A Chat With: Alice Merton

Photo by Danny Jungslund

Singer-songwriter Alice Merton just released her sophomore album S.I.D.E.S. last month as a follow up to her 2019 debut record, entitled Mint. Chances are, you’ve heard Merton’s massive hit “No Roots,” which was included on her debut record in addition to being released as her first ever single. Since the release of “No Roots,” Merton has gone on to garner over 1 Billion streams, performed at international festivals like Coachella and Hurricane, and toured with acts like Young the Giant, Vance Joy and Bastille—just to name a few.

S.I.D.E.S features the same strong vocals and intricate range we’ve heard from Alice Merton in the past, but she’s expanded and matured her artistry to another level with the new material. On tracks like “Same Team” and “Vertigo,” listeners experience Merton combining authentically transparent lyrics about the hard times she experienced over the past couple of years with vivid imagery. Merton has a knack for being descriptive enough that you can paint a picture of her tales, while at the same allowing for listeners to interpret their own meanings from the music. Throughout the fifteen tracks on the record, Merton brings us along for the ups and downs of her challenging journey, but we end on a high note with “The Other Side.” The final song perfectly describes that feeling when optimism starts to creep back into your life following a particularly hard time, which I think is something we could all stand to be reminded lately.

When Alice Merton and I connected over Zoom the week following S.I.D.E.S’ release date, it was just hours after the announcement that Roe V. Wade had been overturned by the Supreme Court. During our discussion, we talked about the challenge of balancing healthy distractions against the never-ending cycle of bad news, her nomadic lifestyle, artistic inspiration and more. Tune into the full conversation below.

---

ANCHR Magazine: Kicking things off, I’d love to hear your first musical memory. Either when you started playing music or just becoming a fan, what sticks out to you?

Alice Merton: It’s either gonna be sitting at the piano learning scales, when I was about 5, or it’d be car trips with my family. My dad always put the The Alan Parsons Project on, which was probably the first kind of music I was introduced to. 

That’s awesome, I love a good road trip memory! Well skipping to current day, I actually saw you perform on tour with Bastille last month. I’m from Chicago but I was in Seattle for work and went to the Portland and Seattle shows. This is going to be such a crazy tangent, but I used to work with your bandmate Regi in Chicago at Lincoln Hall. I didn’t know that he was in your band before the show! I remember him moving away but never kept in touch with him, and when you introduced him onstage, it all clicked.

That’s so funny! So you guys worked together at Lincoln Hall?

Yeah it’s such a small world! I went up to him later to make sure it was him and now we’ve reconnected.

That’s so funny, I love those kinds of stories!

Sorry that was such a tangent.

No, that’s super cute! I’ll have to tell him that later.

Tell him I said hi! But back to the original question, I wanted to ask what was a highlight or your favorite moment of that tour with Bastille, or the festival circuit you’re on right now?

While we were touring with Bastille, it was so much fun! I think one of our highlights on that tour was when they surprised us onstage. They came out on the last song, “No Roots,” and jammed with us and danced with us. I didn’t know that was going to happen! The Bastille boys came on for our set, and then we danced with them on their last song, so that for me was a beautiful highlight because that was the end of the tour for us and it was a nice thing to do. 

I love that! A Bastille sneak attack.

Yeah! They’re all so lovely, all such nice guys. 

I also remember on that tour before you played “Vertigo” you mentioned the song was about the feeling you would get going onstage…that anxiety and the stage fright. So besides writing a song about it and going to therapy, do you have any advice for anyone struggling with social anxiety?

I have social anxiety as well, and that’s also one of the reasons I wrote “Vertigo.” Not just the stage fear, but being in places with lots of people, being in clubs…I felt like I just couldn’t enjoy things that every “normal” person, or in my head “normal person,” would enjoy. I think what really helped me was to find people that were like me as well where I don’t have to feel like “Oh I should be going to a bar or a club and doing all these activities” when that’s obviously not something that makes me feel good sometimes. It really kind of triggers me, and I always gave myself a hard time for that, instead of being like “oh that’s fine, Alice, you don’t need to do all that stuff because everyone is different and everyone likes different things.” I kept thinking that I have to change, I have to become better at working on being in a situation with lots of people. If I’m being honest with myself, I have become better with that, and that’s where therapy helps. I have stopped forcing myself to think that I have to be a certain way, to be like everyone  else. I don’t like going to clubs and I don’t like going to busy places, I like to just be in the studio writing some songs.

Yeah, and have you found that with talking about it, you found like-minded people and it’s opened that door for you?

It really did open the door in that regard! I used to get made fun of by various friends like “why do you always stay home?” I don’t care anymore… I like to bake, and I like to write songs, and I like to watch movies and series. 

Right, wasn’t that one of the only upsides of the pandemic?

Yeah! For some people it was the worst thing ever because it was like “oh I can’t go out!” and for me, it was like nothing changes. It was nice because I don’t feel this anxiety any more that everyone is expecting me to be somewhere.

Yeah it kind of took away from the FOMO because you’d be at home and know you’re not missing out on anything because we were all at home. 

Exactly!

Well speaking of “Vertigo,” it’s on the album S.I.D.E.S., which is brand new…just a week old. It’s still a newborn.

It really is a newborn! I’m still adjusting to it being out, It’s amazing with it being out, but it’s also kind of terrifying that everyone gets to hear it and it’s out of my control. It’s like I have no influence over what happens with this album anymore.

Yeah I was going to ask how it felt to have it out! It’s exciting/terrifying right?

Yeah exciting and terrifying at the same time. 

Can you tell me a little bit more about your experience both writing the record, as well as recording it?

During the pandemic, it was hard to record any way. I was being very careful, I wasn’t really going into studios. I managed to find a few producers who we’d do tests beforehand, but it was still kind of a stressful situation because I never really felt 100% comfortable with it being in a studio, and I wasn’t allowed outside of Germany. So I recorded one song in the US when things opened up a little more last year. Other than that, it was mostly within the UK and Germany, which were my two bases. It was also difficult to navigate because both places kept getting locked down, so you can’t fly in between certain timeframes. It was a challenging album to make, logistically, but at the same I really felt like this album helped me through the pandemic and made me feel like I have a purpose and I’m doing something. It helped me digest everything that happened, so I really do feel like this album saved me in a way. 

Yeah it sounds like a very necessary distraction from everything going on. I love the whole record, but I think my favorite song is “The Other Side” because it perfectly describes that healing journey and when you’re finally getting over this difficult thing that happened. Can you describe the backstory about how the song came together?

So I had been on vacation once last year. I went to an island called Tenerife and I think that inspired a lot of the lyrics, especially in the first verse, like pink skies, cable cars…I had lots of friends getting married, so I was picturing flower bouquets, and I kind of just imagined seeing the person who I really wanted to be friends with at the time and having some kind of connection to but couldn’t at the time. So I just imagined seeing them and how happy they were, and how happy I was. I imagined a world outside of this world, where you know you’re gonna get there. Like you know you’re going to feel good at some point in your life, and it’s not always going to feel like a big dark hole. I have to admit for a big chunk of the pandemic I really felt quite lost, and I didn’t feel like getting up in the morning anymore. Not just for two days, but for a month or two months. I just felt like I didn’t want to exist. But in June last year, I felt like things started getting better and I started seeing the light. I started realizing like ok, it’s not always kind of obvious to get to the other side… We think things are gonna stay like this forever, but it was a great reminder to myself that there is always going to be another side and that it’s just a matter of time before you get there.

Yeah, sometimes the road is longer, but there’s always another side to the road regardless. Does it kind of feel like with all the festivals and the tour that you’re on, with having music as your career, that you’re kind of on the other side of the worst of the pandemic?

I think on certain days, absolutely. I think today is kind of a day where I feel like I’m being pulled back into this sad reality that we live in, reading the news…

Yeah with Roe V. Wade getting overturned today... What a terrible day to have calls and interviews.

Yeah you’ve got some days on the back end of a tour where you’re like this is amazing! It’s great, everything is lovely. Then you wake up some days and you’re just like what kind of reality am I living in? Is music really helping people? I think today is one of those days, and I’m not very good at hiding it either. I wear all my emotions on my sleeve. I think today just feels like one of those days where you thought you were escaping but then you realize you’re not quite out of it yet. 

I do think that music, and concerts especially, can be such an escape. Do you feel like an immense pressure in a way as a performer? It feels like every day there’s something else devastating in the news, so how do you balance that with being the lighter side to the dark times, but also still recognizing that horrible things are happening?

I do find it at times to be very difficult as a performer that there’s this expectation for an hour and a half that you need to make people feel amazing, so you need to feel amazing. On a day when you’re just not feeling great, that can be really tough. I have a lot of respect for people who have to go up on stage every single day. At the moment, it’s been weekends with us, so we haven’t had a full European tour yet or a full American tour. We were on tour with Bastille for two weeks and that was great, but I still have days in between now where I can kind of be sad and be emotional and then kind of pull myself together again like “let’s do this!” I feel like we’re all going through this emotional roller coaster at the moment like what you were saying about everything happening in the news. You’ll have days where you’re like “oh I’m listening to a nice song and the sun is out. Everything is great! I’ll just ignore everything.” Then you have days where it’s just up in your face and it’s there. The world is up in flames and it’s there, it’s present…and I honestly don’t have the solution to navigate it. I wish I did. I think it’s just kind of taking it day by day and also realizing that it’s ok to feel overwhelmed but it’s also ok to feel good and not feel guilty about feeling good. There’s no point feeling overwhelmed every day. 

Yeah I love that, no one can take on that burden for that long by themselves. We’ve got to lift each other up!

Absolutely! 

Well pivoting to a little bit of a lighter note, I wanted to talk about your personal background and your nomadic lifestyle. Did you know when you Google yourself, you’re described as ‘German-born English-Canadian’? Then with “No Roots” you’ve talked about moving around a lot, so I was curious if you find that your diverse background and being ingrained in so many cultures, has that made touring life easier for you?

I think it’s made touring much easier for me in the sense that I don’t feel homesick when I’m on tour. I really feel comfortable in most environments that I’m put in. I really feel like I can adjust really quickly, and I’m not someone who will sit around moping that I miss my home and my bed. Like I’ll miss a bed, and I can sleep better in a bed than a moving vehicle, but I’ve really learnt to kind of pack up my stuff multiple times and have my home be wherever that is. Especially with people you love. I’ve learned about myself that my home isn’t a certain place, it’s dependent on the people who are there with me. So that’s why for me, it’s vital to have my guys and my band with me, because I’ve been with them for such a long time. We met at university so I really feel like more of a band, rather than a solo artist having a band in the background. We wanted to find a band name, well I did– they didn’t! They said just call it Alice Merton. 

They’re like let’s just put all the pressure on you!

Kind of, kind of! I was like sure, guys whatever! We’ll put my name on it. I write the songs, so I guess it makes sense, but for me it’s still like the idea of having a sub guitar player is terrifying. I can’t see myself being like “this guy’s gonna play today instead of Regi.” Or having another drummer, it doesn’t feel like I want to do that. 

Yeah it’s great that you have a support system but you can be so adaptable! On the flip side of that, where have you found that you’ve had the most culture shock? Even if it’s just a specific state in America, since some states have their own culture.

Yeah that’s very true! That’s a difficult one though. I feel like in America, I’ve never had a huge culture shock. We haven’t played much in the South…We’ve played in Texas, but Austin, Texas is super cool to play in. I don’t think we’ve had dramatic culture shock in the US. It’s been more outside of that, like playing in Turkey for the first time and witnessing how many people are suddenly in one spot in Istanbul. Exit Festival we played in Montenegro. It’s more so other countries because I feel like in the US I know what to expect.

Well, speaking more about your stage presence, I remember you mentioned your outfit was designed by your friend. Does that designer typically do all of your stage outfits?

I do like working with him a lot! His name is Basti, or Sebastian. He is very, very talented at what he does. I also like to support designers that are up and coming, or just people I think are talented at creating new things.

Do you find that kind of influences your demeanor onstage, almost like a superhero costume.

Yeah like a stage personality, yeah absolutely. It really helps me get into character as well. I wouldn’t say I’m a loud, outgoing person offstage, but when I’m onstage I really feel like with the outfits, I’ve become someone who can—I mean “lead a crowd” is exaggerating—but to still be mentally strong enough to get people excited about music. 

Yeah it gives you that extra confidence! Are there any other musicians and artists, either visual or otherwise…or even films that you ever draw inspiration from as well when it comes to your stage presence?

I have been a fan of Keith Haring for a while. That’s been kind of an inspiration in some regard. Also, for music videos, there’s a Swedish director called Bergman, and he inspired the “Blindside” music video. It was black and white and we kind of took some of his scenes and adapted them to the music video screen. I think art is one of those great kind of outlets to get inspired from…even Andy Warhol. I really like that kind of art. 

Yeah I think that any artist or creative person is kind of subconsciously always soaking in inspiration. It’s hard to usually pinpoint something specific.

Exactly, you’re constantly being inspired by random elements that you see! Around Christmas I went to multiple museums which were fascinating. Even furniture and how certain designer furniture is made…that was really cool to see. We got to see pieces from Klimt, which was beautiful. But you never really know what from that goes into the music. I know from videos where I get inspired. I think there’s some moments where I’ve been inspired by Breaking Bad, how dark it is. Also Handmaid’s Tale. I love that series as well.

Awesome. Well wrapping up, do you have anything else coming up that you want to share or that you’re looking forward to?

I think what I’m looking forward to the most is just sharing “The Other Side.” Not just the full album, but specifically the single because I really feel like it helped me and I would just be so happy if it helped other people as well get to the other side and realize that even if they see darkness…At a certain point in their life, they have that reminder that there will be a time when it will feel better. I wish I would have had that reminder back then, I think that would have helped a lot.

Yeah I love that you wrote this song. It’s also summer now so it’s such a good summer anthem. Thank you for writing it and taking the time today!

