by emma schoors
photo by chloe louisa
It’s a gloomy Thursday in Southern California, a sharp decrease in temperature from our typical mid-70’s afternoons, and Sir, Please is on the other line.
Guitarist Michael Leese is just back from walking his dogs, bassist Josh Cronin is totally oblivious to the fact that I’m geeking over his Revolver (Beatles) poster, and drummer David Kohn is sitting comfortably beside a wall of guitars. “I’m actually the drummer, which is kind of the funny thing,” he says, but notes his knack for drumming began after learning guitar. We’re not all that far apart physically — they’re based in beautiful Agoura Hills, and they’ve just played a packed show alongside REO Speedwagon at the prized Civic Arts Plaza in Thousand Oaks. Maybe that’s why when our conversation begins, so do the synchronicities. The parallels aren’t all that surprising, considering our shared love of music — and music, along with feel, are at the forefront of everything Sir, Please does. “We all love music so much,” Leese says. “The idea of making a piece of music that will last forever is an intense feeling of creative reassurance.”
Their 2021 debut record, Simply Loved and Lingered On, was a dream come true in more ways than one. For one, it forced the band to dive deep into the sometimes unnatural rhythm of recording material. “When you're six months into working on these songs, you've heard them so many times that it's so easy to hear imperfections or just not even be able to perceive it as a new thing anymore,” Cronin says. When the record was finally released, it acted as tangible proof of years of hard work. “We'd been a band for nearly four years leading up to that,” Cronin says. “A lot of those were songs that we had written in the earlier years of us being a band.” Leese adds: “For me it was definitely just a moment of release and a relief in a way, because we'd been holding onto these songs for so long and we've all had dreams for years of releasing an album that we could be proud of,” he says. “Even now, I think I can confidently say that even if I look back in 20 years, I can be like, ‘Oh yeah, I made that record at that age and I can feel proud of that.’”
Apart from their own shows, a 2019 night out to see Parcels stands out as a memorable bonding experience for the band. “There was something about it. We got there like 30 minutes before doors, and somehow we were at the front of the line, so we were literally in the very front row,” Cronin says. “They’re so fun to dance to, and the stars were just aligning.” They learned a valuable lesson in musicianship from that evening, too. As Leese recalls, “We realized, ‘Oh wow, people are into it if you can play a super funky groove for a few minutes. People don't necessarily get bored right away,’ you know what I mean?” he says, “if the groove is right.” That mentality shines brighter than ever in more recent Sir, Please shows, as the members grow more comfortable in their instruments and in the material. Their next show is at The Paramount in Los Angeles with McCall and Velvet Lune on February 18th. As per Leese, it’s sure to bring the live debuts of plenty of new material.
We had the chance to sit down with Sir, Please recently to speak about the band’s beginnings, all-time favorite concerts, and what’s next for the Californian alternative-meets-funk outfit.
I see three guitars on your wall. How’d you get into guitar?
David: “I'm actually the drummer, which is kind of the funny thing, but I do some songwriting. I have an older cousin that played guitar and I was like, ‘That’s so cool.’ So that's kind of when I started playing guitar. I took it more seriously when I started writing songs and stuff. I guess drumming happened after I started playing guitar, but I just loved drums. I have an older brother, he's three years older than me, and growing up we'd always be fighting all the time, so my parents got me a drum set to take my anger out on the drums.”
Your parents got you a drum set? That’s bold.
David: “[Laughs] Yeah, totally. Do you play any instruments or sing?”
I play bass, nothing crazy.
David: “I guess bass was my first thing, because my dad played bass in high school and college and stuff. He always had his bass lying around the house.”
Did you take any lessons, or are you self-taught?
David: “No, self-taught. I think everyone is pretty much self-taught. I guess we've all taken one off lessons before, but pretty much everyone's been self-taught to a certain extent.”
Would you want to do music full-time if that was an option?
