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This week, I posed my "If I Dropped By..." question to the band Imperial Railway. They're out of the Pittsburgh area. I spent some time in Pittsburgh so I thought hey, we must be simpatico or homies or something...how about we get to know them? So, I hypothetically stopped by the homes of Dave Beshero, Ryan Matteo, Sean Atkins and Michael Duncan. This is what I learned.
Quirky NY Chick (QNYC): ... and brought a friend who didn't know your music, what song of yours would you play for them and why?
Dave Beshero (DB): The Nest. It's the song I wanted to write when I was 15. I think lyrically, it's the best I'll ever write as it means the most to me.
Sean Atkins (SA): Twin Sisters - because it's my favorite song by us and I think it shows what we do best as a group - everyone has a part in it.
Ryan Matteo (RM): I'd have to go with You are the Blood. It's a really simple and to-the-point song that covers all of the dynamics of our sound pretty well along with clever lyrics to back it up.
Michael Duncan (MD): Twin Sisters. It's our most diverse, and it has a really epic/climactic ending that's really fun to play live.
(QNYC): ... what song or album would you feel I needed to hear before I left?
(DB): The Road by The Finches. No particular reason other than I've been listening to that song a lot recently for some reason.
(SA): Ryan Adams' Heartbreaker.
(RM): Midtown's "Forget What You Know". It's NOTHING like our bands direction but it's one of those albums that is so blunt in the writing and the guitar parts are all amazing. Of course Gabe (lead singer of Midtown) broke up shortly after it's release and took down the rest of the band with him to do that whole Cobra Starship thing. So unfortunate.
(MD): I'm listening to The Xx's self titled a lot lately. So I'd probably make you listen to "Islands" 2548 times. Something about the simplicity of their music, but it's executed so well.
(QNYC): ... would you proudly display the cheesy music in your collection or pretend someone left it by mistake?
(DB): As proud as I would be to show you my video game collection or talk to you about my love for cats. Did you know if a cat blinks at you, it basically means "I love you?" Crazy.
(SA): Proudly display. They're like monuments to a different side of me.
(RM): Proudly display. I would actually glue it to your forehead. (Editor's note: maybe we could forgo the whole glue to the head thing and just listen to it!)
(MD): Proud! I have Ringo Starr's Rotogravure LP sitting in a bin by our fireplace.
(QNYC): ... cool, quirky or L7?
(DB): quirky
(SA): L7
(RM): L8
(MD): Quirky. Get weird.
(QNYC): ... toast or bagel?
(DB): Pita bread
(SA): bagel
(RM): Texas Toast. The kind from Texas. I like garlic.
(MD): Toast. Whole wheat with butter and strawberry jam.
(QNYC): ... what's one thing you must have in your refrigerator at all times?
(DB): Orange juice for smoothies or for sneaking drinks directly from the carton when my girlfriend isn't watching. She hates that.
(SA): Soy milk for the Life cereal I must have in my cupboard at all times. Also, grape jam for when I run out of food (pb&j time).
(RM): Shelves. Otherwise everything's just going to pile up and I don't want to sort through that when I'm hungry.
(MD): Beer. Great Lakes, Bell's or Magic Hat.
# # #
Quirky NY Chick (QNYC): ... and brought a friend who didn't know your music, what song of yours would you play for them and why?
Dave Beshero (DB): The Nest. It's the song I wanted to write when I was 15. I think lyrically, it's the best I'll ever write as it means the most to me.
Sean Atkins (SA): Twin Sisters - because it's my favorite song by us and I think it shows what we do best as a group - everyone has a part in it.
Ryan Matteo (RM): I'd have to go with You are the Blood. It's a really simple and to-the-point song that covers all of the dynamics of our sound pretty well along with clever lyrics to back it up.
Michael Duncan (MD): Twin Sisters. It's our most diverse, and it has a really epic/climactic ending that's really fun to play live.
(QNYC): ... what song or album would you feel I needed to hear before I left?
(DB): The Road by The Finches. No particular reason other than I've been listening to that song a lot recently for some reason.
(SA): Ryan Adams' Heartbreaker.
(RM): Midtown's "Forget What You Know". It's NOTHING like our bands direction but it's one of those albums that is so blunt in the writing and the guitar parts are all amazing. Of course Gabe (lead singer of Midtown) broke up shortly after it's release and took down the rest of the band with him to do that whole Cobra Starship thing. So unfortunate.
(MD): I'm listening to The Xx's self titled a lot lately. So I'd probably make you listen to "Islands" 2548 times. Something about the simplicity of their music, but it's executed so well.
(QNYC): ... would you proudly display the cheesy music in your collection or pretend someone left it by mistake?
(DB): As proud as I would be to show you my video game collection or talk to you about my love for cats. Did you know if a cat blinks at you, it basically means "I love you?" Crazy.
(SA): Proudly display. They're like monuments to a different side of me.
(RM): Proudly display. I would actually glue it to your forehead. (Editor's note: maybe we could forgo the whole glue to the head thing and just listen to it!)
(MD): Proud! I have Ringo Starr's Rotogravure LP sitting in a bin by our fireplace.
(QNYC): ... cool, quirky or L7?
(DB): quirky
(SA): L7
(RM): L8
(MD): Quirky. Get weird.
(QNYC): ... toast or bagel?
(DB): Pita bread
(SA): bagel
(RM): Texas Toast. The kind from Texas. I like garlic.
(MD): Toast. Whole wheat with butter and strawberry jam.
(QNYC): ... what's one thing you must have in your refrigerator at all times?
(DB): Orange juice for smoothies or for sneaking drinks directly from the carton when my girlfriend isn't watching. She hates that.
(SA): Soy milk for the Life cereal I must have in my cupboard at all times. Also, grape jam for when I run out of food (pb&j time).
(RM): Shelves. Otherwise everything's just going to pile up and I don't want to sort through that when I'm hungry.
(MD): Beer. Great Lakes, Bell's or Magic Hat.
Imperial Railway released their album A Young Cliff Diver in February. Check out a track from the album below.
