Butterfly Assasins: blowin’ up with girl talk

This Friday, Butterfly Assassins will be opening for Girl Talk, the famed DJ who has mixed and mashed his way to fame. Bryan Kveton, guitarist for Butterfly Assassins, talked to buzz about what he expects as he plays for over 1,000 people this Friday.
buzz: How did you got booked at Northwestern’s show?
Bryan Kveton of Butterfly Assassins: Back in November, Northwestern’s student film group Niteskool sponsored their yearly Battle of the Bands competition, and the prize was to open for Girl Talk. We competed against five other bands (all which had some affiliation with Northwestern; ours is that our bassist Danny goes there) and we ended up winning.
buzz: What are your feelings going into the show opening for act like Girl Talk, both considering the difference between your music and his, and the fact that he’s so well known?
Bryan: I couldn’t be more excited. I feel like Gregg [Gillis of Girl Talk] incorporates so many different styles of music into his DJ sets that even though our styles are very different, he appeals to an audience that can appreciate our music. So, I think it will be an interesting and entertaining mix-up of music. As far as his popularity is concerned and being a huge fan of hip-hop myself, I’m honored to be playing with such a well-respected and recognized figure in the indie music world. Girl Talk draws a crowd. He sold out this 1000+ person concert in two hours. I can only hope that we can a few fans from this experience.
buzz: What, so far, has been the highlight of your career with Butterfly Assassins, and do you think the upcoming show will top it?
Bryan: That’s a tough one to answer. I feel like even though we’ve been together as musicians since 2002, we only recently found our groove, especially with the recent addition of our full-time cello player. We’re still finding our stage personalities and building our fan base, so nothing huge has happened for us yet. I mean, we haven’t even released our full-length yet, which I hope will do a great deal for our progress. So, assuming we are received well at this show [and] gain enough fans, this could be one of the biggest steps forward for Butterfly Assassins. Not to mention, Girl Talk is the biggest name we’ve played with so far.
buzz: When is the disc being released?
Bryan: We aren’t 100% set with a release date yet. But, we’re working diligently to have it ready for sale in the next month. Right now we’re in the mastering phase. After mastering we’ll go to production. Then, after that, we’ll be all set.
buzz: In what way do you think playing the upcoming show will benefit your band?
Bryan: I really can’t say for sure. Obviously, playing a show of this stature will be incredible for exposure and gaining friends. But aside from that, who knows? It could be everything, it could be nothing. I’m just going to stay optimistic and hope for the best. Maybe Gregg will sample us in his next record? Now that would be the most sincere form of flattery.
buzz: Who do you hope to open for next, once you conquer the Girl Talk show?
Bryan: If I had to pick the most amazing band in the world to open for, it would be Radiohead. I’d die to open for Spoon, too. But, these are obviously way out there. I think at this point, we’re extremely fortunate to be playing this show, and I can only hope that we’ll be equally as fortunate in the future.
buzz: Anything else in the works that we should know about?
Bryan: We’re going to be shooting a music video with Northwestern’s Niteskool film group in April with quite a hefty budget of $14,000. It will be a video for “Sylvia II,” one of the singles off of our record.
buzz: Does that have any correlation with winning the battle, or was that just a coincidence?
Bryan: They don’t directly correlate, but it definitely put us on the map to be chosen for the music video. When we won the battle, we won Niteskool’s attention for a possible music video candidate…We’re slowly getting back some of the ideas from the directors and producers and they’re making me really happy.

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