Give us your names and your roles in the band?
Colin: I'm Colin, I'm the newest addition to the band, I play keyboard.
Pat: My name is Pat and I play acoustic guitar, sing, and bass.
Davis: My name is Davis and I play drums.
Mitchell: My name is Mitch and I play guitar and bass as well.
Jeff: My name is Jeff and I play guitar and bass also.
How did you guys all meet and when did the band form?
Pat: I guess it was 2011 that winter of going into spring. I did a songwriter's circle at All Asia cafe actually in Central Square. Mitch and Davis were in the crowd and they liked my moves and my vocal style and then we decided to record some music and that's how it started.
Describe the sound of Friendly People to those who may not be familiar with you guys?
Jeff: Psychedelic baroque music? (Laughter)
Pat: That's what it would sound like if you're tripping on acid, but definitely very rhythmic at times and rock music.
Mitchell: People have said folk infused indie rock. That was certainly when we first started out and it's a pretty accurate genre title and I think it's changed alot since then.
What is your earliest recollection of being exposed to music at a young age and how has that helped shape who you are today?
Pat: What got me into playing music personally well that was definitely pop-punk stuff. I was smack dab in to the early 2000's specifically Green Day, blink-182, Weezer was huge, and it evolved into Radiohead, but definitely that sort of fun loving music was what really got me into it.
Colin: I listen to The Grateful Dead and The Allman Brothers on cassette cause my dad happened to have those as a kid, it was very formative, I don't think that ever went away.
Jeff: The Cranberries, that was the one my parents put on all the time.
Davis: My dad grew up on Steely Dan, I think all of us we were in a similar situation cause in Townsbury you were either an athlete or a musician. All of us kind of geared towards the music side of things.
Colin: Billy Joel was huge for me I just realized that, I took piano lessons since I was 5, by the time I got to 6th or 7th grade I'm like "What the fuck do I do with a piano?" because someone showed me Billy Joel and I was like "Oh, that's what I do with a piano!"
Can you take us behind the recording process of your latest album 'Shake" and what that whole experience was like?
Pat: The first 5 days of the recording process, we pretty much didn't shower, we did a little bit of sleeping.
Mitchell: We recorded at a non-profit studio called The Record Company where Pat used to work at, it's basically a studio run by having freelance engineers coming in and do records, and half the band studied in a recording program in Boston so we decided to go in without hiring external help, so we all engineered the record together and hibernated in this studio for a week, then after we had all the basics down, we did all the overdubs at home because we have our own home studio set up and then we mixed it as well so it was kind of all homegrown.
What are some of your favorite recordings off the album that you guys really enjoyed?
Mitchell: I really like playing "Here We Are" live in particular, it's very high energy, it's a good way to get a show going, and it gets you energized as anyone in the crowd, it's a fun one to play.
Colin: I can say someone who's come into the band late as a band member, "Speak" is one of my favorites.
Has being in a band made you guys closer or had you guys already been bonded together as friends before that point?
Pat: I would say we actually we started to become friends playing music together. We didn't really hang too much or know each other before we started playing music.
Mitchell: Before the band started, a bunch of us lived together in the same apartment and then we knew each other for years, a couple of us decided that we wanted to make an album and we thought about putting a band together for it because a number of us in the apartment were already such good friends and we all played together and that's sort of how it all formed.
Jeff: The vibe was right before, but when we started playing music we really made a connection, I came in a little bit later than these guys, but I think it seems like a cool bunch of people to hang out with.
Davis: Spending a month living in a van with 5 other guys kind of makes you a little bit closer. We took some steps, we're pretty honest, we're pretty respectful, sleepovers, bed sharing. (Laughter)
What are some things you like to do together in you spare time when not making music or playing shows?
Colin: I like brewing beer and running, video games are a huge outlet for me, and TV, I love TV, I watch so much TV and movies.
Mitchell: I go to see shows.
Davis: Mitch and I recently moved to New York and the music scene in New York is super inspiring and there's always great shows to go out and see, spend alot of time soaking it in.
What do you guys have coming up next down the pipe, planning to play any more shows this summer?
Pat: We have a few more shows. We're doing a show on George's Island which will be really fun, that will be on August 24th. We have a Cafe 939 Red Room show, but that's not until November. But before then, we're going to do another tour in October going out to Chicago. This time, it's going to be a week off instead of a whole month off. We'll be going out to Chicago and do a little Midwest run, and hopefully have some CMJ shows coming up after that.
Any last words to your fans who may be reading this interview?
Pat: Thanks for coming out to shows and listening to music, it really means alot.
Jeff: Keep bringing your friends, keep showing them the tracks, we really look forward to meeting more people at the shows.
Thanks once again to Pat, Colin, Mitch, Jeff, and Davis for being such sweet and generous people for taking some time out to do this interview. I thoroughly enjoyed chatting with them and seeing firsthand what they're capable of achieving, and they are definitely on their way to doing something special and are a band you should be checking out in concert! Visit them on Facebook here, follow them on Twitter here, and check out their music via Bandcamp here.
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