featured

Name: Kelly McInerney

Socials: Twitter/Instagram

TrunkSpace: Was comedy always in the cards? Were you a “funny” kid, even at an early age?
McInerney: It kind of was, yeah. I think I didn’t realize it at first but I was always obsessed with comedy. Jim Carrey was my idol as a kid. I was pretty quiet though – didn’t act out – but I was the quiet but funny type in that I was funny with my friends and if people asked me questions, I just wasn’t the big, loud class clown.

TrunkSpace: When did you decide to pursue stand-up comedy as a career and did you make a plan for how you would attack things?
McInerney: I decided to pursue stand-up around 2010. I had been doing improv a while but there comes a point where you’re like, “I don’t want to blame someone else for a shitty show,” and stand-up is just you and you get to write. I didn’t have a set plan… just did as many mics and shows as I could while doing improv too, and eventually I just decided to focus primarily on stand-up.

TrunkSpace: How long did it take for you to discover your voice as a comic?
McInerney: I don’t think it took me long. I always had a certain type of humor I gravitated to even as a kid, so it came kind of second hand when I started to do it.

TrunkSpace: Is the approach you take now on stage different from the approach you took when you first started out? Is it one act that grew into itself or would you consider them two completely different acts?
McInerney: I think my voice is louder now, both literally and the figuratively. Starting out I would just wing every joke but now I try to focus more on the technical aspect, like connecting jokes and if this bit is funny how can a make a similar bit, etc, etc.

TrunkSpace: Is the neon “Open” sign in your brain always turned on, and by that we mean, are you always writing and on alert for new material?
McInerney: Yes and no. I always look for premises but sometimes it’s hard to flesh out the joke. Sometimes I’ll have a funny premise and just hold onto it for months or years until I can grow a solid fun joke out of it.

TrunkSpace: How much work goes into a joke before it’s ready to be tested out in front of a live audience?
McInerney: Some jokes are immediately funny – a lot of those are the one-liners. A lot of times the silly, dumb jokes are just very easy to do off the bat as well. It’s the smarter ones that take a bit to rework and polish off into a funny. Also the ones that are based in tragedy or a serious topic that turns into a funny bit also sometimes takes a bit to rework and sometimes those darker ones don’t work in front of certain audiences.

TrunkSpace: If a joke doesn’t seem to be working, how many chances do you give it in a live setting before you decide to rework it or move on from it altogether?
McInerney: Probably a handful of times – not long. I think you can feel it in the air if an audience kind of likes the way it’s going, but it’s “not there yet” versus “nobody gets the premise,” I’m gonna trash it. Sometimes I don’t trash it though and just save it for a future premise that ends up working better.

TrunkSpace: Is it possible to kill one night and bomb the next with essentially the same set, and if so, what do you chalk that up as?
McInerney: Absolutely. You could blame the audience – doing the same set in, say, Denver, might not hit as well in Phoenix. It also could be your energy. Sometimes I get tired of certain jokes and find myself not selling them as much and the audience can see that. The audience can see when you don’t care. You just have to remember to commit to the bit and jokes even if they’re old. Sure, they’re old for you, but this is a new audience and everything is new to them – you have to remember that.

TrunkSpace: Does a receptive and willing audience fuel your fire of funny and help to put you on your game for the rest of your set?
McInerney: Yes, nothing better than an audience that just loves comedy.

TrunkSpace: What is your most memorable performance experience (good or bad!) that will stick with you for the rest of your career and why?
McInerney: Man, I have no idea. I guess one of the best was when I did a mic in Mexico City in 2017. It wasn’t a traditional open mic – I did at least 10 minutes. I was the only English speaker and even the guy in charge was like, “Hey, heads up, they might not laugh.” And I was going in super nervous, ready to bomb, but hey, at least I did a set in Mexico, right? I ended up crushing so hard. It was one of my favorite sets I’ve ever done. Turns out jizz jokes are universally and internationally loved. The guy in charge ended up giving me a set the following day on their booked show. I was so proud. I kind of like surprising people like that because they don’t expect a blonde white girl with a potty mouth, but I bring it and they get a kick out of it.

TrunkSpace: How do you handle hecklers? What approach do you take?
McInerney: It depends on what they say. Sometimes I’ll ignore them, but sometimes I’ll yell back and it ends up becoming a great tag for a joke. One guy boo’d me once as I was doing a blow job joke comparing BJs to ice cream (Ben and Jerry’s) and I said, “Have you had a dick in your mouth and have you eaten ice cream? What tastes better?” Now I add that to the joke and it makes it funnier.

TrunkSpace: What are your thoughts on the stand-up landscape in 2019? Are you optimistic for the future of live comedy?
McInerney: I think too many people are doing it right now. LA is oversaturated. I mean, in a way, I guess it’s cool and good that a lot of people are because comedy is hot right now. Look at Netflix… they have a new special at least once a month. I do think it’s harder now to succeed though because there’s a lot of us, but because there is so many of us there is going to be so much good live comedy coming in the future.

TrunkSpace: Finally, who do YOU find funny?
McInerney: So many things. I’m a big fan of just classic ‘90s humor: poop jokes, guys dressing up as girls, physical comedy like in “Dumb and Dumber” and any ‘90’s Jim Carrey movie. I also love dark jokes and smart ones that I could never think of – the bullets bit in Chris Rock’s “Bigger and Blacker” is one of the best if not the best joke out there. SNL during the Dana Carvey and Will Ferrell eras. Huge fan of assholes that you root for a la “Eastbound & Down” and any Danny McBride thing. Chelsea Peretti, Sarah Silverman, etc, etc. “The Tom Green Show” from way back when is basically what made me the gross goofball I am.

With the new Netflix movie “Polar” being so stylized and visually enticing, actress Fei Ren had the freedom in making her character Hilde her own. Adopting a soft look with her makeup over one eye and a harder look with the other, the asymmetric approach not only fit into the aesthetic of the film, but allowed her to tap into her character’s backstory and discover the A-team assassin’s duality.

“It’s a great creative playground because I had the option to make the character larger than life and explore it artistically.”

We recently sat down with Ren to discuss Hilde’s spirit animal, the film’s on-set atmosphere, and how acting was never part of her original game plan.

TrunkSpace: “Polar” is based on the webcomic/graphic novel of the same name. Comics continue to be a well that Hollywood taps, both for film and television adaptation. As an actor, what is it like having that source material (and existing audience!) available to you, but at the same time, not having the pressure of stepping into a brand that the masses have been exposed to yet, like a Spider-Man or Batman?
Ren: Finding Hilde and her layers was almost no different to working on any other characters. I think that with “Polar” being such a stylized graphic novel without words, I had lots of room to fill in the blanks of her backstory. It’s rather freeing. In acting, there is a saying that the more specific you get, the more universal and relatable your character becomes. I imagine that no matter how large a fan base a character has, our job is still connected to the human core and to make it our own. Pressure from the public will always be there, but when you are creating art, you can’t do it to please everybody’s idea of the character. You have to make it your own and step into that skin and become it.

