A Chat With: Post Animal

Post Animal is on the brink of releasing their third album, Love Gibberish. The record marks both an unchartered era for Post Animal and a return to their roots all at the same time— they’re releasing the album independently after putting out their first two records on the Polyvinyl record label. In a similar fashion, the new songs blend nostalgic nods to influences of past decades while simultaneously conjuring up a futuristic vision. Equal parts whimsical and intense, Love Gibberish layers playful, hazy melodies with massive guitar riffs and an intricate production style. The album has such a cinematic quality about it that listening to it feels like a multi-sensorial spectacle, rather than just an auditory experience.

Photo by Courtney Sofiah Yates

Another factor that adds depth to the world of Love Gibberish is that the five members of the band— Dalton Allison, Jake Hirshland, Javi Reyes, Wesley Toledo, and Matt Williams—all contributed to the songwriting and production, while also rotating between instruments and vocal duties. Similar to the way you can scramble a Rubik’s cube in countless combinations, the members of Post Animal have so much fluidity in their collaboration style that it completely elevates their sound.

Ahead of the album’s release this Friday, May 13th, ANCHR caught up over Zoom with Jake Hirshland, Matt Williams and Javi Reyes of the group to talk about their experience writing and recording the album, their band bucket list, green screen acting, social media and more. Tune into the conversation below, and see where you can catch Post Animal out on the road this spring here.

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Kicking things off, can you guys believe it’s been five years since we first met and interviewed? It was in January 2017, so it’s been a long time.

Jake Hirshland: Where was that first interview?

The Hideout! 

Matt Williams: That’s right, I was gonna say it was definitely at a venue.

JH: Oh yeah we were in the green room at The Hideout! Wow what a trip.

MW: Was that… I don’t want to call it Psych Fest—

It was literally called Psych Fest! I just looked it up.

MW: I don’t want to say Psych Fest but it was!

Yeah, good memory! So not to put you on the spot, but looking back at these past five years, is there a highlight or bucket list item that you guys have accomplished as a band that you would call out?

JH: I mean for me, we got to play in Europe right before the pandemic. Thank goodness that was the time it happened, but we got to play in Europe opening for Cage the Elephant and we got to play some big venues that were kind of like beyond what I had imagined we’d play. Even in the dream portion of my mind, the venues weren’t that big. That was incredible and exceeded my goals. Some of those spaces… especially doing it in Europe. At least for our live shows, that’s a big highlight for me.

MW: That’s pretty much the same for me. Opening for Cage the Elephant was– it doesn’t even sound real to say now. Like I don’t believe that we did that.

Yeah, it’s beyond the bucket list!

JH: This new record coming out, I feel like it’s highlight status because I didn’t ever really expect us to be in a position to independently release a record and have the ability to do everything that we want with it. So that’s cool to finally have put in the time with it and made the plans and had the experience to have a full record release with every piece of the puzzle completed on our time.

I had some questions about the new album, so perfect transition! It’s coming out in two weeks, and from what I understand, you guys all got together and wrote it at Jake’s family farm. Can you talk more about that experience on the farm and any highlights of that time you spent together?

MW: The farm is just a really special, magical place. In the modern age, it’s nice to have a place to go to where you feel like you can decompress and so to speak “live off the grid.” I think that might have been the first time we spent, we had gotten together for the Levitation sessions, but that might have been the first time we spent 8 or 10 days together purely just to focus on a new project. So it had a very relaxed feeling and it was good for the family to get together and spend that much time together. To really just have to– not worry about anything—I was going to say just to worry about writing new songs, but it wasn’t a feeling of worry. It was a feeling of inspiration and a lot of ideas flowing. It felt really magical, especially because at that point it was a year and a half or something of pandemic life. So just to get away and only think about that music.

Yeah, sounds like a low pressure chance to hangout and focus on music. So I remember with the first album when you were recording at the lake house, wasn’t there some paranormal activity?

MW/JH: Yeah!

Did anything like that happen this time?

JH: No, the farm is not a haunted space! That’s a place where I’ve really put it through the wringer. I’ve been out there alone, and spent a week out there sleeping alone and nothing spooky seems to happen out there. That would be fine if there was a little friendly ghost out there but I don’t think there is.

MW: There’s visitors but they’re just human! Oh and there’s some animals. I think we spotted a badger—

JH: It might have been like a big what do you call it? A muskrat?

MW: Yeah one of those wildlife.

JH: I don’t think it was a badger.

You kind of touched on it already, but this album is being independently released, and the band has been very hands on with self-producing it. I believe Dalton did the mixing and engineering and then did you do the mastering, Jake?

JH: Oh, my brother did it.

Ah, I think I read that too quickly!

JH: Yeah, my brother Jared did it, on paper that could look like me. I wish I had the skills! He did the mastering and then Dalton mixed and engineered. We also had a new friend Jack Henry come in and do some engineering for us at Palisade. We did about half of the recording at Palisade Studios in Chicago so Jack Henry was really helpful for those days. Dalton kind of manned the helm and that was the audio team. 

[At this point, band member Javi Reyes joined the interview ]

What would you say were some of the challenges of recording and releasing it independently and on the flip side what were some of the rewards of being so hands on?

JH: I feel like there are challenges continuing forward, there’s a lot of decisions to be made and there’s not anyone necessarily telling us what to do. We do have a good team who’s all hands on deck and thinking about what we need to do, but I guess things could slip through the cracks if we aren’t on the ball. So that’s definitely a challenge.

MW: Yeah, it’s logistical stuff. I feel like a label helps with a lot of the support. Even merchandise, it takes care of that. The website and assets for social media, too.  

JH: It’s all stuff we used to do on our own, so it’s not like we’re completely new to it, but we sort of passed off the reigns to the label for a couple years. Logistically we would just ask if we could do stuff and their staff would usually take care of it. Like ordering a new t-shirt and all that, they would help with. So now if we don’t look closely and comb through everything, we just have to be a little more careful. I think we have been, though! My answer to the second part would be pretty much the same. I think us returning to laser focusing on every element, has made the quality really good. I’m really happy with it. Our merch coming out is my favorite merch we’ve ever had. I’ve always loved the designs but this one is no different, I love the album cover. 

Yeah it’s a little more personal touch from the band right? Any other feedback on that from Matt or Javi?

JR: Yeah totally, everything now has our stamp on it. It’s cool, and we’re even doing more than maybe has been done in the past. Yesterday we went and put up posters with wheat paste around the city. That was fun. It’s fun to be hands on and scrappy with it.

MW: Yeah it’s like we’re our own marketing team in a way at a certain point. I guess another thing that changes is we have to directly hire a publicist, instead of having a label be the in between. Those promotional kind of teams. But doing things like putting up those posters with wheat paste, and just being scrappy and having to do a little bit more work, but at least knowing everything that’s going on. It gives you more insight into what you need to do to take care of all aspects of the band, you know? It’s informative and good to get that experience! Otherwise we’d probably be lacking in that department.

JR: Yeah I can see from the other guys that everybody else is way more dialed in and focused on getting things done. There’s always something to get done and we’re really moving and grooving like a little business.

Nice, coming full circle with all hands on deck! Talking more about the record, there’s been a few singles released. I really like the video for “No More Sports.” It’s set in the future, 2038 to be exact. Can you talk about that creative concept, like who came up with that and how it all came together?

JR: Yeah that was all New Trash, the film company. They came up with this idea to have this big show and the dinosaur and the dragon. The whole thing was their idea! They came up with the year 2038—everything! They’re great to work with. We did it in about 6 or 7 hours and this green screen studio that they had arranged for us to go to up in Jefferson Park. We just cranked it out. They have a 3 person team, and one guy was the main director and he was giving us tons of great direction. Everything just moved really smoothly. They have an editor and CGI guy, so as a team they’re great! 

MW: Do you know that filmmaker? The New Trash crew? 

I hadn’t heard of them before but the video turned out amazing!

MW: They’re super super cool. They’re big on animation mixed with real people, so like Javi said, the green screen work. Then their animator, Nat, is just unbelievable. It’s kind of crazy what he can do. They work with a lot of musicians and music videos. I’m not sure if they do things unrelated to music.

JH: We did a full day of a lot of fun little bits but they just carved something amazing out of it. It’s hard to believe they were able to make something like that out of what we did together. They have the special touch. I feel like they’re a hidden gem and I’m so stoked we got to work with them.

Yeah it turned out really well! Was it challenging to act with the green screen? 

JR: Kind of! But that main director was like “Come on! Scream at us! You’re playing in front of 100,000 people! This is the biggest rock show of all time!” So he kept yelling that at us and directing us to jump and kick and so that definitely pushed all of us to our ceiling of energy. That helped. If he had just been like “do you thing” it would have been harder to know what’s the appropriate maximum of energy, but there was no maximum in this case. It was just go as hard as you can. 

That’s awesome! Well the music video is also a little bit of a throwback to 80’s hair bands, so if you could tour with any 80’s band, who would you pick?

MW: Oh, like every one of them. 

JR: Toto! And I think they actually do still tour.

JH: Toto if you’re listening…

MW: We’re manifesting Toto!

Putting it out into the universe. Well speaking of tour, yours kicks off next week. How has it been turning all of these new songs into a live show, and what else can you tease about the upcoming tour? 

JR: Jake has a new MIDI controller.

JH: Oh yeah. We have a little more samples and stuff like that, so that should be some fun atmospheric elements being added to the show that weren’t there before. That’ll be fun.

JR: Dalton has a new vocal pedal that sounded pretty great!

JH: Yes! We’ve been practicing these new ones, we’re trying to put a bunch of new songs in the set. The record comes out while we’re on tour, so people that go to the shows should expect to hear some brand new, never-before-heard music. Which should hopefully be enjoyable for them.

MW: It’s super exciting to practice the new stuff. I think we’re all amped to play them, which is always good cause it sets a nice tone for excitement.

JH: I think we have one of our most exciting and craziest songs ever, that we’ve ever written on this record, that we’re going to begin playing this weekend in Mexico. That one is going to be a hoot live.

Which song is it?

JR: It’s called “Infinite Zone.”

JH: Yeah we’ll be playing that one for sure, it’s going to be fun live. 

Has it been challenging to transfer some of these to a live sense?

JR: Some of them, but not that one because we worked so hard on it when we were recording that it got cooked into our brains. I think when things are more groove-based, it can be a little harder to lock in. Just like in a game of Horse, when you’re right in front of the basket, it’s harder than you think, but the trick shots come easy. 

MW: That’s a really nice metaphor! I like that a lot. So spot on. Simple is difficult. 

That’s so poetic! Well in general, what other music have you been listening to, particularly during the years of the pandemic? Anything that inspired you?

All: Turnstile! 

JH: A bunch of us got down a big rabbit hole just with everything about that band. It seems like a very popular opinion these days cause they’re blowing up, but that was a big one for sure!

MW: Yeah they really affected me, in a good way. I also really like Charlie XCX’s new album.

JR: So good!

MW: It’s incredible! I’m blanking on the name of it right now.

JR: Crash!

MW: Yes. Those two have probably been the most listened to albums for me in the past 6 months to a year. 

Nice. Then I wanted to ask you guys about your Tik Tok. I know most people got into Tik Tok over the lockdown and pandemic, so last week I went down the rabbit hole of your Tik Tok and I love the video of Wes being like “What does your band sound like?” and the “Nightmare Tour Scenarios.” Are these based on real life experiences?

JH: Definitely, they are.

MW: You could say they were influenced by true events.

JH: They’re loose retelling based on a few characters we’ve met over the years. The mustache one is absolutely true-blue–

MW: Facts! 

JH: But we’re just playing around, hopefully it’s all in good fun.

Oh yeah, I got a good laugh out of it. Anything else on the creative Tik Tok docket for you guys?

MW: Content, content, content!

JR: I was just told that we should remake some “Honey I Shrunk The Kids” scenes with myself as Rick Moranis.

I can definitely see that!

JR: I was told it would go viral, so maybe that’s the next thing.

JH: That would be amazing. We have a running list of these kind of inspirational fellows on Tik Tok that tell you to know your worth.

MW: The know your worth, seize the day kind of thing.

JH: We want to try that, almost like Gary V kind of spoofs. We just have a bunch of stuff like that. I’d love to have some more fantasy content on there. Or scenes from Middle Earth to pad the Tik Tok. 

Yeah we’ll have to see what goes viral! It’ll be interesting. I saw some “Cancer Moon” posts yesterday and some viral jokes.

JH: We’re tongue and cheek with the viral stuff. It’s funny how important that is for music nowadays. None of us have really any idea how to craft a viral post so we’re just messing around. 

MW: That’s the goal, let’s just state it.

Yeah it’s hard to crack that Tik Tok algorithm. 

JH: Yeah it’s a struggle to feel like we’ve got to get a Tik Tok post, and everyone’s telling us to post like 10,000 times a day, but we’re just definitely still focusing on doing music first and foremost. It’s an interesting moment for the music industry for sure. 

Yeah your Tik Tok content is great, though. I love the humor behind it.

JH: Thanks for always engaging. We appreciate it.

So speaking of “Cancer Moon” I think that’s one of my top 3 favorites from the new record. Can you share a little bit of background on that single or any fun tidbits about making it?

JH: For sure! That one was, we got together, same as the other songs, and demoed it out at the farm, but the original idea for that was made up at the farm. I was there at the farm during covid, quarantining for a little while before I returned to the city. I had my stuff out there, so the chorus is kind of about the farm. It’s farm forward. That was really fun because it was very digital in its original form, and then we all came together and we were doing our writing session and translated a lot of these digital sounding things into guitar parts, or like making them have that real instrument feel from my synthy, demo feel. It really gave it like this 80’s shape to the sound. 

Yeah it’s very anthemic! And cinematic. I could see it being used in a big scene at the end of the movie.

JH: Yeah there’s a build! It was very fun to hear how it changed once the band came in. Some of them are written and made to sound like a band when they start and other times it’s fun to hear how the band really changes the tone. 

MW: It’s a very fun song to play, it’s one of my favorites on guitar. I feel like I’m playing the video game Guitar Hero. I also love the lyrics and atmosphere of it. It’s positive and feels good, and I hope that feeling spreads to everyone that listens to it. I’m really excited to play that one live.

JR: Yeah I’m very proud of it. I’m proud of Jake. I’m proud of Matt.

MW: I’m proud of Javi! I love having our guitars linked up in ways. That sounds so stupid to say outloud but that’s one of my favorite parts. The dueling dragons of guitar. 

Wrapping up, is there anything else you guys are looking forward to with the tour and new album? 

JR: I’m really looking forward to the album coming out. I just listened to the first couple songs walking over here and I hadn’t in a while. Now I’m on the side where I can hear it as a listener, and I love it. I’m excited for it to come out!

Yeah it’s nice to revisit it once you’ve finalized it.

MW: I’m excited to have that come out into the world and play the songs to people.

Yeah and it’s nice to be able to tour it. Stay safe out on the road and congrats on the album! 

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Pre-order Love Gibberish here and keep up with Post Animal on Instagram and Twitter. Lastly, if you’re in Chicago, they’ll be playing a hometown show in Chicago at The Metro on June 10th that you won’t want to miss.

A Chat With: Nation of Language

NYC’s Nation of Language has been a long-time favorite of ANCHR— it’s hard not to be instantly mesmerized by Ian Devaney and Aidan Noell’s refreshing take on beloved 80’s synth and New Wave influences. Nation of Language packs the familiar punch of nostalgia but also sparks the sensation of a breath of fresh air with their unique spin on an iconic foundation.

Following the release of their debut full-length record over Lockdown 1.0 (aka the Spring of 2020), a growing fanbase began to cultivate from the connection that listeners felt with Introduction, Presence. When live music could finally pick back up, Nation of Language toured and played sold out shows during the Fall of 2021—already gearing up for their sophomore album A Way Forward that was released in November of 2021. The duo has been back on the road this year in honor of that second album, and we caught up with Devaney and Noell before they played their show at Thalia Hall in Chicago earlier this month. Tune into the conversation below to hear which albums got them through quarantine, who they’d love to work with on scoring a film, their plans for future music and more.

Ian Devaney and Aidan Noell. Photo courtesy of Pias/Nation of Language

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ANCHR Magazine: What do you recall as your first musical memory? Either with creating music or becoming a big fan of it?

Aidan Noell: As a child, my parents had home videos of me performing on the fireplace, like stepping up onto the little ledge of the fireplace and singing and dancing for people.

Did you have a Fisher Price microphone set?

A: No I would just use whatever, like a baton or child’s golf club or something. They called it the Aiden Noell Swanson show.  I would just perform for anyone who would let me perform.

Ian Devaney: I have an early memory of I was in a Sunday School room. My mom worked at the church so I was always there waiting for her to finish. I have this very early memory of dancing around with dolls and singing “Should I Stay or Should I Go” by The Clash and someone walking by and me being like mortified that I was dancing with stuffed animals and singing.

A: They do say that the strongest memories that last the longest are shame or embarrassment. 

Well there you go! Fast forward to current day though, it’s been about five months since the release of A Way Forward. Can you talk about a highlight of creating that album?

I: Just getting started on it at all was such a highlight because we were totally locked down before that and we had no idea how long it would last, so the fact that we would bike up to North Brooklyn every day. It’s like a 30 minute bike ride, and to have that structure and regular creativity be able to happen was so refreshing. The fact that we didn’t know when it was gonna end felt very kind of free and open ended, like we weren’t on an intense time constraint.

A: The whole thing was a very pleasant experience. 

I: Yeah it was very nice.

Nice, it was a routine without a strict deadline. As I understand it, the whole process behind A Way Forward was very different from the process with Introduction, Presence because that was a long timeline of creating the first album.

I: That’s right, we basically had to work around our work schedules. Aidan was a nanny and I was working in cafes and restaurants and it was kind of like whatever days you could not work, you’d get into the studio. So it was spread out over a long period of time.

Totally. A lot of people have said with your debut album, that those songs got them through quarantine and lockdown. Even though you weren’t able to tour with it, you had many people listening to it. I’m curious if you have any artists or albums that got you through the initial lockdown?

A: I had a bunch of weird phases during the initial lockdown because we weren’t really doing much of anything outside of the apartment, so I was going through a lot of music documentaries on YouTube while I would sew or whatever in my bedroom. So I watched Bananas, which is the Gorillaz documentary, and it got me down this huge wormhole of Damon Albarn and I watched like every Blur documentary that’s on YouTube, which had a lot of live footage. So I had this amazing Blur phase—I mean I hadn’t really listened to them before other than that one song that everyone knows, and now I’m obsessed with them and they were definitely something that got me through quarantine even though they weren’t new.

I: I think this was also pre-quarantine, but Titanic Rising, the Weyes Blood album was definitely something I was listening to a lot. And have been listening to a lot of this trip.

For a second I thought you were going to say the Titanic soundtrack. Celine Dion all the way!

I: No joke though, also the Titanic soundtrack! I went through a huge phase of listening to the Titanic soundtrack. We used to leave the stage to the instrumental theme from it.

That’s awesome. This is really embarrassing but like two years ago, my top Spotify song was like a random James Horner song from the soundtrack because I would fall asleep to it. 

A: It’s so soothing! 

Anything else that you got into over quarantine?

A: I definitely started listening to a lot of Dry Cleaning during the latter part of quarantine. I loved that album, it’s so good.

I: While we were recording, between us and the producers we were sharing all this music back and forth. Laurie Spiegel is like an early electronic instrumentalist who has this album called The Expanding Universe and it’s just super cool music to just sit down and space out to. It goes so many interesting places, so that’s definitely something that kind of worked its way into our creative brains.

Very cool! When I was listening to A Way Forward, the first song “In Manhattan” had a very visual effect on me. I feel like I could picture the main character in a movie driving in a cab at night looking up at the New York skyline or running toward the subway in their morning commute. Have you ever considered or would you like to do a soundtrack for a movie or TV show?

A: Oh definitely. That’s definitely a goal.

I: Yeah, it’s super cool whenever there’s any sort of opportunity to have something set to film. There’s even been a couple things with skate videos or ski videos, so even that sort of non-scripted atmospheric vibe is really cool to see your music contextualized in that way.

Is there a dream director or cast you’d like to work with?

I: I mean if Paul Thomas Anderson ever wants to…

Let’s Manifest this for you!

I: Yeah, PTA look out!

A: Listen up!

Well on the subject of really cool things that have happened, you recently made a late night TV debut on the Colbert Show, you played some festivals last year and had a lot of sold out shows. Is there anything else on your bucket list that you’re hoping 2022 might bring?

A: We’re doing a lot of things that were on my bucket list.

I: It’s kind of like, I would feel greedy to think that I could desire more. I am looking forward to in addition to more touring and just being out to new places and meeting a lot of our fans for the first time, to also find time to hole up and write. I think that will be an exciting thing for me. And maybe I’ll go somewhere for a week and try to write there.

Like a writer’s retreat?

I: Yeah exactly, cause I’ve always just written everything seated at my desk in our apartment. So the idea of going somewhere else is appealing.

Where would be your ideal spot? If money and time weren’t an issue.

I: Oooh, money or time not an issue! Maybe Berlin or Tokyo, or Paris…

A: Yeah somewhere where there’s the option to be in the city and also the option to go to a very old rural place. A decrepit castle…

I: Even like up in the country upstate sounds very nice, even though that’s a very manageable retreat.

Have you noticed, it sounds like you usually write at your desk, but if you’re in different environments and out on the road writing, does that influence your writing style?

I: Yeah I think it can. Back when I used to live at home when I was younger I would try to change what room I was in and it does feel like it can. Even just listening to the same demo in a different room can give you a fresh perspective on what needs to be happening. 

A: Listening to your demos in the car on tour…it like reinvigorates you on the songs you’ve already written. So getting the opportunity to try to write outside of the house would probably unlock new things. 

Do you have anything in the works since the album came out?

I: Yeah there’s a number of songs and some of them, I feel like every album kind of overlaps the other one. So some of these had already been started when we were writing and recording the second album.

A: And they just weren’t exactly the right curatorial fit to be on that album. 

I: I kind of like writing as much as possible and then stepping back and sorting ok this is first album, this is second album, this is third album. It kind of lets you write whatever you want without worrying about ‘no this is supposed be a shoegaze record, I can’t have this kind of song on here!’

Yeah you can be like I’ll put this on the sixth album!

I: Exactly!

So do you find that you write a song for an album and then kind of stick to that theme for the rest of the songs? Or it comes together after the fact?

I: It mostly comes together after the fact. I think sometimes I do get into rhythms where like these four songs written within this concise period of time all really focus on a bass riff and that can provide glue for a record that you can attach other things to. I try not to limit the ideas to fit to what the record might be.

A: It can be frustrating if you’re like I need to write a tenth song for this album but it has to fit! If you sit down with that frame around you, it can be very limiting and frustrating.

Well, talking about the live show now, I actually saw you live for the first time in Brooklyn opening for the Wombats. I think someone else was actually supposed to open that tour so I went in blind, but instantly went to favorite some of your singles on Spotify while you were still playing.

I: That’s amazing.

I was wondering if there’s anyone you remember in recent years, well before the pandemic maybe, but New York gets a lot of live music coming through. So was there anyone you discovered after going in kind of blind?

A: Didn’t you go see Fontaines without really knowing what they sounded like at first?

I: Yeah I guess that was pre-pandemic but my friend was like ‘this band Fontaines DC is playing Union Pool” which is like a 250 person room. I was like yeah sure, not really knowing anything about it and it was awesome. Then our first show back, we went to see the opening band. It was our friends Gustaf.

Oh I love Gustaf. They’re here tomorrow

A: Yeah they’re on the same tour trajectory as us. We got to see them in Seattle.

I: The first show back though we same them open for the band Geese, who I hadn’t seen or really heard before. That was really cool.

Oh nice, they came to Chicago in January.

A: I’m trying to think what other shows we’ve actually seen since lockdown ended.

I: Oh I went to see this band called Foyer Red open for Why Bonnie? And I was a little bit familiar with both bands, but seeing them both live was really fun and it was a great show.

A: Our friend, who plays bass with us now, Alex MacKay, his band Cutouts, we went to go see. They opened for us in October and they’re really amazing. Very cool stuff.

Very cool. Well then life on the road in general, I know Ian was sick for a couple days recently? How has it been besides that?

I: Yeah thankfully not covid.

A: Yeah he always gets a cold that turns into a sinus infection.

I: But I’m feeling better now.

A: Got those steroids in you!

I: And antibiotics.

A: But otherwise, this tour has been really really nice.

I: It has been very nice!

A: Every city we’ve gone to has been so warmly receptive of the music and we’ve played some cool venues that we’ve never played before. I just love doing the drives. Also we have Alex’s brother on tour doing some documentarian work for us. Having just another hand on deck has made things very smooth for us this tour.

I: Yeah, driving and loading in and out

A: And just having fun and laughing!

Anywhere else on the tour that you’re excited to get to?

A: Well we’re going to Toronto and Montreal, and Alex and his brother are Canadian so they’re gonna have some friends and family out and they’ll be able to show us around. So I’m looking forward to that.

I: Also the band we’re playing with, Ducks Ltd., they’re Canadian as well.

Yeah I haven’t seen them yet but I’m excited to check them out.

I: They’re really great.

A: And they’re super nice too!

I: I also heard that Columbus may sell out.

A: I love when random places are good places for us.

I: You sort of walk into a  lot of cities having no idea if anyone knows who you are, so it’s always nice when you’re like ‘wow, Phoenix, Arizona!’ That was one of the best shows we ever played and it was a pretty tight club venue. But so much amazing energy. That’s been the coolest part of tour in general. Learning about our fans in a very immediate way, cause with the pandemic we’ve been so detached from everyone. It’s so nice to just actually see everyone.

Yeah that human connection can be very rewarding. Well the last thing I wanted to ask about was the song, it’s a few years old at this point, but “I’ve Thought About Chicago,” since we’re in Chicago can you talk about the backstory there?

I: It was just a bunch of our friends lived here and that line was just written in my notebook. I think we were having some conversations about places we would consider living and I just said that. Then I thought there’s some sort of ring to that….and the song just built itself off of that one line.

A: I’m from Kansas City, it’s not that much closer than New York is to Chicago—

But it’s like that midwest mentality.

A: Yeah exactly so I have some friends from there living here. When we did our first tour it was just like 3 shows in Chicago.

I: It was like two venues and a garage.

