GENEVIEVE STOKES: INTERVIEW

December 5, 2024

by lauren kovolenko

When thinking of Genevieve Stokes, I think “you’ll definitely love this music!” This artist has a way of perfecting a vibe fitting for just about everyone’s tastes. A little bit of pop, a little bit of chill, and everything in between. If you want your morning commute to feel like a movie, check her out! Please enjoy the interview we have had about touring, sound, and more!

Greetings! Tell us about yourself. What's your background like?

Genevieve: “I’m an artist from Maine and I play piano and write most of my music in my parents’ garage.”

Were you always a songwriter? When did you decide to pursue music?

Genevieve: “I’ve been writing songs since I was around eight! I always wanted to be a musician, but I released my first project right after graduating high school.”

What's your songwriting process like? Is there a certain feeling you are trying to portray?

Genevieve: “I usually have a vague idea of the emotion I’m trying to portray, but the idea doesn’t fully form until I’ve found the chords.”

I could see your songs playing in a movie — what scene would you want them to overlay?

Genevieve: “I would love to hear ‘Lost Forever Now’ in the first Twilight movie. Kind of random, but I love that soundtrack and I feel like that song fits the vibe.”

When you write songs, where do you get most of your inspiration from?

Genevieve: “I sometimes write fictional stories based on movies and books I’m inspired by, but most of my songs are about my own experiences.”

Congratulations on the release of With a Lightning Strike! What was your favorite song to create on the album?

Genevieve: “I loved recording ‘Dreamer’ and ‘River.’ My friends Fiona Stocks-Lyons and Peter Caffarella created their own arrangements and it was just a very energetic and fun process.”

How has touring prep been so far? What's your most anticipated city to play in?

Genevieve: “The prep for the tour has been strangely smooth! I’m playing with the band I recorded the album with, so we all know our parts by heart already. I always look forward to playing in Portland, Maine (my hometown), but I’m also very excited to visit Toronto and Vancouver.”

Give a piece of advice to someone starting music — what has helped you gain success?

Genevieve: “Consistency and just being very passionate about the songs I make! I never put out a song that’s ingenuine or made to please other people.”

Do you have any dream collaborations you'd like to be a part of?

Genevieve: “I would love to work with A.G. Cook! He’s one of my favorite producers and I’d love to make something more experimental with him.”

What's next for you? What are you most excited about to achieve in your career?

Genevieve: “I’m really excited to tour in the UK and just travel in general. I’ve been hibernating for the past year to make this record, so I’m ready to play these songs and get my myself out there.”

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MEDIUM BUILD: INTERVIEW

November 17, 2024

by joann snavely

Georgia-raised, Nashville-based musician Medium Build cultivates the human experience in the most raw and unfiltered way possible, and his new EP Marietta is no different. The EP zooms into his youth from a retrospective point of view effortlessly acknowledging the effervescent reflection on what was, and how it came to be. After spending the past year on tours worldwide, it’s clear Medium Build isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Coming hot off the heels of his 5th studio album Country which was unveiled earlier this year — Nick Carpenter is spending some time reflecting. Unclear Magazine got a chance to catch up with him as he talked about all things Marietta, his past, and where he’s looking out to next.

Your EP Marietta was just released and draws heavily from your experience growing up in Georgia. Is there a specific memory or feeling that inspired any of the tracks on the EP?

Medium Build: “Well, not one specific memory, more just trying to process my childhood and give empathy to me and my parents. I think it’s easy for us to zoom out when we get older and be like, ‘Oh, my parents were the worst and I had it so hard,’ or flip it the other way and think I was such a weak kid, I wish I had the patience or the wisdom I have now, I’d show up so much better for myself. It’s giving context to the situations — like, oh yeah, my parents were trying hard and they messed some stuff up. I was kind of an anxious kid and I latched onto the church and food and socializing and things that I thought would get me out of my anxiety. I’m maybe one of the majority of people who don’t remember a lot of their childhood because a lot was going on, and I’ve blocked a lot of it out. Nothing specific, just the general memory — like a phantom limb.”

