November 5, 2024 • 39 mins
Night Windows is a trio based out of southern New Jersey.
Ben Hughes and I connected on their song "Church Bells" from their recent albom "In Memories".
Here's something taken from their Bandcamp site that I think really speaks to the vibe of the song:
"Where do I go from here? Everyone is getting older. I’m losing people both to death and life. I’ve written about the sadness that comes with the gift of life, but never like this. This time, I leaned as hard into the sadness as necessary in order to feel better."
You can find the episode on all streaming platforms here:
B-Side Breakdown
https://linktr.ee/bsidebreakdown
Please follow Night Windows on their socials, buy their records, and stream their music on any of the available platforms.
You can keep up with them at:
Night Windows:
https://linktr.ee/night_windows
https://www.instagram.com/night_windows/
https://nightwindows.bandcamp.com
Thank you for your continued support!
Brett Johnson
https://linktr.ee/brettjohnson
#NightWindows #BenHughes #ChurchBells #InMemories #brettjamesjohnson #threecrowsclub #musicpodcast #bsidebreakdown
Ben Hughes and I connected on their song "Church Bells" from their recent albom "In Memories".
Here's something taken from their Bandcamp site that I think really speaks to the vibe of the song:
"Where do I go from here? Everyone is getting older. I’m losing people both to death and life. I’ve written about the sadness that comes with the gift of life, but never like this. This time, I leaned as hard into the sadness as necessary in order to feel better."
You can find the episode on all streaming platforms here:
B-Side Breakdown
https://linktr.ee/bsidebreakdown
Please follow Night Windows on their socials, buy their records, and stream their music on any of the available platforms.
You can keep up with them at:
Night Windows:
https://linktr.ee/night_windows
https://www.instagram.com/night_windows/
https://nightwindows.bandcamp.com
Thank you for your continued support!
Brett Johnson
https://linktr.ee/brettjohnson
#NightWindows #BenHughes #ChurchBells #InMemories #brettjamesjohnson #threecrowsclub #musicpodcast #bsidebreakdown
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Three tros B Side Breakdown. Hey everyone, welcome to the
B Side Breakdown. My name is Brett Johnson and I'm
your host. This is episode twenty seven 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
want to talk about with me, and then we get
(00:22):
deep into the why behind it after we've played it
in its entirety on this episode for you. So today
I'm going to be talking with Ben Hughes from the
band Night Windows, and their song is called Church Bells,
So let's get into it. Here is church Bells by
Night Windows.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Church.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
U flooded, child Rot, Remain, decay.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
Me the great.
Speaker 5 (01:17):
Church Bell Smoke Me Up and now.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Foot five of my friends last night trying to reach.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
At least stop.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Maybe let's change.
Speaker 5 (01:55):
H Church Bell smoke me up to the gardens.
Speaker 4 (02:09):
It means sat like s blue face, I saw through
straight straight straight straand the card you're starting to come
(03:23):
time listen to the least listen I.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
I I have.
Speaker 4 (05:04):
Well that friends again, I.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
Don't know what's work.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
That lets you does.
Speaker 6 (06:02):
Real all right?
Speaker 1 (06:09):
And that was Church Bells by Night Windows. We're gonna
take a quick break and come back and talk with
Ben Hughes. Please stay with us, all right, and we're back.
Let's bring in Ben and talk about the song, church
Bells and the band Night Windows. Hey, Ben, thank you
so much for taking some time this evening.
Speaker 6 (06:27):
To talk with me.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Thanks. I'm happy to be here, Brett.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, I mean I have I have questions
about the band, of questions about you, questions about the song,
but I really love to just kind of turn it
over you to start. Tell me about why you wanted
to talk about church Bells today.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Sure. Yeah, So I think that Church Bells.
Speaker 7 (06:52):
I wanted to pick that song because it seems like
it hasn't gotten as much attention as some of the
as much attention to some of the other songs on
the record, and for me and the guys, it feels
like like that that one feels I mean, it feels
like it's like kind.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Of what made the album the album.
Speaker 7 (07:15):
It maybe like the glue that held the whole thing together,
or like the soul or the spirit of the album.
So yeah, I figured it would be a cool chance
to be able to maybe get some more people, get
some more people to listen to it.
Speaker 6 (07:31):
Like, how did that song come together? What was the
inspiration for it? I mean, I'll just tell you.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
And I don't know if I'm hitting on this right
or not, but what I think is so beautiful about
this song is that for me as a listener, I mean,
I'm excited to hear other people's experiences that listened to
this episode as well, like what did they think of
it or what did it invoke in them? But man,
(07:57):
I mean, just like the second half of the song,
like the recordings of the people talking, I mean, to me,
that just reminds me of my dad who passed away.
Speaker 6 (08:05):
That reminds me of you.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Know, my mom I don't get to see much, and
and things like that, and so there was just like
this really sort of heavy, sort of somberness to the
whole thing.
Speaker 6 (08:17):
For me for sure. But what where where did the
song kind of originate from? What was the inspiration for it?
Speaker 7 (08:25):
So yeah, I'm glad that that you're getting those kind
of feelings and emotions with with with listening to it,
because it's it's definitely what we intended to make the
song about. I mean, the song initially came from a
place where I was trying to figure out how to
(08:48):
how to make music that would sort of help me
process losing Like between my wife and I, we lost
four grandparents during two years stretching during the pandemic, and
during that time, it's like we weren't really able to
see many people in person, So I mean there was
(09:10):
a lot of grief and it was really hard to
know what to do or like how to sort of
how to process all that. And so at this like
right around the same time, I was working on another
song on the album called Give Me Something.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
To Believe, where it was just sort of this whole
like what like what's the.
Speaker 7 (09:36):
You know, like the whole human existence thing or the
human experience where it's just you're trying to figure out
what you're doing here, and like what what's the reason
for this? What's is there anything deeper?
Speaker 2 (09:50):
You know, like those kind of questions, and and I
couldn't figure out how to make like where to fit
that song itself.
Speaker 7 (10:02):
It's like a little I think it's about a minute
and twenty seconds on the album like sort of serves
as an interlude, but that song in particular, I tried
to write church bells so that that song could be
the bridge or maybe the chorus, So that was like
the initial intention with the song was to try to
find a home for Give Me Something to Believe just
(10:25):
wound up being its own little kind of segment.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
On the album.
Speaker 7 (10:29):
But then it went through it went through maybe like
four like after I pulled, like I pulled give Me
Something to Believe back out of it because I was like,
this isn't working now. And then that I kind of
just kept playing with the song because it was using
some kind of like imagery, like part of it came
(10:50):
from a dream.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
That I had around that time that like an ever
Evergreen was like a recurring like.
Speaker 7 (11:00):
I guess theme or or feature of that dream, and
just kind of trying to figure out like what what
that meant to me? And church bells, I mean, I
grew up being raised religious, like Christian like all that stuff,
and it's something that like.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
I definitely don't don't believe in, you know.
Speaker 7 (11:23):
I mean, it's something I turned I turned my back
on because it didn't really I didn't really it didn't.
