November 5, 2024 • 37 mins
Early Riser is a cello-driven pop-punk band from Brooklyn, NY.
Before Early Riser made it down to FEST22, I was able to connect with Kiri Oliver to talk about their song "Strays" from their latest recording, "Big Life" out on Asbestos Records.
You can find the episode on all streaming platforms here:
B-Side Breakdown
https://linktr.ee/bsidebreakdown
Please follow Early Riser on their socials, pre-order their vinyl in HOT PINK, and stream their music on any of the available platforms.
You can keep up with them at:
Early Riser:
https://www.instagram.com/earlyriserband
https://earlyriserrr.bandcamp.com/
https://asbestosrecords.bigcartel.com/product/early-riser-big-life
...and their label:
Asbestos Records:
https://www.instagram.com/asbestosrecords
https://asbestosrecords.bigcartel.com/
Thank you for your continued support!
Brett Johnson
https://linktr.ee/brettjohnson
#EarlyRiser #KiriOliver #Strays #BigLife #AsbestosRecords #brettjamesjohnson #threecrowsclub #musicpodcast #bsidebreakdown
Before Early Riser made it down to FEST22, I was able to connect with Kiri Oliver to talk about their song "Strays" from their latest recording, "Big Life" out on Asbestos Records.
You can find the episode on all streaming platforms here:
B-Side Breakdown
https://linktr.ee/bsidebreakdown
Please follow Early Riser on their socials, pre-order their vinyl in HOT PINK, and stream their music on any of the available platforms.
You can keep up with them at:
Early Riser:
https://www.instagram.com/earlyriserband
https://earlyriserrr.bandcamp.com/
https://asbestosrecords.bigcartel.com/product/early-riser-big-life
...and their label:
Asbestos Records:
https://www.instagram.com/asbestosrecords
https://asbestosrecords.bigcartel.com/
Thank you for your continued support!
Brett Johnson
https://linktr.ee/brettjohnson
#EarlyRiser #KiriOliver #Strays #BigLife #AsbestosRecords #brettjamesjohnson #threecrowsclub #musicpodcast #bsidebreakdown
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Free Tross.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
B Side Breakdown.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Hey everyone, welcome to the B Side Breakdown. My name
is Brett Johnson and I'm your host. This is episode
twenty five of a podcast where I talk with other artists,
musicians and songwriters about a song they've written that's meaningful
to them that they can give me permission to play
in its entirety on this episode for you to hear,
and then we're gonna have a chat and try to
get deep into the why behind it. Today I'm gonna
be talking with Kirie Oliver from the band Early Riser
(00:30):
about their song Strays, So let's get into it. Here
is Strays by Early Riser.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
I'm scared recue dogg in the corner, who's ill stories
of where I have been. Sorry, I won't let you, Patney.
I just need some time before I let you in.
There's not much talking that leaving is only a star.
I'm champing away. I think, La, you're surrounding your art.
So give me all your page said, give you lots
(01:08):
of time and give we really usher.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Like its truly mine. We're all little broke, but or
less so low. We're all a bunch of strange just
looking for home.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
He said, take things feeling nervous, and weeks to get settled,
and months to build trust.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
I know that sometimes I'm the skittish, but I'm warming.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
I'll bet the slowly adjust because no one tells you
that kindness is.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Hard to ex when you are more familiar with me
staying away.
Speaker 4 (01:49):
From it black.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
So give me all your page said, give me lots
of time, and I give here. I'm sure just like
is truly fine. We're a little broke your butt now
we're less jo Bot.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
We're all a bunch of strange just looking for.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
You can't see it and the ball they're right, Thank you, Tekla.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
I was that thing that I'm finally getting comorable.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
And the thunderclad is sick.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
So give me all your patient thank give me lots
of time, and give me reassurance.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
This life is Trulie man. We're all little.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Broke me butt now we're lessons Lo.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
We're all a bunch of strange. Just look at book.
We're all a bunch of strange.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
Just look at for home.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
We're all a bunch of stray.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
But now we're finally home.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
And that was strays by early Riser. We're going to
take a quick break and come back and talk with
Kirie Oliver. So please stay with us. All right, and
we're back. Let's bring in Kirie to talk about the
song Strays and the band Early Riser and see what
they're working on. Hey, Carrie, thank you for taking the
time to talk.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
With me today.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
I'm so excited, absolutely absolutely so. You know, I kind
of came upon your band and this record specifically real
recently and it's it's it's so much fun to listen to.
I mean, I've read your bios and I've read some
press that you guys have got or you all have
had in a really am into the production, the sounds,
(03:41):
just the choices instrumentally and everything that you're doing. But
I'd love to hear from you. Why specifically did you
want to talk about Strays today.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Well, Strays was the first a single off of Big Life,
and it wasn't originally going to be We worked really
really hard to write an album with a lot of fair,
very catchy and theemic songs. That was kind of our goal.
And there were a lot of singles or a lot
of songs that I think could have been singles, and
I think originally that wasn't necessarily the first one that
(04:14):
we were thinking of, but then once we talked to
our label and some other friends that we were sending
it around to, that was coming to the top that
it was really resonating with people and they're like, oh,
that one's so catchy. And I loved the dog theme.
Everyone's song as we should do like a dog music video.
And then we didn't end up diving a dog music
video because that's been done. Other people have done great
(04:35):
videos where they just hang out with dogs, so sadly
we did not get to do a hangout with dogs
music video. But there was something about it that was
resonating with people and we were like, Okay, maybe this
actually should be the first one. It is, you know,
a very meaningful song to me, and I think represents
a step forward in my songwriting as well. There were
(04:55):
a lot of things that I was going for when
I wrote it, which wasn't always the case. You know,
like a lot of the songs that we've written over
our now you know, ten year career, I can't really remember.
I was just like, oh, I was having a feeling
and that song poured out, but this was like I
had a feeling but then I was thoughtful about it
of like, I want to write this song where there's
(05:18):
this metaphor about because I had what inspired it was
that I had left the toxic job that i'd been
out for more than a decade. Yeah, and I got
a new job that's a great job, but I was
having a really hard time transitioning because I had been
in such a bad environment for so long, and I
found myself saying to people, like, I feel like a
scared rescue dog that's just kind of like hovering in
(05:41):
the corner because I like can't trust that I'm going
to be treated well and I'm going to feel safe
in this environment. So I took that idea and you know,
decided to build out this metaphor and then decided to
not write about the workplace but write it like it
was a relationship, Like you're in a new relationship, you've
(06:01):
left the bad relationship, and you feel like this scared
dog and kind of extend that to like how it
feels to trust someone again. So that, Yeah, that was
a really cool process and a little more intentional than
some of my writing has maybe been in the past
in terms of what I wanted to accomplish and do
with it, not just what I wanted to write about
(06:23):
and get out. So I think that's really cool to
see how that came out in the end.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Absolutely no, And that's really fun to hear that whole process,
and that's such a such an awesome approach, and I
really admire and respect that as a as a fellow
songwriter who aspires to do things that are as cool
as as that. Like, I just love how your process
there and in the metaphor of it, and how you're
getting kind of that sentiment out in a different way
(06:51):
that is super accessible and really fun at the same time,
which you know, given the subject matter, you know, I
think it's Yeah, I know, I think that's really great.
Congratulations for doing that so amazingly because it's that's not
I wouldn't have picked or pegged that that's what that
was about necessarily.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
At all, and you don't need to because it's like
that's the great thing about songwriting, Like I can write
from whatever happened to me that I want to write about.
And I think that was something that I really took
into the process for this album as well, of like
just because something happened to me, it doesn't mean that
I need to like encapsulate that thing so exactly, which
I really did in a lot of songs before. I
(07:30):
can just take that feeling and I can decide what
I want to shape it into that will be relatable
to the biggest number of people, Like I was really
thinking about that when I when I made this album.
