A Conversation with Sitting on Stacy

For Hoyt Horatio Yeatman IV, the torrent of melodies that continually cascade through his consciousness has produced a years-long catalog of hook-laden, infectious, genre-defying songs that are most fully realized in the form of Sitting on Stacy. Fronted by guitarist/vocalist Yeatman, completed by bassist/vocalist Kyle Hart and drummer Trevor Smith, one of San Diego’s most beloved bands has just released its first full-length album in five years, Looking Past Red Flags. The sold-out album release show on Leap Day at San Diego's landmark Music Box was, from all accounts, a riotous success. The band has just begun its North American tour and will be performing at The Mercury Lounge in NYC on Sunday, March 24. 

Sitting on Stacy
(L to R) Kyle Hart, Hoyt Yeatman, Trevor Smith
image by Ellen Ward

I have Brian Wilson to thank for the introduction. A musical recommendation from the mastermind behind Pet Sounds is not something to be taken lightly. And so it was, at the beginning of last summer, that I watched a clip of Hoyt delivering a brain-tweaking, harmony-heaven acapella version of “Don’t Worry Baby” that was shared on Brian’s Facebook page,. Locked in place, I let the video loop, captivated by the sound, before noticing the words “Sitting on Stacy” in a tiny font, almost lost on the screen. This, folks, is where the journey down the rabbit hole began. A considerable amount of hours were subsequently devoted to scouring the internet to track down more about who/whatever “Sitting on Stacy” turned out to be. What I discovered was a great young California-based band who have already released two full-length albums independently, with a wealth of material available online including stand-alone singles, album tracks, live performances and interviews. The first two albums, Obsessed (2017) and Perfectly Sane (2019) showcase a group of musicians who are unafraid and talented enough to incorporate a dazzling array of musical genres into their writing and performances. Sonically speaking, the songs are produced with a finely-tuned ear for tone and placement, creating a cocoon of sound that envelops the listener, pulsing with waves of varying intensity emanating from the band’s kaleidoscopically creative approach that includes (but is not limited to) surf, ska, alternative, punk, folk, and rock. 

These guys deliver a powerful blend of sounds, songs, and stage presence with the sincerity of a no-bullshit, down-to-earth band that just wants to get out there and have fun with their audience, giving 100% at every performance. With the release of Looking Past Red Flags and their North American tour in progress, the band hopes to share its music with as wide an audience as possible. With my tickets already in hand, I look forward to an amazing show.

I connected with the band last August for two separate Zoom interviews, which comprises the bulk of what is to follow. A brief email interview conducted with Hoyt a few days ago brings us to the present. Read and enjoy!

Hoyt Yeatman Interview:  August 22, 2023:

Roy Abrams: Your music has been on constant replay in my house since June 29th, which was the date that Brian Wilson shared your “Don’t Worry, Baby” video. I heard that and it led to falling down the proverbial rabbit hole.

Hoyt Yeatman: Thank you! That’s amazing!

RA: You’re welcome, but I have to thank you guys as well. I'm speaking to you not just as a music fan, but as a musician, as a songwriter, and as somebody who’s been kicking around for a little bit. What you guys are creating  is compelling and captured my ear right out of the gate. When I mentioned falling down the rabbit hole with your music, I meant it, having listened to every song of yours available on the internet and watched every live performance video that’s available. Across the board, I was (and remain)  blown away. The songs are painted from a refreshingly diverse creative palette, highlighting the band’s powerful blend of instrumental prowess and vocal abilities. I also love the arrangements, the production, and am struck by the prevailing sense of fun that is a palpable presence both in the studio and on stage.

HY: Thank you very much. That means a lot.

RA: Really looking forward to your March 24th show at The Mercury Lounge. If my research is correct, you were in this neck of the woods once before a couple of years ago, in Brooklyn?