I miss house shows! I’m like I don’t know if they’re not going on cause of Covid or because I’m old now…

I: Yeah exactly. Everyone’s like I’m not gonna let that many people into my house!

Well wrapping up, anything else you’re excited about that you want to share?

A: Nothing on the exact docket but I think we have some songs we’re releasing over the summer.

I: And just more touring. This tour runs straight into a European tour. We have like 3 days off and then we fly to Ireland and spend 3 weeks over there.

A: I feel like 2022 is the year of the tour for us.

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Keep up with Nation of Language’s upcoming tour dates here, take a listen to A Way Forward below, and revisit our photo recap of their Thalia Hall show here.

A Chat With: Mondo Cozmo

Recently, ANCHR caught up with Josh Ostrander, better known by the moniker Mondo Cozmo, as he and his bandmates kicked off their tour with The Airborne Toxic Event. The tour takes place during the launch of Mondo Cozmo’s third album called This Is For The Barbarians, which was written during the initial stages of the pandemic and lockdown, and follows up 2017’s Plastic Soul and 2020’s New Medicine.

The new record showcases the duality of lightness and darkness, and the importance of still finding human connection during times of isolation. Sonically, the album has tinges of Bob Dylan influence, particularly with Ostrander’s vocal inflections, and it layers intricate, experimental production styles over rock and roll roots. Tune into the conversation with Ostrander below to hear more about his approach to songwriting during lockdown, the heroes that inspired him in the process, and what you can expect from the live show. This Is For The Barbarians dropped on Friday, April 8th, and you can order your own copy here, or pick up a copy on tour. Mondo Cozmo will be playing The Vic on April 14th and 15th, and you can snag tickets here.

Photo by Travis Shinn

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ANCHR Magazine: Kicking things off, I actually interviewed you at Hangout music festival way back in June—

Josh Ostrander: Oh wow…2017?

Yeah, so it was like peak “Plastic Soul Era” and you were on all the festival circuits! So I’m sure it was all a blur, but just wanted to say it’s nice to chat with you again.

It’s nice to talk to you again!

Well since then, a lot has changed. You put out your second Mondo Cozmo record, and now you’re gearing up for the third record. Just in general, how have the past couple of years been for you?

Well it was tough when the tour got canned. New Medicine came out and we were gearing up to tour in support of it for as long as we could. I think we were one week into the tour and that’s when the world kind of went crazy. We canceled the tour, flew the band home…it was a scary time you know? I got back to LA and my wife and I decided to get out of LA, and we moved to a town called Twin Peaks up near Lake Arrowhead. We didn’t know what was happening, and we thought this was a good move for us. It turned out to be great, and I didn’t know what to do cause we couldn’t tour, so I just started recording. What would follow would be the record that’s coming out in two weeks.

I heard you dubbed the cabin you moved to and recorded in “Chateau Mondo,” which is very fitting. Is that where you wrote all the songs on the album?

Yeah everything was recorded during the pandemic and it was therapeutic for me to write that during that time. A lot of the lyrics have a lot of stuff dealing with [the pandemic]. It shows where my head was at.

Yeah totally. Do you have any favorite memories from your time retreating to the cabin?

I was always bumming that we put out the New Medicine record in the middle of the pandemic. I was bumming about that because I wrote and recorded that album to be a live record. I wanted it to translate really well to live shows, songs like “Black Cadillac” and “Come On” and then suddenly we weren’t able to tour, and I was like “Why did we put this record out?” essentially. Then one night, it all made sense to me because my phone started blowing up on a Sunday night. I was watching TV and all my friends were like “go to Twitter!” so I go on there and it was Bruce Springsteen talking about Mondo Cozmo. He did an article for the New York Times.

Oh wow, that’s amazing! 

Yeah they were like “who are you listening to?” and he said he listened to Mondo Cozmo. I was like, holy fuck. I grew up in Philly….

Yeah, he’s the Boss!

I know everything about the guy, and suddenly I was like oh my god, and I got in touch with his day to day person. I wrote her a letter and said I know you probably get a ton of these a day, but if you could forward this to Bruce, I would be so thankful. It was a really heartfelt letter to him saying sometimes with what I do, it feels like I’m screaming into the night air, but he gave me a validation that I needed.

That is like THE validation.

Yeah, it shook me, it really did. I used that excitement to craft the next record, but constantly thinking “But the boss is over my shoulder!” Like constantly thinking, is this good enough? No, it’s not…make it better. It was a healthy challenge for me I think.

Just a smidge of pressure…

Yeah, just a smidge!

I was actually listening to an interview you did where you mentioned when you were working on New Medicine that Butch Vig had mentioned he was listening to you back then.

Yeah, Rachel, it was the same thing– “go to Twitter” and I go and see that Butch Vig is saying he listens to Mondo Cozmo!

Wow, so you go from Butch Vig to Bruce Springsteen, who’s next?! You’ve gotta get Keith Richards on the next one.

That’d be amazing. The new Grammy I think is getting on Barack Obama’s playlist. That would be a big one.

That would be incredible! Well speaking of your new music, I really like both the singles you put out, “Electrify My Love” and “Meant For Livin’” and with the latter, I feel like there’s this cadence to it that’s almost like you took spoken word poetry or rap lyrics and slapped it over a rock anthem. 

Yeah that one was the first song I wrote during the pandemic. I was really proud, the lyrics came really quickly. I wrote it in about an hour and a half— I was missing one verse, but I woke up and I had it in my head and just recorded it. It’s very Dylan-y and I was like, fuck it, just go with it. The lyric “here’s to hoping that you get out alive”—In the band, we almost joke about it, but it was a pretty honest statement at that time in the pandemic. I didn’t know if my dad was going to get sick…we’re wiping down groceries…It was crazy times. It’s been nice seeing people’s reactions to that one.

Yeah. You mentioned Dylan, I definitely picked up on that. Were there any other particular influences that inspired you with that song?

When I started that one I was like I would love to make this feel like a Johnny Cash song. Whenever we go through New Orleans, I always try to see the big brass bands and stuff. I was like man if I could combine those worlds and add a little Mondo into it, I think it will come across very original.

Yeah it’s definitely its own but it sounds like you had some good influences behind it! 

That’s awesome, thank you. It’s been going over really well live too, it’s been fun. 

I’m excited to hopefully see it in Chicago! So generally with the whole album This Is For The Barbarians ,I know the title was influenced by David Lerner and the Barbarian poets of the 1980s. What was it about their work that spoke to you most?

I was reading a lot of this poetry book that’s called The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry. It’s awesome, it’s just like a selection of amazing writers and this one guy, every time I’d read it, I’d be like holy fuck…and it was always this guy David Lerner. This guy, I’m just really dialed into this guy, so I order more of his poetry books. There’s one called I Want a New Gun and it came in the mail, it’s a little poetry book. I opened it up and the preface is this blank page and in very small font, it said “This is for the Barbarians.” I was like wow, this is powerful. Whatever follows this, I’m in. It really resonated with me and I think it’s the perfect title for what I’m working on. 

That’s awesome. And the fact that you read that book and didn’t even necessarily know the poems you had a pull to were all by David Lerner seems like it was meant to be.

Exactly, yeah. He’s been a nice influence on me. I wish there was more work of his that I could find.

With the album, there’s an underlying theme that death and life can be celebrated synchronically, and lightness existing in dark times too. I think that’s been something heavily prevalent during the pandemic, and just trying to find the silver linings during these devastating times. Is that something that drove your writing on the record?

Yeah during 2020, my uncle was diagnosed with cancer and he was a huge influence on me, he was the best. He was dying of cancer and I would drive up to see him and spend time with him in Northern California. When I would go up and see him, I would always take along demos of songs and I’d work on lyrics going up and back, driving back and forth. It was heavy but it was beautiful and it was just part of the process for me. But it was beautiful to be there with him when he went. It was powerful, and it really impacted the lyrics for me. 

I’m really sorry for your loss. There’s a duality of that loss and pain and then creating art from a tragedy. I’d say that’s more productive than a lot of people who experience loss!

I also heard that “Electrify My Love” was written last for the record, but you wrote it with the intention of being the first song on the album right?

I had a record that was very much I wanted it to be fun sequencing with the songs. Everybody put a lot of work with the mixing and the guy who mastered it. The flow of the record was super important, where certain songs run into other songs…it was a wonderful task to undertake. But I wanted something, harking back to Springsteen, he always comes out one,two swinging on his albums. So I knew I wanted a big, big track to open the record. I wanted it to be a long intro with a calming sense to it, and the opening lyric to be “good evening everyone, I hope this finds you well.” Like a sincere check in on everyone after the two years we just had.

Yeah totally, well talking more about the process of bringing the record together, you recorded everything at home. Did you produce everything, or did you work with anyone else on that part?

I always record myself. Whenever I record with anyone else…it just doesn’t work for me. I’m very much best when I’m left on my own. With this one, it was cool because I could ask people to send me stems or they could record at their home and send it to me, and I could just load it in. That was beautiful and that was fun. My friend Peter Hayes helped a lot on the record, like he did with New Medicine. He’s in a band called Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, he’s been just a great wall for me to bounce things off of. 

That’s awesome! I feel like that’s one of the silver linings that came out of the pandemic as well, it’s easier to connect more remotely with people. I heard of a lot of bands recording that way during lock down. If you always prefer working alone, that’s probably your dream to just record at home rather than going into the studio!

Yeah I’m excited because we’re starting to get albums coming out that were written during the pandemic, and I think we’re going to be flooded with a bunch of great music and really powerful stuff. I’m really excited.

Yeah me too! Well as you mentioned, there’s still a pandemic, but the world is obviously opening up a bit more and there’s been more tours going on. You’re in the midst of tour with The Airborne Toxic Event now.

Yeah our third show was last night and we just started getting good! The first show I was like I don’t even know how to do this. I haven’t talked in…how long? But finally last night I was like ok, I’m good to go!

Yeah you had to dust yourself off and get back in the groove! How has it been going besides getting back into it? Any cities you’re looking forward to visiting?

I’m excited for this tour—we were going to push the record back to be honest because we wanted to be able to tour. I was like I’m not gonna be the guy who puts out two records during a pandemic, so we were going to push it because we didn’t have any tours or shows. I was scared to go out, and then Airborne invited us to do this run. So we decided to stick to the plan! The record comes out on April 8th, which is my birthday. I’m going to be in my hometown of Philly on that night, at the TLA where I used to go as a kid. So I’m really looking forward to it. 

That’ll be a highlight! Your birthday and hometown show in one night.

Oh my god there’s gonna be a grown man crying on stage, it’s going to be excellent!

You had to take that tour then! So for fans coming out to the show, will you be playing a mix of New Medicine and the third record?

Yeah it’s been challenging because I remember in 2017 when you saw us, we had ten songs, they’d be like we want you to play for 75 minutes, and we’d have had to play the set twice. Now we have forty songs and it’s fun. I would like to play longer but we are filling every second of that set up with every song that we can. We did “Come On” and “Black Cadillac” from New Medicine and then “Shine” and “Plastic Soul” from Plastic Soul and then “Electrify My Love” and “Meant For Livin’” from the new one. We have like an 8-song set and it’s something to see I think.

That’s got to be hard once you have more songs in the catalog and you only have a certain time slot. I’m glad to hear you’re fitting in a mix! Are you planning on a headline run after this one?

We’re hoping to do an East Coast run this fall, maybe another support run as well! I definitely want to go back to Philly. The phone’s starting to ring again, it’s nice to hear the phone ring. 

Yeah totally, it’s been very touch and go with touring but it seems like we’re in a good spot for it now. I’m happy to see you’re getting back out there.

Absolutely!

Anything else you’d like to mention before we wrap up?

I think just the main thing is I hope people sit down and listen to the record from front to back. That’s my goal. I guess that’s it though! 

Yes totally, I think people are barbaric (pun intended) when they don’t listen to an album in order for at least the first time!

A Chat With: morgxn

I first came to know and love morgxn’s music after I heard his hit “home”— and with over 28 million streams on Spotify, it’s clear I’m not alone in my admiration for the song. In fact, Billie Eilish has even cited the track as an inspiration behind her own hit “Bad Guy.”

Photo by Emma Mead

The project of Nashville-born and based musician Morgan Isaac Karr, morgxn has experienced a whirlwind of ups and downs across the past two years. While the pandemic hit morgxn hard as a touring musician and left him unsure about his future in music, that uncertainty also fueled the vulnerability behind his viral song “WONDER.” Along with success on Tik Tok, “WONDER” has been reimagined with new versions and collaborations—including one with Sara Bareilles.

To round out the year of ups and downs, morgxn is now back on the road and about to release the MERIDIAN: vol 2 EP, which follows the first part of the Meridian project that came out in April 2021. Ahead of the new music, ANCHR caught up with morgxn to discuss his bucket list collaborations, his Tik Tok page, his creative process and more. Tune in below for the full chat.

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ANCHR Magazine: Who and what would you consider to be some of your earliest influences and inspiration when it came to creating music?

morgxn: Oh wow. So I’m sitting here now in Nashville, Tennessee which is where I’m from and it’s interesting because I grew up not having a family in the music industry. I was very outside of it, and of course Nashville is like this famous music town, but to me it was just where I grew up. When I was 9, I started taking voice lessons with this guy in town who all the kids went to. Fun fact, in a totally random turn of events, Chris Young, who’s a famous country singer, he had the voice lesson time before mine. So I would go in and watch him sing, but I feel like it was a perfect example of all these kids in Nashville wanting to sing and this voice teacher, he wasn’t teaching me country or genre, he was just exposing me to all sorts of music. Not to put myself in an exact era but it was like a combination of No Doubt and Green Day, they were really popular then. I mean actually that’s popular now, but that puts me in a specific time period that I don’t want to say. But that was what culture was listening to, and this voice teacher started opening my mind to Stevie Wonder and Luther Vandros and opera music... and all sorts of different stuff. Back then we weren’t being served music on a streaming platform, it was just kind of what you came into contact with. So I feel really fortunate even though Nashville’s known as the country music capital of the world, I had a really diverse musical upbringing. It all happened out of the house though. My parents weren’t big music people, not only not in music but they didn’t listen to music, so music for me was kind of like my discovery zone.

Well I’m glad you discovered it cause you’ve made some great music so far!  Speaking of great songs, Your song “Wonder” has literally been a sensation. You have the duet version with Sara Bareilles, then the whole EP with reimagined versions with Smallpools and PVRIS and more. What has that whole experience been like for you from the time you wrote the song to everywhere it has taken you since?

Wow I got chills hearing you say it back to me. I believed really deeply— Kind of connecting it to “The Way It Was,” the lyric in the song is “I believed it so deep it would happen” and kind of jumping ahead, I feel like if you are not a little sad after this last year, I’m not even sure that you’re alive or present, because it was just tough. A song like “Wonder” saying “I wonder if anyone will hear this” because I got dropped by my label, we entered lock down, and it was just a scary, scary time. There was so much unknown. I put out “Wonder” and when I say it out loud, “Wonder” is a song that came out a year ago in the middle of a global pandemic, without a label, without a team, and has 85 Million global streams, charted on iTunes, and I’ve played it on television with Grammy-award winning Sara Bareilles. It feels just as powerful and crazy to say out loud, and it’s truly a dream. 

Yeah and I think people really connect with that honesty. Like you were saying you wonder if anyone will hear this, and that vulnerability, especially in such a difficult time, I feel like so many people can relate to that, no matter what they’re doing or creating.

Yeah, it was something that I feel like also people have to see that to keep going is a choice and a choice that I believe was worth making. It can get so hard and it can get so lonely and loud, but then the choice to keep going, that’s what this entire bed of music is about.

Yeah totally. Well on a more lighthearted note, since “Wonder” was so huge on Tik Tok, what’s been on your For You Page lately or what are some of your favorite Tik Tok trends?

Oh my god, let me just pull it up and be scared about what happens. Here’s a guy playing a hand drum, that sounds nice. Here’s a plus-sized guy talking about body positivity, which I am obsessed with. Growing up, I was different but there were no ways to connect with corners of the internet that made you feel less alone and terrified. So my For You Page is like hand drums, body positivity and here’s a person and his grandmother eating hot chicken sandwiches. How great.

How Wholesome!

It’s so wholesome! And hopeful! 

And yeah like you said, it’s awesome that Tik Tok can connect so many people to your music, or body positivity, or other positive messages out there. 

It’s also a place where I had a post go viral last week…it’s a clip of the song “The Way It Was” and for as much love as I received, I also received a ton of hate. Which is the truth about the internet. There are people out there sitting behind a screen who just want to tear you down and the song is talking about the way it was, every dream we have, we could have it, and these people took that and they were like “Well the way it was when people like you would walk down the street and we could beat you.” The thing is, I could turn around and be like you’re going to say that, and what I’m going to do is make really cute merch out of it and I’m going to raise money from the merch sales for the Trevor Project because there are kids out there who don’t have an audience to turn it around to, and get the loud support. They just see that hate without any place to turn it around to, and The Trevor Project is just an incredible place that lets people know that they’re not alone. Especially young, queer people who are just bullied by the internet. And some of these trolls, they’re not even real people behind the account. It’s sometimes bots, but that hate still gets thrown around and I just feel like I want to keep speaking up loudly for those youth who are basically me when I was a kid. It feels really important to me.

Yeah it’s terrible that people can come in and try to ruin such a positive message, but it’s great that you’re using that to fuel that towards some sort of positive outcome. Whether that be donating to the Trevor Project or just speaking up and using your platform for a positive influence. I did want to ask you more about “The Way It Was.” I was listening to it this morning, and I really liked some of the subtle nods to New Wave/80’s music with some of the synths and drum beats, and that sense of nostalgia was something I pulled out of it. Can you talk a little bit about creating the song and your mindset with that creative process?

It’s really special because this is the last song that I added to the entire Meridian project, both volume 1 and 2. It was the last song that I added, and I added it in the middle of “quarantimes.” My band and I were booked to play MTV’s Instagram Live show and we had all tested to be able to be together. We hadn't been together for a long time, we hadn’t played in a long time...That energy of just being together was emotional, and my touring keyboard player is actually the producer of the song, and my touring drummer played drums on it. We were already set up in the studio, so he added drums to it. And my touring engineer engineered that session. So it was not only am I talking about the way it was when I felt every dream was possible and I wasn’t so burdened by the weight of this year—not to quote another song from the EP, there’s a song called “Burden''— but I’m also talking about getting to play music that I love in space with people who I love. It’s not a return to normal, it’s a return to the way it was, where we get to be together.

I also want to acknowledge that returning to the way it was where every dream we could have it and that being together with loved ones is possible, but when you get comments on the internet saying like “the way it was when people like you could walk down the street, you would get beaten”… I want to acknowledge that the way it was didn’t include people like me, people of color, women—there are so many people that aren’t included in the narrative like the way it was because that’s what hate is built on. But for me, if I’m going to go back to the way it was, I’m thinking about how I’m bringing everyone along with me. 

Yeah that’s great, that’s a really powerful message. Talking a little bit more about the “Meridian” project in general, the new EP for vol 2 is coming out soon. Is there anything else you can share about your creative process behind the rest of the songs on the EP or any particular songs you’re excited about?

I’m really excited for the rest of volume 2. There’s a song called “Burden” that I just mentioned and the line is “sometimes the burden is not yours to take,” and I just feel like with the weight of this whole year and the intensity and isolation, there were just moments where...It’s interesting because if you listen to old songs of mine like “Carry The Weight,” it’s saying you can carry the weight. I do believe it and I know exactly where I was when I wrote that song, but “Burden” almost feels like a response to the person, who is me, who wrote “Carry The Weight” being like sometimes, it’s not yours to carry. Sometimes, you have to shut it down and you have to pause. This year was a moment, for me, where everything shut down and everything was put on pause and everything broke. But in that, some of the most beautiful encounters came out of it. I don’t wish that so many people died, I don’t wish that we had this virus at all, it’s just that in the slow down of this year, there was a ton of beauty between me and my loved ones, in really small ways.

Yeah, just finding that subtle lightness in the dark times that we’ve often taken for granted.

Yeah, I love that. “Burden” was also the song I wrote in the wee hours between 2019 and 2020, and I was really hopeful for 2020. I was like “This is special. This is 2020 vision and Kumbaya.” In hindsight, 2020 really was special, but in low sight, 2020 was so hard and difficult and nothing like I wanted it to be. But “Burden” was birthed in those wee hours and sometimes I feel like maybe the songs just knew. There’s a song called “Citadel” that’s like “If the walls fall down in the Citadel, will I face my fears? Will I face myself?” Maybe the songs were telling me that this was going to be a monumental year.

You manifested it! Not the pandemic but the good parts!

Going back to the reimagined Wonder EP, you worked with a lot of great artists reimagining that song, is there anyone else you’d love to work with in the future?

I love collaboration. I’m built on collaboration. I love BTS, I’m just going to say that out loud. They’re so good. And Kelly Clarkson.

That would be awesome, I’d love to hear either one of those. We’re manifesting this. 

And Brandi Carlile. Since we’re manifesting, I’m going there!

Would you ever try to do a full collaboration EP with different songs all collaborating with different people?

I like that idea! I’m not going to say who yet, but someone and I are talking about doing an entire EP of collabs, and I love that idea.

Hopefully we get to see that soon! Wrapping up, there’s an upcoming tour with Smallpools. Can you tease your set in a few words?

Nostalgic, soulful, and hopeful.
I love that! Anything else you want to add that you have coming up?

I’m so excited to be together on tour. Besides the Smallpools tour, I’m announcing a small run with Sofar Sounds. I’m just excited to be together!

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Make sure you grab tickets to see morgxn in Chicago at Bottom Lounge this Saturday, November 13th, and pre-save MERIDIAN : vol 2 here.

A Chat With: Gustaf

Gustaf is a band founded on equal parts persistence and hard work, with a touch of happenstance thrown in there. The group had an impromptu inception in 2018, when Tarra Thiessen requested Lydia Gammill’s assistance to drive her van down from New York City to SXSW Festival for a tour with a different band that ended up not working out. Rather than cancel the trip, Gammill and Thiessen pulled together a new group of musicians to perform in lieu of the other project— and the rest was history. Since then, Gammill, Thiessen and their bandmates Tine Hill, Vram Kherlopian, and Melissa Lucciola have taken nearly every opportunity they’ve had to keep playing music as Gustaf, and they’ve garnered quite the reputation for their cathartic and intense live shows.

During their first two years as a band, Gustaf hadn’t released any recorded music, but they saw continued success thanks to word of mouth and their eagerness to put on incredible performances in a variety of spaces. This year, the band has graced the world with a tangible audio debut in the form of their first record, entitled Audio Drag For Ego Slobs. Released on Friday, October 1st, the debut album showcases a mix of art punk mayhem and an edge of playful performance art that they’ve become known and loved for. In celebration of the album release and Gustaf’s upcoming tour, ANCHR recently chatted with Lydia Gammill. Tune in below to hear about the series of fortunate events Gustaf has experienced, their favorite thing about the NYC music scene, who they’d love to collaborate with in the future, and more.

Photo by Juan Blanco Garcia. Gustaf is Lydia Gammill, Tine Hill, Melissa Lucciola, Vram Kherlopian, and Tarra Thiessen

ANCHR Magazine: Kicking things off, when you got into making music, what was your biggest inspiration for starting to create and write music?

Lydia Gammill: It’s kind of a dorky story. I was a teenager growing up in a preppy part of Massachusetts— this was a pre-Spotify era—and I was desperately looking for some sort of subculture or underground. I was illegally downloading songs off of Myspace, trying to find a local scene. I was a Harry Potter fan at the time, and my friend was like “Oh my gosh, this band Harry and the Potters, let’s go see them!” They would have all ages shows, so I went to one with her. This local band opened up for them and I remember sort of going to shows and watching them and being like “huh, they have a band, and they’re writing music… I think I can write songs!” My friend Casey was the one who dragged me to the show and we started this little band in high school called World Jump Day. World Jump Day is this hippie-dippie physics theory that if you got everyone in the world to jump at the same time, it might change the gravitational force of the Earth so it’s a little bit further away from the sun, to prevent global warming. So some of the first shows I was going to are these Harry and the Potter shows, and this place in Harvard Square would have open mic nights every Tuesday and I’d go and watch people. I kind of had to see someone else going for it, and be like I think I can do that! I’d always sung and acted, but I got a guitar for Christmas when I was like 15, then my twin brother got an electric guitar and I started playing his. I think when you’re starting out playing music and playing other people’s songs, you don’t think you’re allowed to write songs. Like you think there has to be some sort of fanfare or class that you’re supposed to take to be allowed to make the thing, and that realization was really fun and empowering to be like there’s no rules, you can just do it. I think when you’re a young struggling artist, hearing that advice is really frustrating because it’s like but how? I think 15 years later, I know that is what you have to do. You have to try it and not worry about the consequences. It’s easy to think something’s supposed to be perfect and fully formed before you do it, but the harsh truth is that rarely is that the case. You just learn by making more stuff.
Yeah exactly, it’s the “fake it til you make it” approach. 

Yeah there’s a famous study with pottery and I think paper airplanes— Where they take two groups of students, and one group is like to make the best paper airplane or the best clay pot, and the other group is just asked to do as many as they can. It’s always the quantity group that ends up having the best products. I’ve also heard that other studies say the amount of effort to make something really good, starting out if you’re putting more effort in, it will be better. However, with the completion of each thing, you at first will start with a lower quality with the quantity method, but every time you complete something, it makes your starting point for the next thing that much easier. So you get better and faster over time. 

Yeah that makes sense because you have more practice doing it, so it will get better over time. 

There’s something to be said about learning more and more each time you do something. But sometimes I don’t always follow that advice. 

Yeah I understand that, that struggle of revising too much. Speaking of creating, congratulations on finishing the debut album! Can you talk a little bit about your creative process with writing these songs and collaborating with the band?

The whole band started because Tarra had a van she had to get down to SXSW. She was going to take it down for another tour that ended up falling through, so she asked me if I wanted to help her drive. I was like, is there a way I could play shows on the way down? I was playing in some other bands at the time, but I was trying to do my own thing. We took the rhythm section from the band that was going to use the van at SXSW,  we took the drummer and the bassist, and Tarra’s boyfriend was along for the ride so we threw him in there, and we had Tarra on vocals and percussion. We just had to hit the ground running, so we ended up having shows booked before we had a name or before we practiced. The first get together of the original line up was taking photos in Tarra’s apartment. I’d had a couple of solo projects and mostly played in bands the first 7-10 years of my musical life in Brooklyn. It was hard to keep momentum with that and getting everyone together. It’s a weird pressure being in charge, but with Gustaf, I didn’t really have time to second guess or overthink. We just had to make it work right then. So I had to send people my demos, make a Facebook and Instagram account. We had to put it out there in a way that I hadn’t necessarily done with anything before that, and that kind of method ended up being a driving force of the first couple of years. We played live for two years before the pandemic, and it ended up being an important part of our start and how we ended up being able to put the car in neutral and shove it down the hill to get it going. 

