Pop Quiz: Lawn Care
Pittsburgh's Lawn Care is set to release a brand new EP this month, and ahead of what are guaranteed to be killer tunes - Cameron (guitar/vocals) took a Pop Quiz for us!
TGE: Explain how you got into music.
Cameron: I wasn't ever really not into music; some of my earliest memories are of my dad playing drums for his dad-rock band in a warehouse when I was a kid. In middle school, I really latched onto music as part of my identity formation--I played bassoon in the band, picked up guitar, and started seeking out music on my own. I remember a very formative experience where my dad gave me "Dookie" by Green Day (he probably didn't realize it said "fuck" so much and had songs about jerkin' it and stuff)--I sat down in front of an old-school stereo with headphones and had a life-will-never-be-the-same moment the second "Burnout" started playing. I thought about studying music composition for a while and did that for a summer at Carnegie Mellon, but it turns out that academia is even capable of ruining something as awesome as music.
TGE: What is your go to Smash Brothers character and is there any one video game person or whatever that you think should be included in Smash Brothers?
Cameron: I mostly play as Marth, but I hold out hope of someday getting competitive as Mr. Game and Watch. I don't really play video games besides Melee, so uh... Conker, maybe?
TGE: What would the official Lawn Care candle scent be?
Cameron: Sweat.
TGE: What's your favorite podcast and what would be the title of the Lawn Care podcast?
Cameron: This kinda feels like picking a favorite child, but if I had to pick one, I'd say My Brother, My Brother, and Me. I'm planning on starting a podcast this summer and I've had trouble coming up with a name: Lawn Cast has a ring to it, but I think there would be a lot of disappointed people looking for yardwork tips. Maybe I'll just have to include a point-counterpoint segment about the relative virtues of different fertilizers?
TGE: Who is your Star Trek spirit person?
Cameron: Dr. Phlox from Enterprise. He ain't the paragon of wisdom that Picard is, but he's just as even-handed and is just the right kind of goofball.
TGE: If you were inventing a flavor of wings...what would the flavor be?
Cameron: Cheesecake? That would probably be awful in real life but in my mind it fuckin' rules.
TGE: What's the one record that you couldn't imagine life without?
Cameron: Joyce Manor's self-titled. There was a solid two-year period where I listened to that record every day without fail.
TGE: If you play a show with any three bands who would they be and what would the title of the event be?
Cameron: Bomb the Music Industry! reunion, Bear vs. Shark reunion, and Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band circa 1976 reunion from beyond the grave. It would be called "Come watch Cameron cry A LOT."
TGE: Fill in the blanks: Lawn Care sounds like __________
Cameron: An aggressive, intoxicated therapy session.
TGE: What's your favorite place in Pittsburgh? The place that like you feel maybe defines you or really feels special?
Cameron: The view from Mt. Washington never ceases to blow me away, but I'm gonna say the roof of Spider House. I have so many fond memories of shows we've had up there, and the view ain't too shabby either.
TGE: What would the title of the Lawn Care Netflix documentary be?
Cameron: "If You Die in the Summer, You Die in Real Life." It would document our ill-fated attempt to play a show on the surface of the sun.
TGE: If you could cover any song what would it be?
Cameron: Maybe one day I'll be talented enough to throw together a math-rocky version of "If You Really Love Me" by Stevie Wonder.