The Little Indians - Sound In The Signals Interview
Your new album is due out October 9 and you are self releasing this album. What made you decide to self release it?
Augustine: We just wanted to get it out. It took so long to finish. And even before I finished mixing it and we got it mastered, we had been sitting on it for like 90 percent finished for a while. Also, we have loads of b-sides that we still think are cool songs, so the idea of re-releasing it down the line with extra material is always there. Also, we have a good amount of material written for album #2, which probably won't consist of anything written during the sessions for the first album.
The recording process of the album I read was done mostly in your home. What was it like to record an album that way and do you plan do to it that way in the future?
It was awesome! I'd never engineered or mixed audio before this. Just crappy demos before this. So I basically tried to teach myself how to do that with this project.
I think I'll probably end up doing it again just because it's so convenient, and also because it's incredibly rewarding making every aspect of an album yourself. It's cool in that way. Although, I would love to travel somewhere else to record. My friend has a studio in a beach house in Oregon called Kiwanda Sound, and I think it'd be amazing to go there with him and make a record. Wherever I record though, I'll keep a pretty hands on approach I think.
With so many artists shifting from a big hired studio to home studios do you think the availability of recording tools makes It easier to write an album? Or have you found it easier to be in a studio with a producer?
Like I said, I was pretty much teaching myself how to record when I was doing this album, so with that it was great to not have a producer because I could totally go at my own rate. And make my own mistakes that I'd have to figure out and learn from. Also, since it's all digital, the ability to try a thousand different things makes it easier to do the actual writing and arranging and tracking. So yeah, definitely easier to write/record an album.
I’ve given the album a good solid listen and it’s one of the better indie rock albums I’ve heard in a while. How did you get into the groove of writing songs for this album and did you set out to have a certain sound with the project or did it just come naturally?
Well thanks! I came into it pretty much wanting to try and delve into all kinds of sounds. I tried, and still try, to write songs with an emphasis on making each song vibe differently than the one before it. After I would have the general skeleton of a song, and had an aesthetic in mind, everything very naturally kind of came to a middle ground where despite the different feelings of music throughout the record, everything still sounds like the same band. Truthfully, it happened for more naturally than imagined it would before I started really recording.
If you had to pick the song on this album you are most proud of what song would it be and why?
That's really hard. I like them all for different reasons as well as the same reason. The common reason being what I alluded to in the last question.
What song on the album took the most time to write and finish and why?
The last song, "Night Owl". I wrote the skeleton early on in the process. But it was the last one I actually finished. The vocals took forever to get right in my head. Also, lyrically, the message stayed the same, but I went through a bunch of different revisions for this tune. Whereas most of the album kind of were written and, for the majority of melodies and lyrics, were final. Also, I really layered the instrumentation in this one. Which took me a little bit to mix and get to a good place.
Augustine is also currently in Hellogoodbye and in some ways the album reminds me of Hellogoodbye’s new album (at least to some degree). Did being a part of that band affect the song writing any at all?
Not really being in the band, because that happened later, but touring with them did. My old band played support on Hellogoodbye's headlining tour, and I was so hooked on the vibe of it all. It ( being "Would It Kill You" by Hellogoodbye) drew inspiration from so much that I love, and it had such a sunny disposition that I was in love with. So a few months after that tour, I started writing for what became The Little Indians, and I guess it showed in some tunes that I was hooked on WIKY. It was just coincidence that Forrest asked me to jam with him like half a year later. I dig it.
How do you juggle being a full time touring member of Hellogoodbye and being a full time songwriting member of The Little Indians?
It's not very hard to tour and write. I feel really lucky to do get to tour, so I just go with the flow. Although, it does make it harder for The Little Indians to play shows now that we live in different cities. But we have some shows in November. Everything that will happen, will happen as they will…I guess.
You guys are both well known for being in You, Me, And Everyone We Know and had kind of a dramatic exit from that band. What about your experience in that band has affected the way you look at being in a musical project now? What do you feel the legacy of the album you created with that band will be?
It just taught me to be honest with my bandmates. I'm in a way more satisfying place in life now after it. I started writing my own songs. And playing with Forrest/hellogoodbye is such an easy groove. And I dunno, if The Little Indians picks up more, the whole YMAEWK will just be a reminder to be true to my bandmates. I dunno about the "legacy". The music should be the legacy. Not some unfortunate bad vibes that got unleashed on the internet.
I guess that about wraps it up. Thanks for taking the time to answer the questions. Do you have anything else you would like to add?
Not really. Thanks for being interested in the band! Our record "An Album From The Little Indians" is out now on Spotify, iTunes and thelittleindians.bandcamp.com
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