And yeah, it's funny. I think when people think of
something that's widely has like wide appeal, they think of
it being more generic. But it's like people actually do
(07:52):
like specificity, but it's like specific in a way that
different people can relate to it. Like different people have
come to me and told me what they relate to
in this song, and it's not the thing that happened
to me that inspired it. You know, it's something different
for everyone. And I love that, and that shows me
that I did something good that people are connecting with
(08:13):
it and connecting with their own experience, especially the idea
of home. Multiple people have come to me and said
that that really struck them, that you know, we're all
a bunch of strange is looking for a home. We're
all a bunch of strange and now we're finally home
and sort of relating that to things in their life
of whether it's you know, going through something hard, moving
(08:33):
somewhere new, meeting new people, connecting with new people. Like
there's just a lot of just faith is in life
where you could relate to that.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Definitely, No, definitely I do, and as in me personally
as well, there's like five different flavors of that I
relate to. So that's it really speaks to me. And
I'm really grateful you put it out there, and I'm
super interested to know more about if you're willing to
share about it. So you said that the band has
had a ten year career so far. Tell me more
(09:03):
about that. So I know that you had the first
record was Currents that came out in twenty seventeen, right,
And was that after I mean a few years then
of the band being in existence or was this just
a duo at that point or tell me more about that.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Yeah, So this has started as a solo project, likee
more than ten years ago, just pretty informal because I
was in other bands. But I was in another band
with Heidi called Leda Hidie's ar Cello Player. We were
in like a five woman kind of in the Americana
type band. And that band broke up and I asked, Heidi,
you know, do you want to play cello on some
of these acoustic songs that I've been working on. So
(09:41):
early Riser I had already been calling it that miss
Whole project, but that was kind of born as like
a duo where we were seriously going to play shows
and make records and stuff, and you know, we were
involved in the comedy scene at the time. We booked
the musical guest for the Chris Gethard Show, which at
the time was like a weird underground, you know, public
access show, and then later had a few seasons on
(10:02):
cable TV, and that's where we met Mikey because he
was the drummer in the house band. But because of
our connections to the comedy scene, our first shows actually
were like variety shows. Like if someone was doing a
comedy variety show at like an underground comedy place in
New York, we would be the musical guest, and we
weren't doing musical comedy. We were just playing music. But
that was where we first started playing shows, which is
(10:25):
sort of in these like variety shows settings in the
comedy scene. And then you know, we would play punk
shows but it would be hard to be the acoustic
act on a full band show because people would talk
over us, and we sort of hit a point where
we were like, yeah, we don't want to do this anymore.
We need a band. But it was really really hard,
Like we looked around a lot. It was really hard
(10:47):
to find people who were available to be in the band.
Like we'd had a bunch of friends who'd be like, oh,
i'll play this show with you, but I can't really
be in the band. So we were kind of like
cycling through different people who were all great, but no
one was really available. So eventually we were like, Okay,
we're gonna make We're gonna make this record, but we
(11:07):
don't have a band, so we need to find like
two people who ended up being our friends Zaying on
basin Davey on drums, who were like willing to come
in and workshop the songs with us as full band
songs in a pretty short amount of time. So you know,
the current songs we had been playing acoustic, and then
you know, we got them together, but we weren't playing
(11:28):
them live with that lineup. So it wasn't what I
would ideally want in terms of really fleshing out the sound.
It was kind of like, okay, we put based in
drums on these, it sounds pretty cool. We're going to
go in the studio and record it. And you know,
we were just excited to make our first record. So
we did that. And then you know, once we were
(11:50):
getting ready to tour on that, we met Nicole, who's
our basis now. She had moved to New York. It's
always great to meet someone who's just moved here, like
fresh meat. You know, she had moved here from Boston.
She'd been in bands. We had mutual friends. It's like, oh,
we're gonna get you before someone else gets you. And
then so yeah, we've been playing with Mikey for a bit,
(12:12):
but he wasn't always like around to tourn stuff because
he tours, as you may know, in so many bands.
So so yeah, like as around twenty seventeen that we
started playing uh with them more and eventually you know,
kind of put the feelers out of like you guys
want to make it official, like you guys want to
(12:33):
make a record with us. I remember being kind of
nervous to be like, okay, cool, we've been playing the show.
It was like, you want to do this, and with
someone like Mikey, who's such a busy drummer and you know,
in so many bands, it's always like it's you know,
you don't know what he's going to be available for,
so it's like, oh, yeah, like is it okay to
ask him to be in my band? But he was like, no, dude,
(12:55):
like that would be awesome. Like I tour with so
many bands, but not that many people actually like asked
me to make records with them. I'm just like filling
in here or there, doing this or that tour or whatever,
and like I love to write records and make records.
So so yeah, so that was the became the permanent lineup,
and we've now made two albums together, which has been
really cool to get to really dig in with the
(13:17):
same group of people and just think about, you know,
where we want to go. So for the for vocations,
we were just finding our sound as the four of
us and not having to you know, replicate in any
way what we did on Currents, because that was just
kind of slapped together and this was like, okay, this
is us, Like, this is what we sound like, this
(13:38):
is how we want to write these songs. And then
having already made a record together once we got to
do this one. We all have like different but kind
of similar goals of what we were bringing to it.
Like I, as I was talking about before, like wanted
to push my songwriting forward in certain ways, also wanted
to push forward my guitar playing. You know, I'm self taught.
(13:59):
I had played you know, a lot of the same
strumming patterns and the same chords and a lot of
those songs and just very utilitarian, which is fine because
I'm really like mostly focused on the lyrics. But I
knew that my songwriting would move forward if I like
brought in my palette of what I could do on
guitar in terms of different chord progressions and different rhythms
(14:21):
and stuff. So that's something that I was working on
and bringing to it. And then everyone else kind of
brought their own ideas of like you know, Heidi saying, Okay,
this is the riff that I would normally write. For this,
I'm gonna try something different, or Nicole's kind of saying
the same thing on bass, like I would normally just
do this on bass when and I trust something different,
And everyone kind of brought that that spirit too. Which
(14:44):
is really cool that when you have a group of
people who work well together, but you're each like trying
to push forward what you do a little bit, then
that pushes for the whole thing. And I think that
that is really evident in just making these songs like
as catchy, as epic, as anthemic as possible, which of
course was also made possible with the production working with
(15:05):
Johnny Yellow, who was like our dream producer and he
knew that's what we wanted to accomplish and he really
really helped us do that.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
That's awesome. So how long have these songs then for
this record been sort of ready to go? Like when
did you start recording?
Speaker 2 (15:18):
We recorded a year ago, so November twenty twenty three.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Got it? Got it? And then is the Asbestos Records thing?
Is that a new thing for you or is that
have you really started stuff on that?
Speaker 2 (15:32):
No, we were on af Records, which no longer exists
because one of the founders of Anti Flag as an
abuser and so yeah, so after that happened, you know,
we were very focused on supporting the survivors, getting involved
with the Punk Rock Therapist, which is a nonprofit and yeah,
so we didn't really know for a while or even
(15:54):
really think about like what we were going to do
label wise. But once the record was in hand and
mixed and mastered everything, we were like, all right, like,
we don't necessarily want to self release this. We really
like putting out vinyl. I do a lot of stuff
for this band every single day, but I one thing
I don't want to do is try to co coordinate
with the pressing plant. I don't really know do that.
We would love to have a labels and it's like
(16:14):
the best part of being in a label is just
like the community that you get with the other artists
for sure who are on it. And you know, we
did get that from af There were a lot of
really great artists that we connected with in our Friends
with still, including the Homeless Gospel Choir who took us
out on our first tour in twenty seventeen and now
is also on Asbestos Records, so it is now once
again our label mate. And he kind of vouched for
(16:37):
us to Matt Flood, who is the label owner, and
Matt listened to our stuff and immediately loved it. He
said that he was like, this is exactly my jam,
like reminds me of like Planet X spoke punk stuff,
and I have other like acoustic punk artists like Derek
from He's Solo Now, Derek Sneddy, the Homess, Goustle Choir
(16:58):
and Black Eye Fall, such as our Ian Robinson, our
other friends. So you know, Matt was like, I can
see you as touring together, like this is a great fit.
