10 Questions with The Boleys

By Sean Claes

Even though only one member of the band is currently old enough buy a beer, the three siblings of The Boleys have been a mainstay on the Austin scene for the past 2 years. Ethan (21, guitar & vocals), Emma (18, drums) and Joe (17, bass) have been able to make a dent in Austin’s rock scene with their genre jumping psychedelic-inspired songs. They’ll play just about anywhere that will let them, and that dedication has garnered them a coveted spot on legendary local gigs like Austin's Bat Fest  and Texas Rockfest.

The band just came off a month-long summer tour with Nathan’s Stupid Drama and are gearing up to release their 4th album, on August 6 at Antone’s Record Shop. Despite this busy schedule, they took a quick breath and answered 10 questions for INsite.

Sean Claes: Three siblings in a rock band. That could go really well or really poorly. How did y’all decide to become a band?

Emma Boley: I think we all decided we wanted to be in a band around the same time. We had all the pieces and we could all jam together so we figured might as well.

Joe Boley: My brother actually taught me the fundamentals on bass, so I just kept going at it from there and around 2014 me and Ethan and Emma started writing songs together and Mike Boudreau booked us our first gig at Red Eyed Fly.

The Boleys at Texas Rockfest 2016

Claes: You’ve been on the scene for a few years and have garnered some pretty high-profile local gigs including Texas Rockfest and Bat Fest. What has been your favorite local gig/Venue?

Ethan Boley: All of the venues we’ve worked with have been awesome, and as far as Texas Rockfest and Bat Fest go, well they always kick ass haha, and we love Adam Brewer, who puts those together. Kick Butt Coffee has been super duper cool to us too.

Claes: How does the familial dynamic work in your songwriting?

Emma: Since we’ve grown up with each other, we all have the same background in musical influences, so it’s very easy to groove on stuff.

Joe: It’s easier to be honest with each other.

You seem to churn out recordings on a pretty regular basis. If my count is correct this self-titled album will be your 4th release in 2 years… and you have a pretty full live show schedule as well. How do you do it?

Ethan: Me and a couple friends of mine went to school for audio engineering and recording, so we’ve been trying to create an effective studio space for cheap for a while, and this new record will be the first we’ve recorded at “Far Out Studios” which we’ll all be working on getting up and running so we can record more peeps for super cheeps.

As far as the live stuff goes, we love to play, and we all actively work on keeping our schedule planned around band stuff. Plus learning the booking and promoting end of things is good practice to get better at it.

Claes: The title track to your August 6 release has has got a 60’s Beatles psychedelic punk rock feel to it, but then listening to a track like “Learning” you’ve got a White Stripes-esque groove and “Surfer Song” kind of has a Nirvana thing going on. Then you have “Birdie” that has awesome three-part harmony that has a stripped down Alice In Chains groove going on. How would you describe your music?

Ethan: Dude, I don’t think we even freaky-deakin know, we just jam it out.

Joe: Psychedelic grunge.

Claes: Do you have a favorite track on the new disc?

Joe: I like them all, but if I had to pick a favorite, it’d be “Terra Incognita.”

Emma: My favorite track on the new record is probably “Purple Skies.”  

Claes: Tonight you are on Loris Lowe’s show on KLBJ in Austin. Congrats on landing that spot.

Ethan: Thanks brochacho! We’re excited to go on the radio show with Loris Lowe.

Joe: I’m super excited because we grew up listening to her on that radio station.

Emma: Thanks man, I’m super excited, it’s going to be super fun.

Claes: You’re CD release party will this Sunday (8/6/17) at Antone’s Record Shop. Planning anything special for the fans?

Ethan: Free beer!

Joe: Free beer?

Emma: Free beer.

Claes: Y’all just got back from your High On The Fly Tour that took you from Texas to Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma and back with Nathan’s Stupid Drama in your tour van, “El Toro.”  Was that your first extended tour?

