A Chat With: Gang of Youths

Australian rock group Gang of Youths are back in The States this month, touring in support of their upcoming album. After releasing their successful debut album The Positions in 2015 and following up with an EP in 2016, the band are set to release their second full length album Go Farther In Lightness on August 18th. As a teaser, the band released the new single "Let Me Down Easy" on May 26th, a rhythmic narrative that's perfect for a summertime drive. Before their North American tour hits Schubas Tavern in Chicago, the band took some time for quick Q&A about the new music, their tour, and their favorite new music. Check it out and go see Gang Of Youths in a city near you!

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Photo Courtesy of Gang Of Youths

ANCHR Magazine: What first inspired you to start making music, and how did you eventually all meet and form a band?

Gang of Youths: We met in a large evangelical church as children, and played music together throughout adolescence. Our first record The Positions came about as a result of a pretty traumatic relationship I was in with a woman who had terminal cancer.

AM: You’ve cited U2 and Sonic Youth as some of your influences, but what are some of your other musical and nonmusical (i.e film or other art forms) influences?

GoY: Possibly too many to name, to be honest. I’ve always felt that Kierkegaard, Nietzsche and Hegel and Heidegger had a profound influence on my work in a philosophical sense -- I like Lacan, Deleuze too. I’ve tried to contort and mangle our music in a way that it could sort of appeal to the ear the same way a Chagall or a Degas looks to the eye. Possibly a nonsensical idea, I know.

AM: What have been some highlights for you guys as a band since you released your debut album just a little over two years ago?

GoY: We managed to stay together, and grew together. That’s the most extraordinary one for me personally.

AM: The new animated video for your single “What Can I Do If The Fire Goes Out?” is great! What was the inspiration behind going the animated route for this video, instead of sticking with live action?

GoY: We have this friend of ours named Thomas Rawle who’s a pretty gifted animator. We wanted to create a sense of kinetic chaos combined with a surreal kind of storytelling that wouldn’t have been possible with a live action clip.

AM: Speaking of your new music, what can fans expect from the new album?

GoY:  It’s 78 minutes spread over 16 tracks.

AM: What teasers can you give about the set this tour, and are you planning on testing out any new material on the road?

GoY: The only teaser I can give you is that we are certainly road testing new material.

AM: Are there any cities on the U.S tour that you’re looking forward to playing the most?

GoY: Chicago! It’s our guitarist/keyboardist Jung’s home town. He hasn’t been back for 11 years!

AM: What’s one of the biggest differences that you guys notice between playing shows back home in Australia and playing in Europe and America?

GoY: The size of the shows is significantly different. Which is a good thing. I prefer small rooms.

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

GoY: Whitney, Camp Cope, Luca Brasi and Trophy Eyes.

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Chicago, do not miss Jung's hometown return! You can grab tickets to Gang of Youths show tonight here, starting at $10. We'll also be covering their show in Minneapolis tomorrow night- stay tuned for a full photo gallery, and get pumped for the shows by listening to Gang of Youths' first album.

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An Interview With Modern Vices: An Excerpt From Sub/Verse Zine

Fellow Chicago music publication Sub/Verse Zine is gearing up for issue no. 10 of their zine, The Interview Issue. Check out this excerpt of Sub/Verse's editor Chloe Graham's interview with Chicago's own Modern Vices, which can be found in the new issue.

Photo and Interview by Chloe Graham

Modern Vices is a name that comes up a lot when you talk about Chicago music these days. But unlike many bands that form under the influence of a specific music scene, they don’t sound much like the other guys. Their songs sound like slow moments of significance and extremes, calms and lows. Their show on Friday at Beat Kitchen with White Reaper will be the first time I see them, but I can imagine people dancing to their music in a trance, not exactly violently moshing like you might see at an Orwells or Twin Peaks show (though there is always a place in my heart for plenty of that). Here is my interview with frontman Alex Rebek; enjoy, and see them May 5th with White Reaper at Beat Kitchen!

How did you get started with music?

Alex Rebek: Back in middle school me and my friends thought it would be cool to start a band, so one thing led to another… We were covering bands we liked, like the Strokes and Radiohead. As time went on we got more serious, writing our own songs. After being in three bands, I’m in this band! How I started making music was my sister and I sang with each other all the time. Overtime, music has just become a main part of my life. Same for the rest of us, we have all evolved over time, and now we’re together.

Whats behind the name of your band?

AR: Modern Vices was originally called Baby Baby, after the Supremes song. After releasing our first record, we found out there was another band called Baby Baby, and we had to change it for our record deal. So it took us like an entire day to come up with ideas but we just landed on Modern Vices, and it just stuck with us.

What are your favorite things to write about?

AR: I want to say like love, and struggles, you know? Just everyday struggles and I feel like thats what translates the most with us, into our music and how we’re able to express ourselves. So romantic stuff,  but also the underlying issues that would make anyone emotional. Also just writing in the moment, like however I was feeling that particular day. I really like doing that because thats as real as it gets, when your actually feeling the way the song feels as your writing it.

How does being a musician in Chicago effect how you make music, or how does it inspire you?

AR: In Chicago the scene is really great, and everyone is really supportive of each other. All the bands are pushing each other at the same time, so it's a good environment for rising bands. There is some competition, but everyone is still supportive. So it's just a good way to progress at becoming a better band. Living in Chicago has really pushed us to be who we want to be.

Yeah, I think when musicians are really competitive, they rarely get too far since they don’t want to work together with anyone else.

AR: Yeah, there’s always that underlying competition, I guess, but when you’re also friends with these people, everyone’s supportive of each other. I’ve gotten together bands and we’ve had little listening parties, and listened to each others new music, not to criticize it, but to give constructive criticism. Its a good place to be because you don’t think you’re the only band in town, because you’ve got all these bands around town that you’re constantly thinking about, like, “oh what are they doing?”, or “could we do that differently?” Since moving from the suburbs to Chicago we’ve become good friends with Twin Peaks, and being friends with them has helped us in a lot of different ways, in terms of their support and the shows they’ve gotten us on.

How has your approach to making music changed since you started as a band?

AR: When the first record was made we were all going to college. I was going to college in upstate New York, at Skidmore, and the rest of the guys were going to school in the city. Peter was at Columbia, and Patrick, Thomas, and Miles were going to DePaul, and we decided we were going to make the record over winter break, just as a fun thing to do. We were like, we can just make this record, put it out, and that's it. Once the record was released, it actually got some traction and the record label hit us up and was like “do you want a record deal?” and we made some decisions, and dropped out of school for the band. Since then, with the second record, the one we’re about to finish today, we’ve taken a lot of time to think about what band do we really want to be, and we’ve definitely evolved a lot. There’s still little snippets of the first record, like similar vibes, but with time we’ve become something really different.

Whats your least favorite thing about being a musician?

AR: Hm… that's a hard one… I feel like a while ago I would have said touring, not just touring but just driving a lot. But I’ve grown to like it. So I’d say my least favorite thing is maybe the schedule, it just messes up your schedule. You’re always up late, waking up late. That might be the worst part, but all around I think we all really enjoy it, and want to continue to do it.

Do you have any guilty pleasure music?

AR: Just like hip hop, and random songs that really aren’t that good but are fun to put on. There’s probably a lot that we listen to and always joke around about, but I can’t narrow it down right now. But you could put Drake down, I think thats a good one.

Keep up with Sub/Verse on their social media:

Instagram: @subversesmusic

Twitter: @subverses_zine 

Drinking Advice and Arena Tours: A Chat With Mondo Cozmo at Hangout Fest

It's been a hell of a ride for the Philadelphia-born Josh Ostrander (better known by his stage name Mondo Cozmo) since he released his debut single "Shine" just last year. Besides having success in the charts with the aforementioned single and appearing on Jimmy Kimmel's show, Ostrander and his brand new band had the opportunity to join Bastille on their Spring arena tour across North America. Oh yeah, and he's on just about every single festival lineup this summer, from Shaky Knees to Summerfest to Lollapalooza. Although he's got countless gigs and festival appearances lined up, when Ostrander chatted with us at Hangout Fest, he had just finished playing his second ever festival. Despite the newness of the Mondo Cozmo project, Ostrander and his band not only sounded well-versed, but they drew quite the crowd during their early afternoon set at Hangout. With the way things are going, Mondo Cozmo's success will only keep coming. From touring stories to news on his album, get to know Josh Ostrander now. 

Photo by Travis Shinn / Thumbnail Image Courtesy of Hangout Music Festival

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ANCHR Magazine:  Going back to when you first started playing music, do you have a first memory of when you picked up an instrument?

Mondo Cozmo: Yeah, it was when Nirvana's In Utero record came out. That was it for me. That’s when I asked my parents to get me a guitar for Christmas. We didn’t have a lot of money, so it was nice that they did that. So I started with guitar, then I got a 4 track cassette recorder. I learned how to record, and then ever since then, I’ve just been recording on my own. I record everything in my house, and then it just comes out and it’s kind of crazy to be in Alabama and see people singing along. Like this was in my guest bedroom!

AM: So are you still doing that for the new music?

MC: Yeah, the album’s coming out in August. It was all recorded by myself and my dog.

AM: What else can you tell me about it, like the theme of the songs? 

MC: It’s kind of all over the place. It’s a good mix of just...music that I really like to listen to, and hopefully everybody likes it.

AM: You’ve been playing some of the newer stuff live that you haven’t released yet. What are a couple of songs that stand out to you?

MC: One of my favorite songs on there, it’s called “Plastic Soul,” I love it so much, I named the album after that. There’s a new song that just came in at the end. It’s called “Thunder,” and it’s right in the middle of the record, and it’s just like a proper good rock song. I just can’t wait for people to hear it.

AM: So speaking of playing live, you just did your tour with Bastille. How was that? Any crazy stories from that tour?

MC: Our first show was Air Canada Centre in front of like 10,000 people. At any given point on that tour, my band was figuring out how to play cause we haven’t played that many shows. It was just...I’ll forever be grateful to them for taking us out, because we needed to learn now to play at this level for the summer that we have ahead of us. I will forever be grateful to them.

AM: Any special highlights or cities that stood out on the tour? Did you get to do anything fun outside of the shows?

MC: Yeah we drank a lot with them. By the end of it, we were pretty tight. I miss those guys now. They really took us under their wing and they were really sweet to us.

AM: Any favorite cities as far as playing in a band there for the first time?

MC: We played Montreal, it was my first time ever playing there. We played “Plastic Soul” and midway through the song, the whole venue opened up with lighters...it wasn’t lighters, but people use their phones now. It’s the coolest thing ever! It’s so powerful, it’s amazing.

AM: What else are you looking forward to this summer? You’re doing a lot of festivals!

MC: I think I’m really excited about Lollapalooza. I’ve always had that one on my radar. I’m really humbled to be on that. We’ve got some really cool stuff coming up this year, and I’m just so grateful to be able to do this.

AM: So talking more about festivals, do you have any festival do’s and don’t?

MC: Just try not to get drunk before we play is my main goal. I have to remember to bring sunscreen.

AM: Speaking of not getting drunk before playing, that was some impressive chugging on stage earlier!

MC: I did alright! We didn’t have any beer backstage so I got someone in the crowd. I asked the band for all the money we had, and we came up with $63 and asked someone in the crowd to buy us 5 beers, they came back with 10.

AM: Any other bands or new albums out that you’re listening to at the moment?

MC: Yeah, there’s a lot of stuff! The Kendrick album is getting a lot of play with us right now. It’s cool cause the boys all bring their own taste, and we all listen to everybody’s playlists. It’s an ever changing mix.

Mondo Cozmo's Ever Evolving Spotify Playlist

AM: Anything else you do to stay entertained on the road?

MC: At the moment, we’re just trying to learn my songs. It’s been moving so fast, where it’s like we haven’t had a chance. Like we played a song today we haven’t played yet.

AM: What else are you looking forward to this year?

MC: I think we’re doing a headlining run in the fall, and the record comes out in August!

AM: Any other last words of wisdom?

MC: Beer before Whiskey!

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Chicago, Mondo Cozmo will return for Lollapalooza in August, including an aftershow at Schubas Tavern on Wednesday, August 2nd....perfect timing for the August 4th release of his debut album, Plastic Soul! Starting Friday at 10AM, you can grab your tickets to the aftershow here. Get ready for the gig by revisiting our photo gallery from his show with Bastille at the Aragon Ballroom, and listen to his latest single below!