TrunkSpace: The original comic was very stylized as you mentioned, and what’s great about the film adaptation is that a lot of that is carried over in terms of how it’s shot and the use of color. Visually, what makes the work you did on this project unique in comparison to previous roles?
Ren: It’s highly stylized and very edgy. It’s a great creative playground because I had the option to make the character larger than life and explore it artistically. The makeup, hair and costume department did such an amazing job creating my look. And working together as a team, I ended up discovering some of the character’s history. For example, the different makeup on each eye. It started as we were doing testing makeup on different eyes, and the whole team ended up loving the asymmetric look. So, Hilde had one soft look on one eye, and a harder look on the other, which worked with the hair too! The look inspired me to discover Hilde’s duality. Hilde’s past being soft and feminine didn’t serve her well in that world. Hence, she becomes the hardcore, sleek, efficient killer you see now. She only lets down her guard in front of Blut. So, every day, her soft eye is a reminder to her to stay focused and her hard eye shows her determination. Overall, it was plenty of fun because we were given room to create and explore!

TrunkSpace: From the outside looking in, this was a physically demanding project to be a part of. How did you prepare to slip into the butt-kicking shoes of assassin Hilde?
Ren: I had a personal trainer for kickboxing and did yoga daily. The production also gave me thorough gun and safety training for an entire week, so the weapons became part of my body. Listening to hardcore heavy metal music also helped me slip into Hilde’s mental space!

TrunkSpace: When you learned that you had been cast as Hilde, what aspects of her were you most excited to bring to life and did that change the further into production that you got? Did you discover new things about her that you ended up enjoying more than you would have expected?
Ren: When I first got the role of Hilde, I loved the idea that she is cocky, masculine and savage. I imagined her spirit animal as an ape. Then the chemistry of the “A-team” being so playful and family-like, Hilde becomes a black panther. She is sleek and economical with movements when she is hunting. She is protective of the A-team, playful at times and holds them together when necessary. So, she is still intense, but has more colors and shape, which is more fun to play!

TrunkSpace: For the viewer, the most memorable part of a film or television series is the end product, but for those involved in it, we would imagine it’s the experience. For you, what aspects of working on “Polar” will you carry with you through the rest of your career and life?
Ren: The grounded passionate energy of the people in the film’s crew. Rumor has it that some Hollywood stars and directors are tricky to work with. I had an excellent first-hand experience! On the set of “Polar,” there were no egos and no games. Everyone is passionate about the work, and not taking themselves too seriously. During lunchtime, we all got together and joked around, ate, talked about the scenes, and we all come from different parts of the world, so we shared stories. The production was in the winter, and sometimes the days got long and freezing cold. Shooting a movie is not easy, so having a great ensemble makes a huge difference!

TrunkSpace: From what we understand, your career in the arts began after you started modeling. Did pursuing modeling ultimately inspire you to change direction with your life and take a path that you may not have walked otherwise?
Ren: Oh, totally! I was so nerdy before I started modeling. My world view was my parents’ vision: get a degree in accounting or finance, get married at 25 and have babies. I didn’t know what I wanted, let along dare to dream of pursuing arts. Growing up trained in dancing and painting, I always liked arts and performing, but to think this passion could turn into a career path was seemingly impossible. My family is made of scientists, engineers and professors. They appreciate art as leisure, but never considered it as a job. Getting into modeling, traveling and starting to discover different artistic expressions freed and empowered me in so many ways. It awakened parts of me that had been suppressed. In modeling, I learned to take control of my own destiny, follow my passion, persevere in learning, which becomes essential for building my acting career.

TrunkSpace: You’ve been acting for about five years now. In that time, what is the biggest lesson you’ve learned either on set or in the midst of a job that you find yourself applying to all of your work moving forward now?
Ren: There is a balance in owning your character work and allowing it room to grow by collaborating with your team. You have to trust your instinct and allow yourself to play. I think filmmaking is such a collaborative art form. There is the initial audition, but once you’re on set, your role usually evolves and deepens or deviates quite a bit from your original idea. It’s important not to hold on to the idea of what you think your character should be, but get into the whole skin of it, get into the body, allow your body and instinct to play, allow yourself to be in the moment. It’s where the best work lives. On the other hand, though, you have to take ownership of your work. Sometimes people have inputs and ideas on what they think your character could be. It can be confusing if you take all the suggestions. So, you need to find a balance, trust what you’re bringing as long as you serve the true intention behind the story you are telling.

TrunkSpace: You’re also a director. Do you think having that perspective makes you a better actor and does knowing what an actor needs from a director make you a better director?
Ren: I believe they complement each other. When I am directing theater, I often use my own acting tools to help actors find the emotional truth of the characters and get very specific with relationships and intention in the story. Directing and coaching other actors can help me understand my own acting better. That said, I find it’s often still easier to bring other actors to do their best job than it is to direct yourself.

TrunkSpace: You have a passion for the theater. In terms of acting, does the stage give you a different experience personally than when you’re performing in front of the camera?
Ren: Very different in many ways. In theater, the effect of your work is immediate, there is an energy feeding back and forth from the audience. It’s electrifying. Especially in comedy, the laughter and energy of the audience become part of the play. Also, in theater, you live the character’s whole arc at once, without cut and reset. It feels more complete during performing. With film acting, lots of times there are hundreds of people around the set and when the director says action, it’s on. You’ll record a scene multiple times, from different angles. You experience the character in chunks and the challenge lies in staying focused, ready and keep discovering it moment to moment, takes after takes, with all that’s happening around you. Both are exciting and require you to show up and be present, put ego aside and serve the character and the story. And both are satisfying when you feel or see the impact and joy you brought to your audience at the end of the day.

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?
Ren: (Laughter) Maybe not! Life is magical, and I don’t want to know how the magic worked, and then watch the magic show. It would ruin the fun. I want to experience it moment to moment!

“Polar” is available now on Netflix.

Artist: Mackenzie Nicole

Song Title: “Complications”

Single Sentence Singles Review: A toe-tapping catchy track with a self-deprecating edge, Nicole sings herself into a relatable spotlight rather than placing herself up on a pop pedestal like so many other artists working within the genre today.

Beyond The Track: While “Complications” is a standalone single, Nicole does have a forthcoming album due to drop this summer. To learn more about the pop songstress, check out the TrunkSpace interview with her from 2018 here.

Artist: The Campfire Flies

Members: Ed Seifert (Speed The Plough), John and Toni Baumgartner (Speed The Plough), Deena Shoshkes and Jon Fried (The Cucumbers), Matt Davis (The Thousand Pities)

Socials: Facebook

Hometown: New Jersey

TrunkSpace: As you gear up to release “Sparks Like Little Stars” to the masses (available March 22), what kind of emotions are you juggling with?
Seifert: Well, excitement, primarily, of course, and gratitude. I’m so glad to be involved in a project with such talented, supportive and creative people. I THINK those are all the adjectives John told me to use.

TrunkSpace: This is the band’s first album. Do you feel any sort of creative pressure, particularly with a debut, knowing that for a lot of people this will be their first taste of who The Campfire Flies are creatively as a group?
Seifert: Not really. The fact that everyone contributes to the creative process meant that nobody had to overextend themselves. There’s no filler on the album, as far as we’re concerned.

And in the case of Deena and Jon with The Cucumbers, John and Toni with Speed the Plough, and Matt with The Thousand Pities, they’ve all got a base of fans who already know their work. I’m sure they’ll all be pleased with the results.

TrunkSpace: The band consists of six songwriters. How does having so many creative brains in the cooking process – particularly those used to working in a solo capacity – impact the dynamics in the kitchen itself? Did the process require massaging or did it gel right out of the gates?
Seifert: With two married couples in the group, most of the dynamics had already been established. And we all know the value of a cordial suggestion as opposed to a harsh criticism. We really didn’t have growing pains, since we were all friends and admirers of each other’s work even before we got together.

