By Valentina Simon

Based out of Wynwood, Miami’s creative nerve center, Krisp burst onto the scene unannounced and has already received plenty of well-deserved recognition. With the upcoming release of a couple new tracks, 2012 looks even more promising than 2011 for the local indietronic band. The air is feeling extra krispy this holiday season.

Our friends at Alley Times caught up with the guys at their studio on a recent Autumn evening to talk about their (mis)adventures and the crazy awesome year they’ve had.

The Band

Why the name Krisp?

Alex: Anything we would listen to that was fresh, that was new, we would call it krisp, and thats how we want all of our music to sound – fresh and krsip.

Jason: We didn’t give two shits when Chido said this is Krisp. We had to have a name and that is what was thrown out there at the time. 

When did you get together with Krisp and why?

Juan: Krisp got together a year ago and its something that just happened. We knew each other for a bunch of years and we were always friends, but we never played with each other, it just happened. 

The group started as a trio, who was apart of that?

Juan: At the beginning it was Jason, Alex, and me. Then came Carlos (aka Charlie Woods). We recorded a demo and we were like, Wow, we need some synth in this! We gave the songs to Charlie and he just put some stuff on top of it, we were just like, Wow! This is what we were missing! And we just called him up to be apart of the band. 

How many shows have you guys played since it’s the four of you?

Juan:  Honestly, all the big ones we were playing, even when Charlie wasn’t a part of the band, we would always call him to play the synth he added. So even when we started playing, Charlie Woods would be there.

Influences as far as music is concerned?

Alex: Metromony, we are not trying to copy them but we love their sound. 

Juan: That one goes for all of us.

How has your style changed?

Alex: I started listening to that indie electronic stuff. The first time I ever heard MGMT, Hot Chip, LCD Soundsystem, I loved that sound, and I was like, Holly Shit! I would write on a little booklet I had the names of bands and titles of tracks. When I met Charlie he was listening to the same kind of stuff. When we were at this cover band. I asked, Have you heard these guys? he said, Yeah, I love those guys! Even though at the time we were playing Alice in Chains, and Guns N’ Roses. It was fun to play, but the music that we loved was something completely different. We already had the same influences, and that is kind of how we went off that direction.

The Music

Krisp combines indie rock, chill wave, and electro dance elements creating a blend of 80’s inspired synth lines, disco beats, and trendy bass lines topped with subtle melodies. We asked the band to share a couple of tracks with you, and here they are. First up, When You Coming Home, inspired by Jason’s mother’s nagging during early band practice.

When you Coming Home by Krisp

Their latest track, Will You Tell Me, is about “a certain someone saying they wanted us to only play shows at their club and if we played anywhere else he wouldn’t let us play at his club, so we are just poking fun at that.” 

Will You Tell Me by Krisp

The Comic Tales

Juan: Funny stories man….

Charlie: I don’t know, I can’t really remember any right now.

Jason: Yo estoy pensando en el mio, mirá, no shit!

Alex: I’ll tell you a funny story. You guys are fucking idiots…

I used to be married and I would lie to my wife and tell her I was going to practice. I would take a change of clothes in my base guitar case. I had to tell her I was practicing, so I would show up at practice and we would practice but we would practice for like an hour and then we would go out to The Vagabond or wherever. Right?

So as soon as I was done, I would open up my base case and I have my change of clothes inside. They would fucking crack up, the funniest story about that…

My ex called Charlie Woods up at like 6am following the night that we went out, and she was like, Oh Charlie, where is Alejandro? Have you seen him? And I had told her that we were practicing all night , this was before this was a band, this was when we were still a trio.  He responded, No, I don’t know, I haven’t seen him, so she started interrogating, Weren’t you guys practicing? Charlie freaked out,  Ahhh… I gotta go bye and hung up on her.  When I got home…I am now divorced.

And that’s my story.

Jason: I got a story! We used to play, when we first started, and Charlie started to come in to the band playing the synth, right after the trio, we started doing the events. We did the Red Door Festival out in Kendall, it was at an acre house.

Alex: It was at my cousin’s house

Jason: Yeah, Chido’s cousin’s house, we partied over there, we had a sound system, we had beer, art raffle, and we were about to start playing at it was the second concert Charlie was going to play and he would play the synth, and when it was time to get up on stage, we were like lets go, and we were like, Where is Charly? Where is Woods at? So we started paging Woods up, we would be calling him up on the cellphone he wouldn’t answer. Everybody was be looking for him, we were  worried sick and at the end of the night we spotted him in the parking lot passed out in his car wasted. So we did play without him, but we were really worried.

Alex: We were calling him up on the microphone,  has anybody seen Charlie Woods?

Juan: We thought he got arrested.

Jason: We thought he got arrested, man!

Alex: At the moment he only had one song to play with us, When You Coming home, and the rest of the time he would go and sit on the side. The one song he had to play he couldn’t do it, he was throwing up on the side of a car somewhere in the parking lot. He was super stoned and super drunk and probably had a couple pills …

Charlie: I was totally high and drunk, and that’s it, nothing about the pills, no no no.

For full interview, including more personal deets on the members and band photos, pick up a free copy of the Alley Times Issue 4.

The Show

On October 21, Krisp performed live at The Vagabond backed by the club’s state of the art Funktion One Sound System. The show was followed with encore performances at Bardot in November, The Electric Pickle in early December, and the band is hitting the road in early 2012 with a show in Ft. Lauderdale.

But first, Krisp returns to The Vagabond’s main stage on Friday, December 23 for a very special edition of Fridays at The Vagabond in collusion with Sweat Records.

Leave the guys a comment and tell them why you should win a pair of tickets to their show.