Category: Interviews
Broken Hands x Vinyl Mag
Imagine you’re standing on a jetway, planes soaring above and beside you, the sound of jet engines roaring on all sides–and you might just know what it feels like to be in the crowd at a live Broken Hands gig. Relatively new to the music scene, the British rockers have already received significant U.K. radio airplay with their lead single, “Meteor,” and their debut album, Turbulence, is set for release Nov. 4. With slots at SXSW and CMJ, the band is already making significant headway into the U.S. market.
We sat down with bassist Thomas Ford to talk about the band’s exciting new release, inspiration, and what it’s like when you step foot through the door of a live show.
VM: How would you describe your sound to someone who is unfamiliar with the band?
TF: It’s kind of the sound of jet engines and flights we really tried to convey in the album. A lot to do with escaping. It’s pretty heavy but the song always gets what it needs at the end of the day.
VM: And your debut album is set to come out next month, so what are you most excited for fans to hear?
TF: Really just the whole thing. As soon as people understand what we are trying to say, even if they don’t really like it, that’s not good, but if people hear it and they understand what we were trying to say with the album, understand where we were when we wrote it, then that is kind of big for us.
VM: When you set out to record the album, did you have a set plan or was it more of an experimental process?
TF: The songs in themselves, it was like one main songwriter. And then we found almost the concept, the vehicle we wanted to write with. It was very easy to write together and to achieve the same kind of goal. So the songs we worked on for a good six or seven months, and then we got into the studio, and that’s a great place to check creativity because we are very like-minded. So once we kind of built the song and everything up around it, then we went mad with the sounds. It was pretty straightforward, but then we went mad at the end.
VM: So the music video for “Meteor“ was captured at one of your sold-out shows, and the whole venue is covered in silver foil. Is this something you do at every show? What’s the inspiration behind it?
TF: We were playing shows and the album wasn’t actually out yet. So we couldn’t have people see the cover and instantly see all of the information, what was there to convey the concept. So it was really important to us that when people came into the shows, they weren’t just guessing to what we were trying to get to. We wanted to really build the experience up. So we got these huge parachutes of silver foil and then draped the entire venue. Because you could be in a really normal, everyday club in London and then step through the door and suddenly you’re in this capsule, and light reflects off all the walls. And I think it tied into our concept. They hadn’t heard it yet, so they got to hear the concept before they had a copy of the album.
VM: Speaking of live shows, how would you describe the vibes from a Broken Hands gig?
TF: We really try and extend how we wrote the album over into the room. And embody each song as it comes. We’ve got quite a big energy. So it’s hopefully kind of the feeling of getting sucked into a vacuum and then popping out the other end, a very kind of loud, windy experience. It’s almost like hearing it sounds like you’re near an airport, hearing a jet engine go, hearing things soar from one side to the other. For us, it’s all about extending and embodying that and trying to bring people as close into that as possible.
VM: Since forming, you’ve landed spots at festivals including SXSW and CMJ, was this your first time playing in the U.S.?
TF: Yeah, SXSW was the first time. That was one of my favorite weeks, ever. The states are just fantastic. I’ve only been to a few places yet—New York, Boston, and Minneapolis is another favorite, and it’s so different every single time. So many different people. Pretty much everyone is very vocal. They tell you exactly what they want to say. Whereas in England, it doesn’t matter if they like it or not, they might just walk away from the show. Which is really odd. But I love it out there, it’s crazy and there’s always a whole bunch of people to talk to afterward, which is huge. SXSW is truly something. It was really up there for us.
VM: Do you have any dream venues to perform at?
TF: We like the look of Red Rocks, and there’s a really cool place in Minneapolis, I think it was called First Avenue. And then I think Terminal 5 in New York was one. But every single room we get to play in is going to be exhilarating.
VM: What kind of artists are you listening to at the moment? Are there any you look to for inspiration?
TF: We all live together in one big house, we moved in together to write the album. It’s kind of a strange thing because if one person really gets on something, then everyone else is drawn in on it. This week has been Depeche Mode, and they just announced a tour which is absolutely wicked. I think in terms of a show, a band that has longevity and composure, My Morning Jacket, are really big for us. Really admire what they do, especially on stage. The energy they put out, but at the same time, it’s so composed. It’s ridiculous. I would love if we could get anywhere near opening for them.
VM: Circling back to your new album, out of all the tracks on Turbulence, which lyrics resonate with you the most? Or do you have a favorite track, one you’re most excited for fans to hear?
TF: Funny enough it is “Turbulence.” It just embodies the most what we were going for in the album. I think it was the first track we wrote, and we were coming back through the old tapes, and things change in the recording process, but when we put on “Turbulence,” it hasn’t changed since the day we put it together and arranged it in rehearsal space. Every time we play “Turbulence” it really reminds me of the beginning of this whole thing. The beginning of the album, the beginning of getting out to the world.
Check out Broken Hands’ debut album, Turbulence, out Nov. 4 via SO Recordings.
New Music Mondays: Honeywheel
Athens, GA, is full of many great bands so it’s hard to pick a favorite one, but this week I’ll introduce you to Honeywheel. This four-piece rock band consists of Blake Kole (Drums), Jacob St. Amand (Guitar, Keyboard, Production), Jake Pokalsky (Bass, Vocals, Production), and Shubbham Kadam (Guitar, Vocals). The band recently released their EP Shadowboxing, and my current favorite song off of it would be “Velvet Diver.” Check out the interview below to find out more about the band and what music they are currently listening to.
VM: First off, tell me about the band. How/when did it come together, where did the name come from, etc.
HW: We formed the summer following our freshman year of college. Jacob St. Amand and Jake Pokalsky (longtime friends) met Shubham Kadam at a Semi-Formal for Sigma Kappa. After talking with each other and realizing a common love for music and performance, they decided to meet up and jam. Shubham brought his longtime friend Blake Cole to the jam as well, and the rest is history.
VM: What is the writing/music making process usually like?
HW: Some songs start off as jams in a band setting while other songs are built around a “skeleton song” (basic structure and chord/ideas) that one of us brings to the table. Sometimes the process is very quick, while other times songs can take several weeks.
