by kaylee pickens
photo courtesy of the greeting committee
The Greeting Committee is not your average indie rock/alternative band. Comprised of Addie Sartino (lead vocals), Austin Fraser (drums), Pierce Turcotte (bass), and Brandon Yangmi (guitarist), this group from Kansas City is leading their genre with authenticity and versatility. Best known for their songs, “Hands Down” and “Elise,” this band is more than just up-and-coming. In this interview, Yangmi relives some of his best memories. Unclear was able to sit down with Yangmi to discuss the highs and lows of tour, the making of Dandelion, how his relationship with his bandmates has made him better, and more.
Hey Brandon, thanks for sitting down with us! I hope you're doing well. So, you know, first thing I want to know is — I know that everything is kind of started to get back to normal. I have to put air quotes around that. But what are you most looking forward to about touring again with your band?
Brandon: “I feel like there's a sense of being on tour with your band and being in such a tight, physical space. Just being in a van all the time, or being in Airbnbs, or a hotel room tightly together; I look forward to it and I dread it at the same time. Being so emotionally close to your band members, it's so, so rewarding. But, then it can also be so draining at the same time. My analogy — and it's a poor analogy because I know going to war is much, much more serious than going on the road playing music — but it feels like your war buddies for better or for worse. So, I'm excited for having that close knit relationship and just experiencing things. Tour is very high highs, very low lows, at least for me personally. You're going on stage, sharing your passion with people, and the people are giving you that same energy back. And like, you go to the sky and then you got to come back down. So then you hop in the van and you crash like, 'I'm so drained.' So I look forward to that whole spectrum of motion.”
I've actually heard that quite a few times regarding the “high highs and the low lows.” I mean, you're not alone in feeling that way. Do you have a performance that you've done either in the last couple of years or maybe one of your first performances that has been your favorite or most memorable?
B: “One of the last real performances we did. Our performance before COVID, I guess was pretty special for us, though. I'm from Kansas City and we have a venue called The Uptown, which is a good venue. I think it's over 2,000 seats. And, we sold it out! [We] played in front of a hometown audience. So, that holds a special place in my heart. And I think I had such a good time. I played hometown shows before, where it's like my mind is just f#%ing blank and I don't remember anything. But I was like, 'Hold on to this. This is special. Hold onto this.' So I remember playing that show and being present, which was awesome to experience something like that. Being present, being on stage, having that connection with your bandmates, and hometown crowd, and family and friends — that was special to me. And then, I will say, this isn't a specific show, but like, I really love those shows where you're in the middle of tour and it's very monotonous driving and eating fast food, checking in to an Airbnb, whatever. And then some nights, everything is perfect. The band is just on, the audience is just really receptive to just live music that night, everyone's having a good time. Those are always super, super rewarding. I love just being on tour in the middle of nowhere, where I've never been and playing a show. Some nights just feel a little bit more magical than others.”
I definitely appreciate your honesty on that. I think it's great to think some shows are more special than others. Not to diminish the importance of the other shows, but because there's just... something different. [laughs] I don't know how to express it well. So, first of all, big congrats to you and your team. How would you best describe the album?
B: “Oh, yeah, that's a good question and I wish I had a great answer. [laughs] I don't know if it comes out in the music. I can't tell. I don't know how other people perceive it. But, I will say that the writing process for the band and — I think it's fair for me to say this for all the band members — it was a big range of emotions for all of us, to be completely honest. Like we've gone through a lot as a band and figured out our own dynamic and how to make each other happy. I think we were all at a crossroad of our life, at our age. I kind of hope that that range of emotion comes through. I remember Addie going through her breakup with her girlfriend— they’re back together now. But, that whole cycle of grief, of losing someone so close to you and then, the anger and sadness, the loss of self; there was a lot of things on that spectrum of emotion.”
I'm excited to see how that's emulated in the music. I know that you guys are all individual people, so you all put your two cents in your piece into it. But like you mentioned, you guys were all going through it. So it'll definitely be interesting to see how that's perceived. Was there any picture, colors, or imagery associated with the album? I know it's called Dandelions, so I don't want to assume that you were thinking of a flower the whole time, but I am curious if there was any imagery or visuals that were associated with the album?
B: “I like writing off of imagery that's always fun, like watching a movie or a piece of art , you're like, 'how does that make me feel emotionally?’' And then trying to replicate that in your own way in a different medium, like music or something. I do really enjoy that. You know, I've done that in the past. I don't think I did that too much with this album. But for some reason, I think of blue. For whatever reason, our last EP has a blue album cover. And for some reason, I think of that for this album; It almost feels like an extension of our identity. I think our EP was us being more indulgent and just trying to hone in on emotion while writing that. And [I tried] to not worry about radio play, or playlisting, or hooks and stuff like that. I was just trying to capture emotion and be an artist, whatever that is. And then it was kind of a warm up to do this album. This album feels like a more fleshed out extension of that in my head.”
