SLUG Magazine

For this episode of Soundwaves, local electronic artist Sally Yoo stops by to talk about her recent album, Tender, and her new sound. Formerly the bassist of the rock group Chalk, she set out on her own to make darker, more electronically oriented music.

Looking back at her musical roots, Yoo cites her switch to guitar as a formative experience in her songwriting. While her early days playing piano gave her a necessary musical background, it was when she began listening to indie rock and writing more pop-oriented songs. Hearing a particularly downtrodden Elliott Smith song on KRCL was a defining moment in solidifying Yoo’s approach towards music.

Yoo looks back fondly on her days in Chalk. More than just the music, though, she notes the nostalgia she has for the extended practice sessions, hangouts and kooky projects. While solo work has proved fulfilling a musical manner, it doesn’t carry the same social charm that a full band did. One of her fondest memories involved the group collaborating on artwork for their new website, a task that produced weird and wild paintings.

A key aspect of Yoo’s new sonic direction is her collaborations with Matt Madsen. While a bulk of the creative work still falls to Yoo’s credit—reaffirming the solo album designation—Madsen’s experience with synthesizers, DAWs and other electronics helped to facilitate Yoo’s transition away from analog rock music and into a digital realm. He also brought in new musical inspirations, from Sade to Khruangbin, which play a role in Yoo’s new sound.

Yoo’s EP, Tender, was released this last July, the title track of which can be heard toward the end of this Soundwaves episode. Head to Yoo’s Bandcamp page to listen to the rest of the EP, and follow her Instagram for updates on shows and new music.

For this episode of Soundwaves, Jared Asplund, vocalist of local rock group Martian Cult, comes in to talk about the history of the band and how they developed from a small side project between friends to the sci-fi-loving, extensively touring group they are now. Joining Asplund is Elowyn LaPointe on bass, Derek Clark on keys, Justin Richardson on guitar and Blair Draper on drums.

Asplund looks back on the genesis of Martian Cult, with the first iteration of the band formed out of the ashes of his old group, Daisy & the Moonshines. After five years with the group, Asplund decided that he needed a group with a little more focus and seriousness, so he started rehearsing new material with LaPointe and Draper. Slowly, these initial ideas turned into the first Martian Cult songs.

The group was named after an idea for a sci-fi comic book he had with an old friend, conceived as The Martian King and the Lonely Android. The spaced-out fantasy influence permeates deeper into the group’s music than their name, though, as the closing track off of their debut EP shows. “Lonely Android” is a song-based retelling of the comic book’s plot, as it details the strained and frowned-upon love between a human and an android.

To date, Martian Cult have gone on three regional and national tours. Asplund sees these experiences as crucial to the band’s development, as the exposure to the great talent outside of Utah drives his fellow musicians to hone their skills to achieve greater things. This is not to undermine the importance of the local scene to Martian Cult, though, as one of the groups primary goals is to give people reasons to go out and see more of the great music surrounding them.

Head to Martian Cult’s Bandcamp to listen to their 2017 EP, Cheater’s Wave, as well as their latest Fela Kuti inspired single, “Simmer Down.” To stay up-to-date on forthcoming shows and tours, check out the band’s Facebook page.

Matthew Lloyd, guitarist of PXR (PositiveXReinforcement) discusses the band’s sound evolutions, vegan-straight edge and their plans for a new release on this episode of Soundwaves.

For this episode of Soundwaves, Tamerlane guitarist Trevor Hale traces the journey of the local hardcore band. After forming in 2003, the group has gone through multiple lineup changes and extended breaks. However, 15 years hasn’t slowed them down. Tamerlane are back in full force and are ready as ever for their upcoming performance at Crucialfest 8.

Hale joined Tamerlane in 2004, and notes that the band had a fairly consistent performance and writing schedule until about 2008. Things started to slow down at this point as the band member’s lives got busier, but a few one-off shows gave them the push they needed to finish their debut record, Clouds Unfold. The group dropped the album in 2009, and it currently stands as the only publicly available Tamerlane release—though Hale notes that more music is currently in the works.

The start of the decade coincided with another unofficial hiatus, but the last five years have brought the band back into a more consistent formation. Starting in 2013 with benefit shows for the passing of fellow SLC musician Mick Morris, the group continued to play out and practice, leading to their current state of regular activity. Tamerlane exists now as a five-piece, with Jack Fard on vocals, Oz Yosri on bass, Drew Davenport on drums and Ed Golub playing guitar as well as providing occasional backing vocals.

As far as the band’s sonic identity, Hale notes that Tamerlane aims to stand out from the hardcore crowd a little bit. Their roots are in the straightedge-hardcore scene, but Hale explains that Tamerlane searches for a style that’s more—in the band’s words—“emotional.” Still, versatility is key to their playing, and the ability to quickly switch between loud and soft, fast and slow is a defining element of Tamerlane’s sound.