VM: Who are your biggest musical influences?
HW (Jacob): Hard to say because the influences are so widely varied. I’ve always been a big heavy metal fan, bringing in influences from bands like Gojira (Blakes also a fan) and Intronaut, as well as influences from artist like Pink Floyd, Chon and Philip Glass to name a few. I know Shubham is a huge Radiohead fan and Blake loves the band This Town Needs Guns (aka TTNG). Jake likes Funk and Soul music a lot (Al Green, Curtis Mayfield, Vulfpeck), as well as most of the bands I just listed for everyone else. He also really likes Led Zeppelin and Matt Corby.
HW (Blake): I draw inspiration from a sort of eclectic pool of styles as well, with a common element being a creative rhythm section. Groups that do it for me: Hiatus Kaiyote, TTNG, Flying Lotus, Toe, Gojira, and Tool.
VM: If you could only recommend one song off of your EP to someone which would it be?
HW: It’s impossible to say. The EP tries to capture a lot of different styles and sounds within four songs, so depending on what the listener is into, he/she may prefer one over another.
VM: Tell us a little bit more about the EP.
HW: It was a completely independent project. Jacob St. Amand and Jake Pokalsky handled all of the recording and mixing of the EP, which was both a trying and rewarding process. We went to Tom Lewis for the mastering who did an incredible job, mastering the EP at 1093 Studio.
VM: I know your EP was just released last week so it may be too soon to ask, but is there any new music in the works?
HW: We have actually never stopped writing new music! While the focus in the coming months will be to promote the EP, we are also thinking ahead about a full length album.
VM: Out of the venues you’ve played so far as a band, which was your favorite and why?
HW: We all have different preferences, but we always seem to have a fun time at Caledonia and Live Wire. Caledonia has that grungey rock and roll feel, while Live Wire has an incredible stage, with top notch live production.
VM: Any shows coming up?
HW: We just had our EP Release Party in conjunction with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Lite the Night Walk at Live Wire on Friday October 21st. We’ll be playing with Orange Constant and Funk Rex at the Caledonia for Medlife’s benefit concert on November 17th.
[tps_header]UPCOMING SHOWS:[/tps_header]
November 17th @ Caledonia Lounge in Athens, Georgia
[tps_title]FOLLOW THEM ON SOCIAL MEDIA:[/tps_title]
Spotify
[tps_header]Check out what Honeywheel is currently listening to!![/tps_header]
Jacob:
Jake:
Shubham:
Blake:
- Malika – Hiatus Kaiyote
- Runner – From Indian Lakes
- Homesick – New Madrid
- Nakamarra – Hiatus Kaiyote
- The Protest – Flying Lotus
- Whatever, Whenever – TTNG
- Be Quiet And Drive (Acoustic) – Deftones
- Pink Rabbits – The National
New Music Mondays: Cruise Director
Cruise Director is an Atlanta based band that describes themselves as “new-wavey, surfy indie psych rock.” The band consists of Evan Hynes (drums), Spencer King (guitar/vocals), Andy Harrison (lead guitar), and Josh Brook (bass). After meeting them recently in a recording session for a music production class, I decided to reach out to them and get to know them a little better.
Spencer and Evan met in high school where in their senior year they jokingly formed a band named Static Attic which was supposed to be a cover band of Social Cellar, a band Spencer was a part of at the time. They thought it was a funny idea but a couple days later they decided they wanted to actually start playing music together. However, they only ever played one show at an old bowling alley in Decatur and had merely two or three complete songs.
Later during their time in college Evan and Spencer continued to play music together whenever they were back home. After they graduated in December 2015 and moved back to Atlanta they decided it was time to form a band that actually had some substance to it. While studying acting at Kennesaw State University, Evan met Josh and Andy who later became a part of what is now known as Cruise Director. It was actually after a night of all four of them playing music together that Spencer and Evan felt like they had found two people who would complete the band. At that time however, Spencer and Evan had already recorded their EP, In the Driveway After It All.
VM: How did you decide on the band name?
Spencer: My sister, brother-in-law, and I really enjoy coming up with band name ideas, usually just based off of random phrases or words we see around. In January we went on a family cruise – in the lobby on one of the doors engraved on a gold plaque were the words “Cruise Director” and I had an “aha!” moment. Evan and I had been brainstorming band names for a bit, and when I pitched him Cruise Director, he emphatically agreed that it should be the name.
VM: Who are your biggest musical influences?
Spencer: (As a band) Band of Horses, New Order, Rolling Stones, Beach Boys (Duh)
Evan: Can’t forget The Beatles. All four of us had huge Beatles phases in our youth. Also maybe Velvet Underground, Arcade Fire, LCD Soundsystem to go a little broader. Personally I’m really inspired by reggae stuff, old “Highlife” jazz like E.T. Mensah, the early Modest Mouse records, and (Athens shout out) I f*cking love The Whigs –I’ve seen them a million times.
VM: Tell us about your EP.
Spencer: Most of the songs on In the Driveway After It All were written over the course of a few months that were exceptionally stressful and heartbreaking for me and for people that I care about. I hope that doesn’t translate to the EP though. Writing and playing music at that time were some of the rare moments of escape that I had – so rather than anxiety and stress reflecting onto the songs on the EP, I hope the absence of those things is what’s taken away from it.
VM: If you could go on tour with any artist, who would it be and why?
Spencer: Band of Horses. They put on such an incredible live show, and I feel like our sounds would match nicely with theirs.
Evan: Dude, that’d be so rad.
VM: Any exciting news or new music in the works?
Spencer: We’re writing a lot and really getting into what feels like the right places for us musically. We’re going to be booking more shows coming up soon.
Evan: Yeah pretty much since we finished Driveway we’ve been looking ahead to “LP ONE” which we’re all pretty excited about!
Check out what Spencer and Evan are currently listening to!