Female Role Models, Festival Words of Wisdom, and Tour Alter Egos: A Chat With Grace Mitchell at Hangout Fest

Grace Mitchell might know how to write a damn great pop song, but man, she's so much more than just another indie-pop singer songwriter. A fierce and captivating performer and an advocate for girl power, Grace Mitchell packs a punch with her message, both on and off the stage. Although she's just made her festival debut at the likes of Coachella and Hangout Fest and she's gearing up to release her debut album, Grace is already no stranger to using her platform to call attention to issues that females face, both in the music industry and in everyday life. When we caught up with her during the last day of Hangout Fest, Grace not only let us in on some news about her upcoming album and how she kills time on the road, but she called attention to some badass females in the industry that she admires and respects. A name you're sure to hear much more of in 2017, get to know Grace Mitchell now!

Photo Courtesy of Hangout Music Festival

ANCHR Magazine: So your debut album is coming out this year! What can you tell me about the writing process or maybe your favorite songs on it?

Grace Mitchell: I can tell you that the writing process has been very, very long. At this point, some of the songs on the album are like four years old, so it’s been a long accumulation of many different trials, and evolving different sounds.

AM: Cool, and where’d you record it?

GM: We recorded it pretty much all in LA, with a few exceptions in New York.

AM: What songs have been going over really well on the road?

GM: I think the songs that people have been really reacting to super well are “Kids (Ain't All Right),” “Now,” “NoLo.” Those are the main songs I’ve released that have done pretty well.

AM: I saw earlier after your set you tweeted it’s crazy seeing people sing along to your songs. When was the first time you remember experiencing that?

GM: Actually, my first ever show that I performed at Apple Music Festival in London, three years ago, I saw a couple people in the audience singing “NoLo,” which was super surprising and exciting. Ever since, it’s kind of been a handful of people depending on where I’m playing. If I play in LA, it’s a lot of people. When I play in places where people are not as familiar with my music, it’s less. Today was like a huge turnout. I was super surprised at how many people knew my music.

AM: Oh cool! So I just saw you at Coachella last month. What were some highlights from playing Coachella? Did you get to see any other bands?

GM: Yeah, I think that a big highlight was just experiencing the artist lifestyle for Coachella. I went there once before because I was playing a private event outside of the actual venue, but I got to come to the artist area. This was the first time I got an actual trailer and everything, which was very exciting and felt like a level up. It was super fun. I loved watching Future perform. And Kendrick [Lamar] was amazing.

AM: What about here, anyone you’re looking forward to?

GM: Warpaint are some of my girlfriends so I’m excited to see them. Mumford and Sons- I love Mumford and Sons! I think that they get some slack cause they haven’t had an album out in a while, but I still think they’re top favorites.

AM: So you were just recently in Elle’s Women in Music Feature, and I saw that you posted the other day on Kesha’s article about recovering from an eating disorder. So who are some strong female role models in the industry that you really look up to and have inspired you?

GM: I think that a lot of the females that inspired me to make music were like hugely famous 90's powerhouses, like Alanis Morissette, Tori Amos, and Fiona Apple...Kate Bush. Some contemporary ones that I feel like are making a huge wave in feminism and supporting the LGBQT community and coming out about the issues they experience as women are Kesha, Lady Gaga….I think that I wish Taylor Swift would talk about it more. She has such a platform, and I’m sure that she experiences so much. Especially being how hugely famous she is, I’m sure she experiences just crazy, tumultuous shit all the time that she deserves to talk about and really advocate for. She has so many young people watching her.

AM: What’s been the biggest lesson you’ve learned in your career so far?

GM: I think one of the things that I’m really trying to make people aware of and correct is that men in the music industry have a hard time believing the validity of women who are making choices in the music industry. It also takes women 10 times harder to work for the things that men get easy recognition for.

AM: Have you noticed anything being so young that you have that age prejudice too?

GM: I would say that yeah, people underestimate me all the time. Then once they get to know me, they see that I can deliver and expect more. I don’t really like that age dictates the way that people initially perceive me, so I try not to make it about the age at all. I think that anyone can create music at any age and it can still be fantastic.

AM: Cool, so how do you stay grounded and amp yourself up for shows when you’re touring a lot?

GM: Yeah, I think that I go into kind of an alter ego mode when I’m on tour. I have to lead my band, A, and B, I kind of have to fall into this almost….I just have to be like really powerful and energetic. In order to psych myself up for that, I take a little bit of down time before and after tours and stuff. I’m down to earth pretty much. Then when I’m out on tour, I switch into this alter energy.

AM: Cool, and then what do you do to stay entertained on the road?

GM: We actually love, as a band, to read serial killer’s wiki pages. It’s pretty fun. It’s fascinating. We also like to listen to podcasts a lot. We like Joe Rogan’s podcast. We all love to go out and go to bars and get dinners together.

AM: What’s one of the most interesting facts you’ve found out from your serial killer research.

GM: Serial killer research...Jeffrey Dahmer killed all the people that he did so that he could make a black magic shrine for his household. I don’t think people really knew why he killed so many people, but he was doing it for a very specific spiritual reason.

AM: What else are you looking forward to this summer?

GM: We have a couple international festivals. We’re going to Canada twice. Outside Lands is going to be really fun cause I have family in San Francisco.

AM: Cool, anything else you have planned to do while you’re out in these cities?

GM: Just kind of experiencing as much as possible. Going to as many new shows and new artists and female shows as possible!

AM: Are there any other bands you’re really into at the moment?

GM: I think the new MUNA album is incredible. The new Betty Who album is amazing. I was listening to new Harry Styles this weekend. It’s really good, he goes in a completely different direction.

AM: Any last festival words of wisdom while I have you?

GM: Yeah, festival words of wisdom are don’t wait around for your group to get their shit together. Go see the shows you want to see. I think people stress the buddy system way more than they need to. Go see the shows that you like and go see new artists.

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Chicago, Grace Mitchell will be in town for Lollapalooza, but keep up with all of her tour dates here, and listen to her latest single below!

Family Values and The Nashville Music Scene: A Chat With The New Respects at Hangout Fest

Hangout Festival's lineup seemed to be loving the family bands this year...Mumford and Sons, Joseph, and of course the Nashville quartet The New Respects. Composed of twin sisters Zandy and Lexi, their brother Darius, and cousin Jasmine, The New Respects have crafted a unique, fun sound that melds together their pool of influences. Their debut EP Here Comes Trouble has a little something for everyone, whether you're a fan of rock, soul, R&B, or pop music, and their live show is sure to get the crowd grooving. After their early, yet energetic performance on Sunday at Hangout fest, the four piece chatted with us about their musical upbringing and their whirlwind of a year. Get to know The New Respects now!

Photos Courtesy of The New Respects / Thumbnail Image Courtesy of Hangout Music Festival

ANCHR Magazine: Since you’re all related...is there a musical gene that's been passed down in your family?

Jasmine Mullen: My Parents are both musicians. I never wanted to do music, so it’s kind of crazy.

AM: Do they sing?

JM: Yeah, my mom is a Christian singer and my dad's a songwriter mostly.

Lexi Fitzgerald: My mom can’t sing at all. She’s actually very bad. My dad was in a rap group.

AM: So it kind of skipped your parents?

LF: Exactly!

AM: Where else did you pick up influences?

Zandy Fitzgerald: Being born and raised in Nashville, it’s all around you. Maybe by osmosis or something. I think we just-- I always wanted to play guitar. One day I just kind of did it. I hear a lot that people have parents that are musicians and that wasn’t even like a thing for me. It’s always weird when they’re like you just randomly started? I’m like yeah, I thought everybody did.

AM: So since releasing your first EP, what have been some highlights?

LF: We just played in New York for the first time, that was really cool. Having the recognition in Rolling Stone was insane.

Darius Fitzgerald: The craziest thing for me was we played a show near DC, and seeing someone sing along. These songs, of course we know them, but to see someone I’ve never seen before know the lyrics, it’s wild.

AM: Yeah, I've heard that's always surreal, or hearing your song on the radio.

DF: We're still waiting on that.

JM: That might be a tearful moment.

AM: I saw you with Robert Randolph at Lincoln Hall, what were some highlights of that tour?

LF : That was a great show, Chicago was actually my favorite!

ZF: That was a great tour. We learned so much. Robert is like...their whole show is about playing in the moment, being passionate, and having fun. I remember in Kansas City, Robert called us up, and we got to play with him. I told him, put me in the back, you play guitar way better than I do! He said okay that’s fine, and I get onstage. He walks over to my amp and cranks it and goes “play for the people.” In that moment I just had to take what I learned from him - passion, have fun, and go for it. That proved to me that those things actually work. If you already have the practice behind you, just go for it in the moment. That’s gonna make a great show.

AM: So how do you stay entertained on the road?

LF: We sing a lot.

ZF: I think everyone’s favorite pastime is annoying to the other three in the band, and so those moments are endless.

AM: How do you cope with being a family and being around each other all of the time?

JM: I think part of it is because of growing up together, we know how to push each other’s buttons. Which is a blessing and a curse. You can use that to your advantage, but I think we’ve done a really good job recently. Because we know each other’s buttons, we know how to love each other.

ZF: Just beauty in the balance. There’s times where we joke with each other, but there also has to be times where we encourage each other. Otherwise it could get ugly.

AM: What’s one thing that you each do that annoys the others?

ZF: I don’t like being touched unnecessarily. Lexi and Jasmine like to jump on me in bed.

LF: I don’t like being told what to do. Darius doesn’t like being up early.

DF: Not a morning person. At all.

ZF: Jasmine, what’s yours?

LF: She doesn’t like being told what to do either.

AM:  So now that you’re playing festivals, do you have some festival dos and don'ts? 

ZF: I think the biggest thing is it’s very different than your own show where you have all your own gear. This is so much easier, traveling wise. You have a lot of stuff backlined. So you just have to prepare yourself, this is not my own amp, it’s not gonna sound the exact same, but I’m gonna play a good show.

LF: Be flexible, the schedule is all over the place.

DF: I feel like too, enjoy as much as the rest of the festival as you can. This is like, very special because we’re on the freaking beach with all these great acts.

LF: Chance the Rapper is playing today, so that’s perfect. 

AM: I’m from Chicago so I've got that Chicago pride for Chance! He's played Lincoln Hall, actually, the same venue you played with Robert Randolph. 

DF: Was this a while ago?

AM: Yeah it was at least 5 years ago.

ZF: One day you’ll be saying "They played Lincoln Hall!"

AM: Anyone else you’re excited to see?

All: Mumford and sons!

DF: When we started the band, we were convinced we were going to be a black version of Mumford and Sons. In hindsight that’s not really gonna work. I’m happy we found our own beat.

AM: Any other bands or albums you’re really into at the moment?

LF: Harry Styles' album. It’s actually really good. John Mayer’s newest album. John Legend's album is great.

DF: I’ve been listening to Sign, Sealed, & Delivered by Stevie Wonder. That record...I knew like the singles or whatever. But the whole record is amazing.

ZF: The new Kendrick. We’re always listening to music. Jasmine has a playlist on her Spotify that’s like 6 hours long. We’re always like add this to the playlist. It’s like Brandon Flowers, Harry Styles, John Legend, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder...all the bands that inspire us.

AM: What else are you looking forward to this year. Any new music?

JF: We’re writing right now for a new record that will be out sometime next year. We’re coming around to songs we’re really proud of.

AM: Are you going to record it all in Nashville?

DF: We’re open to wherever. Wherever they’re making good music.

AM: Cool! Any inside trade secrets as far as being in the Nashville scene that you can let us in on?

ZF: Stay creative. Get with people in Nashville who like don’t want to sound like Nashville. Stay open, stay creative. Listen to a ton of music. Make great music.

LF: The further we get away from Nashville the more we realize how much of a bubble it is. The thing for me, explore other things. I love Nashville and I love living there. It’s filled with so many creative people, but create there and also other places as much as you can too.

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Keep up with all the latest news from The New Respects here, and listen to their debut EP below!

Juice Recipes and Life Philosophy: A Chat With Foreign Air at Hangout Fest

Jesse Clasen and Jacob Michael of the buzzy duo Foreign Air have steadily been picking up traction with their layered, feel-good tunes like "In The Shadows" and "Call Off The Dogs." After releasing their debut EP, the pair have developed their live sound by touring with artists like The Strumbellas, Lewis Del Mar, Aurora, and Kevin Garrett. Their intricate songs encapsulate these irresistible melodies that will be sure to boost your mood and have you moving along, which is the perfect festival music. After hitting the stage at Hangout Fest in Gulf Shores, Jesse and Jacob chatted with us about their developing sound, staying replenished on tour, their core principles, and more. 

Photo Courtesy of Foreign Air

ANCHR Magazine: How did you first get inspired to start making music? Do you have a first musical memory from when you were kids?

