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Jan 06, 2011 By Under the Radar Staff Photography by Ryan Pfluger Web Exclusive

For Under the Radar’s 8th annual Artist Survey we emailed some of our favorite artists a few questions relating to 2010. However our printed pages weren’t enough to hold all the great responses we got. Pick up a copy of Under the Radar’s Year End issue for interviews with: The Antlers, Bon Iver, Caribou, Club 8, Delphic, Rose Elinor Dougall, Gayngs, Hot Chip, Lost in the Trees, Love is All, The Love Language, Mogwai, of Montreal, Okkervil River,Yoko Ono, Owen Pallett, Plants and Animals, Mark Ronson, Superchunk, Tame Impala, Vampire Weekend, Sharon Van Etten, and Vivian Girls. Then check here for bonus responses not found in the magazine. Here are additional answers from from Owen Pallett.

What are your hopes and plans for 2011?

I’m touring Asia first thing and I’m super excited about it. Touring around Japan. Our shows are already selling out. I’m very excited; I’m going to eat ume plums until my teeth fall out.

What are your thoughts on President Obama’s job performance in the last year? Has your optimism, if you were an Obama supporter, waned?

I am a Canadian, sorry.

What are your thoughts on the Tea Party movement?

Again, Canadian. Apparently we just legalized prostitution up here, yeehaw.

Who would you rather listen to—a totally original musician whose compositions are groundbreaking but difficult to listen to or a musician whose songs are immediately enjoyable but derivative? Why?

For me the scale has less to do with “difficulty vs. accessibility” and more to do with “intent.” I’d take blatantly commercial pop music over music made with similar aims and a boho face.

Have you ever been starstruck when meeting another musician? If so, by who?

I got starstruck by Sam Prekop last week. Any handsome man in their late 30s will do it to me.

What’s the most embarrassing thing to happen to you in the last year?

I played the Osheaga Festival in May. The stage crew were the most inept bunch of people I’ve ever encountered. They were pressuring me to start playing and they hadn’t even finished running lines yet. I started playing with no amps working and my monitors feeding back. It was terrifying and we had to abort “Lewis Takes Off His Shirt.” The gig was so bad, the crew so out-to-lunch that I went to the other bands—Robyn and Jamie Lidell—to warn them about the situation. I hate having to go behind anybody’s back like that—I respect a crew in any situation—but the situation there was so bad that I felt it was necessary. (Sorry, that embarrassing story wasn’t all that funny.)

What or whom do you miss most when you’re touring?

I miss other bands, friends. I wish we could have a National Express style tour across Canada with everybody.

If you could relive one day of your life, which would it be?

Probably some sexy day that I’d care not to share with you.

If you had a bucket list, what would be the Top 4 things on that list?

My only desire is that I live a long time and that I’m surrounded by beautiful people for as much as that time as possible.

(www.owenpalletteternal.com)