Your track “Yoke” with Julien Baker has already generated a lot of interest. Baker is also someone that you’ve known for some time. How did that collaboration come about and what was it like working alongside Baker on the song?

Medium Build: “Julien and I met when we were teenagers — we met at this really gentle part of us becoming adults. We both had just started bands, both were trying to leave our hometowns and were trying to be somebody. We both grew up in the church, and both have different relationships with feeling like we weren’t accepted by all of the God stuff, but also really wanting to be a part of it. I’ve had this song in my head for five years just kind of wondering how to process all of that without being offensive. I truly think that a lot of people need to hear it. After sitting on a demo of it for a while, I finally recorded it properly and I sent it to Julien and was like, ‘Hey do you f*** with this, would you put anything on this?’ And she said yes. Julien and I are like old friends that are busy so we see each other like maybe once a year, and I hadn’t even seen her in a couple of months and sent her this like, ‘I think you’d kill it,’ and she did. She was kind enough to give me her time and her skill. It’s cool, it’s what’s brought us back together in a really lovely way. We got to play a show together last week, and it’s good to go to her house and hang with her dog and we had a lovely chat yesterday about the end of the world. It’s just good, old friends are really important — they remember you before you’ve had all of your fancy toys and all of your hiding techniques. Having her in my life and doing something professionally with her ten years after we were on tour together — I think it’s pretty heartwarming.”

Back to Marietta, the EP dives into themes of family, faith, and identity. How has your relationship with these themes changed over time especially now that you’re delving back into them in the EP?

Medium Build: “I think when I left home, I lost my faith and everything all at once. When I turned 18 all these doubts came into me and I wrestled with religion first. I left home at 18, my parents didn’t have any money, I didn’t have money, so I thought, cool, I’m gonna go get a job and figure it out. I started working in restaurants, I got an apartment, and the faith started to crumble. I spent a lot of my twenties just really bitter towards religion, towards my parents, towards how I grew up, and as I’ve aged — I’m 33 now — time is a great teacher and healer. I never used to want to have kids, but now it’s like, well, maybe. I never really ever wanted to think about spiritual or faith stuff again, but now I’m like, well, maybe. It’s not the people who hurt me, it’s okay to have hope in something. I think mainly it's as I go back and look at it, I had such a lovely foundation sometimes. I don’t want to wash the pain or bulls*** I had, but I don't want to say that I grew up hard knocks and didn’t have a really nice life. It’s that intersection between working-class people who loved God and tried that thing. The American Christian Evangelical program is a beast. I can now look back at it and I learned how to play music, and I learned to be alone, like intentionally and spiritually alone. I learned to meditate and learned to pray, I learned to engage in community and seek honest communication, and I learned a lot of tools that I was maybe throwing away while I was abandoning my foundation. Now that I’m reconnecting with my childhood I’m picking up the good ones, picking up the tools that were really nice and helpful, and I’m trying to use those in a new context.”

How does Marietta feel different from your last album Country? Were there any creative processes or creative shifts that occurred?

Medium Build: “I think getting Country out of my system was really helpful. Doing the big major label record, trying to be artsy and intentional. I was thinking a lot, but now I’m not really interested in thinking as much. I’m really interested in doing more. I think this EP is maybe a bit sonically different, there are four different producers, but all through whatever I was on that week. It’s a lot of me trying stuff and it still feels very much a part of the Country theme because it’s a lot of me processing my childhood and where I came from. This maybe just looks like a zooming-in. Going from Country, which is this album about the South and my parents, and now literally zooming in on my hometown like, what is Marietta? Who is Nick? Who is twelve-year-old Nick? There are a couple of rock songs and pop tunes, there’s a folky tune, two love songs, two songs about my childhood, there’s stuff for everybody which I think is really fun. It’s a nice end to the era, so I can move on. I’m starting the next record already, looking at different influences. I feel like I’m tired of looking inward right now. I feel like I’ve done a good job at showing up for that guy, and now I’m curious to move on to new stuff and look at the world and tell some stories that I haven’t told before.”

Your music always feels so intimate and raw. Do you ever find it challenging to be so vulnerable with your music, especially regarding the more personal themes?

