Marc Bianchi has a million things going on. After more than a decade of putting out records as Her Space Holiday, he’s now started making music as “xoxo, panda”, and is shooting a movie; and that’s just the big stuff, not counting the various remixes, side-side projects, and an ongoing war on capitalisation. Marc was kind enough to answer a few questions about the past, the present and the future.

While you read, you can stream xoxo and hsh tracks from both bands here and here.

your “new kid revival” project is apparently coming together. what should we expect of the movie? can you describe how/why it’s related to Japan, where you apparently have been spending a lot of time?
Yes. I Just finished the new kid revival album two days ago! It went off for some rough mastering this morning.. and it goes to the labels next week for negotiations. Not really too sure where it’s going to end up.
but hopefully it will be out by the fall of 2007. The film is another story, in between recording, and composing, and remixing, etc.. i have been able to shoot scenes here and there… but ultimately, I realized very quickly that shooting this film is a full time job in itself. Since there is no script, and it is just a collection of footage, thoughts, encounters, etc..it seems to be a never ending free flowing project.
i am planning on shooting footage in different cities as well while on tour…so with the way things are looking now, it should be a good couple of years before its all pieced together…there is actually no direct connection between japan and xoxo, panda…other than some of the experiences i have had there over the last couple of years have opened the creative doors to switch gears and do this.

xoxo! an ipod cozy!

- you announced a new hsh record for the fall of ‘07 some time ago, and a xoxo, panda record too. how is that gonna work out?
like the film, the new her space holiday album has taken a back seat to all of the new projects that keep coming up. i haven’t even started the new her space holiday, or rather i scrapped what i did start months back..and two be honest for a the past year i was privately convinced i wouldn’t do a new record. but since the completion of the new kid revival, i have so many new ideas that i want to bring into the her space holiday album. so hopefully i will start the new record in the coming weeks..but i have no idea when it will be done.
as far as touring goes..its so open ended right now, i have to see what the labels want to do with the xoxo, panda album and decide from there. but touring the states as hsh is long long over due. it’s already been three years since our last US tour.

- do you plan on letting both names co-exist?
i initially viewed hsh and xoxo, panda as two separate things..i am realizing now that at the end of the day, they are both just the same thing..the music i feel like making at the time. but now that i committed to putting two projects out there..yes i will definitely let both names exist equally.

marc bianchi live as hsh

- besides the desire to start fresh with a new name, is making music as xoxo, panda very different from making music as hsh? e.g. is it still very much a solo thing, or is it collaborative?
xoxo, panda is the freedom i wish i had, or rather understood i had with her space holiday. i didn’t realize that i could have made this record under the name her space holiday and it would have been totally fine.
even subconsciously after doing something for ten plus years, you sort of paint yourself creatively in a corner..this record was a very important thing for me to make. it got me in touch with the pure and simple pleasure of making music..and though it was still a solo effort, it felt far less isolating then recording the past two hsh albums did.

- you seem to be pretty big on using websites like youtube, myspace, etc., to get videos and music out to people; why do you share so much? how do you feel about the feedback that you get?
i think the internet has been a really big part of the freedom i feel now.
before, you make albums, they sit for a bit, go to press, and after a few months people hear them etc…the energy is so deteriorated personally by that point. but now, i can make a film, or a song, or write a little story, etc…and shoot it out to the world five minutes after it’s done.
it feels like a living exchange. and the energy you put out there just comes right back..so its like this amazing never ending process.

- finally: all eardrums interviews end with a top 5. records, songs of the moment for you, anything. what’s yours?
top five songs for today
it’s alright/the zombies version performed on bbc radio
sympathy for the devil/the rolling stones
little boy and girl/the kodaks
nebraska/bruce springsteen
i’m so happy/lewis lymon and the teen chords

We’ll keep keep you updated on hsh and xoxo news. meanwhile, check out marc’s youtube page, with lots of fun shorts! xoxo