Matt O’Keefe of The Orwells: Being Hungry is The Biggest Thing That Drives Us.

I found out about The Orwells through a case of divine intervention (my Gmail inbox). Burger Records announced the release of the splintery garage group’s debut record, Remember When, on cassette tape for $6.

Well, Burger Records has yet to let me down. The lo-fi record shop and label is also behind King Tuff, The Memories, Dead Ghosts, Ty Segall and … I’d go on. Do you want me to go on? Or do you want me to shut up so you can read the interview with The Orwells’ guitar player Matt O’Keefe that was the draw of this post in the first place? And maybe learn a little about the teenagers who are playing North Star Bar Saturday night? And see if you like ’em enough to “like” Jump on Facebook and email freejumpstuff@jumpphilly.com for free tickets to the show?

Fine. I’ll shut up then.

– Nikki Volpicelli

Every single interview I read about you guys is centered around the fact that you’re young and, at the time, you were still in high school, and you sing about high school, and you’re young. But if you could drive an interview, where would you take it?

Since we’re a new band and we only have one record, we’d like to talk about where we’re going to go and the future of the band rather than what is now the past, as far as being in high school, and all of that.

Why is it that so often being a young person in the music industry means you have to have a sugary, innocent image?

I don’t know. It’s easy to take advantage of someone who’s young, so I think record labels can [use] that and that’s why they get them into these deals or get them to wear something or sing about a certain thing. [A lot of of times] you’re young and being a star is something you want to be, so they give up their message so that they can be heard and be famous and it’s very easy to sell out because you want to be on TV and in magazines. You have to remember that’s not what it’s actually about and that’s why you get people who are manufactured like the Justin Beibers and the One Directions.

You put Remember When out independently a while back and passed it out to kids at your high school. Did it go over well? Did they get it and appreciate it?

Yeah, that was the initial recording. People enjoyed it and it was definitely the talk of the school for about a week and then it was over. But our school was on board a little bit.

Do you think these kids are digging the record out and listening again?

Since things started going well for us, 50 percent of them are happy for us and 50 percent want to kill us.

I guess you won’t be going to the reunion, then?

Oh, no, we will not be going to our reunion.

You’re working on a new record that’s untitled but you know it’s not going to sound anything like Remember When. What records are you listening to now that might have an influence on its sound?

We’ve been recording demos in my basement and we plan on [eventually] going into an actual studio and doing the record there. [They’ve written most of the songs already] Personally, for me, I’ve been listening to more poppy stuff whereas when we were writing Remember When I was listening to dirtier old punk compilations, so [the record] was dirtier and faster and stuff when I was writing my songs. This time around, I’ve been listening to Big Star and classic 70s power-pop so it’s a little more, like, Tom Petty vibes. But it’s kids who can’t really play their instruments trying to sound like Tom Petty. We’re trying to polish it up a bit.

Matt, in an interview with Vice magazine’s Noisey blog, you said Jack White’s music influenced you to pick up a guitar in the first place but that he and other influences “don’t mean shit to me anymore, ’cause they’re old and they don’t have what they had anymore.” What is it that artists’ like Jack White had that was a draw for you, and what happened to it? Where did it go?

I think he had anger and energy and he was hungry to make music. And now, when you’re Jack White, you don’t have to make another record for as long as you live. You’ll always have White Blood Cells and Elephant under your belt. When he didn’t have that stuff, he still had to prove himself. Sometimes, when you see musicians getting older, they’re not releasing these things any more. Being hungry is the biggest thing that drives us, [that] and proving our name.

How are you going to combat that as the band gets older and more successful?

Evolution is something that’s very important to this band and all of us in it. There are a lot of bands who [evolved] very well, like the Rolling Stones and the Beatles. They never made the same record twice. You just have to figure out the right way to do it. You don’t want to make the same record again but you don’t want to stray from where you originally were. So yeah, we’re definitely going to change but… you know, all of that shit.

Where do you think DIY/lo-fi music is heading? What are some groups you think are doing it really well?

Bands like FIDLAR and Pangea and a lot of the West Coast, LA bands who are looking to do DIY shows rather than actual venues and they stand up for that totally and publicly.

What do you think came first, the chicken or the egg, the DIY/house show scene or the passionate, often-underage audience?

I think that they’re both the same thing. A lot of those DIY shows we played because we weren’t old enough to get into these venues so we ended up playing in our friends’ basements. I also think booze has a lot to do with it. You’re in high school and you’re at this venue and a lot of the kids want to drink so at this or that house show you can get drunk, so I think there’s a lot of younger [people] who go to these DIY house shows [to do that].

You’re heavy into the West Coast scene but you want to remain known as an Illinois-based band. Is that because you feel that local music scene needs you more than the other?

Absolutely. We have a lot of close friends in bands in Chicago that are off the radar when it comes to DIY and garage rock so we don’t want to leave and leave our buddies in the dust. We’re all kind of working together to give the city a name again.

Is that why you decided to put your tape out on Burger Records (the West Coast DIY label that releases mostly cassette tapes and mommas a lot of lo-fi musicians)?

Totally. The bands on Burger are great, the guys who run it.

The Orwells will be in Philly for one day and they all want cheesesteaks. Typical. The group is headed to SXSW early March to play six shows in a five-day span. Be on the watch for a new record this year.