Q&A: Tavern Breakfast Sends You Into an Ironic and Yummy Orbit with “Roll Down”
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY JACK BERTH ☆
EATING YIELDS SO MANY RESULTS - and for Tavern Breakfast, it led to the creation of their band. The recently formed band came together to create indie rock with some psychedelic synths and unique patterns added for amazing flavor. Their debut album, Don’t Kid Yourself, arrives September 26, being a culmination of the journey each of the members have gone on in their early music careers.
The Atlanta-based group is composed of Trevor Griffin, Brittany Dixon, Collin Fitzgerald, and Dylan O’Bryan switching between vocals, bass, keys, and guitar, as Dylan Welch lays it down on drums. Wilson Gaberino filled in for drums on the album while also helping to produce and mix the album.
Griffin labels the band “indie-cisive,” which perfectly matches the melting pot of genres that Tavern Breakfast has produced in their singles “Roll Down” and “Nature Coast.” Their name comes from the place where they used to live in Gainesville, Florida, as Dixon’s passion for cooking would brand their house as “The Tavern,” with “Tavern Breakfasts” being common for those in the Gainesville music scene.
We talked to Griffin and Dixon about their upcoming release, their “indie-cisive” sound, and how they all came together. Keep reading to learn how Tavern Breakfast’s irony can lead them to an impactful rock group.
LUNA: About a month out from your debut album, Don’t Kid Yourself, officially releasing, how are all y’all feeling?
GRIFFIN: We’re eager for it to finally come out! This was the first album we’ve all worked on together, and I certainly feel we are better when we’re together. Don’t Kid Yourself started as a solo album, but after working on it with Brittany, Dylan, and Wilson, it quickly became apparent that we each had so much influence on it that it should just be the first Tavern Breakfast release.
LUNA: The two singles released for the album are different and amazing in their own ways. “Roll Down” is a trippy rock track that contains both ease and edge to it, whereas “Nature Coast” is more traditional in the homey and yearning indie rock sound. Why did you choose these two to be the first singles for the band? Intentional, or did you guys just love the tracks?
GRIFFIN: We were definitely intentional about our single choices. There are songs on the album that I prefer to the singles, but these felt the best two to showcase the polar ends of the spectrum. The third single, which drops September 14, is maybe even more chaotic than “Roll Down.” I think it’s the most collaborative song on the album and showcases a completely different side of us as a band.
LUNA: This diversity in terms of genre and influence always makes the creation of music with a band fun. Seeing that each member has either their own project or another band they are a part of, how easily do you guys mesh ideas together with all the different music backgrounds?
DIXON: Collin, Dylan, Trevor, and I have been playing music together in some sense for years now. Whether it be jamming at someone’s house party, on stage, or even just looking at each other’s music production files, we’ve managed to build an intricate language for collaboration.
LUNA: The story of how the band came together is so wonderful. With branding your old house “The Tavern,” what kind of beers were fan favorites? What “breakfasts” were common occurrences?
DIXON: My favorite breakfast dish has always been biscuits and gravy. Usually treated up with fresh rosemary and jalapeno, this savory dish has been the envy of every brunch mom in the south. Tavern guests were typically treated to the drunkest of tacos, pigs in a blanket, pancakes, or anything else I could find in the pantry. I remember one night making 40 tacos for Gainesville’s finest party-goers. A vaguely Irish-pub-themed occasion, Guinness was a favorite of these debaucherous evenings.
LUNA: Most of you guys met in Gainesville, Florida, because of the music scene. What made the music scene so lively and enthralling? How did Welch and Collin integrate when y’all moved to Atlanta?
DIXON: The venues in Gainesville were one thing; the house shows, open mics, and after-parties were another. The City of Gainesville actually did a lot to stimulate creativity and art in the scene. Programs like MusicGNV and the beloved arts festivals occasionally held on 1st Ave at The Bull were, of course, exemplary of the excellence Gainesville had to offer, but I have always attributed the richness of the scene’s audience-artist relationship to the many nights spent celebrating the life and love of music at the many after-parties.
