour.

Can't wait to meet him.

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CZB: How come your European Tour kicks off in Romania?

Jer Robert Paulin (Selebrities): Why not? Actually this was totally out of our hands in terms of planning. But it's so exciting to get to play Romania. It's a great, beautiful and very interesting country.

Plus isn't it vampire hunting season in Transylvania?

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CZB: What were you doing when you found out - and how did you feel about what was happening on 9/11?

Jer Robert Paulin (Selebrities): We did not live in New York at the time, but any act of violence and destruction, not just on our land but anywhere is very sad. It's was scary though and it made us feel unsafe for the first time, living in the US.

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Our sincere thanks going out to Edmond Lenarth from The Independent Music Resistance in Cluj, and Jer from Selebrities for their valued time and support.

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