Medium Build: “You get good at doing what you did last time. When I was first starting out I figured I was going to say the cringey thing — I’m gonna say the hard lyric. And people were like, ‘Woah, you’re so brave, you said that thing that people don’t say,’ and then I get used to that and have to find new ways to risk. So I’d say that the greatest fear or hurdle is me finding out what is the new scary thing. Like the new scary thing for me honestly is probably making a song where I don’t yell, and maybe I don’t say the crazy journal entry — what if I just said something really subtly? What if I was more nuanced? What if I engaged in something a bit more not from my own crowd — what if I reached across the aisle? I just want to stay risky, or connected. I still want to be connected to my own heart, but I’ve run the play a couple of times with like, ‘Yeah, Medium Build, that guy is going to yell his journal entry,’ and I’m always going to do that — it’s never going to stop. I think there are new risks I want to take.”

What’s the most unexpected lesson or piece of wisdom that’s emerged since you began creating music?

Medium Build: “I thought that it was just going to happen. I don’t know if it’s anything I’ve ever fully learned, but I think I thought that if I did this thing enough that something would blow up or there would be this a-ha moment — that arrival. There’s no arrival, you never really make it, even when you do you don’t. Look at Chappell Roan, Noah Kahan, or Shaboozey, Zach Bryan — people who’ve just blown up so fast. Now they have to protect their mental and protect their families. Then I look at my life and it’s so chill — like I’m bummed that my show tonight only sold 250 tickets instead of 450 — like whatever, I’m living. I’m trying to be present. I think that’s the wisdom I’m holding onto right now is that there’s no ‘I won the game,’ there’s no sold-out everything, even if you do that — then what, where do you go? Everything will crumble and fall back into the sea, the moss will grow on us and we will decompose, so I’m just trying to enjoy it rather than fight. Some people run their band or their music career like it’s Tesla, you don’t have to compete. I don’t have to compete, there’s no competition. I’m just competing with myself, trying to be more honest, more afraid, trying to feel better. I’m getting old and boring and trying to be more comforting to myself.”

You’ve recently toured alongside some really big names including your own tour. How has being on such large-scale tours shaped the way you perform live?

Medium Build: “I’ve watched some bada** shows, even just doing all the festivals this summer, I’ve seen the Chappell Roan show like three times, I’ve seen Sabrina Carpenter, Tyler, The Creator, Lana Del Ray, and you start taking notes, like, wow, there’s a way you can do this pro. It’s made me want to be better as a singer and musician, I want to try harder to play better. But mainly again it goes back to being more present. I’d say the shows that have melted me more than anything have been the ones where either the artist was really present or the crowd was really present or involved. How do you find that middle ground, how do you write songs that people connect with? How do you get people passionate about what you’re doing and how do YOU stay passionate about what you’re doing? Even at Austin City Limits, Sturgill Simpson was playing at the same time as Tyler, The Creator and I watched half of each of their shows and they were both so present in different ways, Tyler’s running around doing flips and goofing, and a lot of talking to the crowd-getting to know them. Sturgill doesn’t say a word, his eyes are closed and he’s listening, and he’s so in touch with his guitar and his voice and they both were so moving and so different. It doesn’t look one way, I just want to be that level, I want to be that in touch.”

You’ve also seen a pretty rapid rise in popularity. How has that affected you and what do you take away from that?

Medium Build: “It’s funny, I was talking to a friend today about how nice it is to tour Europe because we’re not as popular and the fans are a bit chiller. Then I zoom out and it's like okay, well, again, I’m not Chappell Roan, I’m not Reneé Rapp, I don’t have to deal with people standing outside my van for hours or following me to the grocery store. I just enjoy it, I enjoy what I do. I don’t enjoy the social aspect of it, I love meeting people and I’m super social, but it’s not my favorite thing — like posting on Instagram and doing the ‘hey, don’t forget me’ routine. It means a lot to me to have my privacy now. It’s felt fast, but I’ve been playing music since I was 19, and I’ve been chasing this for over a decade. Sometimes I can't believe I’m still doing this, like shouldn’t I give up by now? But now it’s like, well, whatever, now I’m doing it. I’m trying to keep my head normal and remember that I’m not that much of a big deal, even though people are buying tickets and knowing the songs. It’s crazy, I’m very lucky, I’ve had a lot of good luck this year, and I’m trying to remember that it can all go away, and I’ll get old and people will forget about it. I’ll be back at the open mic one day I’m sure.”

