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Off the Record features interviews with local and national musicians as aired on WKNC 88.1 FM HD-1/HD-2.
0:00
What is up everyone you're listening to WKNC at 8.1 FM HD one Raleigh, where a student run nonprofit radio station based out of North Carolina State University. I'm DJ lucid and this is off the record. Here with me today are two of the extremely talented members of the alternative indie rock band from Asheville. yesterday's close. Welcome you guys. Let's do some introductions. My name is Hampton. I play guitar and sing in yesterday's clothes. I'm Connor, I play lead guitar.
0:33
All right. Welcome, you guys. I was just gonna mention that we have two other members that aren't here with us right now that play drums and bass, Jack and Jackson. So we miss them.
0:43
All right, shout out to Jack and Jackson. So you guys are located in Asheville right now. Have you lived there your whole lives?
0:52
No, I moved here like four, four and a half years ago from small town, South Carolina.
1:00
Yeah, yeah, I've lived here since I was 11. So it feels like I grew up here pretty much. All right. Well, we at WKNC appreciate you making the time to meet with us today.
1:12
Arguably one of the most important questions that I ask when meeting bands is how did the name yesterday's clothes come to be?
1:23
I had come up with that one in like high school or college before I moved here. I didn't have like anyone that I was really playing with what I came up with that ran well, I was working in an ice cream shop and we sold muffins. And there were muffins. And I was like, the muffins from yesterday when I was like yesterday isn't open sounds kind of cool. And then
1:43
yesterday's clothes came out of that somewhere. But we used to be under a different name. And then we decided to change it. And that kind of came up. And we didn't think of anything else felt right. We thought it sounded as though. Yeah, right. Definitely goes with your vibes. It's a little quirky kind of centric.
2:01
So you guys have been working together for almost a year since 2023. Is that right? Yeah, but September of 2023.
2:14
We had a different band like under a different name before that. And we kind of that's was been three or four years ago. And we played a few shows and then kind of stopped once COVID became a thing. And then kind of got it back up and going again last year.
2:27
Right so you guys are still like a pretty baby band. How did you guys meet and decide to come together?
2:35
I met Connors younger brother Cooper who does all our like media and booking stuff shout out Cooper we love him. We I met Cooper working at a church camp actually. And then was hired to come play music at
2:51
his family's church here in Nashville, which Connor and our drummer Jack, were already playing with the church. So we were like, let's just do our own music, too. And then myself, and then Jack and Jackson, we went to high school together. So I've known them for a while.
3:07
Gotcha. So, you know, a few of you have been friends for even longer than you've been collaborating as a band. How does this connection really affect your writing process?
3:21
The writing process isn't super like collaborative. Like it's usually like, Connor will make a track like all the music. It's like, here's an idea. And like, we'll learn it together as a band. And then I'll write like vocals over it. Like kind of separate. We haven't we haven't done much actual like, sit down writing together. Yeah. Which is kind of weird, I guess. But yeah, a couple of things. The songs that definitely changed, like, when we get all together. Yeah, for sure. Kind of work over them. But
3:50
yeah, so you'd say it's a little bit more divided between instrumental and lyricism? Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Gotcha. Um, well, you guys, you only started releasing music to platforms this past year, right? Yeah. Well, how long have each of you been making music in general?
4:13
I started playing saxophone in middle school, and then kind of stopped and then picked up ukulele and guitar and stuff in high school. It was kind of just for fun playing at church and stuff like that. And then once we moved here, kind of decided to, it'd be fun to make our own stuff and try to play shows and stuff like that. Yeah, I started learning guitar probably in seventh grade. And then kind of in high school, I got more into like production and stuff, started learning some other instruments. It's kind of how I got going with that. Saxophone versus like, this alternative rock that you have going on. That's a pretty big job. Yeah, I guess. Yeah, that saxophone era feels like a lot. I want to get back into the sectional but that feels like a long, long time ago. Yeah, for sure.
5:00
So clearly you had like a little style change somewhere along the way. Have you always enjoyed playing this kind of music? Or? Yeah, I mean, I feel like I always have.
