We were fortuante to catch up with CMI favorite the Soft Pack (fka The Muslims) via email after their show in D.C. at the Black Cat with Friendly Fires and White Lies. They are currently on the NME tour for the next couple weeks, and you can find tour dates here.

Being the nerdy folks we are, we fired 10 questions random at the band, that we figured would be some good things to know, here’s is what the Soft Pack’s drummer Ben had to say.

1. What are your current favorite songs/records? Lately, we’ve all been obsessed by Warren Zevon’s Excitable Boy album. It’s always a good thing to get into what your cohorts are into at the moment, so you are on the same page. We are also huge fans of the new Obits record–great band all around; sounds amazing.   
2. What are your favorite late night and early morning records?  Lately, I have been enjoying a lot of late seventies David Bowie at the wee hours.  It’s great to listen to when you get home from a bar, but aren’t ready to sleep yet.  For the morning, I would go with something absolutely catchy and easy to digest like the La’s or Cast.  I love that proto–Britpop stuff a lot.
   
3. Top 5 music related things at the moment:    Well, here goes:
   1. Seeing Obits play live–absolutely enthralling and just plain fucking brilliant.
   2. The debut record by a band called The Browns–fantastic!!
   3. Tijuana Panthers–incredible band from Long Beach, CA.  Might just be the best band I know right now.
   4. We just bought a new keyboard.  We’re looking forward to employing that guy on our new record.
   5. I Am the Cosmos by Chris Bell. You have to hear this record.  I love Big Star, but this is beyond that by leaps and bounds.  Possibly changes the way I’ve listened to music this year???
4. You guys are currently on the NME tour, and when I saw you, you played with Friendly Fires, and White Lies  – not to state the obvious but that seemed like a pretty big sylistic juxtaposition between you and your  tourmates – how did that come together? Well, sometimes bands are paired up that don’t seem like an obvious match.  I believe all three of our bands were written up in NME as “bands to watch,” so that might have a large part in it.  All of these guys are very hard working and really nice on top of that.  I think the main idea behind the tour was to show some new bands playing new music. So far, the response for all three has been great for everyone.  Hopefully, all three bands give something unique to everyone who comes to the shows.  I’ve always liked those eclectic line ups anyway, personally.  
5. How is music determined in the van? Speaking as the only one in the band who doesn’t drive (I’m lame as fuck, I know), I can only say that anyone who mans the wheel is responsible for what gets played.  Anybody who takes that duty on deserves whatever they want.  
6. What foods on the road to the crave/avoid? Our hometown of San Diego has the most incredible Mexican food I’ve ever had.  I miss it regularly, but it’s very hard to get (given that we live in Los Angeles now).  If I could get my fix of that every couple of days, that would be amazing.  However, we have to deal with substandard imitations throughout the country.  In the avoid category, I would say anything that is readily available at a truck stop.  That is the unfortunate reality of life in a touring band though.  More often than not, you eat complete garbage.  How many nights have we had Doritos for dinner?  
7. If you could be a fictional character, who/what would you be? I’d probably go with my default of Indiana Jones.  What a badass.  I was admiring a pinball game based on the movies last night.  Kind of a sexy fool.  
8. If you traveled back in time would you mess with stuff, or leave it alone? This is assuming that by simply going back would not implicitly mess  it up. What fun would it be to leave it alone?  I remember a sketch on the show Upright Citizen’s Brigade about traveling back in time to “shove Jesus.”  I would love to shove that guy.  Maybe give him the good ol’ atomic wedgie while I’m at it.  
9. I realize that with Twilight movie, vampires are all the rage, but at CMI, we’re keepin’ it street and sticking with ghosts as the cool thing. So what’s your take, ghosts – awesome, fake, awesomely fake? I kind of like those shows about haunted houses.  I really don’t like the shit where the people have that Smashing Pumpkins camera attached to them and just scream at nothing in night vision.  Gimme a break.  I love to listen to Art Bell though.  It’s kind of entertaining when people have those recordings of ghosts talking smack that only show up on tape recorders.  There’s a real name for it, but I can’t think of it right now.  Ghost Hunters is a great show too.  I watched that all the time with my Mom.  
10.  LT renegotiated his contract freeing up $2.5 million in cap space – how are you feeling about the Chargers next year? (Note: at least half of the contributors to this site are rabid Steelers fans) Chargers are the best.  There have been rumors that they may be leaving San Diego soon, but I’ll believe it when I see it.  I’m not really a massive sports fan (or much of a fan at all), but I gotta support my hometown team.  I think the Chargers would really benefit from LT being able to play.  I know that guy was in the hurt locker for a while.  Let’s just be outrageous and say they’re gonna destroy everyone else.

So there you have it, despite thinking the Chargers will win it all we still love the Soft Pack, and you should probably go pick up their record, and see them live too - as the concert experience will reveal an entirely new dimension to the bass line on “Right and Wrong.”

The Soft Pack – Right and Wrong

Attention all of you around the Greater DC area, this has just been announced: Blake Schwarzenbach is coming to DC to jaw (get it?) with admirers, critics, et al.

For those of you unfamiliar with the man, he was responsible for the seminal 90′s band Jawbreaker, as well as Jets to Brazil and the new Thorns of Life. 

This will all be going down at Bourbon (2322 18th Street NW) with doors at 9pm, and the interview/Q&A kicking off at 10. For more details check out the link above.

I think he should play songs, specifically these:

I miss the 90′s – probably far too much for my own good.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMtEDzOfwOQ[/youtube]

There are no cities that have shaped my musical taste more than Washington, DC . This may seem odd since I grew up in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, and I am too young have experienced the initial punk explosion with Teen Idles and Bad Brains or the glory of Revolution Summer. Either way, Dischord has provided a fair portion of my life’s soundtrack. When I moved here in September, it seemed like the District was in a bit of a musical lull, but it was still cool seeing Ian MacKaye at shows (I am still astonished to find out he is a real person, it was like when you ran into your high school math teacher at the grocery store).

Anyhow if last Wednesday is to believed, it looks like the District is on the rebound - Title Tracks, Edie Sedgwick, and Imperial China at the Black Cat’s Backstage. Here’s the run down:

Edie Sedgwick is not a zombie/reincarnate version of the Warhol actress from the 70′s, but rather the cross-dressing alter-ego of Justin Moyer (ex Antelope, El-Guapo/Supersystem).  Moyer manages to make savvy social insight by digesting Entertainment Weekly into minimalistic pop-songs. Taking the stage with a 3 piece girl band, Moyer/Sedgwick offered up a fuller sounding rendition of tracks from his newest record, “Things are Getting Sinister and Sinister.” My favorite track – “Mary-Kate Olson,” the weight countdown is priceless.

Title Tracks is John Davis’ (ex Q and Not U, Georgie James) latest adventure, and it picks up where Georgie James left off. Davis is well-schooled in hook construction, and offers class guitar pop songs rich in the traditions of Elvis Costello and The Jam. Between song banter reveals that a single and album are due out later this year. Keep your eyes out for those, the track “Piles of Paper” is almost too catchy for its own good.

Imperial China offered a blend of experimental/art rock that combined the angularity bands like Abe Vigoda and combined it will the swelling and lush dynamics of bands like Explosions in the Sky. You should probably do yourself a favor and visit the MySpace site and get a copy of their record. Seriously go ahead, this website will be here when you get back.