Jesse Clasen: I grew up with a piano in the house. I started taking piano lessons when I was 9 years old. I think I was always attracted to sound. I quit after about two years because I didn’t like learning other songs. I was so young I didn’t realize there’s probably different styles of teaching, and learning. So instead of thinking about that aspect and saying maybe this isn’t the teacher for me, I just quit. I kept playing cause I loved making sound. You know, creating more than playing music that was already written. So I started with the piano, and my parents got me a drum set cause I was really into drums. So I started playing drums around age 12 every day. My mom took me out of school, I was home schooled for a long time. That basically meant I played music and skateboarded all day. Then started learning guitar. While doing all that, singing and mimicking singers that I really liked to sort of learn different aspects of singing.

AM: Is there a certain singer or band that stood out as a particular influence?

JC: I mean, there were so many when I was young. There was Nirvana of course. As I got older, my mom turned me into Sade and Nina Simone. I really loved her voice. And then I fell in love with Jeff Buckley’s voice. Billie Holliday. I feel like that’s how I learned a lot about vibrato. Then I got into Nick Cave. Tom Waits. More theatrical, lower registers. In terms of music in general, I never really asked myself if it was something I wanted to do. It was just something I was drawn to and loved, and did it whenever I could, how I could. And here I am.

Jacob Michael: [I'm] kind of the same way. A friend taught me the basic chords on guitar, and I just started writing my own songs with those chords I had, then got a bunch of friends together. We kind of just started playing and met likeminded people through music and stuck with it. Music for me was a way to connect with likeminded people outside of my high school. I started taking the metro down to DC and fell into music there.

AM: So what’s next for you guys in terms of new music this year?

JC: We have a bunch of unreleased stuff to put together at the same time we’re working on a full length. We just wanna get it right. I think we’re still chasing that sound and not really rushing it. The full length is probably the next big release that we’re looking at.

AM: Have you noticed a theme in the full length? 

JC: I think we’re very drawn to big drums, and a lot of sampling. Sampling of my voice. A lot of playing instruments we grew up on…piano and bass and guitar. Writing and just resampling it to see how we can kind of flip it on its head. Emotion is very important. We feel that authenticity and trying to capture that. When we’re working on new songs, that’s very much what we’re chasing....the raw emotion and being in the moment.

AM: I saw you guys tweeted the other day, “What’s a principle that you live by?” so what would be your principle?

JM: I love the responses that we got. I’ve been asking a lot of people that.

JC: I’ve always been about honesty. Being upfront with people. Whether you’re in a relationship, in the music world.... You’ve gotta speak up. You don’t wanna be the person going home after a day in the studio feeling like man, I wish we would have done this, but I bit my tongue cause there’s other people around. You’ve gotta be you and be open to experiences.

JM: I was thinking that. Jesse’s one of those people. He keeps it real, probably more than anybody else I know.

AM: On the same subject of your Twitter, I saw your tweet about how your juicer is a tour essential. So if you were to make a Hangout Hangover juice, what would you put in it? And what would you name the recipe?

JC: I like the Hangout Hangover.

JM: You nailed it. It’d probably be like apples, celery-

JC:  Cucumber’s gotta be in there!

JM: Red pepper. And ginger.

JC: Maybe a touch of pineapple. I have a sweet tooth. And some coconut water for the hangover. And crushed up Ibuprofen!

AM: Do you have any other festival do’s and don’ts?

JC: This is our second festival with this project. We did Shaky Knees last week, our first festival. So far, it’s put on sunscreen and stay hydrated.

JM: And don’t stay out too late if you have a show that weekend. Go out, but just remember you have something to do the next day.

JC: So many friends and so much going on, it’s like easy to get lost in it.

AM: Do you have a crazy festival story?

JC: Last weekend, I ended up last minute hoping on the ferris wheel that was right next to the festival with some other friends. We got a bunch of champagne and finished up the night. [Champagne] flutes and everything on the ferris wheel. May or may not have been some other things going on. Not drug related. Some festival loving and dancing.

JM: I like people watching. People are wearing some crazy things at this festival.

AM: What else are you looking forward to this year?

JC: Looking forward to just progressing the sound, and exploring the sound that is Foreign Air. I don’t think we’ve found it yet and I’m excited to see how far we can take it. I want to make a record that comes from a real place. And just sonically new. I wanna challenge ourselves more.

JM: For me I’d say performing live with the new material.

AM: What are some of your new favorite bands?

JC: Bishop Briggs. Lewis Del Mar. 

JM: I like Little Dragon a lot, and GoldLink. I’m really into Jenny Hval from Norway.

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Foreign Air are set to play Firefly Music Festival in June, but keep your eye out for more tour dates here, and listen to their debut EP below.

Shower Sex, Stripping On Stage, and Sheeran: Catching Up With Barns Courtney at Hangout Festival

Since the release of his single, "Fire," Barns Courtney has been everywhere...touring cross-country, opening for the likes of Fitz and the Tantrums and Tom Odell, playing radio shows and festivals...and he's not stopping any time soon. Released earlier this year, Barns Courtney's The Dull Drums EP combines his distinct vocals with infectious melodies and singalong choruses. His debut full length has been a long time coming, and when we caught up with the singer-songwriter at Hangout Fest last weekend, we talked about the recording process for the debut album, life on the road, what's next for him this year, and more. Get to know more about Barns in this candid interview, featuring a scandalous festival tale from his early days. 

Photo Courtesy of Hangout Music Festival

ANCHR Magazine: What do you consider your first musical memory, when you first got into playing your own music, or really falling in love with music in general.

Barns Courtney: I think just singing with my mom. My mom’s crazy. We'd always put on voices together, put on accents, sing little bits and bobs together, make up parodies.

AM: Any bands that she was into? My mom loved Michael Bolton.

BC: I love that, I love that you’re willing to admit that. She used to play Paul Simon’s Graceland. She did that everyday for a year. There’s a line in that song “my traveling companion is nine years old, he is the child of my first marriage”... which was true, for a year. I was a nine year old child of her first marriage.

AM: So you were born in England, then moved to Seattle...then went back to England. Where do you consider home now?

BC: Seattle for sure. That’s where I spent my formative years. That guy over there, Mikey, is my best friend from when I was in elementary school. All the people that I really love from childhood are in Seattle. And my mom loves there, and my brothers.

AM: Do you consider the traveling around to be a big influence on your songwriting?

BC: I think so. Because the way that I write music is very sporadic and I write in a lot of different genres. I was actually wondering if the album was too all over the place, stylistically. It’s different from the EP. I think it’ll be alright. I think the subject matter and the fact that it’s the same person singing on all the tracks will unify it. But I certainly think that the British Indie scene was a huge influence on me. The American pop punk scene when I was growing up in Seattle was a huge influence. I don’t think in the way that would expect. For instance when it comes to Nirvana, they were a big part of my young life. I just loved their throwaway confessional honesty of Kurt Cobain’s songwriting and lyricism. I love that he can fill an entire chorus with some balls and one word, like “Lithium” where he just sings “yeah” again and again and it sounds so good. That’s just inspired me to write music that’s an honest as possible. It’s more about the passion for me and the feel when I write a record than it is about the musicality. Which could be both a good and a bad thing.

AM: I think it’s always better to have passion than be perfectly technical.

BC: But I do love technical bands. I love bands like The Strokes where the guitar weaves so effortlessly with the bass and they have these little lovely intricate parts. I want to explore that on my next record. This one is very basic....basic chords, basic drum beats.

AM: Is the album done then?

BC: It’s done. It’s been done for a while.

AM: Is their a targeted release date?

BC: I think they want to go for around September, I’m not sure though. I just gotta keep my head down and keep writing songs because eventually something’s gotta give. 

AM: What else can you tell me about the album, like where’d you record it?

BC: It’s been a mad rush. I wasn’t expecting my first single “Fire” to be a single. I wrote this song. I was working in a computer store. Before I knew it I was getting calls from my buddy who had showed it to an agent who was a friend of his, and it just like spread around the industry like wildfire. I was signed before I knew it. And then it was in a movie. Then KNND [107.7 The End] in Seattle were playing it. They were playing it before my label even knew who I was. They were getting calls like this Barns Courtney guy, is he yours? And they’re like I don't know who this guy is. I’ve been on the road solidly since that tune picked up. A lot of the album was recorded on the road. My friend Sam from my last band, who’s like a mad genius. He does this project called Look Mum, No Computer where he makes like synthesizers out of bicycles. I took him on the road, we recorded backstage at festivals, in the car, in hotel rooms. Occasionally, like for the next single, we stopped off in a studio on the road in between promo and gigs. There’s definitely like a sense of urgency with the album. 

“There’s just this tremendous sense of togetherness, and it’s not even about being a spectacle or having the attention or the adoration. It is about the fantastic ability to be a part of something together with other people around you.”

— Barns on the thrill of performing

AM: So your set yesterday was great--

BC: It was an interesting set. I was not expecting to get naked.

AM:  Wow, I missed that! I saw the first half of the set, but then went to MGMT.

BC: It got progressively more and more intense.

AM: Well, I was going to say you seem to give 110% at every performance, so how do you refuel yourself on tour when you give so much during each performance? 

BC: I just love being onstage. I love that unspoken connection between the audience and myself. I think all anybody wants to do...in life, ultimately... is connect. When you’re up there, you’re all singing and dancing, hearts beating in unison. Glory Hallelujah. There’s just this tremendous sense of togetherness, and it’s not even about being a spectacle or having the attention or the adoration. It is about the fantastic ability to be a part of something together with other people around you. You come offstage and people want to continue that, they want to talk to you and continue that feeling. The sad thing is, as soon as you leave the stage and the audience, you become two strangers again. There isn’t that magical feeling of togetherness anymore. And that’s what really fuels all my performances. I love that. It’s cathartic and it’s meditative. I’m plugged into something bigger than myself. Really the only times where I don’t do that are when I’m too caught up in my own head or too self conscious. It is the most giving and energizing thing that I personally can experience. It provides me with my force, as opposed to the other way around.

AM: So since we're at a festival, do you have any crazy festival stories?

BC: Whenever people ask me these questions, I know in my mind somewhere there’s something, but I have to think of exactly what it is. I’ve done some messed up stuff at festivals. I remember once, I grew up in the same rough area as Ed Sheeran. So he would come to gigs in this place called the Steam Boat Tavern because they do little clubs shows in there. We played to like 10 people...[Ed] was always a phenomenal performer. I took my first band to see him at this little place, and I introduced him...it was a big deal. I said ‘"Hey this is Ed,’" you know, he’s phenomenal, he’s gonna do great things one day. Bass player walks straight up to him, bites him as hard as he can on the shoulder. Draws blood. Ed starts freaking out, walks off. I don’t see him again for like two years. At this point we’re both playing this festival called Wakestock. Ed’s started to gain traction. He’s playing to a tent of like 5,000 people. I see him backstage, he’s like "Hey what’s up Barns." I’m like "Dude, it’s so nice to see you, I'm so sorry about that thing last time--" Mid sentence, bass player appears out of nowhere, bites him on the shoulder again. Bleeding! He’s like oh my god....goes off. He has to do his set.  Then later that night, we went to a roller skating rink. This is where Ed leaves the story.  We’ve all got roller skates on, and I was so drunk, me and the band, we just left this roller rink with the skates on. We’re trying drunkenly to get back to the van on roller skates through a muddy field. I meet this girl. She starts chewing my face off and she’s obviously on ecstasy, and I realize halfway through, the water that she gave me, is just full of drugs. New Found Glory is playing, we’re like going at- I mean like, Tyrannosaurus Rex going at each other’s faces. Like, it’s not pretty. All the music stops, and we look up and New Found Glory is looking at us, and they say, "I didn’t realize that our music was romantic, but fuck, you guys are really macking on each other!" No word of a lie, everyone is looking at us. We end up backstage in the shower room. Next thing I know this girl and I are getting intimate, I’ve still got my roller skates on. I’m soaking wet. It’s freezing cold, I’m wet through, making sweet love to this girl in a pair of roller skates. I’m shivering my ass off, and the two of us climb into this van. I look behind me, the bass player that just bit Ed Sheeran is making out with this girl that I literally just got with.

AM: That is crazy, I don’t even think you can make that up. So, still on the subject of festivals, you’ve got Lolla coming up, is there anything else you’re really looking forward to? Hopefully nothing as crazy as that festival story! 

BC: I hate having relations with women wearing roller skates. I hope that never happens again. It’s awkward. It doesn’t work.

AM: Would that be your festival "don’t?"?

BC: Do not have sex wearing roller skates. Especially when it’s freezing outside.

AM: Do you have a "do" in relation to that?

BC: A sexual do? Ecstasy is a glorious drug to make love on. You just wanna love everyone. You just wanna touch everyone. I remember being with this girl, and I just sat on my bed and I just looked at her for four hours. It was phenomenal. Just gazing deep within each other’s souls. Then when we finally got around to it, it was just this incredible, visceral experience. Must try that. I insist upon it. It’s got the Barnsy seal of approval.

