Briefcase On the Making Of ‘Are the Stars Keeping Score?’
Can you share any interesting or unique stories or perspectives in 'Are the Stars Keeping Score?'
Collectively, the songs carry narratives of our struggles as friends, humans, pet owners, lovers, and parents — something must be [ahem] keeping track of that jazz. Maybe it’s the stars, maybe it’s nothing, maybe it’s some alien being standing at a chalkboard in another dimension. “Awake Eyes” is about being sleepless cause your kid keeps waking you up in the middle of the night to the point of hallucination. “Lolliscicle” is dismayed commentary on the state of humans and our screens. “Aorist” is recognition of the desire to ask for forgiveness and the need for help, no matter what sloppy shape that presents; or maybe it’s about being a Werewolf. So yeah, fun life stuff. :-)
How does 'Are the Stars Keeping Score?' fit into your overall artistic vision?
Our vision continues to be staying authentic to ourselves, and creating music together that we like and are influenced by, and if others like it then … bonus. Fair to say thus far, we haven’t strayed too far from the rock template, but we bring our own twist. We aren’t fabricating anything other some awkward stage banter. If we keep going I can see a concept album or two in our future (think: moody instrumentals). We’ve toyed with the idea of bringing in a second guitarist but ultimately we’re still riding the creativity that comes with imposed limitations.
What has been one of your most favorite memories along the path to making this EP?
The most fun we had in a day was filming the “Strong” video. Revisiting our younger, dumber selves was pretty easy. Meleck (drummer, and songwriter) produced the whole thing. How could we pass up ‘footage’ of us saving our beloved hometown with some unique superpower? Otherwise, working the songs out live is always fulfilling — a new solo here, an awesome Jeff backing vocal there — and depending on the amount of rotten fruit that gets thrown at us we know if the song is a keeper or not. :-)
What do you find most rewarding about co-writing?
Both the cool and challenging part is we all come from very different musical backgrounds, which means, naturally, we’ve all been poking at one another’s musical tastes for years. Brian is the resident Pavement fanatic, Jeff (U2), and Meleck (jazz and metal). But it also creates deeper connections with the guys. We’re all friends first, but learn even more about each when you’re writing about things that impact your lives. Each member is a songwriter in their own right which takes the pressure off one person to always deliver, and the different perspectives provide a healthy environment for making each song stronger than it was.
What do you enjoy most about performing live and connecting with your audience?
The flow of the energy — from us to the crowd and back again. At first we were just writing music so we could play live since that’s really all we wanted to do. We played a local festival last year and some drunk dude was so into it he danced himself into our PA and took down the whole thing. Some bands would be like, “I’m done” after that but we just helped put it back up and fed off the chaos. We’ve now entered a new phase with fans expecting new music more often so we’ve really tried to focus on songwriting over the past year. Someday maybe we’ll even agree on a song to cover…