Let's do it. So we're very fortunate that that worked out.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
No, that sounds amazing. And again that came out just
as past past October. So question on that, where is
the best place then for people to go find this
record or to buy it? I mean, is it through
Asbestosrecords dot com? Is it on band camp? Is it
where should people go?
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Yeah? Both of those. You can get it from Asbestos Records.
You can get it from our band camp, okay, digital
is our band camp or any whatever streaming platform you use.
It's everywhere.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Great great, great great great. And so then you're playing
Fest this weekend, Yeah, yes, got it. So for everybody
who's listening to this, you know, I'm going to do
my best to get this episode out before Fest that
happens this coming weekend late October twenty twenty four. But
in case it happens to been to the following week.
(18:01):
That's what we're talking about. Is Fest, a festival that
happens in Gainesville, Florida, every year. And I think they're
on Fest. What is it twenty two this year? Oh gosh, yeah,
I'm gonna get that wrong.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
I think it's like twenty three, got it?
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Okay?
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Oh wait, no, you're right, it is twenty two.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Oh cool? Okay, because it always confuses me when I
see Fest twenty two, I'm like, wait, are they saying
twenty twenty two?
Speaker 2 (18:23):
And I know they're not, so yeah, it's confusing. I
think it also got like thrown off by COVID.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
COVID, Sure, yep, yep. So you're coming down from Brooklyn
then to come to Gainesville to play this? When are
you doing? Are you en route? Are you doing a
string of shows on the way down?
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Mike's touring down with the Dopamines okay, and we're all
just meeting in Gainesville?
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Got it? Got it? And when do you play at
Fest this weekend?
Speaker 2 (18:48):
We play on Saturday at ten forty pm at the Wooly.
I got a very exciting, stacked show with a lot
of our friends like Rebuilder and Dead bar Is and
Doc Hopper, the Eradicator, Uh, Teenage Halloween, Fat Heaven. So
it can be really fun.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
That's great, that's awesome, Super excited about that. So then
are you doing any other shows after that on the
way back or is it just you just coming down
here for this because Mike's gonna continue on doing some
other tour and then you can meet up later or
kind of.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Going in going back. Yeah, we we just we just
did like a weekend or of album release shows and
we're doing fast and that's all we have planned for
the rest of the year. We need to sleep, you know,
we have we have jobs and sure, uh and you
know other stuff we're all managing. And yeah, it's a
(19:45):
huge accomplishment to get a record out and get to
do all the stuff around it and go to Fest
and then I think, you know, we just need a
little time to uh, to rest and then figure out,
you know, how we can continue to get this record
out there next year. Maybe go to some places we
have been before.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
No, that's great. Have you played Fest before?
Speaker 2 (20:04):
Only once before in twenty seventeen, okay, which was a
great experience, but yeah, it used to conflict with my
aforementioned job. I it's like a really big event that
I had to plan every year, like the same week
that fest was, or like the week after, so I
couldn't really get time off. And so yeah, no, I'm
free and I am available the last weekend of October.
(20:25):
So yeah, very happy to be going back.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
Oh that's super awesome. Right on, Well let's do this.
Let's take a quick break and then we'll come back
and find out what else you got going on that
you want to talk about, and h's kind of go
from there. Is that cool? Awesome? All right, and we're
back with Kirie from Early Riser and talking about the
song Strays and so, Kirile, let's tell me more about
(20:53):
the song, tell me more about your influences as a songwriter,
kind of what you're going for stylist with that, anything
you want to go into that kind of gets more
deep into the songwriting process for you.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Yeah, thank you well. For anyone who has followed us
for a bit, it's not a secret that we are
really big fans of the Weaker Bands and John K.
Sampson from Winnipeg, and yeah, he's definitely one of my
favorite songwriters and biggest influences. But until I started working
more on my songwriting and guitar playing in a really
(21:26):
intentional way. I don't think my influences necessarily came through
directly because they didn't know how to channel them. Like,
you know, we all have influences in terms of like
the reason that we write songs or you know, the
things we listen to that of course influence what comes out,
but like, I never really knew how to say I
want to write a song like in the style of
(21:47):
this person, because you need a certain level of understanding
of how that person approaches it musically as well as lyrically.
And I don't know for some reason writing this album
that for me, So John Ky Sampson was the main
musical inspiration for this song Weaker Thans. Fans know he
(22:08):
has a series of songs about a cat Vertute the cat,
or really they're like they're narrated by a cat, but
they're about a person who's struggling and you know this.
The first song is called Flee from a cat name
for Tute, and it's like a fan favorite Weaker Than
song because it's this cat who's singing to her owner
(22:31):
and it has this climactic part that's like I know
you're strong, so she's kind of like giving him a
pep talk through this clearly kind of hard time in
his life. It's just such an endearing song. And then
the second song in the trilogy, which we covered for
The Weaker Than's tribute, Vertuta, the Cat explains her departure,
is like one of the most heartbreaking songs I've ever heard,
where the cat basically narrates running away and forgetting her name,
(22:56):
and they have this line, I can't remember the sound
that you found for me about forgetting her name, which
is to me, just like every time I think about it,
I cry. And then on one of his solo records,
John wrote another song called for tute Rest, which, if
you think it couldn't get any sadder, now the cat
has passed and is talking to the owner from you know,
(23:19):
this little nest in the back of his brain that
he has created for her where she lives now, and
she's still like continuing to provide him comfort. And I
really can't listen to that one without crying. But yeah,
the fact that this person created such a rich world
(23:39):
that continues to like move and inspire people so much
like around this fictional cat, I just really love that.
So once I knew that I was writing a dog
metaphor based on this scared rescue dog thing that I
had said about my own life, I was like, oh, well,
I'm gonna write like a John K. Sampson style song,
like the cat songs, but I'm going to write a
(24:01):
dog song. And you know that was really the inspiration
of using the dog metaphor to write about something you
know that may have come from a difficult place, but
like from an uplifting angle.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
Absolutely have you Have you had the chance to meet
John K.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
Sampson, Oh, only very briefly. Don't be your heroes. I'm
just I get so nervous, Like I don't really like
to talk to musicians or people I admire unless I'm
working with them. Which is why I really liked being
a music booker because I was able to meet people
I really admire and kind of meet them as a
peer because I was just like working with them and
(24:40):
doing logistics and yeah, like, I'm not someone who really
feels comfortable going up to people at shows and gushing
or whatever. But our drummer Mikey, he used to play
with his bank called Warriors, and Warriors did a stripped
down kind of duo tour with John K. Sampson on
one of his solo tours. So Mikey was like, you
(25:02):
should just talk to him. You should have talked to him.
So I went up to him and I talked to
him for like a minute or whatever, like in the line,
And of course it's anticlimactic, and I embarrass myself, but
because that's how it always is, I'm just like, he
played all the cat songs and I was like, oh
my god, I was crying, and he was like, oh,
but you know he's amazing. Yeah, you can't. Yeah, you'll
(25:25):
never live up to your own expectations of what it's
going to be like meeting someone that you admire, especially
I think when it's in kind of like a fan
artist structure. That's why I surely like meeting people. Like
if you play with someone or you book them or whatever,
then it's like then you can just kind of talk
to them like equals. I mean, obviously there's still like
(25:46):
you know, sure more well known and higher up in
the scene or whatever, but like it feels more like
a peer. So it is hard for me, not someone
who knows how to interact with musicians like as a fan,
so I usually just avoid it.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
No, I totally understand that. I'm I mean, yeah, I
have two just glowing, awesome examples of that in my
past where I got to meet like just huge heroes
of mine and I ended up just sort of fan
boing out on them and it was so embarrassing and
I'm like, oh my god, I can't believe I just
did this. And they were super gracious about it and
really cool about it at the same time. But No,
(26:19):
I totally understand. I've was fortunate enough to do a
couple of tours where there's a bunch of different artists
and like you're talking about, to me, it's like the
there's this sort of I don't know why I was
equated it to this, but for me, like where I
came up in Minneapolis, like I was a bartender at
this one spot, and I always thought it would be
so cool to be a bartender at this one place
(26:39):
when I was you know, young, and just like oh whatever,
it would just be really fun in the scene to
do that. And then when I kind of got the gig,
I'm like, oh, well, this is just an illusion completely,
Like we're all just regular people just behind a bar
pouring drinks, you know, and oh got it. And then
when I found myself on tour in a similar situation
around with these other artists that are you know, I'm like,
oh my god, that's this and this and this and this,
(27:00):
and I'm like, uh wait a minute, Oh yeah, we're
all just regular people just hanging out, you know, before
we have to go play a show. And there's none
of that fanboy freak out you know thing there at all.