David: “Yeah, a hundred percent. Yeah. I worked a restaurant job for a year and a half, and I think I learned a lot from doing that in the sense of, ‘Okay, I really don't want to work a different type of job. I really wanna make music work.’ So when I stopped doing that, I kind of just started digging deeper into other things, like production and mixing and other aspects of music. With the band, I've been just trying to get more music gigs in general. But the four of us have been doing it for roughly six years, and we're definitely super excited about it and wanna make it work in the long run.”
How did you all meet?
David: “I’ve known Michael, our guitarist, since middle school. He's three years older than me. When I was going into middle school, he had just graduated, but he was helping teach summer music classes at a middle school. So that's when I first met him and we just kind of were not super close friends, but we knew each other. We all kind of joined different bands throughout middle school and high school. I was actually the last one to join this particular group. Josh might be able to better remember how it started.”
Josh: “From my perspective, there was no one from Westlake that really did music other than jazz type stuff. So we just tried to insert ourselves into the Agoura and Newbury [Park] too, but more Agoura music scene, which, David might not say so himself, but David was the goated drummer in that area. If you needed a drummer for something, you would learn your entire set in like 24 hours to play the show. So it kind of started where Shane and Michael, they connected and we were just like, ‘Let’s jam.’ We had a lot of mutual friends. We just jammed and got along really well, and had a lot of fun doing it and never really stopped. Honestly, I actually don't even know if there was any point in time where we were like, ‘Let’s be a band.’ I think we just kind of got to a point where it was like, ‘Alright, now we're playing shows.’”
When you first started practicing together, were you playing covers or did you already have original material?
Josh: “Oh, yeah. Arctic Monkeys, Twenty One Pilots, just all the classics.”
What were some songs you’d cover?
Josh: “Oh man, we were playing ‘Heathens,’ ‘Champagne Supernova,’ ‘R U Mine?,’ just all the most typical covers you could possibly think of, and then we got really into Nothing But Thieves, and then we graduated from that and got into Parcels and Tame Impala and The 1975. Now it’s just everything. It's like a combination of all that kind of stuff. And I don't know, we try to stay hip to new bands and stuff, but we’re starting to get into our mid twenties. We kind of have our thing, and it gets harder to keep up with the new trends.”
I don’t ever hear people mention Nothing But Thieves. They’re fantastic.
Josh: “Yeah, they're super underrated I feel like in America, because they're huge in Europe and all those places.”
Yeah, they’re one of those bands that can go from playing an arena in the UK to The Wiltern here.
Josh: “We saw them at a 6 or 700-cap venue, maybe 1,000, but small compared to what they do. [Michael enters the Zoom] What’s up, clean-shaven Mike?”
Michael: “I thought I’d have some service while walking my dogs, but I’ll be damned.”
We’re glad you made it!
Michael: “Yeah, thanks for having me!”
Is there a sole songwriter in the group, is it a more collaborative effort?
David: “It's definitely a collaborative effort. We all do a bit of writing. I think Josh and I probably do the most writing, but everybody writes a bit, and a lot of times one of us will bring half a song in and the four of us will finish it together or whatever.”
Apart from your own shows, are any of you live music fans?
Josh: “I definitely am.”
Michael: “As much as I can afford to, yeah.”
It’s getting pricey.
Josh: “My philosophy is I'd rather see a $50 show once a month or every other month than go out and get drinks with friends every other week and spend $20 on that. So it depends on your lifestyle.”
Do you all use Spotify?
David: “Yeah, except for Michael.”
Michael: “I use Apple Music, so there’s a little bit of a rift in the band there. Other than that, we get along pretty well.”
What were your top artists last year?
David: “My number one was Beethoven, actually.”
Interesting.
David: “It kind of shocked me, but it didn’t really shock me.”
Michael: “Such a poser.”
David: “It was number one!”
