It's cool seeing stuff, like, that come together really quickly and the reaction that it gets.
— Joshua Ostrander
I was doing some research and stuff and reading about Bowie. When he referred to his music as 'plastic soul,' I was like, 'That is the coolest thing I've ever heard.'
My first show was at my friend Corey Petrick's basement in Bucks County, PA.
I think 'Bittersweet' is one of the best songs ever written. The idea of it just really spoke to me.
I'm at a point in my life where I'm not going to be writing about NATO or NAFTA.
My drummer was my best friend. It weighs on me that we put all that time in - I played with him for 15 years, beginning with 'Laguardia' - and we had moderate success.
I've got to give my neighbors a bottle of wine or something because I was just screaming into microphones and learning how to play instruments, and it was a lesson in patience for them, I believe.
Looking back at it now, it's almost overwhelming, the amount of work that went into writing 'Shine', and to come up with the ideas that we're doing now.
I don't practice very much anymore.
My dream is to play Coachella, main stage, when the sun's going down.
I'm all over the place with what I listen to.
This whole 'Mondo' thing started when I saw Jack White perform at Coachella a couple of years ago. It was like a religious set, man.
All my lyrics are about my love life or the lack thereof.
I've never had T-shirts at the merch table before.
I grew up really religious, and my family still is, but I'm not so much. That scene in 'Cool Hand Luke', it just destroyed me.
I was working two landscaping jobs; I was recording songs in the spare bedroom. I would get up at 4 A.M., go to work, get back at 6 P.M., have nap, then start recording, just go until I fell asleep.
I have songs that sound like this and songs that sound like that. I think it's just my vocal that keeps it all together.
Everybody laughed at me when I said I wanted to make a dance video, but when I said, 'What would it look like if Joe Strummer made a dance video?' everybody shut up.
I have a weekly playlist on Spotify called Mixtape Mondays. So every Sunday night, I sit around listening to tunes to place. It's becoming my favorite part of the week.
Now is the time to get out there and give people a taste of 'Mondo Cozmo.'
Radiohead is one of the bands I appreciate. That's a great career band. It's not like critics are comparing us to a flash in the pan.
I tried to play some trumpet and stuff, so I had to figure that out. I record everything in my house.
I recorded 80 per cent of the record in my guest bedroom; then, when 'Shine' went to number one on one of the charts, the label called and said, 'Can you do an EP?' Then, 'Can you do a full length? And can you do it in two weeks?'