TrunkSpace: What do you get working in a band atmosphere that you have been unable to achieve as a solo artist/songwriting? Is there something inspiring about the process that sort of collectively fuels everyone’s creative fires?
Seifert: Quite a bit, speaking personally. As the only unmarried member, I’m the only one who doesn’t have another pair of critical ears at home. So I’m always sending demos around to friends, and most are too nice to say anything negative. It’s good to have some more detailed feedback.

TrunkSpace: What are you most proud of with the album?
Seifert: At the risk of sounding trite, I love how this project bloomed into something that’s more than the sum of its parts. It’s a very special, unique sound.

TrunkSpace: You’re all multi-instrumentalists. How many instruments appear on the album itself, and is it easy to translate these songs to the stage?
Seifert: The songs all translate well to the stage. The basic tracks were recorded with four or five of us playing at once. And although we all played multiple instruments over the course of the album, none of the songs are overloaded. Generally if I’m playing mandolin on a track, I’m NOT playing guitar, and if Toni’s playing clarinet, she’s not playing flute, and so on. I think it’s at least nine different instruments, plus percussion.

TrunkSpace: Can you envision a day when music is not a part of your life?
Seifert: Not until the day I check out!

TrunkSpace: Mother Nature had a hand in the band coming together. A storm rolled through and trapped you all under one roof with instruments but no power. Had that night not occurred, do you think we’d be here today talking about The Campfire Flies?
Seifert: Yes, as I mentioned before, we were all big fans of each other’s work, and knew each other well.

TrunkSpace: Which would you personally prefer… writing one album that the whole world adores, or writing a career’s worth that only a select group of people treasure?
Seifert: I’ll take the latter. I’m more tortoise than hare, and although I always am trying to add hooks to my songs and think they’re accessible, I don’t think they sound like today’s top sellers, from what I’ve heard!

TrunkSpace: Time machine question. If you could jump ahead 10 years and get a glimpse of what your musical journey looks like a decade from now, would you take that journey? If not, why?
Seifert: Why not, indeed? I’m a curious sort. I don’t know that I’d PAY for the privilege, but if I could take a look, I would. I hope I wouldn’t disappoint myself – or my cohorts!

“Space Like Little Stars” is available March 22 from OverPop Records.

Based on the graphic novel by Rick Remender, “Deadly Class” has been one of the most anticipated series of the new year for comic book-loving television viewers. With an incredible ensemble cast that represents the future of Hollywood, the Syfy action-fest takes place at a high school for assassins during the 1980s and is filled to the brim with counterculture references, many of which are still relevant today.

This time out we’re chatting with Taylor Hickson, who plays Petra, to discuss looking to cartoon character Daria for inspiration, embracing the cliché of happy on-set families, and her future with music.

TrunkSpace: If “Deadly Class” becomes a smash hit, are you prepared for what that could mean just in terms of your personal life and how it could change overnight?
Hickson: I don’t think anyone can prepare for something like that. I think it’s impossible to prepare for something like that. You can’t prepare. You can think you’re prepared, but I don’t think you’re ever prepared to see that immense take off, should it happen.

TrunkSpace: Your character Petra is so far removed from anything we have ever seen you tackle on-screen before. For you personally, was part of the appeal in playing her the chance to show a side of your talents that nobody has seen yet?
Hickson: It was very challenging, but also very playful. The pilot especially was challenging, trying to establish who she was, her interests, how she interacted with people. Bringing ink to life is always a tricky thing. You want to make the comic book fans who where there first happy, as well as the creator of the show, which he’s conveying pieces of his life, so you really want to make sure you get that right.

We actually ended up putting in some pieces from the ‘90s cartoon character Daria, that sort of flat thing that Petra carries. Lee (Toland Krieger), the director of the pilot, we sort of worked together and after about a week of trying different things, he’s like, “I want you to go home and watch this and I want to see you bring this back to me tomorrow.” As soon as I watched it, I was just, “This is it! There’s no other way to do this!” But from my tape… because they booked me on just one tape… it was just myself, and I’m much more bubbly and animated than Petra is, so that’s what I brought because that’s what I was hired off of. And I wasn’t wearing extremely goth makeup. I didn’t have dark hair or anything in the tape, too. It was really interesting to see them base this character around me.

TrunkSpace: You mentioned that you want to make the original comic fans happy, but what’s nice here is that a character like Petra, she’s not Mary Jane from “Spider-Man” where there’s been so many different versions of her on-screen. You get to bring a piece of yourself to this character.
Hickson: Yeah, she’s not what I was expecting to bring to the show at all. I think we’re very pleased with where we took it.

TrunkSpace: If all goes well, a series like “Deadly Class” can go on for years and you will get the opportunity to see the multi-year growth and continuous arc of the character. Is that something that, as an actress, you’re excited to see play out?
Hickson: Oh absolutely. You know, in the comic, Petra completely… she moves over to the Preps at one point. She has so much going on for her over her entire story arc. I think that’ll be incredible to play with because it will be like moving – shifting – into separate characters.

TrunkSpace: That must be a really interesting thing when doing an adaptation like this, because most actors don’t know the future of their character, but with so much of her journey already written in the books, you kind of know where she could end up.
Hickson: Yes. Absolutely. To know what’s coming and then to see it translated onto page always differs though. It’s always different from what you think it’s gonna be. We’ve added in a lot of that surprise element that wasn’t originally in the comics. We adapted… the pilot is completely from the page… but coming up, even going into the second episode, there’s a lot of things that differ. I’m super excited and little bit nervous to see how the audience takes it.

TrunkSpace: For the audience, the end product is always what’s memorable, but for you, it must be the experience. What has been the most memorably aspect of your “Deadly Class” journey thus far?
Hickson: Just the people… working with people. I know a lot of people say that when they’re on set it’s like a family – it’s like a very cliché thing to say – but it couldn’t be truer. We are all in an Airbnb and everyone’s sleeping in the same bed. I was just watching them and they’re all smiling, laughing and there’s dresses and suits, and we have candles and they’re dancing to ‘70s music. We had these two huge pizzas that we ordered… Mama Siobhan ordered it. (Laughter) It was just beautiful to watch. I would watch all these people from all different walks of life, from all over the place, come be in one spot just to celebrate something we created. It was beautiful.

TrunkSpace: And in a way, that’s a little like high school, which brings it full circle back to “Deadly Class.” Here you are, all of these people from different walks of life all co-inhabiting, just like high school.
Hickson: Totally! We have people from different countries… from all over the place. All over the world. It’s really cool to see all of these personalities mesh together. It is a lot like high school. It’s as playful as high school. We’ve pulled some pranks on each other. The one thing that’s missing though is the cliqueyness. There isn’t cliqueyness, which I admire. There’s no judgment. It’s missing all the shitty parts of high school that we convey onscreen.

TrunkSpace: Yeah, keep that onscreen, right?
Hickson: Yeah, exactly! (Laughter)

TrunkSpace: You mentioned the cast, but there’s so many great people behind the scenes as well. Did you view your time on the series thus far just as much of an education as you did a job?
Hickson: Yeah. I think with every project you grow as an artist and grow as a person. Everyone embraces you. They don’t try to change you. I think I learned a lot about myself being in a high school setting, about things that I did that I’m not proud of in high school and things that were wrong and I didn’t speak up about and damage that I carried with me for a long time. Being around good people and feeling like you can talk to them free of judgment, I think a lot of people will let go of stuff that they were carrying around.

