August 2020

Singer-songwriter Shira questioned if she should be releasing new music in the middle of a global pandemic, but in the end, she chose to push forward, hoping that the love she pours into her writing will help others find sunshine in the midst of the 2020 storm.

“At times like these, the most healing and beautiful thing we have is music,” she said in an exclusive interview with TrunkSpace.

Her EP, Birds of a Feather is due September 18. The title track is available now.

We recently sat down with Shira to discuss having to call a promotional audible, connecting with fans over social media, and why she has always felt like an outsider.

TrunkSpace: We are all feeling the uncertainty and a cornucopia of emotions given the current state of the world and the varying levels of quarantine we have been experiencing these last few months. How has that impacted you as an artist? Have you found yourself to be creatively-inspired during this span?
Shira: It’s been really rough. Not gonna lie… I’ve written 3/4 of a song in four months. So not my most fruitful time. Also, as someone who is used to playing shows every week, it’s been really hard not sharing that connection with the audience. But I have found a deeper connection with my audience through social media. I’ve played 15 online shows and they keep me going with their love and gratitude and I am so happy to be releasing new music! At times like these, the most healing and beautiful thing we have is music.

TrunkSpace: In the middle of it all, you’re set to release a new EP, Birds of a Feather, on September 18. How have you had to change your promotional focus during this time to ensure that this work you’ve poured so much of yourself into has the best chance at finding an audience?
Shira: Honestly, deciding to release it now in the middle of a global pandemic was not easy. I had a crazy release plan, which included releasing a full album after performing at MUSEXPO in LA, the same festival where Katy Perry, Jessie J, and the Temper Trap were first showcased. But of course, all the plans turned to dust. Instead, I found myself with A LOT of time on my hands so I had more time to connect with my audience through social media and I saw that the more music I shared the happier they were. I realized this is actually the best time to release music. So I focus my attention on my people – the ones that have been with me for years and the new ones that join every day. I am here for them with healing music and love.

TrunkSpace: What could someone learn about you as both an artist and as a person in sitting down to listen to the EP, front to back?
Shira: That I am an eternal optimist with a touch of melancholy. That I’m a poetry buff (you’ll feel it in the lyrics). That I love to love.

TrunkSpace: These songs will ultimately also appear on your upcoming full-length album, Birds of a Feather Flock Together. As we understand it, they were all set to live together originally, but the pandemic forced you to reconfigure how you’d roll the collection of songs out into the world. When you decided to release the EP, how did you come to decide on WHAT songs would make the EP cut?
Shira: The songs on the EP are the songs that resonate the most with where I am right now and the times. “Usually” and “Go Uncharted” are an invitation to trust your intuition and the universe and go, keep moving forward even if it’s not the road you planned to take, just take it and trust there’s something there. The lyrics in “Birds of a Feather” are almost ominous since I recorded this before the pandemic; “Come find me before the flood. We’ll brave the storm together. Birds of feather.” Finally, “Wait For Me” is about being away from the one you love. I, like thousands of others around the world, have been separated from my partner because of COVID. The song is about the excitement of seeing your love after you haven’t seen them in a long time (151 days for us) and the fear of, “Will we make it?”

TrunkSpace: What are you most proud of with the upcoming album?
Shira: The amount of love and hope that are in every note and every lyric. Times are super hard for a lot of people (myself included) and this album is an invitation to “Go Uncharted” and let love lead the way.

TrunkSpace: Where are you hardest on yourself as an artist and did that manifest during the creation of this particular collection of songs?
Shira: Every song for me is a precious pearl that flows through me and comes out as a song. Everything that happens after that is in order to serve the song. Everything from the musical arrangement, to the music video and the PR. The most important thing for me is to let the song shine. I’ve nixed a few recordings and music videos, because they were just “pretty” and “eye-catching,” but didn’t elevate the song.

TrunkSpace: You were born in Rochester, NY but spent much of your childhood in Israel. How has where you’re from impacted you as an artist? Would you be a different artist if you grew up in a different city surrounded by different people?
Shira: I always felt like the outsider. Like I don’t belong 100 percent anywhere. Well, until I moved to NYC… the home of the outsiders. But before that, when I was growing up I found myself escaping to the music when I didn’t have friends or the culture barrier was too much for me to bear. I’m sure I would have been a very different artist had I not experienced so much bullying and had to find my own path away from everyone else. I think that’s part of the reason my songs carry so much hope. I need a constant reminder.

TrunkSpace: What do you get out of songwriting on an emotional level? What is it about the process that most excites you even today?
Shira: I don’t have kids… But every song is like a little birth. It’s like a piece of stardust flows through the universe implants in me and out comes the song to be shared back into the universe. For me, it’s a calling.

TrunkSpace: If you sat down with your 10-year-old self and gave her a glimpse of her future, would she be surprised by where her musical journey has taken her thus far?
Shira: I think she would be proud… that I made my own path and that I’m still exploring uncharted paths every day. That’s all she wanted to know… that she can be the unicorn she is.

TrunkSpace: Time machine question. If you could jump ahead 10 years and get a glimpse of what your career looks like a decade from now, would you take that journey? If not, why?
Shira: Nah… I like not knowing… keeps me on my toes. If there is something I like about this world that I’m in, it is that there are constantly infinite possibilities that I couldn’t even wish for before I know they exist.

“Birds of a Feather” the EP is available September 18. The title track is available now.

Although he tends to live life with as little expectation as possible, Michael Desmond, aka Local Nomad, is aware that the art he creates can be perceived differently once he turns it over to the universe.

“Once I create a song and put it out into the world, it’s no longer mine,” Desmond said in an exclusive interview with TrunkSpace. “I relinquish control of what people think of my music.”

We recently sat down with Local Nomad to discuss being away from the road, guys named Kevin, and his self-titled EP, which is available now.

TrunkSpace: Your self-titled EP dropped on July 10th. What kind of emotions do you juggle with when releasing new material to the masses, and has the experience been different this time around given that the entire world, essentially, ground to a halt?
Local Nomad: I’ve had these songs for two years so overall it feels like a huge relief. I tend to just go with the flow and live life with little expectation. “Normal” operations may have come to a halt from COVID, but people still need music and since writing is my therapy, I’ve been going full speed ahead.

TrunkSpace: Normally you would tour to support a new release, but that is not something that is possible right now. How has promoting the EP changed? How do you get the word out when people can’t get out?
Local Nomad: I’ve taken this time to write new songs and stay engaged on social media. It’s really humbling to speak with hundreds of kids from around the world who say they just got their first guitar and are learning “Love is Gone” or “Gates.” This type of social media interaction did not come naturally to me, but it’s the only type of connection to the fans we have right now. I miss live shows so much, but I only want to be back on the road if it’s SAFE.

TrunkSpace: People need an escape now more than ever and music is a great way to forget about the world for a brief period of time. What has music been for you over the years and how do you perceive that relationship from the perspective of an artist? Do you hope that people have the same experience with your music that you have had with other songwriters/bands?
Local Nomad: I’ve learned to tell my true story with music. It’s the man-in-the-mirror learning that being vulnerable is ok and that change happens through acceptance of what is and we need to just to do the best we can to learn from our experiences. Music has always been a spiritual place for me and it became more clear as I got older that it’s an actual living thing inside of me. Once I create a song and put it out into the world, it’s no longer mine. I relinquish control of what people think of my music. It’s theirs to interpret and I hope they can see a bit more of themselves with every listen.

