Q&A: Debut Album on Display, All Eyes on Pry
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY SKYE SCHOENHOEFT ☆
A BABY BAND IS BORN IN BROOKLYN WITH A POWERFUL CRY — Pry’s debut album, Wrapped in Plastic, calls out through a heavy, synthy haze to announce its waking. As the first collaborative album between artists Amara Bush and Simeon Beardsley, the duo dropped nine tracks of nu-metal instrumentals encased in poppy reverb that paint the feeling of being relentlessly observed. We spoke with Pry about their process, their motifs, and the challenges of emerging as new artists.
LUNA: How did you guys meet and how did this project start?
AMARA: We met first through a mutual friend. I met someone out skateboarding a few years ago, then they saw that I had guitar videos on my feed and told me that their friend Simeon wanted to start a band. Simeon worked at a coffee shop at the time, so we had a back room to practice. Simeon and I immediately got along really well; it felt really comfortable.
SIMEON: We decided to not play music with the person we originally met through early on, but [Amara and I] formed a quick bond. Through deciding to kick him out of the band, we formed a closer bond, because it felt important. We wanted to make sure we're doing it right and making important and healthy decisions from the get go.
AMARA: Right after that, Simeon knew a synth player and a drummer, then that drummer brought in another guitar player. The day that we stopped playing with the first person who introduced us, we all met and formed the second version of Pry.
SIMEON: Pry 2.0.
AMARA: Simeon and I have stayed at the core of Pry. We've had to reaffirm a couple times what this was, and it was a lucky circumstance that we met each other and happened to vibe really well.
LUNA: How long have you guys been working on this album? How'd it start?
AMARA: The whole time, really. One of the songs on the album we worked on when we first met up the first or second day. So it's been in the making for at least two and a half years.
SIMEON: A bunch of things have changed so much. The first song we ever played with the five people of Pry 2.0, we jammed on that song we had been messing with, and it essentially became the version that it is on the album today.
LUNA: Which song was that?
SIMEON: “Heaven.” That song is the most space-rocky thing we have on the album. And it's definitely indicative how it came about, when I was playing two chords back and forth, then we were playing on top of each other and layering over that. That was essentially solidified that first time we ever met up. While a lot like that happened early on, the meat of songwriting happened when we were demoing to finish a full record and writing to play shows live.
AMARA: We were recording October through December of last year. So the last half moved very quickly, and Simeon added a bunch of extra synth and extra elements to make it feel full. So the songs feel very different than when we first wrote them two two years ago.
LUNA: What did it look like when you guys were coming up with songs, and how did that evolve to where you are now?
AMARA: I've said this before, but Simeon is a really amazing songwriter; he's so quick with it. He'll usually send a demo, and it will already feel like a full song to me. But then I'll add vocals, learn the bass or write a bass part.
SIMEON: That has been the writing typical process other than with “Greener,” where I had the exact same reaction that Amara described. “Greener” was a fully-fledged idea that Amara had been working on, and notably, it's her first song she ever fully wrote by herself. That’s the song that made me realize I really wanted to work with Amara. I was floored by her ear and her ability to write such a powerful song a year into learning bass and guitar.
SIMEON: I was talking about recently that it’s funny how [Amara and I] live so close to each other, but practice time is so precious. We both work full time, so factoring in band mates and the shared rehearsal space culture in New York, it's very challenging to write in a room together. You need to have it mostly fleshed out before coming together, and then dig straight into rehearsing. But this has made me a much better musician, and accelerated how the songs came together. I don't know if that's how I would want to write forever with Pry; it would be a dream to spend a month or two in a studio writing an album. But just the necessity of being a baby band in Brooklyn, it usually starts on the computer and then builds from there.
AMARA: When we wrote “Heaven,” our bandmate at the time, Henry, had a really fun basement that they could play music in. But as far as finding a space in New York, nobody has a garage, or if you do have a practice space, you’re sharing it with five other bands. So it's very rare to jam together and write that way, but there is magic that happens when you write like that. I would love to be able to do that more, but I think it's super common for most bands now to just write on the computer, too.
