October 30, 2020 • 30 mins
Hot off the success of their dreamy pop hit “Trampoline,” Shaed are back with an inspiring new single, “No Other Way.” The DC-area trio open up about their latest track, their go-to karaoke songs, how they’ve crafted mature new music in lockdown — and also made their high school dreams come true.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Inside the Studio presented by I Heart Radio.
I'm your host Joe Levy. So before the pandemic, the
guest on this week's home edition of the show, Shade,
hadn't actually been home for more than two weeks in
(00:24):
the last two years, because two years that's how long
ago the indie pop trios hit Trampoline came out, and
they've spent an awful lot of their time since then
in a van on the road. Now, they did put
together an album's worth of new songs during that time,
but once the world slowed down during Lockdown, they didn't
think that music sounded much like them, so they hit reset.
(00:45):
You know, the home edition of Inside the Studio is
all about letting you know how the pandemic has impacted
the lives of artists, how it's affecting the way they
make music. And Shade talked with our Quarantine correspondent, Jordan
Runtalg about the challenges and rewards of staying creative during
this difficult time. You know. They also explained how you
get a thirteen piece string section on your new music
(01:07):
during lockdown and I don't want to give anything away
but masks and a very long Distance Zoom Call are
involved as always. If you enjoy this episode, be sure
to check out the I Heart Radio podcast that Jordan's hosts.
It's called Rivals Music's Greatest Feuds, and it's available wherever
you get your shows. Hello everyone, my name is Jordan
(01:34):
runt Odd, but enough about me. My guests today are
three friends from the d C Metro area. They've been
making music together since they were in high school, but
they got the world's attention with the single Trampoline, blending
indie pop, would dreamy electro beats and elegant vocals. The
track has gone double platinum and earned a feature from
Zane Malick. Now, as they prepared to drop their first LP,
the band are back with a new single, No Other
(01:56):
Way the Threesome found their name and a fantasy book series.
It's a reference to a cloak made of shadow and light.
I think that's the perfect way to characterize their moody,
melodic talents. I'm so happy to welcome Shade Chelsea, Max Spencer,
thank you so much for taking the time today. It's
so great to talk to you. Yes, of course, thank
you so much for having us. Oh my god, so
much to ask you about First of all, your your
(02:16):
new single No Other Way. It's incredible, I mean, empowering
lyrics and it's impossible not to dance to. And I'm
a non dancer, so that's really that says a lot
coming from me. Uh, can tell me a little more
where this one came from? Yeah, so we um. He
wrote this song a couple of months ago. All Chelsea
and I were quarantining with her parents at the time,
(02:38):
and Max was coming over all the time as well,
and we were feeling, you know, there was a lot
of emotions, UM, very anxious, UM, just stressed out with
everything that was happening in the world, and we wanted
to write a song to remind us to try to
stay present, you know, and appreciate the life that we
(03:00):
still have, and we also wanted something to dance to. UM.
So we Yeah, we just wrote this tune and and
we're super excited to share it with people. Now. Now,
you were in the midst of working on your first
LP when the pandemic began. Have you retooled much of
it in the wake of everything that's come the last
couple of months. No, Basically, we are at the beginning
(03:22):
of last summer. We had a basically an entire album.
You know, we we had Trampoline and that success kind
of helped us get with some really big writers, which
was just such a fun experience. But we had kind
of a handful of songs. I mean, essentially an entire album,
it's worth of songs, but it was just pretty mishmashed,
(03:45):
a bunch of different people, um, a bunch of different
you know, different subject matters, and it just didn't feel
like us. So basically, we were in Portland, I think,
oh no, we're in Seattle and we were just sitting
around the kitchen table at I just said, these have
got to go, We've got to start over, and so um,
(04:05):
we just got back on the road. We're on the
road for a bit. And then the pandemic happened and
we were able to finally kind of hunker down and
you know, get all our ships done. So that was
and this album just feels so much truer to us
and who we are and what we are and so
no regrets there for sure. How is writing at home
different from writing on the road? Is it like much
(04:26):
more communal in do you have a preference I would
say writing at home because when we're on the road.
I'm asleep in the van the entire time, um, and
we're just like exhausted. We're running around, we're doing a
much of like radio press. We're you know, having the show,
and then after the show, we're just exhausted, and then
we're in the van the rest of the time, So
(04:47):
so much time to write. I would love to be
able to do that. That would be like a superpower.
I think, Um, yeah, we aren't in the bus life
world where we could have a studio and the bus
when Spence on our driving the van and we'll try
to make beats in the in the car, but it's
it's not the same. And as Chelsea was saying, we
(05:08):
just for for two years we were basically on the
road promoting trampoline and playing festivals, and we had this
album ready, and then once the pandemic hit, it was
just we had like a moment of clarity and we
were just like, you know, this isn't it didn't feel
true to ourselves, and we just had all all of
this free time to actually make an album. And it
(05:29):
was definitely kind of rough for the first couple of
weeks because we were just feeling the emotions. I think
everyone else was feeling just all this you know, worry
and just just getting used to spending all of your
time indoors. But we just kind of embraced that and
just hunker down and wrote the majority of this album
in a couple of months, and it's just been kind
(05:49):
of fleshing out these ten songs since then. So I
was gonna say, you were on the road for years,
living out of airbnb s on the festival circuit. It
must be a huge adjustment being stationary for this long now. Yeah,
definitely an adjustment, um, but a good one. We needed
a break, We needed like a time to kind of
settle down. We we all moved into Spence and I
(06:13):
moved into a house and Falls Church, Virginia. Max moved
into d C. And I don't think that we would
have ever been able to like take this next chapter
step if it hadn't been for the pandemic. So it's
a little bit of a silver lining for that for sure. Now,
what does the typical writing day look like to you?
Is this something that you do every day, almost like,
you know, just chipping at it a little way at
(06:34):
a time, or do you wait until you're inspired to
say Okay, I got this new song. I want to
go get together and work on it. Well, the day
starts with a amazing breakfast that Chelsea makes every morning.
That yes, well it depends, but I mean a lot
of times we got get some fresh eggs, maybe some
some avocado, some berries, uh, and we'll have our morning coffee.