I don't know how to explain it, but I mean
it's just one of those things that it wasn't serving
me at all anymore.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Yeah, So the church Bells theme.
Speaker 7 (11:43):
There is like sort of that that thing you can't
get rid of when you're raised, like that nagging thing
that you cannot.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Get rid of if you're raised religiously.
Speaker 7 (11:53):
And so it's like the first verses like church Bells
woke me up, and it's talking about being like woke
up and the middle of the night. I think the
second verse talks about kind of being woking up at noon,
I kind of sort of alluding to maybe being hungover
and just sort of.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Like you're I don't know. There's just like a lot
I was trying to process a lot of themes.
Speaker 7 (12:19):
Of like loss and kind of grief and sort of
like how how to put it into words and then
into into melody. And then the song itself sort of
came together because during the pandemic, the guys and I
weren't able to get together, so I had to I
(12:41):
had to figure out how to make these songs work solo.
So I played around with this song maybe like four
different versions. There was like a version with a drum machine,
there was a version with piano with just acoustic guitar,
And each time I would maybe change the structure or
(13:01):
change apart, maybe maybe add maybe change the melody on
the chorus or some words. And by the end I
wound up with with the version that you hear on
the album, and that that was recorded in actually where
I'm where I'm sitting right now, in my kind of
office music room area. I just recorded that in one take,
(13:26):
like the first half with the singing and all that. Yeah,
and that's what we ended up building that song around
that that recorded kind of just took that initial recording
that was kind of meant to be a demo, but
you kind of fall in love with demos sometimes, I'm sure.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
I'm sure you know you know the feeling I do,
and and I really liked that aspect of it from
a I mean just from that sort of production perspective,
especially when you know the other instrumentation kicks in later, right,
and it's just like the way that that comes together
is so I just thought that was so great.
Speaker 6 (14:07):
It just had such a a this this raw quality
to it.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
And yeah, specifically the lyrics Church Bells woke me up
at noon. And when you said that, when I heard
it in the song, I mean, I knew that was
like second verse, different perspective, and you know, from the
first but at the same time, like I felt like
exactly like oh yeah.
Speaker 6 (14:31):
I know that feeling, like yeah, I remember those days.
And so there was there was this nostalgic sort of.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
Reminiscing thing that happened for me as well of but again,
it was more about this heartachey grief and sadness than
you know, reminiscing or feeling nostalgic about something that I,
you know, want to revisit. I mean, I don't know
(15:02):
if that makes sense, but it's sort of a it does. Yeah,
It's such an interesting kind of dynamic to feel that.
It's like, wow, you know, normally when I'm nostalgic about something, I'm.
Speaker 6 (15:12):
Just like I'm longing for it.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
So there is that achiness, but at the same time,
it's like I really loved when that happened because it
was so exciting or fun or awesome or something, and
this is like, you know, it's the same feeling, different context,
and it's way more just you know, and it's just
kind of this sad reminder, but a beautiful sad reminder.
Speaker 6 (15:31):
So thank you so much for putting that out there.
Speaker 7 (15:33):
Oh yeah, yeah, thanks for listening and take an interest.
And I mean it's exactly what.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
We were hoping for. We put this thing together. Yeah,
it's wild how that came together too.
Speaker 7 (15:46):
Like we had we just did a live session in
Mike our eyes here to record guitar, bass drums to
the original acoustic recording, and then we just we took
a break like where the pause happens, because initially that
(16:06):
was like sort of the end of the song, but
there was this kind of like loopy, kind of like hypnotic.
I don't really know that much about music theory and
like I'm signatures and all that, but it feels like
there's like a bit of a roundness or like there's
like maybe a few beats missing from from the outro
part that just keeps repeating, so it almost kind of
(16:27):
like becomes hypnotic definitely.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
And I think we took a long enough.
Speaker 7 (16:33):
Break where I mean, we're all going to hang out
all night and the guys were going to crash here,
so we hung out. We might have taken I don't know.
I don't know exactly how long the break was, but
it was long enough that when we came back out,
it just felt like we were just like in a
different headspace and we did I think we did three
(16:54):
takes and we just selected the one that we liked
the best, and it turned out being like way longer
than we and we had planned, but we liked it
and it was all just like, man, it was it
was we're out there and it was all happening in
the moment. And then I think after a while we
were like, I mean, because I've messed around with like
adding audio clips or samples or kind of home tape
(17:19):
stuff before, and it seemed like a good opportunity to
use that big stretch there to kind of throw some
of that nostalgic stuff in there.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
And we got I mean I had to.
Speaker 7 (17:32):
I think I pretty much sourced from from one of
one of my home tapes, maybe two from from like
my family's archives, and then Adam's family also was able
to contribute, and Tad wasn't able to find it in time,
but he also had some clips but maybe maybe from
(17:55):
the next album or something. But yeah, we we were
able to mess everything together so that it almost seemed
like like one kind of I don't know, like kind
of one place or one space and it crosses through
like birthdays from from my family, Like there's one part
(18:17):
on there where's my Grandpap's tell me to blow the
candles out. And there's like a part where my dad saying,
make a wish Bethany, and Bethany's my sister. That man,
there's a part on there where my older brother he's like,
should I make a wish? And like if you listen
early close that he's I wish to be a professional
baseball player and he's like nine years old, and just
(18:39):
that stuff is just sent I mean, I think the
first time I watched that that clip, I was like
balling my eyes out.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
And then you know, we got Adams.
Speaker 7 (18:48):
Adams family can contributed some Christmas, some Father's Day, so
just kind of messed all those tapes together into oh man, Yeah,
I mean it was just one of those things where
we put it together and then it's like is this two?
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Is this too personal? Is this too raw? And we
send it around to a few people and and everyone
seemed to like it, so we stuck with it.
Speaker 6 (19:16):
Yeah, it's no.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
I it's cool to hear the context of that and
how you put that together, and that's really like an
interesting and creative way to do that too, I mean
just conceptually, but also how you made it.
Speaker 6 (19:29):
Sound like I mean to me, it sounded like.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
I mean, just as when it first when I first
heard it, I thought I was hearing like as if
it was it was painting pictures. Man, Like I'm sitting
here watching this home video scene of family getting out
of a car kind of at a rural church, and oh, hey,
their cars are starting to come in and it's before
(19:55):
the service sort of, and then there's this thing that happens,
and then there's afterwards sort of the the I'm very
Scandinavian and from northern Minnesota is where my family originates from,
and so there's always like the post church pot luck
in the basement where people like bring food and they
hang out and whatever. And then just kind of the
(20:15):
last kind of conversation sounds like that could be happening there.
And it just so it pulled all those like heart
strings for me because that's what it that's what it
captured for me and reminded me of him, brought me
back to but hear hearing what those experiences are for
you and the rest of the band, I mean, that's
so that's so neat to hear just how I don't know,
(20:38):
I mean, I love the power of that that you
guys can create this thing that is super raw and
personal and meaningful to you in a specific way. And
I have a completely different, completely raw, personal meaningful experience
with it as well, but it kind of all is
in the same sort of sphere and it's just yeah, man, it's.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Really beautiful to hear it.