HY: Yeah, it was our first time on tour. We went there, I forget (the venue) because it’s hard to remember places You’re on the road and you see it for two seconds. But yeah, we went to New York for the first time. It was a great show. It was so fun! We didn’t expect anyone to show up but it was almost sold out. All these people came and it was like super, super cold. I remember it was almost 15 degrees and we’d never experienced the cold because we’re from California. I didn’t even bring a jacket. It was crazy ,so cold! [Laughs] Yeah, we were loading gear in this wind tunnel and it was 15 degrees and we were freezing …. A kit of people showed up and it was one of the best shows on the tour, for sure.

RA: Is the band still headquartered in San Diego?

HY: We started the band in San Diego and when Covid hit we moved back to L.A.. That’s where our studio is, in the Ventura County area. We call San Diego our home because that’s where we started. We love going  back and playing shows there. I'd say our biggest fan base is in San Diego.

RA: Not for long, I think.

HY: [Laughs] Yeah, hopefully!

RA: How did you guys find each other?

HY: We found each other through a school called Rock Nation. It was kind of like a School of Rock kind of thing. Our drummer Trevor’s dad was one of the owners of it, so he put a bunch of kids in bands, (and taught them) guitar, bass, and they would perform three cover songs at a local bar for a bunch of parents. You’d rotate, so there would be different band members. I met Trevor that way. We joined a band called Glass Voodoo. I was the bass player, he was the drummer. We just became really good friends. Right around high school, I wanted to start my own band, called Paper. I reached out to Trevor (but) he wasn’t able to do it. We went through some other people and eventually, when Covid hit, we were just stuck in our rooms the entire time. I was like, “Trevor, do you want to join the band?” and he was like, “Yeah.” I’m good friends with Kyle, I’ve known him like forever, since high school, so we’ve kind of been in the same area together, into the same music, going to the same school. 

RA: The friendship that exists between the three of you is readily apparent. As someone who’s been in a band, I know how vital that is; not just from a creative standpoint in the studio, but also onstage as performers. You guys bring a sense of unpretentious fun to what you do, and I would imagine that you’ve garnered a fan base that spans a few generations. 

HY: It’s cool when you make music that a lot of people resonate with. It’s cool to talk to all of them and have them enjoy your music. It makes us want to do it more and have more fun. I think life is way too short to not have fun. We go in the direction that’s the most fun. That’s our motto. We’ve been on the road a couple of times, and we’ve been with each other for months, nonstop, 24/7. We’ve gotten in maybe one argument but mostly we’re just like brothers. We love hanging out with each other.

image by Ellen Ward

RA: To make sure I understand the timeline of the band’s current incarnation, Trevor joined the band after Perfectly Sane? 

HY: We released Obsessed in high school. I think I was 17 or 18. I was with Kyle at the time. When we went to college, we recorded Perfectly Sane in our bedroom. We got a different drummer and we were performing  and it started to get really fun. We were selling out shows and  people were really liking it, knowing all the words …  and then Covid hit. And no shows were around so we were just stuck in our rooms. Our drummer ended up leaving and we didn’t really know what to do for the longest time. I remembered being in bands with Trevor and I asked him to come and jam. We jammed for like five or six days and started making Tik-Toks and that’s when it kind of took off. We were on the front page of Tik-Tok and we were like, “Holy crap!” I mean, there have been people doing music but we kind of did that “play to the camera thing” I had no idea what we were doing but we got a bunch of views and then we ended up getting signed. Joe Jonas ended up finding us. He DMd us and was like, “Hey are you guys signed by anybody?” We were like, “No!” We didn’t even know what that was. [Laughs] He was like, “I’d love to set up a Zoom call.” We did the Zoom call and that’s when Trevor was like, “I’ll join the band.” It totally worked out after that.

RA: As a multi-instrumentalist, what did your formative years consist of, musically?