That’s great, it sounds like it was all a right place-right time scenario. 

I also was working as the booker upstairs at Piano’s, which is a place in New York. That was a really hard room to book, I just had a lot of people be like “We’d love to play, but I don’t think we’re ready,” and I just remember being so frustrated with them being like “You’ll figure it out! Just say yes to the show.” So having that experience and this band coming together so quickly, and just seeing that you could start with a nugget of something and figure it out on stage, and kind of not thinking and doing as much as you can. Pretty much after that first tour, anyone who asked us to play a show, I would just say yes to it. If the original members couldn’t play, we’d get random friends to fill in. It was a fun and exploratory experience where every show was unique and different. We were just having fun and figuring it out, and trusting that you can make magic happen from whatever is there. My rule for Gustaf is that there’s no mistakes, only new arrangements. That’s the fun part of the live show, there wasn’t always a strict arrangement to begin with, and we were always approaching each show as its own little thing. We would just go with whatever was happening. Also, I did some improv comedy in my early 20s, which I wasn’t very good at, but that was another important lesson in learning how to be comfortable and confident with things going well or not going well onstage. Looking back, it’s little bricks that lead to this.

With the music, the songs that I wrote to get us started, I was focused on getting out of my head. I would usually make a drum loop and then find one bass line that I thought was interesting and sustaining, and then I’d do a second bass line on top of that and do some vocals. From there, the band just kind of elaborated and wrote their own parts. Now, for the second album that we’re going to start working on after this one comes out, some of the stuff we have been writing together. It’s more of a mixed approach. We also took a long time to figure out how we wanted to make this record because I wanted the first thing we put out to sound good and make a good impact, but it was hard to figure out what we’d developed onstage and what of that we wanted to keep, and what we wanted to expand upon. Music is different in a live environment than in the studio environment, so it definitely took a couple of tries just figuring out what recording method would work best for us. I have to thank the band for their patience and perseverance. We’d be on tour and we’d be like let’s get into a studio for a day and see what the set sounds like now, just as it is. You can’t really finish a record that way, so it wasn’t until we got our record deal right as the pandemic hit— Then we had pretty much a year to figure out how we wanted to record and make our formal introduction into the world of solid sounds, not just the ephemeral whiplash we were doing onstage before.

Yeah I love how there’s that improv aspect to it with performing it live, versus when recording you have to decide how you want the songs to live on.

Yeah that’s a “me problem”, too. I really love doing things differently every single time, and I realize that part of me is a little bit different than the world of recording artists and musicians who are used to being like no, we set the part, we’re going to do it that way and repeat it that way forever. Then you record it that way. I can get easily distracted, or every time I try to find a new exploration of sound. Which is fun as a performer, but when you sit down with a bunch of different takes, it’s a lot to comb through. So making these decisions earlier on will be a bigger part of the next album. Also, another part that’s difficult about the recording process, as a band in NY, as opposed to another scene, we all have backlines here so you don’t have to bring a lot of gear to a show unless you’re very specific about your sound. We travel light, and as much as we can, we’re very scrappy when we travel. Whatever we had, we would use, just so we don’t have to lug a bunch of stuff around. So we didn’t necessarily have those moments of being like this is our sound! We were always bending and being very malleable to the situation that we were in, and letting that influence how we were going to do the sonic arrangement. Also when it comes down to making the decision of how do we want the bass drum to sound, how do we want the vocal references to be, etc..those are a lot of questions we hadn’t ever set in stone. It was a fun exploration. 

Yeah, it sounds like you could really work with whatever you have available. You know you’re truly creative when you can work with what you’ve got in front of you.

Yeah I find that very inspiring too. I like using what’s in my fridge to make something. Those types of boundaries...especially for me as someone who overthinks so many possibilities, having a limited palette to make a meal or make a song with, that’s very fun and freeing because you can blow out that limited option. To see how much you can expand upon a very small amount of things, is a fun exercise, whereas if you have everything at your fingertips, there’s choice fatigue. 

Yeah there’s that Paradox of Choice that comes into play.

I had a German friend staying with me once and she went to the grocery store and she was like “I just looked at all your cereal, you have so many cereals here!”  We like choice here.

Yeah it can be daunting to have so many decisions. So circling back on the New York scene, I was going to ask what your favorite aspect about it is at the moment. Is it the fact that there’s a lot of backline?

100% that there is a backline! We’ve done tours in a minivan with five of us, and there’s no way we’re putting drums in there. So we’ve gotten very good at asking the local bands to borrow their drum set. One time we played in Houston and we were booked with an electronic act, so magical Tine knew someone in Houston who had a drum kit we could borrow, and then we showed up and we didn’t have any amps because we were flying and couldn’t have much gear. We ended up DI-ing everything, and we just had a drum kit on stage. The New York scene is great because there’s a lot happening here and it’s very expansive. You can just go to shows and hang out, and it might not feel like it, but if you look back after a year, you end up meeting a lot of people. Those connections help you get shows and get your foot in the door. There’s a lot to be said about hanging out and getting to know people. We didn’t have any recorded music until last year, but we were able to play a lot of shows in NY and outside of NY because we’ve all been musicians in the scene for the last 10 years or so and we know people. Then if you play good sets and people like you, they book you again. It’s all of those personal relationships that we’ve built up that helped us thrive while we were still figuring out how we wanted to package ourselves in the permanent realm. 

Yeah that’s awesome. I remember I was talking to Native Sun a while back and they mentioned Gustaf as a band in the NYC scene they liked, but you didn’t have music out then so I couldn’t experience your sound yet. 

We still have only played a couple of shows with music out! I’m very excited about our tour now that we have music out because before, we just had to tell people to trust us to come to our show.

I read in another interview you did that “Audio Drag” is a concept that you took from Laurie Anderson. Gustaf now uses the tagline and named the debut album Audio Drag for Ego Slobs. Can you elaborate more on that concept and what it means in your performance?

That came from the early days of Gustaf when I was sitting down and thinking about what I wanted the project to be, and working within boundaries is something that’s comforting. Having some sort of umbrella thought that things could fall under helped shape at least the theoretical world that the lyrics would live in. I wanted something that was kind of cathartic and fun, but a little funny, and I would define an ego slob as someone who does a bad job of translating the outside world within the context of themselves. I liked the idea of having songs that have this indignant and sloppy narrator or character, and just someone whose hysterics are kind of funny in a way. You know when someone’s freaking out in a movie, but it’s a little bit funny? Our strong peaks of emotions feel very intense to us, but if you step back, we’re all kind of a little bit ridiculous. I think it was a universal feeling of someone feeling like they are right, and someone’s wrong-- When in reality the person they think is wrong, thinks they’re right. So just trying to expand on those views. The songs are supposed to be from the perspective of someone who is having trouble processing their emotions and their relationships with other people, rather than an emotionally mature point of view. 

Yeah I was going to say in listening to the album, there’s definitely a theatrical element and that spoken word aspect in your delivery as well.

The pandemic kind of made the joke a little less funny, if that makes sense. Because we really are seeing people dealing with emotional extremity and intense stuff, so the idea of someone being a selfish jerk was a little less wholesomely funny in a way. So I did add that last song [“Happy”] during the pandemic. That reveals more of the sensitivities of someone, and we just want the best for everybody and that’s the most you can do. I like the idea of the “hurt brute” or the “sensitive brute.”

Yeah and sometimes all you can do is laugh through the hard times, so it’s good you can still kind of bring that humor in play during these times!

The music video for “The Motions” was recently released, can you talk a little bit about that artistic direction behind it? I really liked the cinematography of it.

Yeah that was great! For the music videos for this album cycle, there’s definitely a small thread that I wanted to be tied through all of them. So there was the process of an ego slob reprogramed. “The Motions” is a rip on the motions we go through every day, and I thought of it as someone having their inner monologue and set of rules to try to keep them on track as they go through their life, but not being able to suppress the hysteria inside. The director Araque Blanco is here doing a graduate program, and he’s from Spain. He’s done a lot of bigger productions over there. He DM’d the band, and we needed someone for the videos. I’ve been very lucky when I’ve needed someone, they end up coming to me— I’m not one to reject the offerings of life. We met up and I told him I had an idea for there to be this dance part of it with the band, and it’s about trying to do the thing or follow the rules that are set in front of you. I talked to him about this concept, and he took that and ran from there. He really is into great art design and costume, so that was fun to work with someone who has a specific aesthetic that they like. The cinematographer, Cory Fraiman-Lott, Araque actually found him on Instagram, and he has this great camera that he’s using for a feature this Fall. It all lined up that he had access to this camera and we could make it work. There were a lot of happy accidents. Also, Cory I found out on set that he’s really good friends with both of my cousins. The world is just so connected. Araque really killed it with the video though, he listened to my ideas, but was also great at taking them and elevating them with his own spin on them. His friend did all the styling. We sent her a bunch of pictures of all our clothes and she came and put stuff together. We shot at a park in Rockaway and Staten Island on two very hot days with a lot of ticks running around. I was worried about making sure the band was okay and comfortable and not getting heat stroke or being bitten by bugs. It was one of those moments where we were really tired and working through it, and I was looking around like well, this is me living my dreams, this is me in paradise! It’s very hot, people are stressed out, but I’m living the dream! I’m someone who loves that stuff, but I want better for people than I want for myself, if that makes sense. So I was like “Is everyone ok? Does anyone need water? Is everyone full?”

That’s great how everything came together with happenstance for the music video. That seems to be an ongoing theme for the Gustaf project, with starting due to the SXSW trip and up until now!

Yeah a lot of trust and going for it! It’s like fear is your friend, but you can’t let it stop you from anything.

Yeah, be fueled by the fear. Then as far as the recording process, I understand it was done in Honey Jar Studio in Brooklyn with Carlos Hernandez, and you co-produced? Can you talk about that experience and working with Carlos? 

My friend Chris who has this great band Nicholas Nicholas and works as a producer, I kept telling him I needed someone to produce this record, and he recommended Carlos and Julian [Fader] from Ava Luna. He was like they’re great, you should work with them and I was like yeah, I don’t know...and I spent another year and a half talking to a lot of people and then finally contacted Carlos again. We did the first two singles with Chris Coady in LA, which was a lot of fun. He’s such a top tier producer—he had a drum tech come in and set up the drums, there were so many microphones… For us, being scrappy people, we were like this is very nice and pro. I think for how I like to work, or how I’ve thought about this before, I definitely wanted for the album to be a little more present in the room. I like exploring every single option and figuring out how we do the best way for this and that.

For this first big project I wanted to figure out a way to be a part of the process, and Carlos is a really great and talented guy, but he’s also super wonderful in terms of working with me and sort of letting me be there for the process as well. So we could make a lot of the decisions together, which was really rewarding and not something you get with a lot of producers as well. He also works in Logic, which is what I like to demo in, so I wanted to work with someone using Logic where I could see how they like to do things and learn that way. We recorded in a couple of different bursts with the full band. We did all the initial tracking, then Carlos and I would clean stuff up, then the band came in again a month or two later to do a lot of different overdubs and stuff like that. Then we cleaned that up, and finalized the vocal takes. In terms of the band too, there was a lot of that fun, expansive sessions where we’d come, we’d lay a lot of stuff down and refine. We’d send it to everyone, get their feedback...It was a lot of sort of dumping and then cleaning, which I think was a fun way to figure out how to capture some of the lightning, while also adding a little bit more of that production element to it. 

I’m sure that will help with that process for the next album, getting that working collaboration with the band going forward.

Yeah,  and everyone is just so talented and has so much to offer, so I’m really lucky to have such great writers and collaborators in the project so that we can all kind of bring what it is that we do well to it. I think if anything it will get easier in the right ways as we go along.

For the upcoming tour with Idles, is there anything in particular you’re looking forward to or anything you can tease about your set?

I’m just so excited to be in front of an audience again, cause it’s one of the most comfortable ways that I have of expressing myself to other people. Social Media is great, but it’s sort of finicky and tough to sit down to try to write down words in the best, precise way. I think the band and I when we’re onstage, we’re in a wonderful state that is fun and fluid and directed at the people who are in that room at that moment. That’s always really rewarding to be able to crack things open and see what it is every night. I’m looking forward to that. I’ve also heard great things about the 9:30 Club, so I’m really excited to play there, and just play venues and crowds of that size. I think the most we’ve played to is 600 people opening up for someone at Elsewhere. And I love being an opener too because you start in a fun position where people don’t necessarily know what to expect. 

Yeah it’s nice to take the pressure off and get your set done so you can relax. It’s like going first in a presentation.

Wrapping up, You got to perform at a secret loft party for Beck, right?

Oh my gosh, yes! That changed our lives! We love you, Beck.

Yeah that’s amazing!  If you could connect and work with any other musician, who would it be? 

Well we’re opening up for Osees in December, which is really exciting, and John Dwyer came to one of our shows in LA in February of 2020. John Dwyer and Beck are both really nice and kind, supportive people that I’m just beyond grateful that I’ve been able to have conversations with. I really love Cate Le Bon, and just seeing her albums progress and being able to watch her style and her production approach evolve...I just really like how she produces music, so that’s one for me. Tarra’s been trying to get to David Lynch for a really long time. So if he’s up for it, we’re available!

I’ll tag him in this when I post it, you never know! 

Yeah if you could just let David Lynch know that we’re here, and any time he wants!

Besides manifesting working with David Lynch, is there anything else you’re looking forward to coming up or want to share?

I’m just excited. I want to do right by the world and make the world a better place. I’m excited to get out there and entertain people. Be safe! Be responsible. All the Gustaf good stuff. 

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You can catch Gustaf on tour with Idles this month, including a stop in Chicago on Friday, October 8th. See all of their tour dates here, and order your copy of Gustaf’s debut album Audio Drag For Ego Slobs here.

A Chat With: Valley Maker

Photo by Bree Burchfield

For many of us, 2020 and the early part of 2021 consisted of spending more time at home than any other year of our lives. When the world shut down, we had time to ponder about our community and sense of belonging, all the while doing our best to readjust in a time of constant uncertainty and doubt.

For singer-songwriter Austin Crane, these themes have remained a consistent study of his in recent years while he obtained a doctorate in human geography at the University of Washington, and during the creation of his latest studio album for his musical project Valley Maker. After settling into a new home and finding their footing in the city of Seattle for several years, Crane and his wife made the decision to journey back east to their native state of South Carolina in early 2019. Written around the time of that journey to put roots down again in Columbia, South Carolina, When the Day Leaves captures Crane’s observations and musings around this major life move.

On top of the lifestyle and location shift, Crane’s move just before the pandemic prompted him to contemplate even deeper questions and even provided additional perspectives to some of the songs on When the Day Leaves.

Just before Crane and his band departed on the first Valley Maker tour in nearly two years, we had the chance to chat about his big move, the cathartic nature of his songwriting, and what to expect at his upcoming shows. Tune in below.

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ANCHR Magazine: Going back to the beginning, what do you remember as your first musical memory that got you interested in creating it? 

Austin Crane: I grew up in a pretty musical family. My dad always played guitar while I was growing up and my mom played piano. So they got me into piano lessons as a kid, and I also grew up in the church in a small town in South Carolina where singing was a big part of that tradition on a weekly basis. I took piano lessons but didn’t really connect with it mainly because I wasn’t interested in the songs. I was listening to Nirvana and learning how to play “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”

Yeah there’s quite a disconnect between those two! 

Yeah, then I got my first guitar for my 13th birthday. I really fell in love with it, and the cool thing about the guitar is that I could learn songs that I listened to, and that was a catalyst for me. I spent a lot of my middle school and high school years in my bedroom with guitar tabs, and playing CDs in my boombox along with a guitar. Three things about what I said just dated me pretty badly!

I think that was when I fell in love with playing music. I was lucky enough that even though I was in a small Carolina town, I had a couple other friends who got guitars around the same time. For whatever reason we all started to write songs and share them with each other and get some bands together. There wasn’t even really anywhere to play, but we would play in our garages. Having that community at an early age, I think that continues to be really important to me and the reason why I love music. For the collaborative aspect and the people that it continues to bring into my life.

Very cool, it’s great to be able to play the music you want rather than learn something unrelated.

Yeah exactly, and to use it as a songwriting tool and express myself through my own songs. Then share that with other people… From ages 13-15, there was a lot of discovery and euphoria around that process.

More recently, you studied human geography at University of Washington I was curious if you’ve noticed a connection there about how those studies have impacted the way you write and observe people for your songwriting?

Yeah, I actually just finished my PhD a couple of weeks ago, and it’s such a relief! Music and academia and pursuing this degree for the last 9 or so years of my life have been co-existing pursuits. I started this geography program and Valley Maker was technically already a project, but I wasn’t touring at all or releasing music beyond putting it online. That started happening when I moved to Seattle. For a long time, these were side by side pursuits and I think that they informed one another. I think a lot of the same reasons why I wanted to study geography are probably—not probably—they certainly were reasons why I was starting to write songs. There’s a question that I want to pursue an answer to or something that happened that I need to make sense of; Something about humanity or the inequality of the world, or the human experience that I wanted to dig into further. My research was on human geography and migration in particular. I think there are some literal or more direct lines I could draw with the new record that engage with specific political ideas around migration or borders. There are definitely some moments of immediate connections, but I think at the level of who I am as a person and why I like both of these things is that they are both avenues to explore questions and meditate on some of the mysteries of life and dig into that a little deeper.

Totally. It’ll be interesting to see if you notice a shift in your songwriting now that you finished your PhD.

For sure, and I’m still doing some teaching here. I moved to Columbia, South Carolina about two years ago now. It feels like the pandemic year didn’t happen…in my mind I lived in Seattle last month, but it was about two years ago now. I’m doing some teaching here [in Columbia] and working at the university. I’m keeping one foot in that world, and they’re nice enough to let me go on tour sometimes. I plan to continue to put out music and keep that part of my life.

That leads perfectly to my next question! I was going to ask about When the Day Leaves being written around that move from Seattle to Columbia. Do you think writing those songs around that period of time helped you process the journey and that big move, and acted like a therapeutic outlet?

Oh for sure, I definitely think so. It was the right move to make for a lot of reasons for my life and my wife’s life, and the life we’re building together, but it was hard to leave. I love Seattle as a city and I have a lot of pretty deep music communities and friendships there. I also really love the natural environment of Seattle. It was a very inspiring place to walk my dog and take everything in.

My wife and I are both from South Carolina and all of our family is here and as you can probably imagine, it’s so much more affordable here than Seattle as well. So we’d thrown out the idea of moving back eventually to this area. My wife is a mid-wife and she got a perfect job offer in Columbia. It’s a city where we have a lot of friends, it’s affordable and it’s actually pretty cool. It felt like when she got that job offer, this is the time to do it. So it raised a lot of questions around community and place and home and belonging and what the future holds. I would say a lot of it was that I was already sitting with this transitional period, and that kind of fell right into the pandemic.

Even the idea of going on tour next week, it’s like wow, I’m going to have some structure around music again. We’re going to be traveling. For 2018 and 2019 I was doing that almost nonstop but I haven’t for awhile. That was a bit of a tangent, but I think the record was the primary way that I processed a lot of that experience. I’ve always written songs about what it means to be alive and some of these bigger questions about place and family and belonging. Music has always been an avenue to explore those kind of things. I think the move back home, even though it was the right move, in a way it wasn’t easy and raised a lot of things to process around that. Songwriting has always been, and certainly was in this move, a way to sit with these questions that didn’t have easy answers. Some of the songs, like “Mockingbird” on the new record, it was written before the pandemic, but that was the most fitting song for how I felt through the pandemic as well.

It’s great timing you moved right before the pandemic. I’m sure it would have been more complicated to move during 2020!

For sure, it would have been way more complicated. It was also weird because in my mind it was part of the exciting thing about moving here. I made the record When the Day Leaves in 2019, just a couple months before the pandemic started. I guess it was starting to happen overseas but it wasn’t in The States yet. It’s interesting cause I finished that record and my label and everyone was excited to put it out, and we said let’s do this as soon as we can, so we booked a ton of tour dates and everything. Then we had this day in like March or April of 2020 where we all just got on the phone and we were like “this isn’t going to happen right now.” We ended up rescheduling those dates several times…I think these shows that I’m about to play this is the second or third time we’ve had to reschedule.

I know, I feel so bad for venues and booking agents because things just kept getting pushed back a couple months at a time and everything remained uncertain. Now with the delta variant it’s getting to feel a little like that again.

I know, it kind of feels the same way right now where the ground is falling out from under you. We decided to make the shows proof of vaccination and masked inside. I feel like that’s a lot safer. Not 100%, but it feels better and the right way to do it.

Yeah, Schubas [where Valley Maker is playing in Chicago] is requiring full vaccination proof for all shows currently. I hope with that we can continue to have live music keep going and avoid getting shut down again.

It’s so hard not to be angry about what’s happening right now especially having rescheduled everything a bunch of times, and feelings about people who are remaining unvaccinated. It makes a lot of sense to me that shows are for the people who did get vaccinated and who have done their part to take care of others.

I definitely agree, and in talking to a lot of my music scene friends here, we’ve all said we feel lucky that we tend to be the kind of people who have done the right thing.

I made that post a couple days ago [about the shows requiring vaccination] and was cringing expecting people to start a flame war with me in the comments, but it was mostly just a lot of support from people. And a reminder that I really like most of the people that come to my shows. The ones that I get to meet, I feel really fortunate that way. I’ve made a lot of friends through music. For whatever reason the people who are attracted to music and the project, I tend to have a lot of commonality with. That was a nice reminder of that. 

With uncertainty being a theme around your move and then the pandemic, has the pandemic shifted your perspective or given a new meaning to any of the songs on the album besides “Mockingbird”?

In some ways I wish I could answer that after this tour because playing the songs live is one of the main ways I experience and kind of feel the songs. you know. A lot of those connection points become most resonant in the moment of performing them for whatever reason. Which was another strange thing, to put a record out and not be able to go on tour. I realized even when I was in those high school bands I mentioned, we still did a little release show if we made a record. That’s always what’s made it feel real, in the world and tangible to me. So I’m pretty excited to get to play them. I guess other songs that might have evolved or become newly resonant to me are “Branch I Bend” and “When the Day Leaves.” Both are kind of about the cyclicality of life and time and how we move through different seasons, and some things change and some things remain the same. And kind of making peace with that, that’s something I’ve always struggled with. I tend to be a restless person and I feel like the pandemic was a major force to embracing that. To embracing life as it is and to find joy in the small things. In the daily things that make our life meaningful and to practice gratitude around a lot of that stuff. With those few songs, from the place I came in writing them, I’ve experienced that in a pretty real way throughout the pandemic.

Yeah I agree with that effect from the pandemic, it was really all about finding silver linings and practicing gratitude.

Yeah, and to value the things we’re missing. Like shows, I feel like even if there’s ten people at a show and we’re all spaced out, it’s whatever needs to happen to be safe in the pandemic. I’m going to have so much joy getting to do that again. It’s such a gift to be able to play music and I’ve missed it a lot.

Exactly! I feel like before the pandemic I was starting to get very burnt out from going to shows all the time, but now being back, I’m even enjoying 2-hour sets with a fresh perspective.

I felt a little bit of the same. Living in Seattle there was just always so many shows happening. You start touring and get to know other bands and musicians, so you have friends’ shows you want to be at and should be at. I felt like in Seattle I was always going to concerts and now moving here, Columbia definitely has a cool music scene and there are venues, but it’s not in the touring circuit in nearly the same way. I’m excited to get back out there.

Definitely! So you recorded When the Day Leaves with producer Trevor Spencer back in Woodinville, Washington, right?

Yeah it’s like 30 minutes east of Seattle, it’s a beautiful spot.

What was your favorite memory or moment about the recording experience?

I have a lot of really good memories, I kind of look back on it really fondly in the sense that it was my last experience with Seattle. My wife and I had already moved to South Carolina and she started her job. We bought this super old house that needed a lot of work…it was very affordable, but also not livable, so we couldn’t move in for a couple of months while we worked on it. That was a good season for me to make the record, so I went back out to Seattle for that in Fall of 2019. That was the last experience of being in this place, at that time, with that community of musicians. The people who were involved with the record are just incredible players and people I’ve gotten to know throughout the time living there so it felt really special in that way. The final moment in that place.

I guess the other thing I would say about that experience as a whole is that I’d never made a record like that where I just plopped down in one place for three to four weeks, and just made the record in more or less one sitting. We didn’t completely finish it in the time I was there, but we got 90% of it in that consistent day-to-day process. That was really cool and I feel like it allowed me to make the kind of record I wanted to make. One of the things I’m most proud of about it is it does feel pretty cohesive as a world of music and an environment that you kind of enter into. That’s something I’m always trying to do with creating music, but I feel like approaching the recording in that way quite literally created that. I only left the studio maybe two days of the whole time I was there. I was in a beautiful place with lots of outdoor space around it. It was a very immersive, continuous experience. That was a luxurious way to make a record and Trevor’s space out there is really amazing. This is the third record we’ve worked on together. He’s one of my close friends, but I feel like we’ve got a good working dynamic as well. We were able to really enjoy the time. 

Yeah, it totally translates as a listener to be cohesive and immersive.

It’s always weird to say things I like about my own music, but I listen back to it and it feels continuous.

Yeah, you should have pride in your work! You’ve also worked with Amy Godwin on a lot of your music. How did you start working with her?

Getting to play music with Amy is such a gift. She’s a pretty incredible singer and very talented harmony writer. She teaches choir for her work, so her brain very much works that way as far as how to fill a space or create a mood with harmonies. I feel like we met on a whim somewhat. When I was in college here in Columbia, she was living in Georgia and we got put on a bill together somewhat randomly. I walked into the venue as her set was starting and I was totally blown away. I was like, this is one of the best singers I’ve ever heard. I was working on the first Valley Maker record at that point and had already thought I wanted it to have a dual vocal quality. I always want my music to be a little bit sparse at times and remain dynamic, and I really like the idea of the harmonies creating an environment. 