Spencer:
- Albatross – Besnard Lakes
- Primitive (The Way I Treat You) – Ambulance LTD
- Sister – Angel Olsen
- Hideous Towns – The Sundays
- No Big Deal – Cullen Omori
- Ooh La La – Faces
- Beautiful Blue Sky – Ought
- It’s Okay – Land of Talk
- Colored Emotions – Nightmoves
Evan:
- Demon to Lean On – Wavves
- Ghana-Guinea-Mali – E.T. Mensah
- Let Me Be Mine – Spoon
- Fortune – Kristin Hersh
[tps_header]UPCOMING SHOWS:[/tps_header]
November 9th @ 40 Watt Club in Athens, Georgia
November 10th @ UGA’s WUOG Live in the Lobby in Athens, Georgia
[tps_title]FOLLOW THEM ON SOCIAL MEDIA:[/tps_title]
[tps_title]LISTEN TO AND BUY THE EP:[/tps_title]
Bandcamp: https://cruisedirector.bandcamp.com/releases
The Floozies X Vinyl Mag
According to The Floozies, summer isn’t over yet. With their current tour, Summer Fling, But Like, In The Fall Tour, The Floozies hope to keep those summer vibes going well into the couple of months. Ahead of their stop in Athens, GA, at the Georgia Theatre, we sat down with Mark Hill (drummer) to get the inside scoop on this brother duo.
Vinyl Mag: Just to get into it, you guys are currently on tour, the Summer Fling, But Like In The Fall Tour. We are loving the name of the tour, how did you guys come up with it?
Mark Hill: My brother thought of it because he thinks of a lot of brilliant things. And I think because we had just released “Summer Fling” and we were really proud of it and we just wanted to keep the summer vibes going because summer is the shit.
VM: We’ll agree with you on that. Now, you have a couple more cities you’ll be stopping at on this tour including Athens, GA, this Friday. Have you been to Athens before?
MH: Yeah, we’ve actually played the Georgia Theatre twice before and I loved it and I like Athens a lot.
VM: It’s going to be really good having you guys back in Athens. Will you guys have any downtime and be able to do anything around town before the show?
MH: Last time I was in Athens, I went to a record shop and bought like 15 CDs that were really cheap, so I’ll probably do that again. Then I’ll probably eat some good food, take a shower, and play a show.
VM: Speaking of your show, you guys put on quite the live performance. I know you work with Hunter (LaserWolf FX) with all the lasers and visuals. How do you guys approach the design and feel of your live show?
MH: The ideas kind of come randomly. We do a lot of drawing when we’re on the road and we just think about what we would want to see that fits our music. And then we see who has the lights or who can get them and run them. And BOOM! Then we just blast everybody with lasers, because everybody loves lasers.
VM: Everybody does love lasers, I will agree with you on that!
MH: We don’t do video. We have a very live show and if you do video you have to pretty much have everything planned out. With the lights that we use, we try to leave us room and that’s how we provide unique shows.
VM: Do you guys have any pre-show rituals?
MH: We always tell each other that we love each other.
VM: That’s incredibly sweet…I’ve noticed on socials that you have a lot of videos that give your fans a more intimate look into your lives on tour. How did you guys come up with wanting to shoot these videos and what do you hope fans get out of watching them?
MH: We’ve always made videos. Our good friend Daniel Opperman is really good with video and we brought him out on the road. This is probably the first tour he has been able to work video for us so it’s just really fun. We wake up and we go get coffee and we start thinking about fun things to do. We’re always trying to have fun and then he’s always there with the camera and he captures it. I think it’s cool for people to see what we do outside of playing shows. I know I would watch it if it was of my favorite band.
VM: I think it’s a great personal look into your world and you seem like really fun guys. The videos just make us want to hang out with you!
MH: We get really excited about things and we want to show them. Like one of the videos we made was really exciting because we previewed a new song that we’re going to release soon. The song is called “Butt Rock,” so all day I was just going around throwing up the rock hand sign. It’s just fun to go out and do stuff and not just sit around on bus.
Thrashed pretty hard with SunSquabi last night in Knoxville! Chattanooga tonight!
Song: Butt Rock (unreleased)… (it’s siiiiick)
Posted by The Floozies on Saturday, September 17, 2016
VM: Well, keep them coming because we love to watch them.
MH: Yeah, most people like them. We do it just to make sure people keep enjoying themselves. We know that not everyone can come to all the shows. And our mom likes to watch them.
VM: That is so awesome….Being that you guys are brothers, have you guys learned anything about each other that you didn’t know or realize prior to creating music and touring together?
MH: Not really, we have always been extraordinarily honest with each other. I think more so than anyone else in the world these days. We also always got a long so it’s not that hard.
VM: That’s really great to hear because sometimes it doesn’t work out that way and you figure out weird things you never knew about each other even if you’re siblings.
MH: Yeah, well I kind of learned that Matt was a little bit of a diva. He really likes his sleep…
VM: Just wanted to touch upon your most recent EP, Granola Jones…what is the creative process behind your recorded material?
MH: We’re just constantly making music. Matt always likes to tell people that we don’t consider putting out a song unless it is going to make people dance. It’s just kind of constant, writing music while on tour, well most days, some days we sleep. It’s just kind of constant and inspiration can come from anywhere. It can come from Chet Porter, our opener, tossing a bottle and it landing really sweetly over and over again.
VM: And how was it to work with Karl Denson?
MH: It was great. Karl is a beast. He’s really talented, and he can shred for days, and he’s really buff. He’s really great and really nice. We sent him our music and he started cranking out the music right away. We didn’t have to wait a month for him to get back to us, which is always appreciated. And that’s how we are, we get really excited about a song and then we just really want to get it out.
Catch The Floozies on tour now!
Forlorn Strangers x Vinyl Mag
Raw. Old soul. Americana. Roots. Foot stomping. Soaring Harmonies…these are only some of the words that can be used to describe the sound being amplified by our speakers as we listened to Forlorn Strangers‘ self-titled debut album (out this Friday, August 5th).
Forlorn Strangers is comprised of sisters Abigail Dempsey (fiddle, percussion, vocals) and Hannah Leigh Lusk (mandolin, percussion, upright bass, vocals); Chris Banke (guitar, mandolin, vocals); Benjamin Lusk (banjo, guitar, vocals); and Jesse Thompson(upright bass, dobro, guitar, vocals). With these five unique songwriters, ascending family harmonies and energetic percussion, the string-forward quintet entertains a comparison to an ‘Americana Fleetwood Mac.’
