Photos by Alain Bib
Last Call is an interview series where I, Brittany Marino, ask talented folk all about their lasts: last time they did something, last time they felt something, etc. This week I met with hometown friends The Mystery Lights in Paris, before their sold out show at Cafe de la Danse.
The Mystery Lights have been in the game for many years now, rocking stages all over the world with their psychedelia-infused garage sound. With a few albums already out, this year they released their latest: ‘Purgatory’, continuing to keep the spirit of rock and roll alive. With plenty of practice, this 5-some seems as though they have their sound on lock and their live shows further settle them in as legends of the scene. Their energy on stage is undeniable and it is a real treat to watch their fans match it. Here is to many more years of The Mystery Lights.
Brittany: Who is the last person you texted, and what about? Lily has already done this interview before with Flasyd, but the beauty of this series is that you’ll probably have different answers this time.
Mike: Teddy to get you on the list.
Lily: Teddy, to ask if we could have 15 more minutes before we had to leave. Teddy’s the manager.
Zach: I don’t really know.
Brittany: Do you want to check your phone?
(everyone OOOs)
Zach: Probably my girlfrend.
Alex: My subletter.
Brittany: Is there an issue or just a check in?
Alex: No, everything’s great. Just checking in.
L.A.: My nephew, he’s sending me Wayne Dang food reviews.
Brittany: Are you close with your nephew?
L.A.: Oh yea.
Mike: You might have heard of him, he’s like a star quarterback.
Lily: In Monterey County.
Mike: Monterey County Highschool.
Brittany: I need to get a little bit more into sports news.
Mike: Highschool Sports.
Brittany: I’m working on it.
Brittany: What is the last song you guys wrote? Are you guys writing music right now? I know you just came out with an album so…
Mike: Together?
Lily: Mighty Fine?
Mike: Yeah, it could have been Mighty Fine & All Mine, that might have been the one. But I’ve written demos and stuff. I have demos and I’m sure everyone’s kind of cooking like riffs and stuff, but together I think maybe that one.
L.A.: Or Weird Wayne.
Lily (sings): Weird Wayne, Weird Wayne!
All together: Why you so weird Wayne!
Lily: Zach makes beats on garage band.
L.A.: Zach made a (struggles to pronounce) Hawk Tuah… how do you pronounce it?
Lily: Hawk Tuah.
Brittany: What the hell does that mean?
Zach: Hawk Tuah.
Brittany: I know the meme, I’m familiar with the Hawk Tuah girl, but what does the Hawk Tuah beat mean?
Zach: I just put the Hawk Tuah sound bite into a beat and made it club.
Brittany: Can we find that anywhere? Or is that just for you?
Zach: Maybe, maybe one day.
Brittany: Well, you gotta drop it while it’s still relevant, but she’s been staying relevant for quite a long time, so you know, who knows.
Brittany: What was the last movie you watched individually? Or maybe you went together, I don’t know.
Mike: Could be a series?
Brittany: Yeah, usually it’s a movie, but I’ll take a series.
Mike: The Soprano’s documentary on Max
Brittany: I love the Soprano’s, I have not watched the documentary.
Mike: It’s amazing, it’s on David Chase.
Brittany: That’s a series though?
Mike: Yeah well it’s two episodes so it’s kind of a movie.
Brittany: A part one and a part two.
Mike: I’d say it’s 3 hours long.
Brittany: I will let that slide. Lily?
Lily: Me, Teddy, and L.A. watched Rosemary’s Baby right before we came here.
Brittany: Ooh, that’s a really, really good movie.
Lily: Yeah, it got me so stoked.
Zach: I watched the Sex and the City movie before I left, and that’s the last time I watched a movie.
Brittany: And that’s a classic. What are your thoughts on that movie?
Zach: It’s interesting.
Brittany: Do you like the series?
Zach: I love the series.
Lily: You do?
Zach: Yeah.
Brittany: Do you identify with one of them? Are you a Samantha? Are you a…
Zach: No, not really.
(all laugh)
Alex: I think it was the new Alien movie. Alien: Romulus
Brittany: So did you see that in theaters?
Alex: I went to the theater. I am a big Alien Fan.
Brittany: Yeah, I also went to see the theater.
L.A.: Oh yea, I went with you.
Alex: Did you?