Yeah, your voices meld really well together.

Yeah I’m so grateful to Amy as a friend and she continues to play music and make records with me. That’s a cool question to ask ahead of this tour because Amy’s going to be able to tour with me for these shows. We’re going to do it as a duo. She usually is teaching during the academic year, and since this is in the Summer, she’ll be able to join. I’m personally super excited about it because we haven’t gotten to do it in like three or four years. I’m also excited to play Schubas. I’ve seen shows there cause I’ve got some friends in Chicago and spent a pretty good amount of time in the city.

Is there anything else about the tour you want to tease ahead of the Schubas show?

No juicy details other than Amy being involved, but the set will be most of the new record since this is kind of a release tour for that, and it will also pull from all my other records as well. There will be a mixture. Amy has been involved with all of the records so we can kind of go across a lot of the discography so to speak.

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Make sure you snag your tickets to see Valley Maker at Schubas on August 28th here, and keep up with Austin on Instagram and Twitter.

Stepping Forward: An Interview with August Hotel

Photo by Cassie Scott

Formed in 2016, August Hotel, the five-piece band from Chicago, radiate surges of indie-pop infused with indie—rock, perfected and polished with synthesizers bursting with freshness and fluidity, paired with poetic lyrics and hypnotizing melodies. Led by Jo Padilla on vocals, with Ryan Lammers on guitar, Dean Sinclair on drums, Cale Singleton on bass, and Craig Schwartz, Jr on the keys, the group captures a sound draped in nostalgia and emboldened by playful vitality. 

Before August Hotel hit the stage at Beat Kitchen on February 7th, we were able to speak with them about their latest single, “Disaster and Delight”... as well as their upcoming EP, the DIY scene, and the importance of promoting inclusivity.

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August Hotel were scheduled to play a benefit show for The Trevor Project on International Transgender Day of Visibility on March 27th 2020, alongside She/Her/Hers, Boye, and Hospital Bracelet. However, the show has been canceled in response to COVID-19. The bands plan to hold a livestream soon that will still benefit the Trevor Project. Be sure to check August Hotel’s social media for updates regarding rescheduling.

Anaïs Turiello: Would you all like to start out by introducing yourselves and saying your role in the band? 

Dean Sinclair: I’m Dean and I play the drums.

Ryan Lammers: I’m Ryan and I play the guitar. 

Cale Singleton: I’m Cale and I play bass. 

Craig Schwartz, Jr: I’m Craig and I play the keys. 

Jo Padilla: I’m Jo and I sing.

AT: Perfect! So, my first question was how did you all meet and when?

RL: Dean and I have been playing together since 2006. We started playing in middle school and we had a band before this. Then, we had a band that eventually turned into this [August Hotel]. But being as we are now, 2016 is when we officially formed. I knew Cale from high school; Craig and Dean knew each other from high school and we found Jo on Facebook. 

AT: How did finding them [Jo] on Facebook unfold? 

CS: Musician groups.

JP: Yeah, I was in a musician group and I posted some very low-quality videos of me singing LCD Soundsystem and Depeche Mode. 

DS: So, those groups can work, actually. 

JP: It’s not just for memes!

AT: What about the band name itself? How did it come about?
CS: We got it from The Great Gatsby. Here’s the thing—we wanted to be cool and get our name from literature, so we skimmed through Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein-

RL: We kind of just pulled from whatever books were sitting around at the time I think.

CS: Yeah, and one of them was The Great Gatsby and I forgot what it is but, in one of the chapters, he talks about being in-

RL: It’s when they’re in the hotel and it’s super hot and they’re just drunk or whatever. 

CSJ: And the word ‘August’ was nearby. 

CS: The word ‘August’ was on the other page next to it and we put them together. We made a list of eight or nine names and we sent it to our friends and asked which they liked the most and consistently, August Hotel was the favorite. 

DS: Yeah and “Butthole Surfers” were already taken so…

AT: So, you all have been together officially since 2016. How do you think you’ve evolved as both individual artists/musicians and also just as a whole?
CS: I feel like we started by writing songs that we thought we should put out—like pop stuff and just a fast-paced sort of thing. I feel like now, as we’re going into our new EP and continuing to write subsequent songs after its release, we’re starting to experiment with different sounds. We’re using backing tracks and things live, so I would say we’re expanding our sort of sonic palette, both in the recording and live aspect. So, it’s not just pop songs all the way through and we can get more experimental and play with more sounds.

RL: I feel like it’s gotten a little more mature and a little more complex, which I think makes sense because we have gotten older and we’ve been playing together longer. I think we’ve always meshed really well when we play but the longer you play together, the more that happens. So, I feel like now we’re just getting to a point where we can play off of each other more and be more comfortable trying things that we weren’t in the past. 

AT: You mentioned songwriting earlier. It is sort of the same thing in terms of just playing off of each other? Or just what does that process look like? 

CS: I feel like our process has changed recently because we used to kind of go into practice and Ryan would have a riff and he would play it over and over, then I would add a bass line, then Craig would do some synth stuff and Dean would add a beat.

RL: It was very “jam it out at practice” kind of writing. 

CS: Yeah, and now we’ve been getting more into recording and more into studio stuff so we can put songs fully together in the studio and then bring them to practice and figure them out in a live context. 

RL: Like writing into a computer sort of. It’s kind of changed from messing with some things live to having little loops and things that we can mess with on the computer. You get that grid to move stuff around. I sort of like that visual of writing a song. At least for me personally, it’s easier to wrap my head around a song when I can see it all laid out than when we’re just in practice and it’s still being formed and you don’t really know what’s what. 

DS: You have to imagine how it sounds and it doesn’t help when everyone else is imagining something different too. 

RL: It’s easier to put something concrete in a computer than it is just jamming. 

AT: Could you also talk about songwriting in terms of just lyrics and how that process ties into it all? 

RL: We’re all over the place because it’s not just one of us who writes the lyrics all the time. 

CS: I sing all of my stuff off the top of my head just out of laziness so I don’t have to figure out a melody. Then, I just go from there and have a chord progression and everything after that. So, everything kind of happens all at once for me. 

DS: When I write the songs, I do it on the piano and I normally have the music prior to the lyrics.  Whatever I want to be writing about, I feel like I have an idea of what I’m trying to get towards in at least a feeling sense. So, that’s what inspires the piano playing and then whatever words come from that. Then, I send it over to them in a group message—like a piano recording or something. We all kind of do it differently. 

JP: For me, in terms of lyrics and songwriting, I think that pretty much any point that someone is trying to convey is all about storytelling—whether that’s through art or that’s through politics, or whether that’s through human connectedness in any sort of way. So, when I’m writing, I’m trying to communicate something through telling a story. It might be a personal experience, it might be somewhat tangentially related to an experience, or it might be escapist in some way. I see a lot of these things as “do nothing without a purpose” and I think that really bleeds through to our songwriting. 

AT: Wow, very well-stated. My next question was about the Chicago music scene. Since you are all from the Chicago area, could you talk about how the music scene here has helped you evolve as a band or just your experience as a band within the scene? 

DS: We wouldn’t be playing at a sold-out show tonight without it. That’s for certain. 

RL: It’s been kind of an interesting progression there because we all grew up in the suburbs, so a lot of the earlier DIY stuff was out there. Then, once we started playing in the city, I think initially there wasn’t so much as a sense of community but I think over the past year or two, we’ve ended up getting in touch with the same bands and getting in touch with more people and it’s starting to feel like there’s this really tight-knit sense of community. I also think a lot of music adjacent—like Chicago Soundcheck, who is sponsoring the show tonight, has also helped grow the community and there’s now a lot more of a network between the artists than there used to be about two or three years ago. It’s been really great; we’ve gotten to put together some really phenomenal shows. 

CS: It’s just really nice to be a part of a music scene that has a sense of community. Before, at times, it would sort of feel like a competition every night. It felt like a battle of the bands every night basically when we were all just trying to play a show. We would be all chill and cool in the beginning but by the end of the show, no one was talking to each other or looking at each other. No one would be like, “Hey good show, man!” So, it was really hard to kind of feel that sense of it but I feel like with bands like Ember Oceans and Capital Soirée, we kind of have that initial unit that built sort of a community for us and now we’re meeting all these bands that are super cool and everyone hypes each other up before and after our set. 

DS: You overlap fanbases ideally. I’m very happy to be a part of this whole thing. 

RL: This show was kind of born out of wanting to do more of that because about exactly a year ago, around the end of January 2019, we did a show with Ember Oceans, Friday Pilots Club, and Capital Soireé that we put together after about a year or two of playing with these bands individually. We knew each other all very well by then and wondered why we had never done a show together. We kind of wanted to do a thing that was like a showcase for all of us and didn’t really have a hierarchy or a headliner. We just wanted to do it and it was extremely successful and all of the bands loved it and over the course of the next year, we got to know more groups. We got to know Weekend Run Club and Violet Crime better and we keep expanding and try to keep building a sense of community. 

DS: Yeah, you can’t just play with the same groups all of the time too, as much as we want to. So, that way when you do it, it is an event.

CS: This is the second show that the bands have kind of put together themselves, of just local bands, and it’s the second time in a row that we’ve put something on like this and it’s sold out. 

AT: That’s impressive! Do you have any other favorite local bands that you’re influenced by? 
RL: Ember Oceans.

CS: Yeah, the homies!

DS: I saw a band like a year ago—they’re called Old Sol, and they put on one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. It was the downstairs of SubT and this guy’s lyrics were just incredible; I should probably reach out to them or something. Also, one of my favorite drummers in another band is a group called Tiny Kingdoms who just put out music as well, and he’s a phenomenal player. 

CS: I love everything that Beach Bunny has ever put out and they’re blowing up right now. They’re killing it and are just doing so much—they’re signed and everything. I remember that she [Lili Trifilio] opened for us at Space [in Evanston] years ago. She was by herself and I just remember watching her set and in every song that she had, the writing was just insane. I instantly had the song memorized because they were so catchy and the writing was unbelievably poignant. Yeah, I’ve tried to write like her ever since and I can’t do it—she’s amazing. 

AT: What about influences in general? I believe you all have been compared to The 1975 amongst others...I’m definitely missing some but The 1975 is my favorite band so that one stuck out to me. 

RL: I feel like we’re sort of all over the place. If you ask each of us, we would cite a million different things. But if you ask someone who listens to us, it depends on the age of the person you ask. If you ask people around our age [20s], you get a lot of people saying a lot of The 1975, Walk the Moon, Coin, and Bad Suns. And if you ask older adults, you get The Cure, Talking Heads, Simple Minds—a bunch of that 80s kind of stuff. I think we, personally, cite all of that pretty much. 

AT: Aside from outside comparisons what would your own influences be? 
CS: My influences are all over the place—I love Green Day. They have a huge influence on me, Billie Joe specifically. The 1975 also—the way that they make just messes of albums work. “I Like It When You Sleep [for You Are So Beautiful yet So Unaware of It]” is a fucking mess but it’s beautiful and it works perfectly. Somehow, they just make it work and I think that that level of artistic experimentation and that level of not caring can be summed up in something I read somewhere that said, “It takes a lot of care to make something sound or look carefree.” I feel like they do that with every album. If you look at it from a bass perspective its like, oh, they just didn’t give a shit and tried a bunch of different things but they care so much that it makes it look that way. So, I think their level of experimentation and how many genres they bend is just so inspiring. 

RL: So much thought goes into everything—not even just the music, but the images and the videos and the stage show. I’ve always been extremely impressed and influenced by every aspect of what they do. It’s super cool. 

AT: I could talk about them for hours, so I’m going to hold back. Are there any bands that any of you grew up on that you found to shape your experience as musician today?

DS: I guess my first stuff was like classic rock, then as I got older, I went heavier and heavier. So, my parents got me a Nirvana CD when I was in the 5th grade. From there, I walked into a Hot Topic and saw an Iron Maiden t-shirt and was like, “This is my life now.” I was really into a lot of heavier music for a while, until the first time in high school when I heard “What You Know” by Two Door Cinema Club and it instantly altered my perspective on things. I didn’t know a guitar could be played like that. Right now, I’m very interested in finding bands from the 80’s that I wasn’t necessarily exposed to. I feel like a lot of the production from some of those 80’s pop records, like what a snare drum can sound like, is what's really influencing me and how I’m at least trying to tune my drums, even just for the groups I play with—this one especially. 

JP: I grew up hearing a lot of MoTown. So, a lot of Smokey Robinson, Temptations, Marvin Gaye. Those are still huge influences of mine but some that kind of really changed me and kind of got me to seek out my own music was hearing London Calling by The Clash. I don’t listen to them as much as I used to but they’re still seminal massive influence for me. For now and for the past few years, I’d say that for songwriting and lyrics and melody, I think Björk and Jamila Woods would probably be two people who I think about a lot, in terms of how to articulate expression for Björk and for how to put that idea of ways to place a story into a song and have it be personal, with someone like Jamila Woods. 

RL: My favorite band growing up is The Who. Pete Townsend was a major influence on my guitar playing all throughout the early stages of being a guitarist, which I think is now sort of weird because I think a lot of that has stuck with me, even though a lot of the stuff we’re playing doesn’t really call for that style of guitar playing. Now, a lot of my influences are like, Adam Hann from The 1975 or Eli [Maiman] from Walk the Moon, who have a lot more of a tight, clean, and very precise style of playing. So, I’ve definitely noticed that the way my own guitar playing is sort of this weird hybrid between the two, which has been sort of interesting because I’ve been trying to navigate how to use that in terms of what we’re writing. 

AT: On March 27th, you all are playing a show on International Transgender Day of Visibility as a benefit for The Trevor Project, which I think is really special and incredibly important. So, would any of you like to talk about what that means to you or why you find it critical to share that kind of safe space as well as supporting organizations such as The Trevor Project? 

JP: It’s something that’s very deeply personal to me in supporting organizations that will fight for transgender and queer liberation like The Trevor Project, and more locally in Chicago, with Brave Space Alliance, which is an organization that I love dearly as well. It’s so important to have this and to make spaces because for a lot of people, especially for transgender and gender nonconforming youth, things are better than they used to be, but not for everyone in the slightest. When you look at murder statistics of black transgender women and such, it’s not across the board that rising water is raising all ships. So, it’s important to support these organizations that have a committment to queer people of color and people of color with diabilities, etc. It’s extremely important and I’m very glad that we will be doing that. 

AT: Beautifully said. 

CS: I was really upset when I found out that I couldn’t play the show because I have another commitment that night. It’s something that I am really passionate as well, being a musical theatre actor, because I’ve been around queer youth and black queer youth my entire life, and it’s a really beautiful thing that they do. It’s a really great show and I’m really happy that we’re doing it—it’s wonderful. 

RL: There are few shows that I’ve wanted to say yes to as fast. 

CS: Oh, yeah. The second we got that email, I was like, “We have to do that!” 

AT: Was it The Trevor Project that reached out to you or how did it come about? 

DS: I don’t know if they have much to do with it other than we’re just giving the profits to them. Out of Context Productions is the one putting it together.

RL: Yeah, they do a monthly benefit show. 

DS: Apparently, all of last year, Weekend Run Club, who we’re playing with tonight for their album release show, had a donation box at every show for the organization [The Trevor Project] and were able to raise a significant amount of money just by having something on the table. But, I really looking forward to the show! We haven’t played with any of the bands on the lineup before and I wouldn’t be exposed to this organization or know anything about it really without music. Music has absolutely shown me a lot of different things. 

AT: It’s incredible that you all are supporting something like this! For some closing remarks, would any of you like to talk a little bit about the newest single “Disaster and Delight”? Is it setting the tone for future music?

CS: Actually, not really.

AT: Is there anything new in the works though?

RL: We have a new EP coming out in spring. We’re playing the whole thing tonight. It’s kind of all over the place but there’s definitely a sense of cohesion to it. It’s [Disaster and Delight] probably the most pop-sounding piece on the EP but that’s not to say that the rest of the EP isn’t pop-sounding, it just is in a different way. I feel like it covers a lot of ground and is a nice showcase of our various influences and the different things that we like and different ways that we’ve been exploring or conveying our sound and what we want to do. 

DS: I think “Disaster and Delight” serves as a good transition from our first EP to our second. It was also initially recorded during those first EP sessions. So, it is still very much from that era, but how we produced it and did additional recording on it makes it, what I think, to be a good transition piece. 

RL: I think the whole new EP will still feel like August Hotel but it’s different, and I think you’ll hear it as a step forward. It feels more mature. It also feels good to be putting new stuff out because it’s been a minute. 

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Keep up with August Hotel on Facebook and Instagram

Crying with Katharine Seggerman: A Chat with Lunch Duchess

I sat down with Katharine Seggerman of Lunch Duchess to talk about her forthcoming album, Crying For Fun, out August 16th on Heavy Meadow Records. We talk about Britney Spears, relationships, and of course, our feelings.

Photo by Chloe Krenz. Lunch Duchess is:

Katharine Seggerman (she/her) - drums, vocals

Nicky Steves (he/them) - synths

Sam Frederick (they/them) - guitar

Matthew Sandstedt (he/him) - bass

So how did you decide to start singing and drumming?

People kept telling me to do it for years and I was always resentful of that because it’s kind of hard. And I think there’s some weird gender aspects of me wanting to prove that I’m a good musician and not just a singer. And then I bought myself a headset microphone and that was a game changer, and it still took years to get competent at it.

I feel like the natural progression of “what can I do in addition to singing?” is playing guitar. So drums is different, were you already interested in it?

That was my starting point actually. I started drums when I was 12 and played in a band with my friends in middle school, and played in jazz band in middle school. I did a teen program kind of similar to She Rock, and then my own bands in high school and college. It wasn’t until I was in this band, BOYF, now defunct (RIP). That was a hilarious band and I played drums in that and then started singing on the headset mic. 

I just really wanna see you with an early 2000s Britney Spears-esque headset mic. That’s my dream Lunch Duchess set.

You’re giving me such a good idea, I don’t know what to wear for the release yet. Maybe like the red latex one she wore in “Oops I Did It Again.” Ponytail and hair extensions. 

You describe your voice as “Disney-esque.” What’s your vocal background? Are you a trained singer?

My only musical training is percussion so I can read percussive music, but never got beyond middle school choir for vocals. Although I did sit down with Sam’s mom, who’s actually a well known singer in the Twin Cities and got some tips from her, because I’ve been trying to learn a little bit on my own as an adult. 

In the press kit you sent me, a lot of the sentences end with “this may sound like a lot- it is.” Which I think is an interesting choice of words, can you define “a lot”?

I think of the songs as being very distilled, and not even distilled to simplicity but really intense elements taken from each component of the song. Like the emotionality, the lyrics, the instrumentation. There’s not really a lot of fluff. I think the intensity of the songs themselves and the commitment to going all out when I easily could’ve alluded to an idea. Like the part when everybody in the band is singing “lala lala lalala,” it’s so unnecessary... it’s a lot. I think a lot of bands might have a similar idea, but with less intensity. 

Ok, well obviously I follow Lunch Duchess on Twitter, and I saw one of your tweets where someone was very confused by you defining your band as grunge pop. But then in your press kit you’ve articulated the sound of each song to a tee. So do people not “get” your sound, is that a problem you come across?

Photo by Chloe Krenz

I think that particular tweet was about a really interesting conversation I had with someone who doesn’t really listen to music. I mean the way he was talking about it like “I use hip hop at the gym.” Which was really eye opening because I’m surrounded by people who live and breathe music.

The album is very cohesive but the songs shift from each other. Like “Chicago” is more rock in feel than most of the other songs. How does that come together? 

That’s a good question. I think it goes back to the way that I write each song. So for some songs- well they all start with vocal melody. Probably something is bothering me and a melody pops into my head. And then I will find stuff to go under that using either a banjo or a piano, sometimes a bass. And then flesh it out as best I can for the structure itself. And after that I bring in bandmates. I think it’ll change based on who kind of takes the lead instrumentally, if it’s gonna be more guitar driven or more synth driven. A mood is really important to me, so using the instruments to convey a certain mood of like doom, or excitement, anxiety… I think a lot of it has to do with the developmental process, writing with the band once the structure is done, and what the mood of the song needs to be. 

It’s interesting that you drive things based on how it comes together rather than creating a formula for what you want the album to be and then bringing people in.

And even having different people be involved on the album in different parts. Like the song “Better” originally was played with a different guitarist. And some of these songs were played by Matt on guitar who now plays bass, some of them were played with Ranelle on bass, who now plays synths. It’s fluid.

I actually did want to walk about “Better.” It has this playful, bouncy sound. But there’s that line “just kidding, that wasn’t me but only cause society is extremely unforgiving of female sexuality.” It has me wondering how much of that song we should truly read as a joke?

I think they’re serious issues, but I’m trying not to burden myself by taking it so seriously and being so angry about it, even though at different times I am definitely super angry about some of that stuff. On one hand “Body” I’m talking about “I get naked anytime I like” and that line kind of bothers me because it sounds like I’m talking about having sex but I literally just mean I like being naked. I’ll probably spend some time in a nudist colony at some point, I don’t know. I don’t understand societal norms around that and why bodies have to be sexualized, that really pisses me off. And that goes into the territory of possession too and reproductive justice, so that’s stuff that I’m angry about. And not prioritizing partners’ sexual needs, especially if the partner is a straight cis guy, they could be doing a little better. Which is why the song is called “Better.”

That’s funny because I have a question about “Body.” I’m very much a believer that having a body is weird and that I’d be ok being sentient haze.

I wish. What are you, an Aquarius or something? 

I’m actually a Capricorn! But because of your points on autonomy it becomes arguably the only political track on the album. Because you said you try not to let it burden you, was that a moment where you wanted to touch on something more specifically?

In writing that song I had started out wanting to do something really silly and was just playing around. The first two verses are about really inconsequential things like allergies and being sensitive to drugs. And then I was asking myself “why am I even writing about bodies if it’s just a joke?” and realized I could say something I actually do care a lot about in it. Which is not usually how a song works for me. Maybe I’m adding little bits here and there but it’s not “let me bring in an entire issue that’s important to me.” So kind of explaining to myself why I wanted to write about that in the first place. And the other ones definitely aren’t political, I think they mostly deal with boundaries and relationships. And sometimes that’s in a societally gendered way, kind of a stereotype of like women are supposed to save men and men are stereotyped as not being responsible for their behavior, not taking accountability, needing to be mothered. So I think some of the songs are push backs against that mentality.

Especially on “Lust/Love,” a lyric I really attached to is “don’t recall how to be alone, it’s making me angry that you do.” Thematically I did want to ask you about the concept of boundaries throughout the album because it does undercut most of the songs. This idea of what am I on my own? What am I with another person? How do I not overextend?

That’s one of the only songs on the album that’s about an entirely different relationship. I don’t want to get too specific and make the subject feel bad. But a lot of the songs on the album are about a specific relationship and a specific type of relationship that was pretty co-dependent. And trying to figure it out, usually from a self-empowering kind of way, during those rare moments in a co-dependent relationship where you question what you’re doing. But this relationship [portrayed in "Lust/Love"] was so far from that and purely physical. And then kind of acknowledging that I don’t know how it feels to be in a relationship where we’re so much more independent- to the point of excluding emotions. And just really having my thinking changed by someone who was a lot more detached, which at the time was really healthy for me. It was just a reset.

Going off that, Crying For Fun definitely has some difficulties defining love.

Yeah, especially going back to that one very co-dependent relationship and just feeling moments of total doubt in myself. Like is this love? Do I know how to love? Is this how I want to be loved? And am I loving this person the way that they deserve? So I think there is a lot of anxiety about that on the album. And then other moments that are kind of taking a break from that, like “Chicago” is a new crush, and “Lust/Love” is a whole different thing. So kind of exploring different avenues and trying to answer those very basic questions about love and capacity to love. 

I really like the word “capacity” in this context.

I guess, damnit I thought I had grown, but a song on the previous EP is called “How You Love” and towards the end of the song it keeps repeating “is that how you love?” and “did I love well?” So I guess I’m still asking that question in a way, but starting to use more outside sources for getting feedback than relying just on myself. Your own internalized narratives can get so twisted if you keep telling yourself the same thing over and over again. 

So is it safe to assume that you’re someone who’s comfortable being seen as openly emotional?

Yes, definitely! And even then I still am a little nervous about it. There is a part of me that really enjoys confrontation because I think it’s healthy for people to be stating their needs instead of the Minnesotan tendency to gloss over it and not talk about it. So sometimes I still am scared to bring things up. But it’s a lot scarier to me to not be feeling emotions at all. And I think I was feeling that way for a long time when I was a lot more depressed and medicated, and coming out of that I think I’m really grateful that I have the capacity to be really sad or be really upset or be really happy. So I kind of think Crying For Fun is a little bit about that, about getting back in touch with my emotions.

And it’s, in a way, easier to not feel.

But if you’re not feeling you’re not getting signals from life about where to go. You’re not gonna end up in a happy place when you’re finally ready to confront your emotions. And I keep using ‘you’ language but I know it’s not universal, it’s personalized.

Talking about Crying For Fun versus My Mom Says I Have a Rich Inner Life, we have “Cry II” and the single “Ride or Die” appears again. Is Crying For Fun an expansion of the EP or do you view it more as something totally different that has a track that’s been refurbished? 

I think the answer to that is more technical than anything else. I wondered should we re-release “Ride or Die” and I asked a friend of mine and he was like “well it’s probably gonna expose more people to it so it’s good to include it again” and it’s a good song, I still like it. But thematically, if it’s an expansion? I think so. I’m asking that question about love again and defiantly talking about crying, which is not something people are usually proud that they do. And there are other themes that still carry through too, I think about independence. Some of the stuff on “Unable/Unwilling,” I think that song is a lot about coming out of depression and people putting their assumptions on you about your motives for doing certain things. I think in that one a boyfriend assumes music is something I do as a hobby. But in fact it’s mostly emotional exorcism. That’s the reason why I write songs. So unfortunately when I’m doing really well and I’m happy, like I am right now, I don’t do a lot of writing. But I try to not worry about it. I don’t really understand the point of art that is not necessary to the maker. If I don’t feel the need to create then I’m not gonna make myself do it, I’m not gonna do like an inspiration exercise. Which maybe I’ll change my mind on that, but at the moment I’ll fill my time with something else. Like going to grad school.

Are you? Congratulations!

