Paving the way for the new found technology driven, live electronica scene, Pnuma Trio? has become one of the most talked about young bands in the country. The Colorado based musicians have experienced a level of success that most bands could only dream of. Forming in their hometown of Memphis in 2004, Pnuma Trio? has already sold out shows in Japan and Australia, played to sold out crowds at Red Rocks and have been signed to Columbia Records and more recently the infamous 1320 Records (STS9's? label.) Not bad for three dudes in their mid 20's.

In anticipation for the band's upcoming national tour I spoke with bassist, DJ and producer extraordinaire, Alex Botwin, to discuss the band's beginnings, work on his awesome solo projects, plus everything from the dubstep revolution to Steely Dan.?

REAX: OK, so you are the owner and producer of Pnuma Trio?, which has sort of become the leader of this new generation of technologically innovative, live electronica bands. It's hard to put a brand or label on a form of music that is always evolving but what genres of music have influenced you the most? I know you're really into hip hop, is that what you grew up listening to?
ALEX B: I actually grew up listening to a wide range of things. When I was young I played the violin so I listened to a lot of classical music when I was little, as young as like 4 years old. When I got older I started listening to a lot more rock n roll and rap. Honestly, I like all kinds of things from 311 to Westside Connection, I've always been into a very broad spectrum of music.

Lately, it's been a lot of experimental hip hop type stuff, kind of the beats and beat scene that's going on right now but I'll listen to anything. I've also been digging on Animal Collective and the Dirty Projectors, my playlist is constantly changing. I dig for records almost daily or at least every other day. You can pretty much make a beat out of any record, no matter what genre.

REAX: How did you first get involved in the electronic scene? Which DJs or electronic bands influenced you most in the beginning?
ALEX B: In the beginning it was pretty much STS9 as far as the live aspect of it. I went to college for music production with a minor in business so I pretty much knew since high school that I wanted to make music for a living. Plus I've always had a knack for computers so I kind of just eased into it by working on that. When that is the kind of music you are working on, you sort of seek out similar ideas.

I first started playing out while in college in Murfreesboro, TN. At the time there wasn't a ton of electronic music coming through that area. It was interesting with Pnuma because when we started it, the three of us, we were just about the only ones interested in playing in an electronic band. Everyone else I had been trying to hook up with at the time, didn't really see that as being a viable option for a band. That's pretty much how Pnuma Trio? got started. The three of us took a chance and are so grateful it worked out.

REAX: I know you produce most of Pnuma's songs. Do you write and arrange them as well? What is the song writing process like? Do you arrange all the parts for Lane and Ben? Or is it something you guys sort of sit down and compose organically all together?
ALEX B: Well it's been different for each album. For the Live from out There album we pretty much had written all the songs all together in a room. Most of them were written when we were super young and then we recorded them live and that's pretty much how that cd came out. The Character album, Ben and I wrote and arranged together and then I did a lot of the production work on it.

With a lot of the newer stuff we've been taking some of my solo tracks and figuring out how to play them live. So some of the newer work is a little more arranged by me but it really just depends on the material. With all of the tracks that we have, we will take out all the sections and sort of gauge how we will do the show live from there. We listen to all the components separately and see if they will be interchangeable at any point and whatnot. From there we can get an idea of where we are going to take the live show and how we are going to vibe on stage.

REAX: So for someone only in his mid 20's it's a pretty big deal to have been signed to first Columbia records and now STS9's infamous 1320 Records?. How did you guys get discovered? Was it through constant touring? Or was it through the digital market place of music, like myspace and facebook?
ALEX B: Well the Columbia thing happened because we were touring in Japan a lot. Someone had hit us up to play a show in Australia and that ended up going really well. From there they were like, oh well you should do a Japan tour and it just kind of took off. I think for any band starting out it's really important to put yourself out there as much as humanly possible, you know to get your music heard by as many people as you can. Doing your promotional stuff really far in advance, and trying to build your own buzz.

We kind of just eased into at first. Once we really started giving it our all is when things started happening. We were going out on a limb and devoting everything we had to trying to make the band work. At that time in the area there wasn't really anyone else doing that sort of thing so we managed to stand out.

REAX: And this was in Memphis right?
ALEX B.Yeah in Memphis. At the time we all kind of just dropped everything else we were doing and devoted everything to making the band work. We pretty much dove in. It's definitely crazy and scary and in retrospect looking back at it we made some interesting decisions.

At this point I don't know if I would've made some of those decisions but that's just how it goes. The 1320 thing happened just because we were sort of surrounding ourselves in that scene and had been opening for sts9. If your music stands out then people will hear it. We've been very, very fortunate.

REAX: Speaking of making it, when did you realize that you had? What was your sort of Almost Famous moment that made you think, damn we are really on top. Was it playing Red Rocks or getting signed to 1320? You've got to have a sort of aha moment.
ALEX B: Definitely playing the main stage at Red Rocks was absolutely crazy for us. Looking up and seeing everybody is a feeling I can't describe. We totally spent our years in the van and grinding it out so to make it to that point was incredible. I guess other moments would have to be playing festivals in Japan and Australia. Sometimes it's even just getting a phone call that something really great happened and your like, Oh my God I cant believe that happened.