(06:58):
So we gotta start with that. We're Chelsea and I
were married, by the way, me and Chelsey and I
are married. So we get up very early every morning
and kind of try to start start with a healthy morning. Um,
I think, uh, we try to write every day, but
more recently we we have like a bunch of songs
(07:19):
that were really excited about. So we've been focused on
really honing in on the on some of these tunes
and making sure like the drums sounds are perfect, the
transitions are great between the chorus and the verse, you know,
all that kind of stuff. But even so, we we
think it's important to continue to try to write aside
from Chelsea's amazing, unmistakable voice. Is there an instrument that
(07:40):
you feel is the most crucial to your sound, Like,
you know, an instrument that you always sort of start
with and go from, is like your secret ingredient. Chelsea's
voice is definitely the most that's we we write all
of our music around her vocals. But for this new album,
one thing that we're very excited about incorporating has been
UM live strings. So we have like a thirteen piece
(08:03):
string section all over this album. That's so we've already
booked of a session for no other way. The strings
are on that song and for the next single coming
out UM Once Upon a Time. But uh, it's been
interesting because we were working with this string arranger who
did the all of the arrangements on the last Angel
(08:23):
Olsen album, All Mirrors. I don't know if you've yeah,
So he did a bunch of arranging on that, and
we just were fans of his work, so we reached
out to him and he came back at us with
all these great parts, and after we'd flushed them out,
it was time to kind of figure out how we
were going to actually record, you know, thirteen players in
the middle of a pandemic. And he had worked with
(08:45):
this Northern Macedonian string section before, so yeah, which was incredible.
So we they were all wearing masks and being safe,
but they we basically had a zoom call into this
beautiful studio in northern Macedonia with thirteen players and engineer
and like a you know, conductor for three hours and
(09:06):
we're able to knock out two songs. So that's just
been a huge part of this new album that's been
shaping up to be a big voice all over it.
So I'm I'm so excited about that, excited to hear it.
I'm so fascinated by the relationship between composer and arranger.
I mean, I think of someone like Paul McCartney sitting
down with George Martin to work on the string arrangements
for for Yesterday and almost going line by line. Does
(09:27):
the arranger do they give you multiple options of Okay,
we can take you know, this voicing here and go
up to this sort of bluesy note, or we can
play it more like a Bok corral or something like that.
How what was your relationship like working with the arranger? Yeah,
so this was our first time ever working with um
a composer, So Jarek Bischoff shout out to him. He's
been just incredible. Um So the way a lot of
(09:49):
these songs already had like, uh, synthesizer strings, or not.
So you know, I guess you call it strings like
would you say, we're like sampoldst ings that sound like
those strings? But there so when we yeah, so they
sound good, but we so we had some sample strings
string parts for a lot of the songs and we
(10:11):
sent over those two Jerik and he first of all
would tab those out so that we could have an
orchestra actually play those parts. But then he also created
all these beautiful melodies and you know, different um string
hooks and stuff like that that he that he thought
would be good. And then he sent him back to
(10:32):
us and we were able to comb through everything and
then sort of structure it as well. So it was
a really great back and forth um with him. And Yeah.
Then at that point we would go to the actual
orchestra and he had part by part structured for them,
so they would just they just knocked it out of it.
It was pretty amazing to see because he they would
(10:52):
just piece by piece. In three hours, we had all
the different parts that we wanted to Pj's and Chelsea
would like pop in and be like, what's going on
to really we're on you know, we're on the course too,
And it was it was wild. But that must be emotional.
Oh yeah, I mean just seeing on the orchestra playing
something you wrote. I mean, I can't even imagine what
that feels like. As a composer, that's gonna feel amazing.
(11:12):
It was incredible. We were like in your crying, We're like, wow,
this is like sounding incredible. I was also hungover, so
it was really particularly emotional for me. But UM, I
don't know, no, but it's it's been. It's shout out
to Jerich. He's so talented and he's quick up. I
(11:38):
wanted to ask you, I know everyone asked you about
your band name. I wanted to ask you how it
relates to your sound. As I said in the intro,
shade as a cloak made of shadow and light. What
drew you to that word? What is it that you know?
How do you feel it relates to to you and
your music? UM? I think that for us, we kind
of do when we read, Um, we kind of do
(12:00):
a book club situation where Spencer will read a book
and then he'll pass it on, and then he'll pass
it on. So this one particular book, Uh, Spencer did
a bunch of research and he read the book and
he said you have to read it, said it. Erry
gave it to me. I read it, and the Max
read it, and then we were looking for names, and shade,
(12:21):
just alone in the book, regardless of definition or anything
like that, just looked like such a cool word to us.
And you know, then knowing that it's a protective cloak
and you know it's it's woven by Goddess and everyone
kind of perceives it differently, it just seemed like a
really cool and we love this book so much, so
(12:43):
it's like, um, it just was just seemed to fit.
You know. What are you reading now in the book club? Oh?
My gosh, right now, I'm reading a book, um that
was recommended to me. It's called Breasts and Eggs. So, um,
I'm only on my page two because I just started
reading it. But that is my that is when I
(13:04):
am reading at the Moon. Spencer is reading Charlie and
the Chocolate Factory right now, the original. Yeah, but I
just beinge the the like the Girl with the Dragon
Tattoo series as well. I just it was really good. Max.
What are you reading? I'm reading h Have you heard
of When Things Fall Apart? By m Very appropriate for
(13:29):
the times right now, so I'm just trying to piece
my life together and read this when things fell apart book.
So it's been good there. That's the Shade book club
Ladies and gentlemen. Yes, very diverse reading. Well. I read
that you wrote Trampoline the lyrics at least in about
a day, very very fast. Do you find that the
best songs come quickly they just kind of burst out
(13:51):
of you? M I would say no, because I mean Trampoline,
we did have the lyrics very quickly, but that's all
just was like it took of you know, it took
us forever to evolve it just because we were always
how many different parts we you know, like it was
I just like always, so it took us forever to
(14:13):
actually get it out. Probably like there was I think
the song itself was written quickly, but then in terms
of like the production and extra vocal melodies and stuff
to layer on top of it. Um. He worked with
this great producer Alex Mendoza too, who brought a fresh
perspective um, specifically with the choruses, like he kind of
(14:34):
brought all the instrumentation down and really slowed that part
of the song. So the production took a while to
figure out. But the lyrics were written like definitely in
a day, and the main parts of the song we're
written in a day. So I think it does depend
on whether or not you know some songs. Some songs
(14:54):
come easily and that's great, but others do take a while,
and I think you can always some of those songs
for us are some of our favorites. So we went
on so many rabbit holes are trampoline that by the
time we finished it, I think all of us were
just like turn it off. We were just we weren't
even sure where we ended up, but we felt like
it was done. We just were like, all right, this
(15:15):
was there a moment that you knew that it was
really taking off, as there like a lightning bolt moment
for you. I would say the Apple commercial was definitely
they like, oh this, here we go. I think that
was like such a cool um like absolute dream. I mean,
we grew up and you know, Feist has her Apple
(15:38):
commercial and that was just like the coolest thing in
the world and that was just so iconic and so
just for us to have an Apple commercial was just insanity.
