Fresh Finds Podcast Season 5 Episode 5 W/ tenmonthsummer

fresh hello and welcome back to season five of the fresh finds podcast the show about discovering new music with good people i'm ryan in this episode i'm joined by some of the folks from the lakeshore emo band 10 months summer how are we doing guys feel good good to hear good to hear of course absolutely uh do we want to go around real quick and uh everybody introduce themselves as so that we get a sense of uh your voice for anybody who is not listening to the video and just kind of introduce yourself and say what you do in the band that sounds good uh who wants to go first what are we doing uh i was pointing at you charlie oh yeah i'm charlie i play rhythm guitar in the band if you're on twitter i'm the one usually oh god we lost him well we're charlie now canceled off to a good we were off to such a good start not really but damn stream 10 months summer so we can get charlie better wi-fi yeah this episode's gonna be about computer just crashed oh god um okay so do we want to wait for him to get back or do we want to just kind of keep rolling and when charlie gets back in we'll just let him uh introduce himself when he gets back we could probably do the intros yeah we can we can roll the intro when he returns perfect yeah he knows who we are yeah i would hope so so who wants to go first then all right hello co my name is scum drop i play the bass i use they them pronouns um sometimes i do a little singing sometimes a little dancing my name is nish i sing in the band and i write the words and i'm the one that's always tweeting stupid shit on our twitter account i'm sam i uh i play lead guitar in the band and then i don't ever tweet anything stupid all of the things i tweet are very smart and well thought out in advance with the repercussions they can have lovely the uh the smart person in the band and then i'm also not here right now is luke who is our drummer and has so far produced uh the main chunk of our work uh with the exception of scum drop doing some some mixing and production hell the two as well but uh so far it's just been us doing it nobody else uh in terms of the the recording process i love to see people do all their stuff in-house it's a fantastic thing to see with uh especially with diy bands um do you guys want to uh kind of give like a little bit of history on the band how you formed how you found each other and how you got into the band and how you got into the band and how you got into the just anything like that uh sure yeah i'll let uh sam and scum drop like kind of describe their entry into the band throughout like the history but we formed like pretty i'd say pretty quickly um in march of gosh it's been two years now so march of 23 we just turned two years old about like a week ago um really wow that's crazy yeah it doesn't feel like that long but also it does feel like that long um but luke and i were in a band prior that just kind of fizzled out after like a almost like a 10-year run we just like you know it was like our college band didn't we do too much with it just played shows for fun but then uh through the midst of you know getting through covid and some other like life changes like we sat down one day and we're like hey let's start another project um then yeah and then uh you know sam scum drop and charlie came on board and i can let them tell their piece of it how they got how they got involved cool cool sam yeah i can i can go first um yeah i basically i had just moved to the city from texas and yeah like i think like july of 20 is that where you're from originally yeah i'm from texas i'm from the the texas panhandle i grew up in a little city called amarillo and gotcha yeah there's there's not not much there but um but yeah so i i moved up after after graduating college my my girlfriend got into grad school up here so we we moved up here together and then yeah i was just like i really had wanted to be in a band for a long time and i was already i think i was already in two bands at the time ten months summer started and i saw i was in a facebook group for kind of the diy scene here and i saw nish make a post on there and responded to it because the influences and like the genre stuff like shoegaze and emos seemed like stuff i wanted to play and so i uh i sent them like a i sent nish a track that i recorded at some point kind of right i had uh right after i'd moved to chicago and waited about like i feel like two or three months never heard anything back and then just randomly got an email saying hey do you want to come uh come try out and i was like okay sure and then i like yeah worked on the songs a little bit beforehand and um was that it was kind of kind of very nervous about trying out for a band but they were everybody was very nice and took me in with open arms and so been around since and around what time was that so that was i assume 2023 as well but a little bit later it was a little before um oh okay so so we so the reason why sam took a while to get to sam is because we knew we wanted to have some shit done first before we got a lead guitarist because like i feel like that's like trying to write a lead part over like nothing sometimes really difficult and like i you know i won't speak too hard for loop i know i myself i'm like i don't play instruments i'm not a very strong songwriter and so like we wanted to have some content before we you know before we brought some elite guitars and being like hey like can you be the one that writes the lead parts but if we have nothing to like see how they work then like it's a waste of their time and ours too so do like january and february we were building the initial like we were just getting people together and then sam joined and then and then scum drop can tell their pieces too but soon after scum drop joined as well um but like march is when like we had all five pieces together and said this is the band this is the name and what's gotcha gotcha okay so origins and was actually a little bit earlier but kind of like officially yeah this is the band this is us was in march gotcha yeah okay yeah and then um it's kind of the same deal with me i saw actually my partner sent me a link from reddit about nish you know putting out an ad basically looking for a bassist and i had been living in chicago for about just like under a year at that point so was this on like a specific like chicago uh subreddit yeah i want to say it was the chicago music scene subreddit yeah i'm trying to find the posts i think it was on chicago music scene gotcha yeah um there's a couple like subreddits in there but yeah you said that you that you had just moved to the area as well where were you from originally originally i am from iowa oh okay place called like cedar rapids and i have but i was living in kalamazoo for three years before i moved to chicago oh all right cool so you've kind of been all around the midwest then yeah i've lived in a few big cities uh since iowa but i've liked chicago the most gotcha are you all in chicago proper or a lot of you guys like out in the suburbs and things like that proper yeah cool yeah we're all we're all in chicago proper nice i know some people claim to be a chicago band but they're not technically from chicago and chicago people are not too happy about that yeah yeah we hate those people have a real problem with them and would like them to uh come to our home address and talk things out talk over teeth those irl sensible tweet from sam no repercussions well versed well thought out so when kind of the the band started uh did you guys were you starting to play like shows and things like that way before you started releasing music yeah i mean um our first show was may i think so like just two months after we like cemented ourselves as like a band and um like in fact too like like when 10 months summer was born we had an original bassist named scott who is a wonderful person just no bad blood there but as as we were like starting to write and stuff scott had some life changes and realized like oh like i actually like like you guys are gonna do some stuff and like i can't commit to it and i don't want to like get too deep into it and then like you know like fizzle out so like that's when you started looking for another bassist and that's when scum drop came on um and within like just a month's notice like i believe scum drop like joined the band and we played our first show and in that time we had written like five or six songs which was pretty i think pretty prolific for five people who like basically don't know each other musically uh oh for sure and yeah so uh yeah we we we just had like the the demo tape we saw like we had some of those demos out and that was really all we had before going into that first show and you know as you can check our timeline you know december of 23 is when we put out destiny bond and then yeah you know fate some singles you know 24 and then fate lines last year and charlie's back hey charlie yourself yeah sorry i'm charlie i'm the one having technical difficulties uh i play in the band and uh i was gonna say earlier was if you're on twitter i'm the one who's typically uh threatened by niche to get kicked out of the band i have seen that happen more than once what are you talking about and do you want to talk about that and do you want to talk about uh kind of like how you uh how you joined the band how you got uh involved in all of this yeah yeah i was living in georgia and then i moved up to chicago um i bounced all over the country playing in bands and when i got to chicago having come from georgia where no one played the type of music i liked i was like you know what i'm gonna look for people i'm gonna look for folks uh and i saw nish and luke's uh it was reddit posts i believe saying that you know that they were looking for uh some folks and so i was i was one of those weirdos on reddit who responded and was like sounds like you know a lot of similar overlapping bands i think nish and i have a pretty pretty close uh you know our bend diagrams bordering on a circle uh of bands that we like so it just worked out really well and from from the first time i joined it just the things seemed to click and and he hasn't officially kicked me out yet so i mean we're doing pretty well basically two years later nice nice yeah it is crazy that it's almost two years now um nish you were starting to get to like uh playing your first show as a band in may at that point you had written five songs what is the uh like the songwriting process look like for this band and like has it changed a whole lot since then or has it kind of like stayed pretty similar i'll i'll let the people that play the instruments answer this one for sure because uh i think like they're the most important piece of what we sound like i just add some squawking at the end don't sell yourself too short oh he shouldn't because uh it's a critical part probably one of our most important but for i'd say the only consistency in our songwriting is that it's uh inconsistent in how things start uh there have been guitar ideas from our drummer luke who isn't here there have been riffs that sam's brought that i've brought that we've just been like sam goofing around in practice and all of a sudden we're just like we're just like we're gonna stop and point and say hey keep playing that and let's just loop and see what we can do with that so it kind of comes from all over the place um and i i don't think it's not the typical like one of us brings in a full song idea but i think we do write a bit more outside of practice and then when we come to practice we can see what we jam on and what what seems to click with everyone i don't know sam scum drop what are your what are your thoughts there we we write in like a very i feel like riff based way which is like kind of for me it goes on and on and on and on and along really well with the way i play because i like to i i'm not really great with like chord progressions or things like that i just like writing little riffs that i think