Speaker 7 (20:59):
Beautiful to hear it the way that you the way
that it met you, because I definitely couldn't ask for
anything more than that, you.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Know, Yeah, that's awesome, great, right man, Well tell me
about uh, so, are you all from New Jersey?
Speaker 6 (21:16):
Do you live in New Jersey? Is everything New Jersey
or you guys call me the place?
Speaker 2 (21:21):
So Tad and I are both from New Jersey. Okay.
Adam is in Philly.
Speaker 7 (21:29):
He's lived other places, but he's I think he's in
Philly long enough to be a Philly person now, you know,
maybe ten plus years, so, got it?
Speaker 2 (21:42):
Yeah?
Speaker 7 (21:42):
Yeah, So I mean we're all so I'm like right
across the river from Wilmington in southern New Jersey or
South Jersey, got it? And we all just get together
here and and yeah, it's fun. It's just like that
last record. It was like we had kind of the
(22:05):
skeletons and all that stuff laid out and then we
would just get together and a lot of times we
just start recording, Like the first time, we would try
to run the song and it would take I mean,
I'm really fortunate to know these to know those guys
from a friendship perspective, and definitely their their top match
musicians for sure, where they can just take my initial
(22:30):
kind of like black and white image of a song
and they bring color to it for sure, and quickly
and smooth and yeah, it's.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
It's always fun and easy.
Speaker 6 (22:43):
So that's awesome. That's yeah, that's that's a gift.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
Definitely.
Speaker 6 (22:47):
I'm glad that you guys got that.
Speaker 7 (22:50):
Yeah, we did bring in one one friend to sing
to sing on the record to. So I sent I
sent the album or the song to a friend of mine,
Sam ros and she she has a project called sam
Rye Bread and she's like a producer here in Philly,
(23:11):
and I just sent her to stuff.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
And she sent me back, like.
Speaker 7 (23:16):
I don't know, eight different tracks of her singing and
I was able to just kind of mess it all
together there.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
But she's she's awesome.
Speaker 7 (23:24):
That just kind of adding harmonies in different vocal parts
where I would never think to Adam, So it's really
it was cool to have her.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
And then of course like Matt, Matt and Dave at
Gradwell House mixed and mastered, and yeah, those guys, those
guys help it sound like it's not just a recording
that I did in my house.
Speaker 6 (23:49):
Sure, Sure, how long has this band been a band?
Speaker 2 (23:56):
In this lineup?
Speaker 7 (23:59):
I would say, well, the band the band started in
twenty fourteen, like officially with our first record release, okay.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
And Tad was in the band at that point, and
my longtime friend Ryan was the bass player at that point,
so he played bass for us up until.
Speaker 7 (24:20):
Twenty seventeen, I think seventeen or twenty eighteen, and then
Adam jumped in at that point. And yeah, at that point,
like Tad and I joined Adam's band, Pilkinson and Adam
and actually beca from polkand and joined the Night Windows
and we kind of made two records at once, won
for each band, which was which was a really cool experience.
(24:43):
That was like twenty nineteen, I think. So now Adam
has stuck with our band and it's just the three
of us now. So but it's really really fun to
work together and we're kind of exploring, like embracing the
three piece to see how far we can how far
(25:07):
we can take it, I guess, or like like what
what needs to be Like Tad on some new stuff
we're working on, Tad starting to sing, sing more back
up and different hook hooks that he's coming up with it.
He's got that kind of neck where he he knows
how to make catchy parts. Sure, but yeah, the band,
(25:28):
I guess we're coming up on.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Eleven years next year. Then this was like our officially
our tenth year. It was a long, along winded explanation,
but no, it's great ten years.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
Nice to hear that you've been doing it this long
and it's still happening and you're still doing it and
it's still you know, vital and present. I mean, that's
that's awesome man. Congratulations all for keeping it together. I
just know so many bands. I mean, I just think
of the bands that I've been in over ten years.
I don't know how many bands I've been in now,
you know, it's one of those it's just challenging to
(26:03):
kind of different era, a different time of trying to
keep things together, particularly when people are moving around. Then
you got pandemics and then you know, changes, life happens
and jobs and family and something else, and next thing,
you know, Hey, I guess we're in a new band.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
You know.
Speaker 7 (26:17):
Yeah, yeah, I mean we definitely slided down at one
point to the point of maybe stopping, but uh yeah,
and I definitely I was looking at your rap sheet
in the email, and it looks like you've been pretty active.
Speaker 4 (26:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (26:34):
Yeah, I've had my stretches of it for sure. That's awesome,
but it's a no, this is a it's a beautiful
record and it came out. Your record came out? Then
what last February? Did I get that right?
Speaker 2 (26:46):
February?
Speaker 6 (26:47):
Yeah, okay, cool?
Speaker 2 (26:48):
And in February are you so?
Speaker 1 (26:51):
I looked at your website and uh, it doesn't look
like you have any active performance dates coming up.
Speaker 6 (26:57):
Is there anything that you have planned?
Speaker 1 (26:59):
You guys perform a lot, And if so, where where
do you kind of try to focus your energy when
it comes to performing or is is it more it's
not about performing, it's just a more of a recording thing.
Speaker 7 (27:14):
Well, it's it's been this year. I think we're getting
back to playing live a lot more so, and that's
like a lot of that thanks is to to Kevin
and in graduation speech for kind of taking us out
on their tour back in March and then inviting us
(27:38):
to different shows to play around around town like Philly
and South Jersey areas, got it, but this would I
think we've played nine shows this year, which was like
a lot. I think it's more than we played in
the last four or five years combined. Okay, So it
just it feels good to kind of be playing again.
(28:01):
And I think it's also kind of starting to help
shape our sound for the next batch of songs that
we're working on. Sure, So that's been fun because because
we're to play, I just kind of say, hey, what
songs did you guys want to play? And then we
figure out like how we need to play them with
the lineup that we have to make them work.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
So I think we kind of had the.
Speaker 7 (28:25):
Creative juices gone that way. And now, like you said,
we don't have any other dates on the book right
on the books right now. I think we're going to
try to squeeze in one more show before the end
of the year, but that.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Will probably be in Philly.
Speaker 7 (28:42):
We'll see, we'll see who if anyone can respond to me,
but I'm sure we can squeeze something in got them.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
But yeah, our next.
Speaker 7 (28:52):
Idea, since we since we had all the kind of
creativity and the like arrangement hats on, to kind of
figure out different ways to play songs that we already
knew before you know it. I'm just kind of like
bringing new songs each time we were getting together, and
they were just coming together like so so quickly that
(29:16):
we decided to kind.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Of embrace the break as far as live performances would go.
And and we're.
Speaker 7 (29:26):
Working on booking some dates to record a couple a
couple of new songs, and we might do like alternate
versions of older songs where maybe like strip down versions
are on the album, but we play them full band live.