TrunkSpace: If someone sat down to listen to the EP front to back, what would they learn about you both as an artist and as a person?
Local Nomad:
Once I was in love, now I’m not.
Once I was a kid, now I’m not.
You can visit these memories, but ultimately it’s time to move on.

TrunkSpace: We love a good lyric here… the kind that makes us curse that we didn’t come up with it ourselves. What’s a favorite line or snippet from the EP that you’re particularly proud of and why?
Local Nomad:
Frankie went to Maryland
Timmy’s still in town
Mitch had cancer and survived
But Kyle’s not around
Pat made it to the minors
While Michael’s having kids
Matty’s burning out and well
Kevin’s just a dick

(Everyone knows a “Kevin”)

TrunkSpace: What are you most proud of with this collection of songs?
Local Nomad: I’m proud that I was able to communicate this group of songs from a turbulent time in my life and then have kids message me on social media that these songs are doing for them what they did for me – cope and move on.

TrunkSpace: We have all been in some form of lockdown for the majority of 2020. How much of your time spent social distancing has also been spent creating? Have you experienced a creative jolt during this period – and will it lead to another album?
Local Nomad: I’m always writing songs. Even when I’m not playing music, I’m always thinking of new ideas. Like I said earlier, it’s spiritual and it’s my way to cope with life. I’ve been going on a lot of long walks and thinking about what’s next. I finished a dozen songs during this quarantine which will be released in 2021 for my debut full-length.

TrunkSpace: Where are you hardest on yourself as an artist and how do you overcome those self-critical insecurities?
Local Nomad: I embrace my failures and keep moving. It’s hard for people to understand that you need to fail to be successful. I fail every day and then I pick myself back up and keep moving. In the writing process there’s always a forest of bad songs. Sometimes I hit a streak of them to navigate through to the other side until I get one that I think is good. Finish the song – even if it’s terrible. Get it out of your system and move on. Also, I’ve reached a point in my life where I think being a good person is just as important as the art you make.

TrunkSpace: If you sat down with your 10-year-old self and gave him a glimpse of his future, would he be surprised by where his musical journey has taken him thus far?
Local Nomad: My ten-year-old self would probably be very confused, because my ten-year-old self really liked Limp Bizkit. I don’t know if ten-year-old me would like present day me! (Laughter) He would be pumped that we are still making music, but he was a lot more guarded. He would 100 percent be pumped that the dream is alive and we’re still making music though!

TrunkSpace: Time machine question. If you could jump ahead 10 years and get a glimpse of what your career looks like a decade from now, would you take that journey? If not, why?
Local Nomad: Always down with time travel. I would take the trip because regardless of what I see I know that at the end of each day I’m giving this everything I have to make this dream a reality. What do I see? SpaceX residency just outside of the Gargantua black hole from Interstellar.

Local Nomad’s self-titled EP is availble now. The latest single, “Summertime” is available today.

As someone who seeks out the weird while also connecting with the working class, Thomas Johnson, frontman for Killer Whale, writes music from a place of empathy, a skill that is apparent all over the band’s latest album, Tastes Like Yesterday, due September 18 on Devil in the Woods.

“I think my desire to empathize with everyone leads to a connection with certain places and definitely effects my writing,” he said in an exclusive interview with TrunkSpace.

We recently sat down with Johnson to discuss collaboration, staying positive in the age of Covid, and canoeing when not creating.

TrunkSpace: What we love about your upcoming album Tastes Like Yesterday is that it surprised us throughout our journey with it. While it was all very much Killer Whale, it was also a unique adventure track-to-track. When you set out to write the songs that would make up the album, what did you anticipate the journey would be for the listener? What were the musical goals in bringing this collection of songs all under one roof?
Johnson: I’m not sure that I ever anticipated a journey when making the record. I had a certain sound in my mind that I tried to dial in with a couple years of mixing and recording demos in my room in San Francisco. I wanted to create an album that sounded totally original, and I felt like I was getting there with these songs and the demo production. I also was starting to feel like taking my demos and letting another musician help with the final production. We had done a couple of shows with Spooky Mansion and I really got into Grayson Converse’s production on those albums and singles. I think I just casually asked him in the bathroom of the Verdi Club one night and he said yes. So, long story short, I had a direction with the sound and Grayson really helped dial in the final direction. Scott Sibley (drummer/engineer) and I put together the song list to be a full LP listen, so I hope folks dig in!

TrunkSpace: You’re New Orleans based, but your travels take you from creative ports of interest like Austin and San Francisco. As an artist, how does WHERE you are impact WHO you are as a songwriter? How does the geography trickle into your music?
Johnson: I try to absorb the feeling and vibe of everywhere I go. I want to know the weird shit and I want to hang with freaky people, but I also work a laborious job and have always connected with working class folks. I think my desire to empathize with everyone leads to a connection with certain places and definitely effects my writing.

TrunkSpace: As you travel down the creative road you’re currently on with Killer Whale, would 10-year-old Thomas be surprised or was this always your creative destiny?
Johnson: Oh man, I don’t know. I certainly have always loved rock n’ roll.

TrunkSpace: Your new album Tastes Like Yesterday is due to drop September 18. What kind of emotions do you juggle with when releasing new material to the masses, and is the experience different this time around given that the entire world, essentially, has ground to a halt?
Johnson: I feel better about this release than my previous ones… I guess I’m really comfortable with how it came out. A lot of my friends helped me make this and I think we made something worthwhile. Not touring to support it is a huge bummer but there’s nothing I can really do about it so I try to stay positive and work on creative ways to connect with fans.

TrunkSpace: As you mentioned, normally you would tour to support a new release, but that is not something that is possible in every state right now. How has promoting the upcoming album changed? How do you get the word out when people can’t get out themselves?
Johnson: Still working on figuring that out!

TrunkSpace: You recently released the single “Plenty Of Time.” For you, what is the process like in deciding what the first singles will be from an album, because in a lot of ways, they become the first impression for listeners, and as we all know, first impressions count?
Johnson: This album was tough to decide; I really like all the tunes. I just asked the band, my manager, and the label to pick three and we chose the most picked ones.

TrunkSpace: If someone sat down and listened to Tastes Like Yesterday front to back, what would they learn about you as both an artist and person?
Johnson: As an artist, I hope one might understand my dedication to creating original music and my love for sound and its ability to move people. As a person, you might learn that I love a good band!

TrunkSpace: What are you most proud of with the album?
Johnson: Sounds cheesy, but I’m most proud of how it all came together with all of my friends helping out. This was a truly collaborative record with the band and the producers all the way to the mastering. I feel like everyone got into it, put love into it and the result shows that.