are fun to play and yeah i feel like we usually have some sort of riff usually it's a guitar riff from either me or charlie that it's if we like it enough we'll say hey let's write write something around this and then we kind of extend from there and then uh yeah usually usually starts with a guitar riff and then from there we the the big thing that i think has changed with our songwriting process from like when we started is that we we try to be more thoughtful about how we structure our songs oh at first we just kind of kind of threw things threw things together much more uh much more quickly and haphazardly which works pretty well and like isn't necessarily like a bad way to write songs i i like it but now we've really been trying to work on if there are two parts that don't fit together like super super seamlessly or like hey let's add a transition here to uh to make things flow better instead of just kind of like sticking them together with glue and hoping it doesn't fall apart yeah no i think that that makes sense yeah yeah we've been we've been working on on just trying to be more intentional with our with our song structures and things like that yeah and i feel like i can throw something on a partially completed kind of like demo if you want to say that so if everyone has it's like charlie has an idea or sam has an idea and then either we'll fill in the space and then usually i think nish can pretty quickly put lyrics together or already has things together and kind of just like goes through like different lyric ideas he has and then usually um luke will just come in with some sort of rhythm some sort of pattern and then it's really easy for me to kind of like find the space that isn't being used and kind of fill that with the bass but also keep things like structurally foundationally you know intact that's one of the things that i really appreciate about you as a bass player is that uh you have a really good knack for uh doing things not over playing but still doing really interesting things that like can add a little bit of counter melody here and there as well as still know when to kind of drop more into the background and just kind of like lay down you know the the foundation thank you and yeah i think it's uh oh god no i i was just gonna prompt you oh i was just gonna say i think it's really cool that like you know like i agree with sam that we're a riff band but i think that a lot of people like i think when the ep dropped we're surprised that that includes our bassist as well you know i mean like i think like if you think like i get it you're scared like that's like a bass riff song even though sam and charlie also have some like really cool fucking moments on that song like i remember when we wrote that song i was like this bass line's like disgusting like this is gonna like this is like i was like i was like this is untouchable like this is so good um but yeah i think like everyone just brings some really cool stuff to the board and what i've loved like we're we've basically written ep2 and now we're starting to think about what an lp looks like like we're in the process of recording ep2 and i think what's been interesting in these last two years is that like we've also learned each other you know in like what the capabilities of what we all have so like you know and now sometimes like we'll be writing a song and like sam will be like yo hey luke like you know like like maybe play this kind of feel instead to go on the riff instead of like what you're doing right now right and never in a way that like we feel like we're i don't think like treading on each other's toes being like i know your instrument or your instinct better than you but like we all i think when we bring parts we feel passionate about them too and so we can help guide each other into like finding the the emotive and musical center of like what that moment in time or what that measure riff whatever is about and it's been cool to come to a more collective like pruning versus before being like oh my god we're just a new band like if we weren't a song god bless you've done it you know and i feel like you can definitely i feel like you will definitely see that on ep2 compared to even fate lines which i think is a you know biasly a pretty strong first release from a bunch of folks who've really gotten to know each other no i i would have to agree for sure it's definitely like that's one of the things that i really like about it is that it is very coherent as a project but also touches on uh kind of some different ideas and stays fresh throughout the entire length of it um one of the things that i'm curious about because you did have such a long gap between the first three singles which came out late 2023 and then early 2024 before the actual ep came out in december so a lot of that were you guys recording different songs and kind of trying to figure out what the track list of the ep was going to be or was it just kind of getting everything produced and ready that took that long like was there a reason that you sat on it for so much longer than like most people probably would um i think one thing is that like and i'll take the onus on this is that like we just like really overbooked ourselves last year like we played a fuck ton of shows last year and like you know like that just takes a lot of time because we are five adults who you know have like involved personal lives who have like you know what work we're doing and school we're doing too and so like they're like we only practice like once a week if that sometimes and then like we have to get studio time outside of it and also like luke who is the one doing most of the work like also it's just like one human taking on the burden of getting five you know five different tracks and layers and all these into the room right um and it's also like um you know like like you know like last year um you know like had their dog pass away then got a new dog it was doesn't gauge just planning a wedding currently you know so like our it was mainly like hey like you know you take the time you need and like when it's ready it's ready and we'll put it out you know like we definitely wanted to get it out sooner than later didn't want too long of a gap but uh we've we literally just had to talk about how like all of us collectively like i think we are going to choose to possibly outsource some of the mixing and mastering for ep2 one because we have heard some people we like and we trust them and two we because we played a whole ton of shows we have some money now to actually do that there you go yeah and so i think you i i think we can safely say you'll see a faster progression at least of like the next batch of songs come out from us for sure like i don't think it's going to be like two years before you see ep2 like fingers crossed we won't say any dates but like if we can get it out by end of year that'd be great but some there's some stuff we've some coals in the pipeline we're cooking for sure um and then but i do think we're going to take some concerted time for lp1 to make sure that like we're not just throwing out stuff throwing out but uh yeah yeah for sure yeah but we definitely like wanted these out asap yeah i will say that along that line though you mentioned like playing a lot of gigs last year and things like that i think especially when you're new though that is just as important if not more important than actually releasing music is getting well known within your scene and being able to start being able to to book more and more shows and you know start playing some bigger rooms and things like that for sure definitely yeah i mean we have some cooperation and we're going to do that for sure like we open for weedus we open for trophy eyes like some crazy stuff for you know yeah a band so young um and we're extremely grateful for it and i think that like i think i think a lot of it too is like we put destiny bond out we got one track out we have the demos out at least like let's you know rant like we are like a band that likes to have fun live for sure and i mean you know i think that anyone who sees us can hopefully agree that like we don't like we it doesn't matter if we're only playing to the other bands on the bill or playing to a massive room like we're gonna we're gonna sweat and go absolutely bonkers on that stage for whoever's there and to give nish a bit of a break we we had you know best laid plans we intended to do more like one show a month but then some of these insane opportunities pop up and you're not gonna be like no we said one show a month we're not gonna take on you know like obviously we're gonna be okay let's let's make that work so but it it was it was a lot of fun like you said we got to play with a bunch of like folks from chicago and like really get ingrained in our community and the scene a bunch of like touring bands that we've made wonderful connections with so it really did help it was fantastic especially just with us being five humans we can't we just don't have enough time to devote to practicing and playing shows and recording oh for sure yeah things just get so busy um i'm also curious is that where the live album came from as well was the fact that you guys were like i feel like we need to like put some more stuff out and we've been playing a bunch of shows so like here's an opportunity that we can get a recording of our show let's do that and kind of like put that out as a way to uh satiate people who may be waiting for more i don't know if that was the impetus for that but i think after thinking after having the recordings the live recordings i think after some talk we're like this wouldn't be the worst thing to release and it could be like a little uh a fun way to show people kind of the live-esque like part that we want to offer for people that come see us um so it's like an opportunity to kind of transcend you know like borders physical borders and you know borders to like get a sense of what a show might feel like gotcha so was that like that's just somebody else's idea like that was playing the show to get it recorded and so you guys just happened to have it recorded anyway and then uh decided to put it out it was it was in the email that they sent to us ahead of time that they were like for 30 bucks i think it was 30 bucks right 30 25 30 oh that's so cheap holy cow like this this sound guy was like doing it for us and so i mean they were mic'ing all our amps like getting all the inputs and that room just sound like has a great sound system to begin with and we always kind of talk amongst us like we just happened to play a really great show too like like yeah this starts kind of online we didn't totally bomb or anything so they were the sound quality was great it was cheap enough we had them and and luke put like the really like beautiful touches on it and scum dropped got to work on some of them as well uh fixing some of like i just remember in that show i had my pedal plugged in wrong and so like the chorus and reverb wasn't coming through my amp and they made it sound pretty and so it was fantastic that they got it you know in post i guess but um yeah we just saw it at opportunity and it was there so we figured why not no i think that that makes a lot of sense for sure another thing that i'm kind of curious about i was thinking about this as i was listening to the ep earlier but um is there any sort of like background um information on the uh i i believe you guys have referred to it just as the creature that's on the it's just on the uh the cover art for the ep is there like a story behind that or like you find like a specific artist that you just really wanted to work with and kind of let them do their thing or what was kind of the the story behind that yeah so that was that was really funny i was like i was at the library one day as i as i as i normally am i was doing what i normally do and i was doing what i do on weekends and looking up uh looking through books on the occult and like um nice uh witchcraft and uh evil things and um