Hello and thanks for answering our interview. Could you introduce the band to our
readers with a brief background?
David: The quick version is that all of us have been friends since high school. We played in bands in the local Toledo original music scene, but never in the same band. A few years ago, Brandon and I decided to write some music, then invited Liz to write vocal melodies and lyrics, and we started recording and playing live shows. Several genre and vibe changes later, here we are.
What was the inspiration behind the latest release, ‘Halloween’?
Liz: Halloween includes some of the heaviest and darkest tracks we’ve released. As we were writing, a theme of extremes emerged — sonic extremes, but also emotional extremes: from vengeance and rage, to desire, to jealousy. Halloween is one night we collectively celebrate our extremes instead of repressing them.
Brandon: We’ve always got a lot of songs in the works at any given time, but we chose to finish these three as one release because they seemed like they were parts of the same whole. Our last album, Mourning, came together in a similar way. We had more songs than we needed and assembled the ones that created the most cohesive record. It’s one of the things I like about albums and EPs vs singles. Song order and the vibe’s journey create something more than the sum of the parts.
Are your songs created mostly the same way or does the process differ for different
tracks?
Brandon: Our writing process typically starts the same way, with David and I creating a basic instrumental track and then Liz will add lyrics/vocals and rework the rearrangements. The latter two tracks on this release started differently, with David creating the instrumental track in isolation during covid lockdown.
David: I’d say the fun part for me is when we get the demo back from Liz with her melodies and lyrics. We usually then go back in and tweak the instrumentation.We can sometimes take the song to an unforeseen, completely different direction. That’s exciting for me.
The artwork on the new EP is very simple. Was that perhaps a conscious effort to draw
more attention to the bleakness or darkness of the Halloween season?
Brandon: I think the art reflects the change in overall sound from our previous releases. From the cover you can tell that it’s going to be something different.
Liz: Definitely, and also to the bleakness of midwinter, and the darker sound of this EP. The cover artwork for our previous albums were both watercolors (painted by my mom, Emilie) with a similar theme that reflected those earlier branches of our sound. Halloween is darker, more electronic, and dives deeper into synthpop and industrial-pop. We wanted the artwork needed to complement that shift.
Let’s dive into a couple of tracks on the new album. You pick. Which ones do you feel
are thematically the most poignant?
Brandon: Poignant is a good word for all three of these tracks, especially concerning Liz’s lyrics. Theme wise, Trick or Treat fits the Halloween motif the most literally. But like dressing up for Halloween, stepping further into a darker sound gave us all permission for more dirt and ugliness than we may have permitted in the past.
Liz: Trick or Treat is about rage, which is an emotion many of us have historically been discouraged from expressing. Just because someone is kind and empathetic doesn’t mean they aren’t capable of white-hot, dangerous fury. This track plays around with the idea of revenge, starting out with quiet, melodic threats that build into anthemic choruses.
Where did the name “Pawn Pawn” come from?
Brandon: Liz brainstormed dozens of different names and Pawn Pawn rose to the top. I wish I could remember some of the other contenders.
Liz: We were really struggling to come up with a band name, and kept going back and forth with ideas, but none of them got any traction. Eventually I started sending more nonsensical names that didn’t really have a meaning. That’s where Pawn Pawn came from. Full disclosure, I liked it because it sounded like tauntaun. It’s not the best phrase for search engine optimization though.
What’s next for the band? Any special plans? Videos? Tours?
Brandon: We’re always writing and refining works in progress. We’ve got a great batch of songs that we are over-analyzing and polishing.
David: The new stuff we are currently working on has been a blast. I can’t wait to see what this ends up being when we are done. We have also been discussing putting together a new live show. It’s exciting thinking about new ways to present our songs in the live setting.
Liz: We’re really excited about the new music video for our latest single, Jealousy Looks Good On Me. It’s half watercolor with animation, half live action, 100% weird. Keep an eye on our YouTube channel.
How do you feel about the use of AI for videos in our community? Has it already taken
over and gone too far?
Brandon: I do feel like AI can reduce the barrier to entry for newer artists that may not have the means or skills to create their own. Everybody makes the choice of what parts of their creative process to hold onto tightly and which parts they feel comfortable letting other people or Skynet take over.
Liz: I would rather have a much more granular level of control with the creative process than AI allows. But more than that, the generativity is all part of the fun for me, part of the intellectual dopamine hits I get from making something. It could potentially play a role in helping someone learn, brainstorm, and test out new ideas, but I worry about the environmental impacts of AI — especially with the volume of content that’s being generated.
These last words are yours. Thanks for your time.
Thank you for the great questions and for supporting original music!
