Interview: Electro-dance trio These Are Powers not so scary after all

Anna Barie, Pat Noecker, and Bill Salas are These Are Powers.
PUBLICITY PHOTO BY MICHAEL FLACK

Filing the thumping, bumping, electronic beats of Brooklyn-based experimental dance rock trio These Are Powers under a label like "ghost punk" may seem silly, but the emphasis on ethereal, spooky, and avant-garde sounds and textures in their first few releases is very real. "What 'ghost punk' means to me is approaching music with a kind of spirituality between this world and the 'other' world," explains founder Pat Noecker, formerly the bassist for the experimental rock trio Liars, who you may remember from their midnight show at the older incarnation of the newly-revamped Jefferson Theater back in 2006. On the upcoming Powers EP World Class Peoples/Candyman, Noecker and his new band may have moved away from the heebie-jeebies and instead focused on themes like angst and meditation, but sometimes the music can still give you goosebumps.

The Hook: What's your favorite thing about the new EP?
Pat Noecker: We're closer to realizing some of the electronic ideas that we have. It's not fully there, but we're really excited.

The Hook: Where is it headed next?
Pat Noecker: We're going to keep going forward by reducing more–- we don't have live drums anymore and we're psyched about that. There's no limit on what we can do.

The Hook: How is this band a better fit for you than Liars?
Pat Noecker: Liars was a band that required traditional playing, and what we're doing is very futuristic. I can explore the instrument for every possible sound it can make. In Liars, it was just bass, bass, bass.

The Hook: You often work closely with visual artists on your projects. Why?
Pat Noekcer: As a result of the internet, all art forms are meshing together, and I feel that you can't have one sense without the other–- it's hard to experience something on an auditory level without a visual component. A song is a sculpting space.

The Hook: Why did you decide to name this tour "Teen Yoga?"
Pat Noecker: It represents two states of mind: teen is angst and a kind of nervousness, restlessness, while yoga represents this meditative, calm, still state. You go through those two juxtaposed states of mind on tour: being stretched to the max, but when you finally play, you're at peace and it feels great.

These Are Powers perform at The Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar on Saturday, February 27. JEFF the Brotherhood opens. The show starts at 8pm and tickets are $8.