AM: Anything else you’re looking forward to this tour?

BC: I just love playing festivals. I love playing gigs. Hangout Festival was so much fun. The crowd were just so present. When they told me to take my clothes off, I took my shirt off. They just kept asking. I basically made a deal with them. I was like look, if you guys go fucking crazy, I’ll take the rest of my clothes off. It was the end of the set, I brought two girls up on stage to be my hype ladies. I made a big ceremony, I got a drum beat going. I got the crowd chanting "take it off!"

AM: Wow, I included you in my highlights, but I think I need to revise it to include you getting naked. 

BC: I think Hangout put it on their snapchat. They said “He Did: That" and “Barns Courtney: No Shirt No Problem." 

AM: So moving on from being naked, are there any bands you’re really into at the moment?

BC: Yeah, Bishop Briggs. Phenomenal. I’ve seen her at a couple of festivals. Really into Band Of Skulls. Fidlar. Temples' new album is sick. Harry Styles’ new single is amazing! It's like Ziggy Stardust era Bowie. I don’t care about One Direction. Objectively, those are great pop songs. They’re not for me. They’re for teenage girls, but all music has its place. I would never discredit that. His new record is very credible, and very well done. The production is great. Nobody’s lyrics are ever gonna touch Bowie, but the lyrics are solid. They’re not teeny bopper One Direction lyrics. This is like when Justin Timberlake went to do a solo thing, but even more dramatic of a change. 

AM: Any last shout outs or advice? 

BC: Shout out to my mom. Shout out to my buddies The Struts. I saw them in LA recently, they’re gentlemen. Shout out to my friend, my lover, my coproducer, Look Mum No Computer...his shit’s amazing.

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Chicago, Barns will be in town this August for Lollapalooza. You can check out all of his tour dates here, and listen to his full EP below. 

Kam Franklin of The Suffers Talks Treating Yourself on Tour and Respect at Music Festivals

The Houston-based eight-piece The Suffers have honed in on a refreshing, funky retro sound that sets them apart from the rest of the crowd. Since releasing their debut album in 2016, The Suffers have crossed off bucket list items such as appearing on Jimmy Kimmel and playing a NPR Tiny Desk Concert. This summer, the band are set to bring their bold and soulful sound to several festivals around the country, including their recent appearance at Hangout Fest in Gulf Shores, Alabama. During their time in Alabama last weekend, The Suffers frontwoman Kam Franklin chatted with us about everything from their new music to their festival do's and don'ts. Get to know all that and more in our chat with Kam Franklin!

Photo Courtesy of Hangout Music Festival

ANCHR Magazine: You’ve cited a bunch of different musical styles as your influences, like rock, country, and soul. What was your first musical memory, like a band you heard or a family member that played music, that got you into creating your own music?

Kam Franklin: It was definitely gospel. I grew up in the church, and gospel was always played in my house. Aside from gospel, R&B...So Luther Vandross, Prince, Aretha Franklin, both her gospel stuff and her R&B stuff. That was the main thing that was always in my ear growing up.

AM: Cool, so when did you first start writing your own music?

KF: Probably around age 12 or 13 is when I started writing lyrics or poems and not realizing that’s what they were becoming. First song that I knew was a song, was probably age 16. It ended up on our last record. It’s called “Stay.”

AM: When did you meet the rest of the band then?

KF: We all knew each other before the band ever even was a thing. We were all in different punk, ska, and reggae bands in Houston. We would see each other and it was always a case of oh yeah, if we could ever play with this person we should. It just never happened. The whole thing was when Adam and Pat were starting the band, it was like let’s get this person and this person. We thought it would just be a fun thing, and it evolved.

AM: Cool, so I saw you guys tweeted that you’re going back in the studio at the end of this month. What secrets can you let me in on about the new stuff?

KF: We’re going to release some new singles before the end of the summer. We should be going back to record the full length before the fall. Right now we’re just trying to decide what collaborations we want to do. What kind of sound we want. Where we want to do it. Really we’re just trying to grow as much as possible, and we’re testing the songs out live to see what works, what doesn’t. It’s been kind of funny.

AM: What have been some of your favorites to play live?

KF: We have this one...the song is about getting to know somebody. And all the things that get you excited about getting to know them. Maybe a favorite TV show, or a favorite band, or rapper.  So the chorus for that one is “So what’s your favorite color? Oh you say you like Nas too. You were raised by your mother and her village, oh that's cool. You quote Martin and Friends, I hope this conversation never ends.” It’s just like this...I don’t know, it’s really silly, but it’s playful. There’s a few pop culture references in it, but more than anything it’s just about those times where you used to stay on the phone with somebody all night. A guy that I don’t talk to anymore, but when we first started dating, we had one of the longest conversations I’ve ever had on the phone. I looked at my phone and it said 7 hours. I’m like, I just put in a work shift talking to this dude all night. It didn’t feel like it at all. It felt like maybe an hour or two. I was trying to think when is that last time I talked to somebody for this long, and I realized a lot of men, at least my age, have gotten really lazy as far as the pursuit. Also a lot of women have kind of changed their standards. I don’t mean that in a way that demeans either side, but I feel like once you take the expectations away, the delivery is so much different, and it kind of sucks. I don’t want to chase any people, like come chase me. I’m old school.

AM: So looking at your tour dates, you’re playing so many festivals, from jazz festivals to XpoNential Festival, which is really cool. What are some of the festivals or cities you're most looking forward to playing?

KF: Maybe it’s the same for media, but for bands, when the festival circuit is really heavy, it kind of becomes like a summer camp kind of thing. Where you’re seeing a lot of people at the same time, and it becomes really a fun thing. I just get excited to see some of my friends that are on the festivals. I’ve never been to Lockn’, but I’m excited because my friend Jim James is on Lockn'. Then I’m excited for Whale Rock...it’s the old Beaverton Festival in California. Our friends The Motet and Turquaz will be there. There’s different festival circuits that have the same kind of theme, like Lockn’ will have your Jam Bands and Indie Rock. Then Newport and XpoNential have people that will play more folky festivals, so like your Ryan Adams and Luscious. When you see people you say what’s up, it’s kind of like a fun thing of the circle of friends/colleagues where you rarely see each other because you’re on the road, but they get it.

AM: So how do you stay sane and entertained on the road when you travel so much?

KF: I try to take alone time whenever I can get it. Exercise. Even though I don’t like exercise, I try to exercise as much as I can. I go to the nail shops a lot. I love the nail shops. Self care is so important. When I make friends in other cities, I am very vigilant about following up with them and trying to hang out, because I’m not going to be home for a while. So if I have friends in DC and Atlanta, I’m going to hit them up. It can get very lonely, even though I’m touring with 8 or 9 guys. They’re my friends and my family, but sometimes you want to go see something else. Being with them all the time can be very limited and frustrating. And vice versa, I know sometimes they need time away from me.

AM: Do you have any festival dos and don’ts?

KF: Be respectful of yourself and others. Wear sunscreen. Stay hydrated. Be nice. I say be nice, as if being respectful isn’t the same, but it’s so different. You don’t have to be nice to someone to respect them. The only reason I say that is because it might come back to you. Say you lose your phone, but you were a dick to that person that saw your phone later on. If you’re not a dick, they might bring you your phone back. More than anything, just try to enjoy the music. I’m not anti-phones at concerts, but I am anti- yawning and not paying attention, or judging other people in the crowd. Let people have a good time.

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

KF: I’m mainly just looking forward to releasing new music. We haven’t released new music since our album came out. So I am just itching to get them out!

AM: Any new band recommendations or new albums you’re listening to?

KF: I am obsessed with Emily King’s last record, particularly the song “Distance.”  I love Local Natives and everything that they do. Also just homies. Portugal. The Man just released a new single. My friend Fat Tony. We’re just so happy to be doing what we do and being able to support our friends. Oh, my dear friend Matthew Logan Vasquez of Delta Spirit, who just released a solo album. I helped him with a song on that, and it’s great and I love him so much.

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Check out all of The Suffers' upcoming tour dates here, and listen to their self-titled debut album below. 

A Chat With: Happyness

The London-rockers of Happyness are currently in the middle of their U.S. tour in support of their sophomore album Write In. This album builds off of the momentum of their debut Weird Little Birthday and adds complexity while staying true to the softer rock that this band is known for. Jon-EE Allan, Benji Compston and Ash Cooper collaborate to the highest degree while recording. This combined creativity and drive makes for compelling lyrics and eccentric melodies. They’ll be at the 7th St Entry this Saturday with openers Fury Things and Wetter, read our interview with Jon-EE and Benj below.

Photo Courtesy of Happyness

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ANCHR Magazine: In what ways does your new album Write In differ from your debut Weird Little Birthday?

JON-EE ALLAN: We wanted to make a more open album this time, and open-ended. I think it answers less of its own questions, if that makes sense. The setting for recording this album was actually pretty similar to Weird Little Birthday, we self produced it in our studio, but we were in a very different place mentally. Benji got very ill about halfway through making it so our flow got disrupted pretty heavily. I guess that's why there's a little less segue-ing and interlude type stuff. I think it's more hopeful though - it's kind of a collection of snapshots of hope through the crap.

And there are 3 less tracks...

AM: Do you guys play off of each other creatively when writing songs/recording? What was the main approach to the new album?

JON-EE ALLAN: Yeah definitely - we've worked in every possible combination of the three of us. Usually depending on who has the most concentration or drive at any given time, or who's had the most for lunch.

This is the first time we've had to make an album under time pressure and knowing that people were waiting for it. Working like that takes a bit of getting used to. We just wanted to make sure we weren't forcing it. We blocked out pretty much a year of our lives to make this record. It's a weird feeling cutting yourself off like that. It's hard to keep track of time or have enough perspective on things, so we'd leave songs for months before coming back to them - they get pretty scary to face when you've left them for that long. I don't think we'll make a record like this again, it's not a sustainable way to live... But I like what it produced!

AM: How has growing up/living in London influenced your music?

BENJI COMPSTON: London's such an enormous, sprawling place that we've actually found it really hard to identify a kind of 'scene' as such. At least for what we want to do. The city's definitely influenced us as far as it's the place we live in - but I don't think we can really claim a kind of Clash-esque London thing. It's something I really like about touring is getting to see other cities music scenes and the way they work/the people that make them work. It's inspiring.

AM: I absolutely loved your NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert. What was it like doing that/gaining more recognition in general?

BENJI COMPSTON: It's was kind of surreal...and nerve wracking. Bob Boilen gave us an enormous bag of protein bars to keep us alive on the road. It was cool to check out the NPR offices. They have nice water fountains.

AM: Your music has been described as slacker-rock, what do you guys think of that classification?

JON-EE ALLAN: I don't mind too much either way. People need a way of categorizing things. It always frustrates me when people take that label to assume a lack of effort or thought though - that's my one misgiving.

AM: I can’t wait to see you guys live in Minnesota. What’s it like touring in the U.S. and was this always a goal for you?

JON-EE ALLAN: Long. Drives. I love touring the US. There's something a little more wild and almost primeval about certain parts of the US. Like anything could happen. There's no end to the amount of weird situations you can end up in as 3 effete British guys and 1 French one, left at the mercy of the United States of America. Our taxi driver was a neo-nazi once. That was uncomfortable. We met a guy in Missoula who made a living by purposely getting himself hit by cars. He showed us all his scars - he lived off the payouts. He'd been hit 4 times.

AM: How does your live set differ from your studio work? Do you think it’s important for people to experience your music in a live setting?

JON-EE ALLAN: It took a bit of getting used to how much less controlled it is for us. But we enjoy that side of it a lot now. If we had more money for equipment and rehearsals maybe it would be more similar to the record... We have a bunch of ideas for expensive stage props, but no financial way of realizing them yet. I don't know how many people would get behind a Kickstarter campaign for an indoor beach.

AM: I love how much of a presence simple and beautiful guitar melodies have in many of your songs, especially where lyrics don’t come in until later in the song. Where does that come from? Do you think that allows for more attention to lyrics (specifically in a song like “Weird Little Birthday Girl”)?

JON-EE ALLAN: We just had no appreciation of any of the rules when we wrote those songs. Like getting a song accepted for radio, or what constituted a viable single. It's probably kind of a sociopathic musical streak - we find it impossible to tell what people's' reaction will be to anything we do - so we try to just doing what we want and hope it aligns with other people on some level.

AM: What’s next for Happyness?

