Catching Up With Tennis At Outside Lands – Plus Photos From Their Show!

Here at Free People we are big fans of the band Tennis, comprised of the adorable couple Alaina Moore and Patrick Riley.  We caught up with them at Outside Lands this weekend to talk music, fashion and what’s coming up for the band!

This was your first time playing Outside Lands, how was it?

Wonderful, I had an amazing time, besides that I literally could not feel my hands during a few songs, but the crowd was so big it was really fun!

You mentioned during your show about how you had a cute outfit picked out and you were bummed you had to wear the jacket, normally when you’re getting dressed for a show what do you like to wear?

It depends on my environment, but for festivals I like to wear more heavy duty, stronger clothing, so I’m wearing leather shorts and a Tory Birch silk blouse. And I really wanted to wear this alone without tights but I had to add layer to layer to layer until I just ruined my outfit.

Do you guys get to hang out a little bit at the festival?

Yeah we have tomorrow off so we don’t have to rush and we can just watch.

Are you going to check out any of the other bands?

Oh yeah definitely. We’ll probably watch The Walkmen, who we love, and we’re going to stick around tomorrow to see Grandaddy  and we’re definitely going to watch Neil Young tonight.

You guys are touring for a little while, what are you going to do when you finish the tour?

Actually, we just found out that we’re going to play live with our band for Rebecca Minkoff’s runway show at fashion week, so when we get off tour we have a couple weeks off and we’re recording, and then we’re doing that, and then we have another tour and then we’re going to start writing. Actually we’re just really busy.

When’s the last time you had a break?

We actually just had a break but it was in the month of July which was just announced as being the hottest month in the history of the United States, so that is nuts. We were supposed to go sailing but it was absolute torture to be on our boat with no refrigerator or air conditioning, and it was 100 degrees every day, we just couldn’t do it.

What is your boat called?

Swift Ranger, but it came pre-named. It’s bad luck to change names without doing a whole ceremony so we haven’t done it yet, but we usually just call our boat the Cape Dory which is the kind of boat it is, and the name of our first album.

Do you have any pre-show rituals before you go on stage?

I do, I drink almost a gallon of water a day, room temperature. I don’t eat within two hours before I sing, and I also warm up for about 45 minutes doing vocal exercises in a quiet place, and then I warm down afterwards.

Is that hard to do at a festival?

Yeah it’s really hard. I’ve noticed some singers have really strong voices and don’t need to coddle them but I am not that person at all. I want to get everything out of it that I can so I have to really baby it.

And you guys are stopping in Philly on your tour, I’m excited to come see you there.

Yes, I love it there. We love Philly. There are a few cities that are the most fun to play in, the crowd is always really pumped and San Francisco’s one, Philly is one, and Austin, but other cities aren’t as energetic. New York is fun but it’s not as lively as the Philly crowd.

Check out some photos from Tennis’ show on Friday at Outside Lands!

tennis band

tennis band

tennis band

tennis band

tennis band

Lead image by Erin Hagstrom, calivintage.com; rest by Julia.

More indie music news from the BLDG 25 Blog.

0 0 vote
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
1 Comment
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
11 years ago

Lovely! Alaina, I love learning more and more about your music and everything that goes into the shows and prep. Great interview!