INTERVIEW: Laundry
By Emerson Brady
Having lived in Eugene, Oregon this past year, it’s hard to come across a person that doesn’t know the indie rock band, Laundry. They headline house shows almost weekly, play local festivals, and have released two full-length albums; to say they’re a pivotal part of the music scene in Eugene would be an understatement. What began as a quintessential house show band has turned into a group of singers and songwriters that go on tours across the country, playing songs about life on the road.
Laundry consists of four musicians from across the Pacific Northwest, each with unique musical backgrounds. Having met in their college dorm’s laundry room their freshman year, Laundry has been with them their whole college experience. Drummer Nikolas Barber says, “The music came first, but the friendship followed quickly after.”
The band’s close friendships with one another are reflected in their cohesive sound, though bass player Cal Fenner argues that, in the beginning, finding their sound as a collective was difficult. Fenner laughs about how he used to write songs, thinking they were the greatest pieces of music he’d ever written. Now, he’s much more open to criticism and collaboration with his bandmates: “I definitely believe that the best version of my songs [are] the versions that come out after we all edit them.”
Laundry’s latest album, Fast Cars (released April 25), displays a level of cohesion that surpasses their previous work, a sign of their growth as a group. The album art, as well as the music video for the song, “Hypochondriac,” play into the album’s theme, being an alternative take on a life on the road. Fenner describes the inspiration behind Fast Cars, saying, “The album art and the music video kind of reflected the ideas from tour, like, driving around through Las Vegas, seeing nothing but gas stations and desert.” The band goes on to address their obsession with cars, but nobody can pick out a clear reason for their fascination.
Laundry are satisfied with how the record turned out, but like many other musicians, releasing music in a global pandemic turned out to be what guitarist/vocalist Kiki Parossien describes as “a little anticlimactic.” “It totally sucked,” Fenner chimed in. “We had so much promotion lined up and not to mention we were supposed to be on the East Coast right now, playing shows.” Despite their immediate disappointment given the pandemic, though, the band emphasizes that they don’t want to wallow in self-pity. In spite of the despair they feel with not being able to play shows, Laundry are appreciative of the time they’ve been given to write quality music in quarantine. Paroissien even goes to argue that, “The amount of time we’ve put into songwriting in these past few months has almost completely outweighed the disappointment of not being able to go on tour.”
Even with touring considered, the future of live music is difficult to envision. When asked about how playing shows this upcoming year is going to look, Laundry says that they are devoted to keeping the safety of their community their top priority. They find that playing a “COVID safe” show isn’t how they want to return to live music. Fenner goes on to say, “Honestly, I don’t want to play a show where I’m stressed out about people not social distancing well enough.” As of right now, Laundry are willing to wait for a “triumphant return” when a vaccine is made available.
One of the things that I admire most about Laundry is that they recognize the platform they have and use it to elevate important issues. In the past, Laundry has spoken out about sexual assault in the house show scene, they’ve encouraged people to stay home when COVID hit, and now, they’ve consistently shared Black Lives Matter events on their social media. Paroissien says that, “It doesn’t sit right to not speak about these things,” and the rest of the band agrees, with Fenner adding, “It’s useless to promote ourselves at the moment.” Guitarist and vocalist Riley Somers says he plans to personally focus on being more “conscious of the art he consumes.”
When asked about how they plan to continue the momentum of this movement, they admit that they’re learning just as much as anybody else. They want it to be known that they don’t want to spearhead this movement: “We’re just trying to uplift the voices that need to be heard right now,” Somers closes.
The future of Laundry is uncertain as 2020 continues to create unprecedented events. However, one thing is for sure: Fenner confirms, “We plan on having band practice after this interview.”
Keep up to date with Laundry!
In addition, watch their video for “Millionaire’s Kid,” which was released earlier this month!