basically i found this book that was i think it was uh by some guy named anton levay and um what i did was i was looking through it and it was like if you place this or anything like that you're basically making like a pact with the devil to um to basically give you success for the rest of your life but then like it's like a classic like sell your soul to the devil type of thing sure so yeah that was that that sigil was the creature actually really okay oh that's not true at all i can't we just let sam do that um the artist is an artist uh named mackenzie uh her account is ghost flesh art uh i had seen some of her work on twitter and i just thought she was really incredible and um i asked for rates and she like undersells herself incredibly she's very talented and doesn't charge too much um and uh we were talking as a band like what do we want on it and we've got a lot of pokemon themed songs too and so we were like oh like do something like would that could be like a legendary or mystical creature and thinking about like you know like something that feels like destined or like you know like you know like or like fate or something like that um and and then she just kind of ran with it and she gave us some mock-ups and we were like that this creature thing looks cool it's like it's based off a borzoi dog but uh yeah it was just just uh it just feels like pretty ingrained to like what felines feels like like she like when she had described it um like when we released the ep we had like a little police party on discord and she got to like just speak about a little bit and she was uh and in the background she gave she was like i wanted it to feel something like if you're like a couple walking through the woods and you saw this thing to like have both like on anxiety of it and like okay she wanted it to be if she wanted it supposed to be something that was like both like approachable but also make it a little like dangerous like you know like i feel like it's it's looking at you like as if like it's like you have something upon it you know in in a space where maybe you shouldn't be but even though you were walking on this path and like maybe that's kind of what it feels like to to be privy to like some of the personal moments on this ep i guess like you know here you're like literally watching like most of my relationship unfold lyrically yeah in this ep from beginning to end yeah and i think that's kind of like a little bit of a to end at least where we are now um and it's a very like personal and normal thing but we wanted to really we wanted people to feel what it was like to go through all the emotions of like loving someone um yeah front to back and so that is largely what this ep is about um what is your process like when you are writing lyrics and things like that is it like you kind of get like a vibe of what the rest of the band is doing musically and then you kind of choose to like look at an aspect of your relationship or uh you know whatever else you may be writing about and kind of like figure it out that way or do you have things like pre-written that you kind of just try to make work like what does that look like um i like write a lot and like i've always said like i write in seasons um like so i'm like a poet by trade like i've i've spent like you know three years getting a master's degree in poetry so i i write poetry a lot but i do think that poetry and lyricism are two different aspects because with poetry you have to let the language find the music itself and i think with lyrics you can let the music it's add some emotional affect but i also write like long form essays and reviews and stuff like that too so like sometimes i'll take fragments of poems and throw them in but i try my best to like uh think about like what the chords that like or the riffs that you know charlie sam or even luke or scum drop or whatever they're bringing like what does it feel like does this feel like a happy song a sad song something like that you know like i think of like when um like i think of when scum drop brought that bass line in for i get it you're scared you know it's like a groovy you know it's a groovy motherfucker and like oh yeah i wanted the song to you know like be like it makes you like it just makes me feel hopeful it makes me feel like if i hurt if i hear that i want to move my body right and i don't think that song would have done well if it was a song about like being like you know like if it was foreboding or if it was something that was like about deep sadness you know like there is like still like tension in the song right about like you know you're here's a person that's been hurt you know a lot and trying to be loved i think that's a place we've all been at some point in time um and hopefully can recover from right so i think like if just the bass line just felt comforting so i wanted that song to be like i wanted to write about comfort in that one whereas like i don't know like um like tm36 there's like so much tension you know like sam like even hits all like what you know it's just like hitting some like really hard strumming you know finger picking strumming at the end um you know charlie is just like stealing from fall of and like you know it just and uh yeah there's parts of that i mean like we're like that song gets pretty fucking heavy and like that one felt like uh you know it felt like uh i'm fucking up kind of song and so i try my best to like write the stories to tailor to like the story the music's telling first you know i think like the the lyrics and melodies usually come last i don't usually come with the band with like i have this melodic idea um i sometimes like humming something to myself and if it fits on top of what they got you know that works but i usually try to find the melody with them in the room so i you know i don't ever want like the melody to feel like it's trying to be its own thing i want it to blend with the instruments as much as possible but um yeah i think for the lyrics like i it's half and half like i'm sometimes like we're playing some stuff in the room i'm like oh i got an idea and i'll just start writing it sometimes i'll have some fragments or some thoughts i've been thinking about you know i mean the main themes you're going to see a lot i think going forward no matter what in tenor work which i think is pretty universal to a lot of people is like you're going to see love you're going to see heartbreak you're going to see friendship perseverance and you're also going to see a pretty like unflinching lens on the world at large you know like we have songs that are just like directly political i mean because we you you cannot escape the fact that you live in a these like you know um identities uh you know like we have folks in this band who are people of color who are native indigenous uh you know different different gender identities different like neuro identities um uh and so like we are just not going to shy away from that and like i know this genre you know loves to you know purport that there's just one way an emo band looks and one thing they talk about like we're not just uh we're sad we're gonna talk about you know relationship kind of band you know it's gonna be there for sure but it's not all that we're gonna bring to the table in terms of our local content yeah and i i personally really like that you guys aren't afraid to shy away from from these topics and that you are very outspoken both like at your shows and online and in various things about um you know really trying to support people uh who may not be as well off as you or uh you know kind of adjusting the way you're treating people and you know kind of adjusting the way you're treating people adjusting the way you're treating people and you know kind of adjusting the way you're treating your perspective to kind of see where other people are coming from uh yeah especially like you know uh what is it broken fist in a boxing glove which still does not have an official studio release as of this point but is uh one of my favorite songs of yours uh when i saw you guys play it live and also uh on the live album yeah that one feels special for sure um like that was the first song that we all made together yeah really wasn't already produced predestined um before people joined yeah there were a group there was a group of songs that they had written before me or scum drop joined the band and so but yeah i also i also want to throw out that uh that nish is also uh we have one song that may come out later this year that i was able to say hey like nish let's like write a song about this like i'm like angry about this and i know you are too and like um i appreciate it and i'm like i appreciate it and i'm like i appreciate nish being willing to like run with me on that and like i had kind of an idea i had written the whole guitar part myself but i had i needed i definitely needed somebody to like put all of those things in into words and nish was in a much better place to do that than i was so i want to say i'm thankful for how how nish has been willing to like listen to other ideas i think in the future i'm sure we might even do do more more collaborative lyrics here and there but nish is that i mean like a very very quality songwriter and i think like a lot of the a lot of the reason people like our band is because we have good lyrics that are well crafted and also like substantive and kind of um a little bit out of the mold as far as it's not um uh just like i'm so sad my girlfriend left me music yeah which is like great stuff and like that's what like i feel like 90 of rock music is about yeah there's nothing wrong with that but it's always it's always fun to explore some different things as well oh for sure for sure on that note too like i want to say that in reverse the same thing as well like i like you know like when i'm writing lyrics and and have these ideas like there is like like there was music playing in my head like i like what would i imagine what these songs might sound like but i just cannot make them and i feel really grateful to be in a band where like underneath the story that like i've written are four other people also expressing something and i feel like that's what makes this band really special is that like when you hear one of us play something or a heater part that sticks out to you like it's there intentionally um you know they're like i feel like we've done a really good job of just you know cutting out fluff especially in these newer songs we're writing about like you know we're playing this part because it feels right not just like to the song but like to what we feel in that moment what adds to the the overall capital s story of the song and um i'm you know uh it it takes it takes some special people to like get five very you know like human individual human perspectives into a room and create music and any band that's doing that i think is like really cool it's cool that bands exist at all um and i'm also looking forward to like you know like when sam tapped me and said like hey like this you know like the the death of people in palestine the death of people to anyone under the imperial hand is like fucking awful like i you know i would like to write something about this it was go time you know like we you know you have to we have to do that for each other as well right um like there's moments where like you know in our songs when you play live like i'm not singing anything and i get to just like turn to one of them when they're doing their shit i'm just like i like i get emotional watching them do their stuff it's really cool that we can do that for each other really feeding off of each other's energy the way that you talk about it it feels very like symbiotic in a way like everybody's really contributing to the greater aspect as opposed to some other bands where it's like one person mainly does a lot of the creative stuff and everybody else just kind of plays or whatever really feels like you guys have a connection where you're each really putting your own stamp