By Olivia Turner | Arts & Life Editor
Just a few feet from the stage they would soon play on, I got to sit down for a quick interview with Josh Lambert, Yvonne Lambert and Toto Miranda from the ever-so-versatile psych rock group, The Octopus Project. In our talk, I got details on the band’s evolution over the years, their past live music experiences and even got to chatting about spirit animals. Let’s dive in.
Q: Y’all are based out of Austin. What would you say are some of your favorite things about this city?
Josh: I feel like the whole time we’ve been here, it’s been pretty open-minded and very welcoming to people with different perspectives and super fostering to those people. I feel like it’s a really diverse kind of artistic community, and everybody is really helpful to each other.
Miranda: It feels pretty normal to be engaged in creative work. It’s kind of not expected, but not at all weird.
Yvonne: I like the diversity of the landscapes here and how much beauty outdoors there is. [There is] so much hiking and natural springs and just so many amazing ways to engage with nature when it’s not 115 degrees.
Q: You guys have been a part of Austin’s experimental music scene for over two decades now. How has the city’s soundscape evolved in your eyes?
Josh: With technology — computers and stuff — anybody can make a record in their bedroom now. So a lot more people are focusing on that, and it’s a lot easier to be creative and do things. I feel like when we started, it was maybe a little bit more of a hurdle.
Q: What was the original spark that brought The Octopus Project together in the early 2000s? Was there a moment where you guys knew that this was going to be a real, staying thing?
Miranda: I think it was just wanting to use a broader array of sounds and styles at the time. We’d mostly been in rock bands before this, and that was an excuse to use electronics, experiment with recording techniques and try to put everything we were interested in under one umbrella and make the diversity of interests a feature of the project.
Yvonne: When I knew that this was going to be a more long-lasting thing was probably in 2002. We got signed to a tiny Austin label, and it was a huge deal to us. I remember thinking that if there was somebody who believed in it enough to put a little bit of money to put out a record, I felt like it was something worth sticking with.
Q: Your music blends electronic, indie rock, psych pop with this visual, almost cinematic energy. What does your creative process look like when you’re making music together?
Josh: It kind of depends on the project. Like regular band stuff, you just make a bunch of stuff and then pass it around to everybody and see what everybody thinks and then add to it or take away from it. It’s a real collaborative thing. And then if we’re working on a score or something, it’s a lot more focused on that — we’re doing something for somebody else. So they’re telling us what they want, and we’re all working towards a different goal together. But when it’s just the three of us making a record, we do whatever we want.
Yvonne: I tend to gravitate towards funny sounds that make me laugh, sounds [that] bring us joy, but just a lot of experimentation.
Q: Looking back at your earlier records like Hello, Avalanche versus something like Memory Mirror, what do you guys hear differently in yourselves now? How have you evolved over time?
Josh: I feel like each record we’re just trying to keep exploring. I feel like they’re all very different. Trying to just find new things each time is a through line. So maybe that’s how we’re the same, but I don’t know. We started off as a primarily instrumental band, and then started doing more talking lyrics. But nothing’s off the table at any given moment.
Q: What are some memorable experiences playing for Levitation or Psych Fest that you can share with me?
Miranda: In ‘22 was our first show back after COVID. So that was memorable for that reason.
Josh: It still felt kind of weird. It was like, “Is this okay?”
Yvonne: We played an outdoor show. But I remember feeling nervous even then. Everybody was re-emerging, and you could feel that energy among everyone, the trepidation, the collective trauma we’d all been through.
Josh: It’s always a cool fest to get to play because people are open to such a variety of sounds and just here to be surprised. So we know we can kind of get away with whatever, and people will be into it.
Q: If The Octopus Project had a spirit animal or spirit creature, what would you guys be?
Josh: I’m kind of feeling owls.
Miranda: Maybe butterflies?
Yvonne: There’s this little, tiny African antelope called a dik-dik. I would say a dik-dik.
Q: Can we expect any new music soon? Or are you guys more focused on performing live shows right now?
Josh: Yeah, we just scored a new film. I don’t know what’s happening with the soundtrack, but it’s super cool.
Yvonne: We’ve been doing a lot of soundtracks, like interesting films and documentaries lately. That’s been our main focus. Definitely want to get back to writing a band record.
Q: If somebody hasn’t listened to your music yet, what can you tell them about yourselves that they might find interesting?
Miranda: Come for the sounds. They’re good headphone records. So anybody who’s up for an expedition.