5:13
I don't know, I feel like it pretty directly is influenced by like, what we listened to a lot of the time. But I don't know. We listen to a lot of different stuff, but I think a lot of it is sort of the route we're going sound was. Well, your music style definitely has a pretty blended sound like very much so alternative rock, but I think I hear a little indie somewhere in the background. Would you agree? Oh, yeah, absolutely. And then our bases Jackson comes from more than like jam band like funk world. So he helps us get a little a little groovy here and there. Try to make it fun. Yeah, you all kind of have an influence on the sound in the band? For sure. Yeah. I mean, we all have kind of different tastes and music. I mean, there's definitely crossover and tastes of music between all of us. But overall, it's pretty different. What would you say personally, you bring to the table. I mean, I probably listen to the most like indie stuff out of the four of us, like, I don't know, like the districts are one of my favorite bands.
6:21
One of my favorite artists is Albert Hammond, Jr, which is the guitarists of the strokes but I listened to more of his stuff than the strokes probably.
6:31
Connor won't say he's kind of the musical mastermind behind our stuff. It's kind of the
6:39
word all comes from. We're just along for the ride.
6:45
The musical mastermind interesting. So are there any notable influences that you guys feel really inspire you as a as a band?
6:56
I mean, definitely, like, you know, the strokes kind of vibe is whether when it's on purpose or not kind of
7:04
out? Yeah. I mean, it's it's guitar music. So like a lot of what we listened to kind of is influenced by I mean, like Kings of Leon band horses. The district's there's a long list of bands, British bands, Ozzy bands. Yeah, yeah.
7:23
Gotcha. So what kind of themes do you guys try to tackle in the lyrics of your songs?
7:34
Yeah, a lot of the like, older stuff, our dried was a lot of just like, sadboy kind of like, like, you know, whatever. But Leigh, I'm trying to be more like, not necessarily, like fun and feel good. But you know, touch on, like, social issues, and like, you know, trying to connect with nature and appreciating what we have. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I would say just like life as a 20 Something just trying to be able to connect with other people.
8:08
Yeah, yeah. A lot of your branding and promotions
8:13
is like about connecting with nature and being outside and really feeling life. How does that influence your songwriting?
8:23
We just love being out of the woods. And, you know, I think you write what you know. And we spend a lot of time camping and hiking and you know, try to do a yearly road trip. So, yeah, I mean, Asheville. I mean, it's a beautiful place, produce mountains everywhere. So we like to get out and hike as much as we can.
8:45
Do you feel that really drives your creativity process?
8:49
Absolutely. I mean, I would say in general, not even musically, but just as a person makes me feel better.
9:00
Gotcha. Well, you guys just came out with a new single, not even a month ago, a month ago called yours are short. Congratulations. Thank you very much. Thank you. Yeah, we're stoked on it.
9:12
Could you tell us what inspired this specific song?
9:16
Yeah, so a lot of that it's pretty directly inspired from my best friend back home from like, High School in college.
9:26
You know, me and him had a lot of all nighters together long drives together, talking about life and God and what it all means and you know,
9:36
long drives together really bring you bring you together. And, you know, it's just very important to get out and do fun things and enjoy life because like, if you're not having fun, like what are you doing? What's the what's the what's the point? Yeah, I mean, I'd agree with all that. He wrote all the lyrics.
9:55
Like, get getting out with the people you love and and
10:00
venturing join life. So do you guys have any upcoming projects or albums in the works? I
10:08
think the game plan is just singles through the rest of the year.
10:14
Yeah, I mean, we're sitting on probably five or six songs that will probably be out by the end of the year, probably mostly a singles and then we'll start thinking about whole projects mixture.
10:28
And what are the vibes of those songs? Like, kind of similar? Yeah, a couple of them. A couple of them are a little more like, you know, slower like breakup song vibes. Versus like the wall. I guess fantasizes sort of breakups are kind of well, yeah. But
10:46
yeah, they're they're a little different. A little more. Just slower, I guess. Yeah. I mean, I would say musically, in sound wise, it's pretty similar to the two singles.
