This past weekend, I was able to schedule an in-person interview with Snarls before their show at DC9 in Washington, D.C. The tour stop was during the band’s first headlining tour of their young career, and was in support of their critically acclaimed sophomore record, With Love. In this interview, I asked the band about key moments during the writing/recording process of their new album, the songs that are translating best to the live setting, and much more.
So thank you so much for your time this evening. I believe this is your first headlining tour?
It is!
That’s awesome. So what decisions or goals were made by your band before you embarked on these dates?
We want to play the best show possible, which isn’t always possible every night. I mean, it’s always hard to keep the highest spirits every single night. But I know that I just, even on my bad nights, I try to just keep my smiling, performing face on, because I want to put on a good show for people. That’s a personal thing that I’m really working on this tour. With people coming out to see us, headlining a big focus for me was definitely engaging with our fans a lot on this tour. Making time to say hi to everyone after shows and get all the pictures we possibly can. Definitely looked forward to connecting with them.
Awesome! So With Love, has garnered great, well-deserved praise from several different media outlets, including us. What were your ranges of emotions when you first saw that Rolling Stone feature?
It doesn’t get old, is all I’m going to say. Yeah, it’s really cool. I completely agree. I have a very personal connection to Rolling Stone. I subscribed to the magazine as a kid, read every copy I possibly could, cut out pictures, and hung them on my wall and stuff. Yeah, I mean, they’re huge. It’s just a huge accomplishment for us. I’m super happy about that. It’s always wild to see that, to have that kind of recognition from that kind of name. It really doesn’t get old. It’s always surreal. You can never shake that.
Were there any other gut check reactions when the album was starting to be announced that you guys were kind of amazed by the reaction from the fans?
I had a really fun time at midnight when the album dropped. There were a bunch of fans at a listening party. Yeah, it was like, I thought that was super, super cute. We’ve never had something like that before. I mean, just from the second it came out, it was positive energy. I think it’s very common amongst musicians, because everyone is just living their life, right? I always just feel like Snarls is this hobby, this thing that I do, and it starts to feel kind of small sometimes. And then, yeah. But not in a bad way. It’s just a thing I do. It’s just one of my everyday things. But then when Rolling Stone talks about it, it’s like, wow, we’re really getting some pretty serious recognition. So it’s just really cool.
And I’m glad the album’s getting some good traction for you guys too, because you guys have been at this for a while. So speaking of the new record, which songs were the most challenging to create, and put to tape with Chris Walla? And I think it was recorded in Norway too, right?
Yes! “Ur song,” I’m just thinking of the miracle challenges. I feel like we had a time with “Star Power.” We had a time with “Moon Tides” too. We did? I think at times. Lyrically, yeah. Yeah, like all of the instruments and like the forms of the songs came together really well. It’s just our biggest hunks were with lyrics and like finishing all the lyrics out. That’s what I feel. I think with the instrumentation being a little more interesting on this record, we were just kind of struggling with syllables. And I was like, oh, I want to say this, but it’s like two syllables too long. It’s very nitpicky stuff. Especially when I referenced “Moon Tides.” It’s like the concept was there. We had a lot of words we wanted to use. It’s just, as Chlo said, fitting them in exactly, perfectly <was a challenge>. Locking in, as they say.
But yeah, as far as I’m concerned, and as far as the studio goes with Chris, I think “Ur Song / Lovers of Valdaro,” that whole outro was probably one of the bigger challenges in the studio. Thankfully, we had a lot of communication with Chris beforehand. He gave us a lot of notes beforehand. So, that was the only one that we really had to spend some time on. Figuring out how it was going to go.
Do you think these sessions were pretty typical for how your band does your writing?
I feel like it was better. It was kind of the same, but I just feel like we really dived in a little deeper than we have in the past. And it was challenging to really find the words that we wanted to say. And to make sure that we were okay with how they sounded, like it wasn’t cheesy. Or, it wasn’t corny. It became very important to us. We really wanted to sound like we have a head on our shoulders. Like we have the experience that we have under our belts. We wanted that to come through as well. So, it was different, but it really helped us grow a lot, honestly. So, even the goofier lyrics were cherry picked. “Heavy Drinker,” it’s very carefree, but we were still very aware. But we went over that song a lot. We were very, very aware of what we were doing. This song, and this album, we collaborated a lot more, empirically, than we have in the past. Which I really enjoyed, personally. I’ve always said that we’re a very collaborative band, with all of our members together. But this <record> especially, we were in my living room several times a week, just cranking out lyrics and melodies together and a lot of the instrumentation comes together in the practice room just the four of us together. But that was a lot of days, just us girls, sitting down together and being like, okay, what are we gonna say and how are we gonna make that happen? We need a bottle of wine, we need a house on Monday, someone’s grabbing the wine today, we’re gonna pack a bowl, and then we’re gonna write some music.