We sat down with Abigail to get an inside look into the band, chat about the creative process behind the new album, and where you can catch them on tour over the next several months.
Vinyl Mag: Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us today. Being that you all are from varying states, I would love to start off by getting into the story behind how you all came together to form the band.
Abigail Dempsey: My sister is in the band, Hannah Leigh [Lusk], and she and the guitar player Chris [Banke] and the banjo player Ben [Lusk], the three of them went to school together in South Florida. They actually started out as a writing group. They would all get together and share their poetry and stories, and then they started playing music together. They eventually moved out to Waco, TX, and lived on a farm for a little bit out there and then moved to Nashville. The three of them then met our now bass player Jesse [Thompson] here and then I moved down in September of 2013. After I moved down, that’s really when we started taking Forlorn Strangers seriously.
VM: With your sister in the band, have you learned anything new about your sister or each other?
AD: Honestly, it’s hard to even say because we’ve been with each other every single day for the past 15 months. We’ve been on the road touring for those 15 months, so it’s hard to even think about previously, like, ‘Oh man, I didn’t know she was like this and now she’s like this…’ We come from a really close family so we’re all friends anyways.
VM: You mentioned that the group started out as a writing group, what does the creative process look like behind the band’s songwriting style?
AD: All of five of us write and sing, and we all play the guitar. Usually, we’ll all individually write a song…Before we started touring so much we would have practice every Sunday and Wednesday and it would be like, ‘Oh, guys! I wrote this new song’ or ‘I came up with this idea..’ or something like that. And it’s kind of funny that it just all works itself out where if everyone is diggin’ on the song and you know it goes ‘Hey Chris, play that song again and lets figure out the parts.’ And I’ll pick up a fiddle and we just kind of jam it out until we feel like it works. If people don’t really respond to a song then you’re like, ‘OK! That’s just going to be one I’m going to keep in my back pocket.’
VM: I love the fact that you all write and then you all come together and work it out like that. On this new album, each band member is taking a lead on varying songs. How was each band member chosen for their given song?
AD: It’s pretty much whoever wrote the song sings the lead on it. We haven’t really dove into a lot of cowriting which is something I think we’d really love to explore once we have some time to be more creative. Overall, if I wrote the song I would sing lead on it and usually Hannah and I will do harmonies together. The one song, ‘Down in the Trenches,’ that all of us sing a part on it; Hannah originally wrote that song and when we were in the studio our producer was like, ‘Man, it would be cool if all of your took a verse.’ Because there are five verses in the song, and we were all like, “Yeah! That sounds great.’ So that was the first time we did something where the person who wrote the song wasn’t singing lead and I love the way that it turned out.
VM: Listening to the album, I feel that the album is very raw and has an old soul to it. How would you describe your music to someone who has never heard it before?
AD: I would say, it’s roots. We use the word roots a lot and meaning roots based in American music, but also personally and individually. Cohesive is a word we use a lot; it’s something that has a lot of different moving parts, but overall it has one vibe and one feel.
VM: In 2015 you guys did extensive touring and right now you are towards the end of your summer tour. Do you have any favorite venues that you have played or are you looking forward to playing for your upcoming tour to promote the new album?
AD: We love the Carolinas. Our booking agents live in Charlotte and Charleston, and both of those places have been so so good for us. We’re playing Eddie’s Attic in Decatur, GA, and then our Nashville show is at Little Harpeth Brewery. It’s going to be awesome, they are setting up a stage outside and I think it’s going to be really fun in August. We’re also going out to the West Coast for the first time, so that’s really exciting!
Catch Forlorn Strangers on Tour:
SUSTO X Vinyl Mag
Charleston is a city known for its rich history, beautiful architecture and tasty Southern delicacies—but recently, it is music that has taken the forefront and put the city on the map as a musician’s haven. As more and more local artists achieve nationwide notoriety, the city has become less of a tourist destination and more of a home to the creative community—and SUSTO is just one of the bands that can attest to that. The alt-country band is well known throughout the Charleston music scene and with slots in Americana Fest and Austin City Limits later this year, it’s evident that they won’t be a locals-only band for long. We sat down with Justin Osborne, chief songwriter and frontman of SUSTO, to talk their unique new release, upcoming tour and what it’s like to live in such a tight-knit, creative community.
Vinyl Mag: The music scene in Charleston has really kind of exploded the last few years and you guys have been a big part of that scene–what’s it like recording and living in a tight-knit city like that?
Justin Osborne: It’s really awesome. Especially the last three to five years, things have really taken off. People are moving to Charleston to play music, and it’s such a community of artists. And there are people who aren’t from Charleston that live there, so that’s really cool because they tell their friends from their hometowns what Charleston bands they’re listening to, and then their friends start listening to them, and then when we have out-of-town shows, it’s cool to see those new fans there.
VM: So of course I want to talk about your latest release—“Chillin’ on the Beach with my Best Friend Jesus Christ”—love the music video, it’s great—I haven’t heard anything like it—where did you get the idea to write a song like this? Inspiration?
JO: Well I’ve always wanted to incorporate the gospel sounds into songs, I love that sound. And I’ve always loved the idea of chilling on the beach with Jesus Christ. We wanted to release it but didn’t want to put in on an album, so we thought it would be a good idea to release it as a video in the summer. And I feel like even if you’re not religious, you can enjoy the music.
VM: Yeah, I feel like religious, non-religious—it’s relatable for all audiences.
JO: Exactly, and that’s what we wanted to achieve.
VM: Is this kind of appropriated religious language and imagery common in your writing?
JO: Well I’m not religious at all, it just kind of comes out. I think it comes from my background, growing up in a religious home. But it’s not intentional in the writing process, just part of my dynamic and some of the issues I want to discuss.
VM: So you have some exciting tour dates coming up, including Americana Fest in Nashville and then Austin City Limits—What are you looking forward to for these festivals? Are there any other venues you’re excited to play at?
JO: Yeah, really excited. Playing at these festivals has always been a dream of mine, and Austin City Limits is just a place where so many big names come, and even Americana Fest is going to be really exciting. We’re also playing the Mile of Music Festival in Wisconsin and I’m really excited for that. We’re just so happy to be out on the road, playing music and touring.
