This past Tuesday (August 24), California dance punks !!! released their fourth LP, Strange Weather, Isn't It?, via Warp. Speaking with Exclaim!, frontman Nic Offer explains the origin of the album title and points out that it isn't a reference to the Hollywood blockbuster Inception.
"Did you notice that Leonardo DiCaprio said, 'strange weather, isn't it?'" Offer asks. He then goes on to explain his confusion and excitement towards the link that his band now shares with a highly grossing film.
"It was really weird," he says. "I was with Raphael, our new bass player, and we both just jumped back. We looked at each other like, 'what the fuck?' It was actually from another movie, and then it was in this movie, and it's really prominent. It's a part where everything's getting weird in the bar or something and he walks up to someone and says, 'strange weather, isn't it?'"
Offer says that the band took the album title from Kar Wai Wong's 2000 film, In the Mood for Love, because it was symbolic for awkward and uncomfortable moments. To the musician, it addresses the fact that the band have been through a lot since 2007's Myth Takes; their previous drummer, Jerry Fuchs, died in an elevator accident in 2009 and they ended up losing three other members while making the album, but gained new ones.
"It's where everything's changed between this couple," he says of In the Mood for Love. "But when they run into each other on a rainy street, there's so much that they need to address, but they don't even know where to begin, so instead he just says, 'strange weather, isn't it?' So that's how we felt after this much time with everything changing, even trying to put it into perspective just wasn't going to make sense, so we just wanted to say, 'strange weather, isn't it?' But maybe that saying was a reflection of that's just all it is, just the weather. It's just how it goes."
As previously reported, !!! have lined up a lengthy worldwide tour in support of Strange Weather, Isn't It? and will play Toronto's Lee's Palace on September 26. The full list of dates is below.
Tour Dates:
9/4 Los Angeles, CA - FYF Festival
9/5 Tempe, AZ - The Clubhouse
9/6 Tucson, AZ - Club Congress
9/7 Santa Fe, NM - Corazon
9/9 Denver, CO - The Blue Bird Theater
9/10 Boulder, CO - Fox Theater
9/11 Salt Lake City, UT - Club Sound
9/13 Sacramento, CA - Harlow's
9/22 Washington, DC - Black Cat
9/23 Boston, MA - Royale Boston
9/24 Northampton, MA - Pearl Street
9/25 Lincoln, NH - The Nor'easter
9/26 Toronto, ON - Lee's Palace
9/28 Ann Arbor, MI - the Blind Pig
9/29 Chicago, IL - The Bottom Lounge
9/30 Louisville, KY - Headliners
10/1 Cleveland, OH - Beachland Ballroom
10/9 Paris, France - Factory © Festival d'Ile de France, La Cigale
10/16 San Francisco, CA - Treasure Island Music Festival
10/29 Manchester, UK - Manchester Academy II
10/30 Glasgow, UK - Classic Grand
11/1 Leeds, UK - The Cockpit
11/2 Bristol, UK - Anson Rooms
11/3 Brighton. UK - Concorde II
11/4 London, UK - Koko
11/5 Orleans, France â Astrolabe
11/6 Bordeaux, France - Le Rocher de Palmer
11/8 Madrid, Spain - Riviera
11/9 Lisbon, Portugal - Lux Club
11/10 Oporto, Portugal - Sa Da Bandeira
11/12 Barcelona, Spain - San Jordi
11/13 Marseille, France - Cabaret Aleatoire
11/15 Milan, Italy - Magazzini Generali
11/16 Florence, Italy - Auditorium Flog
11/17 Lausanne, Swtizlerand - Les Docks
11/18 Munich, Germany - Muffathalle
11/19 Berlin, Germany - Festal
11/23 Malmo, Sweden - KB
11/24 Stockholm, Sweden - Strand
11/26 Cologne, Germany - Gebaude 9
11/27 Hamburg, Germany - U&G
11/28 Amsterdam, Holland - Trouw
11/29 Brussels, Belgium - Botanique Orangerie
11/30 Rockhal, Luxembourg - Box
"Did you notice that Leonardo DiCaprio said, 'strange weather, isn't it?'" Offer asks. He then goes on to explain his confusion and excitement towards the link that his band now shares with a highly grossing film.
