- PREMIERE: Eloah Jones – “Under the Bridge” - November 18, 2021
- PREMIERE: Highbeams – “Campfires” - November 10, 2021
- Tali Azerad Shines on New Album - November 5, 2021
Atlanta pop/rock band The Well Reds are gearing up for the release of their new album Volume in November. GroundSounds caught up with the band to learn more about the new album, their emergence in Atlanta, and the charity-work they’re involved with. Check out the interview and video for “Carousels” below!
Tell us about how you met and formed the band
Torin: Our singer Jeremy was finishing up a solo record that he’d started with Dan Hannon (Manchester Orchestra) and needed studio musicians for the back half of the record. Jeremy had met brothers Sean and Rex while they were all living in Valdosta, GA. and brought me in to track drums after hearing me play at a show in Atlanta. There was a positive energy and synergy that developed during the sessions and post recording we collectively began playing out as Jeremy Ezell and The Well Reds. Sean and Rex were still living in Valdosta at the time, which is about 3 1/2 hours from Atlanta, so we fell into a pattern of doing marathon rehearsals for 3-4 days and following them with a show or run of shows. All of these early experiences served to get the band tight at a very accelerated rate and as the band evolved to become more of a collective effort with multiple writers, we decided to move forward as just The Well Reds.
“BPM (I Feel Rhythm)” has a great vibe to it. What inspired this track?
Torin: “BPM” was inspired by a music competition that the band was involved in a few years back. We were one of four finalists that were brought up to New York for the last round, live portion of the competition and there were some very heavy industry people in attendance. Lyrically, each section of “BPM” deals with a different part of the experience: the first verse deals with the disappointment I felt about not winning, the second verse details a conversation I had with a gentleman that worked for Clear Channel after the event ended, and the choruses were inspired by the overwhelming positive feedback we received about our song and performance from not only the judges but many of the other industry executives at the event. It was a very emotional event, at a point where we really could have used not only the money but the emotional high of getting a win, and inspired a very honest song.
How long have you been working on the new album and what was your goal for the sound/direction?
Torin: We tracked Volume throughout 2013 and got the finished masters at the beginning of 2014. In an effort to do the album release right and avoid the dreaded indie band “trickle” vs “splash” we delayed the release a couple of times. As we started to pick the songs that were going to make the record, it became obvious that the album (much like modern radio) would be a playlist that would hit on a wide variety of pop/rock/top-40/alt genres. With this understanding, our focus was to dial in the right sound palettes on a track by track basis, while maintaining some common threads throughout all the songs to provide cohesion to the record as a whole. I think our goal was to diversify the instrumentation on this record, and have the production and mixing provide the songs with a great level of depth and space.
The video for “Carousels” is a very well-done ‘mini-movie’ that’s really entertaining to watch. Where did the idea for the video come from and how long did it take you to film?
Torin: “Carousels” was one of the first songs I brought to the band for consideration for the new album. Where “BPM” was inspired by a specific event, for me “Carousels” spoke to some of the difficulties the band was facing and what the results of those difficulties could look like after they played out. I think Sean took a more “glass half full” outlook on the lyrics and brought out the idea that the song represented us seeing our band and our vision through trying times.
Sean: When I conceptualized the video, I likened the idea of the song to a relationship that was slowly crumbling, ending ultimately in redemption. Filming was a fairly quick process; we only spent about two days on it. I spent the most time on post production which spanned about a month and a half.
If you had to pick one song from the upcoming album to ‘represent’ you as a band, which would you choose and why?
Torin: That’s too hard of a question to answer! Given the diversity of the record I think many of the songs represent the band equally, but in different ways. “Carousels” is somewhat of a natural evolution from the songs off our Violet EP. “BPM” has many of our characteristic songwriting pieces: interplay between vocals, forceful rhythm section playing, and emphasis on hooks and melodies that mesh with newer elements for the band: lead synth lines, disco strings, and latin percussion. “Do You Still Love Me” is equally us, but super left of center us. Our producer (Grammy Award winner Joseph Prielozny) completely deconstructed that song and we ended up using an old Casio keyboard for about 50% of the sounds.
What was your experience like working with Zack Odom and Kenneth Mount?
Sean: Zack and Ken were a blast to work with; they had great ideas and knew exactly how to get the sounds they were hearing.