VM: And you’re in the process of working on your sophomore album, right? Any news on a release date?
JO: Yeah we’re really excited for it. It’s two years in the making so we’re excited for people to hear it. We actually just finished tracking it, and we expect to announce a release date in the next few weeks. But we’re really excited for it, really excited for fans to hear it. Excited to see what they think. I think fans of SUSTO will continue to be fans of our new material. It’s a little less country, but still SUSTO, has that gospel sound you could say.
VM: Well excited to hear it, thank for sitting down to talk to us!
JO: Cheers!
Silversun Pickups x Vinyl Mag
For more than three years, Silversun Pickups fans waited patiently for new music. Since the release of Better Nature, Brian Aubert, Nikki Monninger, Christopher Guanlao and Joe Lester, have been busy promoting the album, touring, and running their own label.
Following their Hangout 2016 performance, we sat down with drummer Christopher Guanlao to chat about the latest album and the future of the band.
Vinyl Mag: How are you doing post-Hangout?
Christopher Guanlao: I’m recovering a little bit, we played on Friday and I ended up staying the rest of the weekend with my girlfriend and my sister and my niece, we made it a little mini-vacation. So I’m kind of recovering from that. It’s a great festival.
VM: Have you been before?
CG: No, this was my first time. And I didn’t really know anything about it until late last year when we got booked onto it. I kind of heard something about it but once we got booked to do the festival I did a little research, and I was like wow, it’s on the beach. It’s pretty insane.
VM: Were you able to catch anyone else’s set while you were there, did you have any favorites?
CG: Yeah, I saw a lot of my friends bands that have been touring this year, it was a little bit of a reunion because a couple months ago we did this co-headlining tour with Cage the Elephant, Foals and Bear Hands, and they were all there so it was really nice to see them all. All three of them were on Saturday. We just came back from a tour with Foals. I saw Courtney Barnett again, I saw her at Coachella and was just blown away. And she’s got a great band, I love her band. I saw Leon Bridges, I was really amazed by Leon Bridges and he’s really amazing. I didn’t really know anything about it but I checked out his set and he was great.
VM: Now you said you just came off a couple weeks on tour and I know you’ve got some tour dates coming up, with Joywave and with Bear Hands and then some festival dates, are there any shows or festivals in particular you’re looking forward to playing?
CG: Yeah, definitely. I always love Lollapalooza, so we’re really excited about that and we also love Osheaga in Montreal. Speaking of great festivals, that’s a really great one. And we’ve only played it once, so this is our second time and we’re really excited about that. And we love Joywave, we’ve been with them for the last three weeks and they’ve been amazing. And Bear Hands, we go way back so we’re keeping it in the family apparently.
VM: Well you guys have a busy summer coming up, and I wanted to get into the latest album and some of the songs. I read that this album was more of capturing the band at that specific point in time, it was more of a current album, not so nostalgic. So are there any themes on the album in particular that pop out to you that were pretty much paralleling what was going on in real life with the band?
CG: Well specifically, I definitely agree with what you just said. As nostalgic as Neck of the Woods was, this is very current for us. I think we just have a lot of life things happening. Like Ryan was having a kid, having a boy, and Nikki was having twins, and it’s kind of a weird circle of life thing. Specifically for “Circadian Rhythm,” which Nikki wrote about a friend of ours that passed away. And so I think it meant a lot to us that we were able to get that song on the record and it became a single, that felt really good. And not to get too corny, but it was like all of that stuff was happening while we were recording. So that’s a really sad thing but there were also good things that were going on as well. And it kind of paralleled to our band, the progression of our band. From the beginning to where we are now, we’ve had a lot of ups and downs, we’ve walked through a lot of things. When people bring up the fact that we’ve been together for 15-16 years, it’s just mind boggling because it doesn’t feel like that. But it has been a good chunk of time. When we started the band we were best friends, and then we became a little bit like business partners and kind of lost the friendship a little bit. And then we went through all of that and we came out of it and were actually closer, and we’re more like family now than just friends. So I think it ended up coming out, subconsciously in the album. And like I said with Ryan and Nikki having families, we had a lot of those things come together in the past couple of years and I think that kind of solidified us as families more than just a band. And I think a lot of that speaks to writing to Better Nature.
VM: Listening to the album and reading the lyrics, I just think all of the songs have beautiful imagery, and one song that sticks out to me is “Pins and Needles,” and I could be totally off and totally misinterpreting this wrong, but for me I think that song is very about beginning again, and moving on after the end of something. But what was the inspiration behind that song?
CG: Well pretty much that. It’s about letting go of things and starting fresh, starting new. I don’t necessarily know the exact picking, because Ryan wrote that song. But it’s definitely that. I think Neck of the Woods was so, holding on to the past, that I think we wanted to get away from that a bit.
VM: And as a whole, what does the album mean to you?
CG: Really that, I really do kind of feel like we’re in a new chapter of our career as a band. I think that we’ve gone over to the next level, not necessarily of fame, but of personal being. And I think that’s part of the title Better Nature, let’s focus on our “better nature” and take what we’ve learned, and try to have our better nature shine out. More than the negatives or the bad things about us and try to better ourselves. And I think that’s something we became more aware of now, and because we were able to figure out and go through the difficult times that a lot of bands go through and often can’t get past it, or end up breaking up. Not being creative anymore, and we’re really fortunate that, I feel we’ve gone past that. And this record kind of feels like that. It’s not like each album that we have is a chapter, but I definitely think this record would be a different chapter if we had a big book, autobiography. Better Nature would definitely be a different chapter.
VM: This album was a debut release on the new label, New Machine Recordings, how has that entire process been for you guys, doing everything solo from your former label?
CG: It’s great. The freedom that we have to decide how we want to promote things, where we want to spend our money, all of that’s really cool. It is a little bit more stressful because now we have discussions with our record label about tour budgets and less accessible options, because we’re on the record label we don’t get tour support anymore. We were talking this week about an upcoming European tour that we might potentially do and we were talking more about management and we were kind of stressing out about it a little bit. And finally our manager sat me down and was like look, remember when you were on a record label and you didn’t really care about the numbers because you figured you would recoup it all anyway? What’s the difference between now and then? And I was like you’re right. At the end of the day the whole idea is that we will recoup It somewhere else. So it’s stuff like that. Things I didn’t necessarily think of before and now all of a sudden I kind of obsess about but at the end of the day it’s okay. And we’re lucky that we can play shows and that people come. And we can make some money that way.
