Newcomer garage rockers Growl and funk-dance favorite Sip Sip will be performing together at The Mohawk on Dec. 10 to benefit Attendance Records, a local nonprofit music education group. The Daily Texan spoke with Alexandra Cohen, Growl keyboardist/guitarist/vocalist and UT alumna, and Adrian Audain, Sip Sip drummer and UT social work sophomore, about new releases, partying and the importance of music education.

Daily Texan: What genre(s) are your bands?

Adrian Audain: Sip Sip is a dance-party band, I suppose, lots of horns and lots of people. There are 12 to 14 people usually.

Alexandra Cohen: Growl is mainly pop, I’d say, with like a surf slash garage-y vibe. It’s on a song-by-song basis. Garage-y in that its fast and loud and sometimes sloppy. Pop-y in that Santi’s [Dietche, vocals and guitar] vocals and lyrics are like surf-y.

Audain: Yeah, he writes catchy tunes.

DT: Why are you called Sip Sip and Growl?

Audain: At first we were going to be called the Summertime Band. Sip Sip though, uh I don’t know, Nick [Gregg, vocalist] came up with it. It kind of just works and fits. We were going to be this band that wore hats with googley eyes and flowers, like floral gowns, and be a backing band for a rap group.

Cohen: Our name was already chosen when I jumped on. I think it was really just like, OK, they sat down and thought of names and were like, “Oh, ‘Growl,’ that sounds cool,” and there weren’t any other bands called Growl so it worked.

DT: How do you write music?

Audain: Um, it’s pretty random mostly. I feel like Nick and Cody [Wilson, synth] bring a lot of interesting stuff to the table.

Cohen: We have a lot of jams that we hope turn into songs but we never remember them. We’ll always really get into playing something and be like, “That would be such an awesome song!” and then like 30 seconds later we’re like, “Wait … what were we playing?” 

DT: Are you working on any material right now?

Cohen: We’ve recorded six songs for our upcoming EP, which will be out in February. Once we have it out we’ll slow down on how many shows we play. We’re in the process of developing a really concrete style. You can tell that we’re still definitely trying to find a sound for ourselves.

Audain: We’re going to try and record hopefully this month, actually.

DT: What’s up with this show [Dec. 10]?

Cohen: It’s Growl, Sip Sip, Boyfryndz and Shivery Shakes at The Mohawk with a $5 suggested donation. Doors are at 8 and music starts at 9. It’s a benefit for an organization called Attendance Records, which is a student-run record label for public school students. Basically the mission is to go into classrooms for a year and work with high-school students from disadvantaged backgrounds and foster creativity. They bring in local artists, writers and musicians to get them writing, drawing and thinking creatively. We’ve all heard about cuts to arts funding in public schools and this is kind of a program that says, “You can chase after these things on your own, you can think creatively.” The show is going to be a tacky sweater show, there’s going to be fun Christmas activities like arm-wrestling Santa.

DT: Will Sip Sip be covering “Call Me Maybe” again?

Audain: No, not this one, I feel like that’s going to have to be for special occasions, especially considering we don’t even really know the song.

Cohen: Yeah, just for birthday parties.

Audain: And bat mitzvahs, weddings.

Cohen: You’ll be my wedding band.

Printed on Tuesday, December 4, 2012 as: Benefit show features new, local bands