bugsy is a Twin Cities based band, having recently released their EP “Now I Spend All Of My Time Alone”. In an interview with WMCN’s Joe Petersdorf, Emily, the band’s lead singer discussed the record, influences, and what’s changed in Twin Cities music.
J: First off, why don’t you introduce yourself, and I guess, just for fun, what have you been listening to lately?
E: Well, I’m Emily. Lately I’ve been listening to Rat Saw God by Wednesday a lot, Tomorrow’s Flower by Squirrel Flower, and Pest by Daffo.
J: That first one’s a great one, love that one. Let’s just get right into it, I guess talking about “Now I Spend All My Time Alone”, excellent record.
E: Thank you!
J: What was the process of recording it like, and what were you most drawn to when writing it?
E: I mean, we recorded it at Abe Anderson’s parents’ garage, thank you to them for letting us do it back there, that was awesome. I write the songs usually, and we kind of workshop them together, and they’re already fleshed out by the time we get to Abe’s place to record. We did one day where we did drums and all the basic instruments and then a few days where we tracked vocals and additional guitars. Abe suggested some of the weird little noises and stuff you hear in there, and that was cool, it was fun.
J: Stylistically, musically, lyrically, what influenced you, and what inspired you?
E: I don’t know if there’s anything I particularly directly try to take inspiration from, but I feel like anything I listen to will seep into it. I feel like in the months leading up to recording and while I was writing the songs, Elliott Smith is always on the back of my mind for song-writing inspo.
J: Right on.
E: I feel like, guitar-wise, at least for me, a lot of how I write is inspired by the record “Some Are Lakes” by Land of Talk, I feel like that changed how I play guitar. Beyond that, while I was writing the songs, I feel like I was listening to a lot of early-2000s indie pop, but also, a lot of My Chemical Romance. That’s on my end, but all four of us bring to the table what all of us listen to, I don’t think any of us ever go into working on stuff intentionally trying to sound like one thing or another thing.
J: Sweet! Now, this might feel like self-reflection and years ago at this point, looking back a few years ago, I remember “Teratoma”, the release show –
E: Oh, really?
J: Yeah! That feels like such a long time ago!
E: It does, it was a really long time ago.
J: Since that, I know “Teratoma” and the new EP are regular on the rotation on WMCN, I’ll tune in randomly, and I’ll be like “oh, yeah, I know this one”. I was just wondering though, how do you think things have changed since that EP, whether that be the music, the scene, or anything since then?
E: That release show was like February 2020, we had just become a band, we had kind of all just met each other right before we recorded “Teratoma”, we had known each other for two months at that point, and the last release show was like the second to last show we played before there were no shows for a year. To be honest, we haven’t really played house shows since before COVID, so that’s one difference, I feel like we as a band weren’t in the “underground”, “DIY basement show” scene anymore, and a new scene had already emerged in its place. In terms of recording, we’ve been playing together for longer, and I think that’s the biggest difference is that we’re a lot more comfortable with each other. When we recorded “teratoma” we had known each other for like, two months, and now, we’ve toured a lot together, so we’re a lot closer musically and interpersonally.
J: Last couple things, and I know this is the big closer: What’s next for bugsy if you’re allowed to tell us, and what do you think’s coming up in the Twin Cities for music in general?
E: In general, for Twin Cities music, a lot of bands are popping up, there’s constantly new bands doing stuff, and that’s epic. I’m so glad there’s more venues opening up as well. For us, we have our EP release show on December 8, I think we have another show in January, and I believe there’s a tour that I can’t give any information shortly after that. Beyond that? Hopefully writing more music and playing more shows.
J: Thank you so much for taking the time to do this!
catch bugsy at 7th St. Entry on December 8!