---

See where you can catch Alice Merton on tour here, and snag your copy of S.I.D.E.S. here.

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.

---

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! 

---

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: 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

---

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!

Finding Light in the Darkness With Fauvely

Finding glimpses of joy in a state of sadness and glimmers of light in bouts of darkness is a craft that many of us sharpened in 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic unexpectedly turned the world upside down. The pandemic changed the way society operates and took everyone by siege, but the artistic and creative industries stand among the most affected communities— Especially those artists and musicians who operate on an independent scale, handling everything from recording to booking tours on their own.

Chicago’s own Fauvely belongs to that independent category, but that didn’t stop the project from carrying on and finding the bright side through the content they create. Lead vocalist and songwriter of Fauvely, Sophie Brochu, took some time in March to catch up with me on a phone call to talk everything from quarantine habits to navigating a CDC-compliant practice and recording space for the band.

“It’s weird. It’s a beautiful road because there’s marsh grass but then it’s also really creepy because there’s a mysterious old chemical factory and an ugly confederate fort,” Brochu says, detailing her surroundings on an evening stroll in Savannah. While Fauvely still has roots in Chicago, Brochu is taking the call in the Georgia city where she grew up; a city she and her husband have recently been spending time in thanks to the remote flexibility that the pandemic has provided.

Like many of us, Brochu expresses feelings of uncertainty and anxiety about where she may land once a sense of normalcy begins to return to the world. For now, she says the band are not turning down any opportunity that may come their way— or at least not allowing their current locations to be the deciding factor. For example, the group recently recorded a session with Audiotree in Chicago, which is slated to be released April 8th. Without a specific location acting as their anchor for the time being, Brochu says “I don’t know what that looks like for the future of the band. I do know that I’m not going to stop doing Fauvely. It exists wherever it goes.”

Photo by Aaron Ehinger // Fauvely is Sophie Brochu, Dale Price, Dave Piscotti and Phil Conklin

Our conversation took place on the anniversary of a poignant date— the day when Brochu and her husband had attended a pop up event at The Loyalist in the West Loop, showcasing cuisine from their own restaurant that had been slated to open later on in 2020. That night followed the news that Fauvely’s upcoming plans to tour Japan and appear at SXSW festival had been canceled, lending a bittersweet air to the event. “It was a happy night, but I remember being really heartbroken because we had just officially canceled the Japan tour,” Brochu recalls.

After that initial heartbreak and shock of such major events getting shut down, Brochu details a dark time period in early lockdown days. “I could not do anything except for puzzles. I was still working remotely, but I couldn’t read, I couldn’t write. I just had a lot of anxiety and did puzzles. That was what I had the capacity and space for.” Eventually, members of Fauvely were able to start getting together for masked practices after remaining isolated to stay safe. Despite a few delays caused by the uncertainty of the times, the band ended up heading to the studio in July with a goal of recording as much as they could; which led to them finishing up the new record Beautiful Places. “I sort of see that as the silver lining with South By [Southwest] and Japan getting canceled since that’s where most of the money would be going. It was like let’s recalibrate and make something good come from this,” Brochu says.

Surprisingly, although the duality theme that is threaded through the album seems to align with a common sentiment of the pandemic, most of the songs on Beautiful Places were drafted before 2020. The one exception was “May3e,” which Brochu wrote in May and had the original file name of “May 3rd.” “I like the idea of making each song a little time capsule. It’s nice to know the date when it was written. That was the last song written for the album. A lot of the songs we had already been working on the months leading up to that spring. That was the last one that made it on.”

Brochu credits a spiritual approach and her intuition as the driving factors behind her creative motivation. “I don’t like to force it. I know it’s always right around the corner. When it comes, it comes really fast. That’s how my songwriting goes. I’m just like a vessel walking around waiting for the message.” She also remains consistently influenced by the juxtaposing duality of nature as a muse and source of inspiration. “In nature, everything is laid out before you. When an animal in the wild dies, it decays out in the open, sometimes against a beautiful backdrop. There is no difference between beauty and suffering; it is one and the same. Humans have a funny way of quantifying and categorizing what is beautiful and what is repulsive. We want to preserve life. We have euphemisms and rituals. Fauvely is about blurring this line. For me, it's always had this underlying current of sadness and grief that only exists because of beauty. These are relative concepts. I know my happiness because of my pain. I feel pain because I've experienced great happiness. Experiencing life is a privilege,” Brochu says, explaining the underlying message of the new album. “These songs cannot be reduced to ‘sad songs.’ They're about choosing life with all of its pain and beauty and suffering. I'm reminded of Good Bones by Maggie Smith,” she adds, crediting the poem as an inspiration.

Along those same lines of making the choice to persevere despite challenging times, Brochu shares more about the band’s experience in the recording studio. True to 2020’s form with delays and cancellations, Fauvely’s recording session in July only came to be following some initial postponements. “Then the weekend that we were supposed to start recording, one of the band members had a family emergency and we were about to cancel again. They decided to push through and find a way to make it work so the band member could be there for the family and still do what they love in the studio with us,” Brochu says. While the circumstances weren’t ideal, she adds, “It was so meaningful and we all really wanted to be there doing what we love. It was a beautiful feeling of coming together.” Throughout this strange year, the band has continued to be there for one another, keeping in touch every day and supporting one another through the recording process. “It was a really beautiful experience because we all value and love one another and respect each other. We work so well together, and I truly love these guys. They make this project what it is. It would never be the same without them,” Brochu concludes.

Despite all the obstacles, release day for Beautiful Places finally came on Friday, April 2nd. While it’s not an ideal time to release music since bands and musicians can’t tour to promote their new work, new music like this record gives us something to grasp onto as we await for the light at the end of the pandemic tunnel.

Brochu hopes to be able to tour and play shows with Fauvely again as soon as possible, but in the meantime she’s already endeavored to continue writing— both in songwriting form and in the shape of a novel. Brochu does issue a disclaimer that the new music and her book project will be released in the distant future, but promises new music videos are in the works and coming soon.

As soon as it’s safe to host in person concerts, you can definitely expect to catch Fauvely on the first ANCHR showcase line up. For now keep an eye out for their Audiotree recorded performance being released this week, and snag your own copy of Beautiful Places here.

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.

---

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. 

---

Keep up with August Hotel on Facebook and Instagram

A Chat With: Axel Flóvent

Axel Flóvent was one of my favorite sets and best discoveries of the annual Iceland Airwaves Festival in 2019. The Icelandic singer-songwriter instantly won me over with his mesmerizing melodies and his knack for painting a picture through his lyrics on his songs like “Forest Fires” and “Your Ghost.” Recently, Flóvent embarked on his first proper U.S tour in support of Radical Face, and he took some time to chat before his set at Thalia Hall in Chicago. Tune in below for more on Flóvent’s take on the Icelandic music scene, how he overcomes creative challenges, and the themes of his upcoming debut album.

---

What do you remember as your first musical memory? 

I feel for me it was a few moments of evolution, how my love evolved for music. The first memory was probably learning to play power chords. My uncle taught me to play power chords and I learned two AC/DC songs and I felt some kind of freedom from learning them because then I could try to write on my own. Cause it’s so easy the way he taught me. The way he taught me was that you could write on your own and do it anywhere, and it works.

So this tour is your first time in North America, right?

Yeah it’s the first time touring properly here.

What have been some highlights from the first leg of the tour, or something you’re looking forward to?

I’ve always wanted to play in New York! I was supposed to do a little east coast tour back in 2016 cause I did SXSW. I didn’t get my visa in time so we had to cancel the shows then, and since then I’ve been wanting to play in New York and do these east coast dates we had to cancel. That was the thing I was mostly excited about, making up the gigs I was supposed to do. Seattle was amazing also. The most amazing memories I had so far were playing in Seattle because they had a lot of connection to Iceland. A lot of them had gone to Iceland for Iceland Airwaves last year. It’s a really cool festival and it’s so nice getting people who are already connected to the music. I don’t know what to expect at all supporting for Radical Face and getting new crowds but in each city there’s always a few people coming from knowing Iceland Airwaves and Icelandic music. 

I actually went to Iceland for the first time last year and saw you at Iceland Airwaves myself. I loved the city and the festival, so as someone who lives there, what are a few spots you’d recommend for catching new music or just any sort of hidden gems for music fans who are maybe attending the fest for the first time?

I feel Iceland is so unpredictable when it comes to music. For me there’s no venue that always has something going on. What’s big in Iceland is like release concerts and people get so hyped up for it, and people get so hyped for these up and coming artists. I haven’t been connected to the Icelandic music scene for such a long time, so it’d be hard for me to recommend something. But definitely Iceland Airwaves is probably the best time to go to Iceland because every artist in Iceland tries to go on that festival and play. That’s the biggest thing for me. I haven’t played in Iceland since Airwaves.

So before you settled back in Iceland, you moved to Amsterdam when you were younger. Do you think that nomadic lifestyle has impacted your songwriting?

Definitely. I think I moved to Netherlands because I was signed to a label there. I moved there to be closer to them to be able to work with them. It didn’t work the way that I thought it would. I moved there and ended up being alone in my apartment writing a lot and just kind of reflecting on my dream of going into the city. I wrote “City Dreams” out of this idea of trying to make myself believe that I’m the place I wanted to be in and I made it. I’d gotten out of Iceland only to discover that being there two years out of Iceland, looking at Iceland like “I really need to move back.” Because everything I want to be close to is there actually and not out there. I really don’t have anyone or any roots [In Amsterdam]. So in darker times it’s hards to go by without any roots or anything really. That’s kind of like my album that I’m releasing in the end of the year. I wrote about this experience and this journey. 

Do you think you’re more creative in Iceland, or do you think that struggle drove you to write these songs? Do the dark times tend to turn into art?

Yeah I feel like as a songwriter you crave for things to write about that have a stronger meaning in a way. I think a problem a lot of songwriters have, especially when they go professional, they kind of start to not have anything that they have to do other than music. Now they’re at this place where they’re more comfortable and don’t need to go to a 9-5 job. When you’re at this comfortable state of mind….I feel like that was the biggest drive I had. When I was a teenager and I had to work jobs I didn’t like. I was so motivated to get out of it, that I got out of it quickly, but now I feel so privileged so it’s really hard to get in touch with your struggles. 

Like I can’t be too happy, I need to write songs!

That’s really the feeling! And I feel like a lot of artists have this problem because there’s so many more DIY, doing it ourselves and we’re working to get an income. Then when we get closer to do it professionally, it’s like what do we really write about? A lot of songwriters in my position just have a repetitive feeling of writing love songs but not really meaning anything.

That’s really interesting! It’s almost like a catch 22, like you want to be successful enough but not too comfortable.

You want to be in touch with real life struggles because otherwise you can’t write things that are relatable. I feel like that’s the thing. You don’t want to be in a position where you’re like I need to struggle, but you kind of do that in some ways because of that. 

Speaking of new music, can you talk about the creative process behind “Driving Hours”?

I wrote it right before I moved to Amsterdam. So in my apartment in Reykjavík. I had just ended a past relationship and I was kind of looking back at that and kind of talking to myself. I was in my mind, it’s quite different sonically than a lot of stuff I’ve released, so in my mind I was creating a new project. I was like I’m going to call this project Driving Hours, and it’s going to be a side project. I had to do this in my mind to allow myself to go in this direction sonically because I’m always so stuck with this mindset of having an acoustic guitar or organic piano to be able to release stuff under my own name. So I needed to do that and it was just flowing in a more straight up pop feely kind of lyrics. So I was trying to break myself out of the usual box with this song, so I wrote this a few years ago. I recorded it with my past label and then we broke up because of this song. They weren’t happy with where I was taking it and where I wanted to take it, so we realized it wasn’t working out. I didn’t touch the song for a long time. Then I signed to Nettwerk earlier last year, they were like you have to put this song on the record. I wasn’t sure about it because I wanted to go back to my roots and I felt like Driving Hours wasn’t really speaking to me in the same way my new music was. I found a way to record it and get it sonically more in touch.

Yeah that’s really interesting you had to separate it as a new project. I did notice it had a different kind of swagger to it. So then as far as “Driving Hours,” it’s the first single off a new EP. How does it fit in with the rest of the four songs?

The EP has two songs that are not going to be on the record, but “Tourist” and “Driving Hours” are going to be on the record. These two songs, one of them is a song I wrote years ago in like 2013. I never knew where to place it, and wasn’t sure if I wanted to put it on the record, so I wanted to put it on the EP before the record. I really love the song [“Sea Creatures”] and I’m performing it on the tour, and it’s always fun to tell the story of how I wrote it. 

You’ve mentioned some of your influences are Bon Iver and Bombay Bicycle Club. What do you consider to be non-musical influences for you?

I’m always kind of touched by glimpses of….It’s so hard to talk about it specifically because I can be watching an interview with another artist or just a movie. I watched Little Women in cinemas the other day and I got filled up with inspiration of writing cinematic music just by watching that. I think it’s just moments. It’s so connected to the moment as well so I feel it’s so hard for me to be like “Oh I love this artist and this artist.” The older I get the more and more I feel disconnected to specific things and I’m more inspired by moments here and there. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not, but I love painting and drawing myself and just throwing stuff on paper. It’s everywhere kind of. 

So looking ahead with 2020, you have the album coming out. How would you briefly tease the album to get people excited about it?

It’s definitely inspired by isolation and feeling isolated from the rest of the world. Also just this feeling of loneliness and isolation is the theme of the record. Not only in a negative way. Also in a pure way, like love yourself. 

Anything else this year that you’re looking forward to?

We’re currently building up a lot of things. We’re looking forward to post release of the album and the next few months will be planning up to the release. 

