BlackBook Magazine recently did an interview with Zooey and M. Ward in New York City. Don’t forget the She & Him‘s Volume Two comes out The photoshoot posted on their site has also been added to the gallery.

Teenage angst often results in bad poetry and confessional journal entries. Did you pour all of your angst into songwriting instead?
Zooey Deschanel: We traveled a lot when I was really young. I had no friends, but I had a tiny keyboard.
M. Ward: Your friend was the keyboard. I learned how to play guitar by going through the Beatles’ anthologies. Once I learned all those chords, I basically had the ammunition to destroy the competition. [Laughs.] Those are the building blocks of every great song. Whether it’s old music or new music, I hear the Beatles. Maybe I’m crazy.
ZD: I don’t think you’re crazy! I couldn’t play more than one note at a time, so that was frustrating. I later learned about chords in school, and when I got home, I started teaching myself how to play piano. Before that, I had no way of writing down the music or recording the ideas.Does either of you recall a moment when you first felt proud enough of your music to share it?
ZD: I got a karaoke machine in high school. I used it to experiment, in a very primitive way, with multi-track recording. I remember playing those songs for my parents.
MW: You should definitely try to dig those tapes out.
ZD: I used to have so many things that have since disappeared. It was about six years ago that I started feeling comfortable enough to play my songs for a friend. I felt super-shy when I first started, but I got comfortable fast. The music is so organic, and such a true representation of myself, that it didn’t take long for me to feel really at ease.
I have added high quality caps from the Absolut Drinks- Behind the Scenes video (above) to the gallery. In the video, you can see that Zooey had other costumes as well- not just the pink futuristic one. Thanks to Kelly for the video!
She & Him have been chosen by The Simpsons creator, Matt Groening, to join the line-up of artists to sing at the All Tomorrow’s Parties Festival in the UK for the May 7th – May 10th 2010 weekend. You can buy tickets here.
We are very pleased to present new line-up additions chosen by Matt Groening, genius behind the Simpsons and Futurama, for his ATP festival weekend at Butlins, Minehead on May 7th – 9th 2010. One of the new additions is:
SHE & HIM
An American indie folk duo made up of Zooey Deschanel, star of the recent Oscar nominated film (500) Days Of Summer, and singer/songwriter M. Ward, a veteran of past ATP events. Their first album was voted the #1 Album of 2008 by Paste Magazine, and this performance is part of their first ever live tour outside of the U.S./Canada.
Added a (tagged) outtake which Zooey did for Fashion Rocks thanks to the awesome Mikaela.

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