A Chat with El Modernist (31.08.22)
Influenced by Arctic Monkeys, Tame Impala and Talking Heads, the US-based quartet El Modernist has a rocking sound that will have you hypnotised. We speak with Will Fredette (vocals and guitar), Taylor MacMillan (guitar and backing vocals) and Will Hahn (drums) about their new album, being a vegetable, inspiration and future plans.
OSR: What inspired you to make music and how did you come up with your band name?
El Modernist: We all went to music school together in Albany, NY, and after many years of playing in other bands in the scene we joined forces to create El Modernist. We came up with the band name entirely by chance – throwing words into a hat and seeing what combinations we got. There were some strong contenders, but El Modernist was the most available on Google. ?
OSR: What does music mean to you?
Fredette: Music has always been my way to express myself and find people like me where I go.
MacMillan: Music is too important to live without.
Hahn: Music is sound plus time multiplied by intent and divided by recognition.
OSR: How would you describe El Modernist’s music?
Fredette: El Modernist’s sound has changed a lot since we first started as a band but for this record, I really feel that “hifi garage rock” is a pretty good descriptor.
Hahn: Newest wave and it tastes pretty good to me.
MacMillan: It’s a mishmash of all our strange ideas come to life. We’re basically Frankenstein.
OSR: What can you tell us about your album Eras?
El Modernist: Eras is the culmination of a little over two-and-a-half years of work. We started tracking for the record in 2019, before the shutdowns and with every intent that this would be a quick, barebones recording to support our gigging schedule. When the world stopped in early 2020 we were forced into our basement with little else to do but work on the record. Writing, rewriting, producing, and refining each song over the course of two years has resulted in a very different sounding album than what we started with and a collection of music we feel accurately captures where we are as musicians.
OSR: What significance does Eras hold for each of you?
Fredette: To me Eras represents the payoff for a long and frustrating time (era) in our lives. It took a lot of work, not just on the music, but on ourselves as people to get this record out and I couldn’t be more excited to show everyone.
MacMillan: Eras is an album I hold dear. I stepped out of my comfort zone to produce outside of just guitar. I’m excited to see what people think.
Hahn: It’s my first time in several years producing an entire album and listening back to Eras brings up memories of good times and bad in my own life, but, in the end, shows how much we’ve evolved and grown as a group and through all those times I’ve had the honour to have the band by my side.
OSR: What is your favourite track from Eras and why that track?
Fredette: My fave track off this album will always be the opening track, ‘Rancho Relax’. We all worked together to write this one and it really just ended up in a really fun place.
MacMillan: ‘Along For The Ride’ is a journey of a track. We spent the most collective time just getting this one right.
Hahn: ‘Rancho Relaxo’ because the band let me slip a Simpsons reference into the first track on the album.
OSR: What about your least favourite track?
Fredette: I mean, I like them all to an extent…but it’s ‘Friends’.
MacMillan: I like ‘Friends’ but I also don’t like ‘Friends’.
Hahn: ‘Along For The Ride’ because it was recorded on a different drumset four years ago, so it was the hardest track to make sound cohesive to the rest of the album, but by gum, we did it!
OSR: If you could perform with any living artist, who would it be and why?
Fredette: Arctic Monkeys.
MacMillan: Steve Lacy is an artist I look up to. They have immense talent on guitar.
OSR: If you were a vegetable, what vegetable would you be?
Fredette: Cucumber – we are both mostly water and if you soak us in salt for long enough we become pickles.
MacMillan: I’d be a really swell bell pepper. I’m crunchy.
OSR: Do you have future plans as El Modernist?
El Modernist: We have a few shows coming up over the fall, including a skate festival in Lake George, NY on 2nd October 2022. We’re also planning on releasing some additional music videos from the album. But now with the release of Eras, it is finally time to start the writing process all over again, something we are equally excited and nervous about.
Many thanks to Will Fredette, Taylor MacMillan and Will Hahn for speaking with us. For more from El Modernist check out their official website, Facebook, Instagram and Spotify.