VM: What does the future look like right now for New Machine?
CG: Well right now we’re touring for Better Nature, and we’re pretty much booked the rest of the year. And we’re having a great time, we’re all kind of re-energized and are really appreciating the shows that we’ve been playing. And the crowd. But after that we’re going to go back and try to do another record. We’ve got some projects that are coming up in the next couple months, but I’m not sure I can talk about it yet. But it’s good stuff, we’re venturing into new territory and we’re excited about that.
‘Breakfast’ with Lawrence: Bonnaroo 2016
Siblings Clyde and Gracie Lawrence are serving up music that sounds like breakfast; a serving of fresh nostalgia with a side of bacon. Capturing the essence and sounds of a bygone era, their debut album Breakfast meets at the intersection of classic songwriting and modern production.
Produced by Eric Krasno (Lettuce, Soulive), Breakfast balances old-school classics and new-school vibes and sets a new standard for pop’s potential in the current landscape.
Prior to their Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival debut this past Saturday, we sat down with Clyde and Gracie. Over a campsite breakfast of french toast, pancakes, bacon, watermelon, and a Bloody Mary or two, we chatted about the new album, working with Krasno, and, of course, all things breakfast.
Vinyl Mag: Since we’re eating breakfast, let’s get into how you guys chose the title Breakfast for the album.
Gracie – We’re big breakfast fans. I think the name from the album came because every morning we would be having breakfast, our dad would be playing music. It has a very homey feel. Breakfast is a very communal time in our family and there was always music playing at that time.
Clyde – And I think when we were trying to think of album names, we were trying to fish for things that felt like the band and felt like our family. We’re very casual people, most of our life is spent in our living room in sweatpants, snacking and hanging out. We thought about a bunch of names that thought about how we are casual, and other names that related to food, and things that related to home life. And we landed on ‘Breakfast.’ At first, we were like is that going to jump out at people, in a goofy kind of way or are people going to get it? I think think the response has been really good. People see the band name, hear the album, and are like ‘BREAKFAST, I get it.”
G – People say it sounds like breakfast.
C – Everyone loves breakfast, anytime of day.
VM – Do you have any favorite breakfast foods?
G – I feel like our dad was very particular about scrambled eggs. He would put cheese in the eggs in a specific way. He had a very specific technique. And we’re really big bacon people.
C – And our grandma makes the best french toast that I’ve ever had. I recently went to a restaurant in Long Island that specializes in french toast and everyone I was with said that it was the best french toast they have ever had, but to me it was the second best.
VM – Any favorite breakfast places?
G – Our grandparent’s house, our house, and then on our block in New York there are two places that we go. One is the Utopia Diner, and then there is a place that we call the G store, because there is a G in the window, but it’s called Giacomo’s and we go in there all the time. In this music video we just did called “Misty Morning” we went into the cafe and featured the cafe in the video.
C – And we have to give a shoutout to Woodbury Country Deli on Long Island. We always start our tours by everybody getting breakfast sandwiches from the Woodbury Country Deli, which is honestly is one of the best delis I have ever been to.
VM – Since first starting the band, have you learned anything new about each other that you may not have known before starting this process.
G – I feel like we have naturally learned each other’s strengths and what we’re best at. We treated the band like a start-up to make it like a business sort of. And I think we even identified even in social media, ‘Oh Clyde is really good at running this and I’m really good at doing this.’ There’s the business things we’ve learned about each other and the musical things and strengths, songwriting wise.
C – I think that anytime you do something new with someone your close with, I think it doesn’t change your perception of them but it builds on it. That has definitely been the case, growing up together and making music together, but then when we actually get in the studio with each other that’s a new experience, and when we’re writing songs together that’s a new experience, and now we’re living on the road together, that’s a whole new experience. But we also have six other guys who are with us in the band. It’s a big eight piece and band and they are our friends, so it’s fun.
VM – With a large eight piece band, what is that energy like for you and being on that stage performing with all those different people?
G – We used to do shows that were just the two of us, and sometimes we still do that. But there is such a difference with playing with the whole band, a whole new energy that is really exciting.
C – Having everyone around and we’re on the same page, we have been playing these songs for so long now, and we have been playing together, we just know that we’ll pick each other up. and that’s the thing with Gracie, it used to be more me in the front and then since Gracie and I have become two people who are just switching it up, we try to switch off every single song, and it’s really cool to build the flow of the set.
VM – What was it like working with Krasno?
G – It was pretty great, because we were fans. It was a really great experience because of the background, what his sound was versus what our sound was. We have similarities, but we also have differences. I think we came in and we were very confident in our songwriting abilities, but Kras has this funk and soul sound that he can magically put onto our songs. And in the songwriting I think it’s already there, but the fact that he was able to bring it out and really solidify our sound and make it cohesive for the whole album, because the songs are very different, we have a lot of different types of songs on the album.
C – He helped it to become cohesive and he also has some great notes on the songs and songwriting itself. This was a unique situation, you usually go into the studio, work with the producer and begin to put together songs. This was a situation where Kras found out about us and we were already planning to go in an try to record some stuff while the songs were already written, and for him to come in and hear all the songs and give us a bunch of notes on what we should change about the songs, in a way that came through to us while we had been living with these songs for years.
VM – Tell me about the other artists that Krasno brought in to help out on the album.
G – We have have Adam Deitch on “Do You Wanna Do Nothing With Me?” and we have Cory Henry. That was pretty funny because we were like, ‘Wouldn’t it be fun to have Corey Henry on it?’ and Kras was like, ‘Do you want me to text Henry?’
C – We have Dap-Kings horn players and Tedeschi Trucks’ Maurice “Mobetta” Brown.
VM – The album has such a sound that brings you back, it has an old sound but it’s fresh. What was the creative process behind capturing that sound?
