Just like regular music, only free.

Featured on our TADA Sampler this month is Your Snore, a track from those uber-friendly purveyors of Pajama Pop, Lullatone. Following our recent review of their excellent Lullatone Presents the Bedtime Beat, we sat down with Shawn James Seymour, the male half of the married duo, for a chat about music, bathing and washing up. Interested in learning the secrets of life as a musical visionary? Read on...

"Pajama Pop"... what's that all about?

When people found out we were in a band, the first question they would always ask was what kind of music we played. Normally it is hard to say because no one wants limit their sound to any certain genre. But, we thought if we just made up our own genre name we would never have that problem again.

You're married to your musical partner. Isn't that a recipe for
disaster, or are you the latter-day John & Yoko?

I hope we can be more like the next Charles and Ray Eames. They were married and made so many wonderful projects together in their home studio. Their films are so incredible!

What's a typical day like in the Lullatone household? Is it music,
music, music, or do you actually live like a normal couple?

Actually, music is just a small percent of what we are usually doing. A lot of cooking goes on. We both really love food, and eating, and trying new stuff. So our daily life involves a lot of cooking and dishes, a lot of taking photos, making illustrations, making some little movies, taking walks, and now making some homemade instruments for a TV show I am doing every week here. It seems like we are working on some type of something every day. But, we still have free time for watching films, going to cafes, growing tomatoes, baking bread, having BBQs and taking long baths!

Which one washes, and which dries up?

The one who didn’t cook has to wash up.

The Bathtime Beat seems to be amongst your most popular tracks to date. Can you talk us through its creation, or is that giving too much away?

We both soak in the tub a lot. It is a great place to let your ideas come out. Just sitting and doing nothing can be so productive. But I can get a bit antsy at times, so I usually start splashing out some drumbeats anytime I am in there for more than 40 minutes. I had been wanting to use that in a song for so many years, and then finally I made the perfect track to drop it on.

There seems to be a scene in Japan for the kind of music you create, what with Tenniscoats and their ilk doing so well. Do you feel well looked-after here, or did you get similar treatment in the States?

We are lucky to have really awesome, nice fans in so many places. Everyday I get a mail from somewhere different, which is so exciting! I hope our melodies can spread all over the globe. The internet is so great! About shows, when we toured in America it was great. Same with here and Australia. Everywhere is awesome! As far as scenes, I don’t think that really applies to us so much because we play with all kinds of bands like pop, post rock, punk… and that is just the Ps (like pajama pop). But, in Japan it is definitely easy to be in a weird band I think.

For someone coming to your genre fresh, what would you recommend as a next listening step, after having listened to your entire back-catalogue, of course.

You should check out our friends’ band, Jonnoson. We don’t really sound alike, but they are so great! Or if you listen to the soundtrack to every Wes Anderson movie all of the time, then you will be living just like us! Just imagine everything around you is happening in slow motion.

Thanks for your time Shawn.

Thanks!

Lullatone are featured on our free download, TADA Sampler Volume Four. Click here for more information.

Further information on Lullatone can be found on their official website.