So I think that's when we were like, this is amazing.
I mean yeah, So I live in d C. So I, um,
I've had some pretty cool experiences with the song. But
(16:00):
but like just a couple of weeks ago, I pulled
up in front of my house and I heard Trampoline
Plane outside of my car. I thought it was inside
my car, and then I thought I maybe it came
on the radio, and I realized it was coming from
outside the car. So I hop out of the car
and it's blaring down the block like stadium level. Like
I have no idea. I like, I never heard it
(16:21):
this loud in my life. And I was just like
following the song, and I thought maybe one of my
neighbors was messing with me. And I just was walking
down the block and then I see this lady on
the porch, just sitting on this enormous speaker on her
front porch, just jamming to Trampoline Uh. And I just
walked across the street and I was like, hey, Like
she saw me standing there awkwardly, and she just pausing music.
(16:45):
She's like, what's going on. I'm like, that's my song.
I was like, hey, I'm Max, that's my song. You're
listening to you? And she's like, oh my god, I
love this song. This is my jam too, Like, this
is my favorite song. And I was like, no, like
I made that beat with my brother and his wife.
We're in a band together. And she just was like
her mind was blown. It was just such a funny
experience and she was just like, you're lying, you're not
(17:05):
and I was like, no, that's that's me. So even
now it's cool to have like experiences like that. Then
we never thought a million years we'd have so yeah.
And and also to add to that, I think, honestly,
you always dream of hearing your song on the radio,
but um, you never think it's gonna happen. So just
being you know, we were in l A. And uh,
(17:27):
we'd heard. First of all, we heard our song on
our local alternative station DC one on one, and that
in itself was just incredible because we grew up listening
to that station and we know all those guys. But then,
you know, we go to the West Coast and we're
in l A. And the song comes on on the
biggest pop station and it was like those kind of things.
You're just pretty it's pretty incredible. You've been singing together
(17:48):
practically since the womb, right, I mean, you were toddlers
and you're making music together. Yeah, we were starting five
years old. There you go, shout out to our mom
who taught us how to write songs and how us
write songs for say a clause. That was like our thing,
songs for Santa. Like every time he got into fight,
our mom would say, hey, you should should go write
a song for Santa, and Max and I would say
(18:09):
at the piano and right, you know, Santa's evening flight.
They had like a neighborhood Santa there. This is like
the this is the craziest thing. I wish I had
this as a kid where the same person every year
and different people had different Santas, but the same person
every year in this neighborhood would dress up as Santa
(18:29):
and come to the house and visit. But it was
the same person. So every year as a kid, it's
like they shout out to uh, Billy Batista, the Italian Santa,
the original Italian Santa. He was. He was incredible. Yeah,
that was that was real. I mean two that was
that was a lot of pressure, you know, as a kid,
(18:52):
and it was it was intense. There was a lot
on the line. Right, yeah, this is Christmas. Did you
get this wrong me in your house? Oh yeah, he's
he's skipped in the place. You're not getting any now.
But it was really, it really was cool getting Santa's
feedback on some of our first songs. Did he really
actually give you like thoughts on it? Oh? Yeah, I
(19:14):
still send him every song we write. You set him trampling,
He was liken. Well, that is one of the best
first like early music experiences I've ever heard. ChEls. What
about you, What were some of your first musical explorations.
I'm a big Frank Sinatra fan. So um. I was
a really crazy wild child and I would just be
(19:35):
like all over the place, and my mom to get
me to go to bed, she would put in like
this little Frank Sinatra tape, things like Best of Frank
Sinatra or something, and I would just run and sing
the whole like the whole album. And it was just
a way to make me go to sleep. But I
would say I was obsessed with a Carriek machine when
I was a kid. I got a Carrie Machine for
(19:57):
Christmas and it's probably twelve and I swear every day
after school, I would go downstairs and I would just
be glued to the karaoke machine for hours. I don't
know what it was. And I was singing like very
interesting songs, but um like what, I don't know, Like
(20:20):
I was obsessed with like a Carpenter song. I was
always singing and sing like a Michael Jackson song like
any are you Okay? Or something? You know. It was
just like it was a whole thing. And Christmas songs.
I mean, like the Christmas song is one of my
favorite songs. Machine. Oh yeah, Well, I gotta ask all
(20:41):
of you, what what do your go to karaoke songs? Max?
You can go first. He has a go to, Yeah,
I have a go to Bending the Jets by own John.
But it's better if there's is an actual piano. If
there's live karaoke, it's game over. I'm just jamming it.
But but also after the five thousand time, I think
it's new. I think you even knew. And we do
(21:04):
a lot of singing in a lot of karaoke ing,
and it's always been in the jazz for Max, which
is hilarious. We also used to do cover shows back
in the day, like four hour cover shows and DC
like that's how we would kind of supplement some supplements,
some of the you know when we before Trampling and me, Yeah,
we were doing a lot of these cover shows and
I would usually sing you can't Always get what you
(21:26):
want by the Rolling Stones, like all all thirty minutes
of it. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah exactly. Oh yeah.
And we also did be fifty twos Love Shock, which
was so cringe e that I'm sure you can picture
in your mom It was so bad, it was so bad.
This was this was a few years before Trampline. Hope,
thank god. Yeah, this was like, this was a few
(21:47):
year or something. But but yeah, oh man, that makes
me stressed thinking about those times. But well, I know
you first started out singing at the nine thirty Club,
(22:08):
and it sounds like you you recently went back there.
What was that homecoming like for you? That must have
been really special. Oh my gosh, it was so cool. Well,
I've I met these guys at the nine thirty Club.