It was just now we can just have to cach.
How's your day, Oh it's good, Oh cool man, have
a good show, you know. And it's like such a
different vibe. But I mean I totally understand that completely.
Of the working with them, you know, other people, other
(27:22):
musicians that you may respect and admire, is such a
different dynamic than seeing them at a club and uh
yeah the merch line.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
And yeah, and you just saw them ply it. You're
just like I love you and they're like, I don't
know who you are. But yeah, anytime you do get
to interact with someone you admire in more of like
a professional capacity, it is so amazing. And like you said,
you realize, like we're all just people, but normally you
don't got to talk to someone you admire just as
a person, and if you're in that merch line, like
(27:52):
maybe there's a way to do it, but it's hard,
right like for sure. You know, I've I've seen friends
fangirl or fanboy to artists and start talking about their
own band, which to me felt cringe. Maybe that's not
me to judge, but in that moment, I was like, oh,
I wouldn't do that. But it's like it's hard because
(28:12):
that's that's how you connect, right Like, like if I'm
connecting to another musician in general, like I'm going to
talk about my music in there and talking about their
music and we're gonna connect. But it's also kind of
hard when you're in that like fan artist, you know environment,
Like it's it's gonna be different. If you just start
talking about your band to them, You're still not gonna
(28:35):
be able to connect like as peers, it's gonna seem
like you're trying to give them your demo like that school,
you know, like like try to try to get a
leg up and see if you all connect me in
the industry or whatever. Like it's just hard. I don't
really know if there's a shortcut in that type of
environment to actually like making a genuine connection with someone,
(28:57):
because it's just not like set up for that the
same way. And like you said, you're on tory, we're
all just hanging around. Everyone's just like people.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
Yeah, no, that's yeah, that's such an interesting dynamic. And
I've seen that so many times, and I've been on
that side of it. It's like, I wouldn't be great
if it's like that. Dude, it's just not gonna happen.
You can't have some sort of real sincere connection while
someone is standing behind the merged table like signing stuff
and just like rifling through people and like trying to
have some meaningful interaction that hopefully will result in I
(29:29):
don't know what you know. So yeah, that always just
felt like a lost cause to me.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
But it is hard. But that reminds me like being
on the other side of it, especially it's like a
smaller artist. It is really awesome when people come up
to the merch table and you can talk to them.
And something that I love is that a lot of
people bring their kids to our shows. Like we're old
enough now that like some people have kids who are
old enough to go to shows. And we played a
(29:53):
show in Wilmington for a record release and a guy
brought his life year old daughter and they came up
to the merch table and you know, the kids are
always like pretty shy in my experience, but he said,
you know, like we were watching your set, and she
turned to me and she whispered, I like her songs.
And I love talking to kids, especially girls, like if
(30:14):
I can be someone who inspires them to start a band,
because no one told me when I was that age
that I could start a band. Like I was taking
piano lessons, but like I didn't know that I could
be in a rock band because I didn't really see
that didn't have any like female role models or other
girls around like playing rock instruments. So you know, just
to be able to say to someone like, hey, do
you sing, do you play guitar? Like do you write songs?
(30:34):
Like you can do this, Like you totally should do this.
You know, that's so fun and like so rewarding. I
would say, that's like my favorite type of interaction, inspiring
the youth.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
Absolutely, No, that's awesome, that's awesome, that's great perspective on that.
For sure. I want to just to ask you though,
so I know, just kind of be being mindful of
other folks that listen to this podcast. It's a kind
of a castle wide net stylistically, and there's people who
don't know a lot of the deep. The deep bands
(31:09):
in certain scenes and genres and when this happened or
what happened, and from your perspective, I would love to know,
if you're willing to share it, what is your favorite
Weaker Than's album, because I would love to kind of
just hate everybody go listen to this week and Than's
record as well, because then you can kind of get
some perspective on that, Like is there one that you'd
particularly push?
Speaker 2 (31:27):
Yeah, I would say probably Reconstruction Site. Okay, Yeah, they're
really a fantastic band. I know a lot of people
don't know about them if they weren't in like a
particular corner of the scene. But they really cross a
lot of genres, you know. They played like the singer
had played bass in Propagandhi, which is like a political
(31:48):
punk band from Canada, but he was the kind of
like softer guy in it, so he went off and
wrote his little indie rock songs. Even though they played
sort of with a lot of emo bands and stuff.
They really kind of transcended genre and had different elements
of like you know, punk, emo, indie, even like a
little bit of country slide guitar and stuff. But like
(32:09):
the thing that you know, I'm looking for in music
that I like is not the genre, but just like
the songwriting, and you know, they have some of the
best songwriting I've ever heard, just like really like literary level,
someone that you can tell like his whole passion is
just finding the right words for something. He uses a
lot of words that I've had to look up, like semaphore.
(32:31):
I didn't know what that was. It's like maybe flags
or whatever. So yeah, it's always a pleasure to listen
to someone that you're like, I know, they worked so
so hard on just writing this just right in a
way that must have been very it feels almost like
it must have been academic. But then the result is
(32:52):
like something that inspires a lot of feelings in people,
which is hard to do right, to do something like
almost clinically of like I'm going to, like we were
talking about with this record, like I'm going to approach
this in this way, but the outcome isn't meant to
be something clinical. The outcome is actually something that is
going to make people feel things. So that is super
rewarding to be able to take sort of measured approach
(33:15):
to something. But actually what you're trying to do is
to write a song that will make people feel something
and say like, oh wow, I actually relate to that.
Speaker 1 (33:23):
Yeah, No, that's that's that is awesome. That is awesome. Well,
thank you for that recommendation. Also, just wanted to ask
you more again about Big Life the record. So are
you I know you said that after this fast show,
excuse me, you're going to go back to New York
and I gather all of you live in Brooklyn or
New York in general in that area.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
Brooklyn and Queens.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
Yeah, all right, got it cool. So you go back
home and you're going to kind of take the rest
of your off. What do you think? What are you
working on conceptually for twenty twenty five? Have you have
you thought about it as a band? Are you working
on any specific video or multimedia stuff that you're trying
to put out in a different capacity or anything like that.
It was just curious if there's anything on your radar
(34:04):
that people can be looking forward to.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
Hopefully plan some festivals that will get us to some
places that we haven't been before. Don't have anything to
share on that yet, but oka feel free to follow
us on social media and we'll have any updates there
as soon as we have them.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
Awesome, And what is the best What is the most
consistent platform you're updating on from social media? Is it
just Instagram or is it all over the.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
Place on the Instagram? Also Facebook, and we're also on
so it's yeah, Instagram is an early riser band. Facebook,
I think you just put in an early riser and
we're also on TikTok early riser band. I'm having a
lot of fun on TikTok.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
Cool cool, awesome. Well, Carrie, thank you so much for
taking the time to talk to me about this today.
Strays is a great song. I look forward to digesting
the rest of the record, and I hope you have
an awesome show at fest this weekend, and you know,
if it works out that I can get there, which
I'm trying to because I live in Orlando, hopefully I'll
be able to come introduce myself and say hi, and awesome,
(35:06):
meet the band and see everybody. So thank you again.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
Yeah, Thank you so much. This is great.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
Free crows up Beside Breakdown.
