DeKALB | Four friends, one band.

The Beatles-inspired indie rock band, Bluefish Fellows, brings together a great friendship and lots of fun to create a unique musical style. Their motto, “Now you and your parents have something to talk about,” explains how they cleverly incorporate new and old musical styles while creating music.

Members Brian Podlasek and Dan Kane spoke with the Northern Star regarding musical techniques, inspirations and sacrifices that separate their styles from others bands out at this time.

Northern Star: What inspired you guys to start a band?

Brian Podlasek: We just really liked music, I guess you should say, and we all started playing instruments. I guess it just made sense for us to start a band. We had all the right pieces.

Dan Kane: We all like the same music. We definitely like playing music together. Basically, we are old friends.

NS: Where did you come up with the name Bluefish Fellows?

BP: We had a couple of band names, and we weren’t happy with them. We decided we needed a new band name. So, me and Bob were looking up random words and thinking of band names. We kind of just put together two words: “bluefish” and “fellows.” So that was that.

NS: Who are your major musical influences?

BP: I guess you can say the Beatles and all related, if that makes sense.

DK: First it was Jimi Hendrix, then it was Led Zeppelin, then it was the Beatles and then Motown, currently.

NS: Are you guys signed, or looking for a record label?

BP: No, we are not signed. Yeah, we would love to be signed.

NS: When you guys first started the band in high school, was it recreational? Or did you believe that it would be as serious as it is now?

BP: Yeah, we always had the same mindset. I guess you can say we love to make a comfortable living off of playing music, so we always kept that in our heads. We try to take everything as it comes. Now we are trying to figure out how to take it to the next level.

NS: Where do you see your band in the future?

DK: It will be nice to become famous off of it, but we are just having fun. If you’re not having fun playing music, then what are you doing? There are a lot of bands crying about losing their girlfriends, and who wants to hear that? Music should be fun, it should make you dance.

NS: What is your song writing process?

BP: We all write our songs. We all come up with different parts. We all put our own styles into it, I guess you can say.

NS: Where do you receive your inspiration from while writing?

BP: I really don’t know. We just think of things that will be fun and write off of [that]. Or if we come up with the music first, then we like to think about what that music sounds like.

NS: What are your favorite settings to perform in?

BP: Depending on how many people there [are], we have more fun. If everyone there is having fun and if there is a lot more people cheering, it’s more fun.

NS: What is your least favorite setting to perform in?

BP: When there are about four people there, and they are not into it at all. They‘re not paying it any attention, and they just want us to stop playing. Or when we have to pay for drinks. Yeah, those people are usually a little rude to us.

NS: Now when you guys do get signed, will your musical style change?

BP: I think we will be very similar. I think we will be the same actually. It will probably give us a little more confidence to know that everything we are doing is good, if we do get picked up.

NS: What do you think makes you different from other bands out there?

BP: We are not trying to do anything specifically. We’re not trying to push for a certain image or anything like that. The biggest thing for us, that I see differs us from everyone, is that we are just normal kinds, and we just have a lot of fun playing music. We never try to make it anything more than that.

NS: What sacrifices did you make if any, that drew you guys closer together?

BP: Three of the band members moved to DeKalb last year, because I was still going to school here. So we all got a house together to work on our music. That definitely, literally and figuratively brought us a lot more close together. I guess it was big sacrifice; them having to pack up and leave home for the first time.

DK: Yeah that was big sacrifice; coming here, all together, in DeKalb.

NS: What do you guys think is your band greatest strength?

BP: I think our simplicity is good, and [bass player] Bob [Barry]’s singing.

DK: Yeah, we have a good singer. The strength would be, maybe, that we are all friends. We all came from the same place. I mean that’s huge, that we all grew up around each other.

BP: (laughs) Yeah, I’m going to go with him on that. That is definitely the answer.

NS: What about your weakness, or what do you all need to work on?

BP: Interviews. Getting our stuff out there.

DK: Yeah, we don’t promote. We don’t do anything. (laughs) Yeah, getting our stuff out there. Yeah, just that.

NS: Do you guys have brand loyalty when in comes to your instrument choices?

DK: No, No, No. We don’t have any brand loyalty whatsoever. We do what ever we want. I wish we did.

BP: (laughs) Yeah, because we’re unprofessional.

NS: How can fans gain access to your music?

BP: If they come to our shows, they can buy our CD. One of our CDs is on iTunes as well. It’s called “Circus Folk.” It’s out of date, though.

DK: One of our friends put music videos of our songs on YouTube.=