"It was really weird," he says. "I was with Raphael, our new bass player, and we both just jumped back. We looked at each other like, 'what the fuck?' It was actually from another movie, and then it was in this movie, and it's really prominent. It's a part where everything's getting weird in the bar or something and he walks up to someone and says, 'strange weather, isn't it?'"
Offer says that the band took the album title from Kar Wai Wong's 2000 film, In the Mood for Love, because it was symbolic for awkward and uncomfortable moments. To the musician, it addresses the fact that the band have been through a lot since 2007's Myth Takes; their previous drummer, Jerry Fuchs, died in an elevator accident in 2009 and they ended up losing three other members while making the album, but gained new ones.
"It's where everything's changed between this couple," he says of In the Mood for Love. "But when they run into each other on a rainy street, there's so much that they need to address, but they don't even know where to begin, so instead he just says, 'strange weather, isn't it?' So that's how we felt after this much time with everything changing, even trying to put it into perspective just wasn't going to make sense, so we just wanted to say, 'strange weather, isn't it?' But maybe that saying was a reflection of that's just all it is, just the weather. It's just how it goes."
As previously reported, !!! have lined up a lengthy worldwide tour in support of Strange Weather, Isn't It? and will play Toronto's Lee's Palace on September 26. The full list of dates is below.
Tour Dates:
9/4 Los Angeles, CA - FYF Festival
9/5 Tempe, AZ - The Clubhouse
9/6 Tucson, AZ - Club Congress
9/7 Santa Fe, NM - Corazon
9/9 Denver, CO - The Blue Bird Theater
9/10 Boulder, CO - Fox Theater
9/11 Salt Lake City, UT - Club Sound
9/13 Sacramento, CA - Harlow's
9/22 Washington, DC - Black Cat
9/23 Boston, MA - Royale Boston
9/24 Northampton, MA - Pearl Street
9/25 Lincoln, NH - The Nor'easter
9/26 Toronto, ON - Lee's Palace
9/28 Ann Arbor, MI - the Blind Pig
9/29 Chicago, IL - The Bottom Lounge
9/30 Louisville, KY - Headliners
10/1 Cleveland, OH - Beachland Ballroom
10/9 Paris, France - Factory © Festival d'Ile de France, La Cigale
10/16 San Francisco, CA - Treasure Island Music Festival
10/29 Manchester, UK - Manchester Academy II
10/30 Glasgow, UK - Classic Grand
11/1 Leeds, UK - The Cockpit
11/2 Bristol, UK - Anson Rooms
11/3 Brighton. UK - Concorde II
11/4 London, UK - Koko
11/5 Orleans, France â Astrolabe
11/6 Bordeaux, France - Le Rocher de Palmer
11/8 Madrid, Spain - Riviera
11/9 Lisbon, Portugal - Lux Club
11/10 Oporto, Portugal - Sa Da Bandeira
11/12 Barcelona, Spain - San Jordi
11/13 Marseille, France - Cabaret Aleatoire
11/15 Milan, Italy - Magazzini Generali
11/16 Florence, Italy - Auditorium Flog
11/17 Lausanne, Swtizlerand - Les Docks
11/18 Munich, Germany - Muffathalle
11/19 Berlin, Germany - Festal
11/23 Malmo, Sweden - KB
11/24 Stockholm, Sweden - Strand
11/26 Cologne, Germany - Gebaude 9
11/27 Hamburg, Germany - U&G
11/28 Amsterdam, Holland - Trouw
11/29 Brussels, Belgium - Botanique Orangerie
11/30 Rockhal, Luxembourg - Box
