Q&A: Porch Light on Bringing Their Biggest Sound Yet to Hinterland
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY SHEVON GREENE ☆
Photo by Emily Carver
MINNESOTA BAND PORCH LIGHT HAVE BEEN MOVING FAST—over the past year. The rising rock band is fronted by vocalist Jackie Uhas alongside guitarists Zac Fogarty and Kyle Siemon, Henry Hughes on bass and Tony O’Keefe on drums. From gearing up for their first tour to playing festivals like Lollapalooza, Minnesota Yacht Club and Hinterland while continuing to build momentum towards their debut album, Porch Light has no plans of slowing down.
Even with all the craziness of their past year, one thing hasn’t wavered: their identity as a live band. Watching their Hinterland set, it was easy to understand why. From the explosive opening moment of their breakout song “Fall Back” with Jackie’s powerful vocals to their infectious energy, the set felt like they were back on their front porch in early days in Dinkytown at the University of Minnesota where they first met.
After their set, we caught up with Porch Light to talk about their new single “Under,” the creative risks behind their newest music and why, above everything else, they hope people leave their sets thinking, damn, that was a good rock band. Read below for more.
LUNA: Last time we talked, you guys were just about to head out on your first tour. Now you're kicking things off at Hinterland, you've played Minnesota Yacht Club and Lollapalooza and you're headlining your own tour. Was there a moment where it all kind of started to sink in, or does it still feel like a pinch-me moment?
UHAS: It's definitely still a pinch-me moment, and I think it'll continue to be that way for a while. We're still really new, just in general, so being able to do things like this and have these opportunities is incredible.
LUNA: While you were making your recent single “Arctic,” did anything feel different compared to your last project? Were there any new lessons you learned or anything you wanted to try?
FOGARTY: We wrote "Arctic," along with a lot of the other songs, while we were staying at Henry's cabin. It was the first time we really did a dedicated writing trip together, so it was cool to see how we wrote in that environment and what came out of it. With "Arctic" specifically, we wanted to make something more upbeat, higher energy and faster; something we could really go crazy to live and show people a different side of us.
LUNA: It was so cool hearing it live. I loved the energy behind it. Your single “Under” was just released this weekend too. What do you hope listeners take away from it?
UHAS: Honestly, I hope people see that we have range. We just like making songs that we like, and we want to give everybody a little bit of something. We have an album coming out, so that's a lot of songs, and at the end of the day we just try to serve whatever the song needs. If you like heavy music... here you go (laughs).
HUGHES: With "Under," we really wanted our live sound to shine through in the recording because we consider ourselves a rock band. Everything we do is based around how it feels live. We wanted people to hear it and get excited to come out to a show, mosh and have fun, because that's such a core part of who we are.
FOGARTY: Yeah, it was also about pushing ourselves and exploring our range. The album is kind of split between the higher-energy songs and the more melodic, slower songs, with a lot in between. "Under" is on one end of that spectrum, and there are other songs on the album that are the complete opposite.
LUNA: That's so cool. Hearing it live, it honestly sounded almost identical to the recording.
UHAS: I was actually really strict about that. I went in, recorded it drunk, did like two takes and we kept it because it felt authentic (laughs). If I were performing it live, I'd probably be just as hyped as I was then.
LUNA: Over the past year you've gotten to meet so many fans in person instead of just online. Has there been a fan interaction that's really stuck with you?
UHAS: I had a fan do a magic trick in Philly last fall. Inside a playing card was a picture of me. He opened it up, and it was like my face was stamped inside the card. I was like, "How the actual fuck did you do that?" I'll never forget it because I love weird stuff like that. Besides that, all of our fans are just so nice, and it's really cool when people know our names.
FOGARTY: There was also a fan in Denver who came up to Tony and me at the merch table and showed us a tattoo on her forearm of the Porch Light logo with all of our signatures around it. That was pretty wild.
SIEMON: There was another fan in Salt Lake City who showed up with hand-drawn portraits of all of us. They got to the venue like two hours early and drew them in the car before the show.
UHAS: We also have this fan who's basically our friend now. His name's Carson Root. He's our biggest supporter. Every time he buys merch, he'll hand us like a hundred bucks and say, "Load me up." We're like, "Dude, we have to give you two of everything." He's seriously the best.
LUNA: Shoutout to Carson! Festival sets are really different from headline shows because you have a shorter amount of time to introduce yourselves to a crowd. What's the one thing you hope first-time listeners walk away thinking after seeing Porch Light?
UHAS: That we sound like we do on the recordings, if not better. We base everything around being a live band, so if people walk away thinking, "Damn, that was a good show," then we've done our job.
FOGARTY: And just the passion that all five of us bring every single night. We care so much about doing this and about these songs, and I hope people can feel that through our energy and the way we perform. And that we're just a fucking rock band.
