Hi, everyone! I recently sat down to chat with Julian Lynch of the highly-acclaimed indie rock group, Real Estate. First of all, no words can express how stoked I was to do this interview. They've been a group I've loved for quite a bit of time, and speaking with one of their members was a great experience. Even though Julian was a late addition to the band back in 2016, he has known founding members Martin Courtney and Alex Bleeker since their schooling years. Now based in the Midwest, Lynch continues to participate in the band and continue creating his incredibly deep, nuanced solo music. In this interview, we talk about the writing process on the new Real Estate record, his new solo record, and many other amazing things!
bazzreviews: Which albums or artists inspired you to start a music career in the first place?
Julian Lynch: I started playing in bands in high school, so whatever dumb s--t I was listening to in high school. 90s alt-rock type stuff, I guess. I think that’s what inspired me to learn how to play guitar and probably true of Martin (Courtney) and (Alex) Bleeker as well. We all came up around the same time in learning our instruments. There’s that, and whatever bands were popular in the Northeast emo scene. We were in high school, so we couldn't really see a lot of the shows in New York City that were eighteen or twenty-one plus.We were kind of limited and just seeing whatever was playing at the all-ages venues in New Jersey. Not a lot of people were necessarily celebrating that scene happening there, but that's what we were exposed to.
br: I know you were a later addition to Real Estate, but how did you first get to know the guys from the band?
J.L.: As I mentioned in the last question, I'd known them because we all grew up in the same town and we all played in bands together. I played in a band with Martin and Bleeker that was called Enormous Radio, which was around my junior year of high school. In college, I played in a band with all four of the original members of Real Estate. That was like the first tour ever first national tour I ever went on. I’ve been living in the Midwest for over the past ten years, but I just kind of always kept in touch with Martin and Bleeker. When they needed someone to fill in from time to time throughout all those years, I was more than happy to step in.
br: You also have your PhD in anthropology and ethnomusicology, what was it like balancing your music career with your studies?
J.L.: In some ways, I don't regret trying to pursue both my degree and playing music at the same time. I've always found both of those things to be very rewarding. Was I definitely shooting myself in the foot, both as a musician, and as a scholar? Yes. Both activities are time consuming things and you need to put a lot of your time, your thought and yourself into either pursuit. It is what it is, I guess. It's a strange thing, because I never imagined I would have come out of my grad program and - even briefly - have considered myself a professional musician in a touring band. And of course, I finished my degree
last December and was all geared up to have it be the first time in my life where I was a professional touring musician or whatever. And then the pandemic happened, so it’s funny how things work.
br: How have you been staying active musically during the pandemic?
J.L.: As you know, Real Estate’s newest record came out this year, so we were going to be touring. The last couple years have been very on-and-off touring wise. It’s really the album cycle years when all the touring happens. We were all looking forward to that, because we were gonna get to play music and having that as our income for the next several years. All of that got all messed up, and I became unemployed. That gave me a lot of free time, so I recorded a solo album which I self-released on cassette a couple weeks ago. In the meantime, the band was sort of like shooting around ideas of like, what we could be doing. We did like a few live things, but we weren't ever that active. We’re planning out if we can write another album which could come out very soon. Obviously, because we’re all at a distance, it will be a little more challenging.
br: I know that the live show is an important part of not only your music- but Real Estate- as well. Would you say that you prefer playing live rather than working in the studio?
J.L.: No, I like all those things. As a solo artist, all I've been doing for the last over 10 years really is just making records. I wasn't actively touring that much for it all. I kind of get my fix, in terms of recording, through that alone. Recording with Real Estate is also rewarding, but just in a different way. The thing I really cherish about Real Estate, though, is getting to play shows. I think that we’ve reached a point to where we’ve hit our peak. We've learned how to be on stage with each other, and respond to each other as musicians in a really great way. Another one of the reasons that Real Estate shows are so special is because we don’t use a backing track on stage. Not that there's anything wrong with bands that do that, but I like playing music where each night is totally different. You have no idea what your set is going to sound like that particular night, as it’s all dependent on the way a venue sounds. Your show could end up sounding really great, or it could sound like complete s--t. The audience probably can’t tell as much as we can, unless they’ve seen us play multiple times or in multiple venues. Whatever the case may be, I think that is an exciting live atmosphere to be in. I've been really proud of what we've achieved, and I hope that we can share it with people sometime soon.
br: Tell me a little bit more about the writing and recording process on the band’s most recent record, The Main Thing. How did that differ from past projects?
