Shoegaze/dreampop quartet Parrot Dream, who join New Myths and BRAEVES for On The Rise at LPR next Tuesday 8/11, formed in Santiago, Chile in 2013, but now they call NYC home. We’re glad to have them here, and, with their LPR debut just a week away, here’s a Q&A with Parrot Dream vocalist and keyboardist Christina Appel and guitarist Gonzalo Guerrero!
 
LPR: Tell us a little about Parrot Dream. How did you connect and start playing together?
 
Christina: Parrot Dream came about in Santiago, Chile when Gonzalo and I, who had been together for a while at that point, started playing with Pancho and Diego, friends from design school and the studio where Gonzalo worked.
 
What is a “Parrot Dream?” How did you settle on this name? What were the other contenders?
 
Christina: Our original band name was A Pile of Birds, which we were quite attached to, but about 5 months in we discovered there was another band in Santiago with oddly an almost identical name. When scouting a new name, Gonzalo, who is a designer, was working on an illustration and noticed one of his markers, which was a deep green color, was called Parrot Dream.
 

 
You moved here in 2014 from Santiago, Chile. What music did you listen to growing up there? Are there any New York bands that influenced your music?
 
Gonzalo: I listened to Nirvana, the Pixies, Pavement, punk and hardcore growing up. My first band when I was 14 played Nirvana covers. After that I began to discover and listen to a lot of different styles of music, from classic rock and Latin American music to more experimental music.
 
Christina: I grew up listening to a lot of 90s rock, grunge and pop, from Green Day to The Beatles.
 
Gonzalo: There are a lot of NY bands that we like, but we don’t know if they’re a direct influence on our music, like Velvet Underground, Patty Smith, The Ramones, Interpol, Grizzly Bear and The Drums.
 

 
New York can be a pretty rough city when you’re just starting out. What surprised you most about the city?
 
Christina: It’s tough to get started when you’re new to the city, and there are so many bands here, which is awesome, but you do really have to work hard to stand out.
 
This On the Rise show was put together to celebrate up-and-coming talent in New York. Which new acts are you following right now? Anyone our readers should put on their radar?
 
Gonzalo: We played with Balancer at our last show, they’re amazing, and we’ve also been following Wild Yaks and Palm.
 
Describe your performances in 140 characters or less.
 
Ethereal to danceable rock, intensely focused and fun.
 
Don’t miss Parrot Dream at LPR on Tuesday, August 11 with New Myths and BRAEVES!