Introducing: Foreign Born

Los Angeles based Foreign Born release their new album Person To Person this week via Secretly Canadian. Described by the label as “an anthem band without the fist-pumping anthem” Foreign Born have delivered something rather special indeed with the follow up to 2007′s cult hit On The Wing Now.

We recently fired off some questions to Matt Popieluch and Lewis Pesacov. Whilst you’re reading, check out two tracks from Person To Person below.

mp3:> Foreign Born: ‘Vacationing People’
mp3:> Foreign Born: ‘Early Warnings’

For people out there that have never heard of you. Give us three reasons why they should…
1. We sound good to the sober – but we are a revelation to the drunk and high.
2. “Person to Person” is a good work-out record. Side-A gets the heart-rate up and Side-B chills out just when you’re feeling that old trick knee acting up again.
3. We’re pretty good guys (once you get to know us).

Can you recall the moment when you first decided you wanted to become a musician?
Matt – I remember being really inspired by The Doors movie! Yes, embarrassing, but I was 11 or something! I think that was the first time I tried to write poetry in a rock n’ roll framework. All about shamans and dragons and shit. Priceless stuff. Wish I knew where it was, probably not that far off from some of the stuff that’s come out recently.

Where do your songs come from? What’s your inspiration?
Matt: Our songs come from lewis strangling Ariel, Ariel kicking me in the balls, me throwing sand in Garrett’s eyes, and Garret sucker-punching
Lewis: and then we start all over again.

Name your Top 5 records.
Lewis: “Avalon”- Roxy Music / “Zaïre-Ghana, 1976″- Zaiko Langa Langa / “Remain in Light”- Talking Heads / “I’m Your Man”- Leonard Cohen / “Law and Order”- Lindsy Buckingham

What was the first gig you ever played and was it a success?
Matt: My personal first gig(if you don’t count winning a lip-sync contest for “You Can’t Touch This”) was at school talent show in ’92. The wisdom to tune our guitars to one another wouldn’t come until later on, so you can imagine how covering Stone Temple Pilots on 2 nylon string guitars must have sounded.

What one piece of criticism has stuck in your mind and was it justified?
Matt: I remember that someone referred to us once as Foreign Boring. So that stuck to my back like a kick me sign and once in a while I still think I feel something back there, the sound of paper rustling. Whenever we get lazy, I think of that, and I’m like – they’re right!

What one thing has caused you to waste your free time in the past 6 months?
Matt: Besides Rush Limbaugh? Good question. Oh yeah Sean Hannity.

If you weren’t making music, what do you think you’d be doing?
Matt: Lookin’ for love in all the wrong places.

What’s the worst job you’ve ever had?
Matt: Lewis and I might have both had our worst job simultaneously! When we first moved to LA, we would take out trash at movie premiers! I still get flash-backs from the Spiderman 2 premier! I was also a telemarketer for a week and almost hanged myself.

We’d like you to make us a mix-tape. Pick five tracks of your choice.
Lewis: “The Way It Is”- Bruce Hornsby / “Coming Around Again”- Carly Simon / “Sweet Lullaby”- Deep Forest / “Time to Say Goodbye”- Andrea Bocelli / “I’m a Player”- Too $hort

Foreign Born on MySpace