Torin: Those guys are drum tuning gods, having learned from one of the best in the business, Tony Adams. They tune the drums to the key of the song, in a manner that allows them to operate very objectively. This allows for big, punchy, and open sounding drum tones that don’t clash harmonically. I love the rhythm section parts we came up with on our Violet EP and ZK were instrumental in pushing Rex (bass) and I out of our norms. In an interesting twist, we actually tracked Violet in the same studio Jeremy had recorded his solo record, as Dan had moved out and ZK had moved in coming over from Tree Sound.
What are your touring plans the rest of the year? Do you have any venue/location that you are particularly excited about playing?
Jeremy: August kicks off a pretty extensive college tour with some club dates in cities including New York, Chicago, Boston, and our home town Atlanta. Following the November release of Volume we’ll be doing a few weeks of club dates. That part of the tour is still in the works and will pick back up in 2015. We love playing live and when we’re not on the road I get a little stir crazy. It’s hard to say what I’m most excited about. Every show has its own energy, but if I have to pick I’d say New York. I love New York City. This time we’re playing at Rockwood on the Lower East Side. Rockwood is a new room for us and they were really great about scheduling the date around some of our other stops.
Atlanta has an interesting mix of the “Dirty South” hip-hop scene, country & southern rock, and an emerging pop & pop-punk scene. What are your thoughts about Atlanta’s music scene and opportunities as an up-and-coming band?
Sean: For a while, it seemed like the scene died down a bit for anything other than hip-hop. But recently there has been more and more happening in the way of great artists sprouting all over the place. It’s definitely growing again.
Jeremy: Atlanta’s music scene is big enough to be healthy and small enough to be happy. Like any town we have our gripes and complaints, but when you take a step back the reality is a fine oil painting. Lots of different strokes (for different folks) coming together to make an amazing piece of art. We have so many good friends who are on the cusp of incredible things. A few of the more inspiring shows I’ve been to recently are from people that I would call good friends. How often can you say that? I’d say that’s pretty amazing. It’s nice to be a fan of music made by your friends.
What is your favorite ATL venue? Do you have a show that stands out as your most memorable?
Sean: My favorite ATL venue is one we’ve yet to play, the Tabernacle. I love everything about it from the location, to the acoustics, to the shaking wooden floors from a packed audience. My favorite venue that we’ve played would probably be the Atlanta Hard Rock, it’s a lot of fun to play in the heart of the city.
Jeremy: That’s really difficult. I think Vinyl has always been a kind of home to us, but we played Terminal West last year and that was pretty amazing. I always love Eddies Attic and Eddie’s new place Red Clay, but for different reasons.
Final Atlanta question: for anyone visiting, what is one must-see place to visit or place to eat?
Torin: I would strongly suggest checking out the Mary Mac’s restaurant. It’s been around since the 1940s and serves true classic Southern cuisine.
I’d love to hear about some of the charities you are involved with. Why did you choose these charities and where can our readers learn more about them?
Jeremy: We all started playing music when we were kids and I think that has a part to play in the charities that we’ve chosen to give our time to. Really they chose us in many ways. Songs for Kids is an organization that performs and records music with kids in Hospitals. A lot of these kids are dealing with incredibly difficult diseases and when you walk in their room with a guitar and start singing songs with them you’d hardly know they were sick. Sean and I have had the chance to do everything from accompanying a child singing “Old McDonald” to writing and recording a child singing their first original song. It’s a pretty inspiring experience and is the highlight of my week every time we get to do it. We plan to be visiting several hospitals on tour this year in conjunction with SFK. Hopefully schedules will work out and we’ll be able to make it happen. www.songsforkidsfoundation.
In addition to Songs for Kids we’ve had the incredible opportunity to work with an organization called Rock by the Sea. Rock by the Sea hosts an annual music festival in Panama City Beach, Fl where we’ve had the privilege to join with some incredible bands to raise money for children’s cancer research. Over the years, through their music festivals and other events, Rock by the Sea has donated over $350,000 for various charities. Last year we had the honor of recording “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” for Rock by the Sea Christmas Volume Four. www.rockbythesea.org
We feel that our music has to be about something more than just making a record or playing a show. It’s imperative that we get our hands dirty with people. To do the work just out of love for a person or place and not because of what they might be able to do for you. That kind of thing is bigger than all of us and I believe it is what should drive us to be better people tomorrow than we are today.
Where is the best place to stay updated with you online?
Torin: Facebook Twitter Instagram … are the spots we frequent the most.
The Well Reds – “Carousels”
