If it weren't for the Internet and YouTube, Dutch rock sensation
Racoon would probably never be as popular as they are in the U.S. After more than 200,000 views of their video for "Close Your Eyes" on YouTube, the band was picked up by not just a label, but by the
Dutch Government. Yes, a joint project of Buma Cultuur and the Dutch Rock & Pop Institute have teamed up to market Racoon in the U.S.
Their third album, "Another Day", hit stores stateside on October 2, so we caught up with Stefan De Kroon, Racoon's bass player, to get the low-down on their tech tastes. Turns out he likes to shave. A lot.
What gadgets do you always bring with you to the set (for down-time)?A mobile phone to play games on and listen to music (and, oh yeah, make phone calls). Sometimes also some video games but that's more for my band mates than for me. Not a big gaming fan.
What cell phone do you have right now and what do you love/hate about it?
I had a Nokia N73 but it got detached from my person last week during a gig we played in Curaçao. Hope its new Antillean owner likes it as much as I did. The built-in camera takes really nice pictures. I actually love the fact that that the colors are a bit 'off' sometimes. It always makes for some surprising and out-of-the-ordinary pieces of art... It does bug me, however, that after a while it gets sIower. I'll be getting a new phone this week, the
Nokia N95. It's supposed to be the top-of-the-notch Nokia from the N-series that has an integrated video camera and a GPS system. Looking forward to it since we will be able to do some
video blogging then and find our way to the venue a little better.
Who's the last person you sent a text message to and what was it about?
It was to my best mate that I wasn't going to join him in the pub (I still can't believe I said that!).
Where do you go (site or service) pretty much every time you get online?
MySpace of course, since we use it to keep in touch with our fan base. It's a lot more direct then our official website. And
YouTube, it rules! It's absolutely brilliant what we can discover on YouTube (pretty much anything we're looking for), and how many people discover us and our music that way. We post all our music videos on YouTube and you can tell exactly how many people viewed it and how they are liking it. We recently put up the video for our first U.S. single "Close Your Eyes" and it already got viewed 200,000 times over the last couple of weeks. Amazing .. .And both MySpace and YouTube are perfect to check out bands that you hadn't heard of before.
What annoys you most about your iPod, cell phone, or laptop (or any other gadget)?
That after a while they have a very short battery life.
Name one thing you wish your iPod/cellphone/laptop (any gadget) could do that it doesn't do now?
I wish I could shave myself with my cellphone -- shouldn't be too hard to implement such a thing in a cell phone now, should it? Would come in really handy on tour.
What upcoming gadget can you not wait to get your hands on?
To be honest I'm quite happy gadget-wise. Though I would like an MP3 player which could contain ALL of my music.
You're stranded on a desert island: What gadget do you bring?
Seeing as there would be no way to recharge the battery of any gadget I would bring, I think I'd stick to a pen and a few pieces of paper (Remember? From the good old days?).
What's the most-played song or artist on your iPod?
At the moment The Arcade Fire. Any song of theirs, really.
Blackberry, Sidekick, or Treo?
Sorry, Not using any of them. Talking about e-mail: I just stick to my computer for now. Don't want to be flooded by e-mail all day long. And it usually isn't THAT urgent that it can't wait a couple of hours. And if it is, they can always call or text me on my cell.
Are you getting an iPhone?
Looks like a really fun thing to have, but I need to be able to use any provider I wish or it's a no-go for me. The
iPhone didn't come out in The Netherlands yet. I'm definitely going to check it out when it does. They say it's for the end of this year. If it's set up so I can use it with my current provider, who knows ... I might get tempted. But I'd probably turn off the e-mail function. Maybe they should do one with the built-in razor instead.
What's the longest time you've ever spent playing a video game in one sitting and what game was it?
The only game I ever liked playing was
Oddworld: Abe's Exxodus, an old PS2 game. I think I played it once for 10 hours straight. Never touched another video game since.
Do you use/have a Mac or PC? Why?
PC, out of habit I guess.
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