How did the making of music become your life? How did you get your start?
We decided to start a band during our freshman year of college in Boone, North Carolina. Most of us had never played an instrument before. So we bought some used gear, moved in together, and started playing obsessively every night after school. After writing some primitive songs, we felt confident enough to start throwing parties that we played at. That was the beginning of everything.

How do you make it work? What are your hustles/gigs? How does it all come together?
For the most part, we are fortunate enough to get by without working many side hustles—due largely to the generosity of our landlord, mentor, and producer— Oakley Munson (drummer of the Black Lips). Some of us do work gigs for extra cash though. We all went down to Manhattan recently to work a painting gig—all 6 of us side by side painting a building. That was pretty funny. Also, Brose runs errands for a blind woman, Shaun delivers kegs for a brewery, Connor just designed a t-shirt for the Arctic Monkeys.

Who were your major influences? What guides your playing style?
Early on we were very into the Doors. We liked the organ especially, and the way they improvised their songs on live records. We shifted more towards British rock’n’roll after that—T. Rex, The Animals, Them, Kinks, Rolling Stones. Before this last record we all got pretty heavy into The Velvet Underground especially the Live in ‘69 record. Most recently, a lot more new music has been playing in the van. Cut Worms, Twin Peaks, Amyl and the Sniffers... the list goes on forever. Getting so deeply involved in the music world has really opened us up to a whole world of great new music.

What's your rig? First guitar? Current? Any gear you can't live without?
My current rig (this is Patton) is a new model Rickenbacker 330 run through a mid-70’s Music Man 210 amp. As far as pedals, I mainly just use Tremolo and a pick-up booster, occasionally a vibrato pedal. Big pedal boards overwhelm me. I’m not familiar with many effects. But when I’ve got a little cash on hand and some time off this winter I’m going to move into the basement and experiment with other sounds. Shaun plays a Gretsch Electromatic 5122 through a ‘71 Twin Reverb. His pedal board is fuller—the same tremolo but also a tube screamer, holy grail reverb, clean boost, and a delay pedal set to a quick slap back.

What does the band have coming up?
We’re throwing our first Nude Years Eve this December 31 at The Loft in New York City. It’s gonna be western casino-themed night with us and our friends Champagne Superchillin’ (Brooklyn).