An interview with Long Autumn
An interview with Long Autumn
What inspired the name of the band? What are your influences?
‘Long Autumn’ sort of just happened to come from a short list of names that we had at the time we were choosing what we wanted to be called. It doesn’t necessarily have any story behind it or real significance. However, as we’ve created and developed our sound over the past year and a half, I’ve realized it actually suits the sound and vibe of our music really well. And influences — man we have so many. We listen to music all across the board, from John Mayer, to The Neighbourhood, to Arctic Monkeys, Cage The Elephant, Foo Fighters and Nirvana, all the way over to Slipknot, Knocked Loose, Filter, Rage Against The Machine, The Killers and so many more. We all have individual, different tastes and I love that.
How do you approach songwriting? Are there any themes that you are keen to explore when you start off?
Well, I keep a bank of lyrics stored in my iPhone notes. A ton. And I write those when I hear them in my head, or draw them from a situation I have going on in my life, which is all too often. We write and produce our own music collectively. The writing is done by myself, Jam (guitar), Nick (guitar) and Conor (drums). We didn’t always approach it that way, I used to sort of do it all. But we wanted to become more of a band, a unit. It’s been working really well for the new noise we’re creating for this year. As far as themes go, I have a tendency to write most often about things that bother me or tough aspects of my life. I deal with depression and anxiety, and that opens up a lot of doors for creativity fortunately. I love writing love songs too, though. Like our songs I Could Get Used To This, Black, Them and Carry You Home, those are all about my lovely lady.
How do you approach songwriting? Are there any themes that you are keen to explore when you start off?
Well, I keep a bank of lyrics stored in my iPhone notes. A ton. And I write those when I hear them in my head, or draw them from a situation I have going on in my life, which is all too often. We write and produce our own music collectively. The writing is done by myself, Jam (guitar), Nick (guitar) and Conor (drums). We didn’t always approach it that way, I used to sort of do it all. But we wanted to become more of a band, a unit. It’s been working really well for the new noise we’re creating for this year. As far as themes go, I have a tendency to write most often about things that bother me or tough aspects of my life. I deal with depression and anxiety, and that opens up a lot of doors for creativity fortunately. I love writing love songs too, though. Like our songs I Could Get Used To This, Black, Them and Carry You Home, those are all about my lovely lady.
Why do you write the sort of music that you do?
Mostly because we all love the root style of indie and alternative rock/pop, and from the start we set out to make our own custom rendition of it. Our sound is generally rooted from those genres, but we’ve made it our own. And it’s always evolving.
How do you decide what songs to perform live and how do you transpose them into that live setting?
We actually play all of our songs live typically! Considering we only have ten currently. However, if we get a short set, say a half hour or 45 minutes, we’ll typically cut out the slower, less “popular” songs, like Black or Dirt. Even though we love both of those songs. Our music is translated really well live, we put a lot of hours into perfecting our set every single week. It’s a very full and atmospheric sound, and it’s super loud.
How do you decide what songs to perform live and how do you transpose them into that live setting?
We actually play all of our songs live typically! Considering we only have ten currently. However, if we get a short set, say a half hour or 45 minutes, we’ll typically cut out the slower, less “popular” songs, like Black or Dirt. Even though we love both of those songs. Our music is translated really well live, we put a lot of hours into perfecting our set every single week. It’s a very full and atmospheric sound, and it’s super loud.
What plans do you have for the future?
Right now, we’re still promoting our second EP ‘Change’ that we just dropped last month. It’s doing really well and we’re very grateful. Immediately after its release, we started a brand new batch of music, and that’s what we’re working on now. This year we’ll be putting out a new project, maybe more than one. A lot of music. Surprisingly, we have a show booked at The Delancey in New York City in June, and the following weekend we are booked to play an outdoor festival called Harry Brown’s in Maine. We couldn’t be more excited, it’s sick to see venues starting to slowly open back up. And it will be our first festival, which is super tight. Be sure to check us out on all socials at @longautumnmusic to join our squad & get on our vibe.