C – A lot of it is about getting to that point was handing it to Kras, but that was our goal. Every song has a reference of new and old, and you need to feel good about this song about putting in on before or after another. So for “Do You Wanna Do Nothing With Me?” that needs to sound cohesive if it comes on at a party after a Stevie Wonder song or also after a Beyonce song. And then for “Cold” that needs to sound good if it comes on after a Beatles song, but also sounds good if it comes on after a Frank Ocean song, or something like that. I think that was something we were very aware of, and we wanted to walk that line.
G – And I think that a big reason of why it walks that line is that we kind of come from this background of listening to music that has a very specific songwriting structure like the Beatles or Carole King or a lot of Motown, Randy Newman…very specific songwriting structure that we love because it is a vehicle for telling really good stories. And I think that we write in that style because we know that’s what we know. But being that we’re “kids” we really like modern production that’s on the radio and I want what we play to fit in with that. I think it’s a really cool intersection between what we listen to, of old songwriting structure with modern production.
C- In short, it needs to tell the stories the ways music used to, but bang as hard as music does now.
CATCH LAWRENCE ON TOUR THIS SUMMER
Jun 21 — White Plains, NY – White Plains Solstice Concert
Jun 30 — Washington, D.C. – Songbyrd Music House
Jul 01 — Cleveland, OH – Grog Shop
Jul 03 — Minneapolis, MN – 7th Street Entry
Jul 04 — Maquoketa, IA – Codfish Hollow Barn (W/ KT Turnstall)
Jul 06 — Chicago, IL – Schubas
Jul 07 — Milwaukee, WI – Summerfest
Jul 09 — Kansas City, MO – The Riot Room
Jul 10 — Denver, CO – Larimer Lounge
Jul 11 — Salt Lake City, UT – Kilby Court
Jul 13 — Seattle, WA – Barboza
Jul 14 — Portland, OR – Lola’s Room
Jul 15 — Eugene, OR – HIFI Music Hall
Jul 16 — Squaw Valley, CA – Wanderlust
Jul 18 — San Francisco, CA – The Rickshaw Shop
Jul 20 — Los Angeles, CA – The Satellite
Jul 21 — Phoenix, AZ – Valley Bar
Jul 23 — Austin, TX – 3Ten @ Austin City Limits Live
Jul 24 — Dallas, TX – The prophet Bar
Jul 27 — Little Rock, AR – Stickyz Rock ’N’ Roll Chicken Shack
Jul 28 — Nashville, TN – The High Watt
Jul 29 — Charlottesville, VA – The Southern
Jul 30 — Castleton-On-Hudson, NY – Camp Springer Music & Arts Festival
Hangout 2016: PHASES x Vinyl Mag
We’re fans of PHASES…For Life. It’s as simple as that. And if you have yet to give PHASES a listen, we guarantee that their pulsating celebratory allure will pull you in and never let you go.
Since the release of their 2015 album For Life, Z Berg (The Like), Jason Boesel (Rilo Kiley/The Elected/Bright Eyes), Alex Greenwald (Phantom Planet), and Michael Runion, have been extremely busy promoting the album, touring, releasing their 2016 EP Afterparty, running a contest that invites fans to remix the second single from For Life, “Cooler,” and (of course) hanging with us down in Gulf Shores, AL, at this year’s Hangout Music Festival.
VM: Your album has been out for a little bit and it has been very well-received. Can you go into the contest details?
Jason: It’s kind of just putting the stems, putting the tracks out there for anyone who wants to remix it can do so, and it’s been a wide range. I feel like there are some people that kind of barely understand music in any way, and there are people that I’m sure do it professionally. It’s been very interesting, we will get all the submissions in next week, so we’ll choose a winner then.
VM: How did the idea come about?
Alex: Our record label helped us with the idea but in the beginning we wanted remixes of all the songs. We’re very eager to get remixes done. And we’re just really happy with the way every single end track of the songs came out, so we’re really confident in saying anybody can do a remix. And other artists also have have other ideas to make the tracks better.
Z: Also, remixes are a really cool thing. But to see what your music sounds like in someone else’s head. Because everyone has their own totally distinct take on it. Take the raw materials and turn it into their own vision, it’s a pretty interesting thing to do.
VM: Do you have any artist in particular that you would love to hear what they do with your music in a remix?
Z: I really want, and this is a possibility, we just have to pin him down, my friend Oliver. Also Skrillex. I LOVE Skrillex. I didn’t even realize for a long time that I loved Skrillex until I figured out that every time it comes on, I’m like “FUCK YEAH!”
Alex: Disclosure would be a fun one, love Disclosure. And if we’re talking about dreams here mine would be Daft Punk. They’ve been a huge influence on us.
VM: So with For Life, what kind of meaning did the album have for you guys, individually?
Michael: A celebration. It’s about slithering out of our exoskeleton and emerging new.
Alex: I think one of the things that we enjoyed experimenting with on the record was starting from a different place than we’re used to because we all just write songs traditionally on an acoustic guitar, and this one came more from what groove makes us feel with our bodies.
VM: It makes you want to dance.
PHASES: That was the whole point.
VM: You know, you turn it on and you just can’t help but dance.
Z: One of my snap chat bros sent me a snap earlier today saying “I should be studying, but I just keep listening to “New Illusion.” And I was like you could do both and the same time, and she was like “But it makes me want to dance!”
VM: You guys are busy traveling, playing at Hangout and you’re on tour now, what do you guys do personally to keep you balanced and be in love with your life?
Z: Alex meditates every morning.
Alex: Runion and I have dogs that we love to come home too, but we don’t bring our dogs on tour. Not yet.
Z: Exercise, for me is really the thing.
VM: Since we are at Hangout, will you guys get a chance to just hangout and enjoy the festival?
Z: I think so. We’re here tonight.
Jason: We’re out rocking, with our friend BORNS. We just got off tour with him.
Alex: It’s interesting, at a lot of festivals, including this one, we play right before him as if we’re still on tour.
VM: You guys have some tour dates coming up, any cities in particular you’re looking forward to playing?
Z: We fucking love Boise.
Jason: Portland. Every stop…Eugene, Oregon.