10:58
Just like driving driving guitars. pretty upbeat. So let's talk about how you guys are very big on social media promoting and using your platform to interact with fans. Would you say this is important to you? The social media aspect of it all?
11:17
Absolutely. Unfortunately, in today's world, you have to be on top of all that. And luckily, we have who we mentioned earlier, Connors, brother Cooper, who was kind of heading up all of that for us, and is doing a lot of the creative media stuff. Yeah, it's definitely important and it is very cool. Like I don't want to like Bash on social media because it is awesome that you know, as we make fans, we can interact with them and be like, Hey, we see you like thanks for joining the ride. Yeah, it's cool to connect with people on there. If they're liking the stuff is that a way that you guys are going to promote your upcoming projects? For sure. Yeah, absolutely.
11:56
Get on that on that tick tock grind and the Instagram reels and all that stuff. Well, there's a way to have fun with that, you know, as much as it is. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah, absolutely. We're all like hate it hate it. It's just sodas gotta do it.
12:14
Right Well, I think on that note, we're gonna take a short break to play y'all yours are short by none other than yesterday's close. We'll be right back.
12:26
One how much longer last?
12:33
Frost joys in the past man cave now.
12:39
Included as John and Grider sell me some stories you know like tell a stranger doesn't grow
12:51
screaming with a pin on my
12:55
shot and learn from great I'm
12:58
ready to give up the fight
13:01
sick and
13:04
screaming with a pin on my
13:07
shoulder for grade I
13:11
really truly love the five
13:16
days long These are short I can't do it any
13:37
more
13:52
you're
14:02
miles
14:05
sarlacc
14:11
screaming with a pin on my
14:14
shoulder for Grade A minor
14:17
Randy Judy love the
14:24
show
14:38
maybe check out
14:42
going.
14:59
You
15:00
Eric
15:12
said
15:21
no more
15:34
words to ever
15:37
use
15:44
these long queues are short I can't do it any more
16:13
check out
16:36
that was yours are short by yesterday's close, would you guys like to give us a little bit more detail about anything specific in that song in particular? Yeah. So the first verse is kind of, you know, it's kind of referencing like, you know, existential, philosophical stuff that my best friend who songs about it was like, really into, I didn't do like a whole lot of reading of that stuff. But he would just read books, like, all night long, and then we would hang out and he would just spilled all the information that he just learned at me. So that was always really fun.
17:12
And then, you know, second verse, I'm talking about like, he became a teacher and how we kind of after college, like during college, you know, went on different routes, but I'm still much love for each other. And then the bridge kind of talks about, like,
17:28
my journey, like leaving the church and how, you know, after seeing things from the inside of like, the behind the scenes of how church works, it was like, Okay, I don't know if I don't know if I'm in the Odyssey anymore. I'm in Yeah. And then the chorus is kind of, you know, get out. Have fun. Enjoy your life. Don't worry so much about what you should or shouldn't be doing, I guess.
17:51
But now, we're going to talk about your performances. You guys have been busy this year with lots of live performances. Oh, yes. And you guys are currently enjoying your winter 2024 tour hitting lots of East Coast venues has that been? What's right well, we've been through like January and February we kind of just did some like one off like one or two show like weekend runs like Raleigh Wilmington, couple Asheville shows. And then I guess by the time this comes out this flow have already happened. But starting tomorrow, we're heading up the coast to in six nights straight in Richmond, Baltimore, DC, Philadelphia, New Jersey and Brooklyn. Yeah, it's good time. Our first proper
18:37
road trip plan music. Yeah, we're pumped about it. Curious to see how it goes.
18:44
What's the location that you guys are looking forward to the most?
18:48
I think our Asbury Park show should be pretty fun. It's with a pretty cool local band there. And
18:57
Philadelphia should be a pretty good show as well. Yeah. I've heard great things about Richmond I've ever really been but I keep everyone keeps telling me it's really cool spot. So I'm excited to see it.