on it for sure yeah um i also just wanted to say that like i appreciate that like even the folks in our own band like see that like we're not writing a lot of the similar stuff and like you know i'm not gonna say it as like a chip on the shoulder by any means but like i recognize that like we are doing something a little but you know against the status quo of the genre and i know sometimes that's not going to be what's like popular and not that people are like oh why are you writing these happier songs why writing not about this topic but i think like you know it's easier to make a song about you know uh woe is me i'm like you know i had too many beers and you know now everyone doesn't like me because i was belligerent you know like and like and that's like not a shot at anyone i mean like that is a problem and like we you know that's like something real to write about but i hope that like as people also move through those challenging times they can find other bands like us too that are like writing about beautiful moments as well right there's like there's like a lot of beauty in this dark life we live in and i hope that like people have a moment to say oh you know what today this 10 month summer song actually means something to me because i'm feeling joy and i'm feeling love for someone you know versus like i totally understand avoiding us because you're like i'm in a place where i need to punch the wall because life is crumbling at the bits like you know we get it but um i do think that like we i don't know i just don't think we're going to write a song like that for the sake of writing a song like that if that means anything gotcha you know so you're you're feeling like you might write a song that could be like that if you get to the point where you know that feels natural but it's not something that you're going to try and force or anything like that yeah gotcha for sure um so before we move on to the next part of the episode here is there anything else that you guys specifically want to mention about the band about fate line about anything upcoming that uh that you may want to announce or talk about uh before we move on i was just gonna ask super fast are y'all able to hear me still if what are y'all able to hear me still yeah you sound kind of filtered and thin for whatever reason yeah it's uh my my airpods died so i think it's oh gotcha i'm i'm on my my computer computer mic right now so i would say that the decibel range got a lot lower yeah yeah i was gonna say you're just a lot quieter okay no worries as long as it won't won't uh fuck up the recording i just want to make sure it looks like i've still gotcha uh on the recording so we we should be good it doesn't it doesn't sound quite as full but you know whatever yeah we'll make it work yeah um though ryan i was gonna say i don't know how much i did miss the beginning but uh our drummer luke is not here and how he's the like driving force behind us being recorded he is like just the magician that he is and i wanted to give a huge shout out to luke um even though he's not here uh in the moment because he is everything you hear that we record has has been done with luke and scum drop so uh promises gumdrop too but um it's i've never had like practices recorded before and that's what he does like he will will go di or he'll mic us up and to be able to listen back and that i think has helped us progress so much too that um just being able to like sometimes when you write a recording everything you did uh so it's it's been absolutely wonderful and and just also he's like an awesome human being and great drummer too but um for the recording aspect too he's just that's a magician some of that stuff well and i think along with that too it also helps to be able to uh you know play through your songs and then be able to listen back when you're not in the zone of playing because uh you know you're able to to listen to what you're doing more objectively so i could definitely see how that would help out with just making the set sound tighter as well i mean it's the same thing as like uh you know a football team reviewing the game tape right it's kind of the same sort of deal where you look back at what you were doing but you're not actively doing it so you can be a bit more um analytical about it and it's awesome also to see like how the songs have progressed as we've gone on like there's been a couple songs that um have just completely morphed that you hear from the earlier recordings to what we decided to do because uh you know we thought let's change it up or one of our songs was literally like telling sam just play it like twice as fast as we were playing it and yeah just a little banger and you hear the original ones you're like wow i can't believe we like point a got us to point b here uh so yeah it is a really cool process to see for sure um do you guys have anything else to to share as far as like anything upcoming anything uh to to like look out for maybe in the uh you know mid not so distant but not so close future or anything like that or uh are we ready to move on to the next part of the episode uh we've got a few things to keep on your radar uh especially if you're in the chicago area we have a couple more shows coming up this year at least in the first half that you're going to want to probably be at uh if you're available um april 6th we're playing with bottom bracket leisure hour keep for cheap and lavender point oh boy and um and mud whale which is just like it's six bands i know people are like oh my god i'm too old for this it's like grow the fuck up uh it's six really good bands um you know what i mean like like when are you going to see six bands like this for like 18 it's kind of nutty you're paying three bucks per band and they're all incredibly talented um shortly after that april 19th we're playing with townies on their tour with antillian garden home and see-through person another just like insane bill of people coming through the city so stacked holy shit yeah we might you just destroy the space-time continuum in april but then we've got another show in may as well it's possible uh we're playing may 26 as well on memorial day because we're like you know what the real holiday is that there's music you know uh not war and um that's going to be with ourselves origami summer guests and suzy lee and um we will hopefully be announcing this the next like two weeks but we'll give a sneak peek now is that bummer summer two is a go green light happening in june it's a festival we put on ourselves to showcase local bands and a couple touring friends who often don't get big stages here in the city um it has been done completely by us our label and kickstand productions you know there's not a ton of money going into this you know this ain't no lollapalooza this ain't none of that stuff um and that's going to feature some really really insane names you know we'll leak a couple right now we'll say uh look out for 95 corolla our besties are finally coming it's happening we're doing it um and uh i'm excited that we got bull matt as one of the headliners because that's been a band that i've been listening to personally for a long long time um and just loved seeing you know psc power in chicago do that band growing up as a brown guy and mainly white room is going to show us growing up so um we're stoked for those and then you know keep your ears peeled and eyes peeled as well about uh perhaps and maybe a tour coming up um at the beginning of august but we'll we'll we won't we won't get everyone's pants too bunched up right now with all the news we'll let them sit on that for now hell yeah anybody else have anything before we move on i don't think so all right cool so now we get to the uh next part of the episode where we're gonna we're gonna share some share some tunes some fresh finds if you will uh some new music that we may or may not uh know but uh so we're gonna start with me we're gonna go around uh whatever order you guys feel like um and we each have chosen two songs at this point so if everybody's ready let's uh get to it so my first song that i'm gonna play is by a band called the band of flycatcher who i only just discovered a couple months ago i think uh when they were promoting this song which was their new song at the time uh on tiktok and uh this song is called brother by flycatcher they are an alt rock band from new jersey and this came out in october of 2024 he learned to work with his hands he just dismantled the engine on my minivan there ain't no such thing as perfect but we all do we can i want to be like my brother this is a good man yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah everybody needs it but no one seems to care about the way things work or making repairs i want it to be that but i'm not sure if i can well if all else fails at least i got him yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah i want to be like him yeah yeah I want to be like my brother He learned to work with his hands I want to be like my brother Cause he's a good man And then, you know, the verse kind of serves as, you know, filling out the details, but they're not always quite as memorable, I feel like. But, like, just the emotion in the voice and such a, like, compelling vocal narrative to just start it out right out the gate is so good. Yeah, that was a. Okay, hear me out. I'm saying this not negatively. Okay. That song, if you put River's Claw on it. River's Claw on the vocals could have been a Weezer song. Like, I really. But I enjoyed that. I mean, you know, I thought that was cool. Like, I liked hearing, like, a modern version of that. Weezer, complimentary, not derogatory. Yeah, exactly. No, it definitely has that, like, kind of 90s, you know, alt-rock, like, kind of bordering on emo type of sound, for sure. Yeah. It reminds me a lot of, like, a lot of. Alternative stuff that was coming out in, like, the early aughts, like, almost bordering on, like, a happier version of Nickelback at that time. Instrumentally, you're kind of right there. I get that for sure. But it was really, you know, earworm-y. And also, I think the message of the lyrics is tying into kind of, like, a different way for, like, people who identify as male to kind of interact and, like, appreciate. That's kind of not recognized in, like, a lot of spaces within the music scene in general. When it comes to writing, it's usually a lot of. Not usually. It can sometimes feel like it is mostly perpetuating negative traits, like, patriarchal type shit. But this was, like, a kind of. It was refreshing to have a good representation of that idea in the lyrics. No, I 100% agree with that. I like that interpretation of the lyrics as well. Yeah, cool song, definitely, in that, like, 90s alt-rock kind of vein of, like, bands. It reminded me of Toadies a lot. Oh, I can see that. Yeah, I got, like, some Toadies vibes. Yeah, like, that kind of, like, grunge-adjacent and, like, definitely grunge-influenced. But, like, it's also definitely not grunge either. Yeah, it's kind of, like, apocalyptic. It's, like, a copier version of kind of that grunge sound, I think. Which, yeah, I love it. I think it's. I've kind of been on this, like, 90s alt-rock grunge kick lately. And so it really kind of, like, scratched that itch a lot. And also just, again, like, it's so catchy, too, which I absolutely love. Yeah, it's got that quiet, loud going back and forth and everything. Yeah. And also, maybe even a lost art emo, but, like, a guitar solo? Uh, like. Yeah! Something that, uh. I mean, I'm going to come back to it later with one of the songs I picked out. But, like, I feel like you don't get that all the time. Like, you get some shred-tastic people and, like, insane tapping and everything. But maybe not the dedicated, It is time for a guitar solo, which was pretty cool to hear. Also, shout out to a real, like, post-chorus. Because you don't get those a whole lot anymore either. Just the. I mean, it's just. Yeah! Yeah! Yeah, but it's so catchy. can't go wrong with that right that's almost