And there’s a heavily recurring theme of mental health. With Marcus being very open and transparent about his mental health and his depression… whereas Maria is bipolar and medicates secretly to disguise her illness from the other students… you see all of this is a massive conversation as the show went on.

TrunkSpace: It takes place in the ‘80s, but really not much has changed in terms of the things people are dealing with in 2019. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Hickson: No, if anything it’s so overly sensitized. We’re bringing such heavy content and we thought there’s no way we’re gonna put this kind of stuff on television. We were like, “How is this ever gonna air? There’s no way they’re gonna air this on television.”

It happens with every project. Every project has some moment. It’s just how you tackle love and revenge and betrayal and all those things, amplified by adding raging hormones, but the certain messages we’re gonna convey are about the repercussions and effects of violence rather than the act of it. With people accusing us of being stereotypical in our roles… we’re actually fighting to break those roles, assigned by the old patriarch. The kids are rebelling against traditions and the vision that the patriarchy has. We’re not victimizing. We’re not promoting or glorifying drugs or violence. These are things that do happen and they need to be talked about. It’s about the effects of these things on young kids and how to remain good and moral in such a fundamentally awful place.

TrunkSpace: Beyond acting, we know that you’re also a singer/songwriter. Is music still a part of your life?
Hickson: Absolutely. I’ve been working on an album for what seems like forever. Work has sort of taken off. I’m trying to keep up but yeah, working on two television series doesn’t leave time for much music. (Laughter) I do have an album written and I self-produced, so I created all of it with synth and drum pads… just super fun to design and make. It’s still in the works. It still needs to be mastered and I’m learning how to track vocals and playing around with different equipment to find my sound.

TrunkSpace: What’s great about your current on-screen success as an actress is that you could then carry that success into your music career as well.
Hickson: Yeah. I think music was my original thing. I sort of got into acting accidentally, which is a whole other story. Music went on the back burner for a while. Just a big piece of me felt like it was missing and I felt for a while that I had to choose, which was impossible for me just because I have such a deep love for both. I think the music industry, had I kept that going, it would’ve been much harder for me to find some success or a team… you know, those steps on a ladder.

Music, for me, I can procrastinate for years… weeks, weeks, months on end. Whereas I have a deadline with acting. I can’t procrastinate and say, “Well, I don’t how I felt.” It’ll come out whether you like it or not, and that’s what I love about film is that it’s not my decision. It’s gonna come out and someone else will see it. That’s been the trickier side of my music is that I can’t always get to it but it’s also the beautiful thing because it always waits for me.

“Deadly Class” airs Wednesdays on Syfy.

Featured image:
Photography – Ron Mey
Photo Assist – Julian Morales
Makeup – Brandy Allen
Hair – Mika Fowler
Styling – Cassy Meier

Chilling Out is where TrunkSpace talks all things horror and genre with those who work in the projects that give us the thrills and chills to keep coming back for more. This time out we’re chatting with Chantelle Albers, producer and star of the new film “The 6th Friend,” which is available now on VOD.

We recently sat down with Albers to discuss how women drove “The 6th Friend,” marketing a film in this content-driven marketplace, and why she goes as deep as possible with every character.

TrunkSpace: When you’re working on a project in multiple capacities as you are with “The 6th Friend,” do you feel more pressure for it to succeed and find an audience? Creatively, is there more at stake for you?
Albers: Oh definitely, it was a lot more pressure to succeed and to have the film be received well with your audience. As the producer, and the film’s financier, I felt a lot more pressure to succeed. I felt pressure to make a movie that people within the horror genre and other genres would enjoy and want to watch more than once. We wanted to reach a wide audience, which is why we stayed away from gruesome violence and made it more about the chase and having quick kills. I really wanted the audience to relate to the characters, and feel the relationship between the six women, so that when something happens to one of them we care about them. I also think it helps create the suspense and horror when the audience is connected to the characters.

TrunkSpace: Do you view working in front of the camera and working behind the camera as part of the same creative journey, or are they two separate paths that you’re traveling on?
Albers: Working as producer behind the camera and actress in front of the camera is definitely the same creative journey for me. Both aspects deal with creating the same movie and the same outcome. I feel almost more connected to the character as an actress by also being a producer because you become so invested in the project creatively, emotionally and financially. I was completely emerged in the movie by creating it from the ground up. Working behind the camera gave me a lot of creative freedom when it came to the technical side of the film, and playing the part of Melissa gave me creative freedom in front of the camera. For me, the two roles were interchangeable because the actress in me and the producer in me both wanted to make a good movie.

TrunkSpace: What was it that drew you to “The 6th Friend” and how did you envision it fitting into today’s cinematic horror landscape?
Albers: I was drawn to the strong female aspect of it because I thought it was a good time for a film like this, and I thought it would resonate well with audiences. The heroine and the villain are both female which makes it have this “girl power” sort of feel without being too much of a feminist film. I also was drawn to the humor, which I think there is a lot of, and it makes us connect with the storyline and the suspense that will happen moments after the laughs. It’s more of a clean horror film, in that the kills are gruesome and will make you cringe, but they don’t go on for long periods of time. There are no torture kills in the script, which I appreciated and liked. For this movie that was just not my taste due to the all-female facet.

TrunkSpace: Is there something kind of nice about working in the horror genre, because in a way, it feels like it comes with a bit of a built-in audience. Those who follow the genre seem more willing to try out a new film they haven’t heard of before rather than someone who might be interested in a drama or comedy, for example.
Albers: Oh yes, horror fans are very loyal and they do seem to have an open mind when it comes to new films and new styles of horror. Some may not always like every movie, but they will still watch it and that’s what we want. We as artists want people to see our work and be inspired and entertained by it, and the horror genre seems willing to watch and give new movies a try. I also love working in comedy and drama too. It’s hard for me to stay in just one genre because I have such a love and desire for all different acting styles and characters. I love creating all different kinds of art and that includes different movie genres. That’s where my love of producing comes into play, I love producing projects of all genres that I’m passionate about and connect with the characters.

TrunkSpace: The film won several awards on the festival circuit and built up a nice amount of word of mouth leading into its release. With so much content competition out there today, how does a film like “The 6th Friend” capture an audience and turn a casual viewer into a fan? What is the key in 2019 to breaking through the noise on any given streaming platform and being the film that gets chosen by the viewer?
Albers: I think a good way to market a movie in order to gather a fanbase is to have something to sell in your movie. People really seemed to like the fact that we are female written/directed/produced/ and have a female main cast. It sort of put us in this female film niche. We also have some cast members that are well known to the genre and their fanbase has picked up on the buzz of the film. My team and I used social media as a way to promote the film in the beginning and that was a huge help in getting word out about it. I think a major component in getting your movie seen is having really eye catching artwork that would make audiences want to choose your movie to watch. Another element is recognizable cast members and having a strong visibility on the VOD streaming sites.

TrunkSpace: Speaking strictly to the Chantelle with the producer hat on, what lessons did you learn while filming and promoting “The 6th Friend” that you’ll apply to future projects that you step behind the camera on?
Albers: There was so much I learned and there were so many things that I know to do and not to do now that I’ve lived through it, but the biggest lesson I learned is to have patience with your project, because everything works at different paces and has different times. Sometimes we would need one thing done immediately, but we had to wait. So you shift your focus, and you start in on finishing another element that needs to be done. Filmmaking is fun and creative, and having patience and trust in the outcome of your work will help you enjoy the journey of the ride.