GRIFFIN: Collin was one of the first people I met in Gainesville, and part of my decision to move there was because I played a show with his band, The Driptones, back in 2021. Collin and I click very well musically, and we have similar sensibilities. He always seems to know what to play, and we rarely disagree on parts or song arrangements. We also kind of followed Collin up to Atlanta, since he moved here before us in 2023 with The Driptones. We played with Dylan Welch’s band Solar Plexus Super Punch, and when we moved up to Atlanta and needed to find a drummer, Welch was the first person we hit up!
LUNA: The art direction for both of the singles’ covers is very nicely done. Brittany seems to have the handle on that front. Do you have a background in Photoshop or editing? Do you create the cover and art before or after the tracks are finished?
DIXON: Ugh. Graphic Design is NOT my passion. But it kind of is. Digital arts have been a part of my life since 4th grade, and over the years I’ve learned to make some f*cked up looking art. I’m lucky to make art for Tavern Breakfast, because everyone seems to be down with the brain-rotten stylistic fixation of my recent contributions.
LUNA: “Roll Down” was produced and mixed by Wilson in his home studio. How did you guys meet him and start working with him, even getting him to play drums?
GRIFFIN: We met Wilson the same way we met all of our friends back in Gainesville: playing shows, hosting or attending parties, playing open mics. We knew him as a drummer before we knew him as a producer. Wilson has produced, mixed, or drummed on a lot of the songs I have written over the years, and we love working together. Actually, before I even approached Dylan or Brittany about making the album, I asked Wilson if he would produce it and drum on it. He and I spent a TON of time on this project over the summer, and we honestly owe at least 50% of this album’s credit to Wilson. He is an incredible producer, and he always strives for the best. He was essential to helping us get good vocal takes, crafting guitar tones and parts, and guiding the general direction of things in the studio.
LUNA: There is a lot of irony and comedic elements within “Roll Down.” Is that a focus of the band’s songwriting approach? And if so, why keep that lighter side?
GRIFFIN: This whole album is full of irony and satire, and I think a lot of that is just my songwriting style. Never take yourself too seriously! It also just comes from us always having fun and being silly together when we were in the studio. Sometimes, when we all think something is funny, it’s hard not to leave it in the song. This is especially true for our next single.
LUNA: The ending of the track comes to this great and heavy climax, with echoing guitars, thumping drums, and a wonderful solo from Brittany. It feels chaotic (in the best way possible). Why did you want this big ending?
GRIFFIN: The end section of “Roll Down” comes mostly from Brittany, Wilson and me jamming on the song. Brittany is a genius when it comes to chords, and she would go, “Why don’t we try this chord here?” until we had a completely new progression. Wilson came up with the rhythms and the sort of stutter hits/unison breaks that happen. I think we were also going for something epic here because we knew it was likely to be our first single.
LUNA: As mentioned before, “Nature Coast” is a change of pace compared to “Roll Down.” The track laments about homesickness and the past - is the track referencing the Nature Coast of Florida? Did you guys spend a lot of time there or grow up there?
GRIFFIN: I grew up in Inverness, FL, and I wrote “Nature Coast” feeling nostalgic for my hometown. I wrote it in Fall 2023, around the same time my mom was moving out of my childhood home, where I’d lived from ages 4-18. This meant I would no longer have a reason to visit Inverness, and a lot of memories came flooding back to me while helping her move. It’s kind of my own “Take Me Home, Country Roads” except I can’t even tell if it’s at all relatable to any listener who didn’t grow up in Inverness!
LUNA: The vocals of the track are also vastly different, much higher range and much more strain put in. Is this Trevor or one of the other members? How easy or hard is it to go that high?
GRIFFIN: I still cringe at the final vocal takes we ended up with, but yes, that is me. I do NOT pride myself on my vocals, but this one was fun to record.
LUNA: The album is coming very, very soon. Do you guys have shows coming up? Potentially a tour on the way? Anything you want to share?
GRIFFIN: Biggest thing is a music video release next month! Several of us will actually be touring with other projects this fall, but we have a release show for the album planned for October 4 in Atlanta! In the meantime, we have created an abundance of Instagram brain-rot for your consumption.