kind of why like the the verses are those like more instrumental parts there is because i mean the chorus is is a basic yeah uh getting repeated at least but the part that was sticking out like that's what you would hum but then you realize what meant more to you as you were going along you're like oh or the actual lyrics themselves during the first part yeah exactly so who has uh who wants to go next who wants to uh share their song i can share all righty let's get it let's go all right this um so this song is by a band called antillian and i got to see them last night oh hell yeah at the dolphin lounge they released an ep in june of 2024 i'm gonna play the song bear traps i really i really like this yeah let's go antillian forever chicago forever you you at the bottom of the hill and a quicksand bed that's pulling me in nobody plans to get caught up and fall in the sinkhole you play the game and you never win except in the bear trap with all my friends burned up and wrung out can't bear to find out how it ends ripped through the teeth man stepped in the bear trap with all my friends burned up and wrung out can't bear to find out how it ends you really rock it to the bottom and you're not looking selling the day away with the best of them shaking your hand for yourself up real tight and pitch it all towards the light only to find out on arrival there's nowhere to land stepped in the bear trap with all my friends burned up and wrung out can't bear to find out how it ends ripped through the teeth man run burned up and wrung out burned up and wrung out can't bear to find out how it ends ripped through the teeth man run can't bear to find out how it ends ripped through the teeth man burned up and wrung out can't bear to find out how it ends ripped through the teeth man ripped through the teeth man ripped through the teeth man Me and my boys exchanging glances Thinking that we like our chances Busting out the nearest window And taking the dive Stepped in the bear trap With all my friends Burned up and wrung out Can't bear to find out how it ends Ripped through the teeth, man Stepped in the bear trap With all my friends Burned up and wrung out Can't bear to find out how it ends Ripped through the teeth, I run Man, talk about like a well-arranged show. Man, talk about like a well-arranged song, man. Holy shit. Oh, and Tillian. They are such a cool band. It was absolutely bonkers. I need to see them so bad. They are absolutely a madman having so much fun. The entire band is having so much fun. They absolutely live life. Yeah, they're awesome. I remember, in fact, at the show where we recorded Live at G-Man after the set. Fun fact about Live at G-Man, we were the opening band of that. It was us and then Star Funeral and then Bottom Bracket. So we had no business perhaps putting on a live album for not a headlining show, but whatever, we did it. After the set, Mike from Antillian came up to us and was just like, yo, I've been seeing you on social media. I just listened to Destiny Bomb. I fuck with y'all heavy. I just want to say that was an amazing live set. I'm in a band right now, too. I would love to just be connected with you in the scene because I feel very much like, what y'all are doing is really about keeping Chicago on the come up. They've been doing the exact same work. They're wonderful human beings. Nose to the grindstone. All talented human beings. We've enjoyed every show we've played with them so far and excited to play with them in a month. They're so incredible. If you haven't listened to Aftertaste CP by Antillian, you need to spin it some more. They deserve all the listeners. They're so good. That came out in the summer, I think, right? Yeah. I was going to throw out. That's just that I was kind of like, I did mostly heard, I've seen them live more than I've listened to their recorded stuff. It was a really, really fun song, even just production-wise. There's a good variation of guitar tones that all sound really crisp and great. There's good overdriven stuff, good more spacey modulation, stuff that sounds real pretty, too. And then even some cool, there's some cool stereo stuff with Mike's voice that I didn't catch on the first listen that was really neat. But yeah, I was just like, they're pretty firmly a post-hardcore band. But this song in particular, I was like, this sounds kind of like some of the good 2000s radio rock. See, I was going to say that, too, because they clearly, they're kind of a post-hardcore type of band, but they clearly have a lot of influences from a lot of different places. Because I hear some funk in there a little bit. I hear some other heavier stuff, like you said, kind of the mid-aughts radio rock a little bit as well. It's such a cool, unique sound. And I was really disappointed that I had been sleeping on them for so long once I finally actually listened to them for the first time. For sure. I think you hit the nail on the head too, because some of their songs could be off a Dance Gavin Dance album, and then they have a song that just has a samba in the middle of it going on. So they're so unique. It's such a fun, interesting sound. And again, to see it live is awesome, but their recording sound, absolutely fantastic, too. I need to catch them live sometime. I really hope that they end up coming through Michigan or that I find myself in Chicago at a time that they're playing. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Worth the trip. Yeah, that's true. That's true. It's not that far away. I hear a lot of Infinity on High on this track. I hear, like, 2000, mid-2000s, like, post-Front of the Cork Tree Fall, boy, I hear Infinity on High maybe a little. The wrists of Filet-O-Doo on this track, but I can. Bear Trap, like, has some of that, like, Joe Tromany strumming. And, like, if you had put P-Stone's vocals on that, I think that would have. I could have snuck in there as, like, a B-side on Infinity on High for sure. Well, and I think. I think they even mention in one of their bios. Yeah, what does it say on Twitter? If Hail the Sun and Fall Out Boy had a sweet little baby. Yeah. That's correct. Which, I mean, just makes so much sense. I think that the first time I actually listened to any of their music was when they were on Five at the Door. I finally, like. I think I was, like, driving home after, like, Christmas or something like that, and I was just, like, listening to some podcasts, and I was like, oh, I've been meaning to check this band out. This would be cool. And I was just, like, blown away. I'm like, hold on. I have to listen to this whole project right now. Yeah, they're insane. Hell yeah. Who wants to go next? I can throw one on if y'all are. Sounds like a plan. If y'all are down for it. Let's do it. Let's get it. Let's get it. So, yeah, this is a song called. A song by a band from Denton, Texas. They're called Upsetting, and I saw them for the first time, I think, in, like. I think it was, like, the day before Thanksgiving in 2021, and they were playing with. They were playing with Arms Length. Oh! And it was a small, probably, like, 100-cap venue, like, similar to, like, Sub-T downstairs. If you're in Chicago, it was the day before Thanksgiving, and there were probably, like, 20 people there at most. But, yeah, I saw them back in 2021, and they're kind of a staple band down there in the Denton scene. know denton that's a very it's a very uh artsy artsy town in texas and there's a lot of good music coming out of there just all the time gotcha and that's where i went to went to shows and that's where i went to shows in college because my college town wasn't really big enough to have much of a scene we had like one band that was local that played emo stuff but yeah settings They're kind of a staple band in the Denton emo scene, a little grungy, a little bit of emo influence. But this is the first song, I think, in a really long time that really made me feel something. And I will have a little more to talk about with that. But it really, the first time I heard it, it gave me the huge emotional response that I haven't really gotten from a song in a long time. So throw it on. It's called Reaching for the Stars, parentheses, without a clue. I put a little plastic man inside the microwave and washed as he gave in to the heat and start to cave until all that did remain was a pool of smoke and wax. Then I went to clean it up. It took 15 minutes tops. And I went to clean it up. You're taking these plants and basically severing them and using their bodies for some sort of emotional outlet, which is kind of an interesting perspective to think about. That's kind of what that verse pushed out for me, at least. Yeah, I mean, I think the death is like a really big theme in it. And I think the first the first verse or whatever he talks about the putting the little like, I guess, like an army man or an action figure inside of the microwave and like turning it on and watching it melt. And to me, that's almost like how in life you kind of like your old self dies. And like, I think the song is just about like all those. Little deaths that you go through in life. Like, I think that's kind of the central theme of it. That's what that's what I got from it. I like all of these interpretations a lot. I also personally really want to also bring up the the instrumental. I really love the use of the banjo there. I think that there's something that's like there's kind of like a haunting aspect to it that that it adds. And I also just love to see nonstandard instrumentation within rock. Music. I just think that it's so cool to pull in elements from, you know, whether it's country or, you know, any other genre and being able to, you know, kind of add these things that you wouldn't normally hear. I have the exact same thought there was like I was like, it took me back. It took me aback when I first heard it. But then realizing that it's such an it's so interesting and catches you because you're not expecting something like a banjo in this music space. Also, just hearing everyone else's interpretation. Makes me realize like how differently I listen to music the first time I listen to something like I the lyrics when it got into the spoken word I was picking more up on. But in the earlier verses, it was more of the like atmospheric like guitar work and everything that I was initially being pulled to that I I think I actually missed some of the lyrics at the first time. But like it makes me want to go back, maybe dig a little deeper and listen more because I'd like the banjo was blowing my attention or just like the really spacey. And then like when it got to be that heavier driving force. And then when it got to the high notes, it was just like, oh, yeah, that's what really drew me and then a punch in the gut when you get to more of the spoken word. Yeah, that's why I really like this format for doing the show, trying to play, trying to not tell anybody like what your picks are beforehand, because I really love to see how different people listen to music on their first listen through and what they pick up. Because everybody finds different little details and different little things that stand out. And for me, it's like, oh, yeah, that's what really drew me. And then a punch in the gut when you get to more of the spoken word. And I find that really interesting to see what that is for each person. Yeah, I in the opposite from Charlie, I was just like listening to those words and like trying to literally not cry. I was just like, what the fuck? Like this song, I'm like, I'm still processing it. Honestly, like that was like a real existential like uppercut just to think about. Like it's something that like not beautiful. I can't wait to talk about this whole record. We're doing therapy on the podcast here. Yeah, truly like, holy moly. That's sick. All right. So who has the next song? Charlie, Nish? I can I can I got one pulled up right here. And I know that we've. Yeah. Oh, all right. Cool. No, no, go for it. I have it in the chamber. You take it away. All right. Well, this is I mean, the songs I've been drawn to recently have been some of our friends bands. So these might not be the exact. Freshest for us, but hopefully fresh for folks listening, because if you haven't checked out my picks, you need to more so. But this is from one of our good best friends, 95 Corolla. I got. Oh, hell yeah. Let's go. All right. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. as well like they're those like really fun like uh like major major interval harmonies that the guitars are playing i don't know if it's they did major third fifth whatever doesn't matter it sounds sounds great um yeah they do those harmonies really fun really fun uh fun guitar solo that lick that starts it out is really really cool sounds very neat but yeah i'm a huge fan of all the harmonies and the like there there need to be more bands that are doing guitar harmonies like yes because they're they're they're pretty sick like stuff like um because like bring back yeah like stuff like boston did um are you that's like the big are you by chance familiar with either ghost town remedy or the dreaded laramie who are also both from nashville i know i know of the dreaded laramie a little bit but yeah yeah so both of them do a lot of the like guitar harmony like like just fun like type of stuff like that so if you're looking for more stuff that has kind of that type of vibe definitely check both of them out for sure for sure yeah because i think of as far as newer bands that do that um it's it's yeah it's like roswell kid is the first one that comes to mind and then our friends in pretty pleased is a band from chicago um i used to play in a band with the the guy josh it's his project he's a great musician but yeah they they're very like roswell kid influenced so they uh they do a lot of that guitar harmony stuff and then like uh band i found out because of mario from bottom bracket a sheer mag um and they they're basically like 80s 80s worship yeah band like through and through yeah i going going off of sam's like um musical and like interpretation of it it also reminded me a lot of like like popper roach-esque three doors down-esque like um music style oh sure like the the lyrics are definitely not what i would think those two aforementioned bands would go for but like i think that they they give themselves that little niche in the sound that makes them really pop and um have like that earwormy like catchy type of either like guitar solo or um like a chorus line it's just all there and it's really good i i think to me the biggest through line with all of that is that all of those bands sound like they're having fun like you you listen to it and you're like i'm just ready for a good time like let's crack a couple beers let's get into it you know they did it like uh for lack of a better term like a butt rock was it compilation or were they on it like they covered like a chevelle song i want to say yeah i put that whole thing together actually yeah and they they covered chevelle i think i did seether there was also a three uh yes three doors down or three three days grace i always get those two confused yeah i think it was three days grace uh that whole that whole thing was so much fun i'm hoping to do another one this year but i've been taking on a lot of other things and so i'm trying to throw it out there i mean if you're gonna do that kind of music again uh i i don't know on everyone else but i like that well let's let's fucking do it hell yeah all right so nish you've got the last one for this first go around what are we listening to all right we've got nightwalk ultra by kerosene heights i think this is just a perfect song one of the greatest bands right now this era doing it song has a disgusting hold on me i think about how you're looking now i feel disgusted and push it out crooked smile forever till we smile together i think about how you're looking now remember when we were i don't know what to say i feel the black when i look around cause i don't know what he's looking down it's a lot and it's everything i still have so much to figure out it's hard to be in the moment i think about how you're looking now i feel disgusted and push it out crooked smile forever till we smile together i think about how you're looking now it's a lot and it's everything i still have so much to figure out i think about how you're looking now i feel disgusted and push it out crooked smile forever till we smile together i think about how you're looking now remember when we were ready now crooked smile forever till we smile together i think about how you're looking now again i hear you bear it down crooked smile forever till we smile together i think about how you're looking now we got stoned together for the first time ever remember when we were ready now crooked smile forever till we smile together i think about how you're looking now remember when we were ready now Like, that's a real thing. roll the windows down and scream it out uh sort of thing but you know maybe you don't want to do that but yeah they are such a fun band i am kind of disappointed that i have not seen them live yet but i'm sure i will get my opportunity soon enough uh my next song that i'm gonna play we've mentioned them a lot on recent episodes of the podcast and i felt like it was weird that i had uh never featured a song by them before so this is the newest song by the callous dow boys and uh i love the direction that they've been going lately with all of their stuff because they're kind of like you know a math core type of like you know metal alternative rock type of band but they've been doing so much cool experimental stuff writing kind of like poppy hooky type of songs recently that has just been another level it's so much fun so uh this is the newest song by the callous dow boys and i love the direction that they've been going lately their most recent release which is called lemon yes sir i'll squeeze the fluid of all love out of a lemon we paid too much for in some city we don't belong in but neither of us are fun and i hate all your la friends i got a set of halves from their conversations and if they keep talking about my car like that i think then i'll just i can't recall your heartbeat ever speeding up for you the taste is so much better than the pump now if i was in the ocean with an open wound i wouldn't pray against jordan's fatal behavior soon i just seem to lose the thought of pouring open groves into my visceral and in low tide i know you'll be tempted to pull my body out and lose me as in a temple but i'm one with the earth and a pagan god in my temple in my temple i can't recall your heartbeat ever speeding up for you the taste is so much better than the pump i should have been banking all those breaths you took instead my love should have been just filled with age and classic coke the mother saw me waiting tables and she asked if i was doing that band thing still i always finish what i start but i guess it's been almost a decade of this i know i never speak to you that way but i guess it's been almost a decade so i hope i never speak to you again i can't recall your heartbeat ever speeding up for you the taste is so much better than the pump i should have been banking all those breaths you took instead my love should have been banking all those breaths you took instead my love What a crazy night. Yeah, for real. All right. So if we don't have anything else, I think Scumdrop has the next tune. All righty. So this one is another local Chicago band. They just released this album in January this year. It's a band called Heat Death, and their album is called Bad Reading. And the song is called G&T. Yeah, I'll just play it. All right. All right. All right. All right. I'll take my torch Destroy with pitchforks I'll make you suffer I'll make you cry I'll breathe their hearts out With their heads Get my guilty Get my guilty Get my guilty job You're a skin mask of the company A t-shell of who you used to be Do you have this? Do you have this? A t-shell of who you used to be A family You're a skin mask of the company A t-shell of who you used to be You need lessons on your head Love with their heads Love with their heads Get my guilty Get my guilty Get my guilty job I'll take my torch I'll take my torch Destroy with pitchforks I'll make you suffer I'll make you cry Love with their heads Love with their heads Get my guilty Get my guilty Get my guilty job Make it make sense It don't make sense Make it make sense It doesn't make sense Make it make sense It doesn't make sense Make it make sense It doesn't make sense Make it make sense It doesn't make sense Make it make sense It doesn't make sense Make it make sense It doesn't make sense Make it make sense It doesn't make sense that is so sick i love how garagey that is yeah get my guillotine yeah yeah they're fun they have such a cool like like i said like really garagey sound i saw i was doing a little bit of uh research while we were listening there and it's only a duo is that correct yeah just drum and guitar and vocals okay so do they um go ahead i'm just saying that sounds massive for a duo right there that's yeah yeah i'm almost wondering if they do like a split processing thing on the guitar because like the guitar sounds so thick like it reminds me of uh there's a local band from uh from detroit they kind of does the same thing uh they're called checker and they are also just a duo and the guitarist i believe plays their guitar through a regular guitar amp but also like uh parallel processes it drops it down an octave and plays it through a bass amp as well so it sounds really like dirty and thick and sludgy i'm wondering if they do something similar maybe i've yet to see them live so i haven't been able to like stare at their pedal board do you know how long they've been uh active i know they have another album i think that when it's 2021 so they've been around a while from they've definitely been playing live since i've been here okay and probably long before i finally found out about them through uh i think it was passed down magazine um they were featured in the august 2024 um they were featured in the august 2024 um they were featured in the august 2024 copy and i was just like oh cool another local band to check out they blew me away i'm not familiar with passed down magazine is that like a like independent publication yeah they're they're smaller i'm pretty sure um yeah they're indie mag i want to say they're based out of uh it's illinois or like lower illinois i think they're hold on before i just start saying shit we do support fact checking on the fresh finds podcast mainly because they sponsor a lot of shows and at the canopy club which is a venue that me and luke used to play their old band down there so i want to say they're headquartered in i think it's like some students that have started it and now and once they graduate they plan to bring it uh to the city so but i mean they're doing a great job like we were in one of their issues like they're they're sick nice folks that that's really cool i love seeing like cool independent publications like that just spreading the good word especially about cool bands like they're like this because they fucking rip yeah yeah so yeah i it's interesting i'm only seeing at least on title anyway i'm only seeing their most recent project so i'm wondering if they because it is on band camp their previous stuff so i wonder if they like specifically took it down or uh title does a weird thing sometimes where bands catalogs get split across multiple artist pages for whatever reason so that might be what's going on too i'm not sure maybe i know at least last i checked their uh heat death hooray is also on spotify so there should be some more stuff on other platforms at least i know band camp has like the the uvra what they've got oh no they they do have the previous one it's the glitch that i was telling you about that's uh apparently that's what that is but definitely something that i'm gonna check out more of because that was just so fun it reminded me of do