---

Photos from Axel Flóvent at Thalia Hall

Keep up with Axel on Twitter // Instagram // Facebook

Self-Reflecting With Harvey Fox

In any circumstances, but especially within the creative industry, it’s often too easy to ignore the signs of your own body and mind telling you that you need a break; You’re conditioned to keep going, to continue pushing out content and keep performing. There was a point in time when Colin Fox of Chicago band Harvey Fox came face to face with this exact struggle, and he ultimately decided to trust his intuition and be honest with those around him about taking some time off from his passion project. “I realized that I just wasn’t enjoying anything about the band. I wasn’t enjoying anything about making music or performing or going out and talking to people. It was all like a chore for me,” Fox recalls, telling me about about his change of heart and battle with social anxiety over a cup of coffee last month. The epiphany occurred right after the band played a packed Lincoln Hall show last year, and it led Fox to post on social media about his current struggles with certain aspects of being a musician. “I just made a post about this and was like I’m mentally not in a good space, I’m not having a good time, and I need a break from this to reassess and find a way that I can make a more sustainable life. You have to be careful how much energy you invest and you have to be mindful of your state and when you’re working on something that hard.”

As it turns out, Fox says his break from the band allowed for him to approach their sophomore effort with a refreshed outlook and clean slate, but he does also admit that the whole process had its ups and downs. “The album gets a little meta… There’s a lot of songs about the struggles that [I’m experiencing] and then I’m struggling to finish the record. So it’s real cyclical,” he says. Most importantly though, the second album from Harvey Fox, called Lullabies for the Restless, signifies growth and introspection for the band, and Fox’s ability to call out his own struggles in a self-reflecting manner is maybe one of the biggest changes between this record and the band’s debut.

Photo By Edgar J. Lomeli

Harvey Fox’s current-day, four-man lineup consists of friends that Fox made as far back as middle school— 14 years ago. The first being the band’s keyboard and synth player, Drake Morey. “We met in middle school. I transferred to a new school. It was a private Christian school and I was not so into it. Drake was into Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, and he was one of my first friends at the new school. I went over to his house and he just had like hundreds of recordings of electronic music that he made,” Fox recalls. In a way, Morey served as Fox’s musical guru, introducing him to classic rock music and the recording arts. After dabbling in making music with Morey, Fox eventually met bassist Tom Garvey at a White Elephant party, where Garvey received Fox’s gift of a monkey carved out of a coconut. “Then I found out that he liked Radiohead and we’ve been friends ever since,” Fox added. Eventually, Fox also connected with drummer Dario Velazquez in high school when they both joined the lacrosse team. “ I saw him play drums in the school band and he was amazing,” Fox says. “We started playing garage rock in Dario’s garage ten years ago. Just Tom, Dario and I. Then it grew larger, Drake joined. We had a ten piece band in high school...we were just trying to be Arcade Fire. We wanted to make the kind of music that inspired us to make music in the first place.”

The long-term friendship between all four band members meant they definitely had a similar goal in mind and connected through their influences, but Fox says, “When I listen back to the [first] record today, it sounds like two different records, there’s side A and side B. Side A is definitely more of the reckless side, like garage party music stuff we were doing before. Whereas the second half is much more self reflective and contemplative side. I think when you work on something long enough you just have to take a serious look at yourself. It seemed like a lot of that first record was done as a joke. They’re silly songs, joking songs.”

Nowadays, in addition to the more direct, cohesive theme of introspection Fox wanted their sophomore album to have, he also approached some of the songwriting with very specific intentions. For example, the lead single “Pictures of Herself” stemmed from one of Fox’s personal relationships, as well as his self-proclaimed love/hate relationship with Lana Del Rey. When he started to work on the debut single for Lullabies for the Restless, Fox said he had just listened to a Lana Del Rey B-side called “Never Let Me Know.” “I kind of dig her, but also it’s hard not to scoff at everything she does. That song ‘Never Let Me Go,’ I just felt like so irritated by it, so the first line of [‘Pictures of Herself’] is ‘She never says don’t let me go because she thinks I won’t.’ The idea of this was to make like an antithesis of a Lana Del Rey song. It was me responding to a Lana Del Rey Tumblr singer.” Fox says after the initial idea fell into place, the song took a very long time to piece together, mostly because it involved a storyline about current events in his life— sometimes events that hadn’t fully played out yet. “I wrote the first verse and then I didn’t know what to do, then I wrote the second verse, then once I had those two pieces I was like how do I merge these together? Part of this album is it’s written in the moment… it’s all very in the moment. A lot of these songs are hard to finish because I don’t know the end of the story. I’m living this story.” For the second part of the single, Fox says he was scrolling through Facebook and saw a picture of his ex-girlfriend. "I saw a picture of her and that feeling of seeing somebody moved on with their life, while you’re just kind of stuck in your own anxiety and depression, that’s the feeling that I was capturing. With this song it’s like the first verse is attacking and antagonizing, then the second verse turns the mirror back on myself. Like you’re judging someone for taking pictures of themselves while you’re looking at the pictures and being annoyed and angry. It’s like you obviously have some of your own ego and headspace that you need to work on.” As for the final verse of the song, Fox leaves that one open-ended, saying that he prefers to keep a little bit to the imagination and allow listeners to have their own interpretations.

Along with a more thorough approach to the songwriting for this record, the band also stepped up their game with their recording process. “We met with a couple of different producers and there was one guy Caleb Harris, he runs SonWaves Studio out of his basement. I was at a party and I had heard one of the songs that he produced. I was like wow this sounds amazing, and I was telling him I wanted to make a lo-fi garage album. He was like ‘Well, go do it yourself then. If you want to make a lo-fi album, you’re not gonna do it with me. If you want to make something sound good, then record it with me.’ So he just like instantly started fighting with me,” Fox says, adding “That’s how I like to work with people. I like to butt heads!” Working with a seasoned producer with a strong vision not only allowed the band to challenge themselves as artists, but it also allowed for the band to take their time and work at a natural pace. In order to even afford recording in the studio, the band had to space out their sessions, and that lent to a more natural, fleshed out recording process that lasted for more than a year. “We recorded everything live initially with [Harris] in the basement studio, then did overdubs with him,” Fox says. “Then Drake and I recorded a lot of the synths and guitars and everything outside of the studio.” As a day job, Fox happens to work in the recording studio inside Hanover Park Library, which turned out to be very handy when recording the finishing touches on their own. “I recorded a bunch of cello and flute with one of the guys from our high school band. I also recorded our vocals in the library because there’s a soundproof booth.I work in the library all week and then on my days off I would come into the library and record.” Other finishing touches include sounds of trains, whispers, and random synth sounds Morey recorded on his phone. “We just combined that in a bunch of ways to make it sound cohesive. It was a very slow, organic process which I was very happy with,” Fox says.

Overall, Fox says that his hiatus and the steady pace of this record completely made the project more enjoyable, and produced something that he can be proud of. “After that [Lincoln Hall] show, I took a four month break from playing music. I didn’t even touch a guitar, and when I came back to it, I had a whole new life. I was able to finish the record, I was able to finish the title track of the album, the very last track on the record. It sort of serves as an epilogue to everything, and I had enough gear and experience from working as an audio engineer at that point to be able to not have to go to the studio, but to record it myself. The direction of the record after that time took a much more organic feel, and I think that if I would have stuck to my previous headspace and mindset, not only would I have totally burnt out, it would have been a much more angry and rigid record. As opposed to blossoming into this more much more positive and organic thing.”

---

The record Lullabies for the Restless will be released in October via Midwest Action, along with a record release show at Sleeping Village on Sunday, October 20th. Get your tickets here and keep up with Harvey Fox on Facebook // Twitter // Instagram

A Chat With: BANNERS

Liverpool bred singer-songwriter and musician Michael Joseph Nelson, AKA BANNERS, boasts an impressively dynamic catalog. From sweeping, cinematic choruses, addictive melodies, and goosebump-inducing falsettos, his music carries it all. Music has been a huge part of Nelson's life for a long time, from his musically-inclined family to his participation in the Liverpool Cathedral Choir, his work as BANNERS has been a long time coming. We recently caught up with the life-long musician to chat about his latest EP Empires On Fire, his writing process, his upcoming appearances at some major festivals, and what else we can expect from him this year. Keep reading and get to know BANNERS now!

Photo courtesy of BANNERS

ANCHR Magazine: As I understand it, you come from a musical family and your dad has even worked with Coldplay! What was your first memory of wanting to play music yourself when you were younger?

BANNERS: I don’t ever remember it being a decision really. Just something I was always going to do. That sounds like a cliche but I think that’s how it works. There’s so many ups and downs to a career in music that I think you need that certainty, the lows would be unbearable otherwise. I grew up with music everywhere, my mum plays loads of instruments, my Dad is a record producer and I sang in choirs from a really young age. Music just gets in you until it’s just the thing you do. I remember going to see my Dad in the studio and him showing me how the desk worked, how you could isolate a vocal or bring a guitar up in a mix and it totally blowing my mind. I’ve always been fascinated by recording studios. The idea of spending a day recording and by the end of the day a thing that didn’t exist before now does. I always thought that was magical. Still do!

AM: Can you talk a little bit about the writing and recording process for your Empires on Fire EP? Do you have any specific musical or non-musical influences that you saw pull through in your writing for this project, or that you felt inspired the songs?

BANNERS: Well the different parts came together over quite a long period of time. The title track “Empires on Fire” has been done for about a year and a half. Which has been good because in that time I’ve been able to play it live and test it out on audiences. You really start to get a good understanding of the song that way I think. Then when it comes to mixing it you’ve got a much clearer vision of how it should sound. I really like that song so i’m really happy that people can finally hear it! I wrote “Someone to You” with a friend of mine called Sam Hollander. I’d been in LA doing a month of writing sessions with people. The session with Sam was the very last session before I flew back to Toronto and we wrote the best song of the whole lot. It’s always a massive relief when you get something good. Writing can be so hit and miss and when you’ve got a record label waiting to hear new songs there’s a lot of pressure.

AM: You’re from Liverpool, but currently live in Toronto, right? What are some of your favorite aspects of each city, and do you think both locations have influenced your songwriting and sound in a way?

BANNERS: Yeah I live in Toronto but Liverpool will always be home. Liverpool is a city with a real sense of itself, of it’s own identity. It’s confident and defiant. It has that mix of people and cultures that only port cities can really have. I wouldn’t want to be from anywhere else in the world. And of course that informs you’re writing. Loads of my songs are about the sea! Really, your influences are a culmination of every experience you’ve ever had and nearly all of my life so far was spent in Liverpool. Toronto is great too and I’m so fortunate to have ended up here. It’s been so supportive of me and my music. Canadians are naturally quite self deprecating so they’d never admit it but Toronto has a claim to be one of the great music cities in North America, there’s so much great music being made here by so many talented people that it can’t help but rub off on you.

AM: In general do you have any sort of rituals or habits that you use to get into a songwriting flow?

BANNERS: I think it’s just a case of doing it regularly. It’s like a muscle, the more you work it the stronger it becomes. If you take a break from it, like if you go on tour or something, when you get back you feel really rusty. I like writing with other people that I trust and being totally open to their input. It’s easy to get stuck in your own little rut with songwriting so writing with other people keeps things fresh.

AM: I hear you’re big into football/soccer! Any other hobbies or interests of yours that your fans might be surprised about?

BANNERS: Liverpool Football Club are my darlings. I spend too much time agonising over those lads. Honestly their ability to shape how I feel for an entire week after a match is horrifying. I read a lot (god, so pretentious). Music is one of those professions where it can be really hard to give your brain a break. I suppose all creative endeavours are like that. You’re always thinking of melodies or lyrics, or stressing over a release or whatever, so I find reading a really good way to relax. I just finished “On the Road” by Jack Kerouac for the millionth time so I’m not sure what to start next. 1984 might be a good fit for the Orwellian nightmare we all seem to be inhabiting.

AM: Who are some of your favorite up and coming bands at the moment, or albums that you’ve had on repeat lately?

BANNERS: I’m heading out on tour soon and I’ve invested some money in some stage production stuff. I’ve spent the last few months programming lights so i’ve been watching a lot of live sets for inspiration. These are in no way up and coming but I’ve been watching a lot of Bon Iver live, there’s one gig on Youtube (I think it’s in Cork in Ireland if anyone wants to check it out) that I’ve honestly watched every day for the last month). I’ve been listening to The National a lot recently I’m a bit late to the party but I’ve really gotten into War on Drugs. The band, not the disastrous foreign policy.

AM: This year you’ll be performing at Firefly Festival and Hangout Fest, and the lineups are insane! Are you already planning any special surprises for your sets at the festivals?

BANNERS: Haha! Surprises? Like what? No, I’m just going to try to play my songs to the best of my ability. Maybe that’s a surprise. It doesn’t bode well for my general reputation if it is!

AM: Who else on the Firefly and Hangout lineups are you hoping you get the chance to watch?

BANNERS: I’m looking forward to seeing Arctic Monkeys, I believe they haven’t played live since 2014 so it’d be good to see what those lads have been up to. Man, I love festivals. They’re so much fun to play and then you get to hang out with loads of people that really like music. They’re a great opportunity to watch how other singers do it, how they act on stage and how other bands put their shows together. And then steal all the best ideas and pretend you came up with them!

AM: Besides the festivals, what are your tour plans this year?

BANNERS: I’ll be touring North America in the spring and then I’ll be announcing more stuff throughout the year.

AM: Any other goals for 2018?

BANNERS: Oh man, I just want to get to the end of it without the world imploding. Honestly I just want to get better and singing and playing and writing. Hopefully release a bunch more music and play live to a load more people!

---

Keep up with BANNERS on social media and listen to Empires on Fire in full below!

Facebook // Twitter // Instagram

A Track by Track with Tenderfoot

Yesterday, the bi-coastal four piece, Tenderfoot, who hail from Seattle and Brooklyn, put out their debut full length record. In celebration of their dream-folk album Break Apart, lead vocalist Adam Kendall Woods put together a track by track, detailing the story and process behind each song on the record. Hit play on each track and read what Woods has to say about them all below!

