ME: You guys got signed rather young and quickly. Do you feel that that has had an effect on you positively or negatively?
THE GREETING COMMITTEE: I don’t know if it’s positive or negative, but it definitely made us figure out things along the way. We were all pretty much still in high school when most of this started happening and navigating your friendships and goals is difficult enough when you’re not already having to run a business together. Being young definitely had its advantages and allure. I think people looked at us and would imagine all the different and exciting things we could do. Now that we’re a bit older and more established, we have to create that allure from more places than just our age.
M: Your song Sort of Stranger was how I stumbled upon you, it’s currently one of my absolute favourite songs. How did you come up with the concept?
TGC: The song started with just that acoustic part that I played for the band. I think Addie was still in the theme of heartbreak during the writing process which are evident in the song. There was definitely some Phoebe Bridgers influence throughout the process. Sort of Stranger didn’t immediately make the cut for the album, but when we got to releasing songs for the deluxe album, Briston Maroney put down lyrics for the second verse and brought the whole song together.
M: You have toured with the likes of Hippo Campus and Rainbow Kitten Surprise (another two bands I absolutely love). What were those experiences like? Had you been fans of said bands prior to touring with them?
TGC: Those were some really fun and memorable tours! The RKS tour was a real treat. It was obvious that they treat their crew like family and made sure we got to be a part of that too. HC was great because we were already familiar with most of the band (Jake had co-produced our EP which had come out that same year). Bombay Bicycle Club was another band we’ve toured with that we were all huge fans. When we first started TGC, we would cover Bombay Bicycle Club songs, so touring with them was a dream.
M: You’ve toured a lot, all over America. Do you have any plans in the future to tour outside of the US, like the UK/Europe?
TGC: Definitely! COVID messed up some of those plans, but we signed with a UK-based booking agency and hope to get out of the states sooner than later.
M: Originating from Kansas City, is it ever wild to think about how you’ve travelled and toured and how people all over the world, not just America, such as myself over here in London England, listen to you and your music actively?
TGC: It is very strange to me sometimes. I don’t think I ever fully realize the extent of it all. Like we’ll play a sold out headline show across the country and I’m like “yeah, I suppose we’ve toured quite a bit that people sort of know who we are now.” Maybe that’s just how my brain works or I’m just used to how connected the world is. Honestly, it feels more strange knowing how comfortable I am leaving for a month long US tour.
M: You have over a million monthly listeners on Spotify. Did you ever think you’d reach such numbers? What does it mean to you?
TGC: It’s a huge milestone and big goal of ours, but Spotify numbers are such a subjective thing to quantify success with. I think there’s some clout around it that I think looks impressive, but definitely doesn’t directly translate to financial stability unfortunately.
M: You also have songs on Spotify with over twenty million streams alone, Hands Down, for example. When releasing that song, did you know it would be a hit?
TGC: I think we discovered pretty quickly that it would help take us places. We were all so young at the time that it was hard to know what kind of music would garner so many streams or even know what kind of music that we even wanted to write at that age. There was a lot of intention to write a fun indie pop song but it was also us just having fun writing music as a band for the first time as what would become The Greeting Committee.
M: Most recently you released a remix of How Long with Tune Yards. Is there something specific you enjoy about remix’s and collaborating with other musicians?
TGC: I really enjoying hearing other artists take on our music and hearing how a song could be created using the exact same tools. Even having different mixers work on the music can be fun and refreshing. The longer we are band, the more I see the importance of collaboration too. In a world of shorter attention spans, it definitely benefits connecting with new fanbases. I also think connecting with other people and musicians is what being an artist is about. I think being too precious about music can be stagnating and prevents you from creating better art.
M: Something I definitely wanted to ask about was the band’s name - where did The Greeting Committee name come from?
TGC: Long story short, it’s from a John Lennon t-shirt! You can look up the picture online.
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