19:07
I'm excited to see Brooklyn too. I've been to New York a couple of times, but never actually into Brooklyn. So I'm excited to see what they're all about over there. Yeah, Brooklyn. Sounds like it's gonna be crazy. But where have you guys been playing ever since you've started making music? This kind of cities within like four or five hours from us? We've played Atlanta, Wilmington. We've played Raleigh a handful of times Charlotte.
19:35
Put Johnson City, Tennessee. Oh, no. Oh, no. My favorites has probably been Wilmington and Raleigh. Yeah. They treated us real good over there.
19:45
Well, we hope you come back to Raleigh soon, but we know you have a lot coming up. So that should be really exciting for you guys. I think there's another Raleigh show or two on the books. Yeah. We'll be back. We'll be back for sure. Do you have any dates for that?
20:00
I
20:01
think the next one is July 19. Let us double check. Let's see here. Yeah, July 19, will be in Raleigh Friday. So you guys, you have a very energetic stage presence when you're up there performing, which I think kind of goes with your alternative rock style. Would you say that's a big part of your image?
20:24
Absolutely. I mean, it's like, I mean, it's, it feels pretty natural. But it's like, I don't know, we're out there having the time of our lives. So
20:34
it's gonna be pretty energetic. After the first show we ever played back in like, 2019. I just remember getting off stage and thinking that was the most fun I've ever had. And I want to keep doing it. So I think I think the more fun that we're having on stage, the more that allows for the crowd to have fun, you know, it's like you're at a concert, let's, you know, joke around stuff. You guys, when you do get off a performance like that, what's the energy like afterwards?
21:03
I mean, there's definitely like, your mind is kind of all over the place. You're like, Okay, I need to get all our stuff out of the way. And okay, I need to talk to people and hours, people want to buy merch.
21:14
So definitely a period where you have to process but you don't necessarily get to right there in the moment. You kind of have to wait to get home before it's really like, okay. But you know, and then, you know, post show blues can definitely be a thing as well. Like, if I felt like I had an off night, it's like, dang, it could have been better.
21:33
But it's definitely for the most part a very good kind of euphoric feeling like, yeah, like, we trust that. Yeah, sometimes it feels like a, like a 40 minute blackout plan to show you get done. And you're like, I don't know what just happened. Yeah, waiting around the venue all day can feel like you just drags on forever. And then you finally get on stage. And it's like, goes by just like that.
21:56
Yeah. Recently, you guys have been playing a lot of shows at North Carolina venues to start your tour off. But you also do a lot of house shows right. Now we've done a couple of couple. Which do you prefer?
22:11
I don't know. I mean, both. Both are good for different things. I mean, yeah. Like if you're looking at it, like technically, like sound wise and stuff, like a real venue is going to be a little bit better. But somehow shows bring a way better energy, more energy in different ways. It's more personal. You kind of it's more like a party. You're just hanging out with everyone. Gotcha. Do you guys play a lot of covers at your shows?
22:40
We do like one or two purse per set. Usually. That's what's the fan favorite?
22:49
We do. There's a handful of stroke songs that we do. We did a Pinegrove song that some people really enjoyed. Yeah, yeah, the strokes ones we do our alone together last night Sunday. Those are the main ones we're doing. Usually not on the same night. We'll switch it up. Every now and again. We're trying to get away from the stroke songs. We've been doing too much. Find some different songs. Yeah, it's cool to do cover
23:17
songs because most of our songs aren't out so it kind of gives the crowd something to enjoy that they know. Do you guys have any stories of your first live performances? I remember in our in our first show way back when I was like and this is still a thing that happens sometimes but I I tend to have to like fight with the mic stand like it's stable or wobbly or like unstable or wobbly or I'm like accidentally smacking it with my face and but at our first show there the microphone like fell off of the stand.
23:49
And I remember like having to like unwind it and put it back on but like taking like still having to sing and then like try to fix it and like back to singing and I was like I can't believe that went as smoothly as it did consider happening. Our most recent show in Charlotte.