Thank you! I’m going to be a talk therapist. So doing some more emotions and dark secrets and analysis. So kind of fulfilling that need in a different place, I guess. 

It would be cool to find out your therapist is in a band. Though probably just for the patient, not for you.

I’m so nervous about that. Like “yeah she’s in a band and writes some really forthright lyrics about sex and I know way too much about her sex life now.” Yeah, I’m probably gonna have to change my name.

There’s something very subversive about Crying For Fun. There’s a sweetness in some of the instrumentals but the lyrics are darker; I think it’s part of what makes the album sound so distinct. How do you create that kind of juxtaposition?  

I think it’s maybe a mirror of how I’m thinking about some of these things, which truthfully it’s not the healthiest way to deal with things. But a lot of these songs have been in the bag for years, “Better” is a really old song for example. In kind of just stepping back and looking at this collection of songs and other things going on in my life I feel like the angst comes from thinking that I have to keep my dissatisfaction about things secret. So not being able to openly discuss when I’m dissatisfied, which is nobody’s fault, I think it’s more an existential problem. You only have one life to live and you have to be brave enough to do it. I think freedom of choice can be a really terrifying thing for people. Sometimes you wish someone else would make the choice for you. So you go with the flow and you stay in things that you don’t like but you sort of pretend that you do like them and then it ends up just making you resentful. And I think I’ve been feeling resentful about different situations just out of my own fear to do what I want to do. But if you don’t know what you want to do for a long time, you just end up kind of stuck in a loop. 

How does that lead into creating these very saturated songs?

I think that I’ve been really selective in what to put on the album. There are a lot of other songs out there but at some point it feels like it’s not clicking or it doesn’t need to be said. It feels redundant compared to something else in the catalogue. And then I’ll decide not to develop it any further. I feel a little bad about this, but I really don’t like performing songs that I don’t feel to be emotionally true anymore, which is probably frustrating for my bandmates. It’s like “oh yeah I just want you to learn this song” and then six months later it’s like, “no I don’t feel that way anymore.”

Are there any songs specifically that you’re not playing right now?

There used to be one, I was just listening to a demo of it on my way here because it popped into my head, it’s called “Friend/Lover/Fuck Me Over,” and it’s being just really frustrated with someone even outside a romantic relationship and feeling like they’re just not respecting you as a person no matter where you try to meet them. It has some really cutting, mean lyrics, some of my songs do. At the end it says “bad people they have a way of being bad friends” which is literally calling someone a bad person, that’s pretty mean. So sometimes I’ll shy away from songs that are overly attacking of someone without taking enough share of the responsibility.

You say it yourself that Crying For Fun is full of “earworms,” which is almost an understatement. I think it’s funny with the subject matter that you work with that it ends up being really catchy. How intentional is that?

The only songs that I end up developing are the ones that are banging around my head for a long time. That phrase and melody is just going through my head constantly until I think of some other parts to go along with it. So I’d say it’s pretty unintentional but I like the fact that a lot of them are darker subject matter and are catchy. I think everyone could take some time to reflect on their emotions and relationships and other stuff that maybe they wouldn’t hear about in a normal pop song. I feel like there is such a trend about that lately- pop songs about anxiety that you hear on Top 40 and you’re like “what? This is really dark stuff.” That Julia Michaels song that’s like “I got issues and we got issues.” Unexpected. 

A lyric that’s really imprinted on me is “I love you like I fight a war” on “Makes Me Love You More.” Could you tell me a little more about it? 

I think that song is coming to terms with a complicated romantic relationship, and I think right now our culture is quick to dub things abusive or toxic, but even in those relationships you’re getting something out of it or else you wouldn’t be in it. I’m sorry, I mean that in a nuanced way, obviously in an abusive relationship there’s not much you can do to defend a truly abusive person. But there is something lovable about every person and you can’t just pretend that you never loved the person, even if it was a kind of love that felt like going to war everyday. And that’s with yourself and with that person. With yourself just in terms of it’s not actually healthy for you but you make yourself do it or you’re trying to make yourself get out of it. I don’t think that fighting in a war is the ideal way to be in a relationship, but even in those relationships there is still something that you love about that person and that’s still a valid love. And definitely admitting guilt on that too. Like should you be in a relationship with someone? Maybe you’re doing some harm too or I was doing some harm in feeling like it was a war. It’s two sided. 

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Pre-order the digital album here and cassettes here and catch their album release party on August 31st at Mortimer’s Bar and Restaurant.

A Chat With: Together Pangea

LA-based band Together Pangea has been crafting catchy garage rock since 2009, delivering four full-length albums and a handful of EPs that each explore different sounds and offer a little something for everyone. Over their years together, the band has also become known for their infectiously energetic live presence—no Together Pangea show is ever quite complete without a mosh pit or some crowd surfing. In the past, Together Pangea has shared the stage with acts like Alkaline Trio, Ty Segall, and The Black Lips, just to name a few.

Most recently, the group just wrapped up a headlining West Coast tour run in celebration of their EP Dispassionate, and they are now gearing up to embark on the East Coast run, which kicks off here in Chicago. Ahead of the kick-off show at Lincoln Hall, I spoke with Danny Bengston of the band, discussing their recording process of the latest EPs, their music video for “Dispassionate,” and how they plan to spend their time in Chicago. Tune into our chat with Together Pangea below!

PHOTO BY DEREK PERLMAN

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Your new EP Dispassionate just came out about a month ago now, which was a quick follow up from the Non Stop Paranoia EP released last year. When working on the two EPs, which have been described as opposites of each other, did you already have that theme in mind and write them in tandem? Or was Dispassionate more of a reflection after the fact?

We went into the studio and we recorded nine songs, plus some acoustic songs that we put out before the EPs. So I guess in total we did about fourteen songs all at once. When we went in to do it, we weren’t sure what it was gonna end up being because we had enough songs technically to do a full length, if we wanted to. But it just sort of happened that once we got into it and started getting mixes back and seeing how things were shaping up, there were four songs that made sense together and five songs that made sense together. So that’s how that happened.

Totally, so they just ended up as two halves of a whole piece. 

Yeah, there was no intention going in to make two separate EPs that had separate vibes, we just had a group of songs that happened to have two distinct sounds so we split it up that way.

Nice, then the four songs on Dispassionate are definitely more laid-back compared to some earlier material and sort of have that 50’s, 60’s vibes. What were some factors that influenced that shift?

We made the decision specifically to sort of go ahead and put out songs that we felt really good about, not necessarily songs that were reflective of our previous catalog so much. I think with Non Stop Paranoia there’s definitely a little bit more recognizable aesthetic sounds that are in the vein of Badillac or some of the older stuff, but all in all I think it was more of a choice that we made this batch of songs that we felt really good about. I think that was it! Even if it sounded different than before, it’s still us. We felt they were solid songs.

Were there any influences you can pinpoint? Maybe other art forms, like films, or other music you were listening to around that time? 

I know that the song “Moonlight Lately” specifically I wrote that one, I was listening to a lot of 60’s girl groups like The Shangri-Las or The Crystals…The Ronnettes. I was listening to The Crystals a lot when I wrote that song, and I wanted to make a song that sounded like one of those old girl group classic songs. So that’s why that song sounds that way. We also had just never really done anything like that where we just sort of went for it that hard. Like chose a sort of genre or style and just went for it. It started out just guitar, drums, and bass and then we ended up having more time and resources. I was just like fuck it, we called Max Kuehn, he’s the drummer for Fidlar, and he came in and played. We had two drum kits in the studio and he and Erik played together. Our friend Killian from the band No Parents did a bunch of hand percussion. The percussion take is two drums and also a lot of hand percussion. I told Danny, the producer, what I was going for specifically and we just went for it. Somebody at our record label knew somebody who played saxophone, so the saxophone was on it and I was like I want to add some piano…some glockenspiel, you know. It just spiraled out of control.

Yeah, that sounds like a fun recording session with lots of guest appearances.

Yeah it was a lot of fun. It was the first time we’ve ever done anything like it, where we got two drum kits in the studio at once.

I also really liked the video for “Dispassionate,” the EP’s title track. And speaking of No Parents, I laughed at the part with their t-shirt in the video. So as far as this music video concept, did you all work together to come up with the idea, or did you work with a specific director who had this concept in mind?

For the music video that was our friend Derek Perlman, he’s a photographer based in Los Angeles. It was his idea and he’s actually a really close friend of mine, we hang out fairly often when I’m back home. I know that he had sort of dipped his feet in the idea of wanting to make more music videos, and he had started this music video for this friend, but it never came out for other reasons. We were just looking for someone to do a video, and we were like why don’t we see if Derek is interested in trying it? And he totally killed it.

Wow so this was his first official music video?

Yeah! It’s technically his second, but the first one wasn’t 100% finished and never came out.

Wow that’s still impressive though! Shifting gears to your live shows, I know you’re in the middle of a huge cross country tour at the moment. What have been some highlights of it so far, or some favorite places? Maybe some places you’re looking forward to hitting soon?

I’m still pretty excited that Chicago is the kick off of the east coast run. That’ll be great. This first half of the tour has been pretty amazing, like every show. There hasn’t been a bad show...LA is always good because it’s our hometown. Yesterday we played Sacramento, which was very fun, aside from it being no air conditioning and being extremely hot. Denver is an amazing place for us...another tour highlight. We’re definitely looking forward to Chicago, that’s the first one of the second leg.

So as far as Chicago, is there anything you guys have plans to do outside of the show? Anything on your Chicago list?

Well we toured with Twin Peaks a couple years ago and we’re still very good friends with those guys. I was talking to Cadien about hopefully going to swim in the lake. He was saying it might not be warm enough. We’re also on tour with another Chicago band, Dehd. I’m just excited cause we have a lot of friends out there like Twin Peaks, Dehd and Lala Lala. If it’s warm enough we’ll go swim in the lake!

Yeah I think that might work out now! It’s been like 80 degrees this week, although yesterday it hailed a bunch, but it was sunny about ten minutes later. So hopefully the lake plans will follow through.

Yeah I’ve always wanted to do that. 

Are there any new bands or any albums that have been on heavy rotation while you’re on tour at the moment?

The No Parents record, which isn’t out yet, that’ll be out in September. Been listening to that a bunch. Lala Lala...Dehd. There’s always a lot of really good Chicago stuff. The new White Reaper song is really good. 

Nice, lots of good stuff! Anything else you guys are looking forward to this year besides the tour and new EP? Anything else coming soon, like videos or potentially even more new material?

Probably! As of now we just have these tours to wrap up and then we go to Europe…and maybe some more touring throughout the year. We’ll probably get to recording at some point in the next year, I’d imagine. I have a feeling we’ll be hitting Chicago at least twice this year though.

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Together Pangea makes their Lincoln Hall debut on Thursday, July 11th. Get your tickets here.

Keep up with Together Pangea on Facebook // Twitter // Instagram

A Chat With: Zuli

As a songwriter and creator, Zuli has never shied away from exploring different genres and styles with his music. His multi-faceted debut album On Human Freakout Mountain gave listeners glimpses of rock, pop, psych and folk textures back in 2017. Now, Zuli has returned this year with his first bit of music since his debut record, giving fans another taste of something new. Released June 21st, Zuli’s latest single “ur mistaken” contains the same rock and pop undertones of his older material, but it also twists in sprinkles of soul and R&B.

Drawing influence from some of his favorite music released by other artists during the past two years, Zuli was able to tap into a different side of his creativity and refresh his sound without straying too far from his roots. While there’s still plenty more to come as far as new material goes, I recently caught up with Zuli the week that “ur mistaken” dropped to talk about his current artistic inspiration, the growth in his writing process, and what he hopes to deliver with his live performances.  Tune into our chat with Zuli below!

Photos by Kimberly Young Sun

What was your first musical memory?

There’s a lot! My mom is a singer, and when I was growing up she was always singing and playing gigs. I was always going with my dad. She’s a country singer. So that’s probably my first memory of music, just hearing her sing Dolly Parton and things like that. In terms of me being affected by any kind of music, I guess some of my earlier memories was I was a huge Stray Cats fan when I was a little kid. I really loved like Brian Setzer, I wanted to be Brian Setzer when I was a little kid. I also feel like when I heard “Tommy” by The Who for the first time I wanted to pick up a guitar and just start writing songs and doing my own thing. Those are the memories that come to mind firsthand. I grew up in a musical house though so it’s always been a big part of shaping who I am.

That’s awesome you have that connection with your family going way back! So now you have your new single out, which is your first release since 2017. How does it feel to have “ur mistaken” finally shared with the world?

It feels great, honestly. I was lucky enough...I don’t know if lucky is the right word, but I was testing out the song with some shows to see people’s reactions and people have been really positive about it. After it came out, the love and the output from people has been really inspiring. It’s just great to be back and have it out and I’m excited to keep the ball rolling. I’m glad people are feeling a new direction and this whole new chapter. 

Yeah it seems like a lot of good responses on social media so far! Lots of people were sharing on release day. Then as you mentioned, it definitely pulls in a new soulful sound and new approach compared to some of your older material. What was your process with “ur mistaken” and creating this song versus some of your earlier material?

I think that at its core, it shares some resemblances of the older material and that I still always try to do my best to write a song with the intention of one instrument and a vocal, and making it feel good at its core. Then once you put the production on top of it, you’ll only make the song better. I think that when this song came about, and when I was digging deeper and going in this new direction to express myself and create, it kind of just came from a place of a little bit of melancholy and feeling down about where I was in my relationship with everyone. It just kind of felt like a more longing type of approach. My voice didn’t feel the same. I just wasn’t expressing myself in the same kind of way. With On Human Freakout Mountain, as a record, it was my first experience recording and releasing a full length album. When I was finished with that I learned so much and I had all these new experiences that came along with it but also was tending to all of these experiences that led up to that point, and once I reflected on where I was going and where I’ve been, it just kind of felt like there’s certain aspects that I’m gonna take and I’m gonna expand upon and keep in my toolbox. But there’s this whole other side of me I feel like that hasn’t really seen the light yet. It wasn’t even an intentional thing but this new idea and new direction felt so right and like the best method for me to continue expressing myself.

Nice, it sounds like it’s an accumulation of everything you learned when approaching the new music. So between the time of your debut album coming out and now releasing this new single, what would you say is one of the biggest lessons you’ve learned about yourself, either personally or as a musician? Anything you tried to apply from those experiences you had?

I think as a musician and as an artist, my main focus and a big part of what I do is going with your intuition and feeling. I think feeling goes a lot deeper than thought. However, I do feel that was such a big crux for me in a lot of ways, just the music feeling right to me and how it kind of came out. I think when I was approaching this stuff, I was coming from more of an introspective space where I was really reflecting on everything, and I feel like right now with my creating, I’m trying to find a balance of keeping my heart and my brain in the song. And letting the thought process behind the song help shape not only the narrative, but the direction and some aspects of the aesthetic, but then also not forgetting that at the end of the day, my intuition of how the song feels and how I feel about the structure...Say I want to write a song about this, but then I’m working on a melody, a string of words comes out that not only resonates with me but feels good, I shouldn't deny that because my intention was different. I feel like that was my biggest difference or growing moment between the two, was just learning ok like, I can take this part of me but I also want to be more concise with what I’m saying.

Yeah that’s a great way to look at it and approach it. Like making sure you still have the heart and soul behind the song and not losing that, but still focusing on your intention. I’d say that’s a good way to work.

I think so! I mean I tried to do that.

I think it came across with this song. So kind of along those lines, what were some albums or maybe other art forms that you consumed during that past couple of years that may have influenced you with the new material?

I kind of narrowed it down in my head because I thought about this a little bit. There’s been a multitude, there wasn’t just one thing that I was like oh man, this is what I have to do now…But I have to say, On Human Freakout Mountain came out, and it was maybe a week to a month after and I had heard Control by SZA for the first time. And yes it has the R&B and the soul, and that kind of flavor to it, but I feel like the thing that resinated with me so much was how deep and personal and unapologetically herself [it was]. It felt so refreshing. And plenty of different singers talk about sex and love and all of these things that are so relevant and relatable to everyone, but something about her take on it and just the way her music made me feel, it was like wow, this is special. This is something that really really made me feel so good. I’m so grateful for all of my experiences and the opportunities I’ve been given, but it just kind of gave me this feeling like wow there’s so much more I could be doing. Just how much I could improve. So that was huge, if I had to give it to one [influence], I’d say that. Then that kind of started the whole train of all this other stuff I started listening to and pulling from when I was creating.

As far as when you play live, I saw you at Schubas in 2017, and even two years later I still remember how intense your energy and stage presence was. Are there any performers that you look to for inspiration and influence in that sense?

Yeah definitely. There’s the classic ones, like you can throw in the David Bowies and Freddie Mercurys. I think at an early age I caught the music bug and saw a lot of performances that just really moved me. I feel like that’s another aspect to this whole artistic side of making music. There’s a lot of current musicians...it’s hard to think on the spot, but I really love the new Tyler, the Creator album, and I feel like the whole performance element that he’s added to it is really clever and engaging. Fun to watch. I’ll go with one more...Even like BrockHampton. I don’t think that’s a perfect example in terms of who I am, but it’s being able to perform in a high energy type of way that can really grab people but also using elements of the stage space more than just room for a band. Like being able to explore it as a set. Something that really resinates with me and my background, but also being able to shape the world and make it more engaging for the audience.

I see the next show you have announced is at Elsewhere in September. Do you have any plans for a tour later this year, or anything else you can kind of tease?

Nothing definite to tease right away, but the agents are always looking out for me and letting me know some opportunities. For me, right now I’ve been super lucky that people respond to the music so well and love coming to the shows and get really into it, but I’m also still at the moment tweaking some of the songs for the record and getting that all ready. I’m hoping to be on the road as soon as possible, but for now I want to focus on the record. But the summer is still going, there’s still some time before the Elsewhere show. There’s a chance something might come in the fall, but the record is the priority. Once the live shows and tour start happening, it will be well worth the wait though.

Can fans expect some new material at the September show or any other potential upcoming gigs?

Yeah, I think the new show will be debuting a lot of new songs and a whole new structure. As well as some of the classics but with a little bit of a twist to keep everything in the same world. It will be a nice mix of a lot of new stuff as well as some of the songs that helped get me where I am today.

Nice! Then how would you sum up the newer material that we haven’t heard yet in three words, just to keep it vague and not give too much away? You can say more about it if you want, or keep it at three words. 

I guess if I had to say three words to explain the music...introspective, abrasive soul. That’s so like music-based.  I think that another direction is playing with the themes in terms of the songwriting. I think that’s the best because I want the record to speak for itself, and I want to have the whole body fully-formed and realized before I give anything else, but sonically, it will be some sort of avant soul that has a little aggression, but ultimately lies in this smooth world too. 

That’s a great one-sentence tease and should get people intrigued! Anything else you want to share that’s in the works?

Working on the record….there’s gonna be some more music coming out this summer. We’re getting some more visuals ready too. In the meantime, my whole creative collective that I associate with is also releasing new music, so just supporting them and ready to take over in 2020 I guess. To the best of my ability.

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Keep up with all the Zuli news on Facebook // Twitter // Instagram

A Chat With: Black Belt Eagle Scout

Black Belt Eagle Scout is the creation of singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Katherine Paul. Paul first got into playing music at a young age as she grew up in the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community and experienced native drumming, singing, and arts. Now based in Portland, where she moved in 2007, Paul started writing music for her own project after becoming immersed in the city’s music scene by playing drums and guitar for numerous other bands.

As an indigenous, queer woman and self-proclaimed radical feminist, Katherine Paul has worked hard and paved her own path to share her voice and her journey with the world. Paul’s debut album Mother of My Children clearly paints a picture of her stories, remaining transparent and honest from start to finish, and her stage presence possesses the same authenticity and composed intensity as her songwriting. Paul’s genuine nature and boundless talent as a creator continues to connect with listeners from different corners of the world, and this month, she will be joining Julia Jacklin on a tour across the country.

A couple of weeks ago when the tour was just beginning, Paul took some time to chat with me over the phone during a drive through the east coast. We talked about her current sources of inspiration, her new single “Loss & Relax,” elevating the underdogs, and what we can expect from her show at Schubas this Wednesday, May 8th. Tune in below to my chat with Black Belt Eagle Scout.

Black Belt Eagle Scout is Katherine Paul // Photo by Jason Quigley

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I wanted to start off talking about your early days. I know that you grew up in a small Indian reservation and you’ve said “Indigenous music is the foundation for all of my music.” In addition to your background and the music you learned with your family, what are some other sources of inspiration that you look to when writing now?

I’m currently in a van and we’re driving to New York City, and we’re playing shows. So I feel like at the moment, I’m inspired by the people that I meet and I’m inspired by this life that I have, where I get to drive all over this beautiful country. Right now we’re in Maryland I think. It’s so green and there are these really beautiful purple flowers that kind of look like cherry blossoms, but they’re purple. It’s just so beautiful here and I think that having this life is an inspiring thing for me right now. I feel really happy on tour and sometimes that doesn’t always happen to people. I don’t always feel happy on tour, but right now I’m having a really great time being on the road. And I think that having a healthy and happy tour life is really important for your mental health, and being able to keep your creativity flowing.

Yeah totally. Then in April you just shared “Loss & Relax” from the forthcoming 7” [out April 26th]. What was that creative process and your frame of mind like for this single, and how does it compare to the songs your wrote on your debut album?

Well “Loss & Relax” was written during the time I was recording Mother of My Children. I started writing the first guitar riff, and I wanted to put it on the album, but I just felt like it wasn’t finished and it wasn’t to a point where I wanted to share it. So I kept it in my back pocket and throughout the next year after recording Mother of My Children, I started playing with people and having a live band. I played with a bunch of friends and they helped me realize what that song could be and its potential. It was really interesting being able to play and flesh out a song in a live capacity. In terms of the intensity— I feel like that’s why the song is so intense is because I was able to have that experience of playing it with people. The song also was about the journey home to record Mother of My Children. It’s kind of a perspective song about what that was like and why I needed to go record that album. I think that the way the song is now in its recorded version, I’m very proud of it. I put a lot of effort into figuring out what parts go where and what additions need to be. Basically producing the song.

Yeah, it sounds great now. I’m glad it’s getting a proper release in its own time.

Yeah and that’s kind of why it’s on the 7” It was a lingering element that I don’t know if it would fit on an album in itself.

The music video [for “Loss & Relax”] is a perfect visualization of returning home, and what you’re describing in the song. It’s very cool to see you return to Swinomish Indian Tribal Community and to see you in your element.

I talk about my home a lot and I talk about where I’m from. I feel like besides people who I grew up with there and maybe my close friends who have gone back to visit with me, you don’t really know what that looks like. I wanted to be able to share that and to give a face to the name.

Yeah I think it definitely does that! I also wanted to mention while we’re on the subject of recording Mother of My Children, you played every instrument on the record. What were some of those challenges that you felt while recording and wearing so many different hats during the process, and what motivated you to continue down that path of being a multi-instrumentalist?

Before Mother of My Children, I had done this little demo where I also played all of the instruments, but it was done pretty much in a couple of takes per instrument, and it was very demo-ish sounding. So I already had this idea of “If I can do this myself, I can create an album myself.” I had that mentality going into Mother of My Children that I want to be able to do this myself… I know how to play all these instruments. I know how to put together songs. It’s something that I have knowledge about. So I was like why not just do it? I’m gonna do it!

Yeah I’m sure it gave you complete creative control then, which is important with a first release. And each instrument will come across on the record how you wanted it to.

It definitely is, but it’s also hard because you don’t have someone who you can bounce ideas off. Sometimes you just have to go with your gut and rather than feeling validated about an idea, which that sort of thing can be hard for me— Just being able to be like oh, I’m not sure about this part, and then not having anyone to have that conversation with. I don’t work with any producers, so it’s basically just me and a recording engineer. I would do it all myself if I knew how to record, mix and master, and have it sound nice. That’s definitely a goal of mine down the road. The way that I work is I like to record into the night and I like to take breaks, and that doesn’t always work when you’re paying for studio time and you have a time limit. That was one thing that was difficult— being on a budget and trying to record the instruments by yourself. I paid for the whole thing all by myself and went in every day and played every instrument all by myself. At the end of every day, I was exhausted. I was trying to get as much done as I could. It’s not cheap to record in the studio, so I had my little savings and was like this is as much as I can spend, so let’s try to get this done in this amount of time.  I was fortunate enough to stay with my parents because I recorded in Anacortes, WA, which is where I was born and then I grew up 15 minutes outside of there at Swinomish Indian Tribal Community. So my mom was really helpful and she fed me and gave me food to take to the studio, and then I came home and could relax. If I didn’t have that, it would have been a lot more difficult having to create that album from scratch.

So speaking of your hard earned savings, I saw that article in Vulture where artists talked about their side hustles. You’ve worked in Portland in music venues as a talent buyer and in production. What’s something you’ve learned from being on both ends of the business as a performer and someone who books talent, or advice you’d give to other musicians who maybe haven’t been on the other side of it?

I’ve been working there for a long time. I still work there but not in the same capacity that I did before I decided to embark on a really long tour. I started working at Mississippi Studios after I graduated college. It was my first job out of college and they liked me enough that I’ve worked there for seven and a half years. I’ve done so many jobs there...I was production manager, then I was box office, then I’ve done ticket managing. I was the talent buyer, and then I was just like an office manager. So I feel like I’ve sort of lived the life of being in music venue production, and having that experience and while also being a musician….One of the things with Mississippi Studios is that it was established by a musician, so I was able to go on tour in other bands that I was in, and they let people take time off of work to go on tour, and then come back and work. They’re very understanding of that. Being a musician and also working at a venue, it feels like you get to be some sort of superhuman musician at times. Like you know what’s going on for your job side, and also you know what to do for being in a band. Being on the road, I’ve been advancing all of my shows. I’m essentially like my own tour manager— I have been putting in a lot of work to make sure the whole project is going along the schedule. So it’s an interesting thing to have this knowledge. I think that some people when they get to a certain point in their music career, they go on to tour and they go on album cycles, so they understand what it’s like. But as a musician that’s first starting out, you might not always have that knowledge. I don’t know what sort of advice I’d give in terms of your question.

It’s interesting still to hear your take on the benefits of knowing what’s going on from both sides. It’s good to be knowledgeable.

Yeah it just takes a huge amount of work to be a musician. It’s also interesting going around to different music venues. Sometimes I realize that not every music venue is the best venue to work with. Some sound engineers suck to work with. Some promoters...it isn’t always perfect. So it’s always an interesting thing to realize.

