Hi, everyone! For everyone who has seen, I had an interview with another band from New York City called LAUNDRY DAY, which I posted last week. However, I mistakenly reached out to the wrong “Laundry Day” beforehand, and ended up having an amazing conversation with Alex Burnet. He is the frontman of the New Haven-based group of the same name. The band consists of him, Sam Carlson (guitar), Rama Kooks (bass), and Jared Thompson (drums). The band has released one full-length LP and a few EPs since their creation in 2014. They are a relatively smaller group, but pack a pretty solid sound. I feel somewhat bad that I mistakenly contacted the wrong group, but we both had a great time talking with each other!
bazzreviews: Which artists or albums had an influence on you starting a music career?
Alex Burnet: I really liked the Microphones a lot. Phil [Elverum] has a natural building of sound, and isn’t afraid to explore the other spaces of music. There are some artists who take too much liberty and some that don’t take enough. I think Phil has walked the line very well. It’s very hard to find the line between Mount Eerie and The Microphones, you know? He’s actually friends with people I know from another band. I haven’t met him yet, but I’d like to one day. A lot of Phil’s stuff is like another artist I like, Jason Molina of Songs: Ohia. His album The Magnolia Electric Co. was like Neil Young suffering from a worse depression than Jason Molina. Jason is definitely another one of those artists I wish I could have met.
br: I understand that your bandmate is Sam Carlson- how did you first meet him and the other band members?
A.B.: Sam and I met In New Haven through playing in bands together over the years. When Laundry Day started back in 2014, I said, “Sam, you’re the best multi-instrumentalist I know. Want to work on another project together?” He said sure, and we never thought it would catch on like it did. He’s almost like family to me. With the rest of the band, we try to practice a couple times a week, but also try to make time and have sushi together. Every so often, we switch houses for hosting movie nights.
br: Do you guys like performing live shows or working in the studio?
A.B.: I want to say we have a happy mix of both. I know it sounds pretty boilerplate, but we are both on tour and in the studio pretty often. The thrill of playing in front of a live audience, nothing beats that. However, I’m the principal songwriter for the group, so I like working in the studio and fleshing out ideas. Whether it’s Sam giving his adaptation of a melody, Jared throwing down a good beat, or Rama jamming on the bass, watching a song coalesce is really a great thrill, too. Because we don’t play stuff until it’s officially done, it’s fun to play it front of an audience and see what they think.
br: Can you describe how you go about making a song?
A.B.: I wish I had a cool answer, almost like a secret formula. Everybody has their special element that they bring to the table. I come up with some words that mean something to me, and a melody that’s stuck in my head. I then come up with a melody or a riff, and once I can play that in my sleep, I bring it to the group. The rest of the guys just do their stuff, all working in parallel synchronicity.
br: What’s more important to you, lyricism or production value and instrumentation?
A.B.: That’s a great question. I value melody the most, even over words or production value. I’ve worked with engineers and they always say, “oh, there’s a sound in this part of the mix”. It might be someone just walking with their keys or something, but is that really what makes the track a dud? Back to when we were speaking about Phil Elverum, it’s not the production value that matters. It’s all about the melody and the emotion the music gives off. It’ like one of the songs on our first record, “Seven Seas”, I couldn’t get its melody out of my head for weeks. I wrote over a thousand lines for that song, and tearing it down was definitely the hardest part.
br: If you could compare Laundry Day’s sound to any other artist or band- who would you say and why?
A.B.: It’s almost like asking me which movie star I think I look like. We’ve had a lot of contemporaries here in New England. I just never really think about it all that much. The promoters on Spotify want to know what bands you sound like, but we never have a good answer. Maybe bands like Hop Along, the Weakerthans, or maybe the Lemonheads.
br: Do you guys have any projects in the work right now?
A.B.: Yeah, we’re in the midst of demoing our second full-length record right now. We released an EP in December that’s on our Bandcamp page.
br: Can you tell me a little bit more about what it has in store?
A.B.: For all of the ways It’s Cool, It’s Whatever was dark, we want this to be the other side of the coin. Instead of writing songs about someone meeting up with someone in the ICU, we’re making songs about meeting people in a much happier place.
br: What music goals do you guys have for the future?
A.B.: It seems like we’ve had these checklists in our minds since we were teenagers, and when we picked up our first guitars. It’s like “put out vinyl, go on tour, open for this band”. The process should be more natural. I want to go and play wherever our fans are located. I’d love to come play in Cleveland, just for you. We’d love to get this next record out, we also want to sign with an agency, and I guess maybe go to Europe in the future. Most importantly, I think the goal should be for all of us to stay happy. We love being in a band and making music together, and we’ve been blessed that people like it, too. We’re proud of what we’re doing, so I don’t think there’s anything else anyone could want.
I would like to thank Alex again for spending the time to chat with me. He has been one of the nicest musicians I’ve spoken with, and he actually sent me some Laundry Day merch as a thank-you for the interview. He gave a lot of insightful points on music that I haven’t thought about before, and I would love to stay in touch with him in the future. Thanks again to all of you guys for checking this interview out, and go listen to some Laundry Day! More amazing stuff is coming your way soon!
To support Laundry Day’s music, go to https://laundryday.bandcamp.com
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