HY: My first instrument was the piano. My mom wanted me to play an instrument so she signed me up for piano. I didn’t fall in love with it; I was like a little kid. To get me to practice, she would put all my little stuffed animals in the living room, and then I’d have a little performance for the animals, so she was very encouraging for my “concert-ness.’ I tried playing the flute for a little bit but I didn’t’ vibe with that at all. I love the sound of the flute but I just couldn’t make a sound on it; it was too hard. I went to the bass, then I switched over to the guitar and I learned “Iron Man.” – that was the first song I learned, and I just fell in love with it. I started to learn drums, and I really want to play the bagpipes. That’s my next instrument!

RA: Really? 

HY: I love bagpipes! [Laughs] It’s hard to make sounds with them!

RA: Yeah, someone once said that if you don’t play them right, it sounds like you’re trying to give a cat the Heimlich maneuver. So, it was guitar after the bass for you …

HY: Yes. I really, really wanted to play acoustic and my mom signed me up for electric because she thought it would be easier.

RA: Is there a go-to guitar of choice? 

HY: My sea-foam green Fender Powercaster. It’s like a weird kind of hybrid guitar. I put some pickups in it that I like. It’s (a) funny (story), when I was trying out a different guitar and we were playing in Mexico - we were opening for the Jonas Brothers - and I walked up there with the different guitar, and the first song in, the string broke. We were in front of 30,000 people. I was like (makes a strained grinning expression). I ended up changing it out and talking to the crowd. I was speaking English so I don’t think they understood anything I said, but it was funny. I was like, “My guitar string broke!” and everyone’s cheering. I was like, “No, no! It’s bad!” [Laughs]

image by Ellen Ward

RA: Kyle is an exquisitely tasteful bassist whose melodic grooves complement the songs perfectly. His bass lines are always spot on.

HY: They are!

RA: He uses a Fender Jazz Bass, correct?

HY: He’s big on Jazz basses.

RA: I want to touch on the vocal harmonies you and Kyle create. It’s relatively easy for two people to harmonize in pitch, but achieving a true vocal blend is another matter. The blend between you and Kyle creates that kind of embedded third voice, which only happens when the voices intertwine on multiple sonic levels.  It’s a blend that you either have, or you don’t. You guys have it.

HY: Yeah, I remember for the longest time, he didn’t want to sing. I was like, “Dude, your voice is so good, you gotta sing.” and he was like, “Okay.” And then he started singing. His voice has a kind of softer tone and he can hit higher notes than I can. We kind of have this cool thing. I can hit the falsetto, but he doesn't do it as well. Whatever my weakness, he is strong in that. HIs voice is naturally higher so he can hit the great harmonies. I have more of a pointed kind of sound. It’s cool, Like, (for a demo) I’ll do harmonies just as like (temporary) ones over the melody that I was thinking of and it’ll sound pretty cool, but I really want Kyle to sing it because as soon as his voice gets on it, it just starts to sound like a real song.  So yeah, if I just sing the harmonies for recording, it just ends up sounding like a bunch of me’s just singing it and it doesn’t sound as cool, but once his voice is on it, it sounds so cool. I really like singing with him.

RA: While the two original drummers each brought a solid sense of musicality and groove to the mix, my ears tell me that  it was not until Trevor joined that the “right” people found each other. For me, it’s symbolic of the Pete Best-to-Ringo moment for the band. What brand of drums does Trevor prefer?

HY: He’s a big Pork Pie guy, He has a Pork Pie snare, He’s super into it

RA: The eclectic nature of the band’s first two albums showcase a fearless commitment to presenting a diversity of musical expression. It’s one of my favorite things about Sitting on Stacy, and I love the fact that you are completely unafraid to do that. (Neither were The Beatles, so you’re in excellent company!) As you and I both know, the major labels can’t get a handle on that. An A&R person might show up at your gigs and say that they love the band, only to admit that they don’t know how to “market” you.

HY: Believe me, we’ve gone through the ringer with that. Yeah, it’s true. I mean, they’ll say, “You don’t have a sound” or “You’re doing too many genres” but I think the “sound” is being eclectic, I want to have a lot of different sounds!

RA: I also love that you manage to achieve that within the space of one song. There’s also the fun factor involved with the recording sessions, which is readily apparent in listening to the results. 