TrunkSpace: We have all been in some form of lockdown for the majority of 2020. How much of your time spent social distancing has also been spent creating? Have you experienced a creative jolt during this period – and will it lead to another album?
Johnson: I actually haven’t… I’ve been canoeing more. I am constantly writing songs and making demos at my house… it’s just what I love to do.

TrunkSpace: Time machine question. If you could jump ahead 10 years and get a glimpse of what your career looks like a decade from now, would you take that journey? If not, why?
Johnson: No, time travel would probably be pretty weird. I guess we only get so many years, so I’d like to soak ‘em in.

Tastes Like Yesterday is available September 18. “Plenty of Time” is available now.

 

Pop culture junkies will recognize actress Jaime Ray Newman from her incredible catalog of on-screen performances that span both film and television, and while she considers herself an actress first, it is her work as a producer that is enabling her to now control her own creative destiny.

“If you want to be a storyteller, you have to take responsibility to tell stories that you feel passionate about also,” she said in an exclusive interview with TrunkSpace.

After taking home the Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film in 2019 for Skin, she and her producing partner Guy Nattiv, who is also her husband, have a packed slate of projects in development – 14 by the current count. On camera, Newman can be seen in the recently-released Hulu series Little Fires Everywhere opposite Reese Witherspoon and in the film Valley of the Gods, arriving on VOD August 11.

We recently sat down with Newman to discuss chasing down the producing bug, creating in the time of Covid, and why she loves playing baddies.

TrunkSpace: As a producer, you won the Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film alongside of your producing partner and husband Guy Nattiv. Is that where your journey beyond acting began?
Newman: Well, I’m an actress first, but in a way, especially now, I feel like you can’t just do one thing. You just can’t. It’s too competitive. But even beyond that, you have to take some responsibility. If you want to be a storyteller, you have to take responsibility to tell stories that you feel passionate about also.

TrunkSpace: So it helps you control your own creative destiny?
Newman: Of course. As an actor, you are sitting around, you are auditioning 95 percent of the time. You look at these success stories, they’re like one out of a billion. Careers ebb and flow, and if you want to be busy in the artistic process, you have to be creating your own content. I was lucky that I met Guy 10 years ago. I had always wanted to produce – the first thing I produced was when I was in high school. They let me graduate high school a half a year early, a semester early, because I was producing plays. I used my bat mitzvah money. There was a play that I wanted to do called Keely and Du. Every year they would pick a production to produce and they wouldn’t produce the script because it had to do with abortion, and they thought it was too controversial. So I was like, “Okay…” and I literally took this $3,000 from my bat mitzvah account and rented a theater, turned it Equity and hired adult actors in the adult roles. And my dad actually directed it. (Laughter)

TrunkSpace: Wow. What a commitment, especially at that age.
Newman: It was a life changing experience for me. I loved it. So when I came to LA, I got really swept up. I got on a soap opera right away. I started acting pretty consistently straight out of the gate, but I always had the producing bug. I just didn’t know the material. I had trouble finding the material. So when I met Guy, I loved his work in Israel. And before we even fell in love as two humans, we started working on an American-Israeli collaboration together. And it was through that. The project never happened, but we fell in love. I mean, he’s my muse, and I’m his muse. We’re like mutual muses.

TrunkSpace: So in order to stay in the creative process, how important has it been to have these projects to work on during the pandemic? Has it been more apparent this year just how critical it is to control your own artistic destiny?
Newman: Yes. I wake up every morning thanking the stars, Guy, whoever you want to say. When you’re just an actor, you are completely at the mercy of someone else. And I couldn’t bear that. Guy and I are so fucking busy. I mean, I could show you in our office, we have a board with all of our projects. We have 14 projects. We are in development nonstop. We are the busiest we’ve ever been right now. Would I love to be on set, acting? Would I love to be auditioning for things? Yes, but I do feel creatively satisfied because our projects are heavily in development right now.

TrunkSpace: Would those projects not be as far along in development if you did not have this time of extended lockdown to focus on them?
Newman: That’s a great question. There’s two projects, one that came to us through our agents, and one that Guy and I – it’s a true story – that we were actually going to do as our next short. And because of lockdown, a production company said, “Listen, we will give you the development resources to write this. Just forget the short and go straight into the feature. Guy, write the feature.” And that would not have happened. We wouldn’t have had time. It’s an amazing story. And I think that it’s happening – Guy writing it – because of lockdown.

TrunkSpace: In looking at the projects you have in development, many of them are based on real people and real circumstances. For a producer, is there such a thing as a “producer’s voice” like there is for a writer?
Newman: One hundred percent. These are great questions. Hello, Terry Gross. (Laughter)

I think that our slate is pretty eclectic, but every piece of content that we are developing has some sort of social message – social or political. Just entertainment or escapism, I think is very important, it’s just not the stuff that we’re interested in producing. It takes years – decades – to make a project, and for us to spend that much time, literally for free, working on something, it has to have a deeper, more significant meaning.

We have a project about the first stunt woman in Hollywood called A Stunt Woman. It’s about Julie Ann Johnson. It took us almost two years to get her life rights. She wanted nothing to do with Hollywood anymore because she had been blacklisted for outing all of the bad behavior. And the thing that we love about this project is that it’s fun, wild and it’s set in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s. It’s a period piece, crazy stunt work, all women, bad-ass, like Tarantino-esque, but it has the social underpinnings. The underlying foundation of it is a Norma Rae kind of woman, who couldn’t take it anymore and took the system by storm, and was punished for it, but changed our business forever because of it, for the better.

TrunkSpace: And it’s a story that, in many ways, has kind of been lost to history.
Newman: One hundred percent. She was the first Me Too movement. She was on the cover of TV Guide in 1978, and everyone gave her kudos for two weeks, and then everyone went back to business as usual.

TrunkSpace: One thing that is great about all of the projects that you and Guy are working on, and this includes Skin, is that they feel like the kind of movies we USED to be able to see before everything was a franchise or based on an existing brand. How important are things like VOD and streaming platforms to projects like those that you two have in development?
Newman: I am so grateful for the streamers. I think that independent cinema is going to survive because of the streamers. I really hope that there is still a world for not just Marvel movies in the theaters after we survive this pandemic. There’s an amazing article that our producer wrote – he produced Skin with us, and our next project, Harmonia, is also with him – a guy named Oren Moverman. He just was interviewed by the Hollywood Reporter on the state of independent cinema right now and the streamers. And you should just read it because he’s so intelligent and has such a pulse on what’s happening.

But, Harmonia is our next film. I really want to see it on a big screen. It hasn’t been made yet, but it’s something that I really want to witness on a big screen, just like Roma. We sought out Roma in the theater and went to see it. And I have friends who are like, “I fell asleep watching Roma.” And I’m like, “Did you watch it on your couch at home?”

TrunkSpace: Yeah, that’s true. It’s easy to not be as invested in a film when you are in the comfort of your own home.
Newman: You didn’t have the experience of it. It’s the Ikea theory, that if you build it… if you buy it and put your time and effort into it – tears into it – you’ll appreciate it more. It’s psychological in a way.