If there’s one message you want your music to give fans, what would it be?

Medium Build: “You’re not alone, we’re not alone. Community is real and available. Life is lonely and weird and long and scary but also incredibly short, and the people we love die or change. So much of life makes us feel alone, but we’re really not. That’s truly the thing that I’m always wrestling with in tunes is like human connection and worth and how we love on each other.”

What’s one piece of advice you’d give your younger self when starting music?

Medium Build: “I would tell him to buy a tuner, I would tell him don’t listen to the people who tell you they’re an expert. You’re good enough, make your own beats, buy a microphone, and learn how to make your own stuff. Keep it in-house, you don’t need anyone. I had such imposter syndrome and thought I needed someone to tell me what to do. I had that a lot of my life, this doubt that I couldn’t do it alone. I’ve found a lot of my strength in the past ten years in figuring out there were things I could do by myself. I would tell 19-year-old me to just go to Guitar Center, buy a drum machine, buy a little recording thing, and lean in, don’t look back.”

What’s a guilty pleasure song or artist that would surprise your fans?

Medium Build: “It is funny how people get siloed into hipster belief systems, I just love pop music, and I love country music too. Probably pop country stuff like Sam Hunt, it’s not guilty to like Sabrina Carpenter. I still will go back and listen to some of the emo stuff I grew up on like Panic! At the Disco. I think that’s probably cringey as hell, but that first record was so important to me when I was a kid. I’ve listened to F-1 Trillion a bunch, that’s probably embarrassing. I love a good pop song — any wayyou shake it up. That new Bruno Mars and ROSÉ tune “APT.” — I can’t stop listening to that tune. Give me something catchy, I’m literally so down.”

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'PERSONA' / HALF•ALIVE: REVIEW

November 15, 2024

by olivia powell

While it may seem evident from the title, half•alive’s new album Persona embodies a core element of music — humanity. The humans behind the band include lead singer Josh Taylor, drummer Brett Kramer, and bassist J. Tyler Johnson, whose combined artistry proves to be enduringly genuine. The opening title track itself hints at the sonic stability and measured chaos to follow. With frenetic synths, the kind of chaos that exists in humanity is something half•alive manages to convey in subsequent songs like “Automatic.” After the thirty-two second title track (it’s short, but certainly not a skip), “Sophie’s House” follows after with a steady beat. It could easily be taken for granted, the kind of groovy foundation of drums and guitar that half•alive builds with each song. It quickly became clear to me that their dynamic range is a part of the sound; the contrast between verses and choruses is often sonically drastic, but doesn’t feel jarring either. It’s an album sure to captivate crowds, and casual listeners who simply can’t resist a good beat. To say the least, hearing this piece of art live would certainly be incredible.

In listening to Persona all the way through, the song I was most excited to replay was “Bleed It Out.” Not only did I get chills on the first listen, but the thoughtful lyrics and production may just be my favorite on the album. It’s a sound that feels somewhat reminiscent of 2010’s electronic pop, while still reinventing itself with distorted guitar and shouted refrains of “bleed it out!” Choruses like this one soar. It’s a kind of freeing appeal to listen to your heart, while still lyrically maintaining an ambiguity left up to the interpretation of the listener. “People” contemplates the idea of sonder (the realization that every human has their own lives and personal experiences), while synthesizers and vocal layers create a lush soundscape leading into the second chorus. It’s artfully crafted, and so clearly full of intentional lyrics and sound dynamics. I know it's a song I’ll be analyzing for some time to come.