Photo By Noah Fecks

Break Apart

Break Apart starts with a heart-beating pulse of keys. Originally a quiet, slow song I penned quickly in a moment of emotional upheaval, Break Apart was fleshed out over a few months and eventually speeds up in the outro. This song is the cornerstone of the album. I think a song is “good” when it teaches you something about yourself while creating it. What started out as a break-up song became a slow realization that to ‘break apart’ is what we all do. It’s what will happen to every single bond, thought, job, relationship, joy, and part of your body. Life becomes one long hello blurring into one long goodbye. And that’s how the song ends, with the repetition of the word “goodbye”. We thought it was important to start the album with a song that succinctly said, “Hello, I am here, I am feeling pain after so much pleasure, and so are you, now it is time to say goodbye”. The rest of the album fleshes out this experience in more detail.

32 Years

I wrote this song a week before my 32nd birthday. The song is about the slow road to getting to know yourself, and looking back at the touchstones that changed you while acknowledging that “the sculpture of your face has changed”. As a queer man, I was very buttoned-up and conservative in love and pleasure in my twenties. After I turned 30, my feelings towards sex and love and abundance started to open up for the better. I was more experimental with my relationships, but still nostalgic for my past. I think that’s part of life: hovering over all of your past selves and feeling everything over and over. Being haunted by those feelings. Having the desire to reach down and move the selves of your past around for the better, while also trying to be “perfect” in your current life. I am slowly learning to let go and allow myself to be a vessel for what the universe has to offer, and know wholeheartedly that’s it’s a lot more than you think you deserve. The song ends in that realization of abundance, a release from the militaristic drum beat pervasive since the song’s beginning.

Give It A Rest

When I lived on the road for a year with my partner, we were traveling in a VW Rabbit pickup truck. Though adorable, and great on gas, it was over 30 years old and prone to break-downs and overheating. We would know there was about to be a problem because the air would get hot in the cab, and the gas pedal would push back against your foot. We were towing a vintage camper trailer behind us, and our truck really wasn’t keen on that. So, we would pull over on the side of the road and give it a rest. As my partner and I’s relationship started to deteriorate towards the end of our trip, it became clear to me the truck was a metaphor for us. In San Francisco, we decided to part ways and he headed back to our old home of Ann Arbor, MI. I kept the truck in the city for a while, but as most folks know, that city literally eats vehicles for breakfast, and I had to let it go. A few years later, I got to further explore the extended metaphor of the truck through this song. Give It A Rest rolls along in a repetitive and entwined way, with the drums building the mountain roads we travelled over. The keys are restrained here and offer little solace. Darcey Zoller’s cello really cuts in this song, becomes an emotional knife, and a second voice for me to tangle with. We worked on how our parts would interact for many sessions, looking to some of the obsessive tangles Philip Glass composed for strings in The Hours for inspiration.

Getting There

Getting There started as a stoned collaboration between myself and Gabriel Molinaro, our keyboard player. I asked him if he had ever listened to Laurie Anderson’s “O Superman” and he had not. We listened to it together in our practice space and then started composing a melody inspired by the electronic flute pieces that flutter in and out in a repetitive and clinical way. From there we jammed and created all sorts of interlocking melodies that we gave to Darcey for inspiration for her cello pieces. It all came alive when Jude brought in her thunderous drums. Her intuition for rhythm is impeccable, and once we had that backbone to stick things to, everything fell into place. But what the fuck was it? We had never written a song like this before. We expanded it, we tailored it, we ran it over and over again. The song is a soaring landscape, an experimental and jazzy piece, with rivers of cello that flow in and out. After the piece was composed, I wrote a short abstract poem based on the work of multimedia artist Erin Frost and laid it over the song. This is my favorite piece to play live, because we all have to watch each other intensely for our dynamic cues. I usually end up with my back fully to the stage, since I don’t have much to sing, and it feels like we’re in our practice space, just with people watching.

Semiprecious Life

A few years ago I lived in an apartment above Eric Anderson, better known as Cataldo. He had a big house party one night and invited me down to have a few drinks. After a couple beers and some intense conversations, I started to have an existential moment that I needed to document immediately. I pulled out my journal and wrote more than half of the lyrics to Semiprecious Life right there in his house. “The salt in your wound, it feels so good” pretty much summed up my life back then. I live with depression and anxiety, and back then I didn’t address it. I take medication now and have an awesome therapist, but back then I would dwell on the saddest moments of life in a very intense way. I wouldn’t leave my room for days at a time. Those days can sometimes be great for songwriting, but when they stack up to you not being able to live your life, it’s time to get some help. I did, and I’m here. This song is about dealing with those moments of extreme depression. The atmospheric textures in this song were pulled from the bleed of construction noises during our recording session. Our engineer and producer Aaron Schroeder weaved them in instead of trying to mask them, or re-record. We wanted to document Seattle’s changing landscape, one marked mostly by new condo and apartment developments demolishing and pushing out older homes and businesses. Aaron’s studio is now a posh bar that caters to Seattle’s newest residents.

PALMS

PALMS started out as a fun band jam to bliss out to between practicing more narrative material. We'd been listening to a lot of Lower Dens and loved how Jana's band would take a jam to an almost meditative place. Jude, our drummer, comes from a punk and garage rock background, and really led the charge on this one. After we felt we had some solid garage-y repetition happening, I started writing a lyrical poem about being young in the city. "Darling take it easy/ cause my garden doesn't feed me/ Like I want it, like I taught, like I ever could depend upon it...Something in the city/ takes advantage of your beauty/ All the moments, all your minutes, all the overwhelming golden ivy..." I'd been thinking a lot about my twenties and all the hooks and snares a person gets trapped in because they are young and yearn to be a part of something. Entire industrial empires run on that type of naïveté, and I think it takes some distance from that time period to really see it. Gabe started calling the tune PALMS because he thought it felt beachy. I dug the name because of the double-entendre of open hands asking for something, so it stuck.

Something Else

When I wrote this song, I was in the middle of a co-dependent relationship. I was beginning to really understand what this meant, and how similar it can feel to substance abuse. “I cannot be myself without a little something else” was the line that galvanized everything. Drugs, alcohol, fights, sex; it was all the “something else” I needed to exist, that made me feel like I was alive. I knew when I brought the song to the band that it was going to be a hard one to share and to flesh out. We decided to leave it mostly raw, adding in the rest of the instrumentation late in the song for a drastic sonic contrast and bombastic outro. The song feels unbalanced the way a life can, when you start to feel out-of-control. At Laundry Room studios, Aaron had us play all of our parts over and over again for the ending, so he could weave and stitch everything together. Darcey’s cello part dives into a harmonic minor scale that taps into the darkness of the lyrical content.

Other Side of Love

“Take me to the other side of love, and what you’re afraid of. The softening of bones until we’re gone, and all we are made of.” As I get older, I think more about the potential of the other side of a romantic relationship. When youth wanes, as the emotional and physical needs of you and your partner’s bodies become more and more pressing, how does this affect your happiness? Over the course of writing and recording the album, I had been teaching myself to play piano. This was the first full song I composed on keys. I decided it needed to be a solo piece, just myself and the grand piano in Hall of Justice, a recording studio in Seattle. Aaron and I worked on the production to make sure it evoked an equal amount of warmth and loneliness. The song was the last piece written for the album, and takes me into my late 30’s. We thought it was the  perfect piece to end on, as it closes a chapter of life and opens a new type of wondering.

Keep up with Tenderfoot on Social Media below:

Facebook // Twitter // Instagram

A Chat With: Modern Me

We recently caught up with San Diego's Modern Me to chat all about their brand new single "Dead To Me," which was released last week. The single, which was produced by The Colourist's Adam Castilla, is the first dose of the group's new material. The tune shows Modern Me diving into more emotional territory, putting their own spin on influence they pulled from some of our indie rock favorites like The Killers, Young The Giant, and Joywave. Tune into our chat with Modern Me now to find about more about their process, who they'd love to work with, and what they hope to get up to in 2018!

Photo Courtesy of Modern Me

ANCHR Magazine: When did you guys all meet and decide to form Modern Me?

Modern Me: Some of us have known each other since Jr. High and some since high school. We have definitely done some life together.  We decided to form Modern Me because we love alternative rock and we want to play it together the rest of our lives.

AM: Who do you consider to be some of your biggest influences, both on your writing style and on your stage presence?

MM: We’re heavily influenced by band such as The Killers, Muse, Death Cab for Cutie and Young the Giant. We love the way Coldplay throws a show, so much energy and quality fall out of their shows.

AM: For your new material, I heard that you all tried to dive into more personal and vulnerable territory. Was it challenging to open up in that way? On the flip side, what have you found rewarding about getting more personal with your writing?

MM: A lot of people have challenges and diving into each others and trying to get a song out everyone is definitely not easy. We know each other really well considering we have been friends for so many years but writing sessions that go into depth about the dark places some of us go to and trying to capture on a page can get rough. The more personal these songs become, the more attached we become to them. It’s like melody incarnate.

AM: How would you sum up the sound of your new material in 3 words, for people who haven’t heard it?

MM: Dark, Rough and strong.

AM: How was it working with Adam Castilla, and what other producers would you love to work with in the future?

MM: Adam Castilla has become an amazing friend to us. Working with a producer is essentially hiring another band member to work on those songs and we’re proud to have worked with him. Throw us in a room with Rich Costey, Jack Antonoff or Rostam Batmanglij and we know some gold would rise out of that room.

AM: I also love the video for “Dead To Me.” How did you come up with the video concept, and how was the experience of making it? Any interesting stories from behind the scenes of the shoot?

MM: I’ve imagined disrupting the date of an ex-girlfriend and I thought let’s try to capture that and see what happens. Initially for this video we wanted to shoot gorilla style. Setting up all of our instruments in the front yards of band members past relationships, without any forewarning and playing "Dead To Me" until they walked out and said something so we could capture genuine responses. We thought we’d just play it safe and sit in beamers and rot in motel rooms together instead.

AM: Who are some of your favorite new bands at the moment?

MM: Hippo Campus, The War On Drugs, The Wombats, Bear Hands, Saint Motel, James Vincent McMorrow.

AM: Do you have any plans to hit the road this year, and which cities would you love to play in?

MM: We don’t have plans as of right now. We definitely want to hang out with some fans on Phoenix AZ.

AM: What are your goals for the rest of 2018? 

MM: To quit our day jobs.

---

There you have it. Keep up with Modern Me on social media below!

Facebook // Twitter // Instagram

A Chat With: Cut Worms

The brainchild of Max Clarke, Cut Worms combines a lo-fi process with timeless, harmonious vocals reminiscent of 1960's singer songwriters, the storytelling element of folk music, and a touch of psych rock. Following the October release of his debut EP Alien Sunset via Jagjaguwar Records, Clarke and his bandmates will be coming to Chicago next week to perform as part of the annual TNK Fest. The show acts as a homecoming of sorts, as Clarke attended Columbia College here in the city, but now resides in Brooklyn. For more on what you can expect from his set at Tomorrow Never Knows, what's in the books for 2018, the biggest lesson he learned at Columbia, and more, tune into our chat with Cut Worms now!

Photo Credit: Caroline Gohlke

ANCHR Magazine: So starting off, what was your first musical memory from when you first got into music?

Cut Worms: My first musical memory would probably be just singing along to stuff on the radio as a kid. Or listening to my dad’s CDs that I found, like his Bruce Springsteen’s Greatest Hits.

AM: Did that then inspire you to want to make music yourself?

Cut Worms: Yeah, in a sort of subliminal way that I didn’t really recognize yet. But I didn’t really start thinking about that I wanted to try to make music until I was 12 probably. Two of my uncles played guitar, and at family gatherings I would see them play, and just wanted to be able to do that.

AM: Nice, so then you started making music as Cut Worms when you were at Columbia College right?

Cut Worms: Right, I’ve been writing my own stuff, or trying to, since I was in middle school or high school. I didn’t ever actually get my own band or anything together until the end of college.

AM: Nice, I went to Columbia too!

Cut Worms: What did  you go for?

AM: Music Business, what was your major?

Cut Worms: Mine was illustration.

AM: What do you think was the most valuable lesson you learned from going to Columbia? Did you take anything away about the music business, even though that wasn’t your major?

Cut Worms: Not really as far as music, but it did give me a sense of developing a process for my work, whether that was illustration or music. Imposing deadlines on yourself, and I had some good professors there in the illustration department who were illustrators or cartoonists....Especially in Chicago, they tend to be kind of dark people. They just like sit inside all the time and draw, but they have really good work ethic. So I always admired that and took that away from them.

AM: For sure. I was reading a little bit about your writing process and that you’d try to release two songs a month online, so it seems that you definitely took that process away. So what were some of your favorite responses after you released your debut EP, Alien Sunset?

Cut Worms: It was just nice to get responses from people all over the place. Especially since signing with Jagjaguwar and them putting it out, they have a much wider reach obviously. So getting like a message from somebody in Norway saying that they were into it, that’s pretty wild to me.

AM: So where did you pull influences from for the songs on that EP? Did you look to other art forms like visual arts or films and what not?

Cut Worms: Yeah, my girlfriend and I always watch a lot of movies and TV shows, so I’m sure a lot of that is in there. I don’t really know where anything comes from. It’s kind of like listening to the news and getting angry, and trying to deal with it.

AM: Do you have a particular story about any of the songs on the EP and the process behind how it came together?

Cut Worms: I kind of just did it as I went along. I didn’t think about it too much before hand. “Curious Man,” that song on there, was the only one that I kind of had an idea and kind of wanted it to be like a sci-fi ghost story thing. That’s kind of one of the only times I’ve tried to write a certain type of song.

AM: So you’re originally from Ohio, and now you’re based in Brooklyn after living in Chicago. Do you find yourself pulling influence from the location you’re based in, and does it affect your writing habits?