Ethan: Yeah, that was our first extended tour. It went dope as shit. It was a lot of fun. Shout out to Rodrigo Cortes and Jarod Hebert for helping us out along the way, those sexy ladies. LEGALIZE MARIJUANA

Emma: It was an amazing experience. We were very lucky to have Nathan along with us on tour. He gave us lots of advice that came in handy.

Claes: Any road trip stories to tell? Favorite venue along the way?

Ethan: We saw two fights, we visited our friends Dereck, Kayne and Mandy Todd in the mountains, we got to smoke a lot, you can’t buy beer in Kansas in Sunday.

Tune into KLBJ 93.7 in Austin tonight at 11p (or stream it at www.klbjfm.com) to hear The Boleys on Loris Lowe’s show. Then plan to be out at Antone’s Record Shop (2928 Guadalupe St. in Austin) on Sunday August 6 at 2p to meet the band, enjoy some free beer and jam to their new release - event link.

The Boleys online:
Facebook: facebook.com/theboleys/
Bandcamp: theboleys.bandcamp.com/
Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/the-boleys
Reverb Nation: reverbnation.com/theboleys

Sean Claes is the owner of Austin's INsite Magazine and has been a freelance entertainment writer since 1996. This is week 30 in his "52 Weeks of Austin Musician Interview" series. See the others here: 52 Week Project

TICKET GIVEAWAY - My Exotic Other

WIN TICKETS TO THIS EVENT BY E-MAILING INSITE AT mail@insiteaustin.com. See our Facebook page for announcement http://www.facebook.com/insiteaustin.
Two pair will be given away.
- Sean Claes
Owner, INsite

"Tether" ties it all together:
A CD Release concert and workshop of the music of My Exotic Other

Austin, TX - On Saturday, September 25, 2010 at 7:30 pm, at the Carver Museum and Cultural Center, 1165 Angelina Street, join My Exotic Other in concert in celebration of their new CD release: "Tether." Formed by locally-based, but internationally known, saxophonist Paul Klemperer,, MEO explores world music blends with the purpose of discovering new combinations and communications between the traditional and the original. Through My Exotic Other, Paul has assembled a group of musicians from various backgrounds to create joyful and often haunting music that uses sonic images to "tether" us all together.

And just before the concert, at 6:00 pm, participate in a special world music workshop/demonstration. The lecture will include live performance as well as a Q&A session. Kids welcome! In addition, international delicacies will be on sale in the lobby from 5:30 pm until 9:00 pm.

Tickets:
To purchase tickets, please go to http://myexoticother.eventbrite.com/. Costs: Concert, $10; Workshop, $5.00 (seniors/students workshop only tickets $3.00); All, combined concert and workshop ticket, $12.00.
SPECIAL DISCOUNT - $1.00 off concert ticket if purchased by 9/20 (total=$9.00). $2.00 off combination concert and workshop ticket if purchased by 9/20 (total=$10.00). (Ends Midnight tonight)

To hear samples of the music of My Exotic Other, please go to http://www.myspace.com/myexoticother

Local Music - The Banner Year

The Banner Year Gets It

By Sean Claes w/ photos by Jay West

The title of this article has a few meanings. The Banner Year is makes really good music. The Banner Year has the type of stage presence that gets a crowd into the show. The Banner Year understands how to make a go of it in today’s DIY music world. The Banner Year’s 2010 release, which is being released at an INsite Night at Red Eyed Fly on April 10 (win a pair of tickets from INsite here), is entitled What You Won’t Get.

INsite’s Sean Claes had a chat with The Banner Year’s lead vocalist Jason Small and they discussed the new album, what being DIY is like, and the final season of LOST.

Sean Claes: Tell us about the new album, which is dropping on April 10 at an INsite Night at Red Eyed Fly.