Totally, then talking about your stage presence, I actually got to see you at SXSW this year for the first time. I loved your set and how there would be more mellow moments followed by you just shredding on the guitar. Who are some performers that you admire their stage presence or maybe look to for inspiration?

That’s a hard question! These questions I always have to think about them for a while, and I feel like I’m gonna have a good answer in like an hour. But I will say this— I love energy. And if there’s something that has energy, no matter what it is…it’s a certain kind of energy though. It’s this intensity. It’s like this love and this passion. I’m so drawn to seeing somebody who’s performing and they’re just getting so immersed into their performance because they’re feeling what they’re putting  out there.

Yeah like a genuine energy, and you can really tell when someone has that genuine energy, versus them just trying to put on a show.

For sure, and that’s my most favorite kind of performer. Exactly that. Someone who’s genuine, who’s putting out passion and energy. I love intensity, especially I love intense drummers who just get into it. One person that pops into my head, when I brought up drumming, is Janet Weiss. Her drumming intensity is what I’m totally into… that sort of element. Sleater-Kinney was one of my favorite bands growing up, and they definitely had a very intense stage presence and performance. So bands like that, I’m super into. I get bored when I see bands that are just kind of standing there not really feeling it. Coming from my music venue side, I’ve seen a ton of shows, I’ve worked a ton of shows, so I feel like there are certain shows where I’m like eh, not really into it. But then some of them, I’m like this is really amazing.

So this might be kind of another question that’s difficult to answer on the fly, but I’ve seen you’ve been asked a lot in other interviews about your identity as a queer, indigenous woman, and you’ve said “Having this identity—radical indigenous queer feminist—keeps me going.” You’ve also said how important it is for you to use your platform to elevate other voices in a music space that still is predominately male and predominately white, which I think is great and very much needed. What are some actions that you would you like to see from maybe venues or other artists moving forward to also help elevate these voices that are still seen as the “minority?”

One thing that really annoys me is when white indie rock musicians just don’t realize the importance of people of color. I think that more people need to be lifting up indigenous voices and queer voices if they don’t identify that way-- if they’re like cis, white, heteronormative people, I think that’s really important. It’s something that should be done a lot more. However you can… in the most respectful way of course. One person who is actually on my label, who I really respect and who I consider an awesome ally and accomplice is Elizabeth from Land of Talk. She is constantly in support of indigenous people and is showing that on social media and at her shows. She’s the kind of person where I feel like white people can learn by example. They can see her and see what sort of things they need to do. I don’t know…pay us more money too I guess!

Totally, just being more aware. I think that there are definitely some people that would want to help and be an ally, but they might not be sure how to take the first step, so giving that example of Elizabeth is a great start.

I mean also, first and foremost, just educate yourself. Like if you don’t know any people of color musicians or queer musicians, get on that and support that. And help uplift those voices if you have a certain platform, and if you see somebody that is doing an amazing job at whatever, just help raise that up.

Yeah keep sharing and supporting. Wrapping up then, you’re currently on tour with Julia Jacklin, who is also great! There’s a lot of sold out shows on this run and I’m excited for the Chicago show. What can we expect as far as your live set up? Will there be any new songs?

Yeah so tonight is our first show with Julia Jacklin, and I am so excited! I’m very excited to meet her and her band and to embark on this really long tour together. We are gonna be playing a couple new songs. “Loss & Relax” will be on the setlist, then we have another song called “Half Colored Hair” that’s the b-side of the 7-inch. We’re incorporating that into the set as well. Then for this tour, I have a 4-piece band, we have two guitarists and a bass and drums, so it will sound a lot more full. I’m really excited about that.

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Black Belt Eagle Scout’s show with Julia Jacklin at Schubas on May 8th is sold out— but check out the rest of the tour dates here.

Keep up with Black Belt Eagle Scout on Facebook // Twitter // Instagram and tune into Mother of My Children below!

A Chat With: Jungle Green

Originally the moniker for solo songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Andrew Smith, Jungle Green is now a six-piece collective that creates timeless and genre-fluid music. Listening through the more than twenty releases on Jungle Green’s Bandcamp page, it’s impossible to pinpoint a specific style for Smith and his bandmates’ sound. There are some songs that sound like they were plucked right off a 1960’s hits compilation, while others play upon more modern elements; Some songs have a hint of twang, while others have a trace of jazz. Some of the recordings are more layered with a full band sound, and some are lo-fi recordings of Smith and his piano. The members of Jungle Green are jacks-of-all-trades, and their discography definitely reflects that. The extensive catalog also gives an insight to Smith’s boundless creative energy as a songwriter.

While I’ve been seeing Jungle Green’s name on bills around town for months now, I finally got my first chance to see them live earlier this month, when they opened up for Shy Boys at the Beat Kitchen. After their set, they took some time to chat with me about their evolution as a full band, touring with The Lemon Twigs, recording with Jonathan Rado and what’s next for them. Tune into Jungle Green and check out our conversation below!

Jungle Green is Adam Miller, Adam Obermeier, Alex Heaney, Andrew Smith, Emma Collins and Vivian McCall // Photo by Mitch Mitchell

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So I know Jungle Green originally started as a solo project of Andrew’s, and now it’s evolved into a big old collective of six people. Can you talk a little bit about how that evolved and how you all met?

Andrew: Yeah totally! I first met Alex in an acting class. We became great friends and started kind of picking up shows every now and then. He would play guitar and we would do comedy bits. It was really not very good, but it was fun. And that’s what it’s all about, having fun! Then I just gradually met everyone else through school and you know, in 2015 and 2016. I just wanted to get shows and have a fuller sound, so I recruited people who were cool and I thought were talented and fun to be around.

Adam O: I met Andrew at a party, the same night I met Adam M. We hit it off and I got his number, and we had plans to see Angry Birds the movie— the Summer 2016 blockbuster. Shout out Angry Birds. And yeah he blew me off, and then I didn’t see him again until September and we got tacos together. I had the large popcorn cause I thought we could share…

Andrew: That’s true, but now we’re friends. Now we live together. It’s funny how things can start one way and fate will turn it another way.

Then Andrew, I know you’re not from Chicago. Is anyone originally from here?

Andrew: Yeah, I’m from Massachusetts.

Vivian: I’m from Texas. Everyone’s from all around. Texas, St. Louis, Kentucky….

What would you say is your favorite part of creating music in Chicago, versus your hometowns?

Andrew: These guys right here!

Adam M: It’s nice to be in a city where there’s just lots of people who are into music and lots of venues.

Andrew: I like the amount of venues. It’s nice! I like that I’ve met these guys.

Definitely! Then in the Fall you toured with the Lemon Twigs. How was that experience?

Andrew: That was really fun! That was in October.

Adam M: It was just really amazing that they asked us to play. We have mutual friends, but we didn’t know them super well. And they kind of just took a risk.

Andrew: You’re taking a big risk asking a band you’ve never met to tour cause it’s like you’re stuck with them for a month, they could be assholes.

Adam M: But it ended up going really well, and they’re great people. It was just a good time.

Andrew: It was probably the most fun I’ve ever had in my life.

Adam O: It just kind of came out the blue too.

Andrew: Yeah and we got really tight too, on the tour. We got our stride.

Yeah, I wanted to ask about your live show, and how you all switch instruments at different points and mix it up. When you were putting together the live show, is that something you decided to do from the start or is that more recent?

Andrew: That kind of came about because--We switch instruments, and we do it a lot cause we kind of play multiple things and people want to have a take on an instrument. It spices things up and also makes everyone happy.

Alex: It started more almost because we were forced to. It started with us recording different things cause we just did different stuff. Then when we went to make it a live show, we were like how are we gonna do this? So we just had to switch every song. It was kind of fun to do.

Andrew: I really like it! It’s really fun, and it keeps every song really unique.

Adam O: When we arrange, it’s kind of just like Oh, I sat down at this instrument when we were arranging this, so I guess I’m just gonna play that. It’s a fun, organic way to arrange.

Vivian: Yeah, everybody has a really different take from everyone else on each instrument. If you just mess with those combinations, you don’t really have to try that hard to get something that doesn’t sound like what you’ve done before.

Will you ever mix it up from show to show, or is it pretty much set at the current rotation in your live show?

Andrew: It’s set every show.

Yeah I saw you play a solo set last week, but I haven’t seen the full band until today.

Andrew: This didn’t really directly influence it, but there’s a band I like called Palberta. They switch every song--granted there’s only three [of them] playing guitar, bass, and drums, but they’re switching every song. I saw them and I was like oh, this is really cool. That maybe had some play in it.

Adam M: It helps when everyone is a Jack of All Trades.

Adam O: We all put a lot of effort into the instruments we’re not as good at.

Yeah it’s kind of like a band buffet.

Andrew: Yeah, a continental breakfast.

Emma: I think it also helps Andrew’s persona as the frontman. It makes what he does more exciting. He’s able to nail the drums and be the lead singer kind of hanging back, and then he comes forward.

Yeah, it’s very dynamic and interactive! And it’s not like you’re just going through the motions.

Vivian: It used to be, in comparison to what we do now. We all used to stick to one instrument and never ever switch, and Andrew was always behind the drums.

Andrew: It’s kind of boring [to stick to the same instrument]. It’s boring the way we did it. It’s not boring for every band.

Vivian: It was just missing out on how Andrew is a really good frontman and brings a really cool energy up there. It was like a waste when he was just at the drums.

Andrew: I’m trying to get to the point eventually where I’m just not really playing drums.

Yeah your stage presence is great! When you came off the stage and you were wandering around, it’s very much in your face and breaks the fourth wall. It felt very present. Is there anyone else besides Palberta that influences your stage presence or that you admire?

Andrew: Sure, yeah! There’s a lot. I really like people like Sam France of Foxygen. My favorite guys are like Sam, and David Yow of Jesus Lizard, who’s like the best. I like a lot of punk frontmen, I feel bad I don’t know his name, but the guy from Bad Brains who does back flips. I don’t know the band too well but I love that. I think a lot of punk frontmen, which I guess makes it kind of interesting cause we’re not really punk music.

Adam M: We’re not very tough at all.

Andrew: I have straight up run away from someone who looked remotely scary.

Switching gears to your recorded music, you’ve recently worked with Jonathan Rado as a producer. How did that experience go?

Andrew: Yeah that was a year ago, that was great! It was really fun.

Adam M: It was amazing. This probably goes for everyone, but I feel like my life is sort of pre-recording with Rado and post-recording with Rado. Just the way he approaches recording and he just keeps a really good attitude the whole time. He’s very encouraging but also it was just really inspiring to see how he works a song up from the beginning.

Vivian: He did really keep a lot of positivity— cause it’s hard when you have six people and everybody has their own opinions. You have firm opinions when you’re making final decisions about the arrangements and how these songs are supposed to sound [on the record]. Then you’re doing it for 12 hours for a week and a half.

Andrew: It’s hard to do but I think it was as smooth as it could have been.

Cool, then the last thing I wanted to talk about was the music video that Vivian mentioned you were recording over the weekend. Can you talk about it a bit?

Andrew: It was really fun, Alex directed it and he did a great job.

Alex: I went to film school, and I did really lame projects, but everyone was nice enough to let me take some creative liberties with it.

Andrew: He did a great job and he’s available for hire!

Alex: We’re editing it now and it’s gonna come out pretty soon.

Vivian: We just had a lot of fun with it.  I think we kind of tried to do a little bit of what we do onstage and keep it fun.

Andrew: It’s for a song called “Cryin’”

Photos of Jungle Green at Beat Kitchen, April 2019

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Catch Jungle Green at our first showcase of the Summer with Jude Shuma and Fran at Sleeping Village on 6/25— tickets are only $5 and the beer is just $1.

Keep up with Jungle Green on Facebook + Instagram

Catching Up With: Ten Fé

Way back in 2017, shortly after ANCHR was just starting, I talked to the duo Ben Moorhouse and Leo Duncan of Ten Fé over a spotty FaceTime audio connection in honor of their first full length album, Hit The Light. During our first conversation, I learned about their early days of busking in the London Underground, who some of their favorite bands were at the moment, and how they collaborate together.

Recently, Moorehouse and Duncan, along with their bandmates Johnny Drain, Greg Katsantonis, and Rob Shipley, made their first stop ever in Chicago to perform to a sold out Schubas Tavern. I sat down with the full band this time to catch up face-to-face and chat everything from their newest album Future Perfect, Present Tense to performing on JBTV and what they do to stay entertained on the road. For all that and more, catch up with Ten Fé below!

Ten Fé is Ben Moorhouse, Johnny Drain, Leo Duncan, Greg Katsantonis, and Rob Shipley (Left to Right, from standing to sitting)

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You just put your second album, Future Perfect, Present Tense out at the beginning of March, so first of all, congrats on that! What would you say are some of the biggest differences stylistically or as far as the process goes between this one and your first record?

Leo: The biggest difference is we did the first record completely just me and Ben. Rob played on a bit of it [the first one]. It was mostly me and Ben and then when we came to do this one, it was the five of us, although we had a different drummer. Greg’s just joined us. The process was different because it became more about capturing five people’s energy you know? Sometimes that works and sometimes we had to work in a way that we’d done on the first record. I think stylistically we wanted to make it a lot more rootsy and honest and less electronic, and break down any distance between the listener and us. I don’t know, can you tell that?

Yeah, I think so! This past week I was listening to Hit The Light and the new record, and I can definitely see that. Anyone else have anything to add about their mindset or stylistic goals going into this second album?

Ben: Yeah, I think we had just come back from tour, sort of what Leo was saying. We were back from tour and thinking of that in the time we had as a band and playing on the stages and the sound we were making. I think we were sort of excited by that and the prospect of then doing it again and making it grow and getting bigger. I think that was quite a driving force behind this album. We wanted it to sound more live and more kind of visceral I think. It’s like, it feels like it’s an ongoing thing is we want it to get more live and rootsy. We’re still sort of developing that now.

Yeah, there’s definitely that energy of being together and playing live that comes across. What would you say was your favorite moment or memory during the process of recording or writing this new record? Anything you look back on with a fond heart?

Leo: There’s been plenty of highs and lows during the making of it. We ran out of money. I lost my voice totally. So it hasn’t been the easiest to make, but the highs definitely outweigh the lows. My favorite memory probably is during the summer when we were coming to the end of it in London. We finished it in London and we collected everybody in our studio in Tottenham and we recorded a choir of about twenty of our friends. The football was on, it was the World Cup, and we had the BBQ on the roof the studio. Then we all went downstairs to record the vocals of the song “Superrich.” There’s loads of people singing on that song in the chorus, sort of a hard knock life style singalong. That just felt really good. It was a very hot day.

Nice! Then this is actually your first time in Chicago right? How has Chicago been treating you so far?

Rob: Well we haven’t had much time to explore. We sort of skimmed Chicago on the way up to Milwaukee. We went to Illinois state beach is it? It was coming down from Milwaukee about half way to Chicago, there’s like a strip of green and you get right up to the shore on Lake Michigan. Which was pretty wicked, we don’t really get horizons like that-- well you’ve got to go to the sea. That was pretty special. Last night we didn’t really have that much time to explore. We just sort of had to grab moments when we can.

Leo: We went to Greek Town. We went to a really nice restaurant. Greg is Greek.

Greg: Yeah we had really nice Greek food. I approved.

Then today you played JBTV in the afternoon, which is a staple in the music community here! How’d you like Jerry and the experience?

Leo: So cool man! It just seems like he’s got this thing that he believes in. And he’s just surrounded by all these interns, you know. He was saying he hasn’t been well lately, but he’s got so much energy. It’s just unbelievable so that’s amazing to see.

Yeah, he’s still always there despite having cancer. He’s a fighter!

Rob: Yeah he said he had his operation two weeks ago. He’s bouncing around still.

I know, his energy is great. So the show tonight is also sold out, which is pretty great for a first show here!

Leo: It’s amazing! To come so far away from home and have it sold out is the best feeling.

Do you have anything special planned for this show or this tour that people can look forward to?

Leo: Like Ben was saying, it’s a real process still. You know, it’s hard work but it’s also exciting. We’re really trying to do more with the vocals on this tour. It’s taking a bit of time to get it as right as we want it to be, but hopefully that will come through.

How was the rest of the tour been going so far? Have there been any other stand out shows?

Leo: Montreal was a real favorite of mine. It was like an oasis in a desert of America and Canada. But all the shows have been wicked in their own way.

How have you guys been staying entertained on the road? Any favorite podcasts or albums or shows you’ve been watching or listening to?

Greg: I’ve been watching loads of “Only Fools and Horses.” I don’t know if you know what that is. It’s a British sitcom.

Leo: Yeah, “Only Fools and Horses” has been keeping Greg happy, and the rest of us are just trying to keep--there’s a big bag of prunes in the back of the car. We’re trying to avoid eating too many of them.

So then the last time I interviewed you, which was just over two years ago, you talked about how you’re into Kevin Morby and Twin Peaks and some other Chicago bands. Are there any other new bands that have been on your heavy rotation lately?

Leo: Amen Dunes has released a great album. We listened to Delicate Steve’s new album in the car. The same people really, there’s no one really new that’s come along that I can think of. Kevin Morby, Whitney--

Oh some of the guys from Whitney were here yesterday for Stella Donnelly’s show.

Leo: Stella Donnelly played here last night? No way! Ewan Pearson, the person who mixed our first album mixed her album as well. That’s mad! So she’s touring the states at the moment?

Yeah, just missed her! It was a sold out show last night too, so a good weekend at Schubas.

Leo: Did you see her?

Yeah I was here! It was really good. It was one of the best shows I’ve been, so you have a lot to live up to. You know how you can get jaded, or maybe it’s just me, from going to shows all the time? But her show was so great, I just forgot about being tired and it being long week and the mood of the room was just so positive.

Leo: Oh so we’ll blame Stella if you haven’t got any energy tonight. But how come there seems to be a lot of bands [coming out of Chicago], like Whitney, Twin Peaks…?

Yeah there’s something in the water in Chicago. There’s just so many bands coming out of Chicago that might not be at the level of Whitney or Twin Peaks yet but they’ll sell out shows here and a bunch that went down to South By.

Leo: Oh can you give us a few names so you can check them out?

Well so I actually put on an ANCHR Magazine showcase at SXSW, so a few on that were Blue Dream, The Evening Attraction, Thompson Springs, Uma Bloo….I’ll just send you guys the flyer. There’s a lot of great local bands that play here at Schubas too. So wrapping up, anything else you guys are looking forward to this year or hoping to accomplish on this album cycle?

Leo: Stay in one piece by the end of this tour!

Don’t eat all the prunes in one day?

Leo: Finish all the prunes by the time we reach the west coast!

Rob: Hopefully we’ll be back out here in the autumn. We’re still quite early on with this new album. We’ve got this tour, we’ve got another big tour straight off the back in Europe. Then we’ll hopefully be back here as soon as possible.

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Keep up with Ten Fé on Facebook + Twitter + Instagram

A Chat With: Native Sun

NYC’s Native Sun promises to play every show like it’s their last. A weighted promise, especially for a band who signed on to play more than seven shows over the course of a few days at this year’s SXSW, but one that they not only live up to, but exceed. If you’ve ever seen Danny Gomez, Jake Pflum, Alexis Castro and Mauricio Martinez play a show together, then you’ve undoubtedly felt the surge of energy that they release each and every time they get on a stage, and you’ve walked away knowing that they just poured everything they had into that performance. At least, that was my experience when I saw Native Sun play to a packed house at Cheer Up Charlie’s indoor venue on the final Saturday night of SXSW. It was a performance that inspired a crowd surfer (despite the venue’s low ceilings) and ended with Gomez on the floor of the stage.

Despite the exertion of Saturday night’s show and all those prior, when I met up with Native Sun the following afternoon, the band seemed anything but worn down as they got ready to play their final show of the festival. Perhaps it was the spiritual awakening of Austin, Texas that Pflum experienced that kept their spirits high (more on that later), but when talking to Native Sun, I got an immediate sense of their gratitude and appreciation for being able to create, play, and share their music. If you’re not yet familiar with Native Sun, get to know them more as we discuss their favorite musical discoveries of SXSW, their place in the NYC arts scene, a wild night in Nashville, and more!

Native Sun is Mauricio Martinez, Jake Pflum, Danny Gomez, and Alexis Castro (Left to Right)

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Now that we’re on the final day of SXSW, and it’s been a long week with lots of shows, what has been a personal favorite memory or highlight from one of your shows this week?

Danny: We played Spider House yesterday after this ridiculous band called The Sloths. They had a lot of moves. They covered “Gloria” at the end. But after the show, we stole a Link Wray poster that they had from the venue. We thought that was kind of very part of our DNA to do that. I don’t regret it. We did it for the love of rock’n’roll.

Alexis: Yesterday we played at Cheer Up Charlie’s and there was someone in the crowd that knew lyrics to a song that we haven’t put out yet. We’ve only played it live maybe four times. They were singing along and I was confused.

That’s amazing. They came to all the shows this week so they know it now!

Mauricio: I feel like that’s the same [highlight] for me. I was confused—I don’t even know those lyrics! Someone was singing them. So that was different and cool.

Jake: Hi I’m Jake—

And you’re watching the Disney Channel?

Jake: And you’re watching the Disney Channel! I’m a huge fan of Fugazi and their refusal to use a setlist and how they just kind of call it based on feel every time that they play. That’s something that I had hoped to get to with this band some day, and we had just been playing so much leading up to SXSW and during SXSW, and the last couple shows we didn’t have enough time to write a set list. So finally we were just locked in and sharing the heart beat. Calling songs out during the show. We all look at each other like “what are we doing?” and we just launch into it. That was a personal victory.

Nice! Were there any new bands that you discovered this week?

Danny: Yeah, I liked the Fontaines D.C. guys. We got to hang out with them and play pool and see some of their shows. They were really nice.

Jake: We’re gonna have a shared answer [himself and Mauricio].

Mauricio: We saw Haiku Hands. They were so fire.

Jake: I’ve never seen a band that loud. Ever.

Mauricio: They’re like Beastie Boys meets Missy Elliott.

Jake: It was a really great experience. I loved their performance. Not to mention that every bass hit was like shaking my entire skeleton.

Mauricio: Black Midi was super interesting also.

Alexis: I didn’t even have time to focus on any other sets. We were just running around for our shows.

Danny: Those were the main ones.

Your stage presence was really great at the Cheer Up Charlie’s show I got to see yesterday. People were vibing and crowd surfing—

Danny: People really react at our shows, which is something we’re thankful for. Cause you never know, sometimes where you’re doing something more intense, it doesn’t get the same reaction.

So as far as stage presence, is there anyone you look up to or really admire in that sense? Or anyone that inspires you when you’re performing?

Jake: I love Jimmy Page. I don’t think I’m as sexy, but that’s definitely maybe a starting point. I think for my own personal stage presence, the inspiration comes more from outside of music. Just life in general and what it’s like to live and how it can be frustrating and emotional and there’s a lot of pent up feelings: positive, negative, neutral, that go from when you wake up to before you can play. It’s definitely…I’ve said once before, that when I play, it’s like my body is trying to jump outside of itself.

Danny: That’s the best way to put it. Locking into the ethereal spirit of it all. Those are the entertainers that I like.

Mauricio: We’re lucky because we’re doing what we actually love doing.

Danny: Yeah, we have to fight for it so we’re gonna give it our all.

Mauricio: Exactly! If there’s two people in the show, we play like there’s a thousand.

Jake: We play like it’s not gonna happen again.

Mauricio: It’s my favorite thing to do in the world.

Danny: We’re always gonna give it 200 no matter what show you come to.

Nice! Then as far as your music, you had an EP come out at the end of last year. What can you tell me about the process behind those songs?

Jake: [The EP] was written a while before it was released. We started recording that right after the one before it came out. So our first EP was done, and we were already working the day after on recording. So they had been written a while. We kind of took our time to slowly build it from the ground up from a recording standpoint. And you know, New York City band, it’s like who’s got their basement free for two hours? How much can we get done?

Alexis: We recorded at my house.

Jake: We recorded at his house...we jumped around a bunch of different studios. We recorded saxophone in one studio, keyboards in someone else’s apartment, that sort of thing.

Danny: It was interesting, out of those six songs, four of them we went in dead set, and then “Sweet V” and “Modern Music” we kind of just decided on the spot. We had just written those maybe a couple weeks before that and just decided to go for it. So like those takes you hear of “Sweet V,” that’s the first time we made it through. It’s a very live experience in that sense. You hear him [Alexis] say “Fuck” at the end of it.

Do you guys do your own producing too or do you work with somebody else?

Danny: Not yet, hopefully soon!

Alexis: We’ve been doing demos by ourselves.

Jake: I think from like the technical definition of producing, a lot of it does land on our shoulders. We definitely have people engineering for us, and as far as like the ownership of the equipment. But it’s not like we’ve gone into a studio and we’re like here’s our song and someone’s going “I’m actually thinking we should restructure it.” None of that. We’re definitely owning it.

Danny: We’ve been working with this dude upstate called Kevin McMahon, who’s like a guru. He’s worked on a lot of records we like, like Fat White Family. Swans. He’s a weirdo. We love that.

As far as your collaboration as a band, how do you handle times when you might disagree? Or do you typically just agree to each handle your own parts?

Danny: I think we state our opinion and if it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t.

Alexis: Most things instinctually kinda work out. It just kind of works.

Mauricio: Now after a moment of playing together for a year and a half, we know how we should play for the sound we want to do. So I play the bass and I’m not gonna try to be super technical. I know how the song should sound, and what I should do. We now know our strategy.

Jake: There’s plenty of times where an idea will come into the practice space or the writing room or wherever we’re working on something, and someone will float an idea, and maybe it doesn’t land 100 percent. So yeah there’s disagreement, but just because it doesn’t make sense or it’s not a fully formed idea yet, it’s when we all figure it out together. There’s a song, ”Oedipus”…

Alexis: I used to hate that fucking song. Now it’s my favorite.

Jake: We just put it out on a 7 Inch, which we just put out here [during SXSW]. We just couldn’t figure it out. We couldn’t get on the same page, the tempo didn’t feel right. It’s not that anyone was playing incorrectly, it’s just that we were like out of sync. Then one day--

Danny: Oh, we did this kind of like art experiment, where they had us play for eight hours straight without stopping. And they documented the whole thing. On the breaks, they wanted us to jam. We started jamming on that song, and I remember Jake took a dump and came back and was like I got it! I figured out what was missing. We jumped into it and you see the process of how it all evolves.