But these streamers… I was in Little Fires Everywhere, and it is very cinematic, but at the same time, Hulu paid for a 10-hour movie. No one’s going to go to a movie theater to see a 10-hour movie, but Lynn Shelton was able to make a 10-hour movie. So the streamers are allowing us to do that. Would I love to see A Stunt Woman on a big screen? Yeah, but am I so grateful that we potentially get to make this big, epic saga, but in a televised way, where you have to see it at home? I’ll take that trade off.

TrunkSpace: There are just so many ways for people to find a project today, which of course can be a double-edged sword. Really, all you can do is make the film or project that you want to make and then hope it finds its audience and connects with people.
Newman: That’s it. Because, like I said, you have to do so much work for free, and it takes decades and years, and you dedicate your life to something that you want to go see. And the truth is, the short was only made because we found Byron Widner, who Skin, the feature, is based on, 10 years ago. It was based on a documentary on MSNBC about the tattoo removal process, and it took us years. Guy wrote the script and every producer in town passed on it. We started shopping it in the summer of 2016 and everyone was like, “Hillary Clinton is about to become president. Racism died with Obama. This stuff doesn’t exist anymore.” Guy and I were like, “What are you talking about? We just spent years of research. Of course this shit exists.” And that’s why we made the short as a proof of concept to get the feature made.

TrunkSpace: When you’re acting in a project that you’re also producing, does actress Jaime ever butt heads with producer Jaime in terms of what they both want to achieve?
Newman: I will get back to you in about a year. (Laughter)

With Skin, the short, we paid for it with our retirement funds. I was such a basket case on that set because every one minute of overtime was coming out of our retirement money. I was such a mess on that set for the five-day shoot. There’s no way I could have acted in it. There’s no way. In the feature, there was a moment in time when I was going to play Julie, the female role, but we met Danielle Macdonald on the short and she was so perfect. She was so authentic. She’s so good. Both Guy and I were just like, “This is Julie.” There’s this quality to her that really is the real woman. And I think that it was such a learning experience for me shooting the feature that I’m glad I was just a producer on it.

When I did Little Fires Everywhere, Reese Witherspoon and I spoke mostly about producing, and I watched her juggling – on the phone producing and then she had her quiet space for the work. What I’ve learned is that producing is extremely chaotic. It is just wrangling in the chaos. Acting is very still. It is very focused. Even when you have a chaotic scene… they call it relax-itration, a relaxed concentrated nature, because then creativity can flow. So I have amazing examples of badass producers who’ve done it in the past, and I’ll just figure it out.

TrunkSpace: What is one lesson that you learned in making Skin that you’re going to apply to the next project?
Newman: Don’t invest your own money. (Laughter) I can’t even say that, because we changed our lives. I tell the story all the time. Guy was having so much trouble launching his career in the US. It had been five or six years. He hadn’t made a movie, nothing we were working on was being made, and we went to our financial advisor, sent him the short and we said to him, “We have a short, and we don’t know how to raise money for a short. Do you think that we should put our own money into it?” He was like, “No.” And then we said, “Can you read the script? I know you don’t normally read movie scripts, but it’s 20 pages. Can you read it?” And he called us Monday morning, and he was like, “You have to make this.”

TrunkSpace: You have been in so many great television series over the course of your career. What is one character you wished you had more time to spend with and explore further?
Newman: I played this crazy, werewolf basically, in Grimm. She was like this motorcycle-riding, leather-clad Blutbad. I did a couple episodes of that. I was supposed to do more, but then I think a show that I was on got picked up, and so they had to kill me off. I love playing the bad-asses. I don’t get cast in them that often, but I really like them. Even in Midnight, Texas, I started off as this sort of like Southern genteel, and then you find out that she’s just evil incarnate – this old thousand-year-old she-devil. I like playing the baddies.

Skin, the short, is available now on Amazon Prime Video. Little Fires Everywhere is available on Hulu. Valley of the Gods arrives August 11 on VOD.

Like most creative people, Miguel Gallego, aka Miserable Chillers, questioned his artistic exploits in the early days of his musical journey. Although he started playing guitar as a preteen, it took him time to find the confidence in both himself and the sounds he was looking to give life to, but when he did, everything fell into place.

“I think the biggest thing that was missing, though, was just the sinking in of an obvious truth that I could do, or try to do, whatever I want musically,” said Gallego in an exclusive interview with TrunkSpace. “That I can and should follow my nose.”

And following his nose he has. The latest Miserable Chillers album, Audience of Summer, drops August 7.

We recently sat down with Gallego to discuss embracing sounds he used to find corny, looking beyond validation, and why releasing this album is both liberating and sad for its creator.

TrunkSpace: You have described yourself as a late bloomer. Does that also relate to your creative self, and if so, was the inspiration always there and you just didn’t discover the delivery method until recently or was it the spark itself that came later?
Gallego: I think the pull towards music as the way I wanted to express myself was always there. I loved to make up little songs when I was very little (titles include: “Stop Copying Me,” “Long John,” “I’m The Best Boy Ever Made”), and was drawn to this dinky Casio keyboard we had growing up. I started playing guitar when I was about 12 or 13 and started writing songs shortly after, but I think a lot of elements alluded me – a voice and perspective that felt my own, the confidence that I could pursue the kind of sounds I wanted to rather than the ones that felt most readily available, the sense that I had something to say, to share. I think the biggest thing that was missing, though, was just the sinking in of an obvious truth that I could do, or try to do, whatever I want musically. That I can and should follow my nose.

TrunkSpace: So with that said, would 10-year-old Miguel be surprised by this creative journey that you’re currently on?
Gallego: I’ve embraced a lot of sounds I used to find very corny, like fretless bass. I think 10-year-old me would be surprised that I’ve moved away at all from making rock music.

TrunkSpace: As you look into the future as it relates to your music and creative endeavors, what do you hope to accomplish with them? What would “success” be to you as it relates to being the songwriter and artist that you are?
Gallego: For a long time I looked to music to provide a kind of validation that it was never going to give me. I’ve always struggled with this sense of doubt that the way I experience the world – the way I think and feel about things – is valid, or good. I’ve always felt very stuck in my head and like I’m missing something about the world around me that’s obvious to everybody else. So to share my music, something that feels very much my own, felt, for a long time, like an opportunity to seek that validation. It still does, sometimes, and I would love for anyone to hear my music and feel like it speaks to some deep, unshared thought or feeling. I would love for anyone to feel connected to by my music. But I also realized as I’ve gotten older that wanting validation from this practice was placing an undue burden on something that already gives me a lot. Just the act of making is deeply fulfilling in and of itself. I try to see the sharing of it as a cherry on top, rather than the end to making’s means. I don’t want to lose sight of that. And so, I just want to reach a few more ears, and to maybe get more opportunities to make more music, too.

TrunkSpace: Your new album Audience of Summer is due to drop August 7. What kind of emotions do you juggle with when releasing new material to the masses, and is the experience different this time around given that the entire world, essentially, has ground to a halt?
Gallego: I’m letting go of a lot – of a record that I finished making almost a year ago, before everything changed, both personally and in the world at large. Consequently, it’s like an index of a period of my life, of myself, that feels fundamentally different than the present. It’s a little liberating and a little sad to share it.

