Bird Concerns is a band of four friends who make eclectic pop music. After meeting in college, while studying jazz and classical music together, the quartet relocated to Los Angeles to share their music with the world. Unlike many musical acts of today, Bird Concerns is not focused on any individual in the group, but instead on a collective sound. All of the members sing and write music for the band.
In this interview feature, we chat with the band about influences, their newest project, navigating the digital music world and more.
Full Q&A along with links and streams 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 all came from different places around the country, (Seattle, Chicago, New England, SoCal), and currently live in North East Los Angeles. We met in college while studying jazz and classical music and bonded over our mutual love of garage rock, surf rock, and 60s pop. The music we create together is the sound of four individual yet harmonious voices with a range of influences, from Bill Evans to Deerhoof to the Beach Boys. Basically, we’re a garage rock band with a lot of surprises.
What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to stay the course?
We all grew up playing in bands and pursuing art through music. After graduating from college we settled Los Angeles and began working full-time as freelance musicians. The band we had started in school blossomed into a more serious project after the completion of our first record Til Morning Comes. For each of us, music isn’t simply a hobby or pastime, it’s a living and way of life.
How is your new release different than previous ones? Did you set out to accomplish anything specific?
After recording our first record we lost our trumpet/synth player to Canada. The band then became a guitar driven four-piece and naturally developed a garage rock sound- largely because we were and still are rehearsing in a garage. We wanted to capture something very raw and expressive with this new record, focused on vocals and the live band functioning as a unit. We presented this idea to our good friend and engineer Theo Karon. He suggested we record it through his old 60’s reel-to-reel tape machine. He was apparently burnt out with computers anyway. So we decided to go all in and record the music live, no metronome, and onto tape. We were looking for something reminiscent of our favorite 60s pop and jazz records, the sound of people playing and singing together. This dimension of sound can be so easily lost with multi-tracking and the pursuit of perfection. We feel recording the EP in this fashion helped translate the emotional honesty of the featured songs. Our goal was to make an EP of love songs form different perspectives, containing a focused narrative of passion, empathy, and self discovery.
Do you face any challenges as an indie musician in a digital age? On the flip side, how has technology helped you (if it has)?
Computers and cellphones can be stressful, yet crucial in order to make it happen as an up and coming, independent band. Life is full of necessary evils. Technology has helped us communicate more readily with our audiences and maintain relationships with fans.
Where can we follow you online and hear more music?
Follow us on Facebook and Instagram @BirdConcernsBand for concert updates and information. You can hear singles from our new EP Is This Really Love? on soundcloud.com/birdconcerns and purchase the EP at birdconcerns.bandcamp.com. You can hear last year’s full length Til Morning Comes on Spotify and iTunes.
Anything else before we sign off?
Follow up album to Is This Really Love? is in the works. Stay tuned for more.