you remember the intro sequence to i think it's the first rock band game where it's uh they're like surfing on top of like a tour bus or something like that yeah and i and i think it's uh of oh what what is it it's a what's the song that's playing but yeah it gave me that vibe yeah honestly that's a good good way to like describe it is that that title scene i can't even remember the song but you could put heat death over that scene and it would probably give me the same effect exactly i'm gonna remember what that song is like as soon as we stop recording that's how it goes that whole album is absolutely flawless i think all right sam do you have your next uh song chosen yes i do i believe i have it um i'm just gonna double check that link correctly but i've got it yeah i've got it all right all right this is from uh yeah this is from a band called futboline which is from they're from italy and they're probably my favorite band right now they're great and they they do some they do some weird stuff also futboline means uh foosball in spanish so oh interesting in fact language wise We'll be right back. We'll be right back. God's power in my head in my head in my head in my head in my head in my head in my head in my head Alright! Hell yeah! Wow! I love how you do it. Did not know what to expect after that intro. Holy shit. That track I feel like is just a great first track like introduction to their music. I feel like if you like that, you'll like the rest of their discography and if you don't you won't and that's totally cool. Yeah. But they're super fun. They do the screamo kind of stuff but also like mixed with some like low-fi electronic type of stuff as well. I just think they're like one of the more creative bands out there and they've got some killer killer guitar, killer vocals. I really love that kind of like spanky slightly overdriven guitar tone that they have. It's like I have yet to find a way to get at least through my personal playing that has like that kind of like over slightly overdriven sound but it's also kind of like chimey and clean too. Like that is goals for like good tone. I love it. It's tough. It's like I guess they must just be like have compressed the hell out of it but I mean it's still like even with compre- it's like hard to when you do that much compression it's kind of hard to keep it sound like full too so. Yeah it sounds like it might be like neck and middle like strat or something like that. Yeah. Yeah. That like lead too in the middle there that they were like that was that was catchy as hell. Where are they from? They are from and I looked it up just a few minutes ago to confirm it but I believe they're from Verona Italy. Oh alright cool. So they are they have some songs that are like in English but I don't know that all their stuff is in English. I mean they're like they do like pretty much scream to vocals almost all the time so it's like kind of hard to tell. Yeah. But um yeah they're an Italian band and uh yeah Verona I'm looking it up it's like it's like a 250,000 person city. It's a pretty relatively small city I think for Europe but. Do you know if they're still active because I don't see anything post 2018 at least on. They so I'll go ahead and plug it they literally just released a little like three song EP like two or three weeks ago. Oh hell yeah. Cause I also I also didn't know if they were still active or not and they put out they put out a little a little three song EP like two three weeks ago that almost adds more electronic stuff but then it's like kind of hardcore influenced. Oh that's cool so so it's almost going in like a like not not quite but almost kind of that like cyber grind but like more of like a hardcore like type of thing. Yeah it's like a weird like inverse of that almost like it's like yeah it's like it's like they I think for at least some of their songs they use like this like toy piano synth thing. Oh interesting. Is that what the intro was? Yeah they're like I'm assuming so that I they're like definitely like worth looking up like a live video of because they do some. It sounds like they would have some insane energy. Yeah they're they're a three piece they don't have a bassist I don't even know if there's any like on that song I don't know that there's I could be totally wrong but I don't know there's no bass line that sticks out to me at least. Yeah. And it's that the guitarist doesn't sing drummer doesn't sing the singer sings and plays whatever weird instrument since synth keys more or less but I kind of love that yeah they're they're super cool yeah but yeah their new their new little their new EP they put out is like super just like fast hardcore influenced and it's it's really really fun I definitely want to check out more of that because that was just such a fun tune to listen to. Yeah they're they're great I their entire discography is really really good and you can probably listen to all of it I think in like under an hour maybe because they have they have like three or four little releases out but like all their songs are like two minutes at most. Yeah so okay so I found it on Bandcamp I didn't find the most recent thing that you were talking about which sounded like it came out like very recently but I did see Moped Experience is a single that they released in 2022 and then they've also got those last two projects as well. Yeah Moped's an EP it's eight minutes long so not very long and then the brand new one is called Cheater's Delight and that one's like five minutes three songs. Okay it's definitely more to check out then for sure I am I'm looking forward to that a lot. Yeah I love them I'm always I want to plug them hard because I don't know that I think they're like a severely severely underrated band. Yeah this is the first I'm hearing about them anyway. Charlie do you have your pick? ready to go? Yes I do all right so I realize I'm just sticking with We're Trying Records folks and another band we're actually going to be playing a show with in what next month so this is Bopaw by Townies which has been on like it was it came the album came out of this time starting last spring and that was on my like on repeat for probably the next like six months plus and it's still probably on there at some point it was like top three for the longest time just because I I love this one but I will just get right to it my friends been attending funerals again over all their lives are looking great all the karma consequence is it a bad thing that I'm not even reacting all your tears soaked through my shirt sleeve couldn't force myself to cry well I'm not ready to die well I'm not ready to die well I'm not ready to die I feel ready to die I feel ready to die sorry that you went and wasted on me all your precious one line I can't write this sequel the storylines gone dry I'm not ready to die I'm not ready to die I'm not ready to die I feel ready to die that I might have a bit of sanity to let you in my life that I might have a bit of sanity to let you in that I might have a bit of sanity to let you in I just love coming back to such the whole album rocks. Um, But this song was the one that every time it came on, I was like, maybe we run that back again, because that was just so freaking good. So there's the little chuckle. And then right after that, you can hear him like start to sing the first line like a little bit early. And then he's like, wait, no, never, never. Like you got one of those like Green Day, what was it? The Time of Your Life song where he started and it's just like, fuck. Yeah. And then it starts back. Honestly, I kind of love that type of stuff. Like when people leave in like studio banter or like just like small little like mistakes or whatever, like it just humanizes everything so much. I love it as well. I always think like there's a four year strong song that at the end, you can tell that they're talking about baseball. Like that just got picked up on the microphone and they're like, they called him safe, but he looked out or I mean, that's the point at us. But like Luke was like, left the mics rolling. And after we did it at the end of I Get It, You're Scared, we're just making funny noises and Scumdrop had to go up, I don't know, like 17 octaves. We practice all up. And so you just leave the laugh. Yeah. Well, I love stuff like that. Yeah, I do too. I also just love how much of a build there is to it. Starting out with like the drums are super punchy, obviously, but it starts out with like just the acoustic guitar and then everything else comes in. Like there's so much good like dynamics. There's so much dynamic structure to this song. Yeah. So many really nice songwriting. Yeah. Sorry, I should cut you off. Oh, I was just saying this song. There's such really good layers and songwriting to, you know, I love the acoustic guitar underneath it. Like, you know, I feel like, like it just adds a brightness to that song that makes it just so, so like akin to the album art. Just like, just dogs in the back, you know, just like dogs in the pickup, just wind on you. I love it. It's super jangly too. Which I really like. A lot of people go for like, like a, like more full kind of like acoustic sound. And I love that this is just left super jangly and like, uh, it sounds like they probably use like a floppier pick too. So it's kind of percussive as well. It really, it really pops. Sometimes with like jangly guitar songs, I'm like, just play it on acoustic. Uh, like at a certain point, like I know you can wreck him back or through a box, uh, to sound like this bright chime. I'm like, you could have just played acoustically and it would have done probably the same. I also just with. Like so many of the songs on this album, absolutely love the lyrics to just like so many smart, clever lines throughout like this entire album, as well as just like really powerful stuff too. There was one line that I was thinking of from this, but I don't remember it anymore. Don't remember what it was going to be, but yeah, exactly. I like all of them. They're great. It's very like relatable, like with the metaphors used, but also like. Great at painting a picture and like you, you can almost see what's happening throughout. So like the, the first verse, especially to there, like that's talking about versus pulling you in. I just remember that being like the thing that really got me to want to just keep listening to the end of the song, which the rest of the song is awesome too. But I think my favorite song from this record is actually, um, Ozzy's song, which is the song right before this, but like, yeah, it's going to be fun to play with them. Um, I think we're all looking forward to that. That's that. Yeah. They're one that I still haven't seen live yet. I don't know how far East are they coming? I don't, cause they're California based. Um, yeah. They're coming out to Chicago. I mean, they're going to, they're going at least to like Boston to play with old soul. Um, so they're going up, they're going out East for sure. I think one of them, if not multiple are from Boston or what have spent time in Boston. Yes. I believe they're all from Boston originally, actually. And then they moved out to California. That's what it was. Yeah. So I think. I think that that's like, they're realistically like their hometown show basically. Gotcha. Yeah. Which I was really, yeah, I was, I was really surprised by that actually to find out because like either Boston or LA based on the vibes of the music and also like the album art, I was expecting them to be like Midwest all the way. Like I was expecting them to have grown up basically in a cornfield. Yeah. I'll market that very much. You're just like that, that pickup truck is definitely like, that's because you need a pickup truck sort of kind of work. Uh, yeah, just for sure. Oh, like it just gives the vibes of the town that I grew up in basically. Yeah. Even though like, uh, very similar name, there's like townies. Like it just started. It's like, yeah, Boston thing too. Uh, I call someone a townie. Oh yeah, for