by Morgan and Alli
We Out Here got the opportunity to sit down with the Wonder Woman of electro-rock, LIGHTS and talk about her latest album Siberia and her inspiration. She continues to create and program her own instruments, produce rare melodies and drop creative beats. LIGHTS radiated so much joy and energy through out the interview that was undeniably contagious. After many laughs and words of wisdom, we learned a lot about the industry she’s conquering and what life in the eyes of LIGHTS is like.
Tell us how you came up with ‘LIGHTS’ and why did you make it your first name?
Well it was kind of a nickname. My last name is Poxleitner. It’s like ‘light’ in the middle. It’s the shorter version of it. I remember setting up my MySpace and I had a couple songs and I was filling out the form and it said ‘name’ so I just put in LIGHTS and ever since I’ve just been walking into that. My dad always told me that if you’re doing what you love and you’re doing what you meant to do then the career in your life should be seamless. You shouldn’t have to live two separate lives, especially with music. Something like art that draws so much of your personal life. Living two different lives is doing yourself a disservice. So I started walking into that and a few years ago I made LIGHTS my first name.
If you were to describe your music as a combination of two artists, who would they be?
That’s so hard. It’s important to try but it’s hard to look at your music objectively like that because so many people hear different things in music. What I compare it to would be different from what someone else would compare it to and then if I did say the ones that I actually thought I would be over flattering myself. So I’ll let you guys do that.
A lot of people say you’re like the female version of Owl City. Do you like when people say that or have you heard that before?
I’ve definitely heard it before especially doing a five-month tour with them. It’s synth based and I would say my second record departs from that but I definitely don’t mind it. I think for the first record it really worked.
What’s the biggest misconception about Canada?
I think there are a lot of misconceptions about Canada. I think people like to generalize Canada but Canada’s a very broad nation and a very supportive of the arts community. People are very polite but they’re not all polite. There’s a great amazing music scene in Canada.
What’s the hardest thing for you to leave behind when you go out on tour and one comfort item you take with you?
It’s hard to leave the consistency, the routine, behind but when you get out on the road it becomes a routine in itself. But because of the way I was raised it’s really not hard to leave anything behind. I was raised in a missionary family and we would move around all the time. It just became easy to up and go all the time, and I was blessed with that kind of upbringing that allowed me to think like that. My one comfort item when I’m on the road is definitely an Xbox because when you don’t have good internet you can play good console games. Its fun, it’s a get a way. I’ll play up until an hour before the show and then it gets you refreshed.
Is it like a bonding thing on the bus?
That too! It’s fun.
Would you say that it’s harder to transition from real life to tour or from touring to real life?
It’s the same each time. If you’ve been on the road for too long you just can’t wait to get back home and sleep in your own bed. And when you’ve been in your own bed for too long you’re like ‘I gotta get back on the road’. So it’s not necessarily hard, its just part of life. The hardest part is having to unpack every time. It usually takes me two weeks to actually unpack once you’re actually home.
What animal noise would I be most impressed with you making?
I’m not very good at any animal noises. When I was a kid I made up a frog noise that I realized wasn’t actually a frog noise, it sounds more like an alien. A fantasy creature is something id be more inclined to do. Like the little monsters on Doodle Jump. (OH my gosh I love doodle jump!) The little monsters make this weird noise. It sounds like ‘Heavy Rope’, which is one of the songs on my new record. I remember when I first heard it, it sounded like ‘heavy rope, heavy rope’. And I’m like ‘that’s my song!’
You and Adam Young have done a lot together. We saw you in “Deer in the headlights” and featured in “The Yacht club”. How did that friendship start?
We were kind of just watching each other’s careers from the beginning and by the beginning I mean MySpace. He always had like two times as many listens as me and two times as many profile visits and two times as many fans and I was like ‘this guys good’. And I remember we didn’t talk at first but I was watching his and it turns out he was watching mine as well and I really thought he was great and awesome, and why isn’t this guy bigger. Then he exploded and the first song I ever heard of his was ‘Hello Seattle’. We were kind of commenting back and forth ‘Oh I like your stuff’ and then when he did his big tour, it was really nice of him to bring me out for five months. It really was a good opportunity for me, such a blessing. So that kind of initiated the real life friendship.
Could you give us a quick little tutorial on how you do you’re hair? Because it’s AWESOME.
Basically its back-comb-hairspray, back-comb-hairspray, back-comb-hairspray. I do it in layers and I start in the back and do back-comb-hairspray, and then I do both sides so its like three portions, and then you make sure you comb it on the top so it doesn’t look really frizzy. Then you just hairspray the crap out of it. It’s important to not wash it everyday because it just gets flat. You let a little bit of product accumulate in it, which sounds kind of gnarly, but it actually really is good for your hair.
Where do you buy a majority of your wardrobe?