HY: It’s cool. We just bring in our friends. Like, on our song “Chest Hair”, we brought our friends, they both played horns. We’d never used horns before on a song. They played in the (high school) band and stuff, and we had no idea they could play. They were just listening to this song and were like, “Dude, can I put some horns on it?” I was like, “Yeah, let’s do it!” We had no idea what we were doing. I’m like, “I don’t even know how to mic a horn!” (So) we researched it and we mic’d his horn up and I helped them walk through it. I was producing it and it just worked its way, and that was the solo of the song and we were freaking out. It feels so good when you get whatever’s in your head to be on the computer and playing back to you. It’s such a good feeling!

RA: An observation I’ve made from watching videos of so many of the band’s live performances is that the three of you capture the essence of the fun of being in a band, when it works. You’ve obviously figured out how to make that happen.

HY: That’s like our favorite part. I love recording, but I know that Trevor and Kyle love playing live. It’s just the most fun. I want to get everyone to just let go and just have the best time. If they pay to see our show then I want them to have a giant experience. I try to do everything humanly possible at our level to make the shows as crazy as possible. I want to put on a really good show. I love jumping around and going crazy, having funny people come up onstage.

image by Ellen Ward

RA: I’d like to explore the DIY recording aspect of your band. Are you using digital, analog, or a hybrid?

HY: It’s fun! Yeah, it’s like my hobby; it’s my passion. I just love mixing and creating songs and stuff. Yeah, it’s cool. It’s mostly digital. I record everything at home. I have a ProTools setup. I’m using Orion and Ableton too. We have preamps and stuff we built. It’s a very DIY-home studio kind of vibe. I sit in my room all day and just record and mix. It’s cool. 

RA: What kind of microphones do you use?

HY: Let’s see … My dad actually helped build a U47 Telefunken, We’ve kind of moved over to that and that’s where I record pretty much everything with, it just sounds so good. AKG 414s, SM7s, SM58s, you know, all the regular ones. We’ll use a lot of unconventional ways to record things. We’ll put a drum set up and only put two or three mics on it and then add things later to it to try to make weird sounds. That's what I’m going for. The best albums always have a really unique sound with their mixes, so I don’t want (anything) to just sound like a stock instrument, you know? That’s what we’ve been kind of shooting for. I’ve been recording a bunch of guitar stuff; I have a jury-rigged kind of Orange amp and Marshall DSL (not to get too technical) …[Laughs]  I love it! Tons of pedals, just mic it up in my room and it sounds really good. It’s awesome!.

RA: I noticed the giant array of pedals you used for the band’s live performance for Cal State Fullerton. Of them all, is there a particular favorite?

HY My stepdad gave me this flanger pedal from when he was in a band in the ‘80s. It's a Yamaha flanger pedal. I just use it for all the sounds, basically. It works great, it has this weird kind of dreamy thing over it, and that’s why it’s my favorite one. He used to use it in his band. He gave it to me and I've been playing with it ever since. Then I have a Probe pedal, it’s called a ZVEX, where it’s kind of like a theremin; in a sense it’s like a wah, when you put your foot close to it, it changes the sound. It’s so cool. I don’t know, I’m all into really weird pedals and stuff.

RA: Songwriting-wise, are they done collectively or essentially yours with some help from the other two guys?

HY: Usually, on Perfectly Sane, it was my initial idea. I’ll come up with a verse and chorus, and then usually I’ll show it to them and they’ll hop on like a bridge or like the rest of the song, structure-wise; they finish it with me. It’s good to bring them ideas because they’ll always have a different approach to finishing it that I didn’t think about, and it’s like, “Wow! That’s cool!” I don’t know, they add the glue to it, so it’s fun writing with them.

RA: Let’s talk lyrics … they’re all from you?

HY: For the most part, yeah. I’ll try to write about experiences and stuff I have. Yeah, I think lyrics are probably my least favorite to write because I have so many melodies. I have to really reach down deep inside and figure out what I’m trying to say but yeah, usually it’s me. 