It’s a delicate balance to be able to write impactful “bangers,” as well as down-tempo songs. A perfect example of this kind of balance is on “Long Drive” with Kacy Hill, where her vocals are a match that just seems to make sense. The song’s ending picks up a bit, with the addition of horns (possibly my favorite part) and more drums, easing back into the upbeat “Lie, Lie.” Other slower songs like the Jordana-featured single “Songs,” and closer track “Thank You,” don’t feel out of place on this album. It’s not an album that could be described with one genre, in the same way that humanity can’t be described by one emotion. Persona holds room for the complexity of the human experience, while providing consistently solid music.

The chorus of “All My Love (Imperative)” feels meaningfully repetitive, with a shimmering choir echoing the phrase each time. The song doesn’t just tell you “I’ll give you all my love,” but also sounds light, airy, and infectious. Elements like jazzy horns, and pluck-aided drum breaks like the one in “The Point” really make Persona stand out. The more I listen to Persona, the more I catch. Every song is a playground of sound, with little riffs between phrases or subtle basslines, without ever feeling unnecessarily crowded. It’s an accomplished culmination of eleven songs, each one different in a unique way. The album concludes with a grateful “Thank You,” which ends with a singular guitar strum. I love simple moments like this almost as much as the high-energy ones, because it’s a mark of the feat half•alive has accomplished. That final strum feels like a simple closer after wowing an audience with everything they’ve got.

JANET DEVLIN: INTERVIEW

November 14, 2024

by martina rexrode

On her latest single “Red Flag,” Northern Irish artist Janet Devlin taps into her country music roots that extend all the way to her childhood. Her country-rock style shines through in her clever songwriting and humorous personal voice. The single is one of several released in the months leading up to her full-length album Emotional Rodeo, out November 15th, a project that covers a wide range of emotions and specific circumstances that still somehow feel relatable. We talked to Janet about each of these releases, her creative process, and the popularity of country music in Ireland.

You recently released your single “Red Flag,” which does a clever job of turning what is typically seen as a negative term into a positive. Can you tell us a little about where the inspiration for this song came from?

Janet: “I dated too many dudes that were walking red flags. I got out of a three year relationship that was littered with red flags… but I still stayed. I always blamed myself and my BPD (borderline personality disorder) for our issues. That I was the red flag for my reactions. Even though that wasn't the case. But I still carried the safe blame around for quite some time. But when that ended I decided to manifest a ‘good guy’ for a change [laughs]. So this was just me writing my itemized list for the universe to give me one!”

What was the writing process for “Red Flag” like?

Janet: “It was easy but it was long! Katie [Rae, producer], Jamie [Sellers, producer] and I only managed to write a verse, pre and chorus on the writing day. We cycled through so many ideas on the day before we landed on this one. But we ran out of time. In Australia I wrote the second verse and pre. Plus wrote a bunch of different ideas and melodies for the middle 8. When I came back I hopped in the studio with Jamie to lay it all down in a demo.”

How does “Red Flag” and your other pre-release singles lay the foundation for the album as a whole?

Janet: “I would say the songs I choose have done a good job so far at showing how varied the sound is on this album. The song ‘Emotional Rodeo’ is very different sonically from ‘Red Flag.’ The album is a melting pot of all my favorite styles of country.”

Which singer-songwriters in the country music industry and beyond inspire you the most?

Janet: “This is so tough because I've been listening to the genre my whole life. My early influences were Hal Ketchum, Alan Jackson, Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton, Brooks and Dunn, etc. Not country but bluegrass, I would say the soundtrack to O Brother, Where Art Thou? shaped me as an artist as well. My modern influences would be Chris Stapleton (though I originally discovered him through The Steel Drivers in around 2015), Jackson Dean, Brothers Osborne, Cory Marks, Dierks Bentley, Ashley McBryde etc.”

You were born and raised in Northern Ireland, which is quite far from Nashville. Where did your love for country music stem from?

Janet: “Country music is the biggest genre of music in Ireland. Unsurprisingly so, when you look at the history of Irish (and Scottish) folks immigrating to the South/the Appalachian mountain range. I even have a bunch of distant relatives on both sides that live not only in the South but in Nashville as well. With country being the genre everyone in my house agreed on, it meant it’s what I grew up listening to the most.”

How has your creative journey through the last decade or so prepared you for where you are today? What is one memory or piece of advice that still guides you?

