Pittsburgh’s 1,2,3 is opening up for Hey Rosetta! at The Frequency this Wednesday (buy tickets here; enter to win tickets here). We got a chance to have a phone call — well, technically two — with eclectic drummer Josh Sickels.
So, you’re going to be on the road for a little while… do you bring any comforts from home while you’re on the road?
(Laughs) “Not really. We’re actually really happy to be on the road. I’m sure it’d be different if it we were on a country wide tour, but we’re just happy to be playing in new places. Actually speaking of life on the road, our van just broke down. Can I call you back in five minutes?”
(Five minutes later)
So I hear your upcoming LP, Big Weather, is a double album inspired by natural disasters?
“Well, yeah it’s definitely got an apocalyptic/natural disaster influence, but it’s almost comedic in that sense. It sets the scene on a lot of the newer tracks. But the album is as much inspired by that stuff as it is by Led Zeppelin and Frank Sinatra. We listen to everything in the van so I’m sure we’ve got a lot of subconscious influences going on.”
What has changed for 1,2,3 since your last album?
“The old album, New Heaven, was way more influenced by death and spiritual confusion and structured, too. The new album is a lot more free flowing and less structured. The old album was written heavily by our singer Nic. But we’ve added some members to the band now, as actual members rather than just live musicians. And we’ve all been a lot more involved in the writing process. We’ve also been self-recording the album and we’re going outside now for mixing and producing.”
The Audio Perv is doing a mini-documentary on the new album?
“Yeah, they’ve been filming us recording on Wednesdays and putting it on the site. I think it’s a good glimpse at who the band really is. It’s a raw version of who we are, or at least while we record, but we’ve got nothing to hide, you know?”
What have you been listening to lately?
“Everything. Sometimes Nic will bring in to the van an African rhythm band or something obscure like that. A lot of ’50s music — that sound also probably influenced us. A decent amount of our own music too… a lot of our first album.”