The Philadelphia-based trio Maggi, Pierce And E.J. (MPEband) is comprised of three multi-talented individuals.

Seeing them live is like being at an outdoor concert in a sunny day, or watching some sort of 1960s acid-house circus, where tubas and accordions interweave with airy vocals and flower child lyrics, underpinned by a folksy, Dixieland feel. It's a rodeo kaleidoscope, a memory of a free festival.

Lately, they've been playing gigs in the Southeast U.S., but they've also performed across Europe and the United States. They're currently recording their fifth album.

Their description of themselves appearing on their web page summarizes the nature of their groove:

"Their Chinese-fire-drill instrumentation, sinewy vocals and seat-of-the-pants spontaneity leave fans groping for descriptions: "Abba meets Zappa", "They Might Be Giants meets Crazy Horse", "Fleetwood Mac meets The Pixies", "Sonic Youth meets the Beatles" are but a few attempts to label what is truly the magic of MPE."

Note: Due to MPE's busy tour schedule, this interview was conducted over e-mail. When it is clear which member of the band was responding, their name is used. Otherwise, the responses can be assumed to speak for the entire band.

Alyce: Could you give me a brief history of the band: How you got together, what bands the members might have been in before?

Pierce: EJ and I were in The Goats. A pioneering hip-hop band from Philly in the 90's. We would often crash Maggi's solo gigs at coffeehouses and sing loud harmonies. She was in a rock band at the time. She would come on tour with us (Goats) a lot and we'd busk by day (in Europe) and party by night. We had a blast together, so we decided to give it a go. Here we are and we still get along smashingly and the music keeps getting better.

Alyce: Your music obviously comes from a range of influences. Could you explain what is most influential to each band member in particular?

EJ: Growing up, my mom listened to folk and classical. My dad listened
to jazz and doo-wop. I guess it all stems from that. That and just
listening to everything. (Streams, birds, wind, sunsets, etc...)

Alyce: How long has each member been making music?

As long as we's can remember.

Alyce: Is this the chosen career path of everyone?

Yes.

Alyce: If forced to categorize your music, how would you do so? Is it even possible to categorize, given the range of influences?

Maggi: Categorization sucks, but since it makes sheeple feel more
comfortable to buy music, we have narrowed what we call Eclectric Rolk down to folk rock or rock folk (that's for the masses), the open minded music listeners can decide for themselves what to call us or what not to call us.

Alyce: Are you ever compared to any other musicians/performers? If so, which ones, and does it bother you to be compared?

EJ: We get interesting mixtures like: Zappa meets Abba, Beatles meet Sonic Youth, Carpenters meet Crazy Horse, or people simply say, "You are the best band I've ever seen in my entire life! Let me buy all four of your CD's and take you out to dinner and let you sleep in my mansion." - Go figure.

Alyce: Could you talk a little about how you see the music industry and how, given an ideal world, you would fit into it? Are you more interested in staying independent? Does the future of the Internet offer you more flexibility and options in distributing your music (is this something you've considered)?

Maggi: We are able to survive playing music for a half a decade together now. An ideal world is far, far away from here. We try to do our part, yet we still need the machines that consume the fuel which is taken from the land.

Our CD's can be ordered online and eventually we hope to get distribution all over. We're the little Johnny Appleseeds. One seed here, one seed there, eventually a forest.

Alyce: Do you get the word out any other ways? How has the response been going from your touring this summer?

Website, email, local record stores, friends, gigs, etc... Touring has been great.

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