Family of the Year last passed through Madison in August when they opened for Milo Greene at The Frequency. They return next Tuesday, January 22 for a headlining gig at The Frequency. We recently asked keyboardist and vocalist Christina Schroeter a few questions in advance of their visit.
You are from all over — California, Florida, and Joseph and Sebastian were born in Wales. How do you feel this geographic diversity has affected your sound? Do you feel like your music reflects any one area more than another?
“We do come from all over but we all have crazy love for California. I think that shines through in our music. I think we all bring a little piece of where we come from to our music, too, though.”
Are a few of you the primary songwriters for most of your songs or is it more of a collaborative group process?
“Joe [Keefe] does most of the songwriting but we also collectively write together. Sometimes one of us will have lyrics and we’ll put it to music, sometimes we all work on lyrics or melodies together. A lot of the banger songs are ones we wrote together over some beers and guitars and, yeah, even maybe by a campfire. We really do that sometimes…”
Your newest album, Loma Vista, feels slightly more intricate and bigger in its production scale than previous releases. How do you feel your sound and the band as a whole has evolved to this point since you all first started playing together?
“Well, Loma Vista is the first record we recorded at a real studio with a real producer, our boy Wally Gagel. He helped us step it up from our demos we recorded in our apartment. I think all of our releases evolve or change. However we’re feeling and whatever we feel like doing is what we’re going to do. It feels weird to try to record something that is supposed to fit in a certain box. I think we try to make songs that are honest and make us happy, or sad, and will make whoever hears them feel something too.”
You have toured with some terrific acts over the course of your career: Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Mumford and Sons, The Antlers, Good Old War, and Gomez to name a few. How do headlining tours differ from playing as the opening act, and has this affected the band or your songwriting in any way?
“When you’re opening for a big band it can be a really amazing experience to play for a pumped up crowd, meet so many excited people, make new fans, and sell a ton of CDs. Headlining tours as a small band can be tough. Some cities might be amazing while other cities don’t have a radio station that plays our music, or maybe we’ve never toured there before, so there might not be much of a crowd at the show. But we’re looking forward to some solid headlining tours this year. It’s going to be really cool to have people at the shows singing along to our tunes!
“It’s cool to see some bands we open for do different things with their set versus their record. I’m not sure it affects our songwriting but it might get us to think a little more about how we transition between songs, or maybe changing up the vibe of certain songs when we play them live. Touring mostly affects our songwriting by way of not being able to write much when on the road.”
Some of your songs include shout-outs to your own band members, notably guitarist James Buckey. Do you write many of your songs about each other and your own experiences as a “family”?
“Jamesy does get a lot of shout-outs, doesn’t he! Yeah, we write a lot of songs about each other probably… I’m not sure if it’s all intentional. ‘St. Croix’ was for sure about him, and what we imagined his vacation to St. Croix to be like. The song ‘Jamesy’ obviously was about Jamesy. Maybe we intentionally write songs about him to make him uncomfortable.” (laughs) “Are there more songs about him that I’m forgetting?
“As far as writing about being a family goes, too many songs about being a ‘family’ might be a bit overkill, but if we’re feeling the family vibe we’re gonna do it! It was easy to write those kinds of songs when we were all living together because we were forced to function like a family. Cooking for each other, tucking each other in, packing each other’s lunches. I can’t tell if I’m kidding. Now we have a bit more space between us when we’re at home in L.A., which maybe is sparking individual creativity more, so maybe the next record will have more unique ideas from each of us.”
I heard you guys recently met Steven Tyler and he gave you some friendly musical advice like developing a shtick of some kind to distinguish yourself as a band. Have you been working on that at all?
“Well, yeah, Joe and Seb [Keefe] met him and he said they have to get their schtick on. I don’t know how to phrase that, but you know what I mean. But like how S.T. has his scarves and whatever. I think for now we’re gonna go with playing our tunes and see where our rock star schticks take us… I just dyed my hair purple, so that’s probably a good one to start with. Maybe I’ll secretly start dressing the guys in sequin vests and lace up leather pants to get them going. Sounds cool, right?”
What’s your favorite part about touring in the Midwest?
“We love the Midwest! It’s like, beers and awesome college kids. We played the basement of some house party after a show before, gotten into some competitive shuffle puck matches, jacuzzi’d in the snow, and tailgated at a Brewers game! What’s next?”
You only just released your last album in July but what would you like to do differently on your next one?
“Since we’ve been home we’ve been working on more tunes, and though we’re totally not at the point to record a new record just yet, I’m already excited for everyone to hear it. I don’t know if there’s anything specific we want to do that we want to do differently other than take it to the next level. It’s gonna be dope.”