Jake: Definitely a come to Jesus moment on the toilet.

As far as more new music, you mentioned there’s a newer unreleased song you’ve been playing here. What else have you guys got cooking for release this year?

Danny: Album!

Mauricio: It feels like its time.

Jake: We’ve got the two song 7”. Those songs will likely be on the final product of a full record. We recorded a bunch of songs with Kevin McMahon a few months ago, which we figured would maybe be like the starting point for that album, and we have a bunch of songs that we’ve been demo-ing ourselves.

Danny: Jake’s computer is the vault.

Jake: Exactly, I’ve got to lock it up. Alexis has the back up. So now we’re demoing the remainder of the songs we have and we’re just trying to fit the pieces together and see what makes the most sense as a complete project

Danny: We want something that’s a cohesive body of songs.

Nice, so you’re definitely more into full albums that sort of have a theme?

Danny: This could go there! It’s not gonna be like a wizard theme or anything like that. But we want it to feel like a body the whole way through. The records that I think we really love, be it from all different genres, are bodies of work that you know in their own respective rights.

Jake: 100 percent an album guy, start to finish, no shuffle. An album that’s ten singles that don’t really fit together has never been my sort of thing. So a cohesive piece-- sequencing is really important to me.

Danny: We want it to sound timeless. Like this record could have been from twenty years ago or that band still could be making this music in twenty years.

Cool, and then as far as the New York music scene, we were chatting a little bit earlier about bands like Gnarrcicists and Stuyedeyed—which they’re actually playing an ANCHR showcase on Friday back in Chicago.

Danny: Where’s that at?

Thalia Hall!

Danny: Nice that’s a big one! Hell yeah. Who else is playing?

Varsity, Rookie and Pool Holograph!

Danny: Oh sick, we love Rookie! We played with them—

Jake: Oh my god! I’m so glad you brought them up! Haiku Hands, I love you! Like next time I’m in Australia, I will find you, but Rookie was the best band that I have seen! God I love them!

Mauricio: Yeah they were fucking sick.

Jake: You know how South By goes, you play at 3PM and maybe that’s just not where everyone’s at right now. They played to like I think me and Rachel, our friend. And they were just SO good. They brought it, just like their energy. They brought it like they were playing to a huge crowd.

Yeah they played the ANCHR showcase here too and people were coming in off the street cause they heard them outside.

Jake: I think that like we’re purists and appreciators of classic rock-- those are classic rock students. Those are dudes that like Rock n’ Roll!

Ok so, we’ll have to do a show with you two in Chicago at some point is what I’m hearing! As far as the New York scene, though, what are some of the best and worst parts of the scene at the moment, in your opinion?

Danny: I think it’s very privilege and image obsessed. You know what I mean, some of these bands put on a front of this griminess, but once you really know them, that’s not really them. So we try to be honest about who we are cause we’ve had to struggle for it. So that’s my biggest thing with people in New York.

Jake: The best part of New York for me is that there’s so many opportunities to play, there’s so many venues to perform at. I’ve lived in a smaller town. I grew up in South Florida where there’s one venue and you can’t play at the one venue with the same three bands every week. It’s just like at some point people aren’t gonna come. So [In New York] you’ve got so many different places you can go. There’s so many different scenes that exist and I’m on a constant personal journey of trying to figure out what’s happening that I don’t know. Cause I know the world I run in, but what’s happening somewhere else, there’s all these other different bands. I see the SXSW list of all the bands coming from New York that I’ve never heard of, and it’s like who are they? What are they doing?

Danny: Actually a great band that we really like from New York is called Yaasss.

Jake: I really like Miranda and The Beat. There’s a lot of soul in those songs.

Danny: We played with them when they did a full Shangri-Las set at this fake prom show we did at Baby’s All Right.

Jake: There’s a lot of non-musical things that sort of revolve in our world that are really cool and make it a really fulfilling place to be and to be working on music and art. We’ve got friends who are unbelievable film makers and unbelievable photographers and poets. Our friends Rachel and Natalie run POND Magazine, which is an institution. There’s so many different things that are multimedia happening that it’s really inspiring to be around.

Danny: I’d get bored if I was hanging out with musicians all day, I like stimulation from other art.

Jake: From people making zines...there’s just stuff happening all the time!

Danny: That’s why we love Chicago!

Yeah that’s very similar in that sense. Then last thing I wanted to mention, Danny you said earlier that the ride down from NYC to Austin was interesting. What were some top moments from the road trip?

Mauricio: Yeah yeah, it was fun! We stopped in Nashville to sleep there. So we went out just because we’re in Nashville, so we’re like let’s have a beer at least. We go to this dive bar/trucker bar. We played some pool, had some disgusting tequila shots.

Jake: Grossest tequila I’ve had in my life. Why does Nashville have sweet tequila?

Mauricio: It was intense. So we went back to our hotel and wanted a little more. So we got to the hotel bar and they were closed, but the lady was like I’ll open the bar for you if you play a few songs.

Danny: So we got up there and did a few songs acoustic, but then she opened up the bar. Then she liked it so she invited us on this country tour bus, and we chilled with a bunch of different people that we don’t usually get to. It was great! You get to see all different paths of life when you’re sitting there with a kid with no teeth.

Mauricio: I held a knife.

Danny: He held a knife! This woman wanted him to hold her knife. I think that’s a sign of affection.

Jake: That’s really just how you say hello in Nashville I think!

D: Me and [Mauricio] did another song and that kid was like “Is that The Stooges?” And he smiles and you just see no teeth.

Mauricio: We didn’t think they were into that shit.

Danny: Yeah he was playing like “Wagon Wheel” and then he’s like I love The Stooges! Us too, dude.

Anything else you want to shout out, or let the world know as we wrap up?

Jake: I’d like to shout out the city of Austin, TX. I’d never been here before. This is both my first time at SXSW and in the state of Texas and the city of Austin. That being said I feel like I’ve had a personal spiritual awakening while being here. There’s been a door of a room shut inside my soul and the door has been kicked open and the lights been flicked on. And I feel like I am now me again. A me that I forgot that I was. I’m not being tongue and cheek. I feel like the keys are back in the ignition and I am revved. I’m ready.

Danny: He got that oil change.

Jake: My oil has been changed.

Alexis: The van’s oil has not been changed.

Jake: I got new windshield wipers. I got new headlights, I can see!

Danny: I just want everyone to pay attention to this year. It’s a crucial time, there’s a lot of people in this country that are being disserviced right now. I just want everyone to keep their eyes open and not shut off the doors. Right now is the time to do something.

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Keep up with Native Sun on Instagram and Facebook, and listen to their latest EP below!

A Chat With: Roman Lewis

Photo Credit: Hollie Fernando// Courtesy of Fancy PR

London based singer-songwriter Roman Lewis just released his debut EP on January 25th, via Bright Antenna Records. In honor of the release, we chatted with Lewis about his favorite moment recording the seven tracks, selfies with celebrities, the London music scene and more! Tune in below.

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Congrats on releasing your debut EP Heartbreak (for now)! What’s your favorite memory or moment from the writing and recording process of these songs?

Thank you! Yeah I’m just happy it’s finally out. My favorite memory from the recording process was definitely playing the tambourine on "Heartbreak.“ I had the best time playing that goddamn tambourine… you have no idea. Catherine Marks produced the EP and she’s a genius and just the biggest joy to record with, so we had a lot a fun with this. From the writing process it was probably writing "Midnight in Paris.” It was one of those songs I was just really really really proud of, and I still am. Any time someone asked me to play a song, I would play that one, which rarely happens with me for a new song. It was just one of those things I wanted to say and that song did it just right. 

You’ve said that your song “Rose” from this EP was inspired by William Blake's 1794 poem "A Poison Tree.” What was it about this particular poem that inspired you, and what are some of your other favorite poems or poets?

I just really liked how Blake used a tree to symbolize his hatred and wanted to do the same with a rose and a girl. I would love to say I know a lot about poetry but I really don’t. We studied that poem in English class, that’s the only reason I know it. 

Besides writing a song about it, what’s your go-to activity for getting over heartbreak?

[Laughs] Writing a song about it. Not the biggest fan of wallowing in my own sadness, so writing a song gets it out and creates something beautiful with it. Thankfully it doesn’t happen on a daily basis so I don’t really have a ritual or anything else I do. 

Who are some of your biggest influences when it comes to your stage presence?

 Damien Rice was one of the first singer-songwriters I really got into and he plays acoustically so I when I first started performing I took some inspiration from him I guess. The energy of Jack White when The White Stripes would play live would always amaze me, so him too I reckon. 

You’re based in London and there’s always so much great talent coming out of London. Who are some of your favorite fellow London musicians and favorite places to see live music in the city?

King Krule, Wolf Alice, Blaenavon, Marika Hackman, Matt Maltese, Shame and Idles are some of my current faves from the UK, but I couldn’t tell you whether they’re from London or not if I’m honest. Omeara and Koko are probably my two favorite venues in London. I was lucky enough to support Blaenavon at Omeara recently which was great fun!

I love your music video for “Ways,” and you’ve mentioned it was inspired by the video for "Once In A Lifetime" by the Talking Heads. What was the experience like filming in front of a green screen for it and working with director Matt Robertson?

 I just saw David Byrne dancing and I thought to myself I just wanna do that. The song’s about the aftermath of a good time so I just wanted to dance and have a good time. Filming it was great fun! None of the dancing was choreographed obviously so I had no idea what was coming out but enjoyed witnessing the madness of it all, and dragging my brother into it was fun too. Post-production on the other hand made me want quit music altogether. Matt is a talented guy, but we were on very different pages with the green screen so I ended up just taking the footage off this stock video website I found. It ended up looking great though so I can put the trauma behind me. 

If you could collaborate with anyone, who would you want to work with?

 Doing something with Snail Mail would be cool. Her music is great!

What are three songs that you can’t stop listening to lately?

 Going through a big Elliot Smith phase right now and can’t get enough of “Say Yes.” Also loving Fleet Foxes, especially “Helplessness Blues,” and Pavement “Gold Soundz” and “The Spark That Bled” The Flaming Lips. Loving all four albums those songs come from.  

 Besides your EP, what else can fans expect this year, whether it be touring or more new music?

Another EP! Going into the studio to record the next one and it’s very much a continuation of "Heartbreak (for now).”

Your Instagram bio mentions that your mum got 11,000 likes on a photo of your sister with Selena Gomez. If you could take a selfie with any celebrity, who would you want it to be and why?

Great question! I would also get one with Selena Gomez and I would get 12,000 likes and rub it right in her face.

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Keep up with Roman Lewis on Twitter + Facebook + Instagram

A Chat With: Gully Boys

Based out of Minneapolis, Gully Boys are a neo-emo band blazing the way for non-male bands in the DIY scene. I sat down with drummer, Nadirah McGill to discuss boy bands, “diversity,” and shifting the dialogue on local music.

Photo courtesy of Gully Boys

Tell me a little about how you got started.

I started playing the drums about two and a half years ago. My ex-boyfriend had a drumkit and I would just fuck around on it. I finally saw these two drummers, Ben and Drew from POLICA. I saw them live and I was just like.. deceased. And it inspired me to start drumming. I always wanted to drum but my mom wouldn’t let me, she said it was too loud. So as soon as I was old enough, I got one, and it kind of happened like fate. My ex-boyfriend broke my TV and so he gifted me the drumset as payment.

Wait. Your ex broke your TV?

He was like “you can have this drum set, I was gonna sell it but I broke your TV. So.” And I was like “that’s fine”.”

Ok, Continue.

And so that’s kind of how Gully Boys started. Kathy came over and we covered “Boyfriend” by Best Coast. And then she showed me one of the songs she had and it was called “Hymen Honey.” She invited her best friend Natalie, and we jammed together one time and we became a band. It was nice because none of us had really played our instruments before so there wasn’t a level of power difference or hierarchy. We all learned our instruments and grew together. We all have a musical background in different things, so it’s really fun to kind of take that and smash it into a different instrument. Our first gig was in 2016, and we had started playing like maybe a month before that. We said we wanted to be a band, and came up with a name, and then just never practiced because we were like “we know how to do this.” And then we booked our first gig and we were like “oh shit we need to figure this out.” We pulled it together. And it’s really funny because my friend brought my mom, and I didn’t know but she recorded our first gig. My drumset was next to the stage, it was so awkward. We were so nervous and were just shaky little babies in the video. It’s kind of embarrassing that it’s on the web. My sister was actually at our second gig where we covered ‘Burning Up’ by the Jonas Brothers and she posted it on Facebook. Now it’s always there.

Music is undoubtedly dominated by men. The drums are especially an instrument we don’t often see non-men play. What’s that like for you?

So when I was on tour in Chicago this last New Years Eve, this guy walked up to me and he was like “you’re actually a good girl drummer! I see all these good girl drummers online, but when I see women drum in person they’re never that good. You’re actually amazing!” And I know he meant that as a compliment but it was so fucking rude because I know that people don’t say that to men. It sucks. If you’re femme-presenting or just not a dude and you play the drums, or are just in a band in a predominantly white male setting, it’s hard. But with my drums people patronize me in small ways. They don’t assume I know what a drum kit is or how to set it up. Someone told me once, when we were backlining the drum kit, I was like “oh what do I need to bring? My pedals and my breakables?” and they were like “oh you know what breakables are? Usually we have to say cymbals and snare.” I’m not an idiot. It sucks so hard to exist in this space and to just have to not take it personally. I know I have to have tough skin because. I had a girl come up to me and tell me that she wanted to start a band because of our band, and she had never played an instrument before. And that’s all I want to do. Because I never had female rockers to look up to, especially queer rockers of color. And I don’t play the drums to show off, I do it for me. Drummers were always my favorite in bands. And Katherine from Lunch Dutchess is like, my idol. Every time I see her band play I’m so inspired. It’s just so good to see women drumming, and she’s such a badass, so when men do question her about stupid shit she can just tell ‘em to go fuck off.

Have you ever had that chance?

Yeah! It was so funny. So we had a gig at this space, and right before I was shooting a music video for someone else and I was playing the drums in it. And in this one part of the music videos I was purposely getting frustrated with one part on the drums. And this guy walks up to me and goes “if you just raise your snare stand, just a quarter of an inch you’d get it every time.” And I just looked at him and said “you fucking asshole, I’m doing this on purpose, I know how to play the drums. Thanks even though I didn’t ask.” He was so confused, and I’m like dude, nobody asked. Why do men think they can just insert themselves and give me unsolicited advice?

Do you get that “advice” a lot?

All the time. And it’s so annoying. It feels like they’re trying to hold my hand and go “oh, silly girl you don’t know what you’re doing.” But, I love when they do that before I actually play and then I play and they’re like wow, you know what’s up.

You recently posted a meme on Instagram with you and other non-male bands in the Twin Cities as the Breakfast Club. Which was hilarious. But do you find that you all get lumped into one category?

I just ranted about this recently. As non-men bands, we get compared to each other All. The. Time. Especially in write ups. Like, when we played the main room we got compared to Scrunchies. And we don’t even play the same genre of music. In write ups, if there’s another girl band on the bill we get compared to them. Whereas there will be like eight boy bands and none of them ever get compared to each other. But there is some solidarity because when we [other non-male bands] do play with each other, we’re all like fuck all this, it’s ridiculous. We get tokenized, guys literally ask us to come on the bill and open so they could check their diversity quota of being diverse like “we have one girl band.”

Is that tokenizing or belittling behavior is pretty blatant?

A lot of it is micro-aggressions. Just small little pokes. Like when people say we’re so good for a girl band and not just… a band. Boy bands don’t get that. Or after our sets they’ll be so surprised that we make music that men like. It’s stuff like that.

I notice you’re using the term “boy bands”, which is great. Is that a term that comes up or do you consciously categorize all male bands as boy bands?

That’s what’s really funny. I don’t know when we started doing that ‘cuz everyone’s like “all male bands” and we’re like, no they’re boy bands. They’re not grown men. They’re boy bands. But, we also want to fit in that space too. We’re boy bands. We make different kind of boy band music, and we’re actually girls, but we’re a boy band. Also all of us were fucking weird tomboys when we were kids. And now we’re all hyper femme and reclaiming that aspect of our dirty, reckless childhood in boy bands. But all the local male bands are boy bands to us. They would be offended if we said that, I’m sure.

I like that. So Metallica is a boy band, Led Zeppelin is a boy band? Big Black is a boy band?

Yup, we call ‘em boy bands who make “butt rock”. Butt rock music. We have a boy band butt rock song. But we look at Led Zeppelin and we’re like yeah, that’s butt rock. It’s a genre of music.

Has Women Bands(™) become a genre?

Yes, and it sucks. That’s why I feel we get compared to other bands. Because even though we make music that’s completely different from Scrunchies and other local bands, we get compared to them because Women Bands is a genre now. It’s baloney sandwich and I hate it. Because we’re girls we get pinned against each other, and you can feel that misogyny in the music scene. And then it gets kind of fucked up because I’ll be honest, I find myself comparing myself to other female bands because of my own internalized misogyny. But then I’m like, “why?”— I want them to succeed and I want them to have good things, and I want to support them as much as I can and as much as I want them to support me. But we’re lumped into one genre; if we’re women and a three piece, we’re a “Punk Woman Band.”

Do you feel safer or more confident when you’re on bills like tha-

Yes. When we get to play bills of just non-boys, it’s so good. It’s definitely just more safe and more fun hanging out backstage, and just naturally clicking. We both do this really hard thing for this thing that we love and have to go through more B.S. than boy bands do.  

You just played First Ave, a big historic venue. So there’s no denying that we’re seeing a shift in who makes music. Do you feel like we’re seeing an influx of more non-men in the scene?

Yeah! In some aspects, yeah. Recently I’ve been seeing more calls for non-men. There’s a DIY festival for non-men that we’re playing in Fargo, North Dakota. But I feel like we’re also very supported in this scene. During our tour we talked with other women and their DIY spaces. It’s hard for a lot of people to find their space and acclimate. A lot of spaces are male heavy. But there is definitely is a wave of non-men coming. Stephanie Jo Murck [a musician in the Twin Cities] is kicking down doors and making space for women in DIY spaces. We’re seeing non-men take up space they should have and not be confined to being a Girl Band Playing in a Basement. There’s so many DIY bands now that are comprised of mostly women, or at least fronted by them. It’s becoming more normalized and more accessible. And it feels good and welcoming, like we’re moving away from tokenization because it’s not something unnatural. It’s not super groundbreaking anymore to have women in music and rocking. There’s also so many non-binary artists. There is space for non-men musicians to just exist and do what they do best, and get supported!

If you were dictator of a venue, what would the rules be, what would it look like?

It would be a mixture of touring bands and baby bands. Bands who just started and want to make music, and just picked up instruments for the first time. I’d want space for them to open up for bands on main stages, just making space for young people of She Rock. There would be a lot of space for non-binary folks too. I feel like there’s a lot of space for women. But queer and trans folks, especially trans women, get the short end of the stick when it comes to DIY and that doesn’t sit well with me. There’s so much space and so much room for everyone to succeed and everyone to do well and support each other. I wouldn’t have it be a competition. It would be more of a collective, co-op type thing. I would like more of this. We’re like thinking of opening up our own space in a friend of ours’ house. And that space would be run by musicians with disabilities, and musicians of color, and non-male musicians. It’s in the works. There might be that utopian space coming soon.

What kind of conversations do we need to have to create more inclusivity in the DIY scene?

One thing I don’t like is people who claim to be woke and have all these inclusive thoughts and then just take up space from the people they claim they’re fighting for, that’s what drives me absolutely insane. It’s the well intended white people. They inadvertently take up space they talk about giving back. I’m black, and queer, and in punk music, and making music that is predominantly run by white males. We need to remember that that music came from black people. Inclusivity for that would be having those conversations and realizing where you stand and how much space you take up. You need to ask yourself if what you’re doing is uplifting and making room for more people or if it’s self serving. I would just like a space where I could feel safe at all times and make music at all times. It’s, y’know, simple things.

Is Minneapolis an especially white city to play in?

Oh yeah. When we went down to New Orleans it was cool to see that space because everywhere there were just black musicians owning that city. But here it’s… really white, yeah. I have to tell my brothers that sometimes I do struggle being in a band with two white people, because sometimes small microaggressions will happen and they don’t notice it. Like on tour we went to Birmingham, Alabama and I was a little nervous being a queer black woman in the south, and Trump is the president right now, so it’s dangerous to exist. And I was trying to explain that to them and they just hadn’t considered it. There’s those times where I can feel that their bubble is only so big. And sometimes my realities exist outside of their bubbles. And that’s within the whole scene as well. But I am starting to see POC come into the scene too. And when I see them it’s like, I’ve been waiting for this. It’s good to see people who look like me playing this kind of music.

Re: creeping on your Instagram, I notice you hashtag “women in music.” Is that for irony? Just in case people search that tag? Or is it how you would describe yourself?

I do that because it’s how I found bands on tour. I mostly do it so other women bands can find us. I go on it and reach out to bands on tour and make friends with other women in music and find solidarity. Sometimes I do do it as a joke, but I’ve just found that tag to be useful for networking with other women. And of course it’s ironic too because we do call ourselves a boy band- we’re all brothers.

Do you feel like this wave of non-male bands is paving the way for the baby bands out there?

I feel like that bit of credit is true for most female bands. Any non-male bands have had to go through some bullshit so the next wave of musicians can have a smoother ride into the space. One of the things I always try to say at our shows, to whoever needs it, is to just start a band if you wanna start a band. Just pick up and instrument, because we need it. There are so many non-men and POC who have such amazing things to say but nobody has pushed them to say it or made them feel safe enough to just step into it. And I know I needed that. If I hadn’t have seen Tony Peachka, I don’t know if I would’ve been inspired to just do it. All of these bands kick down a door so someone else can walk through it.

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Keep up with Gully Boys on Facebook + Twitter + Instagram

A Chat With: Patrick Damphier

Singer songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer extraordinaire Patrick Damphier is on the brink of releasing his first full length album as a solo artist; Say I’m Pretty, out February 1st via YK Records. With eleven tracks, the debut record takes listeners on a winding journey that combines breezy melodies and jangly guitars with dreamy vocals and pop infrastructure. Featuring collaborations with the likes of Molly Parden, Nicole Atkins, Jessica Lea Mayfield and the late Richard Swift, the album nods to Damphier’s chameleon-like ability to work with an array of artists, while also putting him in the spotlight for the first time. There’s a refreshing and eager energy that threads through each track, but it’s mixed with the touch of a seasoned musician—Damphier has played in The Mynabirds and Paper Rival and makes a living songwriting and producing for other artists.

Ahead of Friday’s release, Damphier took some time to chat with us about the journey behind the record, including his experience with the different collaborations and the stories that inspired the songs. Tune in to our chat below for more!

Photo by Satellite June

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What was your first musical memory either as a fan of music, or when you started creating?

I’d say the Ghostbusters 7” single from my grandmother. I was, I wanna say maybe four years old and I was just absolutely obsessed with that movie and that song and I listened to the b-side, which was the instrumental. I flipped it over and just recorded myself singing the lead onto a cassette tape, like on a boombox. That was my first real creative musical memory.

Nice, that’s a good one! It’s a classic. So you’re about to release your debut album as a solo artist. How are you feeling about the release date being so close and just generally about putting this project out into the world?

Well in general I’m just super excited about it. This particular group of songs has been written for so long that it feels good to just have them out into the world. I’m really the only one who’s heard them for so long. I have a ton of other stuff written, so that’s sort of where my headspace is now. It feels ok to move on, now that these songs are going to be out. Like it wasn’t all for nothing. It felt weird--it almost felt like cheating when I was working on other stuff before, knowing that this was gonna come out. Now that I know it’s coming out, it feels good to move on.

On Say I'm Pretty, you worked with collaborators like Jessica Lea Mayfield, Molly Parden, Nicole Atkins and Richard Swift. What were some highlights from your experience of working with them as songwriters and musicians?

Swift was a really, really good friend of mine for years. I met him in 2010 through The Mynabirds. I was in that band touring, and I worked on the last two records in the studio, fully producing the last one. Working with Richard was great. His contributions were done both in Nashville and in his studio. His stuff was done a couple years back, just in between tours. Just sort of hanging out, like hey we’re bored, do you feel like putting some keys on my stuff? Sure, let me put some drums on your stuff. That kind of thing...That was really, really natural.

The other three artists all lived in Nashville, so that was a lot more planned. Like Jessica, Molly, and Nicole you’re in Nashville, can you show up to my studio at this date, this time and do some vocals for me? That kind of thing. Swift also did the artwork for that 7” that came out for “Under My Door.” He contributed artwork for the inside insert of the 12” vinyl that’s about to come out.

Oh that’s awesome, and I’m so sorry for your loss with Richard.

Thank you, yeah he did a whole, whole lot. He actually contributed these ideas for this about a year and a half ago. It just feels good that it’s gonna come out and people are going to hear it.

Yeah, and his memory lives on with this project. Then as far as your overall contribution with the album…you wrote the songs, recorded and mixed it, so you had your hands in all aspects of it. What would you say was challenging about that, and what was the most rewarding part of being able to wear all these different hats and work on each part of it?

I’d say the most challenging part of it was just the time aspect to it. Because I make a living writing and producing for other artists, so the challenge was sort of finding the time to do all of that. I don’t know, I mean it’s not too different from what I do already. A lot of the work I do with artists is multi-instrumentalist work. Where I’ll work with one artist and I’ll be the band, you know. So it wasn’t all that different from that, except they were my songs and then I had to be the one singing them too. The challenging part was finding the discipline to actually do it.

Going off of that, when you’re working with other artists as a co-writer, producer, or instrumentalist, do you tend to take a different approach when you know it’s your music versus working with somebody else? When you’re writing, do you ever think ‘oh I should keep this for myself,’ or how do you dictate what to keep for yourself or put towards another project?

You know it’s about half and half. There have been things that I’ve written for myself but then I’ll get an opportunity to write with someone else and I’ll be like man, this thing that I wrote with myself in mind a month ago would be perfect for X,Y, or Z artist. Then I’ll bring it to them and see what they think about it. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn’t. I guess more often than not when I write with other people I am writing with their unique, or at least what I perceive to be their artistic take, in mind. My approach to producing and writing is to sort of be a chameleon and serve them. So I can go a few different directions as far as the aesthetic, the arrangements or the production and the final presentation. So to answer your question, it’s super fun doing my thing because it’s all mine. It’s 100 percent my vision, 100 percent what I want to say. I don’t have anyone over my shoulder. It’s how I want to say it, and how I want to present it and I don’t have to keep anyone else in mind.