JON-EE ALLAN:  Niagara Falls this afternoon and then a show in Cleveland tonight. We've got a few festivals this summer - and we want to record some more music - it's the nicest thing recording music when you've just released an album - the "next-release" pressure is so far in the future, there's something very clear and blissful and uplifting about recording music right in the rain-shadow of an album.

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You can see all of Happyness's US tour dates here, and listen to Write In below.

A Chat With: Nightlands

While he may be best known for being the bassist in The War On Drugs and collaborating with many well-known musicians, the multitalented Philadelphian Dave Hartley released his third record under the Nightlands alias earlier this month. The album, I Can Feel The Night Around Me, embraces and enchants listeners with Hartley's layered vocals and soothing synths. Since the May 5th release of the album, Hartley has been on tour playing the new songs to venues around the country. Before the tour makes a stop at Schubas this Thursday, Hartley gave us some insight on the process behind the third album and chatted with us about his experience scoring a film soundtrack, how he balances being in multiple bands, his dream collaboration, and more. 

Photo Credit: Dustin Condren 

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ANCHR Magazine: I’m loving the new album that came out earlier this month! Can you talk a little bit about the process behind writing and recording the record?

Dave Hartley: I write and record simultaneously, pretty much. I just devote a lot of time to... sonic exploration, for lack of a better term. I tinker with drum machines or loops or synths until I find something that feels like a mysterious path, and I'll follow that and try to work our a chord progression. Writing "Lost Moon" felt like the breakthrough, when I really hit a vein. I had been listening to Glen Campbell's Wichita Lineman on repeat for days, and I sat down with my Roland TR-8 drum machine and just sort of put together a chord progression that I thought gave me that same melancholy feeling as Jimmy Webb's classic. Even though it came out sounding more CSN than Glen Campbell, Wichita Lineman was the inspiration. Once I had that song, it felt like my thesis statement had been written and I could finish the album.

AM: How is I Can Feel The Night Around Me different than your first two records, both from your songwriting standpoint and what differences do you notice sonically?

DH: Forget the Mantra was an aesthetic statement more than an exercise in songwriting, even though "300 Clouds" is a strong tune, in my impartial estimation. Oak Island sort of took that aesthetic out of the bedroom and into the outside world, a little bit... still some experimenting but starting to think in terms of songwriting, song craft, etc. I Can Feel the Night Around Me feels like the completion of a trilogy -- seeing the aesthetic vision of Forget the Mantra through to it's conclusion: harmonies, vocal layers, drum machines, dreamlike imagery, etc... but sort of stepping out of the mist a little bit. I came to terms with my voice more on this album, was more deliberate.

AM: What have been some of your favorite songs to play live from the new record, and what can we expect from the set at Schubas later this month? Will it be a mix of old and new material?

DH: I think "Only You Know" and "Depending on You" really take on a new life live... also some of my earlier songs have really morphed with the band. "So it Goes" is probably my favorite song... it's become radically, unrecognizably different than the album version. I should re-record it. At Schubas you'll see some old songs, some new songs... maybe a cover?
 

AM: Speaking of playing live, I saw you've got a show later on this month at The Andy Warhol museum, which is awesome! Do you find that other art forms ever influence your songwriting, and if so, what artists have inspired you?
 

DH: Very excited about that Warhol show... have been wanting to play there for a while. I'm 100% inspired by other media... maybe more than other music. I tend to insulate myself from music while I'm deep in the recording mode. I don't want to be influenced, I want to try to create in a vacuum. But I'll read a lot, find myself gravitating towards certain imagery. "This image makes me feel the way I want to feel." .... You're always looking for signposts to follow, you know? It could be something as simple as a photograph, or a book cover, or a phrase you read in a novel.

AM: What other gigs are you looking forward to on this tour? Any cities you're particularly excited for?
 

DH: Chicago is always a highlight--my sister lives there and it's one of my favorite cities in the US. Asheville is another that I'm pumped for--who can explain why certain geographic locations loom large in our legends? Of course Philadelphia, where I live, where my life is based. I'm excited to play in Philadelphia.

AM: Since you're also in The War On Drugs and there's new material coming out this year from that project, how do you balance being in two active bands at the same time?

DH: Well I don't really overlap the two.. The Drugs has always had a long gestation-release cycle... the albums take a while to make, and then we tour hard for years on them. So really I'll have downtime, and when I have downtime my idle hands gravitate towards the recording studio. But I don't think I'd be able to balance the two concurrently. Being in the Drugs is a full-time job. And vice versa, while Nightlands is a cottage-industry, so to speak, my obsession with recording my albums isn't proportional to my listening-base, if you get my drift. I go deep and long.

AM: How did the opportunity to score 2001: A Space Odyssey come around, and how was the experience of creating a score? Was your process a lot different than when you approach writing for Nightlands?

DH: A local promoter was doing a series where bands would play live and then screen their favorite film. They asked me to participate and I audaciously one-upped him and asked if I could write and perform a live score to 2001, the greatest film ever made. I profoundly regret not recording the evening.. I was scared. It was improvised, in part, and I was just worried it would be a train wreck and didn't allow it to be recorded. There were only 40 people there, or something, and I remember it as being really special. That could be rose-colored hindsight but I'm going with it. I enjoyed the process because it was structured, rigidly, in some ways and completely open in others. I used a massive house organ that I lugged to the venue, a sampler, and my acoustic guitar. Producer/synth-wizard Jeff Ziegler accompanied me. It was great. It can never be recreated.
 

AM: You also collaborate and work with so many other artists. Who’s another artist you'd love to work with that you haven't already?

DH: Cass McCombs. I'm a huge fan and he always plays with shit-tight musicians. I'd welcome the challenge of living up to his body of work.

AM: What other bands or artists have you been listening to recently?

DH: Andy Shauf's latest album stunned me. The Dove and the Wolf, from Paris-via-Philadelphia. Daniel Lanois' latest album is fucking amazing--next level ambient compositions.

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Grab your tickets to Nightlands show at Schubas this Thursday, May 25th here, and listen to their new album I Can Feel The Night Around Me below.

A Chat With: Meg Mac

Australian singer-songwriter Meg Mac combines her soulful vocals with pop melodies to craft irresistible tunes, like the viral "Roll Up Your Sleeves," which has racked up over 9 million Spotify streams. Prior to the July 14th release of her debut album, Meg will tour North America playing some of the new songs, returning for the first time since she supported D'Angelo on a 2015 tour. In advance of the tour next month, we had a chat with Meg to get the scoop on the upcoming album, her influences, her advice on dealing with jet lag, and more! 

Photo Credit: Metaxia Coustas

ANCHR Magazine: Congratulations on your debut album coming out later this year! Can you tell us a little bit about the songwriting and recording process of the album?

Meg Mac: Thank you! I really wanted to make my first album simple.  I write all my songs at the piano and I played on most of the album. I wanted it to feel and sound like you were in the studio with me when you listen to the album. Just me and my songs without anything getting in the way.

AM: You’ve cited Edith Piaf and Carole King as influences for the album. Did you pull inspiration from any other art mediums or nonmusical influences when writing the songs?

MM: Edith Piaf said she wanted to make people cry even when they don’t understand her words. I love the idea of that. When I am writing I’m always inspired by something personal, something I am experiencing. I have to feel strongly enough about something to sing about it. 

AM: Which of the new songs are you most looking forward to playing live, and what can we expect from the live show?

MM: There’s a song on my album called "Ride It." Recording this song is what inspired me to get my first electric guitar from New York and learn how to play. Obviously it features guitar, but it also has an energy on it that I haven’t had before, and I can play around with that on stage.

AM: Which cities are you most looking forward to on the upcoming tour?

MM: I’m excited to come back to a lot of the places I’ve been before. My last tour in the states was with D’Angelo and I fell in love with a few places. But I’m pretty happy about playing my first show in San Francisco.

AM: Since you’re coming to tour The States all the way from Australia, what are your best tips for staying entertained on long flights and dealing with jetlag?

MM: Don’t take daytime naps.

AM: I saw you tweeted about Firefly Festival and being in disbelief you’re on the same poster as Bob Dylan. Who else on the Firefly lineup are you hoping to see while you’re there?

MM: I’d love to see Banks - she’s playing the same day as me.

AM: I also saw on your social media that your sister is in your band and plays on some songs on your album. Is your whole family pretty much musical, and when did you first get into making your own music? 

MM: Yeah my little sister sings in my band and every now and then she comes in to the studio. Singing is just what we did in our house growing up - it was normal.

AM: What other bands are you listening to at the moment? 

MM: I have been getting into Father John Misty and also going back and loving Tracey Chapman.

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You can pre-order Low Blows here, and grab your tickets to see Meg Mac at Schubas Tavern on 6/20 here. Get ready for the show and the album by listening to Meg's debut EP below. 

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. 

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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.

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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 Chat With: Julia Jacklin

Australian singer-songwriter Julia Jacklin has had a year as incredible as the songs she writes...releasing her debut album, touring nonstop, and being announced on massive festival lineups all over the world, like Glastonbury and Spendour In The Grass. Her music blends her rich and haunting vocals with retro-tinged folk music, and a pinch of twang. In the midst of her current North American tour, Julia took some time to chat with us about her first album and what's in store for her this year. Get to know Julia Jacklin now before she takes summer 2017 by a storm.

Thumbnail Photo Credit: Scarlett Mckee

Photo Credit: Nick McKinley

ANCHR Magazine: Congrats on releasing your debut album last year... it’s a big accomplishment! What have been some highlights for you since you’ve released it?

Julia Jacklin:  I’ve kind of been on tour since I released it. So I’ve done a lot of things. Playing music festivals has been cool. We played...it’s a pretty big bill back home, it’s a festival called Laneway Festival. We got to do that, which was like a teenage dream come true. We did Tiny Desk two days ago, which was also on the list of dreams.

AM: Cool! Talking more about your music, you wrote, starred in, and directed the video for “Leadlight." Was that your first experience directing?

JJ: The first one I did was “Pool Party” actually. I released that quite a long time before I released the record. That was my first experience, just kind of coming from having to make it work. I needed a music video and had to make it happen.

AM: Do you have any interest or background with films, or was it really that you just needed someone to direct it and stepped into that role yourself?

JJ: I definitely have an interest...I definitely have a lot to learn in that regards. I’m a person who has grown up watching many things. It’s something that I ended up really enjoying, but honestly it wasn’t like an “Oh, I really want to do this all on my own.” It was like I just had to do it.

AM: Do you have any all-time favorite music videos that you were inspired by when you were planning what you were going to do for your own music videos?

JJ: Probably my favorite is a Grimes clip, called “Oblivion.” Have you seen that one, where she’s in like a football field? It’s really cool. I wish it was my music video.

AM: Cool! So then as far as the live show, what have been some of your favorite songs from the album to play live since you’ve played a bunch of shows since the release? Are there any that have sort of changed and transformed in the live sense?

JJ: Yeah, they’ve all kind of changed over time. They’re quite a lot bigger than on the record now. I’ve kind of had a few---just cause I’m touring a lot in many different places, I’ve had a few line up changes in the band. That’s always changing the songs in a way. I definitely hated a couple of songs a few months ago and now I’m enjoying them. It kind of changes all the time. I’ve been really enjoying playing “Leadlight” lately. Which I was always really scared of for some reason. It was always the one song in the set that I was thinking I was gonna screw up.

AM: So you’ve had a few different line up changes with touring different countries. What’s the current set up on this tour?

JJ: I’ve got Eddie from back home. He’s played with me the whole time. Then I have Ian and Ben from Toronto, who joined a couple of weeks ago. They are fantastic. We’ve been really getting to know each other.

AM: Nice! Any random outings or fun stories from this tour so far?

JJ: It's been a very chill tour so far. The whole first part was driving up the west coast of America, and getting to see the Red Woods. Like staying in really secluded Air BnBs, and just feeling like a real tourist for once. Instead of like a really tired musician just coming in and out of cities and never really seeing anything. I felt like I really got to see some of America this time.

AM: Any cities coming up that you’re excited to go to on this tour?

JJ: We’re going to a few places on this tour we’ve never been to, like Raleigh and Atlanta. So I’m just keen to see what the deal is, what’s going on. I’m pretty excited about playing in New Orleans. I’ve been there a few times as a backpacker, just wandering around, soaking it all in. It’s a nice turn of life events that I’m gonna play there.

AM: That should be great. I hear a lot of musicians say they like playing there because the crowd is really receptive.

JJ: Totally, yeah.

AM: Have there been any culture shocks for you playing in America? It sounds like you’ve been here before even as a backpacker, but anything being a musician that is completely different here than back home?

JJ: It's very different to back home, as there’s so many more cities and venues to play. In Australia it’s like you tour for a week and you’ve pretty much covered it. Really long distances between places as well, and you have to fly. That’s super different- being in a new place every four hours that seems to have a pretty different culture, like food-wise and the music scene seems to change a lot between each state. It’s a completely different experience than back home. It kind of feels like you’re in different countries every couple of days.