sure. For sure. All right. And to, uh, round it off, this is going to be our last tune of the evening. Uh, Nish, what do you got for us? I have. What is probably one of the most classics out there. It is not my job by Carly Cosgrove. Um, I was talking about this song recently, tweeting about a ton, uh, went to go see them with Maxie when they came through with my, uh, fiance. Um, it was just like incredible to see them again. We, I don't think we've missed them once since they've come through Chicago. Uh, like this band just means an insane amount to me personally, but also like to us as a couple, like it's just like a band that we both like fell in love with. It's just, it's. It's, it's also just like this song itself is like really big to our friend group. Um, I can't think of like how many nights we drove around like Chicago, like, you know, no matter what season and just like the drums in the song, we're just all just like beating the fuck out of my car. Just like, just going crazy. Um, and in fact, the, the night of the, the college growth show, um, we were also throwing a surprise birthday party for my fiance's brother at district brew yards. And so after we, we like left the gig, went to Cobra lounge, watched the gig and then came back and then like, sorry, everyone. Again, and we were driving to get food at night and we had like, it was me more in the front, three in the back, two people in the trunk, the cars filled. And they were just like, how was the show? And they're like, we're just going to play you. Not my job. And you're going to get it. And we all just like, it was just like an extension of that web of like what the song means. And I think it's just like a really incredible three minute track. Like it's just like, does its job and like, makes you feel ironically, it does this job. Uh, it just makes you feel like, I don't know. It makes you feel a lot of things. And so, yeah, I'm gonna stop blabbing. Revisioning the, uh, the scene from, uh, Wayne's world where they're all listening to queen. Yeah, it's yeah. That's correct. Hell yeah. Pink sky, gray clouds, rain fell in pastel, long day, long drive. Brain dead, still alive locked down face up dead set to collect dust useless. I'll bet. If not for my skillset longing tension, I have dimension. I'm outside. It makes me static. Do I take the blame for the times I shatter if it ain't the same? Do the means even matter? Calm down, can I? Without it, what am I? Hollow empath, I'm reading my forecast Hungry, burnt out, washed up, still out It's only one thing I need to do It's something But if you ask me, I'm fine But if you ask me, I'm fine But if you ask me, I'm fine Absolutely insane, the performance that they put on. Like you said, especially for a three-piece. Like, sounding. that big and full with only three members is crazy and i'll i'll say this like untouchable number one bassist on stage ever scum drop no question about it but helen comes damn fucking close like like like here are two folks that can wield a bass like a weapon on stage it is insane like yeah holy shit i mean also like lucas's vocals tyler on the drums like just like all three of them are so good at their craft both in the studio and live um oh my god i could watch seven forever i watched their live set at the their lp1 release show at the the unitarian church in philly that was that you called first unitarian i think or something i first yeah thanks yeah i watched that like probably like once a week i watch it like it's like a jordan highlight cliff like i'm just like let's run let's run back to tape i'm just like holy crap what a insane insane set well and going back to what you were saying about the the base too from a production standpoint the things that i love is how well the bass tone and the drums are paired together because a lot of the time in production you will have like a kick drum and the bass might be like competing for frequencies or things like that but the way that they're mixed and the tones that they chose the kick drum and the bass are so complementary to each other that they almost start to sound like one instrument which kind of goes back to like the way that like jazz and things like that used to be uh used to be written where the kick drum wasn't the main part of the drum kit it was largely used to reinforce the low end of the upright bass and this kind of sounds like it harkens back to that because they really just glue together like that so well yeah oh man uh i can't praise this band enough seriously i think they're i think they're legends i really do like uh yeah i like like i was like starstruck talking to them i was just like you guys are amazing like the god bless you for existing yeah and this was from their first ep right yeah like what do you mean first ep like come on like that's insane and then since then they've done i think at least one more ep uh and then they've done two full lengths at this point yeah they've done um they did the butter sock freddie benson split they did the acoustic sessions ep um then they did lp1 they've done like some one-off singles and then like the wax bodega covers and then it was all p2 yeah they're gonna take over the world one day well i mean even just seeing like how much they've grown like the types of spaces that they're playing now versus what they were playing just a couple years ago as far as like capacity and like the size of the venue is crazy oh yeah i'm so proud of them uh not that they need my pride or anything like that but like they're so good they're so good i just think that it's always cool to see the diy bands that get to like that next level but still keep the diy aesthetic and still keep like repping everybody else who's like not made it to that level yet you look at like them and ben quad and now i'm just gonna start just start naming everybody on wax bodega records but you get the idea yeah it's it's it's special i think right now like the way that i mean i think that there's always in the community and in the genre been a sense of like yeah like we want we don't want to just like lose ourselves to the big stuff and i sometimes do like mourn some of the bands that like used to do that that like i've kind of forgotten that once they've gone to the big stuff but uh i think like the bands that are breaking through that barrier right now are not forgetting you know the houses the basements the bands i played with um yeah and the people and the communities you know labels producers organizers whatever like i think they're there's a i think a better respect for it for sure among these bands coming up you know like you mentioned like ben quad is i think like a shining example of that um you know i think that's really a thing that we need to do more of like like collectively you know like whatever level you are at you know because like there are there's always you know there's a band being there's a band that's going to be putting out their first song tomorrow probably right and like they probably can't get gigs can't get you know callbacks from anyone about you can't find other bands to play with right and i think like any band that can give that kind of opportunity is like doing something that's like meaningful in the scene and helping others like take that step up word of mouth is so huge too like like you've got one band that might be like at a slightly higher level and they might just mention a band in a tweet or like you know uh take them out like one time have them be the opener for a show or whatever and just all these small little things just really add up over time oh yeah and like it's really not that much effort as someone who can spit out 50 tweets in a minute not that hard to just like to like the effort is thinking of someone else right like that's like the hard part and i think that like it's so doable if you like take your time to do it i mean like shout out to like you know will from full blown meltdown doing it every single week and like oh yeah but like i think like what's beautiful is that like we're seeing a lot of bands take their take their chance to like get other people opportunities you know even when it doesn't you know benefit themselves it's just like hey like there's like you know x band is playing x city you see the tweet and you say hey you should have these bands play there even if you're not from that i mean like you know it doesn't take much to put that vouch out there and i'm glad that we have people that are doing that and hope that more follow suit no 100 i agree with you all right is there anything else that uh anybody wants to mention another time uh before we sign off for the end of the episode anything that's going on with 10 months summer anything that else that you've got going on that you specifically want to want to mention uh now is the time to do it i bet the entire band fund on the ncaa bracket so if you want to venmo us any amount to get us out of the hole let me know i thought i could pay for our next run of vinyls with like a couple good upset picks did not pan out so uh yeah blimpson winning the whole thing for some reason that's yeah i put u of i number one baby you know why not until i die and uh we are we know it's just not gonna happen so i also had the bulls you know making you know making the five seed this year too so again we are just in a deep gambling debt um any time you want to buy or dream 10 months summer stuff please do it um we you be i've got collections calling me every day so please please god please please save save nish's kneecaps singular singular my other knees already busted so i only got one good one left yeah yeah r.i.p yeah me and nish were talking about the bulls the other day and he was talking about he was just talking about how like happy he was about that trade with the thunder that happened last year and how glad he was to have josh giddy on the team he was he was like he was like josh giddy is my favorite player in the nba i love him he is great i'll take i'll take a great basketball i'll take a good care to a degree but i have wine sam i i'm anti josh give me caruso back i miss him i don't care that he put up a great stat line against the lakers whatever i want i want alex caruso back nish has like been he's like who please they're gonna kill me for this they're gonna be coming for you after this episode it's it's fine we we made some enemies on the last episode too it's okay who are we without our enemies you know but uh really just thank you uh for doing this for having us on i mean you're part of that word of mouth you know for so many bands not just us like an opportunity to speak about anything at all of what we do outside of like our shows is a huge privilege and opportunity and so we're very grateful for people like yourselves who take the time to like put this together it's not an easy effort either you know like you're you certainly are not getting the monetary value you deserve from this as well so um we're very grateful that you have taken such a chunk of your evening to hang out with with us yappers here of course i had such a great time yeah this was fun hell yeah of course and on that note remember to listen to fate lines by 10 months summer this has been the fresh finds the show about discovering new music with good people stay true and stay blue but darling if that's true why am i in love with you so damn in love with you and i get it you're scared you've been burned too many times well baby i'm aware your hand in mine we stand tall and i get it you're scared you've been burned too many times well baby i'm aware your hand in mine and that's all Stay true, and stay blue, cause I love the real you. Your flaws can't push me farther away from you. You say it's not right, you're no good, your love's off. But darling, if that's true, why am I in love with you? So damn in love with you. And I get it, you're scared. You've been burned too many times. Well, baby, I'm aware. Your hands in mine, we stand tall. Your hands in mine, and that's all. And that's all. Your hands in mine, and that's all.