RA: Is the mixing done by you or all three of you?

HY: I mix it and then master it. I'll mostly produce it, then I’ll show it to (Kyle and Trevor) and they add their parts so it all works out.

RA: Have you done any production work for anybody else?

HY: I’ve helped my friends and stuff, but the first time actually is with NOFX. I’m helping them on their last record. I’m doing some harmonies and stuff and I’ve mixed a couple of his songs. That’s my first producing/mixing gig I guess. NOFX has been a big inspiration for us, so it’s kind of cool to be working with them and just doing his last record. I remember in high school and college I’d listen to his first record and go, “Oh, this is so cool!” I loved how fast and how angry everything was. Now I’m working on his last record, and it’s so crazy to me. But yeah, it’s the only (outside project) I’ve done and just stuff for myself.

RA: Can you tell me about the “hidden” track at the end of Perfectly Sane?

HY: I had done that in my college dorm. It was super late at night, I didn’t want to wake anybody up. I was just kind of going around on the guitar. It just kind of popped in my head. I was like, this is so cool, but I didn’t have time to finish it and turn it into a big song, so I was like, why don’t we make it super creepy and put it at the end of the album? I love when albums have funny little blurbs at the end. So yeah, I never got to finish it, it was gonna be a big song, but we were kind of rushed so I just put it at the end (of the album). It was this melancholy little guitar riff with a little vocal thing on it. Everyone’s kind of like, what is it? It’s funny, because there’s a gap between the last song (“Don’t Forget the Fries”) and the hidden track, which made the last song like five or six minutes long, even though the song is actually like two minutes long.

RA: One final question about Perfectly Sane, regarding the song sequencing. One of the things that blew me away about the album was how those songs flowed into each other. Who was responsible for that? 

HY: I know we sat with it for a long time and discussed the order of everything, because there’s a lot of eclectic sounds; there are some that were really fast, some that are really hard rock, some that are ska, some that are not. I”ve always loved making music like that. I love making an album’s worth of just crazy different songs that all sound different. So it was hard, because it was like, how do we put a song that’s super hard  rock and a song that’s totally not right next to each other? We just decided to do it. I’m pretty sure we sat together and would listen to them going from one song to the next. It did take a lot of time. It’s crazy that you noticed that!

RA: Sitting on Stacy has a reputation for a decidedly high-energy performance. Is this something that comes naturally for all three of you or does it take some conscious work?

HY:I remember my very first gig ever. I was like 10, and my mom was showing me Green Day and some of the Beatles, Paul McCartney and stuff and just how they would jump around. She was like, you see how they’re strumming their guitars? They could just be standing there strumming their guitar  but they’re doing it all crazy. I remember seeing that and going, “Wow, you’re right!” The first show, I remember I was jumping up and down, going crazy. My guitar fell off its strap and it hit the ground and I was so embarrassed. But everyone was stoked and they were like, “Wow, that little kid is jumping around!” Plus, I have a lot of energy and I just want to get it out. I love getting all of your energy out and then people will just vibe along with it. It’s such a weird feeling onstage. I can’t even really describe it perfectly. But that, paired with looking at your idols and seeing that wow, they do jump around onstage and go crazy. That’s kind of where I learned a lot of it. Yeah, we would hurt ourselves all the time. [Laughs] I had my legs get bruises from jumping off the amps. I sprained my ankle on the last tour really badly, but that wasn’t onstage, it was right before we were going to play. I fell out of the van onto a safety cone. I twisted my ankle, but I still played the rest of the shows. I was jumping around on one leg and I thought I broke my leg. Yeah, the show must go on! 

RA: Any closing thoughts on the new album?

HY: We’ve been recording this third album for a very long time now. I just can’t wait to show it to everybody. We've been working with Fat Mike from NOFX, we worked with Pierre Bouvier from Simple Plan, we worked with Rome from Sublime on some of the songs. I’ve learned a lot since Perfectly Sane, mixing-wise, so I can’t wait to show everybody what we’ve got here, I’m really excited. 

