200802patternim.jpgListening to Philadelphia duo Pattern is Movement for the first time can perhaps best be described as taking a ride through Disney's "It's a Small World After All", with each country representing a different period of music. It's a lot to take in, as sounds of the past are layered upon each other to create modern arrangements unlike anything you've heard before, while somehow remaining distantly familiar.

The band will bring their unique sound to our show tomorrow night at Union Hall, and you can buy tickets here.

Pattern is Movement, "Right Away"

Where did your band name originate?
We co-opted the name, Pattern is Movement, from T.S. Eliot. We were sitting around in a friend's apartment and found a book of Elliott's poems. I was searching through them and found the phrase "the detail of the pattern is movement" in the poem, Burnt Norton, by Eliot. I said it aloud and the dudes thought it was descriptive of our sound and with that - we chose it.

Where are you both originally from? And how long have you known each other?
Andrew is from the greater Philadelphia area and I am from South Jersey. We met while were children in Royal Rangers. Royal Rangers is the jesus camp version of the Boy Scouts. It's just like Boy Scouts but with the one addition: speaking in tongues. We have known each other since maybe 11-12 years of age. We originally did not like each other (mostly because I was rocking Air Jordans and he was not) that much, but turn to 8th grade and add a bit of Dr Dre's, The Chronic, and we became fast friends.

Did the music you heard growing up influence your current sound? What have you listened to (and enjoyed/absorbed) in your lifetime?
My answer would be a little bit of yes as well as no. I grew up listening to a weird swath of music - hip-hop, old funk/r&b as well as christian music. Those are very disparate musical genres which created an interesting base of music to respond to artistically. I would say that hip hop has had a serious influence on me when it comes to drumming. I really find the creative beats that appear in hip-hop to be very inspiring. I remember when I was a teen and I realized that drum beats were created with a machine and how that blew my mind. It frees up the artist to make a beat that might otherwise be quite difficult to play and which may interact with the music in a unique and special way. I try to take that approach when writing drum parts.

What is your musical background?
I, like most young boys, had two main desires: karate and drums. I was not to realize either of these in my childhood. My parent's couldn't afford the whole drum thing so I decided to play flute and trumpet. I hated playing both instruments so I gave up and played a bunch of nintendo. High school rolled around and I began to fiddle with the guitar. I started playing and Andrew and I formed a band. Mind you - this was a Christian hip hop band/rock band. We both moved on to college and I gave up guitar (Dave Matthews really turned me off to the guitar) and started playing drums. I have been playing drums since 1998 in a couple of bands.

What is your songwriting process?
Andrew sits in his room and writes and arranges the tune. He then gives me the demo's he has created and I sit in my room and contemplate what drums should do to these songs. We then go to a studio and flesh the song out. Generally, we track Andrew's parts and then we loop the song over and over and I play my drums for an hour or so. We then listen back to takes and argue why Keith Moon surpasses Jon Bonham in drumming (we don't really do that – but it sounds like we should).

If you had to describe your sound, how would you do so?
Currently, I have been describing it as a mash of Questlove's drumming meeting Julie Andrew's singing with the wonderful arrangements of Rogers and Hammerstein. Now, I don't know if that's accurate at all - but those are definitely musical wells we draw from. I don't know if there is a general title one can place on it - but I wouldn't be opposed to opening up a Hillary Clinton style contest to have someone name it.

Your sound is unlike anything I've heard, or maybe like a lot of things I've heard but arranged in an entirely new way, do you ever get compared to other bands?
There have been comparisons in the past (Sea and Cake, Pinback), but since we are a two piece now (we initially started out as a 5 piece) we have yet to be pinned down to any band/genre seeing that the record is not out till April. Some bands we would relish to be compared to, though, would be Dirty Projectors, Beirut, Grizzly Bear and, well, Deerhoof.

"They" say Philadelphia is the 6th borough of New York, but how do the two music scenes differ?
I would say they are much different. Manhattan's music scene seems to share similarities with cities like LA and Nashville. The music business is much larger then your average band and it appears everyone is in the biz. However, if mean Brooklyn, by New York, then I would say they are quite similar. Philly has a strong community of friends that all seem to play in each others bands and everyone seems to have trouble paying their gas bill. Philly and Brooklyn seem to also share a DIY ethos. Philly has some really rad independent rock clubs/art spaces and that appears the same in Brooklyn.

Do you have a favorite venue to play, or see, music here?
We were touring around as St. Vincent's backing band in 2006 and we had the pleasure to play Pete's Candy Store. That was such fun place to play. The decor was so wonderful and the people running it were also very lovely.

Please share your strangest "only in New York" story.
We were playing in NYC at the Cake shop. We got to the club early and found a great spot right in front of the club. We parked our mammoth car plus trailer and settled in to loading all one million pieces of gear. Prior to going in the club I realized I had no clue what the restrictions were for this spot – so I decided to check em out. The sign read: Street Cleaning 12am-3am Wednesday. We were playing on Tuesday night so we were in the clear. The show (by the way – this was the Forms cd release show) was great and had lots of fun with our buddies. We loaded out of the club and were just about to leave the city when I decided we should get tacos. We all agree and walk around the corner for some decent tacos. This was about 11:30pm. We get back to our van and we see a ticket!! I look at the ticket and it says it was written at 12:04am. I couldn't figure it out – how could we get a ticket? And then it dawned on me – its Wednesday!!!!!! I was such a dork and that damn sign got $65 out of me!!! New York's parking signs are notoriously misleading – however – in this case, I think I might have just been plain dumb.

What's your current soundtrack?
Currently, I have been listening to the Dirty Projectors. Rise above is one of the best albums I have ever heard in my life. I also am enjoying Vampire Weekend. I know some people are turned off by the hype - but I just plain find it enjoyable. Lastly, I have been spinning The Forms new cd, aptly named, The Forms. The first time I heard Icarus I about lost my shit. The new record has such a lovely attitude to it. It's not as aggressive as Icarus, but yet it's more direct which I would think would be aggressive. I personally find myself listening to it more than any other record at this point.