Brittany: I think that was the last movie I saw in theaters too. I’m a huge alien.
Alex: I’m a huge fan. It was… it was alright, it was cute, it was cute.
Lily: The Alien movie was cute?
Brittany: I think that so many people put so much pressure on those movies and I’m just there for a good time… and every time I’m like… that was a great time! Don’t get me wrong some of them are really fantastic movies and you can analyze them but once I see that alien do his little look around the corner thing… I’m hyped.
Alex: Yeah yeah totally. That’s what the new one was, a bunch of Easter eggs from the old ones just put it to one movie.
Mike: I felt that way about BeetleJuice. I enjoyed it.
Alex: The nostalgia.
Mike: Everyone’s like, ‘it’s not the original!’ but I’m like yeah… it’s not supposed to be yeah. It’s fun and it’s still the same cast and they have this quirky new storyline.
Brittany: I have yet to see that one.
Mike: That was the last one I saw in theaters and I enjoyed it.
Brittany: So would you recommend it to someone?
Mike: Yeah, you should see it. If you like Beetlejuice, you should check it out.
Brittany: What was the last concert you guys went to that isn’t your own?
Alex: Neil Young I think. That was kind of recent.
L.A.: We went to the King Gizzard show.
Alex: Oh yea, we went to that.
L.A.: We went to The Hives show.
Lily: At CitiField!
Mike: Oh yeah, we saw The Hives show at CitiField which is really tough for Hives fans because it sounded awful. They gave us guest list spots but our seats for some reason were like… left field, super far and it just sounded awful. For the record though, they killed it. Just the sound was very stadium baseball… You’re smelling hot dogs… you’re sitting in a seat.
Brittany: You lost me, smelling hot dogs sounds like a great time for me
Lily: I didn’t smell a hot dog
Alex: But yea, I saw Neil Young & Crazy Horse at Forest Hills. It was awesome, it was like 3 nights. He played 2 nights in New York and I went to Jersey one night.
Zach: Dave Matthews Band was my last concert. In Jersey.
Brittany: Was that your first Dave Matthews experience?
Zach: My seventh.
(everyone laughs)
Lily: Oh my god! Wait, what?
Zach: Loved him as a kid and still love him now.
Brittany: What’s the last note written in your notes app? I’m going to ask you to look in your notes, please. Obviously, if it’s really scandalous, you can skip the question, but we get some fun answers out of this one, so I’m curious.
Lily: I’m curious, too.
Brittany: Are you a notes app person?
Alex: Yeah, of course.
Zach: I have my passwords to my things because I don’t remember.
Mike: I’m actually in the middle of writing a little book and I edited my notes… a little something I thought of.
Alex: Mine is Greek artists that I want to listen to.
Brittany: Why Greek?
Alex: Because we were in Greece and this restaurant owner gave us all these really cool recommendations.
Brittany: Can you give us one or two.
Alex: Trypes, Spyridoula. It’s like classic rock
L.A.: Mine is merch counts. Numbers.
Lily: Mine is a bunch of voice memos. It’s how I organize song ideas. So it’s just voice memos and lyrics. I like making a note and then you put all the voice memos, all the good ones in the note.
Mike: I just learned how to do that.
Lily: Then you can put the lyrics underneath too, it’s the best.
Mike: Yeah in the book that I’m working on, I’ve actually had conversations with people where I’ve screenshot the subject matter and put it into the notes. So when I scroll I’ll see conversations and I’m considering putting some of the meaningful conversations in in the book like that. So I’ve learned how to do that.
Brittany: I don’t think I’m utilizing the notes app enough.
Lily: Dude.
Alex: I don’t know how you guys do it.
Brittany: I have, like, a grocery store list in there. I need to get apples, some onions, and a couple other things.
Mike: Lily and I do this, well I don’t know if you still do but… we have to-do lists that are like: wake up, brush teeth.
Lily: Put on first sock, put on second sock.
Brittany: I have that too! But I have a whole app for that. It’s called Todoist.
Lily and Mike: Oh My God.
Brittany: What is the last thing you obsessed over?
Mike: For me, it’s the monks right now, I’m obsessed with the band.
Brittany: Why?