Z: I haven’t played Vancouver in a really long time but I played there when I was 16 with my old band and two of the girls from the L word came to the show.
VM: We are still celebrating your last album, anything in the works for this year?
Z: We have an EP, Afterparty. And then we are music machines. I feel like as much music as possible we can put out we would like to. We wrote about 50 songs for this record so any time anyone will let us put out music we’ve got it.
Shaky Knees 2016: Polyenso X Vinyl Mag
St. Petersburg-based trio Polyenso create their sound through an eclectic fusion of indie rock, electronic, folk and hip-hop. Formerly known as Oceana, the band brings something new to the table with lighter, more uplifting music under their new name. We had the chance to chat with Polyenso’s own Alex Schultz prior to their set at Shaky Knees to discuss influences, songwriting and what fans can expect in the future as the band evolves, changes and continues to push the boundaries of what they do.
Vinyl Mag: So are you guys excited for Shaky Knees?
Alex Schultz: Oh yeah, this will be our first major music festival.
VM: And you’re playing Bonnaroo this year too right?
AS: Yeah, second major music festival.
VM: Pretty exciting way to kick off your U.S. tour!
AS: Yeah, this tour is kind of like a festival sandwich. We’ve got Shaky Knees the first date and Bonnaroo the last date. So it’s perfect, it worked out really well.
VM: Are there any other cities or venues you’re really excited to play at?
AS: Oh yeah, we haven’t been out to the west coast, as Polyenso, ever. You know in other bands we toured out there a while, but not as Polyenso, so we’re just excited to be out there. It’s been too long. But New York of course is going to be amazing. We have a lot of friends in New York and we’re excited to play there. And a couple other cities, but mostly I think we’re just excited to get out to the west coast.
VM: Do you guys have any favorite songs to perform live? Do you do any covers, or have anything that gets the crowd really excited?
AS: We kind of re-invented this album, because we recorded the whole thing in the studio. And we never played any of it live before until we started rehearsing for this tour. So we kind of re-invented a lot of the tracks live. So they’ve got this whole new dynamic. My favorite to do live is “Let it Go.” I know, I think Denny’s is “Every Single Time” or “A Pool Worth Diving In,” but yeah, no covers on this one. I was thinking about doing a Prince thing, but things were so crazy, we didn’t have time to put something that would have really honored him together, so we decided to just play our songs, maybe say something.
VM: So you guys started out as Oceana…how has it been changing from that sound to the sounds of Polyenso?
AS: Honestly, back in those days when we did play with that band we had always listened to the things that inspired Polyenso’s music, we just never really let them come out in our writing. Little bits here and there vocally and melodically sometimes, but there wasn’t really room for it in that type of music. So with this new stuff, we let those influences completely take over. Influences like Sufjan Stevens, Bjork and Paul Simon. And Flying Lotus. Some of the other hip-hop influences you can hear on the new stuff. We’ve been listening to that stuff forever, now just let it finally really influence our music and that’s why the big change happened and that’s why we decided to start a new band and honor that stuff we didn’t in the past. Cause that was a time and we’re proud of it but we just started something completely different, and didn’t do it under the same moniker. But luckily when we did form Polyenso, we had a lot of fans from our other band that kind of grew with us, so there was a lot of crossover. They were like okay, I can get into this now at this point in my life and they were on the same page as us. So it helped a lot and we got a lot of support from those fans.
VM: Loyal fan base.
AS: Yeah, totally. I mean we got a lot of heat for it too, a lot of internet hate, stuff like that, but if you’re gonna change something up like that you’ve got to expect that.
VM: Yeah, you’ve got to stick to what feels right for you. So what was your writing process like for Pure In The Plastic?
AS: It was something completely foreign to us as musicians. We got an awesome opportunity to be in the studio with a producer that some friends introduced us to, in our hometown, and we talked for a little bit, we showed him some of our old music from our first album, and he was making all these comparisons like R.E.M and Radiohead, and he really loved it and wanted to hear some new stuff so we showed him some little things we had been writing, and one thing led to another and we ended up being in that studio almost every day for about two years. So our first album was pretty classic writing scenario, we would all be in a room together and would be bouncing ideas off each other and I would have my guitar, and Denny would be on the drums and Brennan would have his guitar and keyboard and we would just write classic band style. But with this new one, we had a little bit written, which is what we showed the producer, but for the most part we went in and completely wrote and recorded everything piece by piece. So the three of us were rarely in the studio at the same time. Denny would come in and lay down a drum groove, then I would come in the next day or so and put bass and synthesizers or a vocal melody and some guitars and then Brennan would come in and do the same thing and we would just tweak this thing until it became something that we all were completely obsessed over. And then we would all sit down together and structure it out. Decide which part was the intro, which part we would do verses or choruses. Pop music, Prince, Michael Jackson, Paul Simon, people like that they still have a huge influence on what we do, as does the experimental, so we’re big on The Beatles, stuff like that, we experiment for sure, and we got the opportunity to experiment like crazy on this new one, but at the end of the day, we want to make it accessible for ourselves and for other people, and the blending of pop meets experimental is what happened there. Because of what we listened to. But the writing process was literally all in the studio, we never played any of it live together before, so playing it live together now is an experience. It’s really cool. Super fun.
VM: Going forward, what do you want people to think of when they hear your name, or hear your music?
AS: I want them to be excited about what they’re going to hear from us next, and I want them to be excited about when they listen to our records, that they’re going to hear something new every time. Because some of my favorite records are like that, you listen to it once and you love it, or you don’t love it, it takes some time to get used to, and then you listen to it again and you hear something new. We put a lot of love into this record, so I just hope when people think about us they get excited for music in general. And what’s next. Because we’re going to keep evolving, keep changing and pushing the boundaries of what we do.
VM: Is there anything else you want to share with Vinyl readers?
AS: Well if there’s any of our fans out there reading this, just wanted to say thank you. For helping us get to this point, because this is the start to what we’ve been working towards for the past five years. These opportunities are right there in front of us and we’re not going to mess them up. The reason that we’re here, not only because of music but because of that awesome fan base we were talking about earlier. So anybody that’s reading this that’s been listening to us, thank you.