The Island of Misfit Toys Interview/Music

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The Island of Misfit Toys is a band from Chicago full of beautiful men and even more beautiful women. Playing lyrically sound music with a high composition for many different instruments, giving each song a different sound on it's own. If you are ever near, be sure to check them out, and support their music, and the sweet sweet words sung into your ears.

1. Where did the name Island of Misfit Toys Come from?

More than half of my (this is Anthony by the way!!!) favorite movies are Christmas movies, and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is absolutely at the top of that list. The Christmas part of it, at least. In the movie, Rudolph and his two friends Hermey and Yukon Cornelius end up on The Island of Misfit Toys. It’s an island for every unwanted toy that no child would ask for…but that doesn’t mean a child can’t love them, right? The toys all sing a song, and it gets very sad (at one point, a doll on the island says she “doesn’t have any dreams left to dream”), but overall, the whole scene makes me smile.

I applied this idea to the band originally because all of us were musicians who were not doing anything at the time; potential band-mates without bands. Everybody was/is so massively talented, and it turned out astonishingly well, considering half of the members didn’t know each other before this band started. That fact is really weird to think about now.

2. How long has the band been together?, and I'm sorry to do this to you but I must ask you to name all the members, and their key components brought to the band!

This band has been together for 2 years now….and don’t worry about it haha, everybody needs to be recognized. I’m Anthony Sanders, and I lead-sing/write the songs, and every once in a while, I’ll play guitar. The two guitar players are Mark Jaeschke on electric and Julia Bard on acoustic, although Mark will sometimes play trumpet/mellophone while I play his guitar. Gooey plays bass, which he also does for the band Dowsing. Evan Loritsch and Lui Macatual both play drums, although Evan will sometimes leave the drums and play saxophone, and on special occasions, Lui will leave the drums and play either keyboards or bass. The keyboards are (wo)manned by Danny Radovanovic and Ashlee Stewack, although sometimes Danny will go buck-wild on some drums, and Ashlee sometimes plays bells and melodica. Ben Austin plays cello for us, and my sister Audrey plays flute. Everybody, and I mean everybody, sings.

Needless to say, we are a nightmare for sound-guys. But it is an absolute blast, all the time.

3. How has the sound changed since Bear Hair? Whether it being how the songs are written, or lyrically sound songs as on Bear Hair!

Well, here’s something not a lot of people know: Bear Hair may have come out last year, but it was written when I was 17 (I’m 20 right now). The full-length we’re recording, which will be called I Made You Something, was written when I was in the middle of being 18…around the time I first met some of the members of what would become IOMT. So the funny thing about it is, it’s WAY more developed, but it’s not as developed as what’s coming. It’s stuck in time and will eventually become “the present”; it feels strange. But to answer your question, it’s more expansive (specifically written for a big band, unlike Bear Hair), with a developed concept and more thought-out lyrics. I’m far more proud of it than Bear Hair, and I’m still very happy with how Bear Hair turned out. Very happy. The reception’s been mind-blowing.

4. Who's sweet and sultry voice is filling my ears right now singing? The vocals are really awesome, lyrically, and just by talent, will those change on any upcoming records?

YOU’RE SO NICE, THAT IS ME. I am singing. Everybody is singing a lot all over the record, notably some great guest vocalists, but I am the voice you hear most of the time. And THANK you, because although I was young, I worked VERY hard on those songs, so it’s nice to hear people still liking it 3 years after the fact. And yes, I think I definitely became a better lyricist afterwards. I’d like to think so, at least; I hope I’m not just deluding myself from the fact that I’m losing the plot in that field.

5. Do you have a tour in the works right now?

We toured the last two summers, and we all went on various journeys throughout with other bands, but we’re taking these next few months to start recording this next album. That is absolutely first and foremost. We’re having a few releases come out before the actual album to tide people over in-between now and then, because we’re not going to b playing out nearly as much as we usually do. We’ve got so much to do, and it’s all very exciting. I freak out every night about the ridiculously-cool things that are happening.

6. Is your hollowness haunting? What has been the best show you played so far?

YOU REFERENCED A SONG! This is my favorite interview. I wanna kiss your hand. And that’s a very good question…one of my personal favorites will always be the first time we played Lincoln Hall, with The New Diet opening. That was monumental. We all cried. The tour kickoff in 2011 at Schubas made my life worth living.

We also have had some of our best shows at a regional festival in the South Suburbs of Chicago, simply called “Big Show.” It’s run by some of our friends out there, and mainly features amazing bands from a label called Swerp Records. Look them up, they’re changing the game. There are so many bands I can reference from that group, most notably Water House, Nervous Passenger, The Para-Medics, Ratboys, My Dad, JT Royster…so many. If you’re looking for other bands to interview, or if you’re a stranger reading this and you want to hear good music, go to www.swerprecords.com and just listen to anything. Seriously.

7. Does having so many members in the band make it just amazingly more sound, and put together in the end, or does it make song writing harder?

Definitely, definitely the former. I write all the songs beforehand, and everybody else tweaks their parts and individualizes it. There’s rarely ever a moment where I’m not like “OKAY THAT’S COOL, DO THAT.” It’s pretty much always that way. The songwriting is fun all the time, even if it’s not a fun song. It makes me happy to hear something I thought of manifested into something palpable, into sound, right in front of me every practice and every show. I am grateful constantly.

8. What is something you want people to keep in mind when they hear your music?

That’s an interesting question. I will say 3 things:
1. Keep context in mind. Almost everything you’re hearing is from my past, and there’s a lot more coming. For example, the next two albums are companion pieces to each other.
2. You’ll hear a lot of things on the album that are connected to each other, but once the next few albums are released, there are bookends inside of bookends that are continued from album to album.
3. Always remember, the show is going to be better than the album, no matter what. That’s to avoid disappointment, although we’re going to try and avoid that as much as we can.