Janet: “It’s been a learning curve for sure! Through playing around with genres and writing styles over the last 13 years I’ve learnt my strengths and weaknesses — sometimes the hard way [laughs]. I always go with what excites me. At the end of the day, I’m the one who has to talk about the tracks in interviews and in streams, etc. It also means if it doesn’t do as well as I’d hoped, it's fine because I love it. Something that sticks out to me is a phrase my managers use. ‘We’re making music, not saving lives.’ It’s so good at putting my feet back on the ground and zooming out of the current stress.”

How would you describe your forthcoming album Emotional Rodeo in three words?

Janet: “Giddy, stirring and honest.”

What do you hope listeners take away from not only “Red Flag” but the album as well?

Janet: “I hope they take what they need from it. If they need a dose of silly, goofy, fun, uptempo tracks, hopefully it’ll bring them that. If they need an aid in feeling their feelings, I hope the deeper tracks will help them access those.”

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BEEN STELLAR: INTERVIEW:

November 6, 2024

by izzy petraglia

New York City is widely-known as a nucleus for producing some of the greatest guitar bands — especially during the peak of its underground DIY scene in the 2000s to 2010s. Coming together over mutual yearning to exist in this space after it had ceased to exist, Been Stellar was formed. Vocalist Sam Slocum and guitarist Skyler Knapp began performing under the band’s name in their Michigan hometown as high schoolers, and were later joined by bass player Nico Brunstein, guitarist Nando Dale, and drummer Laila Wayans — completing their close-knit quintet.

After playing numerous gigs at bars and creating a scene of their own within New York — collaborating with close friends in the process, the group reconfigured themselves when the world came to a halt during the COVID-19 pandemic. They utilized that time to hone in on creating their own signature sound and promptly hit the road when live music returned to support acts such as Fontaines and Shame. Time spent on days off during these tours allowed them to piece together Scream from New York, NY, their shoegaze and post-punk blended debut album released in June 2024.

This album truly showed why they’re one of the best bands coming out of New York right now, especially after connecting with the crowds on their most recent tour with Fontaines D.C.. Unclear caught up with Nico following their opening set at Fontaines D.C. in Toronto on navigating the saturated New York music scene and creating a sound that reflected the band’s personalities.

First of all, I loved your set Friday. The crowd also seemed to really like you guys. I was reading people’s posts after the show, and I saw a lot of people complimenting your performance!

Nico: “Yeah, it was good — the reception was really good. We met a lot of people at the merch table afterwards so that was really nice.”

How has touring been so far? Are there any stark differences between touring with Fontaine's versus other bands you've been with?

Nico: “Touring’s been great. Definitely, I think personally this [tour] has been my favorite one. As a band, it's been our favorite just because the crossover has been so successful.

This is definitely the first time we as an opener have felt that the headliner’s crowd has really gravitated towards us. We toured with Just Mustard and there was good crossover, but they definitely also have a more noisy and aggressive sound. So people who are diehard Just Mustard fans are gonna get lost by a couple of our more pop-y and sweeter songs. [Touring with] The 1975 was obviously a very stark difference — not to say that people didn't like it, but the ratio of people who were instantly hooked by our set was not nearly as much as it has been for Fontaines. So yeah, this has definitely been the most different one for sure. I think we're making the most fans even though these aren't necessarily the biggest shows that we've opened for. It’s been very fulfilling.”

Definitely. Even though it may not have been the biggest shows you've opened for, like you said, I feel like fans of those bands that are still coming up tend to appreciate an opener a lot more. You kind of end up gaining a stronger fan base from those sort of headlining sets. I know not all of you are from New York, but you guys started the band in New York. I've read pieces where you spoke about how it was kind of difficult to break into the New York music scene at first, especially because it is very, very saturated. There's obviously a lot of music that comes out of New York, but I wanted to know how you guys navigated building your presence around the city and are now building it around the world as you continue to grow?