So the first time I met them, I was fifteen,
and um, I think it was fifteen. It was two
thousand and seven, and I was told by a friend,
you need to go to the ninety Club. There's an
(22:30):
amazing band that is opening up the show and they're
twins and they're really super cool. So my parents did
not let me go to d C alone, obviously, and
so my parents brought me. It was just them to playing.
We were what you weren't headlining that we were open.
You weren't headlining, but you were opening with a local band,
and it was so amazing and we just became best
(22:51):
friends after that. So we met there and then to
go back to the you know, to the nine thirty
club and playing like one of the bigger shows that
we've played, and it's a hometown show and everyone's hype
and our family and friends are there. Definitely emotional and
definitely like a super cool experience because it's just like
where it all started, which was super cool. That's amazing.
I mean, the success measure up to what you imagined
(23:11):
when when you were growing up. Absolutely even better. Honestly,
headlining club for a sort out show with all your
friends and family and in your hometown. That was that's
gotta be up there probably my favorite show. It was
my favorite show too. A lot of our dreams have
come true, um, and we're so thankful, and you know,
(23:33):
we got to for traveling the world. We went to Japan,
we went to, you know, London. We just have been
doing so many fun things these past couple of years
because of Trampoline and you know, because of everyone's love
and support. So we're so thankful and just still pinching
ourselves every minute of every day, for sure. The last
show we did was with Lizzo in Mexico Ports of
(23:56):
Arta on the beach and they were huntback Whales Kid.
He's not I'm not swear jumping out of the water,
no joke like putting on a show for everyone there.
It wasn't. It was insanity. And that was right before
the pandemic basically, so that was the last show we
we we had, So we consider ourselves very lucky. So
(24:17):
we're we are thankful we had some truly amazing, amazing
shows before, you know, but I mean, like Chelsea said,
even now, we're also grateful that we have We have
had this time to write an entire album that really
came from us trying to look at our emotions and
be honest with each other, and we're very proud of it.
(24:39):
I know, being not being able to tour is is
gonna be tough for for so many reasons. So I
wanted to ask you have you ever had any spinal
tap style moments where it just like tour many disasters.
Oh um, well, tour is just filled with um, sleepless nights,
people getting sick max like a horrible, horrible flu. It
(25:03):
was so bad. I can't I can't even tell you.
I was like literally puking in a trash can in
San Francisco like five seconds before walking on stage. But
I was wearing a mask. I felt like I was
getting that in the ether. Yeah, and you know, losing instruments, um,
me wanting to kill both of them and yeah. So
(25:26):
it's just like it's always just such an interesting and
it's you know, tour is so great and just playing
shows in new places, um, seeing fans, like traveling all
that is great, but it's it can be so exhausting.
So I think that we haven't been home for more
than two weeks before this pandemic in the last almost
two years, so just being able to and I am
(25:50):
for sure a homebody more so than then. I'm always
getting a little homesick on tour and you know, I'm
having a great time. But so I think that we
just needed this reset for a minute, you know, and
especially like we had ditched the songs, and we were
like just all in a place where we were just
feeling frustrated. We wanted to write, but really couldn't find
(26:14):
our voice at the moment. And then the pandemic hit
and we were just you know, the confusion of everything,
the anxiety of everything just like made us not even
want to do anything, um, which made us even more depressed.
For like, we don't even want to write music all
this time, it was impossible. It's like, we finally have
a minute and we can't even do that. And then
(26:34):
like just something clicked one day and we just kind
of like we gotta get this going. And then we've
just been writing, you know, kind of ever since since.
It's been so fun seeing these evolves. There's not that
we weren't trying to write, it was just at the
beginning of the pandemic, it was really difficult, you know,
just trying to be creative, being creative, and we're we're
getting used to us Chelsea, and I love living with
(26:55):
your parents. They're amazing, but just like the whole our
whole world was just just kind of flipped, you know,
and it took some time to get used to it.
But I was gonna say, it sounds like you you,
you moved and you finished an album in the midst
of all this. I think, you know, I still feel
like proud of myself for like, you know, putting pants
on during a pandemic. So like you know, you're you're, you're,
you're doing pretty damn good. I gotta say, what's next
(27:17):
for you? What can fans look forward to? When do
you have Are you able to say when the album's
slated for? Yes, we're looking at April. At the moment um,
April is uh, it's coming up quick. But we got
all the song songs are ready to go, and we
just needed like some strings on a couple more. And
we have another song coming out early December, which we're
(27:38):
really excited for, more of a ballad with a lot
of strings, which are it's gonna be great. And so
the meantime, we're just going to keep making big breakfasts
and making sure everything's good. And yeah. Well, my my
last question, and I asked us of everyone if, if
if you could snap your fingers and everything go back
to whatever your definition of normal is in nineteen say
(28:00):
what would be the first thing that you would do
people to hug places to go. Very good question. Well,
my grandma lives. We just moved right next to my grandma,
seven minutes away, and I've not been able to hunker
since the pandemic. So I'd say, hug my grandma and
then go to like Greece or something. Just fly away,
get it on an airplane and not have to We
(28:20):
flew to Florida a couple of weeks ago, and I
almost died because it was a full flight. It was
just a disaster of Florida is all chaos. So getting
on a plane that's normal and not filled, going to
some fun place and feeling like and we went to
Florida just for the record, just to shoot a music video.
Wasn't for any kind of vacation. Oh no, no, no,
(28:41):
no no, it was not a vacation. Well it was amazing,
but Florida's crazy in the best way possible. But yeah,
that's what I would do. Good answer, Good answer. I
don't know what I would do. I feel like they
would want to go out, go out to like a
restaurant or something and be able to sit inside and
not worry about I'd probably go to a due karaoke
to be honest, and probably god you probably a bunch
(29:02):
of my bet with a bunch of our best friends,
just like have a big, fun karaoke party. That would
be pretty sweet. Yeah, I think I would, like, Chelsea said, honestly,
just give a hog to all my family and friends
and and um, it's hard not you know, hanging out
with people, especially now that we're home. It's like, that's
what I know. It's like, where's our house warring party? Yeah,
maybe we throw a fun housewarming party. But no complaints,
(29:26):
you know, for We're just very happy to be doing
what we're doing and staying safe. Chelsea, Spencer, Max has
been awesome talk and you thank you so much for
your time today. Thank You's a much. Jordan's appreciate it.