RA: I guess we have Brian Wilson to thank for the introduction, which leads me to my final question: How did that happen?

HY: I love The Beach Boys like, so much. They’re so … I don’t even have to explain. They’re just amazing. We covered a lot of their songs (on Tik-Tok) and I guess they had seen it. I guess it did so well that they saw the covers. It’s been crazy. We’ve pretty much had all the Beach Boys reach out, like Al Jardine, Mike Love, and Brian Wilson. We’ve been able to talk to them and they’ve seen our covers for each one. That’s so crazy … I can’t believe they’ve seen … me … I’m such a big fan, you know? It’s cool, I’m glad I have other songs, at least, to bring them some stoke .. some stokage! 

image by Ellen Ward

Kyle Hart and Trevor Smith Interview: August 29, 2023

RA: Kyle, I hear a certain left-handed bassist who’s an influence for you. You bring a lot of melodicism to your playing.

Kyle Hart: Thank you! Yeah, you gotta love Paul McCartney!

RA: What led each of you to music in the first place?

Trevor Smith: When I was 10 years old, or even younger, I started playing bass. God knows why, but I was terrible! [Laughs] I picked up drumsticks and I liked it a lot more. So I was originally a bassist but it was not my thing.

KH: I have a similar story. When I was like 5 or 6, I kept telling my parents that I wanted to play acoustic guitar, so they got me this little acoustic guitar for Christmas (I think), and I hated it. They gave me lessons, and I didn’t really like it. So I was like, maybe I’ll play the bass, it’s got less strings! [Laughs] So I picked up the bass, and that’s what led me to it.

RA: Hoyt told me his version of how the three of you got together, but I’m interested in both of your perspectives on how this bridge got built.

KH; We were all involved in the same music school. It was called Rock Nation, 

TS: We were like, 10 years old.

KH: Yeah, we were really young, and you would have teachers, and they would teach you all these songs, and then once a month or so, you’d play at some bar for your parents, [Laughs] We did that for a long time, and then once we got into high school/early college, we started forming our own bands.

TS: I was in a different band with Kyle before, and then I was in a different band, and then years later, we ended up as us three. Me and Kyle went to high school together 

KH: We’ve kind of been playing together since we were 10 years old, and it took many years for us. We were all in different bands and eventually we all joined the same one and never looked back.

RA: Trevor, I don’t mean to denigrate the drummers who preceded you, but when you joined the band, it was the Pete Best-to-Ringo moment, as far as I’m concerned.

TS: I’ll take it!

KH: We initially jammed a few times. The chemistry was good, we were having fun, 

TS: We did our first U.S. tour in 2021 which was definitely a solidifying moment. 

RA: Who are some of your individual musical influences?

KH: For me, I would say The Beatles.  I really like Paul McCartney’s melodic bass lines. I grew up on classic rock, Led Zeppelin and stuff like that, but I also really like a lot of ‘90s bands like Alice in Chains. I take inspiration from any time period.

TS: I could list 100 drummers but if I could pick one I would probably say Stewart Copeland. I love the way he plays, I love The Police. They were kind of my “growing up” band. 

RA: Let’s talk about the songwriting process. From what I understand, Hoyt does the lion’s share of the writing, or is it a collective process?

KH: For a lot of the songs, since Hoyt is the singer, he’ll figure out the melody and some guitar chords and stuff, and we’ll go jam it out in the jam room or build it in front of the computer. Some songs just come really naturally, and some songs you keep going back to, tweaking it and tweaking it.

RA: What are some examples of songs that locked in on the get-go, and conversely, what are some songs that you really had to peel apart to get them where you wanted them to be?

KH: I would say “Chest Hair” is one song that really flowed well.

TS: The new one that’s coming out next week was pretty easy, writing-wise.