But you know, we work really, really hard at what we do. I'm super grateful for everything that we get and I just figure if we work really hard all the time then hopefully good things will keep happening. I spend all of my time making music, or thinking about music or talking about music. Hopefully we will get to keep making music for as long as possible and that's the best part. Especially with the position that I am in. Now that I'm running this other record label, Elm and Oak?, I really am constantly surrounded by what I love, it's surreal.

REAX: You stole my next question out of my mouth. Can you tell me a little more about Elm and Oak?? It's a design firm and label, correct?
ALEX B: Yeah, Elm and Oak? is a design firm that I started online and now we are actually opening up a store in Boulder. So we've been doing a lot of design work and we also got distribution from the label so we are going to be putting records out all over the world, pressing stuff to vinyl, signing new artists. We are just trying to bring music to more people all over the world. I'm trying to sort of take the spring board that we started with Pnuma Trio? and spread into even more different sounds to reach even more people. So I've been working on all that, plus putting work into my solo album, which will be coming out April 6th. There is so much going in, it's crazy.

REAX: You've done some pretty heavy remixes such as your work on Copy Paste Repeat and the Peaceblaster Remix (both of which are badass I must say.) Any other awesome side projects in the works? Or is your upcoming Pnuma tour the main concentration at the moment?
ALEX B: Yeah, there's been so much of that and I'm really enjoying it. I did that Disco Biscuits remix which was really cool. I was very happy with the way that came out and they put it out on their last EP which was really cool for me. I also put out a mix called Brain Food on Flying Lotus, which has gotten around 30,000 downloads or so so that was awesome as well. With the new solo album coming out so soon we are doing a ton of promotional stuff that will include a bunch of new remixes I did. Those sort of things are really fun for me.

REAX: We are so glad to finally get you guys down to FL to play some of the more intimate venues and what not. You guys have gained a pretty big following down here from playing Bear Creek Music Festival the last couple years. Do you all prefer smaller venues or is playing festivals your bread and butter?
ALEX B: Honestly I'm down with whatever. I just want to play music and am so glad to be able to do so. There's obviously a big difference between my solo gigs and the Pnuma shows, even though Pnuma Trio? is playing a lot of my tracks now. It's really nice to play with the full band whenever possible.

Getting to play my bass guitar is like home for me, for years and years it was my main passion. Yeah, so I don't really care where we are playing, as long as people are receptive and digging the tunes. We are really just trying to have a good time and play as much music as possible while we can.

REAX: Pnuma is on some great festival bills over the next few months. Which one are you most excited about? I have to say, I'm coming out for Bisco Inferno this year for my first trip to Red Rocks. I'm already beside myself to see you guys throw down the heat there.
ALEX B: That's definitely the one I am most excited about as well, it's so incredible to have gotten to play Red Rocks two years in a row. That is a dream come true for us. We can't wait it's going to be awesome. There's a couple others, Hang out Festival in Georgia is going to be really sweet. Honestly we are just really excited for the tour right now. We are stoked to be getting back down to Florida and some other places. I mean this is the longest tour Pnuma has done in a while so we are just amped to get back out, play real tight and have a good time.

REAX: The last time you were here you played the Crowbar in Ybor City with Pretty Lights. You absolutely killed it by the way. There was so much amazing feedback from that show. Did that influence you to finally bring the Pnuma tour down south?
ALEX B: Yeah, it totally did. That show was amazing. People were so receptive and the energy was awesome. That was really fun for us. Being part of that tour down here with Cory (Pretty Lights?) really got me thinking that it was time to bring Pnuma back down for a FL tour. We are so excited to kick it off in the south, should be a great run.

REAX: Which musicians or styles are you into at the moment? It seems like the dubstep thing is taking off like wild fire, are you into it?
ALEX B: Yeah I mean, I don't really listen to dubstep in my free time but I do really enjoy seeing dubstep when it's a party and everyone is raging out. I'll totally get down to it but I don't really listen to it when I'm just like chilling at home. Mainly I've been listening to a lot of off beat stuff like Flying Lotus and the Brainfeeder? crew. There's a few tracks that Caribou did that I've been really digging, kind of more indi-pop stuff.

Of course I'm always listening to vinyl as well. When we are out on tour I'm always searching for new records. After we load in I'll go around and check out the local record shops, by the time I get home I'll have a huge stack of new vinyl to work through, so I'm constantly listening to them.

REAX: Speaking of your massive collection, roughly how many records would you say you have? It's got to be an insane amount!
ALEX B: Oh man, I have a few rooms full. My garage is filled wall to wall and even the floor is covered with vinyl. Plus a couple other rooms in my house are full, it's pretty ridiculous.

REAX: OK, last but not least. If you were on a desert island and could only take five records from your collection, what would they be?
ALEX B: (Laughing) Oh shit, I don't even know, that's a really hard question! I would have to really think about that one. I don't know if I could live with just 5. Hmm, well as of recently I've really been enjoying a lot of Bob James?, so that might be one. I think I would definitely have to take a Herbie Hancock? album as well. Maybe a Steely Dan? record, that shit is timeless to me. Would probably also have to take a J. Dilla record, Ruff Draft is so dope. I guess that's the stuff that has the most longevity for me. That's the stuff that is the most timeless in my opinion.

Pnuma Trio? will kicking off their spring tour with support from Big Gigantic? in Jacksonville, FL on 3/15. The guys will also be making stops in Orlando, Miami, Tallahassee and the Crowbar in Tampa on 3/19. For more info or to purchase tickets visit www.pnumatrio.com.