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Inside the Studio
(29:48):
Home Edition, a production of I Heart Radio. For more
episodes of Inside the Studio and other shows from I
heart Radio, check out the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcast
Welcome to Inside the Studio presented by I Heart Radio.
I'm your host Joe Levy. So before the pandemic, the
guest on this week's home edition of the show, Shade,
hadn't actually been home for more than two weeks in
(00:24):
the last two years, because two years that's how long
ago the indie pop trios hit Trampoline came out, and
they've spent an awful lot of their time since then
in a van on the road. Now, they did put
together an album's worth of new songs during that time,
but once the world slowed down during Lockdown, they didn't
think that music sounded much like them, so they hit reset.
(00:45):
You know, the home edition of Inside the Studio is
all about letting you know how the pandemic has impacted
the lives of artists, how it's affecting the way they
make music. And Shade talked with our Quarantine correspondent, Jordan
Runtalg about the challenges and rewards of staying creative during
this difficult time. You know. They also explained how you
get a thirteen piece string section on your new music
(01:07):
during lockdown and I don't want to give anything away
but masks and a very long Distance Zoom Call are
involved as always. If you enjoy this episode, be sure
to check out the I Heart Radio podcast that Jordan's hosts.
It's called Rivals Music's Greatest Feuds, and it's available wherever
you get your shows. Hello everyone, my name is Jordan
(01:34):
runt Odd, but enough about me. My guests today are
three friends from the d C Metro area. They've been
making music together since they were in high school, but
they got the world's attention with the single Trampoline, blending
indie pop, would dreamy electro beats and elegant vocals. The
track has gone double platinum and earned a feature from
Zane Malick. Now, as they prepared to drop their first LP,
the band are back with a new single, No Other
(01:56):
Way the Threesome found their name and a fantasy book series.
It's a reference to a cloak made of shadow and light.
I think that's the perfect way to characterize their moody,
melodic talents. I'm so happy to welcome Shade Chelsea, Max Spencer,
thank you so much for taking the time today. It's
so great to talk to you. Yes, of course, thank
you so much for having us. Oh my god, so
much to ask you about First of all, your your
(02:16):
new single No Other Way. It's incredible, I mean, empowering
lyrics and it's impossible not to dance to. And I'm
a non dancer, so that's really that says a lot
coming from me. Uh, can tell me a little more
where this one came from? Yeah, so we um. He
wrote this song a couple of months ago. All Chelsea
and I were quarantining with her parents at the time,
(02:38):
and Max was coming over all the time as well,
and we were feeling, you know, there was a lot
of emotions, UM, very anxious, UM, just stressed out with
everything that was happening in the world, and we wanted
to write a song to remind us to try to
stay present, you know, and appreciate the life that we
(03:00):
still have, and we also wanted something to dance to. UM.
So we Yeah, we just wrote this tune and and
we're super excited to share it with people. Now. Now,
you were in the midst of working on your first
LP when the pandemic began. Have you retooled much of
it in the wake of everything that's come the last
couple of months. No, Basically, we are at the beginning
(03:22):
of last summer. We had a basically an entire album.
You know, we we had Trampoline and that success kind
of helped us get with some really big writers, which
was just such a fun experience. But we had kind
of a handful of songs. I mean, essentially an entire album,
it's worth of songs, but it was just pretty mishmashed,
(03:45):
a bunch of different people, um, a bunch of different
you know, different subject matters, and it just didn't feel
like us. So basically, we were in Portland, I think,
oh no, we're in Seattle and we were just sitting
around the kitchen table at I just said, these have
got to go, We've got to start over, and so um,
(04:05):
we just got back on the road. We're on the
road for a bit. And then the pandemic happened and
we were able to finally kind of hunker down and
you know, get all our ships done. So that was
and this album just feels so much truer to us
and who we are and what we are and so
no regrets there for sure. How is writing at home
different from writing on the road? Is it like much
(04:26):
more communal in do you have a preference I would
say writing at home because when we're on the road.
I'm asleep in the van the entire time, um, and
we're just like exhausted. We're running around, we're doing a
much of like radio press. We're you know, having the show,
and then after the show, we're just exhausted, and then
we're in the van the rest of the time, So
(04:47):
so much time to write. I would love to be
able to do that. That would be like a superpower.
I think, Um, yeah, we aren't in the bus life
world where we could have a studio and the bus
when Spence on our driving the van and we'll try
to make beats in the in the car, but it's
it's not the same. And as Chelsea was saying, we
(05:08):
just for for two years we were basically on the
road promoting trampoline and playing festivals, and we had this
album ready, and then once the pandemic hit, it was
just we had like a moment of clarity and we
were just like, you know, this isn't it didn't feel
true to ourselves, and we just had all all of
this free time to actually make an album. And it
(05:29):
was definitely kind of rough for the first couple of
weeks because we were just feeling the emotions. I think
everyone else was feeling just all this you know, worry
and just just getting used to spending all of your
time indoors. But we just kind of embraced that and
just hunker down and wrote the majority of this album
in a couple of months, and it's just been kind
(05:49):
of fleshing out these ten songs since then. So I
was gonna say, you were on the road for years,
living out of airbnb s on the festival circuit. It
must be a huge adjustment being stationary for this long now. Yeah,
definitely an adjustment, um, but a good one. We needed
a break, We needed like a time to kind of
settle down. We we all moved into Spence and I
(06:13):
moved into a house and Falls Church, Virginia. Max moved
into d C. And I don't think that we would
have ever been able to like take this next chapter
step if it hadn't been for the pandemic. So it's
a little bit of a silver lining for that for sure. Now,
what does the typical writing day look like to you?
Is this something that you do every day, almost like,
you know, just chipping at it a little way at
(06:34):
a time, or do you wait until you're inspired to
say Okay, I got this new song. I want to
go get together and work on it. Well, the day
starts with a amazing breakfast that Chelsea makes every morning.
That yes, well it depends, but I mean a lot
of times we got get some fresh eggs, maybe some
some avocado, some berries, uh, and we'll have our morning coffee.
