McCalister - Sound In The Signals Interview
For those who aren't familiar with your band can you tell me a little about how you got together and formed the band?
Bobby: I was in a band with Sarah and Dan called Leighton for a while but then that broke up when Sarah and Dan went to college. Following that, I got rather bored and started playing with my friend Paul Pesenti, our old guitarist. Then Paul and I tried to get Dan to play with us and eventually he did.
Dan: That took me a long time (laughs)
Bobby: And after that we eventually brought Sarah back on when she came back from American University. Then all four of us played together until eventually we had some creative differences between Sarah and Paul and then Andrew joined a few months later. And now we're here with new jams, new music, and good vibes.
Your new EP Where We've Come From, Who We've Been just came out and it seems like it's getting a good response. How long did you work on the EP and what was the recording and writing process of the EP?
Sarah: So we started the writing process for the record in July of 2013 where we wrote the first song, Lost In Translation. After that we started writing songs as ideas came to me. It ended up being like a song every two months and then we wrote a few in December and realized we totally had enough to record an EP. So we hit up our main man, Steve Kellner, and spent 10 days in the studio and banged it out!
I was a fan of your last EP Something To Believe In and when I listen to the new EP I notice some progression in songwriting. As a band what do you feel has progressed from Something To Believe In to the new EP in terms of songwriting and lyrical content?
Dan: We've matured!
Sarah: Yes, we've grown up, and we've all gotten a lot closer to the point where we aren't afraid to try something out of our comfort zone.
Andrew: Lyrically, on the old EP I was writing about a situation that I was looking at with a closed mind, and then the new EP was written with an upswing on bullshit that had happened in my life.
"Wilsey Square" is one of my favorite songs off the EP. In particular where did the inspiration for the song come from?
Sarah: Instrumentally I just wanted a fun upbeat summer song.
Andrew: Lyrically I wrote Wilsey Square at 7am in the cold in Wilsey Square in Ridgewood with coffee in my hand thinking about a demo that Sarah sent me. I was starting to go into a depressed state because I felt like I was wasting a lot of time, but then the sun started to come out on a cloudy day and I was like "oh things are going to be alright."
Dan: How cold are we talking? Were you wearing enough layers!?
One thing I really like about your band is the split between male and female lead vocals. Is that something you wanted to do when you started the band or did it just kind of naturally evolve that way in the songwriting process?
Sarah: Basically what happened was when Andrew joined the band we realized, "Oh shit we have two people who can sing, why not feature both?" So then we did.
Dan: Bobby convinced me to let Andrew sing (laughs)
With the split lead vocals what is the lyric writing process like for McCalister?
Dan: DAN WRITES THEM ALL
Andrew: I write gender neutral lyrics so they can apply to both of us. I try and work with rhythms to make sure that whatever we are singing works with the music and is actually singable.
Now that the EP is out what else do you have planned for 2014?
Dan: Play more shows!
Sarah: Push the EP, and get our name out there
Bobby: I just wanna find some friends
A lot of music fans are really interested in vinyl these days. Any chance this new EP might be pressed on vinyl?
Band: No we have no plans currently
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?
Dan: Thank you for having us on this interview!
Sarah: Go check out our website which has everything you need to know about McCalister at www.mccalisterband.tumblr.com! We have a lot of cool things coming up and you won't wanna miss out!
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