We’re moving to Nebraska next.

EB: Omaha?

Yeah, Omaha. Were going to Grad school for writing.

EB: Yeah, Omaha’s a rad town.

We’ve been there a few times, but haven’t gotten a chance to see much or any of the music scene.

EB: Are you planning on going there in the fall? When are you trying to move?

We are moving in like a month.

EB: Damn. OK. Good luck.

Thanks. (Laughs) To give a little background about myself, I’ve been in the emo/hardcore scene for about 6 or 7 years now. Dad Punchers was my first “emo” show.

EB: Woah!

It was when you are touring for Tigers Jaw and Pianos Become the Teeth and you guys came to Birmingham.

EB: Was that at a place called The Forge?

Yeah.

EB: The Forge. That doesn’t exist anymore.

Right. The owners of The Forge opened a place called The Firehouse, I believe. A lot of DIY and punk shows get played there.

EB: There was also a different Firehouse, right? Because I remember Touché played The Firehouse, I like it was called that, two times, but it was pre playing The Forge. I don’t know. Birmingham is great.

It’s wonderful. There is a cool venue there now called Saturn. It’s a more prominent music venue, I guess.

EB: Yeah, we actually just played there.

Did you? How was it?

EB: Yeah, Touché did. It was great, it was honestly one of the best venues I’ve been to in the US. All the video game systems and the cafe, and the backstage area is this old apartment. Man, it felt like home. Very cozy.

I have a lot of friends who still live in Birmingham and they play shows over there and it’s just a fun place to be. Because that part of town is really cool. But, ok. First question I want to ask you, can give me your music background.

EB: I first learned how to play drums, when I was twelve. A friend of mine, who was a skateboarding buddy, got a drum kit and I thought it seemed really cool. So I got a second hand kit off of Craigslist, and I started doing that. My first band ever, when I was in seventh grade, was called Exposition. It was like a pop-punk, like Blink-182 ripoff. I did that for 3 or 4 years. Then in high school, I was in a band called Pigeon Kick. They were like a ska-punk band, and I played drums in that. Then, there was a band called Koalacaust, where I played the accordion in for a bit. That was a bit of a deviation for me. (laughs) Then I played drums in a power-violence band called DNF.

I actually have the 7 inch by DNF.

EB: Cool. Thank you, I appreciate that. Yeah, so I did DNF. Still good friends with all those guys. We’ve all moved all over the country, so we’re a little spread out. Then, I started playing in Touché. A couple years into doing that I started working on my own music in between tours, and that’s how this kind of thing evolved. That’s my whole history.

That’s cool.

EB: Oh I forgot one band. Fever Kids. Where I played with Matt and Derek from Joyce Manor when I was in high school.

Oh wow. That’s crazy.

EB: Yeah, yeah, we’re all buds.

Awesome. On the topic with with the current project, what exactly is Warm Thoughts? It was Dad Punchers, and that has shifted to Warm Thoughts.

EB: It’s funny because it kind of branches into a few different worlds. Originally when I started, it was me very self-consciously writing songs alone in my bedroom and asking my friends to help me play them live; help contribute. It transformed into me writing more and more and more, by myself, and recording by myself, and working on layering and building songs from scratch by myself. Soon turning into a revolving cast of friends playing with me. Sometimes it’s a full band. Sometimes it’s a solo project. Sometimes it’s a rock-n-roll band. Sometimes it’s mellow, sometimes not. It’s dynamic and I like it that way and that it can be that. Mostly, it is a vehicle for me to output things I feel like making and be executed in a bunch of different ways, which is exciting because it keeps things fresh and interesting.

I remember gearing up for that 2012 show and listening to your first record, originally self-titled under Dad Punchers, now called “Mar Vista”. And just really enjoying it because it wasn’t this super pop-punky thing a lot of my friends were into, wasn’t super emo. It was this nice, and like you said, dynamic. There’s that one instrumental in the middle of the album that I think is beautiful.

EB: Thank you!

Yeah! And with that first album, and your EPs, I was going through and saw that you dropped the new LP in its entirety.

EB: Yeah, I just put it up today. I just said ‘Fuck it’.