24:06
Our bases had a beer sitting on Hamptons, amp and Hamptons amp fell over and it wasn't a glass so shattered Yeah, so you're right in the middle of a storm so that was there like the venue people you know, they're trying to clean it they're like mopping as we're like, like right next to us is we're playing
24:22
the song what's going on? Yeah, that was That was weird. But funny looking back at it. You can't like get too upset about this. So if you kind of just got a laugh about it carry on. Yeah. Oh, and then that showed a few songs later. There was like we did a chats cover where I put my guitar down. And I like run around. And I like slipped and like busted my butt on. On the spilled beer in the middle of the song. I was like, God dang it. That's that sucks. But, you know, whatever.
24:55
It sounds like you guys just wake up performers.
24:59
We try to
25:00
Do you practice any band rituals before you go onstage? No, we don't really have any rush are like super specific. And whoa, like, I'll be there together and talk about stuff a little bit but it's mostly just Alright, let's let's do it play play good. Norfolk don't mess up. Yeah, we try to warm up a little bit but like 100 Push ups,
25:25
push ups, push ups, from time to time we go some jumping jacks or something.
25:32
Definitely like to sometimes I find myself feeling the need to like, run for a minute. Like him before we get on site. Okay, let's get skills Good. Get it together.
25:43
Gotcha. So, before we close off, we are going to be playing one more song by yesterday's close for you guys called fantasize, which came out just last year and 2023.
25:57
Could you guys tell us a little bit about this new single? Yeah, so that song is kind of about, I guess it was like a situation thing that I was in with a girl where it was okay. We're just hanging out, you know, no commitments here. And then of course, like, I caught feelings where she did it and was like, like, you know, you know how that goes. Maybe?
26:20
It was it was about a girl I had a crush on you did not feel the same.
26:25
Is there any specific lyrics that you can tell us about? There is one lyric where it's like, I sound so silly just saying it. But I'll wine you and dine you. And our bass player was like, he thought that was hilarious. He was like, wow, like him? He's like, That's so funny. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. But that's Yeah.
26:47
So do you guys try to keep your lyrics more general or a little bit individualized? I definitely want you know, there's a lot of thought goes into it. And I want it to have some like meaning and I want to mean what I'm saying. But at the same time. More recently, I'm trying to be less like thinking about okay, this song has to be like about this specific thing and more like, just let the words flow. Like what sounds good, but you know, still means something. One last question before we close off. What do you guys love about music? Man?
27:24
Everything. I mean, when I listen to music is like, when I feel like I feel the most for sure.
27:34
And something about you know, live shows. Like, just the energy and yeah, the emotions that like music brings out and you like maybe emotions you didn't know you had or feelings haven't felt in a long time. And then you hear a song and it's like, whoa,
27:49
like, that's no no, it's really cool. Yeah. Yeah, brings people together. I can be kinda like analytic when listening to music, but I think that's fun, too. I mean, it's, I don't know, it just depends on the on the song.
28:04
Gotcha. So where can our listeners see your socials or listen to your music? Yeah, so both our songs that are out currently are on all the platforms, your Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, wherever you hear your music. We're on Instagram at yesterday's clothes. Tick tock. Is that also? Yesterday's clothes? Yeah.
28:26
We're on Facebook, too. I think I don't know if anyone uses Facebook, but we do post on Facebook, as well.
28:33
All right. Well, it's been a pleasure to meet you both. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me. Yeah, thanks for having thanks for having us. It was fun. I appreciate y'all for tuning in. And you can check out the interviews I do with other local artists at wknc.org/podcasts by clicking on off the record. I'm DJ lucid, this is off the record and you were just listening to yesterday's clothes on WKNC 88.1 FM HD one Raleigh. I'm gonna send you off with one more song by our friends called fantasized. So make sure to tune in Thank you for listening and I'll catch you next time.
29:30
See you
29:32
can see
29:35
your shadow over this video game.
29:39
See you then we would go and see the show.
29:46
Come on.
30:00
I
30:11
think she
30:16
got so much
30:20
Guess I'll just start
30:46
let's go man got beautiful
30:49
take care of yourself you gotta keep an eye out this is why you
31:21
so thanks
31:26
so much
31:31
fantasizing
31:35
you're gonna
31:43
gag gag
31:47
gag girlfriend
Transcribed by https://otter.ai