So that's gonna it's gonna be sometime in December. We're
opening early December, looking to get into Gradwell House and
(29:51):
actually record with Matt instead of recording here and then
sending him the stuff to mix. So we'll see, we'll
see how how that goes. I think it should be
a lot of fun.
Speaker 6 (30:02):
Yeah, no, it sounds like it will be.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
That's cool that you kind of have that plan and
taking advantage of that break and it's yeah, it just
I'm always reminded of this one band I was in
kind of way back when, where it was such a
special band for me because I got to I could
walk into a practice space and one other member might
(30:24):
be there, and they just might I mean, we wouldn't
even say hello, Like just if someone's picking up instruments
and a sound gets played and then the drummer came
in and then all of a sudden, it's like we've
not even said hello to each other. We just wrote
a song over the past twenty minutes.
Speaker 6 (30:40):
Yeah, and I know what you mean about going on tour.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
We went on tour and we came back and we
had this whole different kind of are Oh, we were
ferocious when we got home, and it was incredible, like
all of a sudden that the outpouring of creativity that
just showed up and it just sort of like galvanized
because as we did this tour, went through this creative
process and that tour process together, you know. So it's
(31:07):
funny to hear you guys embracing what to me is
reminiscent of those dynamics, Like I'm hearing those same dynamics
kind of happening for you and you're you're taking advantage
of them while you can, and that's just that's so awesome.
I'm just applaud you guys for being able.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
To do it. Yeah, man, I'm looking forward to for sure. Cool.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
Well, how about this, Let's take a quick break and
we're gonna come back and find more about what Ben
Hughes and the band is up to.
Speaker 6 (31:35):
So everybody stay with us and we'll be right back.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
All right, And we're back with Ben Hughes and we're
talking about the song Church Bells and.
Speaker 6 (31:46):
Seeing what Night Windows is up to next.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
So Ben, what I know you're talking about that you're
looking maybe for another show at the end of the year,
getting back into the studio before the end of the year.
What kind of plans or anything in the works for
twenty twenty five that all of us that don't live
in New Jersey can can look forward to. Are you
doing any dates in the southern United States or anything
(32:09):
like that being planned?
Speaker 2 (32:12):
That's a good question.
Speaker 7 (32:14):
I think we're definitely we've definitely got the itch to
get back out there on the road and tour as
much as we can. It definitely is something that is
in it's on our radar. It's just a matter of
schedules and I guess possibility with so, I mean, I
(32:38):
have been trying to look at maybe different booking agencies
to work with too, because it seems I don't know
if anyone else is experienced in this, but it seems
like it's a little bit harder to diy book than
it was. It might be just because of how many
people are like and about now, Like I mean, I
(33:01):
feel like there's like probably been an explosion of bands
and live performances since everything.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
Opened back up.
Speaker 7 (33:07):
But sure, yeah, I mean I would we're kind of
looking at that as something as maybe like a goal
for twenty twenty five to to.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
Get help from a booking agency and start to actually
play these different cities.
Speaker 7 (33:26):
That we that we've been wanting to get back to.
As in as far as new music for twenty twenty five,
I think we're going to see how how things go
with this December session Graduell House, and then at this
point my thought is, let's just keep getting in there
(33:47):
every time we have a couple of new songs, and
we'll try to like just releasing singles.
Speaker 6 (33:51):
For a little bit.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
Sure, because definitely that I.
Speaker 7 (33:55):
Think that album I want to say, I want to
say it took us overall five years, like from the
first song that was written, because I mean, you got
I guess you can factor it.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
Uh. There was like a six month.
Speaker 7 (34:09):
Period in the early days of the pandemic where I
didn't even look at a guitar. I don't think it
felt kind of silly at that point, but then before
you know it, it felt it felt like maybe the
only thing that wasn't silly for a while. Yeah, But yeah,
twenty twenty five, I'm hoping we just have we have
(34:30):
more more music coming out, probably just planning for singles
for now, but I don't know, it really depends on
how much how much stuff we come out with that
that we like. I tend to always like mean to
put out an EP and then the record comes out
or like a full length.
Speaker 2 (34:48):
So we'll see what happens. But yeah, definitely planning for
new music and more shows.
Speaker 6 (34:55):
Awesome.
Speaker 1 (34:56):
Well, we'll definitely all want to keep an eye on that.
And I know, oh, I mean, I'm a huge advocate
of you know, band camp Fridays and supporting artists and
buying their music on Fridays. When the artists get all
the money. So Nightwindows dot band camp dot com looks
like the right place to go to get your music,
or is there somewhere else you prefer people to go
(35:17):
to that.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
Is the best place to get it?
Speaker 7 (35:21):
If you go to our website, I have a button
that says store and it takes you to band camp,
so you can cut straight to the chase there.
Speaker 6 (35:28):
So cool. Perfect.
Speaker 1 (35:30):
And then as far as socials, it looks like you're
on all of them. Is there any one more than
others that you're more active on?
Speaker 7 (35:36):
Or I would say Instagram. I'm probably we're sharing the
most stuff there.
Speaker 6 (35:44):
Makes sense?
Speaker 7 (35:45):
Yeah, that one seems to I don't know. I don't
know if it's just because I'm used to it, but
it seems to be pretty user friendly and interactive and
good for media.
Speaker 6 (35:58):
Yeah. No, I'm right there with you and this same
same boat.
Speaker 7 (36:01):
Like I haven't really like taken the TikTok porns yet.
I know someone was telling someone was just telling me
I should, and I was like, okay, you know what
I think? I read like a CD baby article about
why every bench should have a TikTok, so I finally
caved and created one.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
So I don't know, who knows. Maybe I'll do viral TikTok,
but it is in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 6 (36:23):
Yeah, man, you know right.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
I hope I have been in me.
Speaker 6 (36:29):
But yeah, and you're all on the streaming platforms as well.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
If people want to listen to it that way and
get it through Spotify and Apple Music and.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
Whatever, yep, yep, it's it should be on all of them.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
Okay, cool, awesome man, Well, Ben, thank you so much
for taking the time again to talk to me about this.
It was really great chatting with you about it. I
love learning about the band, the record, your process, and
super stoked to hear the new stuff you're recording in
December and all the good music you guys put out
next year and then, yeah, you know, it'd be really
fun to see it.
Speaker 6 (36:59):
Will's pot in Orlando, Florida some time, but I hope
that would be great.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
I'm gonna write that down.
Speaker 1 (37:04):
Yeah, I hope you all get down here because it
would be would be really great to see you in
person to meet you. And if I'm ever up in Jersey,
I'll hit you up and hopefully we can connect.
Speaker 6 (37:14):
But thanks again, man, Yeah, thanks for having me. Bret
three trows.
Speaker 4 (37:22):
Up says Big Sun break Down coming up.
Speaker 3 (37:46):
Dot Round.
Speaker 4 (37:57):
Went on.
Speaker 1 (38:16):
All right, and that wraps up another episode of the
B Side Breakdown. I want to thank Ben Hughes for
coming along to talk about the Night Windows song Church Bells.
