When did you start writing for your latest release, "While It Lasts"?
Over the summer we sat down and kind of just wrote whatever popped in our head. I think in total we wrote 11 songs and ended up recording 10 of them in a two day span, with some over dubbing sessions in the following weeks. “Summer is Dead” was a reworked version of the song Mike wrote in 2015, but all of the writing for the “While It Lasts” was done in the summer.
How has the pandemic influenced how the band functions (i.e. practices, songwriting, recording)?
We had our first three shows in a two week span before COVID shut down live music, so it really sucked going from full steam ahead to doing nothing. We didn’t have practice for the first few months, but we slowly got back into playing and writing. I think the time away from practice for a little allowed us to write material in our own space and bring it to the band and then have it take a whole new shape and sound. The live music shutdown also changed the way we feel about releasing music. We could have put out a ten song album, or two five track EPs, but staggering our releases and creating anticipation for our next songs, that has really been the best way for us to present our music to people.
Any bands you are looking forward to playing with once shows come back around? Venues in particular?
Sean — Loveseat Pete!!!!!!!!! And I would love to get back to The Saint and The Brighton [Bar], but House of Independents and any 4333 Collective show would be really cool, too.
We would also love at some point to start branching out to NY, Philly, and Boston. Nick’s got a bunch of friends and bands out there from touring and school, which is pretty great.
How have you all been maintaining your sanity throughout the past year?
We haven’t. This band is full of neurotic basket cases who cannot be saved from themselves.
Future plans/releases?
We have a direct-to-vinyl session with Leesta Vall on April 3, and we will be putting out another EP, 5 songs, in the near future. We are also always writing and pumping out new songs, so at some point or another we will record those, too! But definitely give our new EP, “While It Lasts”, a listen.
Via Ripa is
Nick Marinelli — Drums
Michael Pinckney — Voc/ Guitar
Matt Smentkowski — Vox/ Guitar
Sean Cuddy — Bass