Cut Worms: Oh yeah. Living in different places...I guess, since living in New York, I’ve started traveling a lot more than I ever did before. Even just to go home for holidays and stuff, just driving a lot. You kind of get more of a sense of the differences between different places and the atmosphere and the vibe. Just the pace of life. That was always kind of just like a meaningless cliche to me, but it really is kind of true.

AM: What are some of your favorite parts of the Brooklyn music scene, compared to Chicago?

Cut Worms: I don’t know. I’ve never really felt like I was part of a scene per se. In Chicago I guess I kind of was. There’s a garage rock scene there, at least there was...I think there still is. I was in a garage/punk band there and that kind of got me...that was the first band I was ever in. I’d never really experienced what it was to be in a scene before that. Since moving to New York, I don’t go out that much. I’ll go see my friends’ bands.

AM: Do you have any favorite NYC venues?

Cut Worms: To play at, yeah. Any of the bigger ones. It’s always good to play places with good sound, like Music Hall of Williamsburg. We got to open for The Growlers one time at Webster Hall. After spending years of just playing in shitty bars, not really being able to hear yourself, or when you could hear it, you know that it sounds bad...it’s just kind of depressing. So finally getting to play places where they know what they’re doing with sound, and they make you sound better. It’s more exciting to play, and I think it feeds off each other. Some of the places I like to go see shows are like Union Pool. Small rooms like that are cool.

AM: Nice, what about some of your favorite bands? You mentioned you like to go see your friends’ bands, so anyone you want to shout out?

Cut Worms: Yeah, EZTV. John Andrews and the Yawns. He actually plays in my band now. People from Woods. This band called Pavo Pavo. The guy Oliver is a good friend of mine who I met by playing shows with him. He moved out to LA, but when I met him he was a Brooklyn band.

AM: So speaking so playing live, you’ll be coming out to Chicago to play Tomorrow Never Knows Fest. What’s your live set up usually?

Cut Worms: So I play guitar, and then John Andrews plays keyboards and also sings harmonies. It’s really exciting for me to finally get someone to sing with, who’s good and gets it. Then Jarvis from Woods is gonna be playing bass with me, and my friend Noah Bond, he plays with a bunch of different people, he plays drums. It’ll be just a four piece, and that’s been the set up lately. Occasionally if I can pin him down, I’ll have my friend John, he plays in a ton of other bands, so he’s not always available. But it’s always good to have him when I can.

AM: For sure. Do you get to stick around and see any of the other bands playing TNK Fest?

Cut Worms: I’ll stick around for that night, but we’re flying back to New York the next day. The day after that we have a show at Brooklyn Steel with Allah Lahs. We need to get a rehearsal in since that’s a pretty big venue.

AM: Anyone on the line up that you’re into, if you got a chance to check it out?

Cut Worms: I’m getting to play with my friend, the band opening for us, Cafe Racer. One of the guys in the band used to play bass for me when I lived in Chicago. I know Sonny and the Sunsets are cool, so I’m pretty psyched on the show that I’m playing. I can’t remember, I know I was looking at the line up.

AM: Yeah your show is pretty stacked though, you have a good lineup! Do you have any other artists that you look up to in terms of stage presence, or anyone else you’d love to share the stage with?

Cut Worms: There’s a lot of people who I admire for their stage presence. I feel like I’ve never been that big of a...I don’t have that big of a presence. Or I don’t do a whole lot of moving around. I mean, The Lemon Twigs, who we’ve played with before, they have a pretty amazing stage presence. I admire that. I’ll probably never get there.

AM: What other goals do you have for 2018?

Cut Worms: I’m going to Europe for the first time in February so I’m excited about that. Then my record will be coming out in May. That will be like the first real release, and I’m excited to see what happens with that. I’m mainly trying to write new stuff.

AM: What can you tell us about the album?

Cut Worms: I just want it to speak for itself and for people to take what they want from it.

---

Grab your tickets here to Cut Worms show at TNK Fest to make sure you don't miss out...5 day passes are now sold out! Listen to Alien Sunset in full below to get ready for the show!

Liquidlight's Guitar Solo Guide

Portland four piece Liquidlight self-released their sophomore album Wicked Radio back in September, which blends together influences of shoegaze, grunge, and garage rock. In honor of their new album, we had the band put together a few of their favorite guitar solos that have shaped them both as musicians and music fans. From Jimi Hendrix to Jimmy Page, check out what Liquidlight has to say about legendary rockers and their guitar skills.  

Photo Courtesy of Liquidlight

---

Jimi Hendrix- "Machine Gun"

Jimi seems like an obvious choice for a list of great guitar solos. He absolutely changed the landscape for guitar playing even fifty years after the fact with great songwriting, innovative studio techniques, and unbelievable lead playing. Machine Gun sticks out as a favorite because it just comes soaring in like a rocket. He's obviously channeling from another place when he's going for it in this one. Sounds like a war zone captured live on stage. 

Frank Zappa- "Inca Roads"

Frank has always been a huge influence for us in everything he did, but much of the time it seems like he get's overlooked as a guitarist. The solo in Inca Roads is fantastic from start to finish with phrasing like no other, dynamic peaks and valleys, and not to mention a top notch rhythm section that can turn on a dime. Oh, did we mention that this was recorded live? What a player.

David Gilmour (Pink Floyd)- "Time"

Gilmour was an early influence to many and we're no exception here. He's got some of the best phrasing in the game and solos that are so memorable that even non-musicians can sing along note for note. The solo in Time is just monumentally awesome... And on a record where every single second is monumentally awesome! He just makes every note speak volumes. 

Doug Gillard (Guided By Voices)- "I am a Tree"

In a band like Guided by Voices that has great songs but isn't generally known for super technical musicianship, Doug Gillard brings a lot of flair to the table. He's a fantastic part writer of leads that fit behind and between vocal lines and really compliment the overall arrangement. Robert Pollard even liked his song "I am a Tree" so much that he elected to include it on Doug's first album with the band, which is a high honor for anybody. He shreds so hard on this one!!!

Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin)- "Good Times, Bad Times"

Although Jimmy Page was a in-demand session musician before and during his stint with the Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin's self titled album would be his first album with a band as leader. The solo on this song has been a perennial favorite of ours with its screaming entrance and soaring Leslie speaker treatment. It always felt like some of these licks were a right of passage in younger years. If you could play this stuff then you were the shit. What a way to kick off a career!

---

Lastly, listen to Liquidlight's album in full below, and check out their Facebook page for all the latest updates!

A Chat With: Farebrother

If you're looking for your next favorite rock band, look no further than Farebrother. Hailing from Bath, England, the quartet combines driving guitar riffs, boisterous sing-a-long choruses, and dynamic drum beats to craft their own refreshing style. Composed of Tom Hunt, Michael Vowell, Matt Day, and Owen Stephens, the band have just released their new single "Rewind" earlier this month, which served as a follow up to 2016's Rapture EP. As the group are gearing up to release even more new tunes, we chatted with with Tom, Michael, and Owen about the direction they're headed, UK Festivals, their favorite new bands...and even their hidden talents. Get to know more about the band and what's next for them in our chat with Farebrother!

Photo Courtesy of Farebrother

---

ANCHR Magazine: When did each of you first get into writing and playing music, and how did you all come together to form Farebrother?

Tom Hunt: Well, myself and Michael (Lead guitar) have been writing and playing together since we were about 13 or 14. Matt (Drums) and Owen (Bass) have also been playing from a very young age individually, but it was only until, through another band, that myself and Michael met Matt. From then, after that former band had dissolved, we created Farebrother. Then about a year or so down the line, we'd heard from Owen who then made Farebrother the four-piece that it is today.

AM: Who and what are some of your biggest influences, both musically and non-musically?

Michael Vowell: Musically, I've always been a massive fan of The Eagles. Aesthetically, I really Ken Loach's films.
Tom Hunt: I'm a big film enthusiast, so I get a lot of good inspiration from film dialogue and soundtracks in particular.
Owen Stephen: I love The Maccabees, also a fan of Twin Atlantic... I've always tried to emulate people I like listening to in whatever I do really.

AM: What’s a fun fact about each of you that not many people know? Could be a hidden talent, a hobby, etc...

OS: I've been on a West End stage in full body lycra suit hahaha!
TH: I used to be, and still technically am, a tennis coach haha! So if you need a few tips from anyone in the band, I'm your guy.
MV: I really wish I had something interesting about me... I'm struggling to think haha... I'm related to the drummer in Mott the Hoople? Is that good enough?

AM: You recently released new single “Rewind,” which I love! It’s the first release since your debut EP last year, so is this song just a preview of a lot more to come? What other teasers can you give about upcoming releases?

TH: It is definitely much more of a progressive step for us. And more music that is yet to be released is just a step forward from "Rewind", as "Rewind" was from the first EP. We're always striving to better ourselves, and we're very hard-working in that respect. The new music and tracks we've got lined up, hopefully to be released inside this year, are so much more developed than anything we've put out so far, in our eyes. We have a lot more up our sleeve and can't wait to show off our full potential.

AM: You recorded in Rockfield Studios, which has hosted some pretty legendary acts (Oasis, The Pixies, Royal Blood). How was it to work in that studio, and do you have any interesting stories from your time spent there?

TH: It was pretty incredible working there. All the history, all the stories... it was crazy. We had a great set of people there with us that really helped make the most of our time there, and you know, with all the mad things that you hear of coming from the studios there, in hindsight, we really contradicted that, haha! For the time that we spent there we really knuckled down and worked hard to get the most out of the track. I wish I could say that we had some crazy rock'n'roll stories to tell, but we were so taken by the place that we just wanted to get the most out of it we could really.

AM: If you could collaborate with anyone, who would you want to work with and why?

TH: That's a hard one... For us, it would have to be with someone who we'd want to be mates with afterwards, the collaboration would just be a means of getting to that point. Elton John maybe, he'd be a good guy to hang out with.

AM: Earlier in the month you shared a Spotify playlist of some of your favorite songs. Are there any other new bands or new albums out recently that you can’t stop listening to?

TH: A band called Neon Waltz have just released their debut album, I've watched them a couple times in the past, and yeah their record doesn't disappoint at all.
OS: Flyte's debut album is so great. Also the Queen's of the Stone Age's new album is amazing.
MV: Yeah I agree, Flyte's is a brilliant album for me.

AM: You’ve got a couple of gigs announced, but any plans for an upcoming tour?

TH: There's always opportunities and ideas in the pipeline for us, we like to be ahead of ourselves as much as we can. I can't really say whether or not we do, but I definitely wouldn't rule out another tour this year or early next year. It's just a matter of how things fall into place really, at the moment.

AM: Speaking of gigs, you’ve played a few festivals this summer, including Dot To Dot Festival. What were some highlights of the festivals you played?

TH: Yeah Dot to Dot was great this year, we had such a great crowd and it's definitely been one of out favorite gigs of the year so far, there was such a great energy on that day. Another good one for us was Tramlines in Sheffield. It was only our second gig in Sheffield and it's always ace to make our way up there. The venue we played was great and we were well received, more so than we could have imagined!

AM:If you could perform anywhere in the world, which venue or festival would be at the top of your list?

TH: For me, it has to be the Royal Albert Hall in London. It's such an extravagant and massive place. That would be incredible.
OS: Obviously it's Glastonbury for me, as it probably is for most. But also the Bristol Downs Festival, that would be great as it's such a huge one, and even more local than Glastonbury!
MV: Yeah definitely Pyramid Stage haha, might as well aim for the top!

---

Keep up with Farebrother on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. 

Listen to Farebrother's Looking To Friday playlist below!

A Chat With: Public

Public just wants to get to know you. In fact, even on their Facebook page, under the category "band interests," the only thing listed is "You." If you attended one of the trio's recent tour dates on their Sweet Lemonade Tour or follow them on other social media, you'll be quick to find out that's a genuine statement from them. 

As an unsigned band, Public have still managed to put out top quality recordings of their indie pop tunes over the years, full of sticky, sing-a-long choruses and upbeat melodies. They just have to work a lot harder to get those radio-ready songs out to their fans, old and new, but don't underestimate them. John Vaughn, Ben Lapps, and Matt Alvarado have never been more ready to roll up their sleeves and build their foundation from the ground up. After already opening for fellow Ohioans Twenty One Pilots and racking up more than a million Spotify plays on their song "Pretty Face," the band have already reaped some reward from their hard work, but their momentum only continues to grow. 

If you're looking for great music made by authentic musicians and even more genuine people, look no further than Public. In our chat with them last month, Vaughn, Lapps, and Alvarado have some fun revealing interesting facts about each other, but they also clearly communicate the message behind their music. In this interview, you'll not only find out Public's pet peeves and their last Google search, but you'll get an insider's perspective of their vision and their mission as a band. Get to know your new favorite band, Public, now. 

Public at Schubas Tavern last month

---

ANCHR Magazine: Let's start things off with some tour talk then. Since being in the van with each other, what have you learned are each others’ biggest pet peeves?

Matt Alvarado: Ben hates dabbing.

Ben Lapps: I don’t dab.

MA: So I dab just to bug him.

BL: Now it’s more of like a game between us. Matt dabs cause he knows I’ll roll my eyes, and then I roll my eyes cause he dabbed!

MA: I know for me, I hate when people put away my stuff.

John Vaughn: No, we’re supposed to say something for you!

Matt: Oh, you say for me?

JV: Matt hates when people move his stuff. Matt hates when something that he organized gets arranged a different way.

MA: Usually I’m very odd about where I put things. I could put my phone inside a refrigerator and I’d know exactly where it is. Someone could be like oh, this is Matt’s phone. In the fridge. I should give this to him, and then I’ll go back and be like where’s my phone?

BL: John identifies every single smell that he comes into contact with.

MA: That’s not a pet peeve!

BL: This is a very interesting thing.

MA: What annoys John?

BL: Smells, I think! 

JV: I’m very very descriptive. I really, really dissect a smell. I shout it to the band...