Listen to “Dreams” from Clouds Unfold in the latter half of this episode, and be sure to catch Tamerlane at Crucialfest 8. To stay up to date with the band’s goings-on, find them on all social media platforms @tamerlaneslc or at their website, tamerlaneslc.com.

Thanks for listening to SLUG Soundwaves.

On this episode of Soundwaves, Chandra Marie stops in to talk about her role as the lead vocalist in the local rock group Ginger & The Gents. Rounded out by Jesse Kyle Long on guitar, Sam Sumpter on bass and Steven Butler on drums, the group play a throwback style of rock with an unending sense of passion.

Marie first looks back on her past, pointing to a karaoke experience at the young age of 21 as the real genesis of her singing career. The thrill and energy of being stage gave her the impetus to pursue music as a full-time gig, inspiring her to form a band as an outlet for this new element her life. Now, Ginger & The Gents’ live performances are a space for all four members to use their music to create a vivacious environment to express themselves and give people a show to remember.

There is a political element to Ginger & the Gents’ music, but the nature of their message has changed over time. As a self-described strongly opinionated person, Marie notes that she used to be a lot more up-front about her views than she is now. The decision to move towards a less directly aggressive lyrical style is two-fold. The new approach relies on the Gents’ desire to appeal to the widest audience possible, and—in Marie’s words—the realization that “subtlety is as sharp as a knife.”

This is not to say, however, that there’s a lack of substance in the Gents’ lyrics. Throughout the episode, Marie describes the inspiration behind some of her lyrics, such as her father’s struggles with Alzheimers on “Holding On” or the group’s collective criticisms of war violence on “People Get Ready.” She hopes that these topics don’t deter people, rather that they bring disparate groups together. As a gay single mother, Marie seeks to find a place in her music to let her voice be heard by people who might’ve previously ignored her presence.

Hear “In the Music” at the end of this episode, and head to Ginger & The Gents’ website to stay-up-to-date on future shows and the impending release of their album this fall.

Thanks for listening to SLUG Soundwaves.

From karaoke to manifesting a musical journey, Chandra Marie details the joy that her band Ginger and the Gents create.

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Rob Alvord from Fat Candice speaks to us about the root of emotion in music, his appreciation for ’90s rock, and the Donny Osmond homage on the band’s upcoming album.

Alvord has been a musician since his teenage years, playing in a myriad of bands within a wide variety of genres. The common thread he found in all these types of music was a certain emotion at each of their bases—rock, Alvord feels, is “rebellious and cathartic,” at its core.

Alvord grew up in a musical family and found his love of music through watching his brothers’ Rush VHS tapes, and decided to learn how to play the bass. After playing the instrument in groups for years, Alvord made the switch to guitar, finding it easier to not only to write music but also to play and sing at the same time. However, he still feels like he is a bassist at heart, saying that he’s “a bass player that’s here to play guitar.”

In his songwriting, Alvord cites many ’90s alternative rock and grunge bands as his influences. Alvord loved how bands like Jane’s Addiction, Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana and Alice In Chains were able to take notes from the entire rock landscape and fuse it into singular artistic visions. In the 2000s, Alvord was finding that much of the edge and sophistication he associated with the rock of the ’90s began to morph and slip away. With Fat Candice, Alvord looks to create music not only that other people enjoy but that he enjoys himself.

Alvord says the upcoming, second, self-titled album from Fat Candice is an eclectic experience, with a wide-reaching rock soundscape that touches on the themes of “darkness and loss of innocence”—some straight-up rock songs, some songs like Rage Against the Machine, some more acoustic songs. Alvord discusses a couple of the processes for songwriting on this new album. One track was inspired by a tragic family story told to Alvord by the band’s drummer and newest member, Adam Ridd. Another started with a title “Donny Osmond Will Have His Revenge on Ogden,” inspired by a Nirvana track with a similarly structured title, and pays homage to the grunge heroes as well as Utah.

Fat Candice’s new album is coming soon, and you can keep up with the group at fatcandice.com and facebook.com/fatcandice.

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Larkin talks to us about growing up in a musical family, finding her artistic voice in a shower and turning the world she sees into art.

Larkin Swain, originally from Orem, is a rapper based in Salt Lake City. She posted her music on Soundcloud for the first time fairly recently—this past winter, actually. After getting out of a long-term relationship and feeling as if she was in a stagnate, limbo state, Swain decided to finally take her dreams of creating music and turn them into a reality. She recorded her first song, “The Birth of Venus,” in a shower in her childhood home on her father’s laptop. Excited about her creation, she immediately showed her family the song and was met with full support.

