IOTM Welcomes John Norris and Noisevox's Face Time Series

We at Indie on the Move are very excited to introduce John Norris and Noisevox to our community! In the coming months, the IOTM Blog will be featuring the Noisevox Face Time series, which provides in depth looks into today's influential independent artists.

From John:

"Hey guys. First of all, thanks to Bryan and IOTM for the chance to post some of the episodes of my Noisevox interview series Face Time here on the site. We’ve been doing the series for a couple of years now, we’ve shot around 200 episodes, and they’re all archived over at www.noisevox.org/content/face-time.

About the Band:

This week’s interview happened about a month ago at SXSW, and it features the Colorado-based band Tennis, the married duo of Patrick Riley and Alaina Moore (along with drummer James Barone, who wasn’t there for this shoot). While they were without a doubt one of the breakout indie pop acts of 2010, Tennis also served as a pretty good lesson in how sometimes a good back story can cut both ways. They emerged in 2010, and released their debut album, Cape Dory, in early 2011 – an entire album inspired by, and in fact served as a musical journal of, a months-long sailing trip that the couple took down the Atlantic Coast. Every track was inspired by a moment along the way: “Bimini Bay”, “South Carolina”, “Marathon”, “Seabirds” and so on. It was a fun pop record, but more importantly in terms of press, the back story of its creation got people talking about Tennis. Mythology is great – just ask Justin Vernon. The problem is, too often, that’s all people talk about, and increasingly Alaina and Patrick felt boxed in by being known as “the cute sailing trip couple”. So with album number two, Young & Old, they felt it was time to hit the reset button. To help them do that, they persuaded a guy who knows something about getting a big sound out of two people, Patrick Carney of The Black Keys, to produce the record (his fiancée was a big Tennis fan). That collaboration is a big part of what we talk about here, along with the band’s expansion to a three-piece, “Never to Part”, a song inspired by the late Trish Keenan of Broadcast, and Tennis’s recent video, for “Origins” - a kinda creepy one that got the band back to its Rocky Mountain roots. You’ll see it here too. So, enjoy. Hope to bring you more episodes of Face Time in the coming weeks here on IOTM."

Who is John Norris?

John Norris is a partner and managing editor of the indie rock-oriented music web site Noisevox. As host of the in-depth interview series Face Time, and the performance/interview series Noisemakers, since Noisevox’s founding in 2009, Norris has conducted sit-downs with nearly 200 artists, including Animal Collective, Beirut, Arctic Monkeys, Death Cab For Cutie, Deerhunter, Girls, Yuck, Wild Flag, Bright Eyes, Neon Indian, Sleigh Bells, No Age, Perfume Genius, James Blake, and Zola Jesus. He is also a contributing writer to Under the Radar, for whom he recently interviewed Dan Deacon, Interview Magazine’s music site, and V Magazine, for whom he interviewed Ariel Pink in January of 2012, and wrote the cover feature on Lady Gaga in June of 2009. A resident of Brooklyn, Norris is best known as a longtime correspondent and anchor for MTV News, and host on the MTV Radio Network. His two decades at MTV qualify him as the second longest-running on-air talent in the history of the channel, and its most prolific interviewer, regularly conversing with some of the biggest names in music, pop culture and politics. In 2008, he served as writer and host of “The John Norris Interviews”, an indie rock interview series on Rhapsody.com. He has also served as a guest correspondent for CBS News’ Sunday Morning and 48 Hours, and his media appearances include Today, Good Morning America, and AC 360 on CNN. Among his on-camera work since leaving MTV in early 2009 have been stints with SPIN, KEXP Radio and SESAC. For the past two years he has also served as anchor of the Recording Academy’s “Grammy Live” webcast from Los Angeles during Grammy Awards week.

On the pro-social front, Norris gained notoriety through his work on the MTV initiatives Choose or Lose, Positively Global, and Free Your Mind, and remains an active animal-rights advocate, through work with PETA, peta2 and Mercy for Animals. He speaks French, is a left-handed Pisces, and leans proudly left in most every other way as well.

More episodes can be found here: www.noisevox.org/content/face-time.