Mike: I just got the book written by the bass player Eddie Shaw and I’ve been reading it while touring and I’ve just gone down a rabbit hole of their history and we’re going to Germany, so I’m wanting to check out spots when they played and stuff. So I’ve been obsessed with it, listening to the record ‘Black Monk Time’ probably five times a day. It’s crazy.
Alex: I don’t know. I’ve been really into like color schemes lately, like thinking about just what colors go together. I’ve just been obsessing over aesthetics. Going into this time of the year the seasonal Autumnal stuff, the colors, themes… always change. Even on flyers, things like that like. Which color go together. Specifically I always liked black white and red things. Designs that all go together.
Zach: I don’t know.
Lily: Oh I know. (gives Zach a look)
Zach: Oh, yeah, that hippo: Moo Deng.
(everyone laughs)
Brittany: That is the world’s obsession, so you’re right on track with that. Are you keeping up with Moo Deng?
Zach: Oh, yeah. All my feed is just that.
Lily: Mine’s really nerdy.
Brittany: You said that last time.
Lily: I know, theme, but it was this idea that I saw a little video about in quantum physics about basically electrons how… they’ve disproved it… dude. Ok, this might be kind… I’ll do the short and the sweet. Basically it’s like, all electrons they measure all look exactly the same. So someone posed the idea, what if they are all the same? Because if you look at time as the fourth dimension where all of time exists at once. We experience it linearly because we’re just navigating through it like a space… the electron could be ping ponging back and forth through time and every moment would be like a slice in the log. And every time it passes through it would like paint like, pointillism, paint every electron in existence in that moment.
Brittany: I’m not going to lie, I have no idea what you just said but I really hope the people who read this did.
(everyone laughs)
Zach: My answer was very simple.
Lily: Well, they just disproved it anyway, so it doesn’t matter.
Brittany: There are two sides to every reader. You’re either a Moo Deng or quantum physics.
L.A.: Mine is guitar pedals and cameras cool is that something your own.
Mike: And Craigslist… and loading the van, Tetris style.
Lily: L.A. is the Tetris master of the van.
Brittany: Ooh, I’m really fucking good at Tetris. Yeah, I’m pretty fucking good at it. 
Brittany: Last time you created something you were proud of.
L.A.: Never… just kidding.
Alex: That’s decor of my apartment.
Lily: You should be proud of it.
Brittany: Because you are all about the aesthetics!
Alex: I’m all about aesthetics. I put a lot of thought into the layout of the furniture and the artwork. I am very proud of it. It took a lot of work.
Lily: It’s very vibey.
Zach: My dumb club beats that I make on my phone.
Lily: The banner that we’ve been touring with. I painted it. And it’s been looking really cool in photos and stuff. So every time I see them, I feel good.
Mike: Yeah, I’m proud of that for you.
Mike: I would say the record, I’m very proud of that. It took a long time and also the way the art and everything worked. I know it’s more collaborative and I didn’t necessarily create it solo but it is something. I’d say that’s probably a we answer.
Lily: Yea definitely.
Mike: But for me personally, I’m actually proud of little parts of this book idea that I have. Which is going to be more autobiographical, tour memoir. A lot of daily thoughts that I have. Just psychological things that are based around being in a band and why I do the things I do. Things to hook me up mentally and physically. Also intertwined in telling a story of inspirations and stuff.
Brittany: Do you have a timeline for that?
Mike: Not really, it is just for me. I’ve always wanted to put it all together. I was thinking, if I were to put something out like that, someone who maybe enjoys the music or something could find it interesting or not. It doesn’t matter either way. I’m just writing it. It’s almost like my little diary and I feel really proud of some sections because by rereading some of them, I’ve reminded myself of how to go on a specific path to hook me up mentally.
L.A.: I’m gonna go with the record, new record, just all the pieces coming together.
Mike: I’m not gonna lie though. I do have one thing that you might be pretty proud of. I mean, he did design like the art on the cover and everything. He did like a lot of work with it.
Alex: He did the front and back. Lily did the gatefold.
Mike: But also though, I wasn’t even gonna say that… But… you were pretty proud of your last Tetris pack. I could see it in your eyes.
L.A.: It’s getting better and better.
Mike: Teddy do you have an answer for this last question? This is tour manager Ted.
Teddy: Uhhh… I created the ability of patience during touring.
(everyone OOO’s)