Tiny Voices: The Takeover Starts Now

We love us some Midwest emo, so we were more than stoked to be sent a copy of 'Backseat Therapist' － the new track by Wisconsin’s Tiny Voices － ahead of its official release.

'Backseat Therapist' is the first single from the band's forthcoming debut album, out on 14 March. This is manifestly the most confident and assured expression of the Tiny Voices sound to date, serving as a delicious appetiser that has well and truly whetted our appetites for the long-playing main course to come.

Since first bursting onto the emo scene in January 2021, Tiny Voices has released a string of singles and two critically well-received EPs: 2021’s ‘Where The Time Went’ and its first-class follow-up ‘Make Up Your Place’. Characterised by driving guitar riffs, commanding vocals, and relatable, introspective lyrics, both come highly recommended.

Former college roomies, Tiny Voices is Ben Ludens on vocals, Louie Barlow on lead guitar, Bailey Sweeney on rhythm guitar, Lucas Goebel on drums, and Paul Nieto on bass.

Wanting to know more, we got in touch. With only hours to go before the new single dropped, the guys very graciously made time to chat with us about the track, the band, their influences and musical heroes, and what’s next for Tiny Voices.

For sour apples, milk bongs and getting to travel with your best friends, read on!

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Hello, Tiny Voices. Thanks for doing this. Please introduce the band.

BAILEY － Tiny Voices is me, Ben, Louie, Paul and Lucas. We make emo music with pop, hardcore, country, anime, and other influences. We really pull from a lot of different things, which I think helps us stand out.

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How did you meet?

LUCAS － We all lived together in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, during college. At one point we just thought it would be fun to start a band. After playing covers for a few shows, we decided to start taking it seriously and we started writing our own music.

What a lovely word: Oshkosh. America has great place names. Do you remember your first gig as Tiny Voices?

LUCAS － Yeah, we played in our friend’s basement in Oshkosh. They called it the Puppy Palace and we played about an hour-and-a-half long set of covers. We covered bands like System of A Down, OK Go, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Free Throw, Hot Mulligan, and Sunrise Skater Kids. Quite the range of stuff. It was a ton of fun and extremely sweaty.

Gotta love a sweaty gig! Was that your most nerve-racking gig?

PAUL － No, our most nerve-racking was probably playing with KennyHoopla in Madison [Wisconsin, USA] for their Live On King Street event. It was the first time we were ever playing a really big stage in front of a really large crowd. It was a very cool feeling. Kenny and his team were very nice. It was awesome to share that moment with another artist from Oshkosh.

Oshkoshians unite! What’s been your biggest highlight so far?

LOUIE － It has to be playing at Ho Ho Hot Mulligan and performing our song ‘Yesterday’ live with Chris Freeman. Hot Mulligan is one of the reasons we became a band. From the beginning we always said our end goal was to open up for them. Dreams come true!

Do you have a favourite track to perform live?

PAUL － Right now ‘Backseat Therapist’ is probably our favourite. The jumpiness of the chorus and the breakdown at the end are so fun to play. We love seeing people’s reactions to the glitch effect pause at the end. The song comes out tonight. We’ve played it live only a handful of times. It’ll be very cool to finally play it live and have people know the words.

Okay, tell us more about ‘Backseat Therapist’.

BEN － This song was written exactly as it opens up: me talking to myself in my car. I spend a lot of time alone in the car for long periods, since everyone in the band now lives so far apart. Those lonely drives are always accompanied by some of my worst thoughts.

I often end up turning my worst thoughts into lyrics for songs, which then makes me feel like I have to keep feeling that way so I’ll have something to write about. Those feelings and this song are where the title comes from for our forthcoming debut album, ‘Reasons I Won’t Change.’

Talk us through how it went from being bad thoughts in your car to a finished track?

PAUL － So, Ben wrote the melody for the chorus in the car on his way to the writing session, then we built the rest of the song around it, at Louie’s desk. It’s probably the fastest we’ve ever written a song, but it’s absolutely one of our favourites.

Where did you record it?

BEN － We recorded at Sound Acres in New Jersey with Gary Cioni. Gary also recorded and mixed our other EPs: ‘Where the Time Went’ and ‘Make Up Your Place’.

‘Backseat Therapist’ was one of the last songs to get recorded for the record. It was also one of the last songs written for it. Gotta thank Anthony Dignazio and Bernie. We couldn’t have gotten through this recording process without Bernie’s expert advice and Anthony’s trips to Wawa for us.

We don’t have Wawa over here. We have Londis and, our personal favourite, Bargain Booze. ‘Backseat Therapist’ drops tonight. How are you feeling?

BEN － Super excited to finally get it out after holding on to it for so long. It’s about damn time! We hate holding on to unreleased music. Some of these new songs are well over a year old and it gets frustrating having a bunch of new material and not being able to share it.

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Is holding back new material the worst thing about band life?

BEN － That and the hardships that come with touring. Not always knowing where you’re sleeping after a show and being away from your family and loved ones is tough. That’s exactly what our song ‘Yesterday’ is about.

What’s the best thing about being in a band?

BAILEY － Getting to travel with your best friends, playing music in places we’d never thought we would, and making lifelong friends. There are so many places that we never would’ve otherwise gone to if it wasn’t for a show. There are so many people we would’ve never met if it wasn’t for those shows. It’s always very cool to look back and think about all the places we’ve had the opportunity to play and all the people we’ve become friends with.

We hope one day you’ll come and play in the UK. If you could be in any other band, at any time, which would it be?

BAILEY － Ever since we started this band we’ve always joked about being a Hoobastank or Goo Goo Dolls cover band. I think if you gave us the opportunity to switch places with a band, we would want to be the Goo Goo Dolls during that iconic performance of ‘Iris’ in Buffalo, New York, in 2004. The one where they’re playing in the pouring rain.

If you come to the UK we can guarantee you pouring rain! Beyond Hot Mulligan, Hoobastank, and Goo Goo Dolls, who are your favourite bands?

LUCAS － Free Throw, Charmer, and The Story So Far have to be up there.

Please give us 3 albums everyone should own.

BEN － ‘Home, Like Noplace Is There’ by Hotelier, ‘An Insatiable High’ by Masayoshi Takanaka, and Charmer’s self-titled album.

PAUL － With an honorary mention to ‘The Black Parade’ by My Chemical Romance.

All great picks. What advice do you have for someone starting out in music?

LOUIE － Go to local shows and make genuine connections with people. Be a great person to work with. Nobody likes a sour apple. Give your all for every show. No matter how big or small a show is; you never know if there’s someone there that’s been looking forward to seeing you. Do it for them. Music is a collaborative effort, so treat it like one!

Excellent advice. What’s something you think everyone should do at least once?

PAUL － Start a band with your friends and play music anywhere that you can. You’ll see so many new places and you’ll experience firsthand how much music really changes lives.

What’s something you will NEVER do again?

LOUIE － Milk bong.

The speed with which you answered that speaks volumes! Let’s move on. What’s next for Tiny Voices?

LUCAS － Our new album, ‘Reasons I Won’t Change’, comes out March 14th. We’ll be touring the album with The Casper Fight Scene and Kerosene Heights in April. We have a show in the works, to celebrate the album’s release, in June. Lots to look forward to!