Jason Small: It’s called “What You Won’t Get” and it’s a pretty relentless rock record. A lot of these songs are the heaviest and most intense we’ve ever written and a couple of them are very soft and fragile at times without ever dipping into ballad territory. We didn’t limit ourselves in the songwriting process and ended up pushing the boundaries of what constitutes the ‘Banner Year’ sound in every direction.

Claes: Do you have a favorite track?

Small: As a group we were blown away by how “The Barrier” turned out in the studio. It was one of the last few songs we wrote for the album and have only played it live a few times, so we weren’t sure what to expect. It’s a fast, bouncy, moderately depressing song about putting up walls and isolating yourself from the people that care about you. You know, sing-a-long material. It would probably be the first single if we were a band that released singles.

Claes: Are you “leaking” any tracks early to your MySpace page (myspace.com/thebanneryear)?

Small: Leaking? Yes. Early? No. Honestly, we’re working on the record down to the wire and don’t want to put any unfinished material out on the web. We’ll post a couple tracks for free download and a couple for streaming on our MySpace as soon as we’re done but it might not be until a few days before the release.

Claes: One of the things that draws me to a band is lyrics. The Banner Year has some very well crafted messages to the songs. Where do the words come from?

Small: Our last album (2007’s …And Straight On ‘Till Breakfast) was written when we were all in college and I had lots of big ideas about how the world should be and stories to tell with the songs. This time around I was on a wavelength more akin to our first album (2004’s “thebanneryear") and had enough going on in my own life to worry and write about without looking for outside inspiration.

What You Won’t Get isn’t a concept album or a song-cycle but it does deal almost exclusively with the themes of loss, desperation, confusion, and frustration. It essentially tells the story of the personal sacrifices and mistakes we’ve made over the past few years while working dead-end jobs, living in crappy apartments, leaving our lives behind to tour the country and trying to turn what we love to do into a sustainable career.

Claes: Who writes thse music and how does that process go?

Small: It really varied with these songs. There were a number that were written by Mike (Murray) or Mike and me at home and then brought to the rest of the band in the practice room, but we also collaborated as a group on about half the songs, which we hadn’t really done before.

Often we’d hit a wall when trying to work on a song that one of us brought to the band to be fleshed out, so someone would just start playing something random and we’d all work off it. ‘Hellbent’ grew out of a drumbeat, ‘At a Loss’ started with the bass part, and a few of the others came from Mike or Charlie (Fisher) just striking a chord or playing an improvised melodic line that inspired someone else.

“Misfire” was a combination of guitar parts that the two of them had written independently that happened to fit perfectly together. That was the first song we ever collaborated on the lyrics as well as the music, which was an entirely new experience for us.

Claes: How did it end up being 3 years between releases?

Small: Well, you can’t really follow the major-label pattern of record, release, tour, rest, repeat every two years when you’re taking every step on your own. We decided while we were making the last record that before we even tried to affiliate ourselves with a label or management we wanted to prove that we could survive the road (and each other) without help from anyone.

So no matter what happens we can always look back and know that we did more than most independent bands get to do, and we did it our own way. Plus, three years is a lot of time to make a lot of very bad personal decisions, so that tends to help with the songwriting.

Claes:...And Straight On 'Till Breakfast was tapped as one of INsite’s top 10 albums of 2007. The tracks I’ve heard from the new album are on-par lyrically and tighter musically than your debut. How do you feel you’ve progressed as a band?

Small: We learned a lot from working with our producer Paul Soroski on the last album and re-arranging songs in the studio to work better and since then we’ve written our songs with a new perspective and a better understanding of what makes a good song and how to differentiate between parts that are essential and parts that will benefit the song as a whole to let go of. We feel we’ve written a batch of songs that hit hard and don’t get bogged down or lose steam before the end, but that are still catchy, heartfelt and musically interesting.

Claes: Are you on a mission to be a DIY band, or are you looking for a label at this point?

Small: We’re on a mission to rock and if we happen to cross paths with a label that shares the same values and can take us to the next level of what we do, we’d definitely consider it. We’d love to do this as long as we can and reach a larger audience with our music.