AM: You guys just did a tour diary video, part one. John you had said in it that you want people to come to the show and find something of value in the live show that you don’t have on the record. How do you arrange the songs then, or format the set? Is there anything you consciously do to add that value?

JV: I think from my perspective, we have a lot of little moments either in the beginning of a song, or in the middle of a song, or after the song where there’s space to add something that we think will highlight that song. I think it’s cool when someone does like a weird intro and then it goes into that song that you know. I think this is one of the first times where we’re crafting and building a set where we’ve tried to do a lot of that. We’ve got some instrumental jamming that we do that we haven’t done since we started. We kind of brought that back. Personally I love when a band can sound like their record, but I also like to go to a show and be surprised by the things they do. That’s the way I would describe it.

AM: Is there an artist that you think can do that really well? Like a show you’ve been to recently where you could pinpoint that?

BL: In my experience lately, the guy who’s doing that best is Jon Bellion. His live show is SO different than what’s on the record, just in like the most fun way. Have you seen his live show?

AM: Yes!

BL: His band is like just this incredible group of musicians and they just play, and they kill it. That’s my vote!

MA: I was just gonna say about the live set...a lot of the people who initially started liking us and our music is because we had fun onstage. I think that’s something that we can like really, really do onstage. We’re musicians first and foremost. A lot of what’s on the record is kind of compressed into a more pop format, where everything sounds a certain way and has a certain space. When we’re doing it live, John is a great guitarist, Ben is a great drummer, I’m a very okay bass player--

BL: He’s very good!

MA: We just have so much fun playing our instruments the way we want to play them. People resonate with that. They see we’re having fun and they wanna have fun too!

JV: Not to get too in depth on this one question, but just to add on what [Matt's] saying….On this tour, we’re musicians first. That’s how we were trained. We get a lot of joy from jamming and feeding off each other. Now what we’re really adding to this set is just engaging with the crowd a lot more. Even just these first few shows, it’s been a blast. That’s something you maybe get from our album, but it’s a nice change. It feels like the whole event is just collaborative with everybody. It’s like if we’re gonna have fun, we gotta all have fun! We’re gonna force you to have fun.

AM: Ok so shifting gears a little bit...If you could be stuck in a elevator with anybody, they could be famous, dead or alive, who would you pick?

MA: How long are you stuck?

AM: A couple hours, maybe. 

BL: Are you stuck just to have a conversation and then we get out, or do we want someone that can help us get out?

JV: I would say the guy who invented the elevator cause he’d probably know how to get out.

MA: Maybe Tom Cruise cause he’s in a lot of action movies.

AM: It could be someone you’d just want to have a conversation with too!

J: I might have a different answer later, but probably J. R. R. Tolkien. I just watched all of the Lord of the Rings movies again. All of them, they’re amazing. I hadn’t watched them in a while, and being older I think I took a lot more from them this time. I read into them a lot more. So I would love to just talk to the person who wrote all of that, and pick his brain.

MA: I think I’d pick my brother.

BL: I was gonna say my mom!

MA: We’ve been calling back and forth every two, three weeks, but it’d be nice to sit down and just talk. He’s also small so he wouldn’t take up a lot of space.

AM: So you guys are working hard as an unsigned band. I know a lot of bands now are gearing more towards being independent so they can have more control over their artistry. What do you guys see the pros and cons of being an unsigned artists, and the struggles and rewards come with it?

MA: I think our mindset has changed drastically from when we were first starting as a band. We just started working with new management. We have a new team. A lot of the cons I saw being an unsigned band are kind of pros. Just the organic growth that we’re going through now seems so much more up our alley as ways we want to grow as a band, than if we just got signed to a label and got funneled money. This tour that we’re doing is a perfect example, we’re doing all these stops that we haven’t hit or we haven’t hit in three years. We’re just seeing who enjoys our music, who’s heard of us before from maybe radio or Spotify. Then just growing through them instead of just having a song on a radio promotion. It just feels so much more genuine. To see these people face to face.

JV: I agree. Early on, I think with every band, the Golden Carrot is to get signed. When you’re young, sure whatever. You don’t even know what that means... You’re like heck yeah! I think Matt’s right. The past 6 months we’ve had a rebirth of the band. Building a completely new team that we’re super happy with, and the new music as well... it’s really given us a respect and a hunger to get to know the people that like our music. It’s not many people right now. So grinding like we are on the Sweet Lemonade Tour...it’s really fun cause like every person that comes out it’s like man, that person said yes tonight. They like that one song that they like however much to pay $10 to come see us in Chicago. That’s huge! It’s an opportunity now to let them know that. We make it a point to thank them. Also to what Matt said, if we had gotten signed early, and I’m not saying there’s only one way to do things once you get signed...but if we had been given an advance early, and they just shoved our songs on the radio, and we didn’t have to go through that trial by fire… it’d be like oh you have a song on radio, people are gonna hear you just because they’re in their cars. We didn’t get that. So we kind of had to find different and interesting ways to do that. It’s kind of like it builds character. It’s almost like when you’re a kid and your parents make you do a job or chores...there’s a reason you do that. I feel like that’s what it’s like.

AM: Yeah that’s exactly what I like about having my own blog! So on the same track of new music, Ben I saw on Twitter you had asked fans for new music recommendations. What are some of the favorite recommendations from your followers, or just songs you guys are already into at the moment?

BL: We listened to the new Sir Sly record. Especially like the first few tracks. That was really dope. Let me check what else…

MA: Someone brought up Skott!

JV: I’ve had a music crush on her for a while!

BL: Who’s the British guy everyone brought up?

JV: Simon Cowell?

BL: Young guy!

JV: Declan McKenna! It’s cool to see him doing well.

BL: Besides that...who else? I tried to listen to at least one song from everyone that recommended something.

AM: Yeah, that’s great you guys are open to that!

BL: Absolutely, I love swapping music recommendations. Everyone’s got a little bit of different taste, but odds are if you like our music, we’re gonna overlap at some point. You probably like the same things as us.

AM: While you have your phones out, what’s the last thing you Googled?

JV: I usually have weird stuff!

BL: “Video Juegos”-- Video Games in Spanish! Matt and I were talking about it, we couldn’t remember what the Spanish word for video games was!

JV: How did you do it so fast?

BL: I have the Google app!

JV: Oh- what the word “SKRT” means in Urban Dictionary...SKRT.

MA: Mine is Quincy Jones! It goes Rashida Jones...Rashida Jones' Dad...Quincy Jones.

BL: Really? They’re related? I didn’t know that!

AM: So if you guys formed a cover band, which band would you exclusively cover and what would you call it?

JV: I bet we could actually---and I don’t want to bring this up because I think it’s such an oversaturated thing with musicians to bring this up and laugh about it, but I think we could actually kill as a Nickelback cover band. I mean that seriously.

BL: He does a really funny-- it’s funny cause it’s so accurate-- Chad Kroeger impression.

JV: I think we would actually kill it

MA: What would our name be?

AM: Some pun on nickels or change?

JV: Pennyfront?

BL & MA (in unison): Pennyfront!

AM: Forget Nickelback, it’s all about Pennyfront! So if you weren’t making music, what would your dream job be?

BL: Baseball player.

JV: Acting!

BL: No wait, chef! Baseball chef. The chef for the Cincinnati Reds, and sometimes they’d let me play!

MA: I don’t know… I haven’t really thought about that. It used to be the other way around. I went to school for engineering and I wanted to be a musician. Now I’m a musician and I want to to go back to school for engineering. I’ve never thought about that! Probably some sort of athlete, but my body is broken so that dream died a long time ago.

AM: So what else are you guys looking forward to this year?

JV: I’m just excited to do more of exactly what we’re doing tonight. I just wanna keep touring. Because every show, there’s just something different--this is our first headlining tour, maybe that’s it. Maybe it’s just that simple, but it just really feels like we’re playing for keeps now. We’re really going for it and it’s really cool. I’m excited to literally keep going. I want to release new music and go tour off it again. I’m not looking for any shortcuts, or like a song to go viral. I just want to go meet the people that listen to us.

BL: And make like friend fans.

JV: Yeah, like make them feel like they want to really get behind what’s happening. We want to recognize that we can’t do it without them.

MA: I’m excited to see what comes out of the rest of these shows. Who comes to what shows...how many people. How many we’ve seen before, how many people are new. Stay off, recuperate for a month, then go right back on and see if the same people come out. See if anything grows, if anybody resonates with it. I think that’s gonna be our new route for a while now. Just headline a bunch of shows. I could not be more excited.

JV: It’s just like an adventure. It hasn’t necessarily felt like that in the past. There’s just something in the air.

---

Public still has one more date of their Sweet Lemonade Tour, but keep up with all future tour dates here, and listen to their EP Sweet Lemonade in full below!

Can't get enough of Public? Check out our review and photo gallery of their show at Schuba's last month here. 

A Chat With: RÓSA

The indie pop group RÓSA have been turning heads left and right lately, including that of another ANCHR favorite, Bishop Briggs. Based in Orange County, the trio have just released their sophomore EP in June, following their debut EP Gypsy Queen. For fans of LANY, MUNA, and Nightly, the Wasteful EP is full of guitar riffs and synth melodies that will be sure to get you grooving. We got to know more about the band by chatting with frontman Will Winters, including their dream collaboration and what's to come for them in the next year. Tune in and get to know your new favorite band now!

Photo Courtesy of RÓSA

---

ANCHR Magazine: When did you first get into writing and making music individually, and then how did the band form and start working together?

RÓSA:  I started writing in High School when I began learning the guitar. I was never interested in learning other people's songs, so instead I started writing my own. The band got together after meeting at a religious conference in college and we immediately connected and decided to work on stuff together. 

AM: I’m loving the new EP, Wasteful! I know it was recorded at HUM Studios in Santa Monica (which funnily enough, I’ve been there even though I live in Chicago!), but can you talk a little bit more about the songwriting and recording process?

RÓSA: Well, as it turns out, HUM doesn't exist anymore! Our producer has a studio in Malibu now. Working with Thrice Noble was very fun--we love him. I wrote our first EP on an acoustic guitar, but this time I wrote on tracks the guys sent me, as well as stuff I did independently. It was a very different process. Noble is also extremely meticulous, which only helped us learn more from working with him.

AM: Last year you guys also had a residency at the Wayfarer in Costa Mesa. How did that opportunity come around, and what were some highlights of the residency?

RÓSA: That came about after we showed Eric, the talent buyer, our music. We opened one show so he would be sure we didn't suck or something, and then we did it. The residency was a great way to introduce the band to our community. We had all our friends play with us on the bill show to show. That was the highlight, for sure. As we move forward with our music and business, looking back at the residency at The Wayfarer will always feel like our "start".

AM: What do you consider to be some of the pros and cons of being a band on the rise in such a saturated city like Los Angeles? Any advice for new musicians trying to stand out?

RÓSA: That's a hard question. The main pro is that there is always another band to be challenged by. But that's also a con, I suppose. I think LA is incredibly inspiring and we feel lucky to be here. My advice is to do and be exactly who you want to be. You will want to be like this band or that band and everyone will try to make money off you, telling you to sound like whatever is hitting at the time. Or they will ask you for songs that sound more like "singles". Bottom line: Just make whatever you want and act and dress however you want and hope a large enough number of people connect with it to make you rich. 

AM: Who are some of your favorite new bands coming out of LA at the moment?

RÓSA: That's hard, too. I don't know anything new. But there's a band called Ruby Haunt that is amazing. A band called Midnight Faces put out an amazing record called Blue Haze recently. We have friends in a band called LA Qoolside and they are the future. Our pals in Roah Summit are absolutely amazing and their writing inspires and pushes us to be better. That's all I got. 

AM: What’s another hobby or hidden talent that each of you have?

RÓSA:  We have no hidden talents. I'm sorry to disappoint on this question. We all love basketball? I think it would surprise some people how much game we got. But I think people with game don't refer to it as "game" anymore, so you can't trust me. 

AM: Bishop Briggs just tweeted about you guys which is amazing! What was your reaction to seeing that tweet?

RÓSA:  She's incredible. It was very nice of her. She's gunna be the biggest pop star out there in a few years, so it was validating. 

AM: If you could collaborate with any artist, who would you like to work with?

RÓSA:  There are so many! Probably an older artist like Paul McCartney or Stevie Nicks or Neil Finn of Crowded House. But if forced to choose someone recent, we'd choose Devonté Hynes, Frank Ocean, or Bon Iver or something. Are we cliché enough? 

AM: What else is RÓSA looking forward to this year? Any plans for a tour?

RÓSA: We are going to release more music within the next few months so that's the most immediate thing! But yes, we will be touring in 2018 and are hoping to have a full length record for everyone by then! 

---

While you patiently wait for a RÓSA tour and more music from the trio, listen to their latest EP Wasteful below, and keep up with them on Facebook!

A Chat With: Upright Man

Blending elements of 1960's rock and roll and more modern alternative music, NYC rockers and college buddies Upright Man name everyone from Pink Floyd to Radiohead as influences. Listening to both the first and the newest singles "Upright Man" and "Animals," you can pinpoint snapshots of these influences threaded throughout their songs. Prior to the release of their self-titled debut album, the New York City trio chatted with us about the inspiration behind their creativity, their new music, and the best spots to catch music in NYC. The 10 track album is expected to arrive mid-August, and you can get ready by pre-ordering it and getting to know the upright men Aidan Dolan (guitar/vocals), Nick Katz (bass/vocals) and Max Yassky (percussion/background vocals) now!

Photo Credit: SLOANE MORRISON

ANCHR Magazine: You three actually met while studying classical composition at New York University. How do you feel that your background in classical music has shaped you as a songwriter and musician?

Max Yassky: It mostly helps us know what not to do. Not all classical music does this, but a lot of it focuses on expanding and developing ideas until they couldn’t possibly hold any more water. But in a songwriting context that kind of soundscape can sound cluttered. So we use what we learned to avoid landmines like over-development and brain-masturbation.