I currently only have one pair of pants that I wear. I have a few pairs of them but its of the same ones, they’re black pants from Urban Outfitters, and combat boots from wherever I can find them. These ones (points down) are from Urban Outfitters, but the other combat boots I have are Steve Madden. It’s wherever you can find a good pair of combats. My bottom down is like the same thing all the time. Unless its summer and I wear shorts and combats, but lately I’ve been on a button down kick. I’ll find these at vintage stores, you can find old cub scout shirts and I really like patches so ill buy old patches and sew them on and just find old button downs that look good or new ones or whatever.
What software program do you use to create your music?
I started out on Pro Tools and then moved to Logic, and I’ve been using logic for a long time. Most of Siberia was made on Pro Tools, but I cant run that program very well so it was run by Togs who obviously co-produced the whole album. He’s a genius with that kind of stuff. When I’m at home I use logic, and when I did the acoustic EP for example, that was on logic.
If you had to choose between an acoustic only performance and an electro show which would it be?
Oh I would do the full band for sure. I think it’s a really big blessing to have the band that I have. They’ve stuck with me from the beginning. And for a pop artist, especially a solo pop artist, it’s not a common thing. Usually you swap through musicians like toilet paper, but these guys are amazing and we’ve learned to play so well together as a unit. It’s one of the things I’m so proud of. They’ll hear the tracks and augment them in their own way–so they’re even bigger live. There’s this sort of orb that goes around you when you do a full band performance that doesn’t separate you from the crowd, but it becomes a performance of its own where as the acoustic really there’s nothing between you and the audience and its just straight up. You have to be on but its fun and its comfortable so both are really cool but I get lost in the big production.
You just had an acoustic only show right?
Yeah the high ways were closed. My tour manager peaked his head in my bunk at nine in the morning and was like ‘Guess what we’re still in Denver. Want to do the show acoustic tonight if you fly in, in an hour?’ I was half asleep but said okay and was sitting there thinking I’ve gotta do this thing acoustically… but its nice to know that you can do those things and it was an amazing show and it was something special because I don’t do those shows very often. I did a couple of songs off of Siberia that I had never done acoustically.
Do you read what your fans say on Twitter about your new music?
You’ve got to take it for what it is. The bad stuff is extreme and the good stuff is extreme. So you cant let it get to your head or let the bad stuff hurt you. It’s a really cool tool to make decisions and help stay in touch with fans.
If you could be any track on your album which one would it be?
Flux and Flow. By Flux and Flow I mean two Japanese Samurai Fighters, one named Flux and one named Flow.
Your music video for Second Go is so unique and one of our favorites. How did you come up with that idea and how many takes did you get?
One take. We only had one set so it was the most pressure, it was like and rolling, don’t blow it. We did some run-throughs before without actual paint to figure out where we were going to go through. You also have more time to think about it because we ran the song at half time so it was twice as long. It took me a little time to get into that groove, it’s not natural. We had a couple times of just me performing to the camera in that tempo, then a couple times running through the house planning a route to that tempo. When I first put my hands in the paint buckets and pulled them out I’m like woah this is so weird and by the end I’m like sliding around in paint on the ground almost wiping out. It was a lot of fun, but I was in the shower for three hours afterward.
Who would be the perfect cast for your next music video?
My dream cameo is Bruce Campbell. I’m a huge Evil Dead fan, but I doubt he will be in my next music video.
If you weren’t a musician what career path would you have taken?
There were many I would have done I’m interested in so many things. So probably cartooning, graphic design or game design or probably web design. Something artistic.
We loved your episode of Epic Meal Time, what would be your idea of an Epic Meal Time?
I don’t know that was a pretty good one. It was delicious, but how could it not be? It was hamburgers inside of meatloaf! Probably like a giant Cake Pop.
Any Piece of Advice you would give your past self?
I always kind of think about that, like if I had a minute to talk to myself when I was younger would I have anything relevant to say? Probably not. Everything I learned I learned as I went and good or bad you learn from it so I wouldn’t want to change that trajectory and like butterfly effect it and go back and tell myself something and then come back and I’m not here. I think I did things right and by that I mean I did things wrong and learned and that’s what’s important.
Alright, now we have a few Oregon questions to ask you.
Do you know what the capitol of Oregon is?
Is it Ss….. ahh I don’t know!
That was so close, it’s Salem you almost said that. From what you’ve seen of Oregon, if you could give it a superlative what would it be?
There are so many different elements of Oregon. From what I’ve experienced and it’s such a big state. Driving up the coast is completely different from being in Portland. Portland has a totally cool vibe, almost like small coast town vibe but it’s got that big city vibe too. The coast though it’s like everywhere you go is like a secret, it’s really cool. So like sand dunes and seal or walruses or wait I mean Sea Lion caves. There is just a lot to it, a lot of secrets, I really like it.
And the last question is, if you were trying to advertise or sell Oregon what would your slogan be?
The Land of Secrets