(06:58):
So we gotta start with that. We're Chelsea and I
were married, by the way, me and Chelsey and I
are married. So we get up very early every morning
and kind of try to start start with a healthy morning. Um,
I think, uh, we try to write every day, but
more recently we we have like a bunch of songs
(07:19):
that were really excited about. So we've been focused on
really honing in on the on some of these tunes
and making sure like the drums sounds are perfect, the
transitions are great between the chorus and the verse, you know,
all that kind of stuff. But even so, we we
think it's important to continue to try to write aside
from Chelsea's amazing, unmistakable voice. Is there an instrument that
(07:40):
you feel is the most crucial to your sound, Like,
you know, an instrument that you always sort of start
with and go from, is like your secret ingredient. Chelsea's
voice is definitely the most that's we we write all
of our music around her vocals. But for this new album,
one thing that we're very excited about incorporating has been
UM live strings. So we have like a thirteen piece
(08:03):
string section all over this album. That's so we've already
booked of a session for no other way. The strings
are on that song and for the next single coming
out UM Once Upon a Time. But uh, it's been
interesting because we were working with this string arranger who
did the all of the arrangements on the last Angel
(08:23):
Olsen album, All Mirrors. I don't know if you've yeah,
So he did a bunch of arranging on that, and
we just were fans of his work, so we reached
out to him and he came back at us with
all these great parts, and after we'd flushed them out,
it was time to kind of figure out how we
were going to actually record, you know, thirteen players in
the middle of a pandemic. And he had worked with
(08:45):
this Northern Macedonian string section before, so yeah, which was incredible.
So we they were all wearing masks and being safe,
but they we basically had a zoom call into this
beautiful studio in northern Macedonia with thirteen players and engineer
and like a you know, conductor for three hours and
(09:06):
we're able to knock out two songs. So that's just
been a huge part of this new album that's been
shaping up to be a big voice all over it.
So I'm I'm so excited about that, excited to hear it.
I'm so fascinated by the relationship between composer and arranger.
I mean, I think of someone like Paul McCartney sitting
down with George Martin to work on the string arrangements
for for Yesterday and almost going line by line. Does
(09:27):
the arranger do they give you multiple options of Okay,
we can take you know, this voicing here and go
up to this sort of bluesy note, or we can
play it more like a Bok corral or something like that.
How what was your relationship like working with the arranger? Yeah,
so this was our first time ever working with um
a composer, So Jarek Bischoff shout out to him. He's
been just incredible. Um So the way a lot of
(09:49):
these songs already had like, uh, synthesizer strings, or not.
So you know, I guess you call it strings like
would you say, we're like sampoldst ings that sound like
those strings? But there so when we yeah, so they
sound good, but we so we had some sample strings
string parts for a lot of the songs and we
(10:11):
sent over those two Jerik and he first of all
would tab those out so that we could have an
orchestra actually play those parts. But then he also created
all these beautiful melodies and you know, different um string
hooks and stuff like that that he that he thought
would be good. And then he sent him back to
(10:32):
us and we were able to comb through everything and
then sort of structure it as well. So it was
a really great back and forth um with him. And Yeah.
Then at that point we would go to the actual
orchestra and he had part by part structured for them,
so they would just they just knocked it out of it.
It was pretty amazing to see because he they would
(10:52):
just piece by piece. In three hours, we had all
the different parts that we wanted to Pj's and Chelsea
would like pop in and be like, what's going on
to really we're on you know, we're on the course too,
And it was it was wild. But that must be emotional.
Oh yeah, I mean just seeing on the orchestra playing
something you wrote. I mean, I can't even imagine what
that feels like. As a composer, that's gonna feel amazing.
(11:12):
It was incredible. We were like in your crying, We're like, wow,
this is like sounding incredible. I was also hungover, so
it was really particularly emotional for me. But UM, I
don't know, no, but it's it's been. It's shout out
to Jerich. He's so talented and he's quick up. I
(11:38):
wanted to ask you, I know everyone asked you about
your band name. I wanted to ask you how it
relates to your sound. As I said in the intro,
shade as a cloak made of shadow and light. What
drew you to that word? What is it that you know?
How do you feel it relates to to you and
your music? UM? I think that for us, we kind
of do when we read, Um, we kind of do
(12:00):
a book club situation where Spencer will read a book
and then he'll pass it on, and then he'll pass
it on. So this one particular book, Uh, Spencer did
a bunch of research and he read the book and
he said you have to read it, said it. Erry
gave it to me. I read it, and the Max
read it, and then we were looking for names, and shade,
(12:21):
just alone in the book, regardless of definition or anything
like that, just looked like such a cool word to us.
And you know, then knowing that it's a protective cloak
and you know it's it's woven by Goddess and everyone
kind of perceives it differently, it just seemed like a
really cool and we love this book so much, so
(12:43):
it's like, um, it just was just seemed to fit.
You know. What are you reading now in the book club? Oh?
My gosh, right now, I'm reading a book, um that
was recommended to me. It's called Breasts and Eggs. So, um,
I'm only on my page two because I just started
reading it. But that is my that is when I
(13:04):
am reading at the Moon. Spencer is reading Charlie and
the Chocolate Factory right now, the original. Yeah, but I
just beinge the the like the Girl with the Dragon
Tattoo series as well. I just it was really good. Max.
What are you reading? I'm reading h Have you heard
of When Things Fall Apart? By m Very appropriate for
(13:29):
the times right now, so I'm just trying to piece
my life together and read this when things fell apart book.
So it's been good there. That's the Shade book club
Ladies and gentlemen. Yes, very diverse reading. Well. I read
that you wrote Trampoline the lyrics at least in about
a day, very very fast. Do you find that the
best songs come quickly they just kind of burst out
(13:51):
of you? M I would say no, because I mean Trampoline,
we did have the lyrics very quickly, but that's all
just was like it took of you know, it took
us forever to evolve it just because we were always
how many different parts we you know, like it was
I just like always, so it took us forever to
(14:13):
actually get it out. Probably like there was I think
the song itself was written quickly, but then in terms
of like the production and extra vocal melodies and stuff
to layer on top of it. Um. He worked with
this great producer Alex Mendoza too, who brought a fresh
perspective um, specifically with the choruses, like he kind of
(14:34):
brought all the instrumentation down and really slowed that part
of the song. So the production took a while to
figure out. But the lyrics were written like definitely in
a day, and the main parts of the song we're
written in a day. So I think it does depend
on whether or not you know some songs. Some songs
(14:54):
come easily and that's great, but others do take a while,
and I think you can always some of those songs
for us are some of our favorites. So we went
on so many rabbit holes are trampoline that by the
time we finished it, I think all of us were
just like turn it off. We were just we weren't
even sure where we ended up, but we felt like
it was done. We just were like, all right, this
(15:15):
was there a moment that you knew that it was
really taking off, as there like a lightning bolt moment
for you. I would say the Apple commercial was definitely
they like, oh this, here we go. I think that
was like such a cool um like absolute dream. I mean,
we grew up and you know, Feist has her Apple
(15:38):
commercial and that was just like the coolest thing in
the world and that was just so iconic and so
just for us to have an Apple commercial was just insanity.