It’s great. And even in the second album, there is a common thread with your songs lyrically. This sense of remembering your childhood and your upbringing and seeing where you are today. I appreciate that lyrically. When you’re writing songs, what are you going for?

EB: I definitely think with the first record, the main theme was nostalgia. I wrote it when I was 21 or 22, I was getting into the mode of oh I’m an adult now and this is different, and how there’s different expectations of me. How it’s scary and damn, it use to be so much more simple, and so much easier, things are not how they use to be and that sucks and that’s sad. That was something that was jarring for me. And this new record was me being in my later 20’s and being an adult for a bit. It’s interesting because an essential theme doesn’t really emerge until I look back at the record after it has all been written and, oh, I guess there is kind of a common theme here. But most of this record I wrote after coming home from four months straight of being gone on tour. I got home and I had been surrounded by people all of the time for this four months and just didn’t talk to anybody for a month. Completely in hermit mode. And it was really jarring. I felt like I had no purpose and no idea what to do with myself. It was difficult and I was lonely. I read a shit ton of self-help books and trying to figure out purpose. This record is reflecting on that experience and reflecting on coping mechanisms with difficult times, essentially.

Do you hope your music sends a message to an audience that sticks? Or is it you expressing yourself?

EB: Both.

Both. So you are writing songs for yourself and an audience?

EB: I think it can fluctuate from song to song, but for most part, I writing it for myself and expressing something; hoping there is something the listener can latch onto, or empathize with, or share an experience with, or even alter their perspective in some way. That’s the icing on the cake, but for the most part it’s pretty self-indulgent.

One thing I noticed when I was looking into the stuff that you’ve done with Warm Thoughts, aside form on the first record where a guy named Matt Ebert who played bass and on that first EP, the song “Everything Must Grow,” there was a guy named David Patterson who played saxophone, you played and recorded all the instruments yourself.

EB: Yes (chuckling).

Which is very impressive because it’s done well. I’m curious. You sort of mentioned this earlier, but with recording and your knowledge of recording, did you have a good grasp of what you were doing?

EB: No, not at all. I released this 3 song demo before the first LP, and was really me just put a mic in front of this speaker and plug it into my computer and hit record and take this distortion pedal and turn it up all the way and see what happens. As this project has grown, so has my knowledge for recording. The EP that has “Everything Must Grow” that was me learning a little bit more. The “Intangible” 7-inch, that was me after having read a book on mixing, trying to imply everything I learned. And after that, I pretty much told myself, it’s ok to relinquished this step of it, let this part go. So, I don’t think I’m going to record any of my own stuff anymore and release it. I think I’m going to give myself grey hair if I do that. I feel ok with letting go of that. I’ve learned a lot. But I still do record demos all the time. Toying at the idea of recording an EP myself and giving it to someone else who knows what they are doing and mix it. I feel like 60% confident in myself to record stuff.

When I was in college, a lot of friends were really into producing music and recording music to the point where they were driving themselves crazy. So I understand turning your hair grey, trying to get things just right. I have a buddy who has an album that he wrote, sent to me, and I was going to have it as my first write-up for Ankle Tops.

EB: Yeah.

And he hasn’t released it because he wants to keep working with it.

EB: I know! I know. That the danger. You can’t stop when your by yourself. Ahhh I got to change this! Yeah, it’s dangerous, slippery slope.

Would you say you balance Warm Thoughts and Touché Amore well?

EB: Yeah.

Ok.

EB: And everyone in Touché is incredibly supportive of me doing this. I feel very grateful because I can see them being the possessive, jealous partner. But, they’re super supportive. Touché did a Europe tour one time and Dad Punchers opened and it was two of the other dudes in Touché that were playing in the band with me. And Jeremy put out the “These Times Were Made for You” 7-inch. And Clayton from Touché plays bass in the band with me. So, it’s pretty easy to balance and I think the most difficult part is scheduling when I can do stuff. Essentially, Touché will put out a record and it’s two years of nonstop touring. Then there’ll be a break to write new music. I wrote this new record, I recorded this new record almost two years ago. And, I’ve been waiting to put it out for when I could tour and do more stuff. With Touché, our touring is going to slow down a little this summer, and then I’m going to go tour with this. I’ll come back and Touché will start working on new music. It’s just knowing and being in tune with each other and knowing when were hoping to do stuff. Like hey I’m hoping to go do this this month if we’re not going to be touring. And sometimes, it means recording a record and not putting it out for two years.