J.L.: When I joined the band, a lot of the skeletal versions of the songs from In Mind were already in place. Usually, Martin has the chords and a vocal melody worked out, and he’ll bring that stuff to us. The rest of the band will usually write their own parts, and then he'll come back with possible lyrics for said song. We'd all go in a rehearsal room together, and we played each track a million times so when we recorded it officially, we’d know it forwards and backwards. I think with The Main Thing, there was maybe a little bit more collaboration in terms of arrangement and structure of songs. I also got to write my first full-length song for the record, which was a super cool opportunity. I’m hoping to pitch some demos for this new record, too. But, to answer your question, nothing major changed between these releases other than the fact that we can’t all “record” together now. So, if someone has a new song idea for this upcoming record, they will upload it to a Google Drive folder. Everyone else downloads it, and we repeat the above steps.
br: Can you describe your process for making your own songs?
J.L.: Solo songs are totally different for me. With Real Estate, there are a lot of people that are going to listen to the music, so you have to go into the writing process with a different angle. Domino Records is a little more strict about the recording and how much time you can spend in the studio because they’re paying for it. So, to some extent, we all have to have our s--t together come studio time. Since not as many people listen to my solo stuff, and my home is my studio, I can really f--k around, take my time, and try things that I might not be able to push for the band. The solo record I recorded over quarantine, Animals 2, used AI collaboration. There were computer randomization processes of writing different parts, and seeing how that turned out. All of the other records I have were written sort of similarly, by using improvisation as a writing tool. Going into the recording of a song with no idea of what you want it to sound like at the end and building each part up is super rewarding.
br: What would you say is more important to you- lyricism, or production value and instrumentation?
J.L.: I wouldn’t say that I care all that much about lyricism. I mean, I guess I like lyrics in the sense that I write them. As a listener, though, a lot of the music I'm interested in to begin with is like metal and hardcore stuff. If it even has lyrics, a lot of times they're not super intelligible. I think there are people out there who relate to music purely for the lyrics that are in it, and that’s great. For me, the sound of the music I'm listening to takes priority over the lyrics.
br: What have been some of your favorite songs to have made (either Real Estate or solo) over the years? Are there any special reasons why?
J.L.: We were all listening to a mix of this Real Estate song called “Half a Human” that people have heard us play before. We actually did record a version of it when we were recording The Main Thing, but it didn’t land on the album. That version is eventually going to see the light somehow, though. I think it kind of represents the last two years of us as a group and what we sound like live.
br: If you could delete or rewrite one song from your discography, what would it be and why?
J.L.: I don’t think I would. I’ve never been one for being overly perfectionistic with music, because the whole listening process is totally subjective. Whatever you think is perfect and music someone else can hear and find it completely unlistenable. I bet there are tons of people that I’m sure f-----g hate my early stuff, and there's probably some people that kind of like it or whatever. Even in their imperfection, I find that they're all perfect reflections of my life and whatever was happening at the time. I think one reason that I seem to have this mindset is because I grew up in the post-punk era of music making. The idea of making something that was like, pristine or perfect, was somehow alienating to me and all of those big bands at the time.
br: I know you just released a solo project, Animals 2, last month, but are there any other projects in the works for you or the band at the moment?
J.L.: Yeah! I'm always recording solo stuff, but I don't know what form it'll take quite yet. As we touched on earlier, Real Estate is definitely active in trying to put together this next LP. We're moving forward, and we've got songs and stuff for the next record. So we'll be working on that. It doesn't seem doesn't seem too optimistic for us all traveling to the same place and being in a studio together at the same time. We’ll have to figure out the best way of doing that.
br: What music goals do you have for the future?
J.L.: Generally speaking, of course, I want to keep making solo music and music with Real Estate. On a larger scale, I would love for this pandemic to be an opportunity to learn other new, innovative ways to make music together with my bandmates.
Once again, just want to give a huge thanks to Julian for doing this interview; I am wishing both him and the band the best of luck going forward! If you haven't heard either party's music, I would strongly recommend you do so. In the meantime, thanks so much for checking this out, and I hope you guys are all doing well and staying safe. Can't wait to see you back here checking out more great bazzreviews content coming soon!
To hear Julian's new solo project, head over to https://julianlynch.bandcamp.com/album/animals-2
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