So I think that's when we were like, this is amazing.
I mean yeah, So I live in d C. So I, um,
I've had some pretty cool experiences with the song. But
(16:00):
but like just a couple of weeks ago, I pulled
up in front of my house and I heard Trampoline
Plane outside of my car. I thought it was inside
my car, and then I thought I maybe it came
on the radio, and I realized it was coming from
outside the car. So I hop out of the car
and it's blaring down the block like stadium level. Like
I have no idea. I like, I never heard it
(16:21):
this loud in my life. And I was just like
following the song, and I thought maybe one of my
neighbors was messing with me. And I just was walking
down the block and then I see this lady on
the porch, just sitting on this enormous speaker on her
front porch, just jamming to Trampoline Uh. And I just
walked across the street and I was like, hey, Like
she saw me standing there awkwardly, and she just pausing music.
(16:45):
She's like, what's going on. I'm like, that's my song.
I was like, hey, I'm Max, that's my song. You're
listening to you? And she's like, oh my god, I
love this song. This is my jam too, Like, this
is my favorite song. And I was like, no, like
I made that beat with my brother and his wife.
We're in a band together. And she just was like
her mind was blown. It was just such a funny
experience and she was just like, you're lying, you're not
(17:05):
and I was like, no, that's that's me. So even
now it's cool to have like experiences like that. Then
we never thought a million years we'd have so yeah.
And and also to add to that, I think, honestly,
you always dream of hearing your song on the radio,
but um, you never think it's gonna happen. So just
being you know, we were in l A. And uh,
(17:27):
we'd heard. First of all, we heard our song on
our local alternative station DC one on one, and that
in itself was just incredible because we grew up listening
to that station and we know all those guys. But then,
you know, we go to the West Coast and we're
in l A. And the song comes on on the
biggest pop station and it was like those kind of things.
You're just pretty it's pretty incredible. You've been singing together
(17:48):
practically since the womb, right, I mean, you were toddlers
and you're making music together. Yeah, we were starting five
years old. There you go, shout out to our mom
who taught us how to write songs and how us
write songs for say a clause. That was like our thing,
songs for Santa. Like every time he got into fight,
our mom would say, hey, you should should go write
a song for Santa, and Max and I would say
(18:09):
at the piano and right, you know, Santa's evening flight.
They had like a neighborhood Santa there. This is like
the this is the craziest thing. I wish I had
this as a kid where the same person every year
and different people had different Santas, but the same person
every year in this neighborhood would dress up as Santa
(18:29):
and come to the house and visit. But it was
the same person. So every year as a kid, it's
like they shout out to uh, Billy Batista, the Italian Santa,
the original Italian Santa. He was. He was incredible. Yeah,
that was that was real. I mean two that was
that was a lot of pressure, you know, as a kid,
(18:52):
and it was it was intense. There was a lot
on the line. Right, yeah, this is Christmas. Did you
get this wrong me in your house? Oh yeah, he's
he's skipped in the place. You're not getting any now.
But it was really, it really was cool getting Santa's
feedback on some of our first songs. Did he really
actually give you like thoughts on it? Oh? Yeah, I
(19:14):
still send him every song we write. You set him trampling,
He was liken. Well, that is one of the best
first like early music experiences I've ever heard. ChEls. What
about you, What were some of your first musical explorations.
I'm a big Frank Sinatra fan. So um. I was
a really crazy wild child and I would just be
(19:35):
like all over the place, and my mom to get
me to go to bed, she would put in like
this little Frank Sinatra tape, things like Best of Frank
Sinatra or something, and I would just run and sing
the whole like the whole album. And it was just
a way to make me go to sleep. But I
would say I was obsessed with a Carriek machine when
I was a kid. I got a Carrie Machine for
(19:57):
Christmas and it's probably twelve and I swear every day
after school, I would go downstairs and I would just
be glued to the karaoke machine for hours. I don't
know what it was. And I was singing like very
interesting songs, but um like what, I don't know, Like
(20:20):
I was obsessed with like a Carpenter song. I was
always singing and sing like a Michael Jackson song like
any are you Okay? Or something? You know. It was
just like it was a whole thing. And Christmas songs.
I mean, like the Christmas song is one of my
favorite songs. Machine. Oh yeah, Well, I gotta ask all
(20:41):
of you, what what do your go to karaoke songs? Max?
You can go first. He has a go to, Yeah,
I have a go to Bending the Jets by own John.
But it's better if there's is an actual piano. If
there's live karaoke, it's game over. I'm just jamming it.
But but also after the five thousand time, I think
it's new. I think you even knew. And we do
(21:04):
a lot of singing in a lot of karaoke ing,
and it's always been in the jazz for Max, which
is hilarious. We also used to do cover shows back
in the day, like four hour cover shows and DC
like that's how we would kind of supplement some supplements,
some of the you know when we before Trampling and me, Yeah,
we were doing a lot of these cover shows and
I would usually sing you can't Always get what you
(21:26):
want by the Rolling Stones, like all all thirty minutes
of it. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah exactly. Oh yeah.
And we also did be fifty twos Love Shock, which
was so cringe e that I'm sure you can picture
in your mom It was so bad, it was so bad.
This was this was a few years before Trampline. Hope,
thank god. Yeah, this was like, this was a few
(21:47):
year or something. But but yeah, oh man, that makes
me stressed thinking about those times. But well, I know
you first started out singing at the nine thirty Club,
(22:08):
and it sounds like you you recently went back there.
What was that homecoming like for you? That must have
been really special. Oh my gosh, it was so cool. Well,
I've I met these guys at the nine thirty Club.
So the first time I met them, I was fifteen,
and um, I think it was fifteen. It was two
thousand and seven, and I was told by a friend,
you need to go to the ninety Club. There's an
(22:30):
amazing band that is opening up the show and they're
twins and they're really super cool. So my parents did
not let me go to d C alone, obviously, and
so my parents brought me. It was just them to playing.