On the topic of touring, and when I first emailed you about doing this, I saw were you were reaching out and wanting to get away from strictly venues and do a lot more house shows with this upcoming Warm Thoughts tour. Can you talk about that? What’s your idea for this tour?

EB: You know, I grew up in the DIY community. Have you ever heard of this guy Paul Baribeau. He’s like a singer-songwriter. He put out couple records. He’s awesome. When I was in high-school, he actually came and played at my house. I had all of my friends come and 40 or 50 people showed up. It was this really intimate experience where he was hanging out with us and playing songs we had been listening to all summer. It was special. We had a barbecue. It was one of my fondest memories and I just liked how intimate and special that was. I’ve always thought how wonderful it would be if I could do something like that. If people were will to open there houses or DIY spaces for this to be a very personal thing. Unlike, show up 4 hours early, have a sound check, and hang out in the green room kind of thing. So I put out this call to see if this was something people would be interested in and I got a pretty overwhelming reaction to it. I going to do that in August/September. I’m still figuring out the routing and I have to sift through a lot of emails. Figure out what can happen. It’s going to be just me for the tour, but I am arranging some accompaniment that I’ve been writing on sequencers and stuff. So it’s going to be stripped down. Not entirely acoustic, but not necessarily loud. A middle ground. I’m really happy with the way it is sounding so far, and I’m working on a visual component with a projector.

That’s awesome.

EB: Yeah. It’s going to be a different kind of experience, and I’m hoping it will be enjoyable. It would be great to do a whole band tour later in the year.

Some of my favorite memories before I left Alabama were house shows I put on. Where I got my friends to play in my kitchen. And people sat down on the couch and like you said, it’s intimate. It’s nice to feel that sometimes. It’s not a party. People are listening.

EB: Yeah!

At bigger shows, there is this disconnect sometimes with the people in the front, yelling and crowdsurfing, and those way in the back. With smaller shows, there’s a personal connection.

EB: Right. And I’m hoping it’ll turn out that way. And I’ll meet people like you.

I hope I get to see you pass though. I live next to my landlord so I don’t think I can have a house show.

EB: (Laughs) I’m trying to figure out Omaha.

You mentioned you recorded this new album with Warm Thoughts 2 years ago, and this also goes with Touché, if you can say anything: is there anything new in the works?

EB: Yes. I’m basically always writing Warm Thoughts stuff. I constantly am working. My writing process is funny. I’ll write little hooks and record them on my phone as a voice memo, and i’ll listen to it as I’m driving around sitting in fucking horrendous LA traffic. I’ll kind of hum along to it and write from there. I have a list of songs that are in segments and they just need to be filled out. With Touché, we wrote and recorded a new song called “Green” that we put out like two months ago. And we are going to start writing in the fall. And hopefully for a new record. Well see how the writing process goes. We usually get into a routine of getting together 3 or 4 times a week. Then if all goes according to plan, hopefully in like 6 months, we’ll have a record written.

Well. Awesome. One last question. It’s something I try to ask everyone I talk to: what is one band people should be listening to right now?

EB: Mmm. That is a good question. I am a massive fan of….a lot of music. (laughs) I been so hooked on this new Yo La Tango record. And their band has been around for 30 years, but I feel like they are criminally underrated. Their new record, “There’s a Riot Going On”, is like flawless in my opinion and I love it. So that should be listened to.

I will listen to that today. (laughs)

EB: There you go.

Well, thank you so much for taking the time to talk with me. I really appreciate it.

EB: Of course! It’s good to meet you.

———-

You can listen to Elliot in Warm a Thoughts, and in Touché Amore.

Pick up Warm Thoughts latest record, “I Went Swimming Alone”, on Deathwish Records, or over at Asian Man Records.