In the background, you're hearing the song Grief from the
record farh by the band Omnigon. You can go back
and listen to the previous episode and hear all about
that song and Adam d Up. Next, I got Jeff
Berman coming in from the band Divided Heaven to talk
(38:38):
about their song Living Funeral. I'll give you a taste
of that at the end of this episode. I 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. Please subscribe to this podcast
wherever you get your podcast, and I thank you for
continuing to listen and your support. Please support all these
bands and please go buy their stuff on band camp
(38:58):
and go see them live whenever you can. It's just
such a gift to get all this new music and
to be able to share it with the rest of y'all.
And uh, I hope you dig it. So until the
next time, be safe and we'll talk to you.
Speaker 4 (39:10):
Then, what are we watching? What are you waiting for?
Speaker 5 (39:17):
Send the face inside the mouth?
Speaker 6 (39:20):
What do we watching? What are you waiting for?
Speaker 4 (39:24):
Alline need to know fifteen minutes and not for conspiracies.
Speaker 3 (39:31):
No enough time for knock bounds Monica
Three tros B Side Breakdown. Hey everyone, welcome to the
B Side Breakdown. My name is Brett Johnson and I'm
your host. This is episode twenty seven 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
want to talk about with me, and then we get
(00:22):
deep into the why behind it after we've played it
in its entirety on this episode for you. So today
I'm going to be talking with Ben Hughes from the
band Night Windows, and their song is called Church Bells,
So let's get into it. Here is church Bells by
Night Windows.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Church.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
U flooded, child Rot, Remain, decay.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
Me the great.
Speaker 5 (01:17):
Church Bell Smoke Me Up and now.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Foot five of my friends last night trying to reach.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
At least stop.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Maybe let's change.
Speaker 5 (01:55):
H Church Bell smoke me up to the gardens.
Speaker 4 (02:09):
It means sat like s blue face, I saw through
straight straight straight straand the card you're starting to come
(03:23):
time listen to the least listen I.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
I I have.
Speaker 4 (05:04):
Well that friends again, I.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
Don't know what's work.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
That lets you does.
Speaker 6 (06:02):
Real all right?
Speaker 1 (06:09):
And that was Church Bells by Night Windows. We're gonna
take a quick break and come back and talk with
Ben Hughes. Please stay with us, all right, and we're back.
Let's bring in Ben and talk about the song, church
Bells and the band Night Windows. Hey, Ben, thank you
so much for taking some time this evening.
Speaker 6 (06:27):
To talk with me.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Thanks. I'm happy to be here, Brett.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, I mean I have I have questions
about the band, of questions about you, questions about the song,
but I really love to just kind of turn it
over you to start. Tell me about why you wanted
to talk about church Bells today.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Sure. Yeah, So I think that Church Bells.
Speaker 7 (06:52):
I wanted to pick that song because it seems like
it hasn't gotten as much attention as some of the
as much attention to some of the other songs on
the record, and for me and the guys, it feels
like like that that one feels I mean, it feels
like it's like kind.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Of what made the album the album.
Speaker 7 (07:15):
It maybe like the glue that held the whole thing together,
or like the soul or the spirit of the album.
So yeah, I figured it would be a cool chance
to be able to maybe get some more people, get
some more people to listen to it.
Speaker 6 (07:31):
Like, how did that song come together? What was the
inspiration for it? I mean, I'll just tell you.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
And I don't know if I'm hitting on this right
or not, but what I think is so beautiful about
this song is that for me as a listener, I mean,
I'm excited to hear other people's experiences that listened to
this episode as well, like what did they think of
it or what did it invoke in them? But man,
(07:57):
I mean, just like the second half of the song,
like the recordings of the people talking, I mean, to me,
that just reminds me of my dad who passed away.
Speaker 6 (08:05):
That reminds me of you.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Know, my mom I don't get to see much, and
and things like that, and so there was just like
this really sort of heavy, sort of somberness to the
whole thing.
Speaker 6 (08:17):
For me for sure. But what where where did the
song kind of originate from? What was the inspiration for it?
Speaker 7 (08:25):
So yeah, I'm glad that that you're getting those kind
of feelings and emotions with with with listening to it,
because it's it's definitely what we intended to make the
song about. I mean, the song initially came from a
place where I was trying to figure out how to
(08:48):
how to make music that would sort of help me
process losing Like between my wife and I, we lost
four grandparents during two years stretching during the pandemic, and
during that time, it's like we weren't really able to
see many people in person, So I mean there was
(09:10):
a lot of grief and it was really hard to
know what to do or like how to sort of
how to process all that. And so at this like
right around the same time, I was working on another
song on the album called Give Me Something.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
To Believe, where it was just sort of this whole
like what like what's the.
Speaker 7 (09:36):
You know, like the whole human existence thing or the
human experience where it's just you're trying to figure out
what you're doing here, and like what what's the reason
for this? What's is there anything deeper?
Speaker 2 (09:50):
You know, like those kind of questions, and and I
couldn't figure out how to make like where to fit
that song itself.
Speaker 7 (10:02):
It's like a little I think it's about a minute
and twenty seconds on the album like sort of serves
as an interlude, but that song in particular, I tried
to write church bells so that that song could be
the bridge or maybe the chorus, So that was like
the initial intention with the song was to try to
find a home for Give Me Something to Believe just
(10:25):
wound up being its own little kind of segment.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
On the album.
Speaker 7 (10:29):
But then it went through it went through maybe like
four like after I pulled, like I pulled give Me
Something to Believe back out of it because I was like,
this isn't working now. And then that I kind of
just kept playing with the song because it was using
some kind of like imagery, like part of it came
(10:50):
from a dream.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
That I had around that time that like an ever
Evergreen was like a recurring like.
Speaker 7 (11:00):
I guess theme or or feature of that dream, and
just kind of trying to figure out like what what
that meant to me? And church bells, I mean, I
grew up being raised religious, like Christian like all that stuff,
and it's something that like.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
I definitely don't don't believe in, you know.
Speaker 7 (11:23):
I mean, it's something I turned I turned my back
on because it didn't really I didn't really it didn't.
I don't know how to explain it, but I mean
it's just one of those things that it wasn't serving
me at all anymore.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Yeah, So the church Bells theme.
Speaker 7 (11:43):
There is like sort of that that thing you can't
get rid of when you're raised, like that nagging thing
that you cannot.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Get rid of if you're raised religiously.
Speaker 7 (11:53):
And so it's like the first verses like church Bells
woke me up, and it's talking about being like woke
up and the middle of the night. I think the
second verse talks about kind of being woking up at noon,
I kind of sort of alluding to maybe being hungover
and just sort of.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Like you're I don't know. There's just like a lot
I was trying to process a lot of themes.
Speaker 7 (12:19):
Of like loss and kind of grief and sort of
like how how to put it into words and then
into into melody. And then the song itself sort of
came together because during the pandemic, the guys and I
weren't able to get together, so I had to I
(12:41):
had to figure out how to make these songs work solo.