AM: What’s been the most surprising show, like where the crowd or city was different to what you thought it would be like?

JJ: We just played in Montreal actually, and that was quite different to what I was expecting. Just a very a vocally appreciative crowd. They were yelling a lot at me, but nice things. Kind of throughout the whole set. They were really into it.

AM: So kind of circling back, do you have anyone who inspired you to start making music? Both musical and nonmusical, what first inspired you to start writing and playing an instrument?

JJ: I guess my friend to be honest. My friend Liz, who I got to know when I was 18. She was a massive fan of like Annie DiFranco and she had a classical guitar. She used to do really cool finger picking, and I was like I really want to be just like you. So I bought a classical guitar and started doing exactly what she was doing. We still play music together. She’s been the biggest thing for me in the beginning. The first band I was in was with her, and she’s just someone I really looked up to.

AM: Very cool. So are there any new albums or bands that you’re listening to a lot?

JJ: I’ve been listening to Mitski’s new record a lot. That’s been a big favorite. I’ve just discovered Cass McCombs. I’m very late to the bandwagon on that, but I’ve been enjoying listening.

AM: So then last thing, you’re on the Splendour in the Grass line up. It’s a big Australian festival and your first time playing it right?

JJ: Yeah the first time, it feels really good.

AM: Awesome, so anyone else on the line up you’re hoping to check out?

JJ: Well we have to fly straight to LA to play FYF Fest. So it’s one of those things where it’s like oh cool there’s all these great people playing, but we have to play and leave straight away to get to the airport. Which is usually the case it seems with music festivals once you start playing them. So I’m choosing not to look at the lineup and when people play so I don’t get disappointed.

AM: Anything else you’re looking forward to this year?

JJ: We’re moving to Spain in a month, doing the European Festival circuit, doing like Green Man, Glastonbury, and Primavera. So I’m really looking forward to that. Summer time festival life.

AM: Very cool. Are you writing new material on tour?

JJ: Yeah I have been. We had quite a lot of down time at the beginning of this tour, so hopefully I’ll have something new soon.

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Follow along with all things tour and other updates from Julia here.  Chicago, you can see Julia Jacklin with Andy Shauf this Saturday, May 13th. Grab tickets to their show at Lincoln Hall here, and get ready for the show by listening to Julia's debut album below!

Get To Know: Skela

Independent, fearless, genuine: Skela is the New York based singer-songwriter you need to know about. A power vocalist and a poet with the knack for crafting catchy pop melodies, Skela's not afraid to pack a punch with her message. After playing an incredible show at The Mercury Lounge in NYC last month, Skela took some time to chat with ANCHR about her upcoming debut EP, new music video, and her other writing projects. Get ready for Skela's takeover in 2017 by reading up on 6 things you have to know about Skela. 

Photo Credit: Grace Watts (@gracexless)

Powerful Vocalists and a Chipmunk-Tuned Cassette Player Got Her Started in Singing

As a self-taught musician, Skela definitely took an unconventional approach in teaching herself to sing. "I actually have one really distinct memory," She revealed. "My earliest memory with music and realizing how obsessed I was with it...I used to live in Sunnyside in Queens, and we had this little Mickey Mouse cassette player. I was really little, I think I was maybe 5. It had this little chipmunk option that made it go really, really fast. It was this song called “Toy Soldiers" on one side, and on the other side was Mariah Carey or something. And I remember that’s how I taught myself how to sing. By mimicking exactly what I heard over and over again, and I would mimic the chipmunk voice. I wanted to sing high. That’s when I first started singing. I would do that all the time until my mom came in one day like 'What are you doing?” I was like in a trance, it was just so normal to me," she continued. 

As far as other inspirations behind teaching herself to sing, Skela credits a lot of female power vocalists, from popstars to pop punk front women. "It’s so broad, it changes over the years when you go through different phases," Skela says about her influences. "Growing up I guess I started off with all the great vocalists. You know, Aretha, Etta James...Christina Aguilera was huge. Mariah Carey. We would listen to a lot of Janet Jackson. As I grew older and kind of got my own ears going, I would listen to The Beatles all the time. I went through that whole emo pop-punk phase of Paramore, you know," she revealed.

Although her influences include a meld of all these different artists and they're ever-changing, Skela says, "I definitely started out with vocalists. That was like my number one. It still is. I could listen to Ariana Grande sing for days."

She Directed Her Upcoming Music Video 

Skela's got a new single on the way, but rather than just releasing the song, she's going all out. The new track, called "Hella," will be accompanied by a music video that she directed. Talking more about the new video, Skela says, "We have Mithsuca Berry as the romantic lead, then the very talented photographer based in New York called Maksim Axelrod. I’m just so excited. I feel like it really is coming together artistically." The new single was originally scheduled to drop in April, but it sounds like everything will be well worth the wait. "We’re wanting to make everything kind of perfect," Skela elaborates about the pushed release date, also mentioning the wonderful flexibility and freedom that comes with being an independent artist. Regardless of the exact release date, get ready to be "Hella Skela" when this music video drops! 

She's Not Far From Releasing Her Highly Anticipated EP

Skela says that her EP should arrive shortly after her new single premieres.  Speaking of new music, some lucky New Yorkers recently got to hear some of the new tracks performed live at Skela's show at The Mercury Lounge last month. Talking about the show, Skela gushes, "I was actually shocked how well it went. It was a pretty packed room. Which is crazy. I’m a small artist, I’m pretty indie...So to have so many people out was really really special. We had a lot of cross promotion with a company called What’s in Your Box? And then we had female based brands like Millioneiress. We just had a lot of love and support. The new music went over so well. Like all of the unreleased music that we played people were like 'Where can I hear that?' And that’s such a good sign that people want to hear it again. I can’t wait to put out the new music. I just can’t wait."

Skela also revealed more about the theme of her new music and her writing process when we chatted. "I think I’m kind of like an odd songwriter because I never really...," she pauses before continuing on to say, "I do write about experiences and events to a certain degree, but most of my music is based off of the literature and the subjects I’m interested in within a certain time period. You know what I mean? I read up a lot on my interests and all of that sort of pours through to poetry, and then I’ll make songs from the poetry. So I’m hoping to release some poetry with the EP. I guess it just shows a little more of what the songs truly are about."

In a way, you could say that her poetry is the skeleton of Skela songs (say that five times fast).  

Her Advice For Other Independent Artists Is...

Skela recently wrote a guest blog for Tunecore about her experience in the industry as an independent musician. Touching more on that subject, and being a new artist, Skela gives her number one piece of advice. "You’re just so overwhelmed with where to start. And just eager. But I think-- just navigate from a point of rationality and logic as best as you can, and it’s gonna take a while 'til you can. Cause you’re so eager that you’re just down for anything and excited to work with everyone. That’s so great, but at the same time, you should be focusing on who you are and what’s right for you. What’s your decision. It’s easy to let people tell you what to do, from agents to managers to you know, anyone with opinions. It really takes a long time to be like no, I got this. I got this cause I got me. For me, my number one thing is just to stay as grounded as possible. And not in a humble way. In a literal, grounded place. Be grounded in your music and who you are. That’s a very hard part of chasing your dream. You lose that because you get discouraged, or you get one good thing that happens to you and it doesn’t work out. Then you’re devastated again. Just staying grounded."

For anyone starting a creative project, not just in the music industry, that advice to remember your intent behind the art is so important. 

“It’s easy to let people tell you what to do, from agents to managers to you know, anyone with opinions. It really takes a long time to be like no, I got this. I got this cause I got me. ”

— Skela on standing your ground as an independent artist

She's Not Just a Singer, But a Screenwriter As Well

Singer, songwriter, director, poet, blogger, and that's not all. The gem of Skela's writing possesses many different facets. "I actually just wrote a short film script," Skela says while talking about what's next for her this year.  "It’s going into production this year, and I’m actually really excited about that. That’ll be pretty cool to have my first screenplay actually going into production. It’s called 'Le Reve,' and it’s being produced and directed by a very close friend of mine, Chiara Gerek," she continued. 

So besides the massive amounts of writing talents, does Skela have any secret talents? "I don’t know if this is a talent, but I always twirl my hair, and I can do it really fast. It’s more of a nervous tick, really," she confesses. 

She's Got a Love For Lo-fi Music

Skela will easily become one of your favorite musicians once her EP comes out, but talking about her favorites, she says, "I’ve been listening nonstop to this one artist called Ben Rosenfield. He’s very awesome. I have this big love for lo-fi music. I’ve been listening to him a lot. I always go back to the basics, like [Sandy] Alex G...Day Wave...Mitski. Diet Cig is really dope, they just came out with a new EP that’s really good. Those are the ones that I go back to. Oh, Active Bird Community. My friend- he goes by Kraus, but his name is Will Kraus and he’s super talented. I feel like he’s about to blow up in that scene. I listen to that music pretty regularly, and it serves as a strange platform for pop music. If you listen to the new music, you’ll definitely hear it. It’s in the melody...it’s all over."

Elaborating specifically on her favorite local artists, Skela has some hot tips about the NYC scene. "I have some friends and musicians that I think are really talented, and I really only try to work with people that I genuinely support and love. A few of them are Josh Jacobson. He’s a producer and a songwriter I work with. He’s dope...he’s got great stuff coming out. Florio. He actually opened for me at the show. Then the Frances Rose girls are so talented. They’re kind of Synth, 80's pop. This girl May, she is amazing. She has this crazy voice, just crazy operatic training behind her. There’s a lot of great musicians in New York, but I feel like right now those are the ones I really pay the most attention to cause they’re somewhat in my lane, but I also really admire them," she says. 

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Stay "Hella Skela" by keeping liking Skela's Facebook page to keep up to date with any updates. You can also listen to this killer Spotify playlist that Skela made, featuring some of the artists she hyped as her favorites while you wait for the EP. 

A Chat With: A R I Z O N A

A R I Z O N A is definitely not your conventional band. The Jersey natives combine their love of eclectic sounds and raw lyrics to deliver songs such as "I Was Wrong," "Oceans Away," and "People Crying Every Night." We recently caught up with Nathan Esquite from A R I Z O N A (the band, not the state) to talk about dad jokes, road trips, and their upcoming debut album Gallery, which comes out May 19th.

A R I Z O N A is Zachary Hannah, David Labuguen, and Nathan Esquite

Photo Credit: Jimmy Fontaine

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ANCHR Magazine: What are some of your musical and non-musical influences?

Nathan Esquite: Hm. I like the addition of non-musical because there’s a lot of influence you can get from non-musical. For me, personally speaking, a big musical influence would be Jeff Buckley. He’s a huge one for me. Saint Vincent, Ben Howard and punk rock. For non-musical, I love cinema. A lot of the stuff that we’ve done is inspired by movies and video games.

AM: What are some of your favorite movies?

NE: My all-time favorite movie is definitely Pan’s Labyrinth.

AM: I’ve heard that dad jokes are a thing amongst the band. What’s the best/worst one so far?

NE: Full disclosure, Zach talks a lot about dad jokes, but he actually gets them all from me. For example, he tells this story like it’s his all the time. While we were on tour, we do a lot of driving, especially through farm country. So we're driving through cornfields and I look to my right and see this huge flock of cows. I look at Zach and I’m like, “Dude check it out there’s a huge flock of cows over there.” And he goes, “Flock of cows? Bro don’t you mean herd of cows?” and I go, “Of course I’ve heard of cows there’s a whole flock of them over there!”

AM: Stop! Was this planned or did that just come out?

NE: Nah that’s the way he told the joke. Pretty good right?

AM: That’s incredible. So at your homecoming show in Brooklyn with Kevin Garrett, Zach talked about all of the negative things going on in the world, and how we should be better humans. Do you think it’s an artist’s responsibility to spread positivity?

NE: I believe that it is everyone’s responsibility to spread positivity, not just an artist. I believe as an artist, you know you feel another calling to it where things that are happening around the world influence the way you do things. Being an artist, you want to share what inspires you and the way you see the world with other people. I believe artists tend to do it more out of that feeling inside of us to share what we see in the world, but I think it's everyone's responsibility to share what they see and what they feel and spread positivity.

AM: Awesome! So, you guys are definitely fighting against the odds. You’ve only been a band for almost two years and you’ve already gone on tour with Kevin Garrett, and are due to play big festivals like FireFly and Governors Ball this summer. How incredible is that?

NE: It’s pretty unreal. If you asked any of us when we started “Hey where do you see the band in two years?” The last thing any of us would have said was “Oh just finishing our first tour and playing all these festivals.” We just want to make music and have fun doing it. To have all these opportunities in front of us, especially me being someone who grew up going to festivals, it’s like a dream come true. It’s a lot of fun.

