Better Things - Sound In The Signals Interview

I recently had the chance to interview Better Things. We talked about their upcoming album Getting Worse, the band's history together, what got them interested in music, and a few other things! Check out the full interview after the jump!

First off, thanks for the interview.

It’s no problem, thanks for the opportunity!

For anyone who isn't familiar with your band can you tell me how you got together and formed Better Things? What got you into music?

Mark: I guess it was just the combination of two high school projects that involved myself and Brian, and a different project that involved Brad and myself, and then it sort of merged into what became Better Things. I’ve been doing things involving music since about 4th grade through school, and that’s how I met Brian and started doing things together on a musical level.

Quintin: I was kind of around, and then Better Things called on me one day saying they were totally boned, so I agreed to come sit-in for a few shows. I didn’t think I was really good enough to go forward with it, but over the course of a few months playing with them I started to influence their sound just because I use so much distortion and fuzz on my bass. Honestly, I’m glad that I’m here.

Brian: For me, I guess I just came from a very musical family. It took me a long time find good alternative music, but it definitely clicked with me when I did. I had been playing music long before then, though. Mark and I started a band in high school and that project evolved into what we are now after Brad joined the band.

Brad: Me and Mark hung out for the first time in two years and showed me a lot of the project that turned into Better Things, and asked me if I was interested in being a guitar player in the band. Honestly, at the time, I was really musically starved at the time and looking for something new so I was really happy to join in and be a part of it. As far as what got me into music, I started playing saxophone in the 4th grade and then quickly I started listening to AC/DC which is what really got me into guitar.

You are releasing your new album Getting Worse on August 19th. Can you tell me a little about the song writing and recording process for the album? How long did you work on the album?

Well it took about a year from start to finish as far as actual time in the studio, but before that we spent about six months writing the songs and figuring out how we wanted to work with them. As far as song writing, either myself (mark), Brian, or Brad would come into practice with almost a full structure to a song and we’d all work together to evolve it.

Getting Worse Album Artwork

I've had the chance to listen to the album and one thing I really like about it is the production style you used for it. How hard did you work to get that overall sound and what influenced it?

I think there are too many things that influenced the sound to list them all, but we all have very broad influences and we took a lot of pieces and parts from those to make something that felt genuine, and raw, but not dated. Our producer Ryan Cohen really took it to a whole new level, and it was awesome working with someone who had the same vision that we did when all we had was a basic framework.

One song I really like from the album is "25 Miles Per Hour Blues". Can you tell me a little about the song writing process for it in particular? What were some of the lyrical inspirations for the song?

Brad: I’m glad you like it! We were coming down to a time where we were really close to going into the studio, and we felt like there should be more songs on the album to really make it substantial. I started taking my car to work so that I’d have a place to go on my lunch break and play guitar, trying to figure out what would mesh with this album. 25 Miles Per Hour Blues is what came from that. On the surface, 25 miles per hour is the speed limit here in Burlington where we’re from.

What do you having coming up after the album is released?

We’ve been touring a lot this year, and that’s something that is going to continue into the distant future. Expect two more tours this year and some west coast adventures starting at the beginning of next year. Also expect some fun collaborations with artists and distributors.

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?

We have nothing else to add, but thank you so much for the opportunity!

Pre-order the album: HERE.

Follow on Facebook
Follow on Twitter
Follow on Instagram