Speaker 4 (35:29):
Holly to Joe it side walk back on Bostar, I'm
down as we try to back you for.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
All right, And that wraps up another episode of the
b Side Breakdown. I want to thank Currie Oliver from
the band Early Riser to come along to talk about
their song stre I also want to thank Adam Coolong
and Carrie Bosel for helping me put together the jingle
you hear at the beginning and the end of this episode.
In the background, you're hearing the song Doppler by the
band rat Owl. If you dig what you're hearing, please
go back and listen to the previous episode because that's
(36:14):
what it's about. Up next, we have the band Omnigon
and Adam d who I'll be chatting with. I'll give
you a brief snippet of their song Grief at the
end of this episode. Please subscribe to this podcast wherever
you get your podcast. Thank you for your continued and
ongoing support. I really appreciate it. You know, stay safe
out there and we'll see it the next one. Thanks.
Speaker 4 (37:00):
I thought I try to play went on live. I'm
thinking by the Greek, then if I had I wish
Iblic document, some peta
Speaker 3 (37:17):
Wo
Free Tross.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
B Side Breakdown.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Hey everyone, welcome to the B Side Breakdown. My name
is Brett Johnson and I'm your host. This is episode
twenty five of a podcast where I talk with other artists,
musicians and songwriters about a song they've written that's meaningful
to them that they can give me permission to play
in its entirety on this episode for you to hear,
and then we're gonna have a chat and try to
get deep into the why behind it. Today I'm gonna
be talking with Kirie Oliver from the band Early Riser
(00:30):
about their song Strays, So let's get into it. Here
is Strays by Early Riser.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
I'm scared recue dogg in the corner, who's ill stories
of where I have been. Sorry, I won't let you, Patney.
I just need some time before I let you in.
There's not much talking that leaving is only a star.
I'm champing away. I think, La, you're surrounding your art.
So give me all your page said, give you lots
(01:08):
of time and give we really usher.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Like its truly mine. We're all little broke, but or
less so low. We're all a bunch of strange just
looking for home.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
He said, take things feeling nervous, and weeks to get settled,
and months to build trust.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
I know that sometimes I'm the skittish, but I'm warming.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
I'll bet the slowly adjust because no one tells you
that kindness is.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Hard to ex when you are more familiar with me
staying away.
Speaker 4 (01:49):
From it black.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
So give me all your page said, give me lots
of time, and I give here. I'm sure just like
is truly fine. We're a little broke your butt now
we're less jo Bot.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
We're all a bunch of strange just looking for.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
You can't see it and the ball they're right, Thank you, Tekla.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
I was that thing that I'm finally getting comorable.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
And the thunderclad is sick.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
So give me all your patient thank give me lots
of time, and give me reassurance.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
This life is Trulie man. We're all little.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Broke me butt now we're lessons Lo.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
We're all a bunch of strange. Just look at book.
We're all a bunch of strange.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
Just look at for home.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
We're all a bunch of stray.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
But now we're finally home.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
And that was strays by early Riser. We're going to
take a quick break and come back and talk with
Kirie Oliver. So please stay with us. All right, and
we're back. Let's bring in Kirie to talk about the
song Strays and the band Early Riser and see what
they're working on. Hey, Carrie, thank you for taking the
time to talk.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
With me today.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
I'm so excited, absolutely absolutely so. You know, I kind
of came upon your band and this record specifically real
recently and it's it's it's so much fun to listen to.
I mean, I've read your bios and I've read some
press that you guys have got or you all have
had in a really am into the production, the sounds,
(03:41):
just the choices instrumentally and everything that you're doing. But
I'd love to hear from you. Why specifically did you
want to talk about Strays today.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Well, Strays was the first a single off of Big Life,
and it wasn't originally going to be We worked really
really hard to write an album with a lot of fair,
very catchy and theemic songs. That was kind of our goal.
And there were a lot of singles or a lot
of songs that I think could have been singles, and
I think originally that wasn't necessarily the first one that
(04:14):
we were thinking of, but then once we talked to
our label and some other friends that we were sending
it around to, that was coming to the top that
it was really resonating with people and they're like, oh,
that one's so catchy. And I loved the dog theme.
Everyone's song as we should do like a dog music video.
And then we didn't end up diving a dog music
video because that's been done. Other people have done great
(04:35):
videos where they just hang out with dogs, so sadly
we did not get to do a hangout with dogs
music video. But there was something about it that was
resonating with people and we were like, Okay, maybe this
actually should be the first one. It is, you know,
a very meaningful song to me, and I think represents
a step forward in my songwriting as well. There were
(04:55):
a lot of things that I was going for when
I wrote it, which wasn't always the case. You know,
like a lot of the songs that we've written over
our now you know, ten year career, I can't really remember.
I was just like, oh, I was having a feeling
and that song poured out, but this was like I
had a feeling but then I was thoughtful about it
of like, I want to write this song where there's
(05:18):
this metaphor about because I had what inspired it was
that I had left the toxic job that i'd been
out for more than a decade. Yeah, and I got
a new job that's a great job, but I was
having a really hard time transitioning because I had been
in such a bad environment for so long, and I
found myself saying to people, like, I feel like a
scared rescue dog that's just kind of like hovering in
(05:41):
the corner because I like can't trust that I'm going
to be treated well and I'm going to feel safe
in this environment. So I took that idea and you know,
decided to build out this metaphor and then decided to
not write about the workplace but write it like it
was a relationship, Like you're in a new relationship, you've
(06:01):
left the bad relationship, and you feel like this scared
dog and kind of extend that to like how it
feels to trust someone again. So that, Yeah, that was
a really cool process and a little more intentional than
some of my writing has maybe been in the past
in terms of what I wanted to accomplish and do
with it, not just what I wanted to write about
(06:23):
and get out. So I think that's really cool to
see how that came out in the end.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Absolutely no, And that's really fun to hear that whole process,
and that's such a such an awesome approach, and I
really admire and respect that as a as a fellow
songwriter who aspires to do things that are as cool
as as that. Like, I just love how your process
there and in the metaphor of it, and how you're
getting kind of that sentiment out in a different way
(06:51):
that is super accessible and really fun at the same time,
which you know, given the subject matter, you know, I
think it's Yeah, I know, I think that's really great.
Congratulations for doing that so amazingly because it's that's not
I wouldn't have picked or pegged that that's what that
was about necessarily.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
At all, and you don't need to because it's like
that's the great thing about songwriting, Like I can write
from whatever happened to me that I want to write about.
And I think that was something that I really took
into the process for this album as well, of like
just because something happened to me, it doesn't mean that
I need to like encapsulate that thing so exactly, which
I really did in a lot of songs before. I
(07:30):
can just take that feeling and I can decide what
I want to shape it into that will be relatable
to the biggest number of people, Like I was really
thinking about that when I when I made this album.
