What was the recording process like for this album? You started out by recording at home, but the album evolved. What was the timeline?

Andrew Hall: Some of these songs were written as early as 2013, and some of them were finished as late as early 2015. We tried to home-record a number of these songs, as well as a handful of others, several years ago, but the recordings didn’t quite do the songs justice yet. We got confused and frustrated and retreated to our practice space.

A few months later, we played what was supposed to be a benefit concert of some sort that, due to a series of logistical mishaps, turned into a $20,000 private party that ended in the bar getting ransacked. Fortunately, Cody Votolato, aka JR Slayer, was at that show.

He told us he wanted to produce our next record, so many months later, we posted up in a lovely studio, tracked a record with him and John Goodmanson, who worked on so many records I love, and then finished the recordings in a special spot owned by a very famous pop singer. Said pop singer had the warmest recording space I’ve ever taken a nap in.

Which records/artists that you grew up listening to do you think have had the biggest impact on you as a musician/band?

Peter: Cody Votolato's band the Blood Brothers was so important to my early musical identity, so working with him was a super cathartic and positive process. Also Phil Elevrum's The Glow Pt. 2 is one of my personal favorite albums of that era, and, along with Who Will Cut our Hair When We're Gone? by the Unicorns are two of the only albums I know all the words to. Andrew and I bonded early on in our friendship (and years before we started our collaboration) over Elvis Costello. He is a great writer and very influential on our musical identity.

How would you describe the Seattle music scene at present?

Andrew: Seattle is in a period of intense transition — lots of new buildings, lots of new people and lots of conversation about what that means for everyone. Whereas it used to be possible to see a ton of great bands pretty much whenever you wanted to, that’s definitely not the case anymore — a lot of the people we used to play shows with all the time are either on tour for 2/3 of the year or moved to Los Angeles or New York in search of new opportunities (and, in some cases, surprisingly, lower living expenses).

There’s a seemingly endless number of punk and hardcore shows at the moment, a lot of people going deeper on dance music for the first time and a handful of really cool new artists like DoNormaal, who’s a rapper capable of playing just any kind of show in Seattle. She played more of them than just about anyone else I can think of in 2016 and was able to draw an excited audience that followed her to punk shows, electronic shows, hip hop shows, dance parties and pretty much anywhere else.

If you could be the prom band in any high school movie, which would it be and why?

Peter: We would be the prom band in Harry Potter, most likely, but we might be playing at Beauxbatons, Durmstrang, or Castelobruxo given our liberal arts college touring history. Maybe next year at Hogwarts though! You never know. 

Now that the album is on the cusp of being released, what are your goals ahead?

Andrew: Visit a lot of places we’ve never been to, return to many of the places we’ve been before, play tons of shows, eat a lot of delicious food, meet a lot of great people, write more songs, do what we can to help make America a little less totally fucked as we stare down oblivion.

Peter: My goals are to tour all the time and to meet Hayley Williams in person. We are huge Paramore fans. Who knows, maybe we will learn a couple of covers while we are at it!

What are your predictions for 2017?

Peter: Political disenfranchisement, abuse of power, environmental neglect, civil rights reductions, but also community reinforcement, radical peace, resistance and faith in one another. Fascist regime or not, we all have to speak out against injustice and intolerance and stand up for each other.

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