Josh: “I think my number one was Spacey Jane, because I listened to Spacey Jane's first album religiously this last year. So literally each of my top five songs were just the first five songs on their album, which also happened to me with Parcels. I feel like that happens every year where my top five songs are just the top five songs on my favorite album of that year. It happened with Parcels, and then Notes On A Conditional Form by The 1975, and then it was Spacey Jane this year. I think other ones for me were Madison Cunningham. I know those three were in there.”
Are you an album person, or do you just listen to specific songs?
Josh: “Yeah, kind of both. I definitely like to listen to full length albums of artists that I'm intrigued by, but then I'll always go through and add my favorite songs from the album to specific playlists or just like the songs. And then if I don't have the patience to listen to a full album or if it's just a short drive or something like that, or if I'm working out, I'll just throw on a shuffle playlist or something. But I’d say I’m more of an album person.”
What’s the best concert each of you have ever been to?
Michael: “Oh man, that’s a great question.”
Josh: “The first one that comes to mind for me was probably, Parcels in, I think it was the end of 2019. I don't know, there was something about it. We got there like 30 minutes before doors, and somehow we were at the front of the line, so we were literally in the very front row. And like I said, they were my favorite. I mean I still love them, but that year in particular, I was obsessed with Parcels and especially that album, and they’re just such a great live band. They’re so fun to dance to, and the stars were just aligning. We had a group of like 15 of us that were all there. It was such good energy, and they just absolutely killed it and it was really fun, and also really inspiring, just kind of all in one. It was a really ripe time. I was 19, freshman year of college, and just kind of ready for the best concert in my life.”
David: “Totally.”
Michael: “I think that concert also totally inspired us to change up how we were gonna do certain songs live and stuff. We realized, ‘Oh wow, people are into it if you can play a super funky groove for a few minutes. People don't necessarily get bored right away,’ you know what I mean? If the groove is right. That definitely changed the way we were thinking about things at the time for sure.”
David: “That was probably the most fun I've had at a show, was that Parcels show. I think the best show I've ever seen was Blake Mills opening for Paul Simon at the Hollywood Bowl. That was just an insane show that I wish I could kind of replay in my head.”
Michael: “The first one that came to my mind, too, was seeing Prince at The Forum in 2010 or 2011. I wish I was a little older then to really, fully appreciate what I was witnessing, but even at that age I was just so awestruck by what I was seeing and yeah, I'll definitely remember that for a while for sure.”
I think they recorded that show professionally. I watch it all the time.
Michael: “You could probably see little me in the audience going crazy.”
Josh: “We saw Tame Impala at The Forum too. I think it was right before the pandemic shut it down.”
David: “Yeah, his last show. That was a really good show.”
Josh: “Yeah, and that was insane. We were all the way in the back, and we got there kind of late, so I don't know if I had as much fun just because there weren't as many elements to it as the Parcels one. But as far as just being awestruck at what I was watching and what I was hearing, that's definitely up there for sure.”
Yeah, The Forum is a great venue.
Michael: “Yeah, they do great shows. I saw The 1975 there when they were touring I like it when you sleep [for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it], and that's my favorite album of theirs and one of my favorites of that whole decade. That was another amazing show.”
What’s the most memorable moment you’ve had as a band so far?
David: “For me, I think when we put out our first song ‘Dance With Me,’ we threw a release party at Josh's house actually. All our friends from high school kind of came, and I'm sure there were people we didn't really know there, but I think we released the song that day or the night before and when we played the song, that was the first time we heard anyone sing any original material of ours. I think that feeling, bonding between like all of us on stage, but also our friends and the crowd that have been rooting us on ever since the beginning type of thing. It was a really cool moment.”
Michael: “Definitely, I was honestly gonna say that too. Right next to that I'd probably say this first tour we went on this past year with Sarah and the Sundays was our first real tour that we've ever been on, where we were seven of us and all of our gear in a seven passenger van just doing that whole thing. I feel like that entire experience, if I could condense it into one thing, I'd definitely put it right there because it was just incredible in every way. Getting to go to so many places we've never even been, and have people there whether it's only a few or you know, however many people there who came to see us or know any of our lyrics or whatever is just such a trip. So that was definitely up there for me too.”