And yeah, it's funny. I think when people think of
something that's widely has like wide appeal, they think of
it being more generic. But it's like people actually do
(07:52):
like specificity, but it's like specific in a way that
different people can relate to it. Like different people have
come to me and told me what they relate to
in this song, and it's not the thing that happened
to me that inspired it. You know, it's something different
for everyone. And I love that, and that shows me
that I did something good that people are connecting with
(08:13):
it and connecting with their own experience, especially the idea
of home. Multiple people have come to me and said
that that really struck them, that you know, we're all
a bunch of strange is looking for a home. We're
all a bunch of strange and now we're finally home
and sort of relating that to things in their life
of whether it's you know, going through something hard, moving
(08:33):
somewhere new, meeting new people, connecting with new people. Like
there's just a lot of just faith is in life
where you could relate to that.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Definitely, No, definitely I do, and as in me personally
as well, there's like five different flavors of that I
relate to. So that's it really speaks to me. And
I'm really grateful you put it out there, and I'm
super interested to know more about if you're willing to
share about it. So you said that the band has
had a ten year career so far. Tell me more
(09:03):
about that. So I know that you had the first
record was Currents that came out in twenty seventeen, right,
And was that after I mean a few years then
of the band being in existence or was this just
a duo at that point or tell me more about that.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Yeah, So this has started as a solo project, likee
more than ten years ago, just pretty informal because I
was in other bands. But I was in another band
with Heidi called Leda Hidie's ar Cello Player. We were
in like a five woman kind of in the Americana
type band. And that band broke up and I asked, Heidi,
you know, do you want to play cello on some
of these acoustic songs that I've been working on. So
(09:41):
early Riser I had already been calling it that miss
Whole project, but that was kind of born as like
a duo where we were seriously going to play shows
and make records and stuff, and you know, we were
involved in the comedy scene at the time. We booked
the musical guest for the Chris Gethard Show, which at
the time was like a weird underground, you know, public
access show, and then later had a few seasons on
(10:02):
cable TV, and that's where we met Mikey because he
was the drummer in the house band. But because of
our connections to the comedy scene, our first shows actually
were like variety shows. Like if someone was doing a
comedy variety show at like an underground comedy place in
New York, we would be the musical guest, and we
weren't doing musical comedy. We were just playing music. But
that was where we first started playing shows, which is
(10:25):
sort of in these like variety shows settings in the
comedy scene. And then you know, we would play punk
shows but it would be hard to be the acoustic
act on a full band show because people would talk
over us, and we sort of hit a point where
we were like, yeah, we don't want to do this anymore.
We need a band. But it was really really hard,
Like we looked around a lot. It was really hard
(10:47):
to find people who were available to be in the band.
Like we'd had a bunch of friends who'd be like, oh,
i'll play this show with you, but I can't really
be in the band. So we were kind of like
cycling through different people who were all great, but no
one was really available. So eventually we were like, Okay,
we're gonna make We're gonna make this record, but we
(11:07):
don't have a band, so we need to find like
two people who ended up being our friends Zaying on
basin Davey on drums, who were like willing to come
in and workshop the songs with us as full band
songs in a pretty short amount of time. So you know,
the current songs we had been playing acoustic, and then
you know, we got them together, but we weren't playing
(11:28):
them live with that lineup. So it wasn't what I
would ideally want in terms of really fleshing out the sound.
It was kind of like, okay, we put based in
drums on these, it sounds pretty cool. We're going to
go in the studio and record it. And you know,
we were just excited to make our first record. So
we did that. And then you know, once we were
(11:50):
getting ready to tour on that, we met Nicole, who's
our basis now. She had moved to New York. It's
always great to meet someone who's just moved here, like
fresh meat. You know, she had moved here from Boston.
She'd been in bands. We had mutual friends. It's like, oh,
we're gonna get you before someone else gets you. And
then so yeah, we've been playing with Mikey for a bit,
(12:12):
but he wasn't always like around to tourn stuff because
he tours, as you may know, in so many bands.
So so yeah, like as around twenty seventeen that we
started playing uh with them more and eventually you know,
kind of put the feelers out of like you guys
want to make it official, like you guys want to
(12:33):
make a record with us. I remember being kind of
nervous to be like, okay, cool, we've been playing the show.
It was like, you want to do this, and with
someone like Mikey, who's such a busy drummer and you know,
in so many bands, it's always like it's you know,
you don't know what he's going to be available for,
so it's like, oh, yeah, like is it okay to
ask him to be in my band? But he was like, no, dude,
(12:55):
like that would be awesome. Like I tour with so
many bands, but not that many people actually like asked
me to make records with them. I'm just like filling
in here or there, doing this or that tour or whatever,
and like I love to write records and make records.
So so yeah, so that was the became the permanent lineup,
and we've now made two albums together, which has been
really cool to get to really dig in with the
(13:17):
same group of people and just think about, you know,
where we want to go. So for the for vocations,
we were just finding our sound as the four of
us and not having to you know, replicate in any
way what we did on Currents, because that was just
kind of slapped together and this was like, okay, this
is us, Like, this is what we sound like, this
(13:38):
is how we want to write these songs. And then
having already made a record together once we got to
do this one. We all have like different but kind
of similar goals of what we were bringing to it.
Like I, as I was talking about before, like wanted
to push my songwriting forward in certain ways, also wanted
to push forward my guitar playing. You know, I'm self taught.
(13:59):
I had played you know, a lot of the same
strumming patterns and the same chords and a lot of
those songs and just very utilitarian, which is fine because
I'm really like mostly focused on the lyrics. But I
knew that my songwriting would move forward if I like
brought in my palette of what I could do on
guitar in terms of different chord progressions and different rhythms
(14:21):
and stuff. So that's something that I was working on
and bringing to it. And then everyone else kind of
brought their own ideas of like you know, Heidi saying, Okay,
this is the riff that I would normally write. For this,
I'm gonna try something different, or Nicole's kind of saying
the same thing on bass, like I would normally just
do this on bass when and I trust something different,
And everyone kind of brought that that spirit too. Which
(14:44):
is really cool that when you have a group of
people who work well together, but you're each like trying
to push forward what you do a little bit, then
that pushes for the whole thing. And I think that
that is really evident in just making these songs like
as catchy, as epic, as anthemic as possible, which of
course was also made possible with the production working with
(15:05):
Johnny Yellow, who was like our dream producer and he
knew that's what we wanted to accomplish and he really
really helped us do that.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
That's awesome. So how long have these songs then for
this record been sort of ready to go? Like when
did you start recording?
Speaker 2 (15:18):
We recorded a year ago, so November twenty twenty three.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Got it? Got it? And then is the Asbestos Records thing?
Is that a new thing for you or is that
have you really started stuff on that?
Speaker 2 (15:32):
No, we were on af Records, which no longer exists
because one of the founders of Anti Flag as an
abuser and so yeah, so after that happened, you know,
we were very focused on supporting the survivors, getting involved
with the Punk Rock Therapist, which is a nonprofit and yeah,
so we didn't really know for a while or even
(15:54):
really think about like what we were going to do
label wise. But once the record was in hand and
mixed and mastered everything, we were like, all right, like,
we don't necessarily want to self release this. We really
like putting out vinyl. I do a lot of stuff
for this band every single day, but I one thing
I don't want to do is try to co coordinate
with the pressing plant. I don't really know do that.
We would love to have a labels and it's like
(16:14):
the best part of being in a label is just
like the community that you get with the other artists
for sure who are on it. And you know, we
did get that from af There were a lot of
really great artists that we connected with in our Friends
with still, including the Homeless Gospel Choir who took us
out on our first tour in twenty seventeen and now
is also on Asbestos Records, so it is now once
again our label mate. And he kind of vouched for
(16:37):
us to Matt Flood, who is the label owner, and
Matt listened to our stuff and immediately loved it. He
said that he was like, this is exactly my jam,
like reminds me of like Planet X spoke punk stuff,
and I have other like acoustic punk artists like Derek
from He's Solo Now, Derek Sneddy, the Homess, Goustle Choir
(16:58):
and Black Eye Fall, such as our Ian Robinson, our
other friends. So you know, Matt was like, I can
see you as touring together, like this is a great fit.
Let's do it. So we're very fortunate that that worked out.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
No, that sounds amazing. And again that came out just
as past past October. So question on that, where is
the best place then for people to go find this
record or to buy it? I mean, is it through
Asbestosrecords dot com? Is it on band camp? Is it
where should people go?
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Yeah? Both of those. You can get it from Asbestos Records.
You can get it from our band camp, okay, digital
is our band camp or any whatever streaming platform you use.
It's everywhere.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Great great, great great great. And so then you're playing
Fest this weekend, Yeah, yes, got it. So for everybody
who's listening to this, you know, I'm going to do
my best to get this episode out before Fest that
happens this coming weekend late October twenty twenty four. But
in case it happens to been to the following week.
(18:01):
That's what we're talking about. Is Fest, a festival that
happens in Gainesville, Florida, every year. And I think they're
on Fest. What is it twenty two this year? Oh gosh, yeah,
I'm gonna get that wrong.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
I think it's like twenty three, got it?
