Futurist is the “Alt Rock, Psychedelic-Pop” rocket launched in Brooklyn, NY, with a unique take on psychedelic rock, dance-able grooves, and earnest songwriting achieving a sound best described as "future-classic." By virtue of experimentation, a multimedia vision, and an energetic delivery, the band creates a wall of sound that inspires and uplifts audiences with their own style and modern mythology.

Please list all of your band members and their roles in the band.

Curtis Peel - Lead Singer, Guitarist, Piano, Synths, Percussion

Joey Campanella - Drums

Josh Curry - Bass

For starters, what bands were you guys a part of prior to Futurist? How long has the band been around?

Curtis Peel performed under his own name while living in Boulder, CO (2003-2007) and then formed Futurist in NYC starting in 2008. He plays in no other projects.

Joey Campanella has playing in a variety of projects including; Spotlights, Jack Killen, The National Reserve, all boy/all girl, Jackson Lynch, and Lord Youth.

Josh Curry has a band called Super Capsule and is releasing a banjo record soon.

The band has existed since 2008. Curtis is the only original member.

What’s the origin of that name and have you changed the band’s name before?

There isn’t really any special story behind the band’s name, but we named ourselves Futurist shortly after I moved to New York City from Colorado in the summer 2008. Before I had been performing a lot of the same music under my own name when I lived out there. It has since become more meaningful though as our sound has evolved to use a lot of new technology in our live sound.

Who writes your songs? What are the main themes or topics for most of your songs and do you think these topics will change over time?

I (Curtis) has typically written all of the music, but the other guys have contributed heavily to the new record. I foresee us in the future moving more and more towards a collaborative writing process, but I have mostly been working as the conductor of sorts. I’m pretty good at pulling together a bunch of random ideas and forming them into one coherent concept. For example, Joey has had a considerable background listening to and playing funk music, something of which I do not, so there’s a tune on the new record that is influenced by that feel and I pasted together his ideas with something I had lying around and the combination of our ideas has created something very unique that I wouldn’t have necessarily made on my own.

What bands are currently inspiring the music that you’re making?

Lyrically, I’ve been hugely influenced by Father John Misty lately, but sonically I haven’t really been listening to much new music. Some of the most recent favorites on my phone are Ted Lucas, Frankie Miller, Paolo Nutini, Hiss Golden Messenger, and I’ve been listening to some old Dire Straits.

Was there a particular band/artist or concert that inspired you to start a band?

That’s so hard to say. There are so many bands that have inspired me to do the band thing. The biggest inspiration would have to be all of the bands I saw at Red Rocks while I lived in Colorado. Red Rocks is my dream venue (at least out of any I’ve seen) and I can remember being blown away by a slew of bands I saw while living out there, including Radiohead, The Flaming Lips, Bjork, Sigur Ros, Arcade Fire, LCD Soundsystem, Ween, and Wilco.

What do you do to prepare for a show? Any flexing, exercises, etc …

I do vocal warm-ups from this guy on youtube (Jeff Rolka - shoutout). We always rehearse the days leading up.

What has been the biggest highlight of the band’s career so far?

Our first album release, we hosted this interactive album release party of sorts in a club in Manhattan. We hired a bunch of artists in the scene to build out a series of rooms, each one loosely associated with a track on the record. Everyone would walk through each room and interact with the installations and then spill out to the bottom where we had a decked out stage and a bunch of bands. It was a huge undertaking and turn-out and I am incredibly proud of what we made.

If you could tour with any bands, past or present, who would they be and why?

Present - Spoon. Those guys are so consistently good it’s not even funny. I think we’d be a good fit with them too.

Past - Pink Floyd. Conceptually, for where I see us headed, it would have been so cool to tour alongside that band (1973-1977 era).

Is there anything else you would like to add?

I’m a graphic designer and animator and I create music videos both for Futurist and other bands for a living (www.avalancheartists.com). Joey has worked extensively in music shops repairing instruments, teaching music lessons, as well as a studio and live drummer for a bunch of bands around the NYC area.

Our sophomore LP, ‘Omens’ is scheduled for release September 27. We’re incredible excited about the new record, so keep an eye out for new singles, music videos, and live studio performances of these new songs we’re going to gradually start releasing between now and the end of the summer.