TrunkSpace: What has been the highlight of your career thus far?
Albers: There have been so many wonderful moments in my career both on stage and on camera, and they all were such special and unique experiences that it’s hard to pick out just one. Some of the highlights have been performing in front of thousands of people and having a standing ovation during live theater, and others were working with some incredibly talented and truthful actors that you could fall in love with. It’s also very flattering to be recognized for your work. With “The 6th Friend” we won several awards and had numerous nominations, and it was an honor to have them with a project so close to you.

TrunkSpace: Has there been a character that you’ve played that you wished you had more time to spend with, and if so, why would you have liked to inhabit that particular person just a little bit (or a lot) longer?
Albers: Whenever I play a character I go pretty deep into it, so I always end up spending more than enough time with my characters! (Laughter) I put a lot of research, character study and attention to detail in my work in order to make the characters fleshed out individuals with a strong desire and objective to accomplish what is in the script. It’s sort of like living with the character for a while. Rehearsing, researching and then finally playing always seems to fulfill my time with characters.

I maybe haven’t gotten enough of Melissa though. We’ll see if she emerges again.

A genre that I have always wanted to do is a Western! I am an avid horseback rider and I would really would love to play a sassy saloon girl who can take off on horseback out of gun fire.

TrunkSpace: We’re only about a month into the new year. Did you set any resolutions for yourself this year and if so, what is your plan to carry them out?
Albers: YES, I’m setting it right now… now that you mention it. I am going to try and take the time to meditate and read “The Stoic Philosophy” every day. I’m just going to make the time to do it!

“The 6th Friend” is available now on VOD.

The latest Tiny Ruins album, “Olympic Girls” (set to drop this Friday from Ba Da Bing), is bigger and bolder according to Hollie Fullbrook, pack leader of the New Zealand-based quartet. Originally intended as a solo project, much of the critical praise following their previous recordings, including 2014’s “Brightly Painted One,” was deservedly heaped on the singer/songwriter, though she is quick to point out the band’s creative and personal significance.

“The band motivates me, encourages me, cajoles me, teaches me, keeps me sane, keeps me active, makes me laugh, gives me a sense of camaraderie,” she told TrunkSpace in a recent interview. “My bandmates are hugely important to me, and they really made the record what it is.”

In other words, they are all Tiny Ruins.

We recently sat down with Fullbrook to discuss the roller coaster ride in bringing “Olympic Girls” to life, wrangling herself in and out of songs, and why she aspires to tell stories with her songwriting.

TrunkSpace: We’re just a few days away from the release of your latest album “Olympic Girls.” As you gear up to share new music with the masses, what emotions do you juggle with? Does it vary album to album?
Fullbrook: Mainly a sense of lightness, like a weight is lifting from my shoulders. Release is definitely the right word. We’ve been holding on to these songs for a while now. I feel some apprehension, nervous energy too… focusing on what we need to do to tour this thing over the coming months.

It’s an understatement to say this one’s been a roller coaster ride. With this one, I’m acutely aware of all the things that have aligned and all the people who have helped myself and the band get to this point. It feels great to be finally sharing it.

TrunkSpace: This is the third album by Tiny Ruins. No one is closer to the music than you. As you listen back to the earliest creative iterations of the band and compare it to what is on “Olympic Girls,” where do you hear the biggest differences? Were those changes by design or a natural progression?
Fullbrook: The band fully came into its own on this album. In that all our personalities are expressed more in the music. It has a more extreme palette of sonics, is bigger and bolder… both a natural progression and conscious decision. We discussed using broader strokes, more electric guitars, heavier drums – the songs really called out for those things, and I wrote with the full band in mind. But I also wanted to stay true to where we’d come from. I didn’t want it to be a departure into something we’re not. It was about being more ourselves than about a reinvention.

I do hear some difference in my vocal delivery. I pushed outwards in my singing and guitar playing on this album, tried to get better at both, and in many ways both the lyrics and delivery are the most ‘me’ they’ve ever been. I’m older, my voice feels deeper, stronger – all that stuff. And maybe I’ve dropped my guard down a bit further.

TrunkSpace: The album was recorded over the course of a year. Did that allow for time to
tinker and perfect the tracks in ways that you didn’t have the luxury of doing with your previous studio recordings?
Fullbrook: We recorded it in the same space as last time… in our practice space, actually, at (electric guitar player) Tom Healy’s studio at The Lab – an underground warren of small independent recording rooms. Tom’s a music producer by trade; he recorded and mixed this one and the last album too. With “Brightly Painted One” we blocked out two weeks and tracked everything quickly. We used a big studio room at The Lab for some songs, so there was more of a feeling of time pressure. We were greener – Tom’s kit set room was newly put together. I was in the throes of heartbreak, absolute heartbreak, so recording those songs was painful, but compounded in time.

Tom has since joined the band. This time ‘round, and with all of us juggling other jobs, touring, life’s ups and downs, these recording sessions were spaced out weeks apart. I was writing songs throughout. We didn’t start out with the full track list ready and waiting – it was a sort of gradual workshopping process that felt very relaxed and methodical. For me personally, the recording sessions were little islands of joy, with my friends, when I got to make music and pour all this energy out. The sessions weren’t painful, they were the thing I looked forward to most.

We’d record in these beautiful little capsules of time, perhaps on a weekend or a public holiday, or a day that everyone was free… and things took a while for us to build. And it was like sole dedication to each song over the course of maybe two or three days, recording every part, and then we’d leave it and move on to the next song two or three weeks later. We didn’t listen to what we’d done until fairly far along – maybe five songs deep. I didn’t get weighed down with the details of it all. It felt like we worked very seamlessly, easily, on this record. It just took time to get there.

TrunkSpace: We found that you can’t just listen to “Olympic Girls” – you feel it as well, which is not something that many artists can achieve. The emotions weaved into the various tracks are multilayered, which makes each song a journey. Was that something you set out to achieve in the studio – to prompt empathetic response from the listener?
Fullbrook: I wouldn’t say that’s something we were thinking about. You have to be careful about manipulating emotion for an audience’s sake, both with recording or performing, as it can really backfire.

When I’m recording I’m not thinking about how a listener might respond. I’m just responding, and choosing. Thousands of decisions based on our immediate responses. We always choose the take that personally makes us feel something. There might be imperfections in a take, but something about it just has the feeling. It’s strange that you can sing the same song a bunch of times, but one of those times, it clinches it. It affects you differently. Cass’s bass line goes somewhere weird which she just can’t replicate or make any better. Or Alex’s drum fill that makes you surge with adrenaline. You’re always chasing this magic phantom sound. And when you do find it – holy shit it’s the greatest feeling! So it’s just our own gut instincts we’re always checking in with. And then hopefully, that translates somehow, to the listeners, in the end.

TrunkSpace: What are you most proud of with “Olympic Girls” as you prepare to share it with listeners?
Fullbrook: Some of my favorite songs on the album are ones that have not been released as singles. A track called “Sparklers” is one that I’m pretty proud of. And the second half of the album is kind of wild. Tom went next level on the mixing, getting all these big expansive soundscapes to really open up, and I think for listeners who’ve been waiting for the next Tiny Ruins, it’s going to be really exciting for them, listening in the dark with headphones or whatever. I love imagining that. Of them hearing the songs they don’t know yet.