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Okay?
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Oh wait, no, you're right, it is twenty two.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Oh cool? Okay, because it always confuses me when I
see Fest twenty two, I'm like, wait, are they saying
twenty twenty two?
Speaker 2 (18:23):
And I know they're not, so yeah, it's confusing. I
think it also got like thrown off by COVID.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
COVID, Sure, yep, yep. So you're coming down from Brooklyn
then to come to Gainesville to play this? When are
you doing? Are you en route? Are you doing a
string of shows on the way down?
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Mike's touring down with the Dopamines okay, and we're all
just meeting in Gainesville?
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Got it? Got it? And when do you play at
Fest this weekend?
Speaker 2 (18:48):
We play on Saturday at ten forty pm at the Wooly.
I got a very exciting, stacked show with a lot
of our friends like Rebuilder and Dead bar Is and
Doc Hopper, the Eradicator, Uh, Teenage Halloween, Fat Heaven. So
it can be really fun.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
That's great, that's awesome, Super excited about that. So then
are you doing any other shows after that on the
way back or is it just you just coming down
here for this because Mike's gonna continue on doing some
other tour and then you can meet up later or
kind of.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Going in going back. Yeah, we we just we just
did like a weekend or of album release shows and
we're doing fast and that's all we have planned for
the rest of the year. We need to sleep, you know,
we have we have jobs and sure, uh and you
know other stuff we're all managing. And yeah, it's a
(19:45):
huge accomplishment to get a record out and get to
do all the stuff around it and go to Fest
and then I think, you know, we just need a
little time to uh, to rest and then figure out,
you know, how we can continue to get this record
out there next year. Maybe go to some places we
have been before.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
No, that's great. Have you played Fest before?
Speaker 2 (20:04):
Only once before in twenty seventeen, okay, which was a
great experience, but yeah, it used to conflict with my
aforementioned job. I it's like a really big event that
I had to plan every year, like the same week
that fest was, or like the week after, so I
couldn't really get time off. And so yeah, no, I'm
free and I am available the last weekend of October.
(20:25):
So yeah, very happy to be going back.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
Oh that's super awesome. Right on, Well let's do this.
Let's take a quick break and then we'll come back
and find out what else you got going on that
you want to talk about, and h's kind of go
from there. Is that cool? Awesome? All right, and we're
back with Kirie from Early Riser and talking about the
song Strays and so, Kirile, let's tell me more about
(20:53):
the song, tell me more about your influences as a songwriter,
kind of what you're going for stylist with that, anything
you want to go into that kind of gets more
deep into the songwriting process for you.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Yeah, thank you well. For anyone who has followed us
for a bit, it's not a secret that we are
really big fans of the Weaker Bands and John K.
Sampson from Winnipeg, and yeah, he's definitely one of my
favorite songwriters and biggest influences. But until I started working
more on my songwriting and guitar playing in a really
(21:26):
intentional way. I don't think my influences necessarily came through
directly because they didn't know how to channel them. Like,
you know, we all have influences in terms of like
the reason that we write songs or you know, the
things we listen to that of course influence what comes out,
but like, I never really knew how to say I
want to write a song like in the style of
(21:47):
this person, because you need a certain level of understanding
of how that person approaches it musically as well as lyrically.
And I don't know for some reason writing this album
that for me, So John Ky Sampson was the main
musical inspiration for this song Weaker Thans. Fans know he
(22:08):
has a series of songs about a cat Vertute the cat,
or really they're like they're narrated by a cat, but
they're about a person who's struggling and you know this.
The first song is called Flee from a cat name
for Tute, and it's like a fan favorite Weaker Than
song because it's this cat who's singing to her owner
(22:31):
and it has this climactic part that's like I know
you're strong, so she's kind of like giving him a
pep talk through this clearly kind of hard time in
his life. It's just such an endearing song. And then
the second song in the trilogy, which we covered for
The Weaker Than's tribute, Vertuta, the Cat explains her departure,
is like one of the most heartbreaking songs I've ever heard,
where the cat basically narrates running away and forgetting her name,
(22:56):
and they have this line, I can't remember the sound
that you found for me about forgetting her name, which
is to me, just like every time I think about it,
I cry. And then on one of his solo records,
John wrote another song called for tute Rest, which, if
you think it couldn't get any sadder, now the cat
has passed and is talking to the owner from you know,
(23:19):
this little nest in the back of his brain that
he has created for her where she lives now, and
she's still like continuing to provide him comfort. And I
really can't listen to that one without crying. But yeah,
the fact that this person created such a rich world
(23:39):
that continues to like move and inspire people so much
like around this fictional cat, I just really love that.
So once I knew that I was writing a dog
metaphor based on this scared rescue dog thing that I
had said about my own life, I was like, oh, well,
I'm gonna write like a John K. Sampson style song,
like the cat songs, but I'm going to write a
(24:01):
dog song. And you know that was really the inspiration
of using the dog metaphor to write about something you
know that may have come from a difficult place, but
like from an uplifting angle.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
Absolutely have you Have you had the chance to meet
John K.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
Sampson, Oh, only very briefly. Don't be your heroes. I'm
just I get so nervous, Like I don't really like
to talk to musicians or people I admire unless I'm
working with them. Which is why I really liked being
a music booker because I was able to meet people
I really admire and kind of meet them as a
peer because I was just like working with them and
(24:40):
doing logistics and yeah, like, I'm not someone who really
feels comfortable going up to people at shows and gushing
or whatever. But our drummer Mikey, he used to play
with his bank called Warriors, and Warriors did a stripped
down kind of duo tour with John K. Sampson on
one of his solo tours. So Mikey was like, you
(25:02):
should just talk to him. You should have talked to him.
So I went up to him and I talked to
him for like a minute or whatever, like in the line,
And of course it's anticlimactic, and I embarrass myself, but
because that's how it always is, I'm just like, he
played all the cat songs and I was like, oh
my god, I was crying, and he was like, oh,
but you know he's amazing. Yeah, you can't. Yeah, you'll
(25:25):
never live up to your own expectations of what it's
going to be like meeting someone that you admire, especially
I think when it's in kind of like a fan
artist structure. That's why I surely like meeting people. Like
if you play with someone or you book them or whatever,
then it's like then you can just kind of talk
to them like equals. I mean, obviously there's still like
(25:46):
you know, sure more well known and higher up in
the scene or whatever, but like it feels more like
a peer. So it is hard for me, not someone
who knows how to interact with musicians like as a fan,
so I usually just avoid it.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
No, I totally understand that. I'm I mean, yeah, I
have two just glowing, awesome examples of that in my
past where I got to meet like just huge heroes
of mine and I ended up just sort of fan
boing out on them and it was so embarrassing and
I'm like, oh my god, I can't believe I just
did this. And they were super gracious about it and
really cool about it at the same time. But No,
(26:19):
I totally understand. I've was fortunate enough to do a
couple of tours where there's a bunch of different artists
and like you're talking about, to me, it's like the
there's this sort of I don't know why I was
equated it to this, but for me, like where I
came up in Minneapolis, like I was a bartender at
this one spot, and I always thought it would be
so cool to be a bartender at this one place
(26:39):
when I was you know, young, and just like oh whatever,
it would just be really fun in the scene to
do that. And then when I kind of got the gig,
I'm like, oh, well, this is just an illusion completely,
Like we're all just regular people just behind a bar
pouring drinks, you know, and oh got it. And then
when I found myself on tour in a similar situation
around with these other artists that are you know, I'm like,
oh my god, that's this and this and this and this,
(27:00):
and I'm like, uh wait a minute, Oh yeah, we're
all just regular people just hanging out, you know, before
we have to go play a show. And there's none
of that fanboy freak out you know thing there at all.
It was just now we can just have to cach.
How's your day, Oh it's good, Oh cool man, have
a good show, you know. And it's like such a
different vibe. But I mean I totally understand that completely.