Aidan Dolan: I think the biggest influence that studying classical music has had on my and our writing styles is the use of mixed time signatures. I called up Nick and Max my senior year of college to play in my modern classical prog rock fusion trio, which was a result of the studies with my composition teacher at NYU, Ezequiel Vinao. The rhythmic difficulty of the pieces I was writing made us all feel like we could count anything and 7/8 became the new 4/4.

Nick Katz: I’ve been playing in rock bands since I was 11 - the classical thing was more of a formalization of what I’d been doing my whole life. I feel like people have this impression that we came to rock from classical music. That’s not really what happened, we all play rock and jazz and whatever else and have played that music, then we went to classical music as a bit of extra study and, yeah, it affected us as musicians, but it’s not our sole foundation.

ANCHR: Before meeting, what first got you into studying music in general? Was it a certain band or a family member/friend that inspired you?

MY: I wanted to go to Boca Raton to be a private investigator / high value transporter but my mother said she’d break my legs if I got shot in Florida so I went to music school instead.

AD: Music was always a hobby for my dad when I was a kid, so there were guitars lying around and a basic home studio to mess around in. My brother ended forming a band called TAUK with his three friends that is still around and doing well today. I always wanted to try playing, but when I finally heard The Beatles at age 11, I became obsessed. After taking an educational journey from The Beatles and classic rock to blues and jazz, I ended up at NYU for classical composition and sort of came full circle back to my roots with Upright Man.

NK: My father is a professional bassist with a list of credits longer and more prestigious than I could ever hope to come remotely close to. I’ve been studying music since I was four. It’s my life.

ANCHR: What can you tell us about Upright Man’s debut album due out August 18th? How did the writing and recording process for the record go?

MY: Well we didn’t have to threaten each other with Sarin gas so I’d say it went alright.

AD: We just kept on playing, writing and recording over 2 years until we felt like we had the right songs. Our most recent recording sessions leading up to the album release were a lot more focused and we felt a stronger sense of identity in our sound as a band.

NK: I don’t have much to add there, Aidan really hit the nail on the head with that one.

ANCHR: Which songs are you most looking forward to transcribing into the live setting?

MY: “Animals" is a lot of fun to play live; I’ve just got to work on my impression of a cockatoo.

AD: “Upright" Man”, the song, is probably the most fun song to play. We always play it at the end of our set and it can make you want to smash things.

NK: "Say What You Mean" is a real challenge. I like a good challenge.

ANCHR: Who are some artists that you’d love to share the stage with once you hit the road?

MY:  Robert Randolph and The Family Band and NRBQ were awesome stage-mates. It was a blast playing with them. In a perfect world I’d love to open for a late 90’s Beck at Sessions At West 54th.

AD: Though it could be a stretch to put us on the same bill, I’d love to share the stage with TAUK. My brother is the bassist and I’ve known those dudes a long time, so it’s somewhat of a guilty desire to share some road time with those dudes.

NK: I would do terrible things to get an opening slot with Dr. Dog.

ANCHR: Are there any up and coming NYC bands that we should all know about?

MY: I heard this dink band Upright Man is pretty alright. Not too Berny but not too savage either.

AD: Nick plays in another band called Dirty Bird that has some great songs and vocal harmonies.

NK: JIL, Uni, The World All Around - all great friends and great musicians. Well worth a listen.

ANCHR: Where are some of your favorite spots in NYC to see live music?

MY: You can’t go wrong with Rockwood. Goldsounds in Brooklyn is also rad.

AD: Irving Plaza was awesome last time I went. I’ve enjoyed a lot of shows at Rockwood Music Hall. There are so many great venues in the city.

NK: I really like Rough Trade in Brooklyn. Also Mercury Lounge is a really great room.

ANCHR: What else is Upright Man looking forward to in 2017?

AD: I’m really looking forward to releasing the music video for our unreleased song, “Ecstasy”. All I can say is we built a giant spaceship set in an old barn and Nick and Max were inhaling a whole lot of silver face paint and hairspray fumes.

NK: Yeah, I definitely lost some brain cells on that one. Art necessitates sacrifice.

---

See all of Upright Man's upcoming tour dates below, and keep up with them on Facebook here. 

7/22 Boston, MA @Cabot Theatre (w/ The Fabulous Thunderbirds)

7/23 Long Island, NY @Amityville Music (w/ Bad Rabbits)

8/17 Ocean City, MD @Fager’s Island

8/23 New York, NY @Bowery Electric

8/24 Sellersville, PA @Sellersville Theater (w/ The Fabulous Thunderbirds)

Get To Know: The Sometimes Island

In Austin, Texas, there's a manmade lake called Lake Travis, and sometimes, depending on the fluctuating tide, small islands can be seen poking out of the lake. These part-time islands are the inspiration behind the Los-Angeles based (via Austin) multi-instrumentalist and producer Matt Blankenship Jr's moniker. "I thought it was a good metaphor for sometimes it’s just a one-man band, and sometimes I have a bunch of people with me," Blankenship explains about the meaning behind his latest endeavor, an indie electro-pop project, threaded with summer vibes. While we recently chatted with the well-versed musician, we heard about his upcoming EP, his journey as a musician, his tour survival tips, and more. Get to know The Sometimes Island now!

---

Photo Courtesy of The Sometimes Island

He Decided To Do Music As A Profession at 14 Years Old

Blankenship’s musical journey stretches all the way back to the age of 7 or 8, when he says he asked his dad to let him play drums. “My dad was pretty smart. He was like well, I’ll get you this little drum practice pad and as soon as you can do a drum roll, I’ll think about getting you a drum set and getting you drum lessons. I was like 7 or 8 and I had no idea how to do a drum roll,” Blankenship recalls. As the story continues, his dad then offered him piano lessons, which he continued to learn for about seven years. Blankenship reveals that he’s since been dedicated to music 100 percent for more than half his life, saying, “I think I was around 14 when I was like ok, I think I’m just gonna do this for the rest of my life, as a profession. I’m 30 now.”

It's been a winding road since then, with other bands and past projects, but Blankenship describes the formation of The Sometimes Island as a natural progression. "These songs...this project in general has been something that I started working on about three years ago. I was in another group at the time, that was much more electronic leaning. This was my way to have an outlet to make this beachy kind of catchy music. I have bubble gum in my veins. I love a good pop song, so I was writing these [songs] and they weren’t a good fit for the band I was in. It came down to that band breaking up and me focusing on this full time for the last year," he says. 

He's Focused On The Community Around His Music

Having played music in the buzzing scene that is Los Angeles for more than 11 years, Blankenship says he's learned a thing or two about the business side of things. "I spend more time marketing myself than making music. Which to make enough music just means that I do this constantly," he confesses. He continues to share his wisdom, adding, "The biggest lesson I’ve learned is you can make a Facebook event and invite people to a concert, but if you just do stuff that works on a small scale, like calling a friend and saying 'Hey, I have this show. Would you like to come?' That’s the kind of hustle that you have to do to get people to actually go." Blankenship emphasizes the overflowing market in Los Angeles, saying you really have to go above and beyond to create something unique and memorable. "In this town especially there’s no shortage of really talented musicians, and they’re all playing shows and you have to create an environment where people want to go to your show not just because the music but because there’s like a comradery. And the other people who come see you play kind of create a little scene, and that’s how you get something going. Rather than just being like hey this is a really good song, listen to it! People will listen to it and forget about it. But if you create a community, then you have something going," Blankenship advises. 

He Hoards and Repurposes Old Material 

So while Blankenship may have started writing material for The Sometimes Island years ago, it doesn't mean he's released all of it. In fact, Blankenship reveals that he obsessed over the songs on the upcoming EP, called Bad People. He elaborates on the EP songs, saying "I spent way too long on these songs. They’ve been around for so long and I didn’t have anyone to bounce musical feedback off at the time. I obsessed over them, and they’re good for it, but I learned a lot about just writing off the cuff and improvising. Just because I worked on something for 10 hours doesn’t make it better than something that came from maybe 15 minutes. I’m really hard on my music and I’m actually proud of these songs, which is saying a lot for me." 

Blankenship also reveals that he saves the material that he hasn't deemed as ready for release. "There’s also a huge value in tying a bow on something and saying this is done and listening to it objectively. If a song isn’t good, then you don’t have to release it. But if it’s pretty good, you might have worked all the good out of it had you kept going. If you make a crappy song that has a really good part, I’m very into cannibalizing my old material for a new song. There’s some parts of songs where I’ve been like this would work really well, and I never released that old song...," he says.

African Funk Music Is His Jam

Blankenship talks about his influences, saying, "I spend a lot of time looking back on the past. There’s a lot of great music out right now, but The Beach Boys are a huge inspiration to me. I’ve been putting a lot of harmonies and vocal soundscapes into my music. I love the sound of chillwave from around 2009."

As far as his favorite music just to listen to and absorb, Blankenship gives props to the genre of African Funk music. "As far as new stuff that’s coming out...I don’t even really know what’s new anymore with Spotify. If a song is new to me I’m like did it come out a week ago? A year ago? I’ve been really into trying to get out of my pop music space, so I’ve been listening to a lot of African Funk. Which is great music to have on. The songs are extremely long, really jammy. It’s great music to just sort of have on while you’re doing other things, but it’s also great to listen to directly. African Funk, man, that’s been my jam." 

He Stays Tame During Tour

Blankenship will be hitting the road at the end of July and early August, but he admits the tour won't be all that wild. "I’d love to do the whole rock’n’roll party all the time thing, but I gotta make sure I’m not drinking too much, I’m getting enough sleep. Because this tour is particularly packed. It’s one gig after another. And if I’m tired for one, chances are I’ll be tired for the next one. I have all the time in the world to party when I’m not on tour. So I’m very regimented about it." As far as which cities he's most excited to play in, he says, "I’m definitely excited for all of them. I don’t want to sell anyone short. I’m particularly excited for the Seattle gig because I’ll get to play a show with my  good friend Claire George. So I’d say that one I’m particularly excited about."

Blankenship also gives a teaser about some of the songs that will be included in the setlist this tour, saying, "I think 'Bad People' is a lot of fun. That’s gonna come out as a single in a couple weeks, and it’s the namesake of the EP.  It allows me to go off on a bunch of crazy vocal stuff. And I really enjoy playing a quieter song that will come out on the EP that’s called 'Mornings Are The Worst,' that’s just sort of very acoustic. I don’t really believe that mornings are the worst. I wrote it on a morning where I hadn’t slept at all, so the sun rising was a bit of a bummer. That’s a song that just sort of wrote itself. It became sort of a critique of who I was at that time, in retrospect."

---

Keep up with tour updates and new tunes from The Sometimes Island here, and listen to the newest single "Can't Move On" below!

Get To Know: Island Apollo

Los Angeles-based band Island Apollo made their return last month with the brand new single "Hold It Down,' their first music release since 2015. After having a string of success with their debut EP, from their songs being used on major television networks to winning an OC Music Award, the band have recorded an entire new EP in Seattle with producer Eric Lilavois. While we eagerly await the release of this new music, get to know even more about the guys behind these infectious and unique indie tunes. We chatted with guitarist Heath Farmer to get the scoop on everything from their recording process up in Seattle to Mickey Mouse and his take on the LA music scene. Tune in now...

---

The Band Took Their First Guitar Lesson Together

Taking it was back to his days as a 10 year old, Heath Farmer kicks off with some backstory of the band's formation. "I started playing guitar for the first time probably when I was around 10 years old. My brothers and I, who are in the band, and Ryan our lead vocalist...all four of us took our first guitar lesson together. So there’s like a long history and connection between when we first started playing music and our band that we have today," Farmer recalls. 

Shifting towards his journey into creating his own music with the band, Farmer gives some insight on his influences, continuing, "I don’t think I really got interested in making music until I entered middle school. Once you become a teenager, music becomes like the most important thing in the world to you. I went through a couple different stages of musical epiphanies I guess. The first song that I heard that made me go 'wow, I didn’t know you could do that with music' was 'Clint Eastwood' by The Gorillaz. I remember hearing that and going 'I had no idea that you could work a beat like that along with a melody and still have a story that’s really relatable.' Then I went to Blink 182 then to Thrice. Then threw it way back to The Beach Boys... and then Muse. I had another big one when I discovered Arcade Fire. That’s kind of where I’m at right now." He and the band have pulled from this wide range of influences to craft their own refreshing sound.

Missing a Flight Took a Positive Spin During Recording

While the band were recording the brand new and still unreleased EP up in Seattle with Eric Lilavois, Farmer says the band explored a new sound by stepping out of their comfort zone. "It seemed like an opportunity that would help inspire us. We went up there and spent a whole week recording these songs and living together in Seattle. Really going from one end of The US West Coast to the other. It’s funny, it’s almost like a parallel dimension from Southern California because it’s got a lot of the same cultural vibes, but in a completely different setting. Everything is just a little bit different. Enough to where it’s a completely different experience. I think that helped us explore things musically that I don’t know if we would have necessarily done had we been in our comfort zone. So I think it was a good opportunity that we seized. There’s a very big possibility that we might do something like that again," he mused. 

Speaking of being out of their comfort zone, Farmer recalls one particular experience that caused some mayhem during their final day of recording. "There was one moment where I actually had to leave earlier than the rest of the band to go back to Southern California, and I missed my plane. So they came back to pick me up, and drove me back to the studio. There was this weird sense of confusion and frustration from me. Because it was the last day, we split everybody up in the studio so we had a couple different stations. We had the control room as the main recording live room, where we had people doing various different parts. We had another station set up in the lounge where we were recording a lot of the extra instruments, whether it was percussion or some synth lines. So just because my mind was completely scrambled at that point, I started hearing things in the music that everybody else wasn’t hearing. Sometimes that ended up being a good thing and sometimes that ended up being a really really bad thing. To the point where I honestly think I was having auditory delusions. Everything was just so frantic for me that day. Initially it was very--inefficient. As the day went on and I started to calm down, I had this creative perspective that I don’t think I would have had had I not gone through such a weird day. That translated to a lot of different ideas with the unreleased songs. It was a really, really weird experience," Farmed recalled. "For the record, completely sober. I think as a musician I should make that clear. It was this frenzy that I was in that really lead to that," he immediately followed up. 