LUNA: On the note of writing, I want to dig into some of your lyrics. The themes that I pulled from your songs were ideas of lacking control, feeling observed, obsession, indecision. What drew you to writing about those topics, and how do you think they are reflected in the album overall?
SIMEON: There's definitely an obsessive tint to most of the songs, and the feeling of being observed is a huge part of the record. It's a big part of why we chose “Wrapped In Plastic” as the title track, because there is this feeling of being looked at from the outside, like an object. We usually describe it as a human zoo, observing other people and being observed while being aware of our confinements. But also trying to be aware of viewing ourselves, having a mirror through relationships or friendships. It could easily sound cheesy, but a lot of it for me is about reflecting on the numerous versions of myself that have existed; the fact that we're moving through life in transit, clashing and leaving imprints on one another constantly. So much of the record is about impressions that have been left on me, or what we leave on people. I write a lot about people growing, touching for a minute, and then growing apart.
AMARA: Whenever I wrote lyrics, I was not thinking of a specific theme, but listening back and hearing people's feedback, I realized that was what we had built. As I get older, the way that I think about myself changes, and then I feel trapped in older ideas. While you’re going through that process, everyone is observing you. A lot of playing in a band for me is breaking through my own personal insecurities, or breaking through boundaries I've set for myself. Learning who I am through that process, understanding that maybe you'll lose people, gain people as well. Nothing is ever set in stone or wrapped in plastic. But sometimes it feels like it is.
LUNA: How are these emotional themes reflected the melody and soundscape around the lyrics?
SIMEON: Most of the time, it's actually 100% the music that's guiding the lyrics. They're attached kind of by proxy. It was pointed out to us recently that we have a lot of repetition, and I think that adds to the level of discomfort for certain parts. I don't think either Amara nor I consider ourselves to be singers in a traditional way. And so the melody is totally focused on getting the lyrics across in the way that we feel like the lyrics are supposed to come. I've always struggled to answer questions like that, because I don't question a lot in that writing process. I try really hard to just sit with it and not ask too many questions about if this is the “correct” melody or does this melody get the lyrics across, and just trust.
LUNA: What were your inspirations for the project?
SIMEON: I feel super influenced by my friends. Our drummer is really amazing, kind of annoyingly talented. He's a great friend and an incredible musician. But he's also really hard headed, and has pretty specific ideas of how he thinks the song should sound.
AMARA: He also has really funny taste—you would never guess, but his favorite artist is Charli XCX.
SIMEON: A way pre-brat, pre-hype train, on sh*t for a while. So there's stuff like that which has leaked in. Sometimes, you want to be precious, like I'd rather this song be down tempo or whatever. And he's just like, let's play the song at 180. Once we let those ideas happen, it created a way that we were writing for this project trying to keep the pace. For me, that was pulling from ‘90s rock like Swervedriver and Home and Sunny Day Real Estate. But blending those with influences like Charli XCX or Mount Kimbie or King Krule. There are so many influences there.
AMARA: I feel the same. What originally got me playing guitar were bands like Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine, that whole era. When we started Pry, I started getting more into indie pop music and techno music. Those influences came together. And then I was also very into screamo again; I was listening to a lot of Flooding. The emotions of their songs resonated with me more so than even the music necessarily itself. Like Simeon was saying earlier, I'm writing music based off of if it sounds “right.” I have no technical knowledge. I'm learning, but as far as music theory, don't ask me any questions about that. But I know what I like, I know when I hear something and I think, “I want to make music like this.” Like Simeon said, I’m inspired the most by the amazing bands in New York. Our friends who write amazing music. It's just awesome to see and hear them live.
