When Austin's Sons of Fathers split, members David Beck, Bryan Mammel and Dees Stribling weren't ready to say goodbye to playing together. So they decided to do the next best thing: start a completely new project.

Blue Healer, which just released its debut record, combine pop melodies, earnest songwriting with upbeat indie rock vibes that not only reach wider audiences but also are a lot of fun to listen to. We grabbed a coffee with David, Bryan and Dees while they were in New York City earlier this month to chat about the new music as well as their experiences putting it all together.

Hometown: Austin and San Marcos, TX

How did you guys get together?

Bryan Mammel: We started about two years ago in Austin. We had all been in another band before that. When the band broke up, we were swimming around Austin and kind of came back together because we were all friends. And we started making new music.

The band you guys were previously in was an Americana band...

Mammel: Yeah, it was an Americana band and more folk oriented. So this is a totally different direction but also not too different in certain ways.

David Beck: Well, it was a music band. So when we started making music, that's what came out. [Everyone laughs]

How did the electronic elements come into Blue Healer's sound?

Dees Stribling: The bass. With the base, David started to try to distort it and make it bigger. And what I tried to do when I'm not playing drums was in an effort to keep it to three people instead of four. Then for keyboards...

Mammel: Yeah, David also found a Roland Juno 106 keyboard at Goodwill somewhere, which is a big part of the sound. So David pieced it together sound-wise around the new and different bass tones and the analog keyboard and some other things, too. The rest of it just developed organically to whatever is going on.

Beck: I think those tones together create a very different sound palette, and you just run songs through that. And they sound like other songs. But I think it's different from what's out there right but fairly accessible. People would come up to us who have different musical tastes, but they seem to get it.

Stribling: The last comparison I heard was My Morning Jacket mixed with Phil Collins but with an electric upright bass. So it's a thing.

Beck: Some of our friends who like death metal and punk like it, but also my grandma likes it. So that combo is good. I just don't want those two groups hanging out. 

What's the story behind the band name?

Beck: Unfortunately there is no real good story for it. I have a scar from a blue heeler dog, and I was in a lake. And this guy threw the dog into the water, and it never swam before. And it swam to me out of all the people who were wading in the lake and tried to hold on. It's true.

Mammel: And now he has super songwriting powers.

Beck: And now I have super songwriting powers, and it's thanks to the blue healer.

What's your favorite song to perform right now and what was the most memorable to work on?

Beck: Well, my favorite one to perform is not on the album, but that's not a good answer. So I would have to say... Let's do a vote here and see if we say the same one. 

[All name different songs.]

Mammel: "O-Y-O" is good, "Empty Bottles" is my favorite right now. It was fun to develop. The unison lines were a lot of fun to work on.

Stribling: We actually worked on the album at a house in San Marcos [Texas], which is actually David's ex-girlfriend's house. It was over the winter kind of, and it was cold there. We'd drive from Austin. And I remember when we would scream in that part in "Bad Weather," where we'd do that over and over for 15-20 minutes to get the right words in the right spots. So that was memorable for "Bad Weather."

The cops came one time. But we played San Marcos [last] month, and the same cops came. So it was cool. San Marcos isn't that big. We were like, "Hey, you guys were at the show." 

Beck: And they asked if we could play acoustic.

Mammel: It's like your dad trying to be cool. "Can you uh play it acoustic?"

What is "Bad Weather" about?

Stribling: That's an older one that David wrote.

Beck: "Bad Weather" is about a shitty relationship in a house -- at me and my parents' house. Who knows...

How has Austin influenced you guys as musicians and as Blue Healer?

Beck: Well in some ways, we all met in San Marcos, which is south of Austin.

Mammel: And in some ways, Austin can be competitive. Seeing a lot of the musicians who play there are session musicians or you end up playing with a bunch of different bands, depending on their schedule and your schedule and no really having a project of your own. For us, being in that environment and coming from another band together, I think that's why we're a band that are making it happen as a unit opposed to session guys.