You talked a little bit about the lyrical approach, that you were fine-tuning certain things to the lyrics, but do you keep a journal when you’re on the road for inspiration?
I know Chlo definitely journals a lot, and actually a lot of the lyrics from this record, I would say most songs, probably have at least a line or two that are just pulled directly from her personal journal. I mean especially “Baby Bangs” is a great example of that. That’s just pulled straight out of her notebook. But I personally keep little notes in my phone.
Oh yes, I did not bring that to this tour, but generally I do write in my notes too. But yeah, I draw from my journal a lot for lyrics or sometimes I even just get a song idea. I don’t even get a lyric idea, I just want to write a song about like this blip of a concept and then I’ll get one really poetic, cathartic lyric, and I’m like okay, I’m putting that somewhere. It’s important to write those down.
Even when we’re not even trying to write a song…”Fixed Gear” happened that way, I wrote, which is not from this recent record, it’s from What About Flowers, but for “Fixed Gear” I wrote the bridge of that with one of my friends, and we didn’t end up using it. And then I was like, oh this fits perfectly here! I just keep things in my back pocket all the time.
That’s awesome. I love the artwork, by the way, for each of your releases, like this one, it’s really cool. Did you guys design that yourselves? I think I saw on Instagram about how you’re putting the pieces together for the With Love, cover together with all the jewelry and stuff like that, right?
Oh my god, doing the art on this record was seriously one of the best parts of it. As you saw in the photos, for the inside of the vinyl, there’s like a big “I Spy” inspired, kind of thing, and we just gathered our own little trinkets to photograph, and we shot the cover ourselves. And that was literally Chlo was holding a frog, I’m behind the camera, Riley’s holding a light, and everyone’s doing this all together. It turned out professionally though. It’s all on a chair. It’s all like propped up on this chair with fabric behind it, little trinkets sat down. There’s a behind the scenes photo somewhere on Instagram about all of the vinyl packaging.
It was like a huge focus for us, and we knocked out all of that ourselves, but yeah, I think we love collaborating with people for things like merch and stuff, but I don’t know, I feel like our album covers are just…that’s always just going to be us. We enjoy doing that so much, and we’re the ones that have that kind of “media brain.”
And then who came up with the idea for the heart-shaped vinyl? That was pretty cool too!
I think that was the label pitch that time. So maybe Joe <Urban> and the label. Or, I saw one, and I was like, how do we do that? I mean, honestly, it wasn’t my idea. I saw someone else do it, I think, and then I was like, “Joe, I want hearts!” <Laughter> We always ask Joe to do stuff, and he’s like, yeah, sure.
I can’t imagine him saying no as many times as he says yes to me! <Laughter> That’s what brought us together today…
Yeah, he’s pretty cool. Right, he’s a yes man. Yeah, we love him.
So how have the fan reactions to the new material on tour so far? Are there any songs that seem to be connecting with fans more than others?
I think “Baby Bangs” has been a pretty good one. I mean, I see people singing that one. The first night, when we played in Chicago, hearing the “Baby Bangs” bridge/chorus for the first time, just everyone in the room singing that back to us, Chlo turned around, and was tearing up. I was crying. I was just like, shit guys, this is crazy! That was so surprising, and not that I am surprised by our fans, the fans that we do have, they’re super loyal. But that was the first show of our headliner tour, so it was shocking. Yeah, it just was crazy. I didn’t know how to handle it.
Yeah, and I think your closing tour is in your hometown, right?
Yes! We’re so excited. Ending a tour in your hometown is probably my “top ten” moments of my life. We’re playing Ace of Cups. That’s our hometown spot. That’s our house. That’s my second home.
That’s awesome! So let’s chat about the album closer…It’s a nearly eight-minute track. “Ur Song / Lovers of Valdaro.” It’s stunning in its writing and production, so hats off to you guys. At what point in the creative process did you know you wanted to end your sophomore album with that track?
As soon as we finished it. <Laughter> Yeah, as soon as we wrote that. So the first day we got to rehearsal, and we’re making this extended outro, we were like, this is the closer. Immediately, yep. There was no question. We had the opener chosen as well. When we wrote With Love, we were like, the album’s opening with “With Love”. And then the rest just went out, we had to fill the sandwich. When it came time to make the track list, it happened. But we had an opener, and the closer, chosen right away.
Gotcha. And were there any B-sides from these sessions, or are there any plans to release anything extra soon?
There’s a song hanging out. I don’t know if that’s what Chris Walla has. I don’t know if that will be, but there’s a song we did some basic tracks for that was fun, but we just didn’t have our shit together when it came to the lyrics. So we didn’t finish it. I tried to finish them while we were there.
