FIVE QUESTIONS: Edgar Acosta (The Sonnets)

Edgar Acosta
The Sonnets
guitarist, singer

1. Background:

My name is Edgar and I'm in The Sonnets, based in L.A. I play guitar and sing (half the time), and write half of our songs. We're also currently in the market for a good, groovy, minimalist drummer (somewhere between Ringo and Meg White). Our sound has been described as "punk Beach Boys."

My bandmate Matthew and I started this about two years ago, but really it's been in the making for about seven years. We were English majors in college and met one day when I was walking by the dorms and heard somebody playing, from the second story, Sublime's "Santeria" on guitar. I started singing along loudly from below. Matthew came out and we talked music and girls.


2. Name one album you feel is critically under-rated and one album that is critically over-rated. Defend your case.

King Crimson's Islands is definitely under-rated. Most say In the Court of the Crimson King is the definitive, watershed prog-rock moment, but Islands really takes you on a psychedelic, disturbing journey, leaving you in peaceful reverie at the end. In the Court is just weird for the sake of being weird.

I'd have to say a critically over-rated album is Clap Your Hands Say Yeah's debut album. I actually do love "The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth," but the rest of the album has no definition. The songwriting (as in melody/chords/lyrics) is without clear purpose. But I definitely commend the band for having had huge success without following the traditional indie- or major-label route.


3. What about today's music climate dissatisfies you? What do you long for in the music past or hope for in the future of music? Think about the big picture.

What dissatisfies me is cynicism. The tired "there's no good music being made today" way of looking at things. It's a great time for music fans, and there's plenty of great bands. Unlike in the '60s or '70s, the good music isn't in-your-face and easy-to-see. You have to dig a little more, and be willing to go to random shows in the name of sifting through the bad to find the great. So I guess the antidote to cynicism is just a willingness to put effort into finding what's good; self-reliance.


4. Is it important for culture-at-large to always have new bands and new songs? Why or why not?

Yes, because those with fresh-blood adapt more easily, and are naturally more in-tune with the culture at large. [I love this point. ~Mouse] That means that the struggling, no-name artist lives in the same culture the regular folk live in, so therefore it's just natural for that type of artist to have a more relevant voice within that culture. The old acts who've had success for years (Paul McCartney, U2, etc.) don't live on the same plane as the majority. Their success is insulating, and great art hardly ever happens in a vacuum.


5. Who wins in a fight between a gorilla and a walrus? Assume they are both healthy, adult specimens. The fight takes place on the beach with no trees (advantage: walrus) but there is one natural bludgeoning weapon, a piece of driftwood (advantage: gorilla). Defend your case.

I'd have to go with the gorilla. Sure, the walrus has home-team advantage, but even so, a gorilla is still going to be able to move around easier. Also, a walrus would have to be positioned just right to inflict significant damage. A gorilla has many options, including the driftwood, its fists, strangulation, and, of course, its teeth.