Although it seemed like a stressful experience, Farmer put an optimistic spin on the story, concluding with, "It was amazing what that amounted to at the end of the day, and it was a very a positive experience." 

“I think that helped us explore things musically that I don’t know if we would have necessarily done had we been in our comfort zone.”

— Guitarist Heath Farmer on recording in Seattle

They're Big Disney Fans, Especially Mickey Mouse

As mentioned, Island Apollo have had their music featured on major TV networks from VH1 to CBS and used in ads for the likes of Sprint and SoBe. So with new music on the horizon, what product would the band like to associate their music to? "That’s a great question. I saw that Mickey Mouse had a summer playlist this year on Spotify, which is hilarious. That would be pretty cool if we were listed as one of Mickey’s summer jams," Farmer revealed. Wise move on his choice, since Disney opens such a huge door to other opportunities. 

Elaborating further on the new music and when fans can expect to hear it, Farmer continued, "We should have a new song coming out within the next couple weeks. It’s a total dance party song. Not in the sense that it’s EDM. This is actually like---the best way I can describe it is Surf Funk. There’s a lot of stuff in the song and instrumentation that we’ve never tried before."  Stay tuned for news on this unchartered territory with Island Apollo!

They Care About Their Live Show

As far as an upcoming tour to pair with the new music, Farmer says, "We’re in talks about a few different things regarding touring. We just want to make sure it’s done in the right way for us. We’re not exactly sure where we’ll end up, but we’re hoping to be on the road soon." He does promise that when they do tour, he and his bandmates will give their all for the live show. 

Talking more on being a part of the live music scene in LA, Farmer shares his insight on the oversaturated market. "To tell you the truth I’m kind of--" he begins before pausing. "I want to say the right thing, but at the same time I want to say the truth," he continued. "I’m pretty disappointed with what a lot of new artists are doing today. We’ve played shows with guys who will straight up just push a button on their keyboard and then hold one guitar to play one line in the song, and then sing everything else over their pre-recorded tracks. I greatly appreciate the music, but it’s a pretty boring thing to watch. That’s my unadulterated observation on that. Especially in the local music scene where there aren’t big budgets to have sets and and lights. I feel like that’s watered down the rest of the scene. Because people look at that and go ‘wow that’s all I have to do?’ And then some people get inspired by that and then everyone’s just half-assing that...to put it bluntly."

Farmer concludes his take on the LA scene with a very important point about live performances, saying, "I look at that and just think wow, you guys wrote a lot of great songs, why are you half-assing your live show? That’s the difference between going to the show and listening to the recording. There’s this intimate experience of watching the creator create. If they’re not doing that for you, you kind of think like what’s the point? That’s not to say that the community that’s at a live concert scene is not important. That’s very important to it all. But at the same time you have to give a reason for why the community wants to come and see you. You still have to put on a show. There are a lot of great bands that we’re friends with that we love, but at the same time, there’s a lot of people not impressing anybody."

There's An Unbreakable Bond Between The Band

Playing on the bands name, I wrapped up the interview asking Farmer if he could be trapped on an island with one member of the band, who would be pick and why. After pondering briefly, Farmer confirmed the tight-knit nature of the group by answering, "I don’t know if I can answer that question to be honest. I don’t find anybody in the band to be dispensable. I’m not saying that to be politically correct-- I mean it," he says. "Everybody in the band is incredibly integral to what we have been able to manifest, and I would never take anybody’s contribution for granted. I would just be like alright well if I have to be stranded on a deserted island, then I’ll swim to shore to be with everybody. I’ll probably die along the way," Farmer concluded. 

---

Get ready for the new music and a possible tour from Island Apollo by listening to "Hold It Down" and following their Facebook Page.

Catching Up With: Alex Napping

It's been a little over a week since the NYC/Austin-based band Alex Napping released their sophomore album, Mise En Place, full of honest narratives driven by grooving melodic riffs and lead singer Alex Cohen's ethereal vocals. Since the May 5th release, the quartet have been on the road in support of the new songs, playing album release shows in both of their base cities, NYC and Austin, as well as a handful of new cities. Prior to the tour kickoff, the leading lady of Alex Napping caught up with ANCHR to chat about the process behind the album, from her songwriting to recording, as well as some of her influences and favorite artists. Before the tour hits Chicago's Subterranean this Saturday night, check out these 5 things we learned while catching up with Alex Cohen. 

Photo by HELMUT Studio

Alex Napping is: Alex Cohen, Adrian Sebastian Haynes, Tomás Garcia-olano, and Andrew Stevens. 

---

The Album Was Recorded More Than A Year Before The Release

While chatting with Cohen the day before Mise En Place's release, Cohen describes her excitement to finally release the album, saying, "We’ve had this record finished since March of 2016. So it’s been a while coming. I’m very happy to finally be putting it out into the world."

Cohen also reveals the group divided the recording into several different blocks, the first session going all the way back to 2015. Telling the tale of their recording process, Cohen begins, "We recorded at a studio in Austin called Cacophony Recorders, with Erik Wofford, who is the owner of the studio. He produced the record. We did a couple of one-off singles about a year before going in to make this record, just to see if he was someone we wanted to make a whole record with. We made these two songs, “Trembles Part I” and “Trembles Part II,” and just loved working with him and loved his space. [We] decided that when we were ready to do our full length, we’d do it with him."  As far as the span of different recording sessions, she says, "We recorded the record in three chunks. There were four days in November 2015, two days in December, and then four more days in January of 2016, where we tracked the record. And we just kind of broke it up based on like who needed to be there." Cohen continues on to say that "Wife and Kidz" and "Heart Swells 2.0" have minimal bass and drums, so they were able to knock those out in the two days in December 2015. 

There's a New Sense of Maturity In The New Album

Discussing the difference from debut album to the sophomore record, Cohen muses, "I like to think that the themes have matured as I’ve grown older, and kind of have a different perspective on conflict." She continues to confess she actually went back to listen to their first record shortly before Mise En Place's release, revealing, "It was really weird. It wasn’t painful. I was like 'I think this still holds up'...But it definitely sounds like a young record,  and a lot of the feelings that I had that felt so important and grand definitely have a naivety to [them]."

Because of how personal Cohen gets with her songwriting, she says her age definitely plays a factor in the song themes. Elaborating, Cohen says, "I was 21 when I wrote those songs [on the first album], versus being 23, 24 when I wrote this record. I feel like those first few years out of college, being a real adult are pretty big. A lot of stuff happens. A lot of this record is kind of like dealing with being an adult and figuring out how to realistically handle situations. Where things that felt like the end of the world when I was like 20, you’re just like 'this is part of life'. Just kind of figuring out how it all fits into life, like balance and security. Like what do those even mean?" 

Cohen says the themes of her songs aren't the only difference this time around, revealing that her and the band built up the arrangements while they were in the studio this time. "It was kind of fun because we’ve never really gotten to do that as a band before. 'Wife and Kidz' had the melody and that kind of delayed bass part, but other than that we just came up with a bunch of stuff in the studio. It's kind of like the most fun part about the studio....When you have a structure for a song, but figuring out how you want to fill in the spaces. I enjoy working on the fly like that. I think that a lot of really cool, creative things happen when you’re locking yourself in a studio setting for like 10 hours a day," she continued. 

“A lot of this record is kind of like dealing with being an adult and figuring out how to realistically handle situations. Where things that felt like the end of the world when I was like 20, you’re just like ‘this is part of life.’ ”

— Alex Cohen on her maturing songwriting

Land Of Talk and Chairlift Acted As Influences

Being able to freely create and collaborate in the studio also meant that Cohen and her bandmates were able to soak up influence from other bands during the recording and writing process. "When I was writing I was going through a really big Land Of Talk phase. They’re the best. It’s really cool because they hadn’t put a record out since 2012, and they have a record coming out in June for the first time in years. But I was listening to a lot of their music, and I think that that definitely comes through in my songwriting...and even guitar chords and voicing, Cohen says. Continuing, she reveals, "Actually what’s funny is in 'Temperamental Bed', I play in an alternate guitar tuning, and that tuning I learned from looking up tabs from a Land Of Talk song. It’s one of my favorite tuning styles, but I wouldn’t have found it if I hadn’t been like 'How do I play this song that I love so much?'" 

Cohen credits another band for inspiring her during their time in the studio, saying, "Right as I was going into the studio, I started listening to a lot of Chairlift. I don’t think [they] musically influenced this record, but I do just really love the way that Caroline Polachek from Chairlift sings and how she uses her voice. How she can be really playful with it. I think aspects of that, I was interested in incorporating into some of the vocal performances on the record. I think that will be way more apparent on the next one." 

Each Song Acts as a Snapshot of a Moment 

The songs on Mise En Place were recorded a while before the release, but Cohen still find them to be accurate portrayals of herself. Talking more about the relevance of these songs as they age, Cohen says, "I think they’re still relevant in that they’re accurate portrayals of how I felt in specific moments in the year that I wrote those songs. That’s what a lot of them are. I wrote them as certain things were happening..These cool little snapshots of exactly how I was feeling when something happened."

On the contrary to that point, Cohen continues, "At the same time I feel really far removed from that time in my life. It’s weird because it’s like 'Oh, I remember feeling that way, but it feels like a lifetime ago.' Even by the time we were in the studio, I had written a lot of the songs six months to a year prior to going into the studio. I was starting to feel quite distanced from the subject matter."

Although Cohen feels distance from the song subjects, she's still really excited to play them all on tour. She talks more about the live show, revealing which new song she's most excited to play live. "We’ve actually just worked out how to play 'Wife and Kidz' live and we’ll be unveiling that for the first time live, and I’m actually really excited about that, cause I’m just gonna sing on it. I’m not gonna play guitar or any instrument, which I love doing 'cause it’s just nice to have moments where I just get to focus on only doing one thing. I think that we’ve worked up a pretty cool version of it, all things considered and our gear on stage."

As far as the cities they're most excited to hit up? "I’m always excited about New York shows. I actually live in New York now. it’s kind of like a second hometown. We’re playing some places in the northeast like Providence, RI and Bloomfield, CT. I’ve never really been to some of those small town northeaster states before. Our midwest shows in Chicago and Minneapolis because those are just really cool cities. I have friends there that I’m excited to see, and both of those shows have really awesome line ups," Cohen says.

Other Artists That Alex Is Into Include...

It's always great to find out who your favorite new bands are listening to, which keeps your music library from getting stale, so naturally we asked Alex what some of her current favorites are. Besides Chairlift and Land Of Talk, Cohen mentions a couple other badass female artists that have been in frequent rotation on her playlist. "I'm really in love with the Tei Shi album that came out a month ago. She’s so good and so cool,  and I just think that that’s one of the best like, kind of weird pop records of the year," she says.

"Half Waif put out a record this year, which I love. I saw them play live for the first time during South By [South West], which was incredible. Nandi, who fronts that project, is amazing. She also plays with Pinegrove, but I really love the record that she put out this year," Cohen added.

---

Tickets for Alex Napping's show at The Subterranean this Saturday, May 20, start at $10. Snag your ticket here, and listen to their new album below. 

A Springtime Guide to Los Angeles with Toyko

On the rise LA-based duo Toyko just released their third single "Like What I Like" earlier this month in advance of their debut EP. To celebrate the new song about relentlessly staying true to yourself and being into what you're into, regardless of what other people think, the duo have put together a guide to their favorite local spots. Whether you're based in Los Angeles, planning a trip there soon, or need something to add to a vision board, check out Toyko's guide to what they like in LA.

"Like What I Like" artwork

---

Rooftop Bars

Rooftop bars are always amazing! Perfect for day drinking with friends in the sun. Some of our favorites are:

• The Onyx Bar at Shangri-La Hotel in Santa Monica
• High Rooftop at Hotel Erwin in Venice Beach
• E.P. & L.P. in West Hollywood
• The rooftop at Mama Shelter in Hollywood
• The Rooftop at The Standard Hotel in Downtown L.A.

Japanese Cuisine

We absolutely love Japanese cuisine, especially sushi and ramen.  Some of these places don’t take reservations, and the line will go out the door.  Pro tip: Try visiting for off-hour meals to avoid the wait.  Some of our favorite Japanese Restaurants are:

• Sugarfish. Locations all around Los Angeles…(trust me)
• Tatsu Ramen on Sawtelle and Melrose
• Daikokuya on Sawtelle and in Little Tokyo
• Chibiscus (ramen) located in Hollywood...this is one of the most underrated ramen joints in the city
• Izaka-ya on 3rd St. in West Hollywood.  Try the honey hand rolls and seared albacore & truffle roll. 

Museums

The Broad Museum in Downtown L.A.  This place has an absolutely amazing contemporary art collection.  Plus, it’s free to the public! Lines can get crazy though so reserve a spot in advance, or try and go on a week day if you can.  The Takashi Murakami room is a favorite exhibit of ours. 

Health and Fitness

Aroma Spa & Sports is a great place to go in Koreatown. We usually skip the spas because they have an amazing multi-story driving range for when you just need to crush some golf balls.

More Eats

Farmers Markets are an awesome place to try out on random weekends. A great benefit is that you can find one no matter where in LA you’re waking up. Our favorites are the Larchmont Market and the Original Market on 3rd and Fairfax.

La Poubelle is a great little bistro/ restaurant in Franklin Village. It’s a great spot for a spring date on the patio, however the night life is even better. We’ve enjoyed many nights hanging and drinking the house lager with no shortage of great company.

---

There you have it! Toyko's springtime guide to the city of stars. Get ready for their upcoming debut EP by listening to their first two singles here.