A Q&A with Long Autumn

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Dreamy mix of alt-rock styles from north of Boston – here’s vocalist Johnny…

What’s the title of your latest release, and what does it mean to you?
Our second EP ‘Change’ is our latest release, which we just dropped a month and a half ago. The name was one of a few options we had but seemed most fitting in connection with the context of the songs I wrote for it. To keep it simple, everything has changed in the past year, and that’s something everyone knows. The music industry changed as well. And I changed personally. I had a lot of epiphanies about myself and who I was becoming last year. Yeah man, the world changed, with Covid and all that. It made me think about a lot of things I wouldn’t normally think about. And that general theme shines in the base meaning of the songs on the EP.

What was the hardest part about putting this release together, and why?
It really was just emotionally tough for me to write the lyrics to this record, because they are pretty much all about stuff I had been fighting my head about for some time, but couldn’t get out. Stuff like temptation and addiction are heavily, but subtly, discussed in these songs, and that stuff is tough to talk about. But now that I’ve made it into art, it’s a beautiful thing to hear.

Who produced the release – what did they bring to it?
Our guitarist Nick Harvey is an excellent producer who gets better with each song we do, and he produced three of the four songs on Change. I produced the song ‘Balloon’ on my own, but that’s it. His knowledge and skills in the production world are far beyond mine. I think what we enjoy most about producing our own stuff is that we have total and absolute control over every single aspect of how we want the music to sound. That’s something not everyone gets to say or do. We love it and we learn how to get better at it every day.

What do you want the listener to take away from listening to your music?
I want our listeners to be able to translate any of our songs in a way that suits them, or the situation they are in, or the mood they are feeling at the time. I try and write lyrics that can be taken metaphorically so people have free reign on what the song means to them. It may mean one thing to me, but if they connect with the words and can find a different meaning for themselves, I’m totally happy with that.

How does a track normally come together? Can you tell us something about the process?
Sure, yeah. We write and record the music/instrumentals as a whole band, in Nick’s studio. We go piece by piece, song by song. We all just sort of put our heads together and insert our own parts and pieces. Jam, Nick and I all pass the guitar around and throw down our tracks, while Conor makes beats on his laptop while we do so. It’s a group effort. Once we have a full song demoed out, I track vocals at my house by myself, sometimes with Jam for harmonies. He’s a great singer.

What band/artists have influenced you the most since you started this project, and why?
Jeez, our influences are all over the map, but they do not necessarily influence the music WE make. We have our own sound and style. However, as a general rule, we love bands all across the board, including (but not limited to) The Neighbourhood, Foo Fighters, Filter, Skeggs, Nirvana, The 1975, Cage The Elephant, Rage Against The Machine, Tame Impala, Slipknot, Metallica, Arctic Monkeys, Mac Demarco and tons more.

What countries would you like to tour? Are there any standout venues you’d like to play in?
Oh, like any band, we’d eventually love to hit all the continents, Antarctica excused. I’ll be personally over the moon once we play our first House of Blues, be it an opening slot or whatever. I’ll probably cry.

If you could pick one track for our readers to listen to in order to get a taste of your music, what would you pick, and why?
That’s a toughie, because we sort of have two vibes. Some of our songs have a much more dark, deep, broody vibe, whereas others have a more indie, summery, shiny vibe. I think an excellent general portrayal of our sound is exhibited in our songs ‘Hands in the Soil’ and ‘Them’.

What ambitions do you have for the band/your career?
We’re going full throttle dog. We would love to tour constantly. Play as many shows in a week as we can. Hit the road with like-minded bands that are here for the love and the passion of creating and playing live music. Connecting with people, you know? If we can make a significant difference in a single person’s life, I’m satisfied. But yeah, we’re shooting for the stars, and we’re pretty damn resilient and confident, so we won’t be giving up any time soon.

Finally, as you leave the stage, what are your parting words?
I always make sure to thank the crowd. They took time out of their night, their weekend, where they could have been doing absolutely anything else, to come and watch us play our songs we made. That’s quite enough for us. We appreciate everyone and anyone who watches our sets, and we try and chat with as many people after the gigs as we can. We love our people, we love our family, and we love our crew. Long Autumn is a team, not just a band. We’re a squad and we love you all.

For more info visit: facebook.com/longautumnmusic

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