TrunkSpace: Normally you would tour to support a new release, but that is not something that is possible in every state right now. How has promoting the upcoming album changed? How do you get the word out when people can’t get out themselves?
Gallego: I’ve always relied on social media and word of mouth from friends to share my music. Miserable Chillers has never really toured, just played around locally and done a few out of towners here and there. I would very much love to play this music out, and hope I get the chance in the future. Hoping to make some videos and other materials around this music to share it more, though.

TrunkSpace: No one knows your music better than you. With that said, where do you hear the biggest differences between what you were doing creatively with Miserable Chillers six years ago to where you are today on the eve of Audience of Summer being released?
Gallego: Six years ago I was still pretty bound up in my own imaginative constraints around guitar music. I like a lot of the oldest Miserable Chillers’ music, but I feel like I was exhausting what I felt like I could do with power chords and strummed acoustic guitars. It’s melodic in a way the music I try to make now still is, but I was so much less interested and capable when it came to production and arrangement. I just wanted to get the songs out, whereas now I get a lot of pleasure out of taking time to fill in each detail, each texture.

TrunkSpace: If someone sat down and listened to Audience of Summer front to back, what would they learn about you guys upon that first dive into the music?
Gallego: I love the band Prefab Sprout.

TrunkSpace: What are you most proud of with the album?
Gallego: I think it feels very concise while having a lot of breadth. I like feeling like I’m being thrown into a big world, and I think I got at some of that feeling.

TrunkSpace: We have all been in some form of lockdown for the majority of 2020. How much of your time spent social distancing has also been spent creating? Have you experienced a creative jolt during this period – and will it lead to another album?
Gallego: I had a big jolt towards the beginning and made a lot of music, mostly instrumental and improvisational, which I think may eventually make another record. I’ve been trying to return to more pop-adjacent music lately and the pace has been slower, but I’m excited to make things.

TrunkSpace: Time machine question. If you could jump ahead 10 years and get a glimpse of what your career looks like a decade from now, would you take that journey? If not, why?
Gallego: No, thanks. I want to make it over there myself, on my own time.

Audience of Summer drops tomorrow on Baby Blue. Preorder is available here.

The Wretched, a horror film with a throwback vibe, far exceeded expectations when it was released to select theaters and drive-ins during the midst of a global pandemic, even going so far to surpass the $1M mark in a run at a limited box office. Now available on Hulu, the film continues to entertain new audiences in new ways, much to the delight of star John-Paul Howard.

“It’s always nice to be thought of as a silver lining in an otherwise dreary time,” said Howard in an exclusive interview with TrunkSpace. “However, it will remain, to me, an amazing feat to be able to entertain the populous during a time where escapism is absolutely necessary.”

We recently sat down with Howard to discuss the film’s success, the scene that will stick with him throughout his life, and why the notion of the ideal male body is ridiculous.

TrunkSpace: Your latest project The Wretched was released in the middle of a pretty tumultuous time for not only the country but the world as a whole. In a way, is it nice to be a part of people’s escape during all of this – to be their outlet to what was “normal” once?
Howard: It’s always nice to be thought of as a silver lining in an otherwise dreary time. However, it will remain, to me, an amazing feat to be able to entertain the populous during a time where escapism is absolutely necessary. Some people have referred to The Wretched as, riding the wave of the unfortunate, to put it as politely as I can, but it is important to understand that no one can predict these things that occur even in a day-to-day life. So, to be an escape for those less fortunate is a welcome feeling.

TrunkSpace: When it first went out to audiences, it hit in one of our favorite places even pre-pandemic – drive-in movie theaters. Have you had the chance to experience the film in that format, and if so, what was that like for you, again, given the state of things today?
Howard: I must admit I never got the opportunity to view the film in that format and am incredibly jealous of those who got to go see it this way. The film was absolutely perfect for drive-in theaters, maybe it was the ‘80s vibes it gave off or maybe it was just fitting for the events in the country, but I regret not finding a way to go see it there. Although seeing cast and crew go to the drive-ins was relieving, knowing they could go back into the world and socialize in a safe environment achieved through distancing, masks and the security of one’s own vehicle, all in a nostalgia-fueled lot watching a good movie, I sincerely recommend heading to the drive-ins this summer just to get that feeling.

TrunkSpace: Would you say that the film exceeded your expectations in terms of how it has reached audiences, particularly in light of the uphill battle it was facing being released at a time when people were tucking themselves away?
Howard: It was really hard to have any expectations at all, especially when news of lockdown was surfacing, but truthfully after the smoke cleared it exceeded all of our expectations. Ultimately, I think we’re just ecstatic knowing our film was perceived positively by audiences.

TrunkSpace: The film hit Hulu last Friday. As an actor, what is it like working in this day and age where a film like The Wretched can have multiple lives – from theaters to streaming platforms – and find new audiences along the way?
Howard: It’s difficult to keep up with how the film is doing and where it’s located, but simply hearing that people are loving it and finding a way to watch it is good enough for me. I’m not a tech-savvy guy but can receive messages from fans and try to respond to them as best I can, so meeting all these new people is shocking but invigorating.

TrunkSpace: For fans, the final product of a film or series is always the most memorable part, but for those involved in a project, we’d imagine it goes much deeper than that. For you, what is something about your time working on The Wretched thus far that you’ll carry with you through the course of your life/career?
Howard: To put this rather bluntly, my pool scene is probably something I don’t think I will ever forget ‘til the day I die. And unfortunately for the audience, I don’t think they will either.

TrunkSpace: As an actor – a profession where you generally are required to work directly with other people in a scene – how have you kept the tools in your toolbox sharp during this extended period of isolation?
Howard: Honestly, even watching a show or movie can help improve your craft or keep yourself sharp. Any sort of social interaction will do the same thing for me, so I might hop on the phone with a friend for a short bit or do a Zoom call with friends where we play games. Of course, reading has a similar effect but certainly not the same. You always want to improve your language skills as an actor.

TrunkSpace: You’re also a guitarist. As music lovers ourselves, how has that instrument kept you company during this time? Did you become dependent on it as a creative outlet?
Howard: Oh absolutely, I play it for a few hours every day, but I have to admit there are some days where I might just get slammed with errands to where I will forget, and at the end of the day my guitar sits in the corner and sends guilt trips every way it can.

TrunkSpace: Where are you hardest on yourself as an actor/artist and how do you overcome those insecurities when they make an appearance?
Howard: Actors are hard on themselves in a lot of ways, whether it has to deal with performance or appearance, but to me those are the main two. I’ve never really been fit and have been turned down before because of it. The “ideal male body” is rather absurd and not focused on as having a negative effect on people, but really, I am going to the gym. Not for the “Hollywood Body” but mostly for my own health.

TrunkSpace: What has been the highlight of your career as a whole thus far?
Howard: The Wretched has been the biggest highlight, honestly. I could mention Hell or High Water or Midnight, Texas as being fantastic highlights, but the friends and family I’ve made on this production, along with the memories, make this my favorite. The unexpected turnout makes it the biggest.