Nico: “When we first moved, it was Sam and Sky’s project from their high school band, and they wanted to keep it going. So they self recorded and put out an album during their senior year of high school. Me, Nando, and Laila joined in to fill out their band. We were playing a lot of, I don't want to say shitty venues, but bars, essentially. We were just saying ‘yes’ to every single show, which maybe it was good, maybe it was bad, but I think we definitely got our name out there our first three years from 2017 to 2020.

Honestly, leading up to COVID, live music was in a really terrible place. It was so expensive to go out to a show and I think people in the US are less inclined to just do music discovery, like buying a random ticket and trusting the booker. I was also booking shows and I think people were just really desperate to fill out rooms, so you’d just go by Spotify listeners. So yeah, there was no music discovery going on or going to a random show because it was so expensive, drinks are also really expensive, and then you don't get a lot of younger people because they're really harsh on IDs. Then, there’s early shows and late shows in New York. If it's an early show, you get hard kicked out at 9pm, which is too early and now you've already spent like 40 bucks on tickets and drinks. Or it's a super late show and you don't start the show until 10 or 11 and you're not done until 2am. It was never ideal to go out to live music for smaller bands in New York pre-COVID.

I think COVID was a really good thing for us in terms of being a band, because I think that's when we looked at each other and decided whether we keep doing this or not. I think we decided that if we're going to keep doing this, all five of us need to write and contribute equally. I think that was a big changing point — just focusing on writing together instead of performing together. We did a DIY tour in the US with this band called Catcher that we're really good friends with in 2021. I feel like that was the first time we went out trying to get our name across nationally. The US is really hard because it's so big and a lot of people here still don't really care about rock music. It's getting more popular now, obviously.

In the UK, it was a lot easier because it's kind of the opposite of all the problems that the US or New York had with live music. Tickets are cheap, the drinking age is 18, promoters are well known to curate good bands. There's just a lot of trust, and the thing to do is to go out and go to a show. Also over there in England, pubs close at 11pm or midnight and that's a hard cut, whereas shows I think can go until two or three AM. So it just makes way more sense to go to a show if you're going out. Rock music has always been popular there and it never really fizzled out in the 2010s. So honestly, that's what helped us when we put out our EP. We weren't really doing well in the US or in New York until we came back from the UK. We got buzz in the UK and came back, it was weird how it happened.”

True — okay nice! That's really fascinating because I feel like, like you said, there's always rock bands coming out of the UK, but it kind of died down a lot in New York. Like you said, it’s just starting to come back, but that brings me to my question, who is on your Mount Rushmore of New York bands?

Nico: “Personally or as a band?”

Either or, I’d say why not do both!

Nico: “I'll try to maybe combine them. I would say The Velvet Underground is a big one for me and Sky. Television is also a big one. Recently, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I didn't really grow up listening to them too much, but more recently, I've gotten pretty deep into them. Sam and Sky are big fans. And then I'll do DIIV.”

All good choices!

Nico: “Yeah, their new album is probably my favorite of the year so far. That was another one that I wasn’t really exposed to in high school, but Sam, Sky, Nando and Laila were all huge DIIV fans in high school and now I'm on the wave.”

Now you're like, okay, I get it now. I'm catching up.

Nico: “Yeah, exactly.”

Just going off of that, I guess a lot of these bands can be inspiration, but what did it look like to navigate creating your own personal sound beyond each of your own musical influences?

Nico: “We all come from different backgrounds. Nando is from Brazil, he grew up playing a lot of bossa nova so he has definitely more jazzy chords sometimes. I think he was maybe scared to introduce that at first, but then we leaned into it a bit more. When I first started music in high school, I didn't really play any instruments, I was doing a lot of electronic music. So I was thinking a lot about production and structure, and making it more pop-y, if that makes sense. Laila produces a lot of trap and rap beats, so I feel like that influences a lot of her drumming.

I think it took a while for us to ‘gel’ the five of us as songwriters together. I think that's what the EP shows, the first bits of what that looked like. When we started touring more consistently, like the first real bit of touring we did, was right before that EP came out — so after it had been recorded. We were on the road for three months together. I think that's the first time where all of our music tastes started to compile and homogenize a bit. I think you can hear it a bit more on the album, where it's more contained but I feel like everyone has a voice on each song. There's definitely a more consolidated version of what the five of us really look like on the album, whereas the EP was still trying to figure all of our voices out.”