Claes: Last year you did a three-month stint out on the road, being a band with no financial backing did you do a lot of couch sleeping?

Small: Couches are a luxury! No, we’re lucky enough to have great friends and family all over the country so about half the time we were well-fed and had couches or beds or at least carpets to sleep on, though we did spend our fair share of nights camping, sleeping in the car, or just driving through the night after a show to the next city that we had friends in.

After one attempt at the five of us sleeping in a Ford Expedition in a parking lot in June we can pretty much get comfortable anywhere else. Oh, and if you check in to the Econolodge after 4AM you don’t have to leave until noon the next day. That’s like two for the price of one if you don’t go to bed until five every night!

Claes: Charlie Fisher is the “mohawk” of the band.. but last time I saw him he had a full head of hair. Is 2010 the time for a new mohawkless Banner Year?

Small: Haha, we miss the Mohawk. He wears a hat ninety percent of the time because he apparently is incapable of getting a good haircut.

Claes: You’ve gone out and toured the country a couple of times on DIY terms, meaning you book all your own shows and make all arrangements. How has that worked out?

Small: Way better than the few times we’ve relied on promoters to arrange a show. We book almost all of our appearances directly with clubs and often line up all the supporting bands. It’s a lot less stressful and easier to promote and organize when the loop consists of just us and the venue and we don’t have to work out details through other parties or middlemen.

We’ve managed to put ourselves in front of some great crowds, big and small, just by being professional and respectful to everyone we meet and work with. When club owners see you give it your all for five off-the-clock employees and the bartender they are a lot more likely to throw you a bone and put you in front of a big crowd the next time you come through town.

We would definitely like to keep growing though and wouldn’t want to keep working 100% independently at this point.

Claes: Who are some of the bands around the US you’ve played with which we may not have heard of yet that deserve a listen?

Small: We’ve played about fifteen shows around Texas with Say When from Boston that just disbanded. Some of the guys have a new group that just started up called The Death of Paris that should be going places quickly.

We’ve played many times here and on the east coast with the Spines, a great indie rock band from New York. And we were at a house show with O’Brother in Louisiana that got busted by the cops before we could play but they were really good guys. They are on tour with Thrice and Manchester Orchestra right now I believe.

Claes: Who are the bands you’ll play with for the CD release on 4/10 at Red Eyed Fly?

Small: Antidote for Irony, who are also on our San Marcos and San Angelo CD release shows, Floorbound, who are headlining our CD release in their hometown of Houston, The Fight of Our Lives and Post Society.

Claes: Let’s say The Banner Year fan who’s reading this wants to buy the band a round at the CD release show. What’s everyone drinking?

Small: Jim Beam or Sailor Jerry’s. Or both. And a Lone Star.

Four totally off-the-wall questions:
Claes: How do you think the final season of LOST will end?

Small: The same way it began, with none of us watching it.

Claes: What color should I paint my living room?

Small: White with fake painted-on doors and cabinets, just to really screw up your kids.

Claes: Why do dogs have black lips?

Small: That’s racist.

Claes: Who is your favorite cartoon character and why?

Small: Does Wall-E count? He’s CGI but damn, does he tug on your heartstrings.

Saturday Night 1/23/10 - INsite Night

This Saturday. INsite Night. Ratarue CD Release Show.
w/ Diasporic, DJ Digg, Betaplayer, Higher Than Why, B-Boy City


@ The Independent at 501 Studios, 501 I-35 (Entry on 5th and Brushy)

See You There.

Ratarue

http://www.myspace.com/ratarue

Diasporic

http://www.myspace.com/diasporic

DJ Digg of Table Manners Crew

http://www.myspace.com/tablemanners

Betaplayer

http://www.myspace.com/betaplayer

Higher Than Why

http://www.myspace.com/higherthanwhyband

B Boy City

http://www.myspace.com/bboycity