Half of Hippie Sabotage (although his beard is full-Hippie)

Our Arts Editor took time out of his Bacchanal experience to get a quick backstage-interview from the musical duo Hippie Sabotage. The brothers are currently on a national tour but managed to carve out time between shows in Texas to perform at Bacchanal 2016 as surprise headliners.

Q: So, you flew in from Austin, Texas this morning, and you’re flying back to Phoenix tonight to continue your tour. How does that intense schedule impact your ability to perform and create music?

A: We’re used to a crazy travel schedule, but honestly, we weren’t sure how we were going to manage after the flight into New York with the midday performance. We weren’t nervous exactly, but we were definitely tired from the flight and rushing into sound check to do all the things to prep for our set. But everyone in the crowd really showed up about ten minutes into the set, and we definitely think that it went super well. The energy from the crowd was incredible, it totally kept us going and made it worth it, so we can’t complain.

Q: Speaking of that energy, what kind of energy and experience did you expect coming to Columbia?

A: [laughing] Columbia was always the type of university I wanted to go to if I’d worked harder in high school. I’d visited the school a few years ago with a girlfriend at the time, and I really loved the school, it’s fucking gorgeous. My brother and I were really just excited to come back to play here, and we were just hoping for a good time and lots of energy from the crowd, which was definitely there. It’s a cool experience to get to play here for you guys.

Q: Bacchanal is a day devoted to stress-release for the student body, with parties in the morning and evening and the concert midday. Do you think that your performance helped facilitate that stress release?

A: We really hope so, and it really seems like it did. When the Bacchanal committee reached out a while back to get us to come, we were really excited to provide some positive energy for the students. We came into this with the mindset that we have a responsibility to create a positive experience and get rid of some of that stress, and everybody was super responsive today, so hopefully we made sure that it was a good experience for everyone watching and getting into the show.

Q: Both you and your brother graduated college and decided to follow music full-time. What would you say to students at Columbia who are facing graduation?

A: As you guys enter the corporate world, remember all that idealism that you had going into college and throughout the whole thing. And don’t become jaded when you get into finance, or law, or politics, or whatever, because that doesn’t make the world any better. You have to keep and hang on to any passion you have, and keep moving forward.

For those Columbia and Barnard students who were absent from Hippie Sabotage’s set (or were too inebriated to remember): check out some of their music on The Sunny Album and Vacants.