TrunkSpace: As a songwriter – someone who is expressing themselves through their art in various ways – do you ever second-guess yourself as to if you’re putting too much of yourself into a lyric or overall performance, and in the process, leaving yourself too exposed?
Fullbrook: Hmm, maybe yes, occasionally. Some writing is too raw, and it doesn’t actually get across what you want to say in a coherent way. Not that everything always needs to be coherent. (Laughter) But…I guess you can splurge a whole lot of writing when you’re in a distressed or exuberant state, and when you come back to it a day or so later, it feels overwrought, or full of pretense, or it’s just way too general. So it’s about channeling the truth of that experience or emotion in a way that still feels like you’re honoring it, but honing it into something that has more a life of its own, more specificity. I feel exposed with every song I’ve ever written – when I play one to the band, for instance, for the first time, it’s excruciating. I feel so nervous giving songs their live debut… it’s always going to feel intensely personal – that’s the nature of the beast. But in terms of the craft of writing, yes, I do try and wrangle myself in and out of songs sometimes.

TrunkSpace: A novelist will take thousands of words – hundreds of pages – in an attempt to perfect a beginning, middle and end of a story. Meanwhile, a songwriter does the same thing in just a few lines. When done right, it’s magic. Do you see yourself as a storyteller, and if so, what is the greatest story you’ve ever told?
Fullbrook: I have always loved being read to, and I love reading stories aloud. I have worked as a nanny at certain points of my life, and I enjoy kids, because they drink up stories. For me, there aren’t many songs that can really compete with a powerful story told to an enraptured audience. I was a lucky kid that got told many stories by various adults in my life. Stories are so important to us humans that they were made into songs, to make them even more memorable.

I think I do aspire to tell stories; certainly it’s an important part of how I make sense of a song to myself.

TrunkSpace: What do you get writing and performing within a band, and this band in particular, that you can’t access from a solo mindset? What are the benefits for you personally in having a group of people fighting the fight alongside of you?
Fullbrook: This is such a good question and doesn’t get asked enough. My band mean everything to me. They’ve basically been there with me from the beginning – we could just never afford to tour as a full band in the early days. We are all old friends now, and have been playing music together for eight or so years.

I’m the leader of the pack, but it’s a pack. My writing is a solo activity and something I do alone, but getting those songs to their best version – that’s as a group, and we all listen to each other, it’s pretty democratic. I trust them. They are all incredible musicians. They all come up with their own parts. The band motivates me, encourages me, cajoles me, teaches me, keeps me sane, keeps me active, makes me laugh, gives me a sense of camaraderie. Music would not be nearly as fun without Cass, Alex and Tom. It’s not easy making a band sustainable, especially when you’re based in New Zealand. So we’ve had to be flexible. I’ve toured a lot solo. I’ve collaborated with others. We manage ourselves. We tour manage ourselves. My bandmates are hugely important to me, and they really made the record what it is.

TrunkSpace: Can you envision a day when music is not a part of your life?
Fullbrook: No.

TrunkSpace: Outside of another artist, was there someone in your life who inspired or supported your creative endeavors that you feel was important to you getting where you are today with your music?
Fullbrook: Early on it was a couple of friends who encouraged me to do an open mic night and record some demos. Aaron Curnow at Spunk Records really believed in me and got my career going. Then my band came along. Simon Raymonde at Bella Union also instilled a lot of confidence in me. And now the great people at Milk! Records, Ba Da Bing Records and Marathon Artists. A solid team is really vital.

I owe a lot of my tenacity and strength to my parents. They raised us with humor, openness, emotions all out there, quite chaotic. Our childhoods were pretty free and idyllic. They’ve always really had my back, always listened and given support. They’re pretty amazing.

My partner of several years. He’s not musical, and knows me completely separately to my ‘career’. From the sidelines he’s the voice of reason and of love I often need to hear. He goes to every show he can, has tour managed us in the past across the US, and often sells our merch. He’s an absolute champion, not of my career, necessarily, but of me. He refuses to offer feedback on songs or a performance. Which can be frustrating. But in the long run I appreciate that. He doesn’t prop me up in any way. He has made me a much stronger person. It means I only listen to myself and my band, I don’t go seeking approval from anyone.

TrunkSpace: Time machine question. If you could jump ahead 10 years and get a glimpse of what your musical journey looks like a decade from now, would you take that journey? If not, why?
Fullbrook: No… that idea just doesn’t appeal to me at all.

“Olympic Girls” is available Friday from Ba Da Bing.

Jill Morrison is kicking off 2019 right. With two projects reaching the masses in January – the UFO-themed series “Project Blue Book” at A&E and the recently-released sequel “Benchwarmers 2: Breaking Balls” – the British Columbia native is enjoying the contrast in tone of the two converging projects. And while delving into the real-life intrigue of the alien mystery was an enjoyable journey, “Benchwarmers” allowed her to do the thing she enjoys most… a trait she inherited from her dad… making people laugh.

We recently sat down with Morrison to discuss how being responsible with the truth feeds a performance, her opinion on life beyond the stars, and the importance of our funny bones.

TrunkSpace: You have kicked off 2019 in style with two big projects, the film “Benchwarmers 2: Breaking Balls” and “Project Blue Book” for A&E. Is seeing a series or film released just as exciting as doing the physical work or have you already emotionally moved on by the time they see the light of day?
Morrison: Filming and being on set is the best thing ever. But when the project comes out, it’s really fun. It can depend on the project and how excited I might be for that particular show. But it’s pretty wonderful to see your work come to light, and to be appreciated. Starting the year off with these two amazing contrasting projects feels pretty great. “Project Blue Book” is so complex and interesting. And “Benchwarmers” allowed me to do my favorite thing, making people laugh. So it’s really fulfilling to see that happen.

TrunkSpace: “Project Blue Book” is based on the true story of U.S. Air Force-sponsored investigations into UFO sightings that spanned decades. As an actress, does working on a project that is steeped in reality bring a different set of responsibilities in terms of performance?
Morrison: What a fantastic question. Yes it does. I think one of the most important aspects of being in a period piece is to pay attention to society at the time. A woman like Faye must have had to work very hard in the U.S. Air Force to have this position. Understanding the real Dr. Quinn helped me form the strength and intelligence his assistant would have. Being responsible with the truthful story feeds your acting. It’s fascinating. I want to be as loyal to that as possible, because I want the audience to believe I am that woman. The production is so incredible and thorough with being as truthful to reality as possible, down to the tiniest detail, that it’s impossible not to learn from that and to feel like you are in another world. On set I would feel like I was sitting in a museum sometimes. It’s beautiful the art behind this project.

TrunkSpace: What can you tell us about your character Faye and where she fits into the ongoing storyline of “Project Blue Book?”
Morrison: Faye plays the assistant to Michael Malarkey’s character Dr. Quinn at the U.S. Air Force base. One of the cool things that I loved about filming was the secrecy of it. I didn’t always know what Faye knew. I got to find out as filming went along. Which was such a cool process for me as an actor. She protected secrets and was very selective with the information she released. She is allowed to be a part of a small circle of people in this, and her part is to stand guard to her boss and her country.