AM: Yeah that’s my favorite thing about seeing artists grow. Just seeing an artist progress and getting bigger and better is amazing and it makes me so happy. So why call yourselves A R I Z O N A (the band not the state of course)?

NE: We thought it’d be funny.

AM: You guys do a great job writing about love and loss while maintaining an eclectic sound. What can we expect from the debut album?

NE: Well the debut album is called Gallery. A lot of that goes into for all intended purposes is like a collection of our past experiences over the past 10 years in a lot of ways. Just like journeys we’ve gone through and knowing each other and trying to make it in music, trying to make it anywhere in life really. You see a lot of that throughout the album what this journey has been like for us from point a to point b, and you can also hear that in the music. There’s songs like “I Was Wrong” that we wrote two years ago, but then we have songs we wrote a couple of months ago. You hear this huge growth, not just in our writing but our music and how were trying to push our sound.

AM: What inspired you guys to travel around the U.S in Zach’s mom’s Toyota Corolla?

NE: It was a mix of a lot of things. It was a mix of us not having anywhere to work, Zach at the time was living in his aunt’s spare room, I was living with my mom and my five brothers and sisters, Dave was living with his super strict parents so we decided it would work. We took Zach’s mom’s car and we would just sit there and make music all day. We felt like we had this sort of freedom to go wherever we wanted. Why are going to sit in a basement and make a record when we’re in a car? We could go to the beach if we wanted to. And we just kept pushing it further like, ok why are we just going to the beach why don’t we go to like Nashville?

AM: Did that influence your sound in terms of your music? Are you using any of the songs that you made on the album?

NE: Well “People Crying Every Night” was one of the songs we started in the car. But more than anything, I feel the journeys we took in the car, it kind of put us in a position where we were like “Hey, let’s take this seriously and try to do something for real for a second.” When we did the first major road trip we started in Jersey, made our way down to New Orleans and the day we came back from New Orleans, we were like “You guys wanna try this for real now?”

AM: So was that your defining moment?

NE: In a lot of ways, yeah. This was always something. When we started, we would always laugh about it because this was just never about being famous or about making money. It was just like “Hey we have nothing else to do let’s give this one last shot and have fun doing it.”

AM: Last question, what’s next for A R I Z O N A?

NE: The album comes out May 19th and we’ll be on tour all summer!

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As mentioned, A R I Z O N A will be at festivals like Firefly, Governors Ball, and Lollapalooza this summer. Check out the details on those festival appearances and all upcoming tour dates here. Get ready for their tour by preordering the upcoming album Gallery and listening to their latest single "Electric Touch" below:

Get to Know: The Evening Attraction

One listen to The Evening Attraction, and it’s nearly impossible not to get instantly hooked. Between lead singer Miles Malin’s vocals, their strong, melodic riffs, and their subtle nods to an array of influences from country music to Beyonce (more on that later), TEA have managed to brew up the perfect balance. After releasing their debut album and several subsequent singles, the Chicago-based five piece are now back in the studio mixing their sophomore album. In honor of the new record and the band playing our ACLU benefit show with local legends Post Animal and Jude Shuma, The Evening Attraction chatted with me on Record Store Day before their set at Shuga Records. Here's what you need to know about The Evening Attraction, including more on their new music, their past highlights, and future plans.

TEA performing on Record Store Day 2017. The band is Miles Malin, Paul Ansani, Joey Abaroa, Nick Tumminello, and Vince Pimentel.

Miles and Paul have been playing music together for a decade

Bassist Paul Ansani and lead singer/guitarist Miles Malin first started playing music together in middle school, just about a decade ago. "We played in a band called The Break, with Matt Gieser, who owns Treehouse Records," Miles says about the early days with Paul. Continuing on the subject of their first band, he says, "We had some mild success, for kids. We did like all the big venues around the city. Then we moved on into college. Paul went down to U of I, and we kind of spread out. I met Joe at Columbia, and then sophomore year when Matt opened the studio, we did a record there of like post-Break songs that I had, and basically labeled it The Evening Attraction."

The current day line up varies slightly from the first days of The Evening Attraction, though.  "We did the whole first Evening Attraction record...it was us three [Miles, Paul, and Joe], Matt Gieser on drums," Paul says. Miles interjects to add, "Then our drummer now, Nick, did like organs and shakers. Just an all-around auxiliary, good musician. Then we started playing gigs with The Evening Attraction." 

Paul picks the story back up, saying, "Nick eventually transitioned to drums, and then we added our friend Vince." Vince Pimentel joined the group last year to play keys and various percussion. 

Michael Shannon went to one of their gigs

Miles says they've worked on getting their sound down throughout the years as they've played more together. "We’ve been playing a lot. We’ve done a lot of shows since we’ve been together. I think our first show was April of 2013 or 2014," he says. 

While they've played many, many shows, one show in particular still sticks out to the band. "I think our biggest claim to fame is one time we played in front of Michael Shannon, the actor," Joey Abaroa says. Although Paul admits he hasn't seen any of Michael Shannon's movies, Joey's a huge fan of the Academy Award nominated actor. "We peaked, and Michael Shannon left our band," he jokes. 

The new album references influences ranging from The Monkees to Beyonce

The new record from The Evening Attraction is completely recorded and on the brink of release. "Right now we’re in mixing. We’ve got like two final mixes, and we’re gonna hopefully be done mixing at the end of May. Followed by shopping it around, hopefully getting someone to help us put it out...If we get lucky enough and we’re fortunate enough to get it in the right hands," Miles says, adding that he thinks there's something for everyone on the album. 

As far as what the record sounds like, Joey says, "I usually tell people it’s like The Monkees but if The Monkees smoked more reefer than the Monkees smoke reefer." As Miles elaborates on the new music, adding, "The album has 9 tracks, and there’s so many influences that we have. A lot of Jazz stuff, a lot of 60's rock 'n’ roll. Anything from The Zombies to Ty Segall," Joey chimes in again, citing Beyonce as an influence. (The Queen B influence will probably be very subtle if anything, but make sure you listen to the record thoroughly when it comes out).  

Paul also reflects on the new album, saying, "It goes a lot of places. I was listening to it today...we have some rough mixes in. They really kind of run the gamut of our influences. Individually every track kind of goes in a different direction." Paul and Miles also hint that the new music includes some jazzy undertones, horn arrangements, swing tracks, Latin flavor, and 1960's Brit Pop.

At the center of every TEA track, sits a strong melody, according to Paul. Miles also says their songs feature somewhat cinematic qualities, with Paul adding,"A lot of them do have some peaks and transitions, and [it] ends in some place it doesn’t start. A lot of jams. A lot of fades." 

Much like other Chicago bands, they're immersed in the local scene

Although Matt Gieser no longer plays in the band, the new The Evening Attraction record was still recorded at Treehouse Studios, located here in Chicago. In addition to being a recording studio, Treehouse also puts on shows with a lot of local acts. Just recently, TEA played a Treehouse gig with another ANCHR favorite, Joe Bordenaro + The Late Bloomers.  Joey gives Joe Bordenaro a shout out when talking about his favorite bands, also mentioning The Voluptuals and Red Francis.

Paul weighs in on being a part of the Chicago scene, saying, "Now that we feel like we’re kind of consistent and established, we really have a nice connection with a lot of our friends’ bands around here. It's always just nice to see our buddies' bands play. We share the same bill with a lot of the same groups, so it’s kind of good to see everyone hyping each other up." Speaking of sharing bills, don't forget that The Evening Attraction will be playing our benefit show with Post Animal, one of their personal favorites. During the interview Paul is wearing a Post Animal shirt, and both he and Miles say they've been hyping their friends' music for years. 

In addition to fellow local musicians Brandon Reed and Max Loebman, the band say they're huge fans of The Nude Party, Scott Walker, and The Beach Boys. Similar to their own dynamic range in their songs, their musical tastes rest all over the map. 

Rock'n'Roll runs in their family, from musician fathers and touring grandmas

Talking more about their individual inspiration to start playing music, Paul says,"My dad played in a 90's band called Material Issue, and they had their success in the scene. Growing up with that was always fun because you know, it was just always part of my life." 

Paul mentions that his mom is coming out to see them play at Shuga Records, and that Miles' grandma came to the last show. "She’s coming today. She’s gonna come to the next one...and then she’s gonna come on tour with us," Miles joked. 

Speaking of tour, the band say they'll likely tour in the summer after the album release. They've already played 7 out of the 9 new songs live, so make sure you head out to any upcoming shows to get a sneak preview. 

They're into collecting records

In the true spirit of Record Store Day, Joey says he got up bright and early to do some shopping before their show at Shuga Records. "I picked up that Cheap Trick Volume 1, which is a 1975-1979 double LP. I got the two Zombies 45s. You know what’s really crazy? Bamboo. The Dennis Wilson record on vinyl," he shares about his finds. 

Although he wasn't up at crazy hours shopping, Miles says he also collects his own records, in addition to the ones he's inherited from his parents. Miles says his favorites include old jazz records, especially a live compilation from Capitol Records. His absolute favorite, though? "The Casinos. 'I Still Love You.' It’s like this big band, doo wop-y, soul from the 1960s. It’s this track called 'I Still Love You.' It’s like total deep cut that nobody knows," Miles says. 

On the same subject of records, the band say they'll definitely release the new album on vinyl. "I’m looking forward to putting together some good album art," Paul adds. 

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Stay up to date on all The Evening Attraction announcements on their well-rounded, diverse new record and upcoming tour dates by following them on Instagram. Make sure you get down to The Subterranean on July 10th to see them perform with Post Animal, Jude Shuma, and Condor & Jaybird. Grab tickets to that show here, and get ready for the gig by listening to the latest double single from the band 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

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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.

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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. 

Get To Know: Stef Chura

Detroit-based musician Stef Chura stands out with her distinctive, quirky vocal style and personal lyrics. Chura released her debut album Messes on January 27th, and has spent her time since touring around the country, including a stop at SXSW. Before her one-off show at The Empty Bottle in Chicago on May 4th, Chura chatted candidly with me about life since the release of her first album. The singer exuded her eager and authentic energy as she talked about her influences, accidentally seeing her friends' bands at SXSW, podcasts, and cover songs. Get to know more about Stef Chura now!

Photo Credit: Zak Bratto 

Her influences include Buffy Sainte Marie and Kristin Hersh

Talking about her influences specifically for Messes, Stef says, "I’d never made a record before, and it wasn’t very derivative for me. I hadn’t thought out song arrangements at all, and I didn’t say like 'I want it to sound like this, I want it to sound like that.'" She continues on to reveal she has mixed feelings about it and that she wants to be more precise with her references for the next album.  Elaborating on her general influences, Chura says, "More vaguely, I’ve been really into Buffy Sainte Marie...I love PJ Harvey and Kristin Hersch. There’s a lot a stuff that I feel like melds together to sound like what the record sounds like." 

As far as her favorite songs on the record, Chura says she really likes playing "Thin." She pauses for a second before excitedly recalling another favorite, saying "You know what? This is something we didn’t used to play, 'Human Being.' Cause it’s all feel, and we didn’t have a bass player, so it wasn’t working. Now we have a bass player, and that has become my favorite one to play again. I used to like playing that when I was playing solo."  

She appreciates fan art

I asked Stef about some of her favorite fan reactions to her music since the release of Messes, and she recalled some amazing art that one of her fans sent her. "Someone sculpted a picture of my face and painted it pink. That probably tops all. Then they sent it to me. I was like I don’t know what I’m going to do with this, but it’s actually amazing. So that was a good one."

Although she loves the fan art, Stef is just appreciative for her enthusiastic listeners. Continuing, she says, "I don’t know how many people have really heard the album, but I’m really glad that it seems like the people I do get response from are like wow, I really love this album. Like you know, they’re pretty into it, which is a compliment to hear that they like the whole thing."

She supported her friends at SXSW

A common theme when recalling SXSW experiences with artists seems to be that any and all plans completely change and shift throughout the festival. Stef recalled a similar experience, saying, "Ok, I was on tour with Sad13, and I ended up seeing them again a few times on accident. I feel like I ended up seeing my friends' bands again over and over on accident." She also says she was originally bummed she thought she couldn't fit Girlpool into her schedule, but it ended up working out that she saw them three times. Continuing her story about impromptu SXSW shows, Stef says, "We ended up playing a couple shows with Downtown Boys, and I ended up seeing them four times at SXSW. And playing with them once. And Sneaks. We played a couple shows with them. We saw them at South By. I really wanted to see Weaves, and they were amazing. I was really really into their set." Stef also mentioned Jay Som, Allison Crutchfield, and PWR BTTM as SXSW highlights. 