So I played around with this song maybe like four
different versions. There was like a version with a drum machine,
there was a version with piano with just acoustic guitar,
And each time I would maybe change the structure or
(13:01):
change apart, maybe maybe add maybe change the melody on
the chorus or some words. And by the end I
wound up with with the version that you hear on
the album, and that that was recorded in actually where
I'm where I'm sitting right now, in my kind of
office music room area. I just recorded that in one take,
(13:26):
like the first half with the singing and all that. Yeah,
and that's what we ended up building that song around
that that recorded kind of just took that initial recording
that was kind of meant to be a demo, but
you kind of fall in love with demos sometimes, I'm sure.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
I'm sure you know you know the feeling I do,
and and I really liked that aspect of it from
a I mean just from that sort of production perspective,
especially when you know the other instrumentation kicks in later, right,
and it's just like the way that that comes together
is so I just thought that was so great.
Speaker 6 (14:07):
It just had such a a this this raw quality
to it.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
And yeah, specifically the lyrics Church Bells woke me up
at noon. And when you said that, when I heard
it in the song, I mean, I knew that was
like second verse, different perspective, and you know, from the
first but at the same time, like I felt like
exactly like oh yeah.
Speaker 6 (14:31):
I know that feeling, like yeah, I remember those days.
And so there was there was this nostalgic sort of.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
Reminiscing thing that happened for me as well of but again,
it was more about this heartachey grief and sadness than
you know, reminiscing or feeling nostalgic about something that I,
you know, want to revisit. I mean, I don't know
(15:02):
if that makes sense, but it's sort of a it does. Yeah,
It's such an interesting kind of dynamic to feel that.
It's like, wow, you know, normally when I'm nostalgic about something, I'm.
Speaker 6 (15:12):
Just like I'm longing for it.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
So there is that achiness, but at the same time,
it's like I really loved when that happened because it
was so exciting or fun or awesome or something, and
this is like, you know, it's the same feeling, different context,
and it's way more just you know, and it's just
kind of this sad reminder, but a beautiful sad reminder.
Speaker 6 (15:31):
So thank you so much for putting that out there.
Speaker 7 (15:33):
Oh yeah, yeah, thanks for listening and take an interest.
And I mean it's exactly what.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
We were hoping for. We put this thing together. Yeah,
it's wild how that came together too.
Speaker 7 (15:46):
Like we had we just did a live session in
Mike our eyes here to record guitar, bass drums to
the original acoustic recording, and then we just we took
a break like where the pause happens, because initially that
(16:06):
was like sort of the end of the song, but
there was this kind of like loopy, kind of like hypnotic.
I don't really know that much about music theory and
like I'm signatures and all that, but it feels like
there's like a bit of a roundness or like there's
like maybe a few beats missing from from the outro
part that just keeps repeating, so it almost kind of
(16:27):
like becomes hypnotic definitely.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
And I think we took a long enough.
Speaker 7 (16:33):
Break where I mean, we're all going to hang out
all night and the guys were going to crash here,
so we hung out. We might have taken I don't know.
I don't know exactly how long the break was, but
it was long enough that when we came back out,
it just felt like we were just like in a
different headspace and we did I think we did three
(16:54):
takes and we just selected the one that we liked
the best, and it turned out being like way longer
than we and we had planned, but we liked it
and it was all just like, man, it was it
was we're out there and it was all happening in
the moment. And then I think after a while we
were like, I mean, because I've messed around with like
adding audio clips or samples or kind of home tape
(17:19):
stuff before, and it seemed like a good opportunity to
use that big stretch there to kind of throw some
of that nostalgic stuff in there.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
And we got I mean I had to.
Speaker 7 (17:32):
I think I pretty much sourced from from one of
one of my home tapes, maybe two from from like
my family's archives, and then Adam's family also was able
to contribute, and Tad wasn't able to find it in time,
but he also had some clips but maybe maybe from
(17:55):
the next album or something. But yeah, we we were
able to mess everything together so that it almost seemed
like like one kind of I don't know, like kind
of one place or one space and it crosses through
like birthdays from from my family, Like there's one part
(18:17):
on there where's my Grandpap's tell me to blow the
candles out. And there's like a part where my dad saying,
make a wish Bethany, and Bethany's my sister. That man,
there's a part on there where my older brother he's like,
should I make a wish? And like if you listen
early close that he's I wish to be a professional
baseball player and he's like nine years old, and just
(18:39):
that stuff is just sent I mean, I think the
first time I watched that that clip, I was like
balling my eyes out.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
And then you know, we got Adams.
Speaker 7 (18:48):
Adams family can contributed some Christmas, some Father's Day, so
just kind of messed all those tapes together into oh man, Yeah,
I mean it was just one of those things where
we put it together and then it's like is this two?
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Is this too personal? Is this too raw? And we
send it around to a few people and and everyone
seemed to like it, so we stuck with it.
Speaker 6 (19:16):
Yeah, it's no.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
I it's cool to hear the context of that and
how you put that together, and that's really like an
interesting and creative way to do that too, I mean
just conceptually, but also how you made it.
Speaker 6 (19:29):
Sound like I mean to me, it sounded like.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
I mean, just as when it first when I first
heard it, I thought I was hearing like as if
it was it was painting pictures. Man, Like I'm sitting
here watching this home video scene of family getting out
of a car kind of at a rural church, and oh, hey,
their cars are starting to come in and it's before
(19:55):
the service sort of, and then there's this thing that happens,
and then there's afterwards sort of the the I'm very
Scandinavian and from northern Minnesota is where my family originates from,
and so there's always like the post church pot luck
in the basement where people like bring food and they
hang out and whatever. And then just kind of the
(20:15):
last kind of conversation sounds like that could be happening there.
And it just so it pulled all those like heart
strings for me because that's what it that's what it
captured for me and reminded me of him, brought me
back to but hear hearing what those experiences are for
you and the rest of the band, I mean, that's
so that's so neat to hear just how I don't know,
(20:38):
I mean, I love the power of that that you
guys can create this thing that is super raw and
personal and meaningful to you in a specific way. And
I have a completely different, completely raw, personal meaningful experience
with it as well, but it kind of all is
in the same sort of sphere and it's just yeah, man, it's.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Really beautiful to hear it.
Speaker 7 (20:59):
Beautiful to hear it the way that you the way
that it met you, because I definitely couldn't ask for
anything more than that, you.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Know, Yeah, that's awesome, great, right man, Well tell me
about uh, so, are you all from New Jersey?
Speaker 6 (21:16):
Do you live in New Jersey? Is everything New Jersey
or you guys call me the place?
Speaker 2 (21:21):
So Tad and I are both from New Jersey. Okay.
Adam is in Philly.
Speaker 7 (21:29):
He's lived other places, but he's I think he's in
Philly long enough to be a Philly person now, you know,
maybe ten plus years, so, got it?
Speaker 2 (21:42):
Yeah?
