Lead singer Cole spoke with us about the new video, for "Pieces," the band's growth and what's in store for
Watch the new video here:
Westword: Could you tell us the backstory to “Pieces” and how this music video came together?
Emma Cole: "Pieces" is the idea of future self, knowing what past and present self has and will experience, and that despite all of the emotional struggles, your future self knows that everything's going to be okay at the end. It's a conversation in a way.
The music video is reflecting that. And, really, the story behind the new video is I have a friend from high school, Gabe [Jacobson], whose company is Storyteller Creative. He reached out because he had heard the song and wanted to do something creative in his off time between jobs.
This was kind of the perfect way to end the year, by releasing this video and kind of a
Moving forward from 2018, what are some expectations or wishes you have for
We're excited to be hitting the road in February through May, but we're hoping to continue to write more music and record and keep pumping out songs, because that's what we love to do, and that's what it's all about. We're going to keep putting ourselves in creative atmospheres to keep doing that.
How do you keep balanced and sustained while on tour with the band?
It's honestly challenging, but it's rewarding, too, because when we're on the road, it's a completely different lifestyle. Your head's in it at all times. When we're not driving and when we're not sleeping, we're talking about business, we're talking about some ideas, and we'll bring a guitar into the van so that we have something to play if we ever have an idea.
When we're at home this December and January, we're going to explore that part of us where we don't have to pack up our gear for a show and unpack it, then try to write. We're just going to write, write, write.
You joked in a previous Westword interview that you wanted to be on Jimmy Fallon, and you were recently on Carson Daly. That's a pretty powerful manifestation.
I know! We were pretty shocked. Still, Jimmy Fallon is a huge goal.
How was filming for Carson Daly?
It was great. He doesn't have a studio, so they have a film crew that comes out to your show. But we were like, oh, my gosh, because it was very last-minute, and it was extremely nerve-racking just knowing that there were six camera guys with huge cameras that are placed throughout the venue and in the crowd and behind stage watching us.
It almost felt like more of a music video-type vibe than it did just the camera on you while you're performing. It was surreal seeing ourselves on TV...and knowing people all over the world were awake and watching that.
What impact do you think you've made on the Denver music scene, and in return, how has Denver impacted your drive to create music?
I feel like the fact that we're starting to become this name that people know and that people are showing up to our shows who have heard us from something we've done in Denver— it's cool to see that organic impact we've had.
And [seeing] people wearing our shirts, and we're just like, what? Who is that guy? Crazy. Because we've played so much in Denver and we've played so many venues and events that it really feels like we're slowly reaching as many people as we can in Denver.
As far as how Denver has impacted us, Denver is such a cool community of people, and it seems a lot of people here are supportive of local music. Just the fact that 93.3 has a competition that you can go for and get your song on the radio and play a big show.
"Pieces" is in the Colorado tourism ad... . Being able to go into a studio with those people and kind of talk about "Pieces" and place it with the commercial, and work with Shawn King from DeVotchKa and Ben [Wysocki] from The Fray on that — there's this really close, tight-knit community of people.
If you know what you have and you work for it, things will happen, and that's really all it is — it's
Where do you find the inspiration to get past the writer's block and pen your songs?
Sometimes it comes from music first, and it's not about the lyrics. I have this lyrical idea that I'm like, yep, we need to write this song or this is going to fit super-well over this lick one of the guys wrote. Our songwriting process is not something we can figure out how to put a formula to.
I feel like as far as me digging for lyrics, not all the lyrics on our songs are mine. If one of the guys — like Seth, he'll have an idea of something that he went through, and we'll take that, and all of us will put our own hearts into it, and it will transform into a song that has meaning to all of us.
With the new album that you are working on, how is the collaboration process different than it was on some of the previous projects you've released?
We're constantly changing in our process and in our thoughts, so I think it hasn't been such a stark change, but it's totally changed. If you look at our growth from day one to now, it's definitely changed, but it's interesting — we're not hyper-aware of how we're changing and doing things.
We are demo-ing things more. We're trying to get things on paper and recorded so that we can listen back. That's something that we didn't do the first time, but now we're giving ourselves a place to put everything...and exploring ideas in the studio with production ideas or song structure.