TrunkSpace: Time machine question. If you could jump ahead 10 years and get a glimpse of what your career looks like a decade from now, would you take that journey? If not, why?
Howard: I don’t think I could, because truthfully, any possible outcome, whether it is good or bad, could cause me to just give up entirely or focus on the wrong part of it. The passion and drive of the moment is what pushes me to continue every day. Let’s be real, this crap is HARD!

The Wretched is available now on Hulu.

Singer-songwriter John Shipe traveled through darkness to find the light, a theme that permeates his latest album, the double-sized The Beast Is Back.

“Personal reckoning leads not only to being a better person, but to better art,” said Shipe in an exclusive interview with TrunkSpace. “My writing now meets the listener in some of the most personal places. Fortunately, with age comes the humility to let this happen.”

While the album isn’t due until September 25, the Portland-based Americana artist’s latest single, “Love Ain’t Easy,” is available now.

We recently sat down with Shipe to discuss art worth sharing, the maturity of social media in music, and writing for grown-ups.

TrunkSpace: You have a new DOUBLE album due out in the near future. What kind of emotions do you juggle with when releasing new material to the masses, and is the experience different this time around given that the entire world, essentially, is ground to a halt?
Shipe: So much happens in the world between the day you go into a studio with 18 songs, and when you emerge a year later with your hopeful masterpiece. Race issues exploding. Pandemic. Our damaged national psyche. People in real economic trouble. I picked a hell of a time to do this. None of the personal self-involved, self-directed anxieties I’ve experienced in the past apply. And that’s a good thing. There is more at stake in America than the comings and goings of singer-songwriters. (This takes me back to when I started a tour the morning of September 11th, 2001, when the Trade Towers went down. It was difficult to muster up the energy to self-promote.) You press pause, and you ask some hard questions. Those questions aren’t just about the timing of the business at hand, or even the quality of the product. They’re about the fundamental meaning of the project. Artists aren’t entitled to an audience, so, are we offering up something worth sharing? We seriously considered these questions, and we changed our choice of debut single, in fact. But I feel good about how the material relates, and that it’s universal. Some of the stuff I was making 20 years ago might be awkward to put into the world right now. But as an older, wiser artist, there’s more humility and humanity than in my previous work. Not so nakedly ambitious and idiosyncratic.

TrunkSpace: Normally you would tour to support a new release, but that is not something that is possible in every state right now. How has promoting the upcoming album changed? How do you get the word out when people can’t get out themselves?
Shipe: I recently joked to a friend and colleague, that as a “comeback artist,” without the channels of commercial success at my disposal, my music career might be on Facebook. And now, everybody’s career is on Facebook (and Instagram, and Twitter). As an optimist, I can’t help seeing some beauty in this. The intimidating inertia of Music Industry has been interrupted. And we’re all in this together, famous and unknown alike. Not that the playing field has been totally leveled, but a spirit of generosity, sweeping through the Biz, encourages artists to LiveStream, post, tweet, and blog abundantly. (Independent press is more generous than when I was cutting my teeth in the ‘90s.) Social media used to be superficial promotion – an impersonal shill for music you could purchase, or shows you could attend. But now, blogs and posts are part of my art. I treat them as the substance of what I might have to offer, as an artist, with something of value to share. The ideas, the writing, and the message I put out there deepen my relationship with fans and potential fans. (Especially with regard to the fragile times we live in.) The limelight is nowhere and everywhere. And competition for it has been removed as a source of anxiety. Artists’ fans are literally right there in the palm of their hands at any given moment. And we ought to take good care of that relationship. As for live shows, I’ll admit I’m extremely frustrated not being able to play a hundred gigs out of the gate. But I’m still digging deep and giving it out as thoroughly as I can in a virtual, digital way, which can also be sufficiently intimate. When you can’t play any shows, social media presence becomes the very product of your creativity. It’s like “The Wizard of Oz.” The man behind the curtain is now a main character, and he’s just as interesting as the formidable Wizard with the lights and the flames and the smoke.

TrunkSpace: You have said that this is the album of your life and that you might not make another one because you may not have anything left in you. Are you someone who has to step away from music after creating in order to refuel the emotional tank? Did you feel like you were running on empty after putting this one to tape?
Shipe: It’s tough to talk about this (because it relates to alcohol recovery). It’s a well-informed question, because that’s the way art works. You drain the well; then it takes a minute to fill the well. For 10 years prior to Beast, my emotional tank was overflowing wildly. But I was in no condition to perform the task of making a good record. (Addiction, recovery, and various disorienting life stuff.) My supportive partner helped me get back on track. And my producer, Tyler Fortier, navigated the project via a path of total vulnerability. So, I put it all out there like a year-long breakthrough therapy session, completely hollowing myself out. The good news is, the well fills back up faster than expected, ’cause I emptied out all the stifling, counter-productive sludge. Maybe “the well” metaphor doesn’t work anymore. I’m healthier now, by virtue of the process, and I feel like I could make another album sooner than later. Hopefully, from here on out, creativity won’t be a boom-and-bust cycle.

TrunkSpace: If someone sat down to listen to the album front to back, what would they learn about you both as an artist and as a person?
Shipe: They would think I am melodramatic, with dark pessimistic thoughts, which I use a combination of determination and humor to overcome. They’d imagine that I have experience with the corroding power of secrets poorly kept. And I’ve learned that it’s safer to face things head-on than to hide. I hope I make it clear that it’s worth the trouble. I hope they would find me empathetic and compassionate, about even the toughest stuff.

As an artist and musical craftsman, I don’t ponder my place in the “State of the Art.” I’ve never had a “mission,” so to speak, with respect to any particular aesthetic, or self-consciousness about how I fit my genre. But I have an inkling of what I’m up to: putting edgy passion into grown-up music. It seems like the musical intensity of older artists wanes in direct proportion to the spirit of resignation in the average aging adult’s life outlook. Grown-up music seems removed and deflecting. Intense, invested music seems reserved for young people experiencing everything for the first time. Falling in love for the first time. Breaking up for the first time. (Feels like the end of the world.) Challenging authority for the first time. A young man’s first existential angst troubles the soul. But the music of grown-ups can be so calm and dignified, like mature, stable family life. This does not make sense to me. For grown-ups, there’s so much more at stake. Where is the proportional musical outlet for the depths of the adult experience? If grown-ups can get so worked-up with outrage, loss and confusion that they’ll vote for a man like Donald Trump, or protest in the streets against a man like Donald Trump, maybe they’re open to music that’s just as melodramatic. A break-up of a long marriage really is the end of the world. Existential angst in middle-age is truly psychologically-dangerous, not a mere pose. Successful romance later in life is salvation for real. I wanted to create mature music, with grown-up lyrics, about grown-up stuff, and put the urgency and passion back in. (“My Daughter, My Love,” is about a father who’s losing his teenager’s affection. I imagined the pain of that rejection being tougher on him than any of his failed romances. So I made it like a wrenching break-up song.)