Speaker 7 (21:42):
Yeah, So I mean we're all so I'm like right
across the river from Wilmington in southern New Jersey or
South Jersey, got it? And we all just get together
here and and yeah, it's fun. It's just like that
last record. It was like we had kind of the
(22:05):
skeletons and all that stuff laid out and then we
would just get together and a lot of times we
just start recording, Like the first time, we would try
to run the song and it would take I mean,
I'm really fortunate to know these to know those guys
from a friendship perspective, and definitely their their top match
musicians for sure, where they can just take my initial
(22:30):
kind of like black and white image of a song
and they bring color to it for sure, and quickly
and smooth and yeah, it's.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
It's always fun and easy.
Speaker 6 (22:43):
So that's awesome. That's yeah, that's that's a gift.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
Definitely.
Speaker 6 (22:47):
I'm glad that you guys got that.
Speaker 7 (22:50):
Yeah, we did bring in one one friend to sing
to sing on the record to. So I sent I
sent the album or the song to a friend of mine,
Sam ros and she she has a project called sam
Rye Bread and she's like a producer here in Philly,
(23:11):
and I just sent her to stuff.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
And she sent me back, like.
Speaker 7 (23:16):
I don't know, eight different tracks of her singing and
I was able to just kind of mess it all
together there.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
But she's she's awesome.
Speaker 7 (23:24):
That just kind of adding harmonies in different vocal parts
where I would never think to Adam, So it's really
it was cool to have her.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
And then of course like Matt, Matt and Dave at
Gradwell House mixed and mastered, and yeah, those guys, those
guys help it sound like it's not just a recording
that I did in my house.
Speaker 6 (23:49):
Sure, Sure, how long has this band been a band?
Speaker 2 (23:56):
In this lineup?
Speaker 7 (23:59):
I would say, well, the band the band started in
twenty fourteen, like officially with our first record release, okay.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
And Tad was in the band at that point, and
my longtime friend Ryan was the bass player at that point,
so he played bass for us up until.
Speaker 7 (24:20):
Twenty seventeen, I think seventeen or twenty eighteen, and then
Adam jumped in at that point. And yeah, at that point,
like Tad and I joined Adam's band, Pilkinson and Adam
and actually beca from polkand and joined the Night Windows
and we kind of made two records at once, won
for each band, which was which was a really cool experience.
(24:43):
That was like twenty nineteen, I think. So now Adam
has stuck with our band and it's just the three
of us now. So but it's really really fun to
work together and we're kind of exploring, like embracing the
three piece to see how far we can how far
(25:07):
we can take it, I guess, or like like what
what needs to be Like Tad on some new stuff
we're working on, Tad starting to sing, sing more back
up and different hook hooks that he's coming up with it.
He's got that kind of neck where he he knows
how to make catchy parts. Sure, but yeah, the band,
(25:28):
I guess we're coming up on.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Eleven years next year. Then this was like our officially
our tenth year. It was a long, along winded explanation,
but no, it's great ten years.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
Nice to hear that you've been doing it this long
and it's still happening and you're still doing it and
it's still you know, vital and present. I mean, that's
that's awesome man. Congratulations all for keeping it together. I
just know so many bands. I mean, I just think
of the bands that I've been in over ten years.
I don't know how many bands I've been in now,
you know, it's one of those it's just challenging to
(26:03):
kind of different era, a different time of trying to
keep things together, particularly when people are moving around. Then
you got pandemics and then you know, changes, life happens
and jobs and family and something else, and next thing,
you know, Hey, I guess we're in a new band.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
You know.
Speaker 7 (26:17):
Yeah, yeah, I mean we definitely slided down at one
point to the point of maybe stopping, but uh yeah,
and I definitely I was looking at your rap sheet
in the email, and it looks like you've been pretty active.
Speaker 4 (26:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (26:34):
Yeah, I've had my stretches of it for sure. That's awesome,
but it's a no, this is a it's a beautiful
record and it came out. Your record came out? Then
what last February? Did I get that right?
Speaker 2 (26:46):
February?
Speaker 6 (26:47):
Yeah, okay, cool?
Speaker 2 (26:48):
And in February are you so?
Speaker 1 (26:51):
I looked at your website and uh, it doesn't look
like you have any active performance dates coming up.
Speaker 6 (26:57):
Is there anything that you have planned?
Speaker 1 (26:59):
You guys perform a lot, And if so, where where
do you kind of try to focus your energy when
it comes to performing or is is it more it's
not about performing, it's just a more of a recording thing.
Speaker 7 (27:14):
Well, it's it's been this year. I think we're getting
back to playing live a lot more so, and that's
like a lot of that thanks is to to Kevin
and in graduation speech for kind of taking us out
on their tour back in March and then inviting us
(27:38):
to different shows to play around around town like Philly
and South Jersey areas, got it, but this would I
think we've played nine shows this year, which was like
a lot. I think it's more than we played in
the last four or five years combined. Okay, So it
just it feels good to kind of be playing again.
(28:01):
And I think it's also kind of starting to help
shape our sound for the next batch of songs that
we're working on. Sure, So that's been fun because because
we're to play, I just kind of say, hey, what
songs did you guys want to play? And then we
figure out like how we need to play them with
the lineup that we have to make them work.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
So I think we kind of had the.
Speaker 7 (28:25):
Creative juices gone that way. And now, like you said,
we don't have any other dates on the book right
on the books right now. I think we're going to
try to squeeze in one more show before the end
of the year, but that.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Will probably be in Philly.
Speaker 7 (28:42):
We'll see, we'll see who if anyone can respond to me,
but I'm sure we can squeeze something in got them.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
But yeah, our next.
Speaker 7 (28:52):
Idea, since we since we had all the kind of
creativity and the like arrangement hats on, to kind of
figure out different ways to play songs that we already
knew before you know it. I'm just kind of like
bringing new songs each time we were getting together, and
they were just coming together like so so quickly that
(29:16):
we decided to kind.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Of embrace the break as far as live performances would go.
And and we're.
Speaker 7 (29:26):
Working on booking some dates to record a couple a
couple of new songs, and we might do like alternate
versions of older songs where maybe like strip down versions
are on the album, but we play them full band live.
So that's gonna it's gonna be sometime in December. We're
opening early December, looking to get into Gradwell House and
(29:51):
actually record with Matt instead of recording here and then
sending him the stuff to mix. So we'll see, we'll
see how how that goes. I think it should be
a lot of fun.
Speaker 6 (30:02):
Yeah, no, it sounds like it will be.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
That's cool that you kind of have that plan and
taking advantage of that break and it's yeah, it just
I'm always reminded of this one band I was in
kind of way back when, where it was such a
special band for me because I got to I could
walk into a practice space and one other member might
(30:24):
be there, and they just might I mean, we wouldn't
even say hello, Like just if someone's picking up instruments
and a sound gets played and then the drummer came
in and then all of a sudden, it's like we've
not even said hello to each other. We just wrote
a song over the past twenty minutes.
