In Bed With: Acid Dad
Interview by Natalie Leonard
Photographed by Rachel Cabitt
Illustration by Peter Hopkins
Acid Dad is a band for dark bars where the bathroom door is always broken and you can easily sink into a booth with a tall boy and hide out from responsibility for a few years. The first time I saw Acid Dad live I walked into a hot-boxed warehouse, a Brooklyn venue you can often find them at on a Friday night.
Kevin, Vaughn, and Danny, the three members of Acid Dad, met us at their Bushwick apartment after a long day of recording upstate. I quickly learned that even with a name as hard as "Acid Dad" the boys were welcoming with hugs and shots of whiskey.
Floor to ceiling chalkboard walls with scribbled song lyrics and childlike doodles surrounded the bed that the boys piled into for a quick acoustic sesh and interview. With a few cigarettes, a little bit of whiskey and a bottle of $6 wine, the boys opened up about their unexpected fan base in Mexico City, Vaughn's bar tending abilities and Danny's natural cool from a young age.
Get to know the boys more in the videos and interview below.
POND: When did you each start playing music?
KEVIN: My grandpa on my 7th, or 8th, birthday woke me up and was like we’re going to the music store, what instrument do you want to play? And I decided to play drums because I would be really nervous being in the front of the stage and drums were in the back behind a bunch of stuff.
VAUGHN: I was in like 5th grade, what is that like eleven? I played piano. Good times.
DANNY: I probably taught myself to play guitar when I was in high school, just from listening a lot.
KEVIN: He was a late bloomer.
DANNY: My parents were pretty annoyed because I would play the same stupid song for 8 hours in a row.
POND: How would you describe your music?
KEVIN: We made up this genre called psych-punk. It’s pretty straight forward.
KEVIN & VAUGHN: It’s half psych and half punk.
DANNY: You go from fast to slow, slow to fast again.
KEVIN: Yeah, lots of tempo changes.
POND: What is your writing process like?
DANNY: We stay up till really late and write.
VAUGHN: Yeah, super fucking late.
POND: Do you guys write together?
VAUGHN: Yeah, we all write together.
KEVIN: Someone might have an initial idea, but then—
DANNY: We’ll like bring in an idea and then we’ll all just work around it.
KEVIN: Yeah, it comes together when we’re together.
POND: Who do you look to outside of music?
KEVIN: Louis C.K.
VAUGHN: That’s a good question.
KEVIN: I was quick to answer that. I’m obsessed with Louis C.K. *Looks to Vaughn* Like firefighters, or Martin Luther King, or someone?
VAUGHN: Can it be like a hero or can it be an artist?
DANNY: Jean-Paul Belmondo. He’s a badass.
KEVIN: *Looks to Vaughn* Let me help you think of someone… your Dad! ...Your Grandpa.
VAUGHN: I’m going to name one of my favorite painters. Rothko. I love Rothko.
DANNY: Kevin loves Steves Jobs. He knows everything about him.
KEVIN: I do. But I’m more interested in him, than affectionate towards him.
VAUGHN: He’s just one of those American geniuses.
POND: If you could defeat any historical figure, who would it be?
VAUGHN: Abraham Lincoln in that movie... the Battle of the Vampires or whatever.
KEVIN: Napoleon. Cause he’s an asshole.
DANNY: Darius the Great.
VAUGHN: Who the fuck is Darius the Great.
DANNY: A Persian king.
VAUGHN: Oh cool, I didn’t know that.
KEVIN: He was the guy that wore all gold.
VAUGHN: *laughter*
DANNY: Yeah, the one who had the OG Pimp coat.
POND: Who would die first in a horror movie? (Because we always need to ask this).
VAUGHN: Gomez. (Danny).
KEVIN: Absolutely.
VAUGHN: *laughter*
DANNY: I’d just be nice. I’d be like, “Oh you’re all alone on the road? Yeah, come in, come hangout!” And then they’d be like, “Oh, by the way-” POW!
Follow Acid Dad on their website and see them live at our POND Mag Terrible Two Birthday Bash.