For me personally, I like earth colors, blues, greens, yellows, oranges, things like that. Those always seemed to be like the most calming or the most grounding. So I know that, like, thinking a blue is associated with a feeling of freedom or openness. So I can I can definitely understand that extension or that connection with that emotion or with that color. I know we kind of touched on it a little bit when you were describing Dandelion in its entirety, but do you have any favorite memories or anything memorable from when you guys were making the album?
B: “Yeah, there's a couple of different things. So when COVID was happening, it was really difficult. We started writing I think, and we wrote maybe two ideas. We worked like two days, I think, and then COVID lockdown happened. It was really serious, as serious as it is in everybody's world, but our drummer's brother is a quadriplegic and has a very weak immune system. So if anything happened to him, especially that time no one knew what was going on, we were worried that this could be very fatal for him. So we were very cautious and we had to not see each other. We tried doing Dropbox writing and stuff like that. And, it's fine to get some ideas out, but then if someone wants add to that idea, it's just so hard. I'm like, 'If we just did this in a room together, it would take like two seconds.' It's like trying to make a master plan over text messaging, that's what it felt like.
So with that we were like, 'We can't do this.' And I think that Addie was just getting really sad, she was miserable doing that. We packed everything up in our van and drove down to my parents' lake house. We just huddled up there and set up all of our gear and lived with each other. It was work. Tour is very go, go, go, and it's crazy. But this felt a lot more domestic. We would write, and we would do our hours, and that was fun. We'd cook dinner and then it's like, 'All right, now let's play cards together.' It was just really domestic and kind of sweet. [laughs] It was a great way to set the tone for us, and being nice to each other, and being gentle with each other on set. It set the tone for the rest of the writing session.
There's a song on the album called 'How Long,' and it was the last song that we finished for the record, if I'm thinking correctly. And it was horrible to write, it was like we had this idea and we thought it was worth something, but we could not figure out a chorus for the life of us. We just felt so stuck on it. We just kept re-visiting it over and over again, and then one night it just clicked for us and then one night the heavens opened up. And I was like, 'THANK YOU. THANK YOU SO MUCH.' I remember leaving the studio that night, with a high that felt like a natural high. I was just so, so happy. And then, it made it onto the record. The outro on that song is my favorite part on the entire record. It like encapsulates everything that record is for me.”
Wonderful. I loved your answer on that because I just feel like I was there, I was along for the journey. I feel like I felt that struggle when making this album. It brings me into the next question, if you could tell anybody anything before they listen to the album, what would it be?
B: “Nothing. [laughs] I don't want to say anything to anybody about the album. If they get something from it, they get something. And if they don't, they don't. I want people to make up their own minds and I don't think I need to tell them.”
photo courtesy of the greeting committee
That's totally fair. I know you talked about the domesticity that happened when you guys were at the lake house and how you were respecting each other's time and energy. So reflecting on your relationship as a band, is there anything that you wish you knew prior to starting your journey in this band?
B: “Yeah, I can't think of anything super specific, but just to really be gentle with my bandmates and respect one another. This is what I'll say: I wish I maybe had more things figured out so my insecurities wouldn't project onto my own band members because that can be difficult for them to understand.”
If we zoom out, what do you think is the best part about being in a band that's so dynamic and flexible?
B: “I think in writing music, it's such an intimate thing. And then, to think that we're running a business, as well. This is our livelihood and what we're trying to do as a career. So it is very, very emotional wrapped inside of this thing. You see each other for better or for worse. And I think being with Addie, Austin, and Pierce, have helped me grow a lot as a person. When you're so tight with somebody like that, it's like they're a good mirror to show you yourself. Like, 'Hey, these are certain things that I would like to see you grow as a person,' or something along those lines. I think they've helped me grow a lot as a person and try to make me a better person. It's no different than having a relationship with somebody. You're there to support each other and make each other the best that you can. And I have that with three other people in this group. So that means a lot for me, especially since I started this band with them when I was like 14 or 15 and there's so much growing pains that go on with all that. It is a very deep relationship that we have with each other. So, having those type of people in your life, I think even if it is hard, sometimes I think they help you grow up. And I appreciate it.”
Definitely. I understand that whole aspect of “growing pains” and being with someone who holds a mirror up to you, because that's something I had always looked for in any relationship. I think that's super remarkable to have within a group. So, to kind of wrap it up here, is there anything that you would hope that they felt or hope that they recognized?
B: “I'm always on the front of, I don't want to tell people how to feel about our own music, not put a notion in their head. Obviously there are things I hope people do feel about our music when they do listen. I hope that people to feel something when they listen to it. Just like with my favorite album, just putting it on and it may take me to a certain place or to a certain emotion; that always mean a lot to me. But I hope they feel like they have company when they listen to this record.”