The Hive Minds are on a roll. Derek Gregg (vocals/guitar) and Sean Poe (drums) won a local battle of the bands at the National Date Festival; they have been busy recording a new album; and they have kept a busy schedule of local gigs. Speaking of gigs: Derek will be hosting an open-mic night at The Hood Bar and Pizza, 74360 Highway 111, in Palm Desert, at 9 p.m., Wednesday, June 11. Here are Derek’s answers to The Lucky 13.
What was the first concert you attended?
When I was younger, I went to an AFI (A Fire Inside) concert with my stepdad. I’m not really a fan, per se. However, they were incredibly polished. I’m not convinced they weren’t lip syncing.
What was the first album you owned?
Oh my … that’s an incredibly tough question to answer. It may have been a greatest-hits album by Steve Miller, although I doubt it. I’ve been a fan of music for as long as I can remember.
What bands are you listening to right now?
Well, I love Tame Impala. I only recently started listening their Lonerism album. Lately, I’ve been stuck on Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not by Arctic Monkeys. However, I’m just revisiting it. Let’s see … The Smiths for sure, The Cure (particularly the Boys Don’t Cry Album), and a lot of Dylan and Cash, too.
What artist, genre or musical trend does everyone love, but you don’t get?
I can’t stand anything that’s popular right now; it all sounds the same—that techno bullshit.
What musical act, current or defunct, would you most like to see perform live?
Radiohead.
What’s your favorite musical guilty pleasure?
The first thing that comes to mind is that Maroon 5 album Songs About Jane. It’s ridiculously overproduced. I hate that squeaky-clean stuff, but it is catchy. It’s good songwriting, but that went down the drain, too, after that album, in my opinion.
What’s your favorite music venue?
There are so many good ones. The Hood has a pretty rad sound system, and whenever we play there, we get to jam out with awesome bands. I dig the Desert Fox bar, too, because it’s always so packed whenever we play there. I have a dozen wild stories from that place. Oh man, that bachelorette party last week!
What’s the one song lyric you can’t get out of your head?
I’ve been trying to get it out of my head because it makes me want to cry: “I am colorblind. Coffee black and egg white. Pull me out from inside. … I am folded, and unfolded, and unfolding. I am colorblind,” Counting Crows, “Colorblind.”
What band or artist changed your life? How?
Before I started listening to Bob Dylan, I was writing a lot of lame pop songs that will never see the light of day. I realized: Though you have to be honest, you have to be naked, and Dylan reminded me that people will buy honest, pure music. The radio is force-feeding all this garbage techno and pop. Some people don’t even know that there’s incredible stuff out there. You gotta look for it.
You have one question to ask one musician. What’s the question, and who are you asking?
I would ask Antonio Carlos Jobim how he did it: Come up with an incredibly unique style of music, and have it explode from your home in Brazil to countries all over the world. He’s the pioneer of bossa nova, and when I think about creating a style completely your own, it just blows my mind. Add Stone Flower by Jobim to the list of albums I’ve been listening to. If you haven’t heard “Brasil,” you haven’t lived.
What song would you like played at your funeral?
I’m sure it comes off as self-absorbed, but I would want my albums played. My songs are the most important thing to me. My life’s mission is for them to be out and heard. That’s immortality, man!
Figurative gun to your head, what is your favorite album of all time?
I’d refuse to answer this, but that just seems rude, so I’ll throw out the first one that comes to mind: OK Computer by Radiohead. But ask me again in a week, and I’ll have a different answer.
What song should everyone listen to right now?
There’s so many options. I guess I’ll just throw out one of Led Zeppelin’s more obscure tracks, “Friends.” (Scroll down to hear it.)