Swain grew up in a family of musicians with six siblings, many of whom are pursuing lives in music or are heavily interested in music. She also says that she grew up in a religious household, and describes music as a religion unto itself—a “transcendent” experience for her. Up until recently, she had only ever been a music appreciator, allowing her siblings to be the ones who created while she observed and listened. But after years of quiet observation, Swain found that she saw everything as art, and decided to transpose that art into her lyrics.

Her foray into rap was somewhat initiated by trips up into the mountains with her friends, where they would listen to beats and record themselves freestyling over them. She has been influenced by the likes of Lauryn Hill, Kilo Kish and, especially, Noname. Swain was inspired by Noname’s willingness to break free of genre constraints and desires to break free of labels and expectations in her own music as well, allowing her work to be an openly expressive platform for anything she is feeling. More recently, she has been listening to and been inspired by LeXuS., Biig Piig and orion sun.

Swain says that her experiences in toxic and abusive relationships have heavily informed her work, wanting to shed a light on these experiences that are unfortunately all too common. Traveling has also inspired her work, breaking down preconceived notions of humanity and openly perceiving and accepting people from around the world. She has taken this inspiration and transferred it back into her work, allowing it to inform her ability to observe and write about everything she sees.

She is currently working on a collaborative EP of local artists, setting up more shows, and adding short-film direction to her repertoire of self-expression. You can listen to Larkin’s music at soundcloud.com/larkin-swain and follow her on instagram @yungpeachfuz.

Also, make sure to catch Larkin open for Alyxandri Jupiter and Freemind Movement at Urban Lounge for SLUG Localized! 

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Morris Carrillo of Detour discusses the formation of the band, the group’s upcoming EP, their recent tour adventures and the feeling of home he gets from playing music.

Detour is still a relatively young group, coming together in 2016. The formation of the band came naturally. After Carrillo and Chris Archuleta, Detour’s vocalist and guitarist, bonded over the band Baroness, they found bassist Ian Earley online and immediately meshed well. Through Earley, the group found guitarist Thor Sorensen in early 2017, and they’ve been playing together ever since. Founding the group in 2016 marked a definite shift in Carrillo’s life, refinding his passion for music after a few years away while in a relationship and on a Mormon mission.

Carrillo found his initial love for music one day while he was in the fifth grade. Upon hearing The Strokes’ “Hard to Explain,” Carrillo challenged his sisters that he would be able to learn the drums from the song by the end of the day—and accomplished the task.

Detour will soon release a new EP titled 13th & Grand. After a couple previous EPs, the band feels like their upcoming release displays a matured version of the group, and also sees the band playing their brand of punk music the way they’ve always wanted to. “We’re a punk band,” says Carrillo, “that’s all it comes down to.” He cites a multitude of musical influences from various punk subgenres like Thrice, Taking Back Sunday, The Smiths and Blink-182.

Carrillo’s personal-largest musical influence is his family, his parents and especially his sisters. Recently, his mother passed away, and he has found revelatory comfort in performing music, the thing that always brought him closest to her. Upon that revelation, Carrillo has committed to playing music for the rest of his life.

You can keep up with Detour at Facebook and Instagram at @detourslc.

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In this episode of SLUG Soundwaves, Josh Harmon, lead singer of The Backseat Lovers, articulates their journey that led to winning Velour’s Battle of the Bands earlier this year. Based out of Heber City, The Backseat Lovers have diligently gone through the motions of embedded their indie rock (with a hint of folk) in the Provo and Salt Lake scene and continue to make their mark. Harmon also recalls the unique process that The Backseat Lovers went through to record their first album, Elevator Days.

Harmon discusses the relationship between bandmates Jonas Swanson (guitarist/backup vocals), Ethan Christensen (bass/backup vocals) and Juice Welch (drums). Harmon provides an endearing timeline of their development and, more importantly, their growth together as close friends and a band.

Harmon describes his source of inspiration that drives his songwriting to be a form self-reflection. Like most artists, Harmon elaborates on how creating music has been a method for personal growth and self-discovery. Harmon tells us childhood stories that instilled his passion for music and songwriting—an example being Harmon’s triumph at the Intermountain Acoustic Singer/SongWriter Competition when he was just 16.

Conquering this year’s Battle of the Bands was just the beginning for this eager and blossoming group of gentlemen. They intend on moving to either SLC or Provo soon and consequently putting in the work to bring their music to fruition. Harmon touches on the intent to tour and record their first LP within the next year. In the meantime, they aspire to play with Grey Glass in late July and have shows peppered throughout August with dates yet to be confirmed.

At the end of this episode, enjoy their single “Out of Tune.” You can find The Backseat Lovers on Instagram at @the.backseat.lovers.

Thanks for listening to SLUG Soundwaves.