Early Humans is a indie-rock/pop band from Nashville, TN comprised of songwriters Hart Williams and Ryan Vaniman, along with other musicians who help fill in the gaps.
Hart and Ryan began collaborating in 2009 and have been making music together ever since. Their partnership has seen the rise and fall of a number of bands, the most recent of which dissolved in 2015. These breakups paved the way for a uniquely collaborative project between the pair, who shifted their focus towards common goal songwriting and recording. And thus, Early Humans was born.
Stylistically, they can be compared to a variety of bands such as Death Cab For Cutie, Coldplay, Say Anything, Wilco, Blur, or The Shins—and a list of their influences could carry on much longer. Their songs and hooks are simple and addictive and while their arrangements maintain a colorful complexity. Their music has been described by The Deli Magazine as “electrifying” and “infectious”.
The duo take a more unconventional approach in their process, recording in their home studio in Nashville—eschewing outside producers or engineers for all of their past work. Their upcoming Fall 2018 releases promise a slight departure from the strict “guitar-driven rock” that defined much of their debut album.
In this interview spotlight, I chat with Early Humans about the latest project, motivations, challenges and more.
Full Q&A along with links and music below.
Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)
We’re from Nashville and we make pop music.
What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to keep going?
We decided that we wanted to make pop songs a few years ago, kind of halfway into making our first record. We like hooks and things that get stuck in your head so that’s what we’re always aiming for. We record everything ourselves, and that gives us complete creative control over the music we make. Once you have the freedom to create whatever song is in your head- and the means to do it- you can’t really stop.
How is this new release different than previous ones? Were you trying to accomplish anything specific?
We had been in projects over the years that all grew disorganized and fell apart for various reasons. We created this project to be something that no one could take away from us unless, of course, we self-sabotage and collapse. It’s something creative that is both collaborative and independent, with the intention of creating pop songs. We have a really loose interpretation as to what makes a “pop song” a “pop song.”
Name one or two challenges you face as an indie musician in this oversaturated, digital music age? How has technology helped you (since we know it does help)?
It is really hard to get exposure. It takes a lot of money and a lot of knowledge that we don’t necessarily have the skill set for. Streams don’t necessarily equal revenue. On the plus side we made money off streams of our debut record, which is tight.
Technology opens us up not only to our scene but to scenes all over the world. It lets us immediately release whatever we want, and lets us record high quality content pretty quickly and get it out.
Where is the best place to connect with you online and discover more music?
You can find general information at earlyhumans.net and we’re on Instagram as @early__humans. We’re also on Facebook and Twitter, all of our music is on major streaming services and YouTube, and we are constantly releasing content.
Anything else before we sign off?
We just finished our last tour of the summer with West Means Home and are planning on returning to the day jobs for a bit while we focus on recording new music. We’ll be releasing a new music video this month, as well as recording our third, so those are things to look forward to as well. We’ve had a lot of momentum recently and are throwing ourselves into whatever we can to keep it going.
