Day Jobs - Will from Lilac

Kirsten Knick and Will Ivy

Every week I learn so much about bands and their jobs. While chatting with Will Ivy from San Francisco-based band Lilac, I found out that you can get a job just by standing around looking "artsy" at Trader Joe’s, but advertising yourself as a “nice person” on Craigslist will get you nowhere. I also learned that all those quirky people working at the cosmetic store LUSH have been force-fed their quirkiness by being instructed to emulate certain movie characters. Who knew, right? While Will and his bandmate Kirsten hole up in Different Fur Studios to prepare a new album (a follow-up to Christine, which was released only two weeks ago), they’re finding creative ways to make ends meet, some which have shown absolutely no success.

You can snag a copy of Christine right here. Before we get to the interview, press that little play button to stream the entire record:

VICE: Hey Will! How are you?
Will: I’m good!

Tell me—what do you do for a living?
Well I haven’t been doing anything that crazy to make money. I’ve been working at Trader Joe’s. However, this delirious old couple came in one day and started talking to me. For whatever reason, we ended up talking about how I need more money. They were like “Oh that’s great! Are you an artist?” I was like “I guess?” They asked me if I could make a color palette and I was like “No…?” but they were like “Of course you can! You’re perfect. You’re the perfect guy for the job.”

Read the rest at Noisey.VICE.com