Of the working with them, you know, other people, other
(27:22):
musicians that you may respect and admire, is such a
different dynamic than seeing them at a club and uh
yeah the merch line.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
And yeah, and you just saw them ply it. You're
just like I love you and they're like, I don't
know who you are. But yeah, anytime you do get
to interact with someone you admire in more of like
a professional capacity, it is so amazing. And like you said,
you realize, like we're all just people, but normally you
don't got to talk to someone you admire just as
a person, and if you're in that merch line, like
(27:52):
maybe there's a way to do it, but it's hard,
right like for sure. You know, I've I've seen friends
fangirl or fanboy to artists and start talking about their
own band, which to me felt cringe. Maybe that's not
me to judge, but in that moment, I was like, oh,
I wouldn't do that. But it's like it's hard because
(28:12):
that's that's how you connect, right Like, like if I'm
connecting to another musician in general, like I'm going to
talk about my music in there and talking about their
music and we're gonna connect. But it's also kind of
hard when you're in that like fan artist, you know environment,
Like it's it's gonna be different. If you just start
talking about your band to them, You're still not gonna
(28:35):
be able to connect like as peers, it's gonna seem
like you're trying to give them your demo like that school,
you know, like like try to try to get a
leg up and see if you all connect me in
the industry or whatever. Like it's just hard. I don't
really know if there's a shortcut in that type of
environment to actually like making a genuine connection with someone,
(28:57):
because it's just not like set up for that the
same way. And like you said, you're on tory, we're
all just hanging around. Everyone's just like people.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
Yeah, no, that's yeah, that's such an interesting dynamic. And
I've seen that so many times, and I've been on
that side of it. It's like, I wouldn't be great
if it's like that. Dude, it's just not gonna happen.
You can't have some sort of real sincere connection while
someone is standing behind the merged table like signing stuff
and just like rifling through people and like trying to
have some meaningful interaction that hopefully will result in I
(29:29):
don't know what you know. So yeah, that always just
felt like a lost cause to me.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
But it is hard. But that reminds me like being
on the other side of it, especially it's like a
smaller artist. It is really awesome when people come up
to the merch table and you can talk to them.
And something that I love is that a lot of
people bring their kids to our shows. Like we're old
enough now that like some people have kids who are
old enough to go to shows. And we played a
(29:53):
show in Wilmington for a record release and a guy
brought his life year old daughter and they came up
to the merch table and you know, the kids are
always like pretty shy in my experience, but he said,
you know, like we were watching your set, and she
turned to me and she whispered, I like her songs.
And I love talking to kids, especially girls, like if
(30:14):
I can be someone who inspires them to start a band,
because no one told me when I was that age
that I could start a band. Like I was taking
piano lessons, but like I didn't know that I could
be in a rock band because I didn't really see
that didn't have any like female role models or other
girls around like playing rock instruments. So you know, just
to be able to say to someone like, hey, do
you sing, do you play guitar? Like do you write songs?
(30:34):
Like you can do this, Like you totally should do this.
You know, that's so fun and like so rewarding. I
would say, that's like my favorite type of interaction, inspiring
the youth.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
Absolutely, No, that's awesome, that's awesome, that's great perspective on that.
For sure. I want to just to ask you though,
so I know, just kind of be being mindful of
other folks that listen to this podcast. It's a kind
of a castle wide net stylistically, and there's people who
don't know a lot of the deep. The deep bands
(31:09):
in certain scenes and genres and when this happened or
what happened, and from your perspective, I would love to know,
if you're willing to share it, what is your favorite
Weaker Than's album, because I would love to kind of
just hate everybody go listen to this week and Than's
record as well, because then you can kind of get
some perspective on that, Like is there one that you'd
particularly push?
Speaker 2 (31:27):
Yeah, I would say probably Reconstruction Site. Okay, Yeah, they're
really a fantastic band. I know a lot of people
don't know about them if they weren't in like a
particular corner of the scene. But they really cross a
lot of genres, you know. They played like the singer
had played bass in Propagandhi, which is like a political
(31:48):
punk band from Canada, but he was the kind of
like softer guy in it, so he went off and
wrote his little indie rock songs. Even though they played
sort of with a lot of emo bands and stuff.
They really kind of transcended genre and had different elements
of like you know, punk, emo, indie, even like a
little bit of country slide guitar and stuff. But like
(32:09):
the thing that you know, I'm looking for in music
that I like is not the genre, but just like
the songwriting, and you know, they have some of the
best songwriting I've ever heard, just like really like literary level,
someone that you can tell like his whole passion is
just finding the right words for something. He uses a
lot of words that I've had to look up, like semaphore.
(32:31):
I didn't know what that was. It's like maybe flags
or whatever. So yeah, it's always a pleasure to listen
to someone that you're like, I know, they worked so
so hard on just writing this just right in a
way that must have been very it feels almost like
it must have been academic. But then the result is
(32:52):
like something that inspires a lot of feelings in people,
which is hard to do right, to do something like
almost clinically of like I'm going to, like we were
talking about with this record, like I'm going to approach
this in this way, but the outcome isn't meant to
be something clinical. The outcome is actually something that is
going to make people feel things. So that is super
rewarding to be able to take sort of measured approach
(33:15):
to something. But actually what you're trying to do is
to write a song that will make people feel something
and say like, oh wow, I actually relate to that.
Speaker 1 (33:23):
Yeah, No, that's that's that is awesome. That is awesome. Well,
thank you for that recommendation. Also, just wanted to ask
you more again about Big Life the record. So are
you I know you said that after this fast show,
excuse me, you're going to go back to New York
and I gather all of you live in Brooklyn or
New York in general in that area.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
Brooklyn and Queens.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
Yeah, all right, got it cool. So you go back
home and you're going to kind of take the rest
of your off. What do you think? What are you
working on conceptually for twenty twenty five? Have you have
you thought about it as a band? Are you working
on any specific video or multimedia stuff that you're trying
to put out in a different capacity or anything like that.
It was just curious if there's anything on your radar
(34:04):
that people can be looking forward to.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
Hopefully plan some festivals that will get us to some
places that we haven't been before. Don't have anything to
share on that yet, but oka feel free to follow
us on social media and we'll have any updates there
as soon as we have them.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
Awesome, And what is the best What is the most
consistent platform you're updating on from social media? Is it
just Instagram or is it all over the.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
Place on the Instagram? Also Facebook, and we're also on
so it's yeah, Instagram is an early riser band. Facebook,
I think you just put in an early riser and
we're also on TikTok early riser band. I'm having a
lot of fun on TikTok.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
Cool cool, awesome. Well, Carrie, thank you so much for
taking the time to talk to me about this today.
Strays is a great song. I look forward to digesting
the rest of the record, and I hope you have
an awesome show at fest this weekend, and you know,
if it works out that I can get there, which
I'm trying to because I live in Orlando, hopefully I'll
be able to come introduce myself and say hi, and awesome,
(35:06):
meet the band and see everybody. So thank you again.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
Yeah, Thank you so much. This is great.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
Free crows up Beside Breakdown.
Speaker 4 (35:29):
Holly to Joe it side walk back on Bostar, I'm
down as we try to back you for.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
All right, And that wraps up another episode of the
b Side Breakdown. I want to thank Currie Oliver from
the band Early Riser to come along to talk about
their song stre I also want to thank Adam Coolong
and Carrie Bosel for helping me put together the jingle
you hear at the beginning and the end of this episode.
In the background, you're hearing the song Doppler by the
band rat Owl. If you dig what you're hearing, please
go back and listen to the previous episode because that's
(36:14):
what it's about. Up next, we have the band Omnigon
and Adam d who I'll be chatting with. I'll give
you a brief snippet of their song Grief at the
end of this episode. Please subscribe to this podcast wherever
you get your podcast. Thank you for your continued and
ongoing support. I really appreciate it. You know, stay safe
out there and we'll see it the next one. Thanks.
Speaker 4 (37:00):
I thought I try to play went on live. I'm
thinking by the Greek, then if I had I wish
Iblic document, some peta
Speaker 3 (37:17):
Wo
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!