Nice, love it. I also didn't know at first that you guys named your band after Ben Stiller. This guy I know told me and I was like, that's fucking awesome. I'm obsessed with that. And no shade at all, but I was just wondering, why Ben Stiller?

Nico: “No yeah, I don't know — Sam and Sky came up with it their freshman year of high school. Sky says that he didn't mean to. I guess they talked about this artist called Com Truise and using a celebrity's name. I think Sky just came up with it on his own. I hate when people ever ask me what the band’s called. It takes me about a minute to describe it to them because when I say it out loud, they think I’m just saying the actor’s name. I think when you read it, like if you haven't heard it out loud at first, it looks cool and it sounds cool, and like, maybe you don't understand the pun at first. But yeah, always telling people what the name is, is like, I don't like cause I read the name first.”

Yeah, I read the name first, so when I found out I was like, '“Wait, Ben Stiller?”

Nico: “It's kind of weird that our name is attached to him. Because there's no homage paid to him at all.”

Yeah I was just really curious why him? Because if I ever named a band after an actor or something, I'd pick Michael Cera, or like Kieran Culkin.

Nico: “Yeah, I don't know. I don't think any of us are particularly fond of — I mean, I like him.”

Yeah, no, it’s not shade!

Nico: “I really like Severance, which he directed and I think wrote as well! So I am a fan, but I don’t think any of us are obsessed.”

I love that piece of lore. I just have two more — what were some challenges you guys may have faced as a group while recording your debut album that came out a few months ago?

Nico: “I think the biggest problem at first was maybe the nerves of doing it. We were working with Dan Carey, and for me personally, he was my dream producer. So I know I was a bit nervous working with him. I was hoping to work with him for years leading up to it. I just remember on the first day when we were trying to track, everyone was really stressed and nothing was sounding right. We were just playing way too fast or what not.

After a couple of hours of just settling in, we started to lock in a bit. So I think the nerves were tough. Then, we spent a week and a half just on vocals, we finished all the tracking of instruments in the first three or four days. The next week and a half was just on vocals. Not that Sam was struggling with it, he can sing the song perfectly every time. Dan really pushed him to get something extra out of him, which I know was pretty tough for Sam. I think he learned a lot as a singer doing that, and I think he improved a lot as a singer through that — but I know it was tough for him. Because [at that point] it was like, everything was kind of on him since all of our work was done as a band. It's also different because you can play a song on bass or guitar 100 times super easily, but vocals, I can't imagine the vocal strain that he was facing.

It was also our first time recording a full album and we didn't record any demos onto a computer.

We just knew the songs and how to play the songs live. We didn't really come into the studio with any ideas of overdubbing or any extra ideas that we wanted on the tracks besides the raw sound of the band. So I think we felt a bit of pressure to come up with stuff to layer on top of it and knowing when to stop. I think at first it was this notion that we had to record a ton of extra tracks to make it sound more full. Just learning to not overdo it was definitely a big thing.”

Honestly, I can't imagine the vocal strain in the process of recording music, having to do it over and over.

Nico: “Yeah, it's also singing with a band going on at the same time. I feel like it’s one thing being the only one in the room just singing from headphones, but it must be really different and probably a bit more intimidating [with a band]. You're not being masqueraded by anything. But I don't know, I'm kind of speaking for myself, just imagining.”

We’re just imagining what it could be like — it’s not like we know [laughs]. On that note, finally, I just wanted to ask now that the album's been out for a few months and this tour has been underway — what can people expect from you guys within the next year? What are you hoping to accomplish in 2025?

Nico: “In 2025, we're writing as much as we can now so we're gonna try to start recording as soon as we have another album. We're doing headline shows in January on the East Coast and headline shows on the West Coast in May, and I think we're starting to plan out a bit of a festival run in Europe right now. So I'm really excited for that. And then yeah, that's about it for 2025 so far.”

Not even just about it, that's a lot for 2025!

Nico: “Yeah [laughs], just trying to book out the rest of the year right now.”

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