TrunkSpace: You went all in on the writing and took a “brutal honesty” approach. We already talked about what others would learn in listening to the album, but what did YOU learn about yourself in creating it?
Shipe: It was a great relief to find that I still have what it takes to see a project through, to stay in command of my craft, and meet the expectations of my collaborator. That was a positive. But I was humbled to discover the degree to which my previous work had kept my vulnerability on a leash, in contrast to the honesty on this album. When I was younger, I willed myself to be a deep thinker, a profound writer, and an earnest performer. But it was sort of a role that I played on the outside, while I held a lot back on the inside. I played it well-enough to make 10 albums of varied quality, but something was missing. In retrospect, I was not gifted with a huge imaginative intellect; I just work very hard to cultivate one. For this album, I stripped away all the artifice and defensiveness. It really dovetails with addiction recovery. Personal reckoning leads not only to being a better person, but to better art. My writing now meets the listener in some of the most personal places. Fortunately, with age comes the humility to let this happen.

TrunkSpace: What are you most proud of with the album?
Shipe: Three things: 1) My slide guitar playing. It’s the only thing I do well enough as a player that might get me hired as a sideman. 2) I put myself in the hands of my producer, Tyler. On his roster of artists, I’m one of the more cooperative – not difficult or stubborn. This doesn’t come easy for the average songster, but that’s how you make a good album. 3) Tyler and I know for sure that we did our best. We held nothing back and leaned into all the passion possible within the grown-up conventions of the Americana genre.

TrunkSpace: We have all been in some form of lockdown for the majority of 2020. How much of your time spent social distancing has also been spent creating? Have you experienced a creative jolt during this period – and will it lead to another album?
Shipe: As we speak, Tyler and I are working on a single I wrote called “A Song About This.” It’s about the artist’s responsibility to say something, anything, when faced with our country being torn apart. We plan to release it in September. Meanwhile, I have all this time to work on my act – doing new things on the guitar and adding piano – it’s a welcome surprise that I continue to improve and discover new musical dimensions even after many plateaus. I write a little something every day, so I will be recording again in the spring of 2021 if I’m not touring.

TrunkSpace: Where are you hardest on yourself as an artist and how do you overcome those self-critical insecurities?
Shipe: Every artist has stretches of self-doubt. We deny our talents, even though we have proven bodies of work. Charlie Chaplin used to say, “Any minute now, I’ll be exposed as a fraud who’s just making it up as he goes along.” It often happens after a noticeable success. It’s just panic – the pressure of measuring up to the standards you set for yourself in the release of your own work. “Oh, God, now I gotta live up to the hype.” I’ve recently come to realize that this doesn’t make a damn bit of sense. I’m lucky to have supportive colleagues, collaborators, friends and fans – all shameless enablers – who won’t let me doubt without reprimand. When people openly enjoy your songs, it’s disrespectful to implicate your audience as foolish for rooting for you. That said, I confess that I worry about flaws in my singing voice, sloppiness in my guitar playing, and pretentiousness in the lyrics. But I had a nice colleague remind me that it’s all a function of my willingness to take risks. So I just push on. I practice and write constantly, like clockwork. Songwriting is a compulsion – or, better, a meditation – and I can’t really stop. It scratches the deepest itch. I have a thousand yet-to-be-completed songs to keep me company. Something creative is always on the docket. I don’t have time to doubt it.

TrunkSpace: If you sat down with your 10-year-old self and gave him a glimpse of his future, would he be surprised by where his musical journey has taken him thus far?
Shipe: My childhood self would be delighted to hear about seeing the whole country from a touring van, playing big stages, opening for famous bands, and visiting National Parks every chance along the way. But I’d have to warn him about the inner stuff that would drive him to keep it going as a struggling solo artist, in a kind of “second adulthood” after the fun was over. He’d wonder what the payoff will be. And I’d have to tell him just to trust it. It’s gold, but you have to dig deep for it. There would come an abundance of collaboration, a decent body of work and a continued welcome in the Biz, in spite of experiencing so many supposed failures.

TrunkSpace: Time machine question. If you could jump ahead 10 years and get a glimpse of what your career looks like a decade from now, would you take that journey? If not, why?
Shipe: I’m still getting better at what I do. I’m re-connecting with musical friends & colleagues, and I have much more to offer. So, yeah, come 2030, I wanna look back on another decade (my 4th), of satisfying collaborations, and my best work.

Shipe’s latest single, “Love Ain’t Easy” is available now. The album, The Beast is Back, is due September 25.

As movie lovers who have been stuck at home this summer and looking for new content to consume, many of us have turned to the On Demand options available because, well, we demand it. One of the biggest films to cure our instant cinephile gratification has been The Outpost, the true story about a team of U.S. solders during the Afghanistan War who faced insurmountable odds at The Battle of Kamdesh. Originally slated to premiere at SXSW, the film found new life in all of our homes after the arrival of Covid-19.

“It’s disappointing that it didn’t fully get those opportunities, but with that being said, I’m really glad that the movie was able to be released,” says film star Scott Alda Coffey. “Truthfully, more people were probably able to see it because it was right there in their living rooms.”

We recently sat down with Alda Coffey to discuss entertaining in uncertain times, discovering new levels of respect for the men and women of the military, and learning patience from a famous family member.

TrunkSpace: Your latest project, The Outpost, was released in the middle of a pretty tumultuous time for not only the country but the world as a whole. In a way, is it nice to be a part of people’s escape during all of this – to be their outlet to what was “normal” once?
Scott Alda Coffey: It’s really amazing to see the response it has been getting, especially from veterans. I feel so honored that we were able to bring this movie to people’s screens during this uncertain time.

TrunkSpace: Without a lot of new projects being released right now, The Outpost is one of the last big films audiences may see for awhile. Has the current state of the world changed this particular experience for you – waiting for and promoting a new project – while in the middle of all of this uncertainty?
Scott Alda Coffey: Initially the film was supposed to premiere at SXSW before the film festival was canceled, and the movie was definitely shot to be seen on the big screen. It’s disappointing that it didn’t fully get those opportunities, but with that being said, I’m really glad that the movie was able to be released. Truthfully, more people were probably able to see it because it was right there in their living rooms. It was tricky to navigate during COVID-19, but I’m glad it’s out in the world and being seen.

TrunkSpace: The film is based on a true story. When you’re working on a project that involves real people – is there a different vibe on set? Is there more of a focus on getting it “right” for the sake of those who lived the experience?
Scott Alda Coffey: One hundred percent that was the main focus of every single person on set. We wanted to honor all the men who fought in the Battle of Kamdesh, as well as all the troops who fought for our country. That was our number one goal. It felt like a big responsibility, but we were all committed to getting it right.

TrunkSpace: For fans, the final product of a film or series is always the most memorable part, but for those involved in a project, we’d imagine it goes much deeper than that. For you, what is something about your time working on The Outpost thus far that you’ll carry with you through the course of your life/career?
Scott Alda Coffey: After having worked on The Outpost, I have a much greater respect for the military and our troops than I did before. I always supported our troops, but now I have more knowledge about them. I was lucky enough to work with a number of vets on the film, and that was so incredibly rewarding.