TrunkSpace: We’re sure this is part of the playbook when you star in a project that revolves around aliens and it would be a real swing and a miss for us not to ask, SO, do you believe in life beyond the stars? Is the truth out there?
Morrison: I absolutely believe in UFOs! I can’t imagine that in this vast, incredible universe that we would be alone. I also think there is just too much proof, especially after being so educated from working on the show. I don’t want to meet one… but I believe yes, we are not alone….

TrunkSpace: Speaking of swings and misses, “Benchwarmers 2: Breaking Balls” is a baseball comedy. Looking back on your work in the film, what moment – in terms of laughs – are you most looking forward to an audience seeing?
Morrison: I’m really excited for the montages!! (Laughter) So fun to film. Shots of us being just terrible at baseball, and then when we improve! We had a blast filming this and watching each other get up there and be fun and silly. Some of us were nervous when we had to actually be good at ball, but we had practiced so much in between takes, that we nailed it!

TrunkSpace: Do you feel more pressure when performing in a comedy given that comedy, especially nowadays, feels very viewer-specific? Is it hard to find the beats and deliver on a joke that a broad audience will be able to laugh along with?
Morrison: I guess I just figure if the kind of comedy I’m doing isn’t up one person’s alley, I know there are a lot of people who will enjoy it. I myself love broad comedy, watching it and acting in it. I really crack myself up a lot, and am mostly just having a great time being silly. Feeling very grateful that I get to do this for a living, and mostly worry about all the people who will laugh!

TrunkSpace: We’re suckers for “Supernatural” here, which is a series that you appeared in and has employed actors in and around the Vancouver area for well over a decade now. How important are shows like “Supernatural” and others that call Canada their home to the development of the talent pool in and around the city?
Morrison: I think the talent in Vancouver is pretty insanely versatile! So many talented people! The community here is very grateful for shows like “Supernatural.” We have all gotten to play so many unique kinds of roles on sci-fi shows like this. It’s our bread and butter. But, I also think they are lucky to have us! Dedicated, hard working, true actors in this town. As well as our crews. They are the bees knees!

TrunkSpace: Lots of characters have met their demise in “Supernatural” and often in memorable ways. Yours was no different. Have you had any other unfortunate on-camera endings that beat out death by photocopier?
Morrison: (Laughter) Death by copier was pretty fun! I have died in a number of ways. It’s for sure one of my favorite ways I have died! I have been shot, electrocuted, drowned, stabbed, neck broken… you name it! Though, I think I really enjoyed “Van Helsing” most. It was challenging to be shot in the head from behind and to have my body slump down. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be. It was cooool! I also enjoyed being electrocuted because I got to fall down some stairs and shake about!

TrunkSpace: What has been the highlight of your career thus far?
Morrison: The highlight of my career? Wow! Well, I’m gonna have to say working on the sitcom “Package Deal.” It was the most wonderful time of my life working with Andrew Ornstein’s creative mind. Being in a sitcom has always been my dream. I was part of such a fun one, with the most amazing funny family. I miss them all the time. It was the best – I would drive to work with the biggest grin on my face. I loved my character, Nikki. I loved the format of the four camera, the excitement of the ever-changing script and the live audience. It was a special time, and I truly hope to be able to do something like that again.

TrunkSpace: Jim Morrison. Van Morrison. Matthew Morrison. Grant Morrison. And the list goes on. What is with all of the super talented/creative Morrisons?!?!
Morrison: Ah! That’s so nice! It’s a pretty cool last name isn’t it. Well, my favorite Morrison was my dad. That dude made me laugh, and taught me all about comedy by just being him – his silly self. Where would we be without our funny bones?

“Project Blue Book” airs Tuesdays on A&E.

“Benchwarmers 2: Breaking Balls” is available now on DVD and VOD.

Artist: The Rayo Brothers

Socials: Twitter/Instagram/Facebook

Hometown: Lafayette, LA

TrunkSpace: We’re about two months away from the release of “Victim & Villain.” As you gear up to share new music with the masses, what emotions do you juggle with?
Rayo Brothers: Gratitude and anticipation. We’re truly grateful for the support of our fans. And we’re grateful for the super talented people who were willing to work with us to make this album our best work so far. We can’t wait to get it out there for everyone to hear.

TrunkSpace: This is the band’s third album. No one is closer to the music than you. As you listen back to the earliest creative iterations of the band and compare it to what is on “Victim & Villain,” where do you hear the biggest differences? Were those changes by design or a natural progression?
Rayo Brothers: We started out much more on the folk side of things. Mostly acoustic instruments – guitar, banjo, bass, mandolin and drums. On our second album, we started to expand the sound and dynamics: including electric guitars and bass, and instruments that provide sustain and texture like violin and pedal steel. On this album we’ve moved even further in that direction with string arrangements and horn arrangements, which is a first for us. It has been a natural progression – as we get more comfortable presenting our songs to the audience, we get more confident in trying out new things.

TrunkSpace: What are you most proud of with “Victim & Villain” as you prepare to share it with listeners?
Rayo Brothers: We’ve always put a lot of focus on the lyrics and songwriting, so we hope that people will appreciate that. But with this album we’re especially proud of the production value. Working with such expert professionals like our engineer Tony Daigle and producer Louis Michot, not to mention a handful of other truly great musicians, really took this album to the next level for us. When we were writing and rehearsing these songs before the studio sessions, we really couldn’t imagine how great the final result would sound.

TrunkSpace: The roots of the band stretch back to Lafayette, Louisiana. Do you believe that a geographic location can directly influence an artist, and if so, how did your hometown have an impact on the music that the Rayo Brothers create?
Rayo Brothers: Our region is steeped in a unique blend of cultures and their music – French, African, Cajun, blues, jazz, country, rock n roll. Music is an integral part of life here. Growing up, playing music was a part of everyday family life. With our parents, and also at any family gathering with the extended family. There’s a lot of bands and a few Grammy wins and nominations in our extended family (including our cousin Louis Michot of Lost Bayou Ramblers, who produced this album). We feel solidly rooted in music here, and this album is just the next branch extending out from that tree.

TrunkSpace: There is no false advertising in the name of the band. You guys (Jesse and Daniel Reaux) are actual brothers. How does that impact the writing process? Is there a creative kinship that exists between you two?
Rayo Brothers: Very much so. We both write songs for the band; sometimes we’ll write on our own but often it’s a collaborative process. Being brothers, we have a shared history and memories, a lot of the same influences. We easily know where the other is coming from with an idea, and we help each other build on those ideas. And we tend to agree on the lyrical and aesthetic direction of the songs.

TrunkSpace: On the opposite side of that songwriting coin, does sibling rivalry ever seep into the creative process? Do things ever go full Oasis/Gallagher brothers for the Rayo Brothers?
Rayo Brothers: We’re not really rivals when it comes to music. We each do our thing and it compliments the other. We have the typical sibling rivalry when it comes to other things though – working out, martial arts sparring, stuff like that.

TrunkSpace: Is there something creatively inspiring about working within a band atmosphere? Does creativity inspire creativity?
Rayo Brothers: We almost always do the lyric writing with just the two brothers. But when it comes to musical arrangements that’s a collaborative process with the whole band. Each of the guys has their own set of influences and ideas, so we have a broad range of possibility when we start working on each song. It’s a lot of fun working that way.

TrunkSpace: Many musicians say that writing is a form of personal therapy. Is it that way for you? Do you find yourselves saying and expressing things in song that you wouldn’t be able to do as easily in real life?
Rayo Brothers: Yeah, it’s easier to express and explore emotion in a song than in real life. Sometimes songwriting is a way to try to take a feeling and figure out why that feeling is there, try to understand it – so in a way it is like therapy.