Speaker 6 (30:40):
Yeah, and I know what you mean about going on tour.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
We went on tour and we came back and we
had this whole different kind of are Oh, we were
ferocious when we got home, and it was incredible, like
all of a sudden that the outpouring of creativity that
just showed up and it just sort of like galvanized
because as we did this tour, went through this creative
process and that tour process together, you know. So it's
(31:07):
funny to hear you guys embracing what to me is
reminiscent of those dynamics, Like I'm hearing those same dynamics
kind of happening for you and you're you're taking advantage
of them while you can, and that's just that's so awesome.
I'm just applaud you guys for being able.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
To do it. Yeah, man, I'm looking forward to for sure. Cool.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
Well, how about this, Let's take a quick break and
we're gonna come back and find more about what Ben
Hughes and the band is up to.
Speaker 6 (31:35):
So everybody stay with us and we'll be right back.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
All right, And we're back with Ben Hughes and we're
talking about the song Church Bells and.
Speaker 6 (31:46):
Seeing what Night Windows is up to next.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
So Ben, what I know you're talking about that you're
looking maybe for another show at the end of the year,
getting back into the studio before the end of the year.
What kind of plans or anything in the works for
twenty twenty five that all of us that don't live
in New Jersey can can look forward to. Are you
doing any dates in the southern United States or anything
(32:09):
like that being planned?
Speaker 2 (32:12):
That's a good question.
Speaker 7 (32:14):
I think we're definitely we've definitely got the itch to
get back out there on the road and tour as
much as we can. It definitely is something that is
in it's on our radar. It's just a matter of
schedules and I guess possibility with so, I mean, I
(32:38):
have been trying to look at maybe different booking agencies
to work with too, because it seems I don't know
if anyone else is experienced in this, but it seems
like it's a little bit harder to diy book than
it was. It might be just because of how many
people are like and about now, Like I mean, I
(33:01):
feel like there's like probably been an explosion of bands
and live performances since everything.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
Opened back up.
Speaker 7 (33:07):
But sure, yeah, I mean I would we're kind of
looking at that as something as maybe like a goal
for twenty twenty five to to.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
Get help from a booking agency and start to actually
play these different cities.
Speaker 7 (33:26):
That we that we've been wanting to get back to.
As in as far as new music for twenty twenty five,
I think we're going to see how how things go
with this December session Graduell House, and then at this
point my thought is, let's just keep getting in there
(33:47):
every time we have a couple of new songs, and
we'll try to like just releasing singles.
Speaker 6 (33:51):
For a little bit.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
Sure, because definitely that I.
Speaker 7 (33:55):
Think that album I want to say, I want to
say it took us overall five years, like from the
first song that was written, because I mean, you got
I guess you can factor it.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
Uh. There was like a six month.
Speaker 7 (34:09):
Period in the early days of the pandemic where I
didn't even look at a guitar. I don't think it
felt kind of silly at that point, but then before
you know it, it felt it felt like maybe the
only thing that wasn't silly for a while. Yeah, But yeah,
twenty twenty five, I'm hoping we just have we have
(34:30):
more more music coming out, probably just planning for singles
for now, but I don't know, it really depends on
how much how much stuff we come out with that
that we like. I tend to always like mean to
put out an EP and then the record comes out
or like a full length.
Speaker 2 (34:48):
So we'll see what happens. But yeah, definitely planning for
new music and more shows.
Speaker 6 (34:55):
Awesome.
Speaker 1 (34:56):
Well, we'll definitely all want to keep an eye on that.
And I know, oh, I mean, I'm a huge advocate
of you know, band camp Fridays and supporting artists and
buying their music on Fridays. When the artists get all
the money. So Nightwindows dot band camp dot com looks
like the right place to go to get your music,
or is there somewhere else you prefer people to go
(35:17):
to that.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
Is the best place to get it?
Speaker 7 (35:21):
If you go to our website, I have a button
that says store and it takes you to band camp,
so you can cut straight to the chase there.
Speaker 6 (35:28):
So cool. Perfect.
Speaker 1 (35:30):
And then as far as socials, it looks like you're
on all of them. Is there any one more than
others that you're more active on?
Speaker 7 (35:36):
Or I would say Instagram. I'm probably we're sharing the
most stuff there.
Speaker 6 (35:44):
Makes sense?
Speaker 7 (35:45):
Yeah, that one seems to I don't know. I don't
know if it's just because I'm used to it, but
it seems to be pretty user friendly and interactive and
good for media.
Speaker 6 (35:58):
Yeah. No, I'm right there with you and this same
same boat.
Speaker 7 (36:01):
Like I haven't really like taken the TikTok porns yet.
I know someone was telling someone was just telling me
I should, and I was like, okay, you know what
I think? I read like a CD baby article about
why every bench should have a TikTok, so I finally
caved and created one.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
So I don't know, who knows. Maybe I'll do viral TikTok,
but it is in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 6 (36:23):
Yeah, man, you know right.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
I hope I have been in me.
Speaker 6 (36:29):
But yeah, and you're all on the streaming platforms as well.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
If people want to listen to it that way and
get it through Spotify and Apple Music and.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
Whatever, yep, yep, it's it should be on all of them.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
Okay, cool, awesome man, Well, Ben, thank you so much
for taking the time again to talk to me about this.
It was really great chatting with you about it. I
love learning about the band, the record, your process, and
super stoked to hear the new stuff you're recording in
December and all the good music you guys put out
next year and then, yeah, you know, it'd be really
fun to see it.
Speaker 6 (36:59):
Will's pot in Orlando, Florida some time, but I hope
that would be great.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
I'm gonna write that down.
Speaker 1 (37:04):
Yeah, I hope you all get down here because it
would be would be really great to see you in
person to meet you. And if I'm ever up in Jersey,
I'll hit you up and hopefully we can connect.
Speaker 6 (37:14):
But thanks again, man, Yeah, thanks for having me. Bret
three trows.
Speaker 4 (37:22):
Up says Big Sun break Down coming up.
Speaker 3 (37:46):
Dot Round.
Speaker 4 (37:57):
Went on.
Speaker 1 (38:16):
All right, and that wraps up another episode of the
B Side Breakdown. I want to thank Ben Hughes for
coming along to talk about the Night Windows song Church Bells.
In the background, you're hearing the song Grief from the
record farh by the band Omnigon. You can go back
and listen to the previous episode and hear all about
that song and Adam d Up. Next, I got Jeff
Berman coming in from the band Divided Heaven to talk
(38:38):
about their song Living Funeral. I'll give you a taste
of that at the end of this episode. I 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. Please subscribe to this podcast
wherever you get your podcast, and I thank you for
continuing to listen and your support. Please support all these
bands and please go buy their stuff on band camp
(38:58):
and go see them live whenever you can. It's just
such a gift to get all this new music and
to be able to share it with the rest of y'all.
And uh, I hope you dig it. So until the
next time, be safe and we'll talk to you.
Speaker 4 (39:10):
Then, what are we watching? What are you waiting for?
Speaker 5 (39:17):
Send the face inside the mouth?
Speaker 6 (39:20):
What do we watching? What are you waiting for?
Speaker 4 (39:24):
Alline need to know fifteen minutes and not for conspiracies.
Speaker 3 (39:31):
No enough time for knock bounds Monica
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