TrunkSpace: We saw that your grandfather Alan Alda gave you a Twitter shout out a few weeks back for your work in the film. For many young people, having their grandparents call them out on socials can be a horrifying experience, but yours happens to be a legend in the business. How has his guidance helped you traverse what is a pretty difficult industry to navigate?
Scott Alda Coffey: He’s been a huge influence for me my entire life. One of the things that he really helped instill in me is that this career path requires patience. It takes time to build up a career; it’s not going to happen overnight. I really took that to heart.

TrunkSpace: As an actor – a profession where you generally are required to work directly with other people in a scene – how have you kept the tools in your toolbox sharp during this extended period of isolation?
Scott Alda Coffey: It has been a tough time to work those tools during COVID-19, but my girlfriend and I work on scenes together, just trying to keep that muscle going. It’s definitely hard right now, but I’m doing what I can to stay active, acting-wise.

TrunkSpace: Where are you hardest on yourself as an artist and how do you overcome those self-critical insecurities?
Scott Alda Coffey: I think it’s so easy to be self-critical as an artist, and we all do it. Every time I watch myself act, all I can see are the flaws. I think that’s common, and I just keep telling myself that my work is done and wondering how I can be better for my next job.

TrunkSpace: If you could sit down and have a conversation with your 16-year-old self, would he be surprised by the trajectory of your career, and if so, why?
Scott Alda Coffey: I think so. In this business you never really know where your career is going to lead. I never would have thought that my first major film would be a war movie, but I am so glad it was. It’s an experience I never thought I’d get to have.

TrunkSpace: What has been the highlight of your career as a whole thus far?
Scott Alda Coffey: Definitely The Outpost. It’s such a powerful story, and one that I am beyond honored to be a part of telling. Opportunities like this don’t come around often.

TrunkSpace: Time machine question. If you could jump ahead 10 years and get a glimpse of what your career looks like a decade from now, would you take that journey? If not, why?
Scott Alda Coffey: I think so. I’ve been very happy with the path I’m currently on, and I look forward to what the future holds.

The Outpost is available now on VOD.

Releasing music during a worldwide pandemic is new ground for any musician, but once Texas-based Market Junction agreed to stick with the plan and drop their latest effort, Burning Bridges, on August 7, they felt a collective sense of relief.

“Once we decided that we were going to push ahead in spite of the pandemic, we felt at peace with that decision and most of our anxiety and fear subsided,” said frontman Matt Parrish in an exclusive interview with TrunkSpace.

We recently sat down with Parrish to discuss embracing who they are musically, breaking patterns, and why they find it cathartic to write sad songs.

TrunkSpace: Your new album Burning Bridges is due to drop August 7. What kind of emotions do you juggle with when releasing new material to the masses, and is the experience different this time around given that the entire world, essentially, has ground to a halt?
Parrish: Hmm… anxiety, excitement, fear, joy and a host of other emotions have crossed our emotional palettes as we’ve prepared for this release. Once we decided that we were going to push ahead in spite of the pandemic, we felt at peace with that decision and most of our anxiety and fear subsided. We are on cruise control now, just enjoying the feedback we are getting from the singles.

TrunkSpace: Normally you would tour to support a new release, but that is not something that is possible in every state right now. How has promoting the upcoming album changed? How do you get the word out when people can’t get out themselves?
Parrish: This has been the biggest challenge and can make us feel like we are running in place at times but we’ve completely remodeled our rehearsal space into a livestream studio, and once we livestream to celebrate the release, we’ll be planning to do a lot more of those until venues open back up. Thank God for the internet.

TrunkSpace: You guys have been at it – writing, recording and touring – together since 2012. What has the creative journey been like from where you started out to where you are today? Do you see the music you’re creating differently now than you did then?
Parrish: Our creative process hasn’t changed much during those eight years. Justin (Lofton) and I toss ideas around and carve on a song until it’s ready. What has changed is the art we make. We set out to be a folk/Americana band back in 2012 but got sidetracked a couple of years in and began trying to please the radio markets in the Texas music scene. With this album we are about to release, we abandoned all of that and only recorded songs and sounds that inspired us. It was a way of getting back to our true intentions and we are glad we did. We’ve found that the Texas scene will accept us without us needing to fit into some box we invented in our own minds.

TrunkSpace: No one knows your music better than you. With that said, where do you hear the biggest differences between 2012’s Heroes Have Gravestones and what makes up Burning Bridges today?
Parrish: Mostly the maturity in writing and playing. Although there are songs on that first record that we are still proud of, Burning Bridges is just more of a consistently mature batch of songs.

TrunkSpace: If someone sat down and listened to Burning Bridges front to back, what would they learn about you guys upon that first dive into the music?
Parrish: I think the two main takeaways would be that we love to tell stories and we like the stories all the more if they are sad. As genuinely happy people, there is something cathartic for us about writing and playing sad songs.

TrunkSpace: Outside of the music itself, what did you want to accomplish with the production on Burning Bridges that perhaps you were unable to achieve on earlier releases? Did you accomplish your vision for the album as a whole when you called wrap on the process?
Parrish: Yes, I think that we accomplished what we set out to do and that was to make a record that truly represented us as a band. We wanted to finish this record without attaching excuses to any of the songs or production. Richard Barrow and Ty Robins, who produced the album, were huge in helping bring our vision to life. Outside of the music itself, we hope that this record puts us on a trajectory to play a broader region of the country and reach new fans. The jury is out on that for now, but our hopes are high.

TrunkSpace: What are you most proud of with the album?
Parrish: This record has a piece of everyone in our camp. It was truly a group effort and everyone left their mark. We’re so proud of what we were able to do together.

TrunkSpace: What do you get being in a band that you can’t achieve in a solo capacity? Does having multiple brains in the mix fuel your own creativity?
Parrish: I’ve noticed that I get into the same patterns as a writer and having Justin break me from that or twist ideas in new directions has really saved a ton of songs from ending up in the trash can. We all have different influences, so Taylor (Hilyard) and Mike (Blattel) may want to take a song to a kind of feel that wasn’t even on our radar. It can be tough, but if we can all agree that something is good, in spite of our different backgrounds and tastes, it usually means that it’s good.

TrunkSpace: We have all been in some form of lockdown for the majority of 2020. How much of your time spent social distancing has also been spent creating? Have you experienced a creative jolt during this period – and will it lead to another album?
Parrish: It took us 18 months to make this record and half of the record was written after we started recording. So, when we finished there was a feeling that we needed to get away from creating for a bit. That didn’t last long. Justin and I have started bouncing around ideas for the next record already. We figure that if it takes us that long to make a record, we’d better get a batch of songs ready now.

TrunkSpace: What has been the highlight of your career thus far?
Parrish: We’ve opened for some great acts and had a blast doing that but nothing compares to playing in front of a packed room of your own fans who know the words to your own songs. We’ve done that a few times at McGonigel’s Mucky Duck here in Houston.

TrunkSpace: Time machine question. If you could jump ahead 10 years and get a glimpse of what your career looks like a decade from now, would you take that journey? If not, why?
Parrish: Absolutely, I would. I’m always wishing I could take today’s knowledge and go back to fix some things in the past. I don’t think seeing the outcome would change our ambition or desire to make music. It might keep us from making a few mistakes today.

Burning Bridges is due August 7.