Trumpeter Adam O’Farrill and drummer Zack O’Farrill co-lead the O’Farrill Brothers Band, which has already put out two records in the past few years: 2013’s Sensing Slight (ZOHO) and 2011’s Giant Peach (ZOHO). This Friday, April 25th, 2014, the brothers will become supercharged after a dose of Super Mushroom: they’ll be presenting the début performance of The Super O’Farrill Bros., which features different, electronically-charged personnel from their usual band. We spoke with the brothers (accidentally interrupting Zack’s Starfox 64 session) to discuss the motivation behind this fun, new project.
The Jazz Gallery: When did this project begin? What was the original inspiration?
Zack O’Farrill: It’s been the Super O’Farrills for a month, right?
Adam O’Farrill: We’ve been rehearsing since around February, I think. The whole thing is based around the idea of playing music that’s inspired by video games that we grew up with. It’s the first time we’ve experimented with a lot of different electronic instruments, and it’s interesting because the way we play together—it’s like playing a video game.
ZO: Our rehearsals are as much talking about video games as playing the music.
TJG: Which games are in the Super O’Farrill Bros. canon?
AO: Sonic the Hedgehog, The Legend of Zelda, Starfox, Kirby, a lot of different stuff…Metroid Prime—a lot of Nintendo stuff. One of the keyboard players is a diehard Nintendo fan and the alto player told me his goal is to play every Playstation 2 game by 2020, which is insane. He’s actually playing the Nintendo DS on the gig!