KH: “Some Kind of Way” is one that took some time. I came up with the chorus for it. We were trying to figure out a verse and nothing was working, and then Hoyt said he woke up one night with the melody for the verse in his head. It was like 3:00 am and he quickly recorded it on his phone. Yeah, that one took a while to match a verse with that chorus. Once we got it, we were really stoked on it. 

RA: I know that Hoyt occasionally does studio production work for other bands. Do either of you get involved on that end?

KH: I have not, no.

TS: I’ve done a lot of live work. I’ll play drums with bands all the time. Recording-wise, it’s been just us, for the most part.

RA: Hoyt and I discussed the vocal blend that exists between the two of you. Two people can be singing in pitch, but they might not necessarily have the blend. The combination of your voices produces that elusive “third voice” which is magical when it occurs.

KH: I appreciate that. It’s really good to hear. I think it blends well, too

RA: Just so I understand, Hoyt will come in with a basic idea, but the end result is the product of the combined effort from all three of you.

KH: Yeah, for sure.

RA: I’ve seen so many of the band’s song snippets on Tik-Tok. How many of these have been fully realized at this point?

KH: I would say a pretty good amount of them.

TS: I believe the plan is (that) we’re gonna release three new songs by November, and the whole thing by January/February.

RA: What have been some of your most extraordinary live experiences to date?

KH: We played in New York City (in 2021), that was a good one. 

TS: Yeah, the first time there, we sold it out, which was really crazy for us. We’d never been out there, so it was super cool for us.

KH: Boston was another good one.

RA: Where did you play in Boston?

TS: The Brighton Music Hall … a cool venue.

KH: We had some cool Florida shows as well.

TS: Texas loves our band. It’s fun there!

KH: Yeah, on our very first tour, we got to the venue and had a bunch of people taking pictures with us. I was like, this is crazy! We’d never been there before.

TS: We’re really trying to play more music festivals these days, as our ultimate goal. Festivals are really good these days.

 

image by Ellen Ward

Additional thoughts from Hoyt, via email, March 13, 2024

HY: Looking Past Red Flags is our third album! It has 16 tracks on it. The majority of the album was recorded upstairs in our home studio.  We didn’t want to stick with one genre/sound with this record; each song has its own vibe and the album gets darker and angrier as it progresses. After getting signed and seeing how the music industry operates it opened our eyes and made us realize we wanted to have a little more autonomy where we could do our own thing, at least for the immediate future. Going through Covid and the big label experience was a bumpy time period and we wrote a lot of the lyrics about these escapades and mixed in some past relationship feelings. The name Looking Past Red Flags was just too fitting and described the past couple years to a T where we didn't always heed our guts' warnings but also evokes a more hopeful side in that we're looking past that, towards the future. 

We were able to collaborate with Rome Ramirez (Sublime with Rome) on songs “Tokyo” and “Wedding Song” and recorded “Tokyo” in Nashville with him. We recorded “Crème Brûlée” and “Miles Away” with Pierre Bouvier (Simple Plan). Fat Mike (NOFX) came out to our home studio and helped on tracks “Making Any Sense”, “Escape On A Holiday” and “Baby Girl”. We wrote “Raincoat” and “House Phone” with Mike Kamerman (Small Pools) and Etienne Bowler (Mister Wives).  The rest of the songs like “I Need A Nap", “Marching To The Grave”, and “Rabbit In a Cage”, Hoyt, Trevor, (and) Kyle wrote and produced together over the last few months. 

The Looking Past Red Flags tour started in San Diego, home to our band's start, with our album release show and we sold out the Music Box! It was INSANE!  San Diego fans embrace us like no other city!  We opened for 311 on the east and west coasts. We played a total of seven shows with them. Those were some of our favorite shows by far and we were really well received by 311’s fans! We played with 311 in Atlantic City and had to cross eight states in a rental car while simultaneously renting a drum set from a dude in a parking garage. The whole experience was unreal. We are now currently going to Atlanta to continue the tour. We are playing all over the country and playing in Canada for the first time. This album means a lot to us and we can’t wait for more people to hear it.

© 2024 by Roy Abrams