by Austin Finn
Members- what's your name, what do you play, and what's been the greatest athletic accomplishment you've achieved in life thus far?
There's three of us – myself (Wes Gonzalez) on bass/vocals, Rachel Clark-Coller on drums, and Nathan McMillan on guitar.
This isn't much of an athletic achievement, but I went on a month-long tour filling in on bass with this band called The Co Founder earlier this year and I'd never done a stretch of shows that long before. There were some pretty brutal drives so I started doing yoga pretty much every morning and have continued that habit long after coming home. That's probably the most impactful athletic achievement for me. I'd pick that or getting into rock climbing despite a pretty big fear of heights.
Are you guys all from Seattle? Surrounding area?
We've all been in Seattle for a minute now – I'd say at least or close to ten years here for all of us – but I'm originally from San Diego, Rach is from Connecticut, and Nathan hails from Kansas so it kind of runs the gamut.
Are you coming to Dreyfest on tour? If so, what's the tour, and anywhere you are particularly excited about?
We're just doing a couple dates. Dreyfest plus a show in Boise the night before. I'm pretty stoked about Billings/Montana just because I've never been. I know a few people from college who grew up or spent some time in Montana and love it so I'm excited to take it in. Plus it's pretty cool to have come across Waste Division/Dreyfest just from sort of digging around online. I book for a venue in Seattle and it's just always cool to come across similar communities elsewhere.
Dig the recordings on Bandcamp- sounds very 90s, early 2000s Emo stuff- you list the genre as "Bluegaze". What is Bluegaze?
"Bluegaze" kind of started as a joke. I can't remember who but someone once told us, "Y'all don't sound like a shoegaze band, but you sure act like one," which we thought was pretty funny. But then I started writing these sort of slower, sludgy, songs that would veer between drone-y ambience to fuzzed out distortion, but with very emo-esque chords and vocals. Emo + Shoegaze = Bluegaze. There's maybe an example or two of it that'll show up on our next release, but it's definitely becoming more of a trend on the newer stuff I've been writing.
Looks like according to your Bandcamp page, you have a demo EP, and an acoustic track- any plans to release a full length, or another EP?
We're shooting for a release sometime in the next few months. It's probably long enough for a full length, but it almost feels more like an EP in so far as it's pretty clear that I was still trying to figure out exactly what our sound was. I feel like first EPs usually work out that way. It's been in the works for far too long – we hand a handful of lineup changes which slowed things down – and it'll be nice to just get it done and have it out there.
The Seattle scene is famously prolific and supportive- it's sometimes hard to keep track of all the cool shit going on there! Who are some Seattle bands that are kicking around currently, that we're sleeping on?
I'm not sure what's reaching y'all out in Billings so I'll just go ahead and name some folks who are doing good things here – Coach Phillips, Bobby's Oar, and Apples With Moya (drummer from Great Grandpa's project) are definitely some ones to check out. Oh yeah, and we played a show with two bands – Flesh Produce and Medium Weekend – who friends referred us to and I was just SUPER blown away by both of them. Really really dig what they're doing.
Anyone playing Dreyfest this year that you're particularly stoked about? Or anything you are excited to check out in Billings?
If you can believe it, I've never seen Weep Wave before. So I'm pretty excited to check them out. I've also really liked what I've heard from Go Hibiki so hopefully they'll be on Saturday since we'll be in Boise on Friday. I've also been told I need to check out Fuuls, Idaho Green, and Bull Market so they're on my list.
~~~Rapid fire time~~~
Favorite museum you've ever been to?
USS Midway.
Favorite Seattle bar?
Honestly, probably The Royal Room (the venue I book at).
Would you rather have to wear Heelies for a month, or have to wear a fedora for a month?
Heelies, duh.
Patti Smith or Blondie?
Patti Smith if only because I don't really care for Blondie.
Would you rather take an all expenses paid, two-week trip to Johannesburg, South Africa, or Helsinki, Finland?
Johannesburg for sure.
