David & Olivia
Austin, TX // SXSW
Interview by Jordan Fischels
Q: Is this your first time playing SXSW?
A: [Olivia] It’s my first time. He’s been here before.
[David] My second. I’ve been here before with another project, but yeah this is our first time together.
Q: How has the experience been treating you?
A: [Olivia] It’s been great. It’s so fun. He has family here, we get to mingle, we get to get out and see a lot of shows.
Q: I read that your first tour was playing wineries and wine bars along the west coast – how has your experience at SXSW differed from that first tour?
A: Well it’s actually pretty similar. We still play a lot of wineries and wine bars. They offer an audience that likes our type of music. You’re in a natural kind of organic setting at wineries and stuff in California up and down the coast, and it really fits our music. It wouldn’t work for a metal band, but it works for us. [Laughs.]
Q: Your debut album, On The Sea, is slated to be released in May of this year. Is there anything you can tell us about it?
A: [David] Yes, May 14th. It’s a lot of fun. It’s a real tight-knit group of 6 songs that range anywhere from gospel, to country, to folk.
[Olivia] For me, it was recorded during a very tumultuous time and the songs were written during a lot of emotional times for me. So it feels like the completion of it has almost lifted my heart. And On The Sea… I mean he’s a surfer, gets out and surfs every morning, and water to me is very healing. So, all of it encompasses a very healing kind of thing for me in my heart, and it’s just really cohesively brought him and me together.
[David] We didn’t really know what to call the record at first. We wanted it to be something from the material, so it’s a lyric from one of the songs called “Weather Change”, and it’s a pretty addictive lyric. “On the sea,” it’s like we’re taking off, this is our debut record, and we’re finally, you know, “on the water” now. It kind of ties it all together.
Q For Olivia: I understand that you’re an aspiring actress! Has your experience in commercials and stage productions influenced your musical performance at all?
A: [Olivia] Who isn’t in LA! [Laughs.] But yeah, absolutely. I came out here trying to do the whole acting thing first off. I was always doing music prior, but I had this group of years where I wasn’t doing anything at all with music. I did some film, some TV, and it actually made me realize how much I wanted to make music instead. So, I kind of let that go for a little bit, and just really re-focused on music. Once I picked up the guitar, it changed my life and it led me to him. He saw me performing just like by myself with an acoustic guitar in Hollywood, and he was at a point in his life where this really amazing group of songs that didn’t fit his rock outfit that he was working with and he heard me singing “Mercedes Benz” and it just was like fireworks.
[David] Yeah, that was the voice I was looking for. The next time we met we were in the studio recording a demo for a song that is actually on this new record called “Key To My Heart” and it’s one of the singles from the record. So, it worked out really well.
[Olivia] And it’s just continued to be kind of easy. And since I made that decision though acting, to like focus on making music, I mean acting comes and goes. You audition and you don’t know when that’s going to hit. Music you can be a part of and create and it’s your own. I think that’s actually led me to more success in the acting world because I’m not fully involved in it, and I have something else that’s really shaping me as a human.
[David] Just being an artist, any art medium, whether it’s acting, or painting, or drawing lines on a surf board on a wave… You know, you’re creating art. And that’s the main thing.
[Olivia] It’s all we do. We don’t have other jobs. [Laughs.]
Q: So do you guys have any pre-show rituals?
A: [Olivia] Our awesome vocal warm-ups in the car! [Laughs.]
[David] We do vocal warm-ups in the car, and I used to be made fun of having been the only singer in a band or something like that. But now there are two of us! So she understands what it is. We both make funny sounds in the car, or backstage, or wherever we are.
[Olivia] His wife, Kendra, is amazing. She was in the car with us on the way to a show and he started doing it , so I started doing it, and she just was like, “Oh my gosh, there is some other weirdo like you, David!” [Laughs.]
[David] Singers, we’re a different breed.
Q: Anyone you were excited to see at SXSW?
A: [David] Last night we saw The Lone Bellow.
[Olivia] I’m obsessed. [Laughs.]
[David] We got to meet them. They kind of came up to us, and that was interesting. You know, we were just blown away by that. And we know they’re going to blow up as well. We have similar music, so we were really drawn. We saw some press on them, so we decided to go check them out. They turned out to be great people and we just can’t wish anything but success for them. Who else did we see… Just random music wherever you are.
[Olivia] Wherever you’re at, you’re seeing someone.
Q: Do you have any other plans while you’re in Austin?
A: [David] I have a lot of family here. So we’re going to hang out with family and friends and just go continue to see some good music and meet people. We’ve been running into a lot of people from back home as well, from Orange County. So like I said we’ve got a lot of friends out here, we’re excited to see some more music, drink a little bit, and just have a good time.
Q: Think you would come back and play the festival in the future?
A: We’ll come back bigger and better.
Q: What has been the “Highlight” of your career? Personally and collectively.
A: I think we’re in the middle of it. I think we’re in the highlight right now. This is the year. Last year really felt like us molding together and realizing it’s perfect, and now we have this new album that’d coming out. We have a really great addition to the team who’s excited about our stuff, so we have this campaign that’s coming up. And I think this year is going to be wild. We’re both super happy right now. We have a lot of things coming up, and we’ve accomplished a lot in the short amount of time that we’ve been together. So we’re really excited for what the future holds. I mean we have a debut record coming out, we’re building a team behind us, we’re taking the steps that in our other projects we maybe didn’t do, and now we’ve learned and we’re making it happen. It’s great. We’re just excited to be with each other.
