by s andra garcia HOAX are a band out of New York whose self-described “empathy pop” illustrates that they are not interested in following the same generic indie pop outline that might be expected of them. Their lyricism is raw, the rhythms influenced by a wide range of genres that leaves the music a collage of vintage sounds. They are admiringly positive, and they are firm believers in giving yourself to others unabashedly and seeing where that action takes you. We chatted with Mike Raj (vocals) and Frantz Cesar (bass) about their influences, New York, and texting fans pictures of their dogs.
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Who’s in charge of the puppy pics? What struck me is that you guys have some really great lines in your bios: the “click for a virus” redirect to the “Moon Moon Baby” music video, the “text us for puppy pics” one. Mike: I’ve inadvertently taken to this responsibility. It really stemmed from my hatred of bios. Some artists have REALLY great bios (and kudos to them) but I guess ‘cause Frantz and I can dissociate from the music and the brand, every bio we’ve ever heard about us sounded cheesy and inauthentic, as if we were being put on a pedestal or something. So one day, I just had enough. I deleted our bio and put my phone number up and just started texting people pictures of my dog Luna and Frantz’s dog Xolo, who are absolute icons. With the virus thing, it was kind of the same idea. I could write a deep para-
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graph about why you should listen to our music, but really, at the end of the day, we want the music to do most of the talking for us. I like to leave a lot of things I want to talk about in the music itself—it’s just the way Frantz and I are as people. Kind of introversive. I haven’t yet texted the number. Is it an automated thing, or what can we expect to get when we do? Mike: It’s my actual phone number, which is probably a terrible idea. But no, yeah, I’ll usually snap pics of my dog on the spot when people ask. And usually the people who text us end up having a conversation with me, which is really cool ‘cause it’s like talking directly to people. I’ve even gotten into 8-Ball matches with certain people. I think most people think it’s a hoax, but they end up actually reaching me—a real person—and it’s just always cool to have real conversations.
