Photography // The Driver Era by MK Sadler
Words by Pankhuri Bhutani
Their new single “Places” offers an ideal glimpse into the rising duo’s vigorous artistic approach, their perfectly blended richly textured melancholia with a euphoric vibe and a nostalgic energy just like all their other phenomenal tracks.
The critically acclaimed duo- Rocky Lynch and Ross Lynch, who goes professionally by the name The Driver Era, are back with their highly awaited and extremely addictive new single, “Places” shortly after releasing their previous single, “Take Me Away”.
We talked to the duo regarding the process behind the track in a really fun interview where they also revealed some great insights behind their music journey!
Hello Rocky. Thank you for joining us on Peachy! For the people who are yet to be introduced to The Driver Era, kindly tell us something about yourselves!
Hi we’re an LA based band that makes music in our garage turned studio 🙂
You recently released your highly successful new track “Take Me Away”. Congratulations on that! What was the creative process like and did you face any challenges during the making of the song?
We have a portable studio setup that we put together in Ross’ Vancouver apartment and that’s where the majority of the song was made. We had an upright piano in the apartment as well which we used on Take me Away and Places.
Listen to “Places” below:
As we are facing this unfortunate global pandemic, do you find that being isolated has given you time and freedom to work on your music or has it made it more difficult for you both to create tracks in?
I do like hiding in the studio a lot. Covid has given me plenty of opportunities to do that. But the more time I spend away from music the more I enjoy making it. Being isolated for too long means you’re missing out on everything that happens outside of the music (time spent with other people, traveling, dining, love) Those things seem to benefit the music the most.
When it comes to creating your music, do you both require a specific setting to work in or do you consider yourselves easily adaptable?
I think we’re both pretty adaptable. Ideas come at all times of the day so we’re kinda always creating. When it comes to recording it’s nice to have a space that’s clean and offers a decent vibe.
You are about to release your new track “Places”. Wishing you good luck on that! Kindly walk us through the creative process of the track. What kind of reaction are you hoping to achieve from the listeners?
I started the song on a Juno 106. The bass and guitar parts came to me pretty quickly after that. I wrote a decent amount of the lyrics and melody driving through different neighbourhoods in LA. I finished the lyrics and added some apartment piano while in Vancouver.
Music can be used as a way of dissociating yourselves from the realities of the situation someone currently is in. We have seen a lot of artists who use music as a medium of self-healing. So, when it comes to your personal creations (released or not), do you think your own music helps you in a way no other music can?
When I’m working on a relatively new song it sometimes overwhelms me and that’s all I can think about for weeks. And It’s usually because it feels so good. So yes I do think my own music helps me in a way that no other music can. I think people are still at the beginning stages of discovering the actual healing quality of music.
Emphasizing on the juxtaposition of the lyrical content of your tracks and the visualization to be added later on, how do you usually intend on balancing both the elements?
When we write lyrics it’s usually just current situations put over instruments. But when we get to the visual side we tend to play around a little more with the initial concept of the song and allow the video to take on its own life and story.
Having created such versatile and genuine songs, was there ever a moment where you or Ross felt so personally connected to a track that you both started having second thoughts about putting it out to the public?
The more truth a song carries the more honest your listener will be. So if you’re a little worried about maybe revealing too much you’re probably going in the right direction.
Now that you have successfully garnered an extremely loyal and well established fan-base, does that add sort of a pressure to the future tracks or is it something you perceive as a motivation?
It’s definitely motivating. The fans keep us going. If you’re making a product and nobody wants it, at some point you’re probably gonna lose motivation and stop entirely.
Thank you so much for taking out your time for this interview! Lastly, I would like to ask you if there’s anything you wish to convey to your fans from all around the world?
Thanks for hanging in there through the ups and downs. If everything goes according to plan. 2021 is gonna be fun 🙂
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