TrunkSpace: When all is said and done and you hang up your instruments for good, what do you hope you’re remembered for? What do you want your musical legacy to be?
Rayo Brothers: Just that we made something beautiful and honest, even if only a few people ever hear it.

TrunkSpace: Time machine question. If you could just ahead 10 years and get a glimpse of what your musical journey looks like a decade from now, would you take that journey? If not, why?
Rayo Brothers: No – we’re enjoying the journey of creating without knowing where it’s going. And anyway, if we knew the future it would influence our decisions and the future would change, right? Isn’t that how time travel works?

“Victim & Villain” is available March 29 from Nouveau Electric Records.

Sonically, The Bottle Rockets are a different band than they were when they first began writing and performing together in 1992, though lead singer and guitarist Brian Henneman admits that the musical metamorphoses that they’ve gone through are never as profound to the listeners as they are to themselves.

With a cleaner, crisper vibe, their latest album “Bit Logic” (available now from Bloodshot Records) may be their biggest leap yet, but at the same time, it’s a sound that they feel closer to than the distorted “fist fight” that had come to define them over their nearly 30-year career.

We recently sat down with Henneman to discuss fan families, the far off drunken days of their youth, and why you’ll be hard-pressed to make present day ZZ Top comparisons.

TrunkSpace: The band has been at this a long time. Are there still firsts for you out there in terms of experiences for the band? Does it still feel fresh when you hit the road?
Henneman: No. Not after 25 years. We’ve pretty much have seen everything that you can see. It’s just always fun to get out of town for a while, but no, there’s really nothing fresh anymore. I don’t think so. I think we’ve done it all.

TrunkSpace: Your personal time in music stretched before The Bottle Rockets. Has your artistic point of view changed as you’ve grown older and experienced more of life?
Henneman: Oh yeah. Sure. It’s just… you see things different when you’re older than you do when you’re younger, that’s a fact. The view from here is different than the view from 25 years ago, that’s for sure.

TrunkSpace: Taking into account that view from here, does present day Brian still relate to the songs you were writing 25 years ago?
Henneman: Amazingly, yes. That was just sort of a lucky break on my part 25 years ago, I guess. I wasn’t planning to be doing it. I wasn’t even thinking about that maybe I would still be singing those songs 25 years later. That was just something within, I guess – some self-protecting circuit.

TrunkSpace: When you play songs live that were written 25 years ago, do perform them for you, or is it for the fans? Are the fans growing with you or are you seeing new generations discovering The Bottle Rockets?
Henneman: Both. You know what we see a lot of is these kids of the original fans, so it’s like a family affair. You get these younger people coming, but they know everything because their parents were playing it. That’s interesting.

TrunkSpace: That is interesting. For the listener, you build a memory around a song or an album and it’s got to be cool to be able to see now that there is this connective tissue between various generations and that younger kids are forming their own ties.
Henneman: Absolutely, yeah. I know. That is interesting. It’s interesting to see the younger people have different songs attached to their memories. It’s funny. We’ll go to some town, I can’t really name them but you get into certain places where you realize that maybe this whole audience hasn’t heard anything that we’ve made since 1997. It’s kind of like they just want to hear all the old stuff. It’s weird. It does happen, and just kind of randomly. You can tell when it’s going on. You’ll play new stuff but they’ll just keep wanting the old stuff.

TrunkSpace: We’re certainly guilty of that. You put on your favorite record and you listen over and over again… trapped in a musical loop.
Henneman: Me too. I lost touch with Graham Parker after “Squeezing Out Sparks.” I’m the same way. It’s just how people do it.

TrunkSpace: Have The Bottle Rockets albums become chapters of your life?
Henneman: Yeah, for sure. It’s funny though because now, it’s like this version of the band with the current members has been together longer than any other version of the band. It’s like the old stuff, the really old stuff, was the other variations of the band and sort of just assimilated to memories of the new band now. “I have a new band, which is the oldest band that’s been running.” It’s like those really far off memories from the old wild drunken days and whatever. If you force yourself to remember them, you can remember them but everything just seems that this has been the only band. It’s been that long.

TrunkSpace: As you look over the catalog of music that you’ve created, where do you hear the biggest changes over the years?
Henneman: I think the biggest changes have come in recent times. Like the last two albums were both pretty big changes compared to the old days. There was a period of time where no matter what we did, I mean, even if we would made an effort to do something different, people would still hear it the same way. We wouldn’t hear it that way, but there was a period of years where no matter what we’d try to do, they’d still always put out ZZ Top references. And then you go back and hear it and go, “Oh, okay, I can see that.” It never is as different as we think it is, but I think the biggest differences have really come in the last two albums and it’s in motion. Like with this newest one, “Bit Logic,” it’s like that’s the direction things are going… cleaner. That big, loud, dirty guitar sound, I don’t do that anymore. I mean, I never say never of course, but I don’t see it coming back because it’s just… it’s changed. But still, it’s the same band. You’ve got landmarks. You know who it is.

Probably one of the biggest changes was when we first started doing those living room shows… just acoustic guitars, no microphones. We’ve been doing that for years now, but when we first started doing it, it was like all of a sudden we realized that people were maybe getting the songs for the first time. It was like all of a sudden people were like, “Oh, wow.” It was like they were talking about lyrics. And then we realized that all those years and all those loud guitars, that people weren’t even really hearing what the songs were about. That started steering the ship a little bit.

TrunkSpace: So going back a bit to the start of our conversation, what would Brian of 25 years ago think of “Bit Logic?” Would it seem like a stretch to him?
Henneman: Good question. Here’s a funny thing about this band is, 25 years ago, I didn’t even really think about stuff like that. It was just like everything was of the moment. It was like this is what we do, this is how we’re doing it and then somebody is going to capture this on a recording and it’s going to go out there and we’re going to go out and drive around and eat cheeseburgers and get drunk. It was just the simple, “Woo hoo, we’re out of the house!” I didn’t even really think about it. I think that the me now relates to the old thing better because the old me wouldn’t even think about the new thing, but if we had just done what we’re doing now way back then, I that would have worked too.

In those days, it was like, “Turn up the guitars, go man go!” The Neil Young influence was way heavier back then. It was like, okay, we wanted to sound like that, but it wasn’t like something that was, “We’re going to sound like Neil Young dammit!” That’s just kind of how it naturally was. We were loud and guitars sound that way loud and this is just how it goes. But you know, I liked cleaner guitar sound stuff back then too. In fact, I probably liked it better than the stuff we were doing as far as listening goes. I don’t know, I think maybe now we’re just living out actually closer to the stuff we used to listen to.

TrunkSpace: As artists, you always have to go back to doing what inspires you and makes you happy, because at the end of the day, why do it if it doesn’t?
Henneman: Right. Right! And that big loud thing, it was kind of a burden after a while. In the early days it didn’t matter because it was exciting and blah, blah, blah, blah, but it became sort of like a drag that was kind of like we’d go see other bands or whatever who didn’t do that and be kind of jealous of it. They don’t have to do that. Playing real tight together and everything sounds great and you can hear everything. And then we always knew that it would be like a fist fight when we’d get on stage. The sound of a frigging riot going on. And it took a long time to come around to changing that. In fact, we’re still working on it. We’re still perfecting that.

“Bit Logic” is available now from Bloodshot Records.