We were what you weren't headlining that we were open.
You weren't headlining, but you were opening with a local band,
and it was so amazing and we just became best
(22:51):
friends after that. So we met there and then to
go back to the you know, to the nine thirty
club and playing like one of the bigger shows that
we've played, and it's a hometown show and everyone's hype
and our family and friends are there. Definitely emotional and
definitely like a super cool experience because it's just like
where it all started, which was super cool. That's amazing.
I mean, the success measure up to what you imagined
(23:11):
when when you were growing up. Absolutely even better. Honestly,
headlining club for a sort out show with all your
friends and family and in your hometown. That was that's
gotta be up there probably my favorite show. It was
my favorite show too. A lot of our dreams have
come true, um, and we're so thankful, and you know,
(23:33):
we got to for traveling the world. We went to Japan,
we went to, you know, London. We just have been
doing so many fun things these past couple of years
because of Trampoline and you know, because of everyone's love
and support. So we're so thankful and just still pinching
ourselves every minute of every day, for sure. The last
show we did was with Lizzo in Mexico Ports of
(23:56):
Arta on the beach and they were huntback Whales Kid.
He's not I'm not swear jumping out of the water,
no joke like putting on a show for everyone there.
It wasn't. It was insanity. And that was right before
the pandemic basically, so that was the last show we
we we had, So we consider ourselves very lucky. So
(24:17):
we're we are thankful we had some truly amazing, amazing
shows before, you know, but I mean, like Chelsea said,
even now, we're also grateful that we have We have
had this time to write an entire album that really
came from us trying to look at our emotions and
be honest with each other, and we're very proud of it.
(24:39):
I know, being not being able to tour is is
gonna be tough for for so many reasons. So I
wanted to ask you have you ever had any spinal
tap style moments where it just like tour many disasters.
Oh um, well, tour is just filled with um, sleepless nights,
people getting sick max like a horrible, horrible flu. It
(25:03):
was so bad. I can't I can't even tell you.
I was like literally puking in a trash can in
San Francisco like five seconds before walking on stage. But
I was wearing a mask. I felt like I was
getting that in the ether. Yeah, and you know, losing instruments, um,
me wanting to kill both of them and yeah. So
(25:26):
it's just like it's always just such an interesting and
it's you know, tour is so great and just playing
shows in new places, um, seeing fans, like traveling all
that is great, but it's it can be so exhausting.
So I think that we haven't been home for more
than two weeks before this pandemic in the last almost
two years, so just being able to and I am
(25:50):
for sure a homebody more so than then. I'm always
getting a little homesick on tour and you know, I'm
having a great time. But so I think that we
just needed this reset for a minute, you know, and
especially like we had ditched the songs, and we were
like just all in a place where we were just
feeling frustrated. We wanted to write, but really couldn't find
(26:14):
our voice at the moment. And then the pandemic hit
and we were just you know, the confusion of everything,
the anxiety of everything just like made us not even
want to do anything, um, which made us even more depressed.
For like, we don't even want to write music all
this time, it was impossible. It's like, we finally have
a minute and we can't even do that. And then
(26:34):
like just something clicked one day and we just kind
of like we gotta get this going. And then we've
just been writing, you know, kind of ever since since.
It's been so fun seeing these evolves. There's not that
we weren't trying to write, it was just at the
beginning of the pandemic, it was really difficult, you know,
just trying to be creative, being creative, and we're we're
getting used to us Chelsea, and I love living with
(26:55):
your parents. They're amazing, but just like the whole our
whole world was just just kind of flipped, you know,
and it took some time to get used to it.
But I was gonna say, it sounds like you you,
you moved and you finished an album in the midst
of all this. I think, you know, I still feel
like proud of myself for like, you know, putting pants
on during a pandemic. So like you know, you're you're, you're,
you're doing pretty damn good. I gotta say, what's next
(27:17):
for you? What can fans look forward to? When do
you have Are you able to say when the album's
slated for? Yes, we're looking at April. At the moment um,
April is uh, it's coming up quick. But we got
all the song songs are ready to go, and we
just needed like some strings on a couple more. And
we have another song coming out early December, which we're
(27:38):
really excited for, more of a ballad with a lot
of strings, which are it's gonna be great. And so
the meantime, we're just going to keep making big breakfasts
and making sure everything's good. And yeah. Well, my my
last question, and I asked us of everyone if, if
if you could snap your fingers and everything go back
to whatever your definition of normal is in nineteen say
(28:00):
what would be the first thing that you would do
people to hug places to go. Very good question. Well,
my grandma lives. We just moved right next to my grandma,
seven minutes away, and I've not been able to hunker
since the pandemic. So I'd say, hug my grandma and
then go to like Greece or something. Just fly away,
get it on an airplane and not have to We
(28:20):
flew to Florida a couple of weeks ago, and I
almost died because it was a full flight. It was
just a disaster of Florida is all chaos. So getting
on a plane that's normal and not filled, going to
some fun place and feeling like and we went to
Florida just for the record, just to shoot a music video.
Wasn't for any kind of vacation. Oh no, no, no,
(28:41):
no no, it was not a vacation. Well it was amazing,
but Florida's crazy in the best way possible. But yeah,
that's what I would do. Good answer, Good answer. I
don't know what I would do. I feel like they
would want to go out, go out to like a
restaurant or something and be able to sit inside and
not worry about I'd probably go to a due karaoke
to be honest, and probably god you probably a bunch
(29:02):
of my bet with a bunch of our best friends,
just like have a big, fun karaoke party. That would
be pretty sweet. Yeah, I think I would, like, Chelsea said, honestly,
just give a hog to all my family and friends
and and um, it's hard not you know, hanging out
with people, especially now that we're home. It's like, that's
what I know. It's like, where's our house warring party? Yeah,
maybe we throw a fun housewarming party. But no complaints,
(29:26):
you know, for We're just very happy to be doing
what we're doing and staying safe. Chelsea, Spencer, Max has
been awesome talk and you thank you so much for
your time today. Thank You's a much. Jordan's appreciate it.
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Inside the Studio
(29:48):
Home Edition, a production of I Heart Radio. For more
episodes of Inside the Studio and other shows from I
heart Radio, check out the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
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