True crime podcasts keep her entertained on the road

Throughout the entire interview, Stef's tone remained very friendly and laid back, especially when we chatted about how she spends her downtime on tour. "I’m very into like, murder podcasts," Stef revealed about how she entertains herself on tour. "Actually I’ve gotten into this real nasty one, called 'Serial Killers'. Have you listened to that? It’s really gross," She continued.  Elaborating more on 'Serial Killers,' Stef said, "It’s definitely NC-17 at times. Wait, is that the porn rating? It’s not pornographic. I would definitely recommend it. It’s just really gruesome. I have this issue where if I turn on a podcast, I have to hear the end of it, even if they’re talking about something super messed up, like rape. They talk about some kind of insane murders that went down that I didn’t know anything about. That’s the one I’ve been the most loyal to going on. I got really into 'Serial', that first story on 'Serial.'" 

Next up on the podcast agenda for Stef? She says she's started 'S-Town,' but still needs to fully commit to it. 

Her biggest lesson learned is...

Stef started out learning firsthand about playing music by setting up a lot of her own DIY shows. As far as trade secrets for the Detroit DIY scene, she says, "Detroit is totally a dive bar scene as far as DIY stuff goes. In Chicago there is a huge house show scene that is always sustained. Michigan has a hard time. Cool dive bars to see shows at would be like Donovan’s. UFO Factory is a really... it’s a venue, but it’s great to see shows. They have a karaoke night on Sundays. It’s bigger, but El Club, I think they’re bringing a lot of really good stuff in now. I think if you’re in Detroit, you probably know about El Club."

After talking about learning the ins and outs of the Detroit music scene, I asked Stef about other life lessons she's learned from mistakes or from trial and error by doing something the wrong way at first. "Maybe there’s something about that just like...realizes your selfishness in a certain way. It’s kind of like not being able to help yourself when you have a really bad idea. I worked at a strip club, and I was like 'don’t do that'... then I was like I’m kind of curious about that, I’m gonna do it. Or my boyfriend’s roommate was into me and I was like, I probably shouldn’t sleep with him, and I did anyway. That was a long time ago, don’t judge me...Little things like that. Like maybe you wouldn’t even tell someone you did that, but you were kind of learning that maybe you should trust your intuition."

She used to be in a Liz Phair cover band

A little known fact about Stef is that she used to be in a Liz Phair cover band. While we know the Stef can play covers herself, I asked about some of her favorite covers by other artists. 

Stef is stumped by the the on-the-spot question, saying "That’s a hard one! I feel like there are some covers I really like. There is something that I prefer. What is it? I like deep cuts...Oh! This is really corny. The White Stripes do a cover of “I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself” that I actually do prefer. That’s a good one!"

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Chicago, you can grab tickets to Stef's show at The Empty Bottle here. She'll also be playing the Detroit festival Mo Pop with lots of other great artists this summer, or as Stef says, she's opening for Solange, since she plays earlier on the same day. Keep up with future tour announcements from Stef on her Facebook page, and listen to Messes here:

A Chat With: Moon Duo

Ripley Johnson and Sanae Yamada (AKA Moon Duo) released Volume 1 of their fourth studio album Occult Architecture earlier this year, and they're on the brink of releasing the second, lighter part of the album, Occult Architecture Vol. 2. After the release of the first part, the Portland-hailing pair toured around Europe playing the new songs live, and they're gearing up to do the same in America. Kicking off at the Chicago at The Empty Bottle this Friday, April 21st, Johnson says their set will feature more new songs than any of their past tours. Read on to find out more about the recording process, the purpose behind the two part album, their live show, and the Portland music scene in our chat with Moon Duo!

Photo Credit: Eleonora Collini

ANCHR Magazine: So I wanted to start off by talking about Occult Architecture Vo1. 1, which you just released in February. Can you talk a little bit about why you decided to split up the songs into two volumes, and what is it about the songs that keeps them connected, yet separated?

Ripley Johnson: Basically, when we started out recording we had a lot of material. Usually we just end up pulling stuff that doesn’t work out or stuff that doesn’t fit right. Either we don’t use it or it ends up as a single...but when we were doing this record, a lot of the material just naturally started bunching up in two different parts. Some of it was lighter and some of it was darker, so that’s where we came up with the idea of separating them thematically, based on tone. We came up with the idea of releasing one in the winter and one in the spring or summer. That came about really early on in the process, so once we realized we were going to do that, we just started naturally pushing the songs in those directions when we were recording.

AM: Very cool. And you recording in Berlin and in Portland for the two parts?

RJ:  We recorded everything in Portland, but we mixed one in Berlin and one in Portland.

AM: Cool. So do you think that mixing one in a completely different location like Berlin kind of trickled into the vibe and sonically affected the album?

RJ: Yeah. We’ve mixed all of our records in Berlin before this...although we have done some mixing in California, but then ended up remixing it in Berlin. So we knew what the vibe was like there. Part of it was just to separate the sessions, so we mixed one of them in spring and then we mixed the lighter one in the summer in Portland, where we knew it was going to be really sunny and hot. We used the same engineer. The setting was important, but primarily it was just separating the sessions, so that they could have their own identity. But we’ve worked in Berlin before and Berlin has a pretty heavy vibe. It’s a fun city, but there’s a darkness to it. It’s a night time city. It could be cold there, it can be sort of uncomfortable sometimes. It’s very urban...everyone smokes all the time there. So we knew what that was like and the engineer we like to use lives in Berlin. We’d never mixed with him outside of Berlin so it ended up sort of an experiment, but it worked really well.

AM: Cool! How did you end up working with that engineer?

RJ: It started with our record Mazes, where we mixed it and then wanted to start over again. We record a lot of our stuff at home, and we don’t really know what we’re doing. A lot of it needs to be fixed and massaged in the studio. We’ve gotten better as we’ve gone along, but we met this guy through a friend of ours in Berlin who also does all of our tour managing in Europe. We just started back then working with him and we have a really good working relationship so we just keep going back to him. He does a lot of pop, and there’s a real sort of electronic bend to everything in Europe. So he has more of that perspective, whereas our natural inclination is more rock’n’roll...American rock...garage. We don’t have a lot of experience with electronic music, but we like to experiment with it. He can just enhance things in a way because he’s worked on a lot of polished electro-pop kind of stuff. So it’s a good balance because he pushes it in one direction and we just pull him back. It creates a unique working relationship.

AM: So then did you pull influence or inspiration from any other bands for this record, or was it mostly personal experience that influenced the new songs?

R: I think thematically, part of the reason we called it Occult Architecture is that I was reading this biography of Aleister Crowley when I was writing the songs. And it was winter in Portland and I started reading all this occult stuff after that, and that just started feeding into the themes of the songs. Again, the dark and the light, once that became a thing we were working with...just the seasons in Portland are so strong. I’m sure it’s the same in Chicago. So you feel it. You feel nature, even in a city. It pulls you down in the winter. So we were exploring the whole idea of darkness and light.

AM: So then talking about playing these songs in the live setting, are there any particularly you’re looking forward to playing when you start tour?

RJ: We just came back from a month in Europe and we’ve been playing a lot of the stuff. Whenever we release a record, we always think let’s play all of the songs, cause we’re excited to play new material. Then you realize that some of it works and some of it doesn’t, in the live setting or just as far as the flow of the set. But for this tour, we’re actually playing more new songs than we ever have. From volume 1, we’re playing every song except for two, and that’s mostly because we want to play a few old songs for people who want to hear something older. I feel like there’s a tone to the set that works really well.

AM: Nice! Are there any cities that you’re particularly excited to play in?

RJ: All of them...we always look forward to going to Chicago, because Chicago is always great to us and we have some family there. Detroit is amazing, always. New York. All of it’s really great. We’re looking forward to doing the tour with Jackie Lynn. She’s from Chicago and her band is from Chicago, and we don’t often get to do a tour with another band and we’re huge fans, so we’re really looking forward to that.

AM: So talking more about where you’re from, you mentioned the seasons in Portland, but can you talk about the local scene in Portland? Are there any other bands that you’re really into or venues that you’d recommend?

RJ: We really like a place called The Know. It just closed and reopened in a new neighborhood, so we’re looking forward to that. Unfortunately we’re on the road so much that we don’t get to see that many shows here, but there’s a great music scene. It’s such a small city, but we get so many touring bands that come through. We’re kind of spoiled. People here get to see so much music for such a tiny city, it’s kind of unusual.

AM: Any other bands that you’re really into at the moment or albums that you’re listening to a lot?

RJ: The new Jackie Lynn record. There’s a band called Nest Egg that we’re really into. Kikagaku Moyo are friends of ours from Tokyo.

AM: Very cool. So circling back to when you first got into music, do you have a first musical memory of when you first picked up an instrument or first wrote your first song?

RJ: The first instrument I picked up was my mom’s classical guitar, which was probably the worst thing to learn on. When I was a kid me and my friends would pretend we were playing. We had these pretend guitars that someone’s dad made out of plywood and we painted them. We would just pretend to play, so my sort of musical aspirations started before I even knew what a guitar was. We just wanted to get up on stage and dance around, which is really weird to me.

AM: Nice! I always like to hear how people first got into music. So anything else for you guys this year besides Volume 2 and more touring?

RJ: That’s pretty much it. Lots of touring. New record, that’s about it.

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You can grab tickets to Moon Duo's show with Jackie Lynn in Chicago tomorrow, April 21st, here. Get ready for the show by listening to Vol. 1 of Occult Architecture here:

A Chat With: White Reaper

Louisville, Kentucky based band White Reaper are back with a new album and a massive tour to go along with it. With lyrics that get lodged in your brain and riffs that are perfect for rocking out with the windows down, White Reaper's The World's Best American Band puts a refreshing spin on some old school punk vibes. The must-listen rock album is available to pick up on tape, vinyl, CD and digitally here. While we've been listening to it nonstop since the release, we can't wait to see the songs performed live. Before White Reaper's tour swings through Chicago on May 5th, we chatted with the band about their recording process, summer festivals, and some other great American bands.  Get to know more about the world's best American band now...

White Reaper is Tony Esposito, Ryan Hater, Nick Wilkerson, and Sam Wilkerson.

Photo Credit: Jesse DeFlorio

ANCHR Magazine: Congratulations on the release of The World’s Best American Band! What was the writing and recording process like for the album, and how does it differ from your past work? 

White Reaper: I only had a few little recordings on my phone before we went in, they weren't finished songs, just little ideas. We basically wrote the record in the studio, which we had never done before.

ANCHR Magazine: Who do you consider your influences, both generally and specifically on the new music? 

White Reaper: Lately we've been listening to a lot of Deep Purple, The Monks, Todd Rundgren, and Bob Seger. We've always been listening to a lot of old school rock bands like that.

ANCHR Magazine: Which songs are your favorite from the album, and which ones are you most looking forward to playing at your upcoming shows?

White Reaper:  I'm really excited to play "Daisies" live. Also, "Judy French" is another favorite of mine.

ANCHR Magazine: Are there any cities in particular that you’re looking forward to playing on tour? 

White Reaper: Chicago and Nashville are always wonderful for us. We have tons of friends in both of those places.

ANCHR Magazine:What’s your favorite way to entertain yourself on long drives during tour? Any good podcast, book, or movie recommendations? 

White Reaper: Just recently we got a great big book of mad libs.

ANCHR Magazine: You’re also on The Bonnaroo and Hangout Fest lineups, which is awesome! What are some of your festival do’s and don’ts?

 White Reaper: Do drink water. Don't get dehydrated. Find some other way to party so you don't have to pay $8 for a god damned Miller Lite.

ANCHR Magazine: On the same subject of festivals, do you have any crazy festival stories, either from fests you’ve attended or played?

White Reaper: We had a pretty wild time at Primavera last year. We were up all night and we left the festival carrying all our gear and we just walked along the beach right as the sun came up around 6 in the morning. There was a really nice Spanish guy following us and talking to us but he was so wasted it was hard to understand. He was really cool though.

ANCHR Magazine: So clearly, based on your album name, you’re the World’s Best American band, but who would you consider to be runner ups in that category? Also, what some of your favorite bands from around the world? 

White Reaper: Sheer Mag is really good. Tom Petty is too.

ANCHR Magazine: It's no secret that you guys are great musicians, but what are some of your hidden talents? 

White Reaper: We're all pretty useless outside of our bands. We're a bunch of one trick ponies. I can't even blow a bubble with bubblegum.

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Chicago, White Reaper will be at Beat Kitchen May 5th with No Parents. Grab your tickets here, and get ready for the show by blasting the new record:

You can check out all of White Reaper's upcoming gigs here.