Cool, so you usually get in a certain mindset before working on a different project, versus working on your own.

Yeah there’s just no limits to it whatsoever. It’s not that I feel limited working with other people. I’m really lucky in that I get to work with artists that I really respect and I’d say that 95% of the time, any ideas that are thrown out, are tried. I tried all sorts of stuff that didn’t get used on that record. That was another thing--I had unlimited time. I just tried all sorts of crazy stuff that I probably wouldn’t have tried on a record that had a time limit to it.

Yeah you get that total creative freedom when you’re on your own schedule.

It definitely yielded some pretty interesting results, in my opinion anyway.

Who would you love to work with who you haven’t already collaborated with, from a writing standpoint or featuring on a song?

I’ve wanted to work with Aaron Lee Tasjan for a long time, but now I’m going back in February. I actually just got this opportunity a couple of weeks ago, so it’s gonna happen. I’m going to do production stuff with him so it’s actually coming true. He and I had written a song together before all of this. I’ve worked with a lot of mutual friends of his over the last few years in Nashville, and I’m really excited to see what comes of that. I’ve wanted to work with him for a couple of years now, so the fact that it’s happening is very exciting to me.

Very cool! So kind of circling back, when you were writing the songs for Say I’m Pretty did you ever look outside to any non-musical art forms like movies or visual art to inspire the lyrics or where you were coming from with certain colors and tones of the songs?

You know, on this record all of the words were written before there was any music. And that’s something I’ll do a lot. I don’t always do that, sometimes the music is first. I think more often than not when it’s just my songs, the words will come first without any sort of music in mind at all. Then when I have the words in a place where I like them, then I’ll start writing music arounds those words. And then it becomes musical. It pretty much starts with, whether it’s a linear idea or not, it just starts with some sort of emotion. I don’t really write in a country music story-telling way, but there’s definitely a thread that you can run through it, with a common emotion. It all starts with that. So on this record in particular it all starts with words, so there wasn’t really any musical inspiration, it’s just where I was at emotionally. I think more often than not, it’s more about instances that happened to people in my life. As opposed to happening directly to me. More just sort of keeping my ears open when someone is telling me about something they’re going through or something that happened to them. Then I guess I would try to take whatever resonating feeling that anyone could relate to and write it down that way. So I’m not getting so specific that this person would know I wrote this about them, but that’s definitely the emotion that expired it all. Like that would have never been written if I didn’t have that conversation with my friend at the bar last Thursday.

Totally, so like a characterization of that story you were told, and you elaborating on it.

Yeah exactly. I’ve definitely done the exercises where you turn on the TV on mute and you write about what you’re seeing. I write all the time, and I like to write just for fun, but as far as this record goes, it’s more about these are very real things that happened to actual friends.

Nice! What would you say is the biggest lesson you’ve learned about yourself from your years of playing music in different projects and touring. Or maybe the best piece of advice you’d give your younger self or someone who’s just starting out?

Just keep doing it. You know. It’s so easy to get jaded and let down. There’s so much rejection and if there’s anything I would say to myself when I was 22 it would be just keep doing it, make the music you want to make. Just keep releasing it. No guarantees that anything is going to “happen” with it, but I think there’s a lot to be said for just continuing to do it. I have no idea where I’m gonna be a year from now, but I’m still gonna be doing this, I know that.

So now you’re based in LA, but coming from Nashville who would you say are some of your favorite artists, outside of the ones that you worked with on this record, based in Nashville? Anyone that we should keep on our radars?

I’m usually really good about this! I probably have 15 people I could say, but now that I have to think of it….I would definitely put Molly Parden on that list, but you’re talking about people I didn’t work with?

It could be people you worked with, or anyone else you’d like to shout out.

Specifically Molly, I’m really excited for her because we just finished mixing a record that she’s gonna put out this year. Nobody’s heard this yet, and I don’t know who is going to put it out, but it’s gonna come out this year. It’s so good and I’m really proud of her for making this record, so I’d like to give her the shout out because I just think it’s a matter of time before the rest of the world catches up with her.

Yeah, we’ve covered some of her shows here. She’s great!

Yeah I just saw her play the other night, and we literally just wrapped up mixing a couple of weeks ago, so that one is super fresh on my mind. There’s someone I’m going to work with, who has played in my band, who I’d like to give a shout out to. Charlie Shea of Charlie and the Evil Mothers. That is a Nashville project.

Then as far as live shows, do you have any plans for some shows or a tour that you can hint at?

I’m definitely going to be playing shows in Los Angeles and Nashville, but I don’t have plans for a tour because I’m still in the process of transitioning to LA and moving the entire recording studio set up out there. So that’s a pretty involved move. If the right opportunity came along for a tour, I would do it, but I’m still sort of geared more towards producing others.

Cool, any other goals or plans for this year besides the studio move and more production work?

Well I’ll be working on more of my own solo stuff this year for sure. That’s a big part of this move for LA. I’ll have more time to dedicate to my thing than I did in Nashville.

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There you have it! Preorder Say I’m Pretty and keep up with Patrick Damphier on Facebook + Twitter + Instagram

A Chat With: The Britanys

Based out of the Bushwick neighborhood in Brooklyn, The Britanys are a band that conjures up memories of New York City’s rock scene circa 2001. By mixing bright, punchy guitar melodies and candid, storytelling lyrics with a refreshing and earnest outlook, The Britanys deliver carefully crafted songs that set them apart and continue to catch the ears of new listeners. With their latest release, a mixtape called 1-833-IDK-HTBA, the band provides commentary on the technology obsessed culture we all live in an participate in, while still managing to nod to nostalgic influences.

Surrounding the mixtape’s release, the band created an actual hotline you can call (the number is just the name of the mixtape) and built in an old school bot on their website that visitors can chat with; Not only introducing a new take on this older technology, but allowing for the fans to have a more interactive experience with the new material. The bonus content that rolled out with 1-833-IDK-HTBA showcases the thoughtfulness that The Britanys put into their art, which extends past their music itself. As the band winds down from a busy year that saw them playing SXSW, touring the UK, and being invited to play at the Velvet Underground Experience, drummer Steele Kratt took some time to chat on the phone about their mixtape, fan interaction, and what’s next for them. Tune into our chat with The Britanys below for more.

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The Britanys are Lucas Long, Lucas Carpenter, Jake Williams, and Steele Kratt // Photo By Aysia Marotta

What was your first musical memory growing up?

Well my dad was a musician so I think my first proper musical memory, at least that I can remember, is playing along to “Everybody Wants To Rule The World” by Tears for Fears. My dad handed me a pair of drumsticks and put some newspaper down on a chair in our living room and I’d just sort of bang along to that. That became something I did pretty much every day. That’s my first proper musical memory I guess.

That’s awesome. Then you just released 1-833-IDK-HTBA [I Don’t Know How to be Alone] back in October. Where did that idea to do a mixtape instead of a traditional album stem from, and what were your favorite parts of doing this project?

I think that a lot of bands put a collection of songs together and say that’s an EP. It’s not quite an album but a lot of the songs don’t really connect. So we we kind of wanted to have something that had our songs, but had some sort of thread that connected them all together. Then also just sort of like being in a digital world, so many artists release mixtapes. It was more of a casual thing between a full album and an EP so we just figured we’d do it. It’s not something that a lot of rock bands do and it’s kind of the way that a lot of songs are being released these days. We figured it’d be fun to make our own and put our own spin on it.

Yeah it sounds like a good chance to be able to experiment with something new.

Yeah it was nice, and we worked with one of our really good friends on it. Our friend Dylan Chenfeld, so it was nice to have the collaborative effort.

There’s definitely that new element to it, but the mixtape still sounds very true to The Britanys’ style. It doesn’t sound like a new band or anything drastic, but like you said, it’s not typically what a rock band would do. Was there anything outside of your typical inspirations that you looked to when writing this set of songs?

I think we just sort of looked at modern culture and how technology influences life and sort of isolates you from real life, human nature and humanity. Just that whole thought. When we were on tour for that mixtape, we were flying back to New York from London, I remember I was at the airport and I looked around at a restaurant and every single person in there was on their phone. It’s just kind of bizarre like you just walk through a public area and everyone is just staring down at their screen. I think since releasing the mixtape and speaking about that concept, I sort of see instances of that a lot more. There’s a lot of stuff to write about with that because no one really knows where technology is gonna go, what’s happening with it, how it properly affects our psyche and our humanity. And I don’t know, it’s one of those things where it can be used for good, but isn’t really. So there’s a lot in there to sort of experience and write about.

On that same note, I love that along with the mixtape, you had the functioning hotline and the Eliza bot on your website. So there was all these different interactive things to go along with the release, which goes hand in hand with needing stimulation and interaction at all times. What was the process like building all these different platforms for fans to interact with?

Well for the Eliza bot, that was something that Lucas was thinking about. He was thinking of wanting to have a chat bot, and a lot of businesses use bots on their social media pages now. So we were gonna make a bot like that, that you could have a conversation with. Once he got researching, he found out about the Eliza bot, which is like the precursor to Siri and stuff like that, cause it was done in the 70’s. So we just sort of decided to pin it to that sort of throwback and that piece of technology that’s relatively primitive, but became a huge influence in that sort of tech culture. The basis of the Eliza bot is a sort of virtual therapist, and it’s sort of you know, we figured it’s relevant and needed now. There aren’t many-- you can’t talk to a robot to just sort of help you.

Cool, and then how did the hotline come together?

When we were writing the songs about technology and how it isolates you, so it was a similar thing to the Eliza bot. It’s another hotline thing, and there’s a lot of hotlines or self help lines that people call. We made it relative to the band, but with that sort of idea like here’s something you can call with a toll free number that can give you advice or something else to entertain you with. It’s also just sick. It’s fun to be like oh, we’ve got a phone number.

Yeah totally! So kind of on the flip side of that, where’s one place you go to try to escape the outside world and your phone? Where you can shut everything else out.

My mom’s house! My mom lives like 10 minutes from me. So if I’m like particularly stressed or you know, just want a break, I’ll go chill there in my room with her and our dog. That’s mostly where I go to unwind. I don’t really get out of the city too much so that’s my little oasis.

Nice! And then another place where fans can interact with you and the band is the new Instagram page that you have called Millennium Club, which is trying to build a community amongst fans and breaking the boundaries between band and fan. What’s been your favorite part of that experience?

It’s funny cause originally we were doing a show and I was thinking it’d be cool to have some sort of Instagram where people can post things that are happening at the show and everyone can have a password. Then we took it one step further and said what if it’s just always on, and so we figured it’s just a way for everyone in the community to have their own collective anonymous Finsta or whatever. I think my favorite thing so far is we didn’t think that anyone would start posting on it and then relatively quickly people started throwing shit up there, and for a minute I just thought it was us. Like ‘oh wow Lucas has posted like 40 posts,’ but it’s not him. So it’s a lot of people doing their share of posting whatever they want. So it’s fun, but it’s so weird cause sometimes I’ll get like a DM from that account and I have no idea who wrote it. So I’m like is it someone I know, is it someone I don’t know? How do I respond to this? So that’s kind of funny. It’s interesting to get story replies from an account that you created.

[A scrolling feed of the Millennium Club Instagram is shown below]

Back in October, you played the Velvet Underground Experience in New York. What was that experience like?

We decided that we were gonna go in a style of the Velvet Underground and instead of playing our own set, we kind of just jammed through it. Like a couple sets that the Velvet Underground did in the 70s...they just started onstage with about eight people and they’d turn that into a segment, and they’d just sort of jam through everything. So we wanted to do something that was freeform and unstructured like that. So we just played like a quarter of our songs and just jammed through, and then started up with the new ones. So it was all improv. It was nice. We got Jake’s brother to play with us. My dad was in the audience and I was like hey, just come up. So my dad played like tambourine onstage with us. Lucas’s girlfriend just sat and scrolled through Instagram sort of like as a nod to Nico, who sang a little bit but mostly just hang out onstage for most of those performances. Then my friend Alexis was onstage videotaping. So it was kind of fun to play around with an idea that they did in their museum.

Very cool! So I also heard that you’re going to be recording this month again. What can you tease about the new songs and what we can expect?

I guess you can expect a lot more of inclusion and leaning on the community. I think we’re gonna have a lot of friends play sections. So it’s still really our thing, but we want it to be more collaborative. We want to have local bands from Bushwick or neighboring neighborhoods come over to the studio and make guest appearances with us.

Speaking of that, who are some of your favorite local bands from the Brooklyn area?

One of my roommates is Alexis, who is the drummer of a band called Native Sun and we’ve known them since we were probably 19 or 20, so they’re very good friends of ours. This band called The Muckers who we play soccer with, and play shows with and go play pool with and stuff like that. They’re really good. This band called Been Stellar, who are a bit younger than us, but we met them sort of through Instagram. All these bands come through and record in our house because Lucas records in our rehearsal studio. So we always have just bands coming through, which is nice. We get to meet a lot of good bands.

Awesome, then you guys went to the UK a couple months ago, so where else are you looking forward to playing next year? Anything on your bucket list?

I guess just where they want us! We played Mexico City a couple years back and that was really great. It’d be nice to explore that whole country and also just go further to central and south America, and see all that and play there. But anywhere that will have us, we’re excited to play.

Nice! Any other goals for 2019?

Just have fun. Basically. Maybe we’ll get a Nike or an Adidas sponsorship. That would be sick to be a band sponsored by athletic wear, so I don’t have to buy athletic wear.

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Keep up with The Britanys on Facebook + Instagram + Twitter and listen to 1-833-IDK-HTBA in full below.

A Chat With: The Total Bettys

Based out of San Francisco, California, the four-piece band The Total Bettys just released their sophomore album This is Paradise on November 16th of this year. The album follows up the debut record released by singer songwriter Maggie Grabmeier (she/her) and guitarist Reese Grey (they/them), the founding members of The Total Bettys, who have both since joined forces with bandmates Chloé Lee (she/her) on bass, and Kayla Billos (she/her) on drums. With their catchy pop punk sound, The Total Bettys have garnered all sorts of attention in their hometown and shared stages with the likes of Palehound, A.W., Jay Som, Hazel English, and Oso Oso.

Just one week after they put out the second album, Maggie Grabmeier took some time to chat with me on the phone from Cleveland, where she had been visiting her family for Thanksgiving. In our chat, we talk everything from the musicians who inspired This is Paradise, the band getting booked to play Treefort Music Festival, and pushing for a more diverse music scene. Tune in below!

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Photo by Kelly Sullivan

What do you remember as your first musical memory?

It’s kind of funny, I think I remember growing up, my parents had this big like speaker system thing. You know, you always needed a lot of technology to make music play in your house, so I remember sitting in front of it and listening to Green Day CDs and I also really liked A Very Special Christmas 2, you know that compilation CD? That album—I just really loved it! I remember barely knowing how to use a CD player but putting in Green Day and that CD.

Nice, and that’s timely now with The Holidays coming up!

I know right? I’ve been thinking about it!

Nice! Well you just had your second album with The Total Bettys come out last week on November 16th—

Yeah it’s one week old today!

Awesome, so as far as the writing process on the album, how collaborative is it between you and the other band members and where were you coming from writing these songs?

I’ve been working on these songs since we recorded our first album. Once that was over, I started writing right away and I wrote the fill of the song with the lyrics and the chords and all that. And then usually I bring it to Reese our lead guitarist and they usually add the--I usually like it a lot more once I hear it with the lead guitar. They help it a lot. Then Chloe writes her own bass parts as well and it just flushes out the song. What’s interesting is Kayla, our drummer is brand new to the band. So she joined and we had like two months or something until we had to record, which is just not a lot of  time to learn 10 songs, plus we wanted her to learn all of our old songs too so she was hustling and we’re really grateful she was able to learn everything so quickly and she wrote these parts that were awesome. Our previous album had really like present, loud drums, and she just totally picked that right up and added--she just had a really good sense of how it should go. It just seemed really natural when we started playing with us. So I’m really impressed with her. She was able to learn everything so quickly and so well. Lots of props!

Once the songs all came together, what was the recording experience like?

We recorded with Grace Coleman, she engineered our recording and mixed it and mastered it. We worked with her our last album Peach as well. We went to a new place, Secret Bathroom in Oakland…and I don’t know if they’re still around under that name. They’ve kind of had a brief life as far as I know. But we recorded in The Secret Bathroom and then mixed at Different Fur, which is where we recorded our first album, and working with Grace is amazing. We already knew that we really loved her but that first album recording was my first experience with professional recording. So I didn’t know exactly what I was getting myself into and I was extremely nervous but she just has a special way about her of being like if something takes time to get it right, we’ll take the time. And it’s not like roughed or scary and she’s just very patient with us and lets us hear stuff as many times and as many ways as we want. It felt a lot easier this time and not quite as scary because we already knew we had someone we really trusted leading us on the way.

That’s always a better environment to work in when you trust someone and they don’t make you feel uncomfortable. Then as far as the songs I’m sure it changes day to day or week to week, but what song on the album are you most proud of or do you consider your favorite?

Yeah that does change a lot! But I think I really loved “Dark and Stormy.” That song just felt really real to me and it’s also structurally a little different from the other songs that I’ve written, so I was proud that I was able to kind of try something a little different. I also really love “So Much Better.” That song emotionally feels really real to me now. It’s one of the more recent ones that I wrote for the album so I’m still kind of like…the emotions of writing it are still kind of fresh. And that one’s about being able to give advice but not being able to take your own advice. I think that for me that’s just like really how I’ve been feeling. When my friends are going through something, it’s like ‘oh my god no you don’t need to worry about this’ but when it’s myself I’m like no you’re useless.

Yeah that’s everyone. I think we’re all our own worst critics and it’s impossible to take our own advice.

Exactly!

So you’ve cited Charly Bliss and Diet Cig as influences in the past, but what else inspires you when you’re writing? And this could not necessarily be music, but other art mediums.

Interesting. I think with writing music, the first thing I jump towards are other musicians. And stylistically I really get a lot from those pop punk bands and I really love like the amazing women and queer people that are making music in the scene right now, but I also as I was writing these albums, I went through a huge Lorde phase. So I think what I love about pop music in general is it’s okay to say exactly what you mean and exactly what you’re feeling. It took me a long time to get to this place of just saying how I felt without having to try to make it more poetic than it is. That’s what I love about pop music and that’s something I really love about Lorde.

Yeah totally. It’s just so straightforward. So as far as your live shows, I saw you’ll be playing Treefort Festival which is exciting.

Yeah I’m so excited!

What other plans do you have for tour next year? Anything you can hint at or anything in the works?

Yeah so we also just announced we have a show January 17th-it’s gonna be our tour kickoff show with Remember Sports in San Francisco. I’m so excited. I really love Remember Sports and I’ve seen them live a couple times and I’m so excited to be able to play with them. I think it’s the second week in January, we’re leaving on our tour and going to Nevada and Southern California and Arizona. That’ll be a 10 day tour. We’re really really excited for that. I don’t have all my ducks in a row for announce yet but that’s in the works.

Awesome. Then what are some other bands in the San Fran scene you would recommend, or do you have any venues or DIY spots you’d like to shout out?

Sure! I really love Pllush, they’re a local band that’s really super great. I love Scrim. We love playing with Difficult Objects. There’s a really awesome scene of like queer people especially who are totally making amazing music. In the city, my favorite venue I don’t know that’s a hard one! Maybe Bottom of the Hill. That’s where our album release show as. El Rio is a queer bar that has shows and they have really great stuff. I wish there were more like house venues and DIY venues but it’s really hard for venues to stay alive. I just heard news about a club, The Mezzanine, in San Francisco closing. And the Hemlock which was a great club just closed a month or so ago. So people are a little freaked out that our venues are gonna start disintegrating but hopefully that means more people are gonna step up and start something new.

Ah but that’s the worst! Losing a live music venue and all the memories attached!

Yeah it’s really sad. It’s really sad.

I was also gonna mention you already send such a positive message of inclusivity with your members all either being female or non binary. And you just shouted out the queer music spot, El Rio, but what else would you like to see from the people in your music scene or promoters in general to help promote more inclusivity? What else would you recommend or like to see more of?

Yeah I think that it’s really exciting to be a part of a queer music scene and I feel like really lucky to be in San Francisco where theres so many musicians who are doing amazing things. And so many venues that are willing to host us. I think that’s really awesome and really special but I think that there’s still not quite as good representation of people of color in our scene and I’m trying to think of ways that my band that can help support bands that have people of color and also just uplift the music of people who we love. My big piece of advice to people is just to start a band. I didn’t really know what I was doing when I decided I wanted to be in a band. And I think it’s fun to do it. I’m also kind of working through the different ways that I as a person can help and that the Total Bettys as a band can help make the scene more welcoming and more inclusive. But I think it’s something that we’re striving for and we hope other bands in San Francisco are also trying to do better

Yeah if more people work together, things can finally change! So besides the tour and including people in the scene, what are some of your other goals for 2019?

I think I really want to keep writing. The last couple songs that I wrote, I felt pretty proud of, and I’m kind of doing some different interesting things so I’m excited to keep on writing and keep writing with my band. I want to tour more so we’ll see how that goes. And just kind of keep going and keep playing lots of shows and meeting new people.

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Keep up with The Total Bettys on Twitter + Instagram + Facebook

A Chat With: Flasher

Taylor Mulitz, Daniel Saperstein, and Emma Baker have known each other since they were teenagers, but it wasn’t until a couple of years ago that the three got together to form Flasher. Since the trio’s inception they’ve released a self-titled EP in 2016 and followed up with debut full length, Constant Image, released June 8th of this year via Domino Records. With its mix of genres ranging from punk, shoegaze and pop, the diverse yet straightforward record has been very well received. Flasher has toured these songs relentlessly this past year, sharing stages with the likes of Ought and The Breeders throughout The States, and recently completing a European run.

This Tuesday, December 4th, Flasher will play The Hideout as one of their final tour stops of 2018, and before the show, the band took some time to chat about their debut album, their music video for “Material” and the DC music scene. Check out our chat with Flasher below, and go see them on Tuesday night.

Photo By Amy Breesman

Congratulations on the release of your debut album Constant Image earlier this year. What was the writing process like for this set of songs?

Thanks! We wrote almost every song on the record in the month leading up to our time in the studio. Out of the whole record we had only played one song (“Skim Milk”) live before going into recording.

How was it working with Nicolas Vernhes as the producer?

Traditionally we've strictly recorded ourselves with the help of our friend and collaborator Owen Wuerker- in Owen's and Daniel's DC studio, Lurch. We've never seen recording as a matter of transcription or a production of representation. Recording for us has always been approached as a process of writing and a production of new ideas. When searching for another engineer to collaborate with, we wanted someone whose records sounded like they appreciated a similar approach. We also wanted someone who was conveniently located (somewhere on the east coast). Out of a list of a handful of engineers Nicolas' records stood out to us. At once, his body of work is so eclectic in style and yet there's an attention to form across all of them that sounds as if the techniques of engineering and production are foregrounded in the songs themselves. We don't want to just make unique songs, we want to make unique sounding records and Nicolas was instrumental in helping us do that with Constant Image.

You definitely have a versatile sound that blends different genres together, so who and what are some of your influences from a writing standpoint, and who inspires you as a performer?

Some touchstones for the writing of a Constant Image were My Bloody Valentine, The B52s, Juana Molina, Broadcast, Stereolab, and Blood Orange. Some of the most inspiring live shows I saw this year were by US Girls, The Breeders, The Funs, and Beach House. Beach House do an amazing job of getting a huge sound with just 3 musicians on stage (with the help of their FOH engineer and samples, of course). Figuring out a creative way to introduce some of those elements into our live set on a much smaller scale is a goal moving forward.

Although your first release as Flasher was only in 2016, you all had known each other and been into music since you were teenagers. What is the biggest lesson you’ve learned about each other since you started playing music together?

It’s been a steep learning curve of trying how to be more sensitive with one another. Feeling safe and understood by each other can feel like a moving target, but communication and checking in with one another is key.

When it comes to the band’s visuals and your music videos, how hands-on are you all with the concepts? Specifically with the “Material” video that came out earlier in November, who came up with the YouTube parody/videos-inside-videos idea, and what was the experience like filming all the different clips used in it?

So far, Taylor has handled most of the artwork and design for the records, t-shirts, and posters. Music videos have been much more collaborative and often begin with a director submitting a treatment and then workshopping it with us. For the Material video, the entire concept came from the mind of the director, Nick Roney. Filming it was intense but really fun and well organized. It was shot over two 14 hours days in LA, which began the morning after we had driven from DC to LA in 4 days. When Nick first submitted the treatment we were all like, “This is brilliant but I don’t know how the fuck we’re going to pull it off,” but we decided to go for it anyway. Nick was super organized, had a strong concept and vision, and had a great team of people working with him, so things went surprisingly smoothly.

What were some of your favorite moments or highlights of your November European tour?

In terms of the shows we played, Glasgow and Paris were standouts. We had days off in both Hamburg and Amsterdam and it was such a treat to have extra time to explore those cities. In a dream world we’d have a day off in every town.

Do you have anything special in store for your last few shows on the year?

Why yes, I’m glad you asked! From December 1st - 7th we will be touring the east coast and Midwest with two incredible bands, Public Practice from New York and Gong Gong Gong from Beijing. In honor of this super tour we will be selling a tour-exclusive 3-way flexi split featuring a previously unreleased track from each group.

What are some of the best things about the DC music scene, and who are some local bands you’d recommend?

Growing up in DC we really took for granted having access to all ages shows all the time. It was much easier for us to get involved in the music scene at a young age because of the all ages culture in DC, and it’s a huge bummer that it isn’t the standard everywhere. There is a ton of exciting music coming out of DC. It’s hard to narrow it down but just to name a few: Clear Channel (new project of Mary from Downtown Boys, Carson from Merchandise, and Ahmad from Vasillus), Knife Wife, Mock Identity, Bad Moves, Des Desmonas, and - *shameless plug* - everything on Sister Polygon, a label Taylor runs with his former bandmates in Priests.

What are your goals for 2019?

Write more music , make more art, spend more time with friends and family.

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Grab your tickets to see Flasher at The Hideout on December 4th here and keep up with them on Facebook + Instagram