What song was that?
We called it “Indie Bop.” But that’s not the name. Because we didn’t have any lyrics. So it was just this fun kind of vibe-y, indie, jammy song that was really fun. I have a whole note in my phone, full of just a ton of different voice memos from over the years of songs that we haven’t used. And there’s one that I like, when we get back home and start writing, we gotta use this one. Is that “Psych Outro”? “Faded Outro!”
“Faded” and “Psych Outro.” The one that starts all fast. Oh, I want to open a record with that. I want to see that one. So we’ve still got some scrapped ideas from the last one that I think will fit on the next one better. We’re trying to go even bigger on the next one, too. More Psych, louder, rock. We just want to rock out on stage. We like our sad stuff, but you can put that in the lyrics. That’s kind of what I’m aiming at. We can’t be sad all the time. We can just write about having a fun time.
So, how has the actual road trip been across the states? I saw you were in Canada or something like that, too?
Yes, for this tour, we were in Toronto. It’s been a really fun tour so far, I think. We’ve been a little spoiled. We kept the crew small, so that helps. I’m going to say this, because we haven’t said this yet. We never complain about it, and I love that about us, but…I do want the world to know that we’ve been touring in a van with no AC…
That’s brave for a summer tour!
No, I’m really glad that we have a van. Yeah. I’m not complaining about the van. I love the van people that we rented it from. They’re amazing, but I show up to gigs wet. We are exhausted from sweating all day. But otherwise, it’s great. We’re able to walk in <a venue> and just be blasted by the AC. But the tour has been amazing. I mean, and once we played the gig, and there’s some super fans here to see us, that hot, sweaty ride was worth it all.
So, what’s been the craziest tour story on this tour so far?
I mean, there’s like funny show stories, but I don’t know if there’s a tour story. We’ve had like stupid jokes, but nothing’s gone wrong. <All band members knock on wood> Nothing’s gone wrong. We’ve just had a very positive time. No car issues, no travel issues. And we meet so many sweet angels every night. This has been a very mellow, fun time. I guess the best story is from dinner last night with Peggy, our server. Oh my gosh.
Peggy should get a shout out…!
Shout out to Peggy, for real. Libretti’s Restaurant in Jersey. Peggy. We had a brilliant dinner last night, after visiting several Sopranos set locations. So, it was a beautiful time. And Peggy was a wonderful waitress and we yapped her ear off and she was talking to us and it was just really nice and then she gave us a hug at the end. All of us. She got our names and we gave her a signed CD and she listened to it on the way home and we followed each other on Instagram…and we’re gonna go back. We’re gonna go back and see Peggy.
That’s awesome. She’s like, I’m gonna sell this <signed CD> on Ebay now! <Laughter> Just kidding…
<Laughter> Shout out to Peggy! Yeah, no wild stories yet.
That’s the sign of road warriors. You guys are pros now! So, the last question is, With Love, seems to point to the limitless possibilities of where Snarls can take their music next. Where do you think you’re gonna go next with the next record?
So, we’re gonna go back and see. I think we just like having fun with each other. Writing parts that are fun to play. With this <record> I was just talking about how we like, when we were writing the songs, it was like, “okay, if this one doesn’t make you have fun and feel hot and sexy while you’re playing it, it’s getting scrapped.” I think that’s definitely the vibe of every single song on the next record. It’s just upbeat, and what’s fun to play. I really wanna challenge myself to just sing a little louder and yell a little bit and really release that, not scream by any means. Just some girl yelling shit and some psych-sounding songs just loud and fast and fun, festival music. I want to play some festivals and I want to play in the sun. That’s sort of where I envision my next few summers.
I think the last time we chatted was by a Zoom call that I did with all you guys in the same room, and I think you talked about your influences, and is Wolf Alice still a huge one for you guys?
Oh, we’ve been listening to several of their records still on this tour. We started the band listening to them. We still listen to them, we’re diehard Wolf Alice fans. And I think that last Momma record was also super inspiring for us.
Yeah, I think they toured with bands like Snail Mail and bands like that. Right in that same type of niche genre.
Yeah, they’ve been a huge inspiration for us since like 2018. We love them so much. “Sugar Rush” was very heavily inspired by Momma.
That’s cool! Any last words for your fans or things to check out for the near future/2025?
I want to know if they would like it if we started a podcast? Okay, that’s a joke but also it’s not a joke. We always kind of toy at the idea of streaming games or starting a podcast. I don’t want to look around and point my fingers to a song or I want Snarls to be involved in other art besides music. Yeah, so look forward to a more immersive experience coming soon. There’s nothing really concrete. We’re pretty focused on playing this record live right now.
Well, thank you so much for your time!
Thank you, Adam!