Q: Can you tell us a bit about yourself and how your childhood impacted your musical direction?
A: When I was a kid my music taste was largely influenced by my mom, who loved Emo, Alternative and Pop-Punk music. Bands like My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy, Linkin Park, Taking Back Sunday and Paramore. She even took me to Warped Tour, like she did with my sisters. Then in middle in highschool my taste branched out in a few different directions, a bit of Midwest Emo like The Front Bottoms and Modern Baseball, some stuff that’s a bit more Folk like Pinegrove, Shakey Graves and The Head And The Heart, some newer Punk stuff like Jeff Rosenstock, and a some stuff I have a harder time defining like Wild Child and Typhoon. I have a hard time thinking of genres when writing but I’d say the Emo and Pop-Punk shine through the most.
Q: How do you find a balance between staying true to your musical style and experimenting with new sounds? What message do you have for anyone who is about to discover “Spilt Milkshakes”?
A: I have a hard time with this. I feel like I’m not very consistent in my writing. Sometimes a little more Emo, sometimes a little more Punk, sometimes a little more Folk or even Pop. It’s something I’ve worried about a lot, but then again maybe I’m just overthinking everything so I try to just be sincere and write music I enjoy and hope we develop something cohesive along the way.
I’ve been asked a couple of times what genre Spilt Milkshakes is and I always have a hard time answering because I’m honestly still trying to pin it down. To anyone just discovering us I’d say ‘Spilt Milkshakes is still unfolding, I hope you stick around to see where we go’.
Q: Who is the most inspiring artist for you right now? And where do you find inspiration for making music?
A: My inspiration really just depends on what I’ve been in the mood to listen to. Lately it’s been a lot of The Wonder Years, Fall Out Boy and Into It Over It. But to be honest I’ve probably gotten inspiration from more bands than I can remember, which probably contributes to my inconsistency.
Q: Can you describe the overall theme or message behind the EP?
A: I wrote Graduation and Moving Out pretty far apart and without much consideration for each other, so I think it’s kind of a happy coincidence that they did manage to have somewhat of a similar theme. I’d say the two of them are about transitions, endings and beginnings and the spaces in between.
Graduation is about the time when I was graduating highschool, which also happened to coincide with the ending of a very significant relationship for me. I won’t get into the details but reflecting back on it in the context of the EP I’d say it’s about a good ending and bad ending mixed together, one overshadowing the other and how those memories get intertwined.
Moving Out I wrote near the end of a particularly hard spring semester when I was getting ready to move out (on the nose I know) of my first college apartment that I was not a fan of, trying to change majors, and saying goodbye to some really great people. A bunch of my friends that I’d gotten really close too were graduating and moving on to being actual adults, and you know you’re happy for them but a little sad because you’ll miss them when they leave town. I was also realizing if I wanted to do the same I’d need to choose a different path. So a lot of transitions but it felt right, and it still does.
Q: Can you share your favorite line or verse from the EP and the story behind it?
A: I have a hard time choosing so I’ll give you two lines:
“MOVING OUT NEVER FELT SO GOOD!” is probably my favorite to sing live
“Never get the deposit back, who knew?” I think will always resonate with anyone who’s had to move out of a shitty apartment with asshole landlords.
There are two lines between the songs I feel go really well together; “to be honest I wish you’d gone to Colorado, cause maybe then I’d understand why everything had to end” from Graduation and “and to think that you finally understood what she meant when she said she had to go” from Moving Out. The first is about not understanding and resisting change and the next is about embracing it. They feel like progress.
Q: Can you share any stories about memorable interactions with fans?
A: 3 memories stand out to me, the first time I saw someone crowd surfing while we were performing, the first time I saw people moshing to one of our songs (Graduation) during a halloween show, and watching back footage of our first show at Southpaw Cafe and realizing it was the first time a bunch of people were singing along to one of our songs, everyone screamed “MOVING OUT NEVER FELT SO GOOD!”
Q: Did you face any challenges while writing or recording the EP?
A: Well lyrics are always my biggest challenge. It’s probably what I’m least familiar with musically and I’m always double guessing what tone or message I want to be portraying. Aside from that, it’s just about finding time. We’re all in college so our schedules’ are pretty loaded most of the time.
Q: What is the message of your music? And what are your goals as an artist?
A: I don’t know if I have any specific message. Music is an outlet for me, a way to process things. I just want to write music, play it live for people who enjoy it. I guess I would hope people get out of my music what I got out of this kind of music, realizing other people have gone through similar things and felt the same.
Q: Who is your dream artist to collaborate with? (dead or alive)
A: Right now for me it would probably be The Wonder Years, especially Dan “Soupy” Campbell and Mike Kennedy. I really admire how personal and impactful Dan’s lyrics are, both in The Wonder Years and his other project Aaron West and Roaring Twenties. I know he’s got like a decade and a half on me, but listening to all their stuff it feels like he’s experienced several lives.
And Mike Kennedy is just crazy on drums, I’ve tried learning a few of their songs and I don’t know how he comes up with these parts.
Q: What is your advice for people interested in pursuing music as a career or for those trying to enter the industry?
A:
● Learn as much as you can, the industry has changed a lot and is always changing again
● Meet as many people as you can, there are some great people making music
● Either learn the socials or find someone who already has. You might not want to build an audience you need a presence online (I’m bad at this)
Q: Finally, If you could go back in time and give a younger you some words of wisdom, what would they be?
A: I think I’d say “Just keep trying, don’t box yourself in”