Josh: “Both of those are very true for me as well. Another honorable mention, when we released the first, I mean we were kind of planning on it being an EP, but I guess it's kind of an album. We’ll call it an album. When we released that first album, that was also kind of a surreal moment because we'd been a band for nearly four years leading up to that. A lot of those were songs that we had written in the earlier years of us being a band. That was our first body of work, and to put all the time and effort that we did into it and then see it come to life, and then also be able to feel proud of it, I think was also a really big deal for me too. It was just one of those dream-like moments. It's just like, ‘Oh, wow. We did what we were hoping that we'd be doing in four years, four years ago.’”
How did it feel releasing the debut album? That’s an intimidating concept, putting out your first body of work. What were the emotions surrounding that?
Michael: “We definitely beat those songs into the ground for the first few years before the album, so when the time came that we had released it, we felt like we had done everything we could at that point, or at least I'll speak for myself. For me it was definitely just a moment of release and a relief in a way, because we'd been holding onto these songs for so long and we've all had dreams for years of releasing an album that we could be proud of. Even now, I think I can confidently say that even if I look back in 20 years, I can be like, ‘Oh yeah, I made that record at that age and I can feel proud of that.’ So I feel like it was overall a pretty good experience. Except for that we had to remember to replace all David's stuff. That was kind of embarrassing.”
Step it up, David.
Josh: “[Laughs] I was gonna say along the same lines, when it was coming out, I wasn't listening to it and being like, ‘This is perfect in every way,’ or anything like that. Obviously any artist, when you're working and going through the process, when you're six months into working on these songs, you've heard them so many times that it's so easy to hear imperfections or just not even be able to perceive it as a new thing anymore. That definitely is part of it, but there was also a part of it that felt like it was just the best that we could have possibly done. We didn't really leave anything on the table, and the people that we worked with, we just felt did a really amazing job, and it was also our first body of work. It was pretty stress free in the sense that it was like, ‘We kind of have like nothing to lose releasing this. It’s only up from here,’ because we've never released any big body of work before. So that was kind of a stress reliever too. It was like, even if this doesn't become the next Dark Side Of The Moon, we can improve next time on the things that we need to, or anything like that. I think it was overall just a pretty easy process. There was a fever dream-esque moment where I was in my car and I listened to it on Spotify for the first time, and that tripped me out for sure. But yeah, overall I felt like it was right where we needed to be at that time.”
Michael: “Now we're coming to grips with the fact that that was our peak, and we're just not gonna be able to top it.”
It’s all downhill from here.
Josh: “We’re realizing that in our early twenties, so we have plenty of time to figure something else out.”
Your next show is set for February 18th. Can you tell us anything about what to expect from the performance?
Michael: “We’re playing a bunch of our new songs at the show coming up. It’s definitely different from the stuff we've done before. Some of it I would say is a little bit more alternative, and some of it is a little more poppy. We're really excited to finally get back into releasing new music, because that's just the best feeling, you know?”
Which do you prefer: recording or playing live?
Michael: “I think we really enjoy both. I mean, I'm not gonna speak for everybody. I really do love performing and I love the whole dynamic between an audience and a performer, and just the energy exchange that's going on in that room, but I also think I love being in the studio and recording just for different reasons because we all love music so much. Even just the idea of making a piece of music that will last forever is an intense feeling of creative reassurance and that kind of thing. It’s been really fun, and plus we get to do it with our best friends. Our producer and our mixer are fantastic. Same thing with when we play live, we have a saxophone player that we bring with us and a keyboard player and they're also our best friends and they're amazing. So yeah, it's honestly all really fun in general.”
Thank you for taking the time. I know this month has been busy for you all, and I really appreciate it.
David: “Not at all, we’ve got nothing going on.”
Michael: “[Laughs] We’ll be way more free next month when this all falls through.”