SIMEON: New York, but also nationally, there are so many bands that are low tier in terms of “success” that are absolutely crushing it. I really enjoy being part of that subterranean music culture. I have some friends who run a record label called Convulse in Denver, and they're putting out amazing punk hardcore music constantly. I saw their band Destiny Bond play a sold out stage in New York recently, and I was filled with love and that deep desire to be up there with them. Those are the kinds of things that make you feel like a kid again, and make you remember why you play music. And I'm very lucky now to be in the DIY scene for over a decade, so it's cool to see experimental bands taking up more of the space. I was interested in experimenting on this record because of those bands, seeing how my friends are making wacky and weird stuff pushed me in the studio to use instruments that I wouldn't have imagined using: organ, synth, weird textures and like, metallic stuff.
LUNA: Do you have a favorite song off the album? Which and why?
AMARA: “Tether You” is a song I can listen to over and over and over again. It was originally just Simeon’s vocals. Then in the studio, I was singing along and Simeon asked, “Do you want to yell on it too?” It was just a really fun experience. Simeon wrote the lyrics in the first take in the studio and that was a special moment to witness, so there are good memories attached with it. It makes me want to drive really fast. It hypes me up.
SIMEON: “Tether You” was the song that when we were recording I knew I would like after because I wasn’t itching to change anything. Recording as a small band with zero budget, there are always going to be things you wish you could have done differently. And I’ve listened to that song a lot and I wouldn't change anything dramatically.
AMARA: Sometimes when you write songs, you listen back and you start doubting yourself. But with “Tether You,” I didn’t even have a second of that.
SIMEON: “Tether You” is my favorite on the album, but my favorite to play live is “So Good,” which was our last single that we put out. It was just made to be played live; it's much harder.
LUNA: Did you guys have any unexpected roadblocks with the album, forming of the band, or anything that you weren’t expecting to happen?
AMARA: In general, when making friends in New York, you meet people, get close, and then you realize you might not be completely compatible. Which isn’t completely the reason why the record ended up just being me and Simeon and our drummer Dave. But I feel that navigating relationships throughout the process was the hardest part for me. I'm very non-confrontational and being in a band requires a lot of honesty and being straight up with people. Being in this project has helped me through that, and it ended up all working out. I had no expectations because this is my first band, but I think this is what everyone says about bands: this happens.
SIMEON: We came out of the record with an album we didn’t think we were going to make, and I’m really proud of us for that. We stuck to the dates we had set, which became a lot of re-writing at home. I recorded most of the synth stuff in my apartment and just brought the files to the studio. It was a lot of working on our own time, and I’m really proud of us for working through what could have been a really big setback.
AMARA: A lot of what happened, too, was right around the time we were finishing recording. So we were kind of like, “Well we have to finish this.” But navigating relationships is hard no matter what, but especially in a band circumstance.
SIMEON: There are so many layers of complexity to being adults in New York—a very expensive place—and trying to have time to play music. You have to really want to do it and love it and have fun. There was a brief minute there that it wasn’t feeling that way and it was feeling stressful and pretty labor-intensive. I’m not afraid of putting time or energy into it, but you want to feel like you’re being met in every way by everyone who’s contributing. Reworking the songs was super important to the way the album came out.
AMARA: In the beginning, Simeon and I decided that if we’re not having fun, there is no point. Obviously it's going to be hard work, but the end goal is we’re doing this because we want to, not for any other reason than we’re having fun, expressing ourselves, and making art.
LUNA: What are you most excited for with the release of the album?
AMARA: I’m excited to play the release show. Our last show was in August, so it’s been a long time and the dynamic is different now. We're playing with our friend Ollie on synth and our original drummer, Dave. Just to be around all of our friends. That’s my favorite part of playing shows: seeing all of my friends in one room and then getting to hang out with them after. And the chance to relax a little bit, too. Put our hands up and be like, “here it is.”
SIMEON: I agree. I feel ready to be on the other side of the release. Most bands can relate to that or just anyone who puts out work. There’s so much anticipation and it just feels good to be past that point, because we’re ready to be continuing on. Playing with the new lineup has made me really reinvigorated to finish some new songs and keep writing. I’m just ready to play some shows.
