Following their 2021 debut album release, Dead Poet Society has been on the rise with tour after tour. Fortunately, Kitty Donnelly and Jake Longhurst were able to sit down with lead singer Jack Underkofler and guitarist Jack Collins to talk about their recent tours and alum release.
Kitty: How do English crowds compare to crows back home in LA?
Jack. U: English crowds vary from town to town, some crowds are timid, but London for instance is always rearing to go. I think it really depends on how much alcohol has been consumed beforehand
Kitty: Touring so far, I can imagine has been really busy and stressful, so you get back to the hotel after a long day- what artist or band are you listening to?
Jack. C: I don’t think any of us really listen to music after the show, or before. The whole night is music, so it’s nice to have some silence, come back and just sleep.
Jack. U: Yeah, I don’t think I’ve listened to music since I’ve been in England. I got our Spotify wrapped back and it’s a bit embarrassing, but I use Spotify to practice singing, so my top song was American Blood, so I was like “I can’t post this, it’s going to look so narcissistic, but I swear I’m just practising!”
Kitty: One of your major breaks was in 2016 opening for Sputnik in Mexico, then 3 years later you were headlining around Mexico yourself; how monumental was that?
Jack. U: That whole experience in Mexico was the reason why we kind of had the initial inkling of “maybe we can do something” because that band Sputnik- their lead singer is a YouTuber down there, and he’s the one that popped everything off for us. He shouted out a song called “Sound and Silence” in one of his YouTube videos, and they were so kind to take us on tour, keep us going, and got us that fan base. So, when we came back to headline and had people screaming our lyrics, it was amazing.
Kitty: And then in another 3 years, you had your most recent album, (-!-) Exclamation album, and it looks like you’re going in a really positive trajectory, do you have any plans for the future, any new material being written?
Jack. C: We are working on our second album right now, and we are about halfway done maybe? It’s up for debate, but the next album we are aiming to release it next year, hopefully, earlier.
Jake: So if you were in Sputnik’s position and going on tour somewhere, are there any bands you’re listening to that you would want to support you?
Jack. U: We just had BRKN LOVE, they are a rock band out of Toronto, and they are really good live. Jack (C) has been pushing for a band called Ready the Prince that we want to take on the road sometime soon probably. Apart from that a band I would love to tour with would be a band called 68! Their show just transcends familiarity, even if you aren’t into that kind of music, the level of musicianship and creativity in what they do is unparalleled.
Jake: And are there any artists that you wouldn’t expect us to think you listened to?
Jack. C: I think one band that we all love is Alabama Shakes; we just all mutually love them. We all listen to different types of music, but we have some pretty random shared artists- AshNikko, we are all big fans as of lately.
Kitty: Alabama shakes- interesting name for a band, speaking of, I heard somewhere Dead Poet Society was made up on a bit of a whim back when you were in Berklee, did you ever think it would become such a well-known one?
Jack. C: That was the goal. I think if we had known that it really was going to work with the band, we probably would have picked a better name. Although, I think most bands would say that. Often, the music becomes the band name…
Jake: … Like Slipknot- it’s a bit of a silly name, it’s something you tie into rope, but when you hear the name Slipknot, you don’t think of the name, you think ‘wow- one of the best bands on the planet!’
Jack. U: TOOL- from what I’ve heard the reasoning behind it was how funny it would be to watch a guy walk around with the word “Tool” written on his shirt, which it is.
Jake: Now moving to a similar vein, talking previously about bands you’d like to tour with, what bands have you seen that you would recommend to anyone to see?
Jack. U: I already said 68, but still to this day the best show I’ve ever seen is probably St. Vincent – I saw her in 2014 and had not really listened to her music before, but when I saw her live, she had choreography in her show, but it was so natural and subtle that the fact that you almost wanted to see more but you didn’t but entered this level of intrigue. It was so unconventional but at the same time she was very much rock- her music’s not heavy, but live it felt so heavy.
Jack. C: I saw Kenny Hoopla, at Rock for People, and it just blew me away it was awesome.
Jake: Fantastic, now final two questions; if you could curate a supergroup with anyone, alive or dead, who would be in it?
Jack. C: I’d have John Bonham on drums, Jack White on vocals, Edge from U2 on guitar, and I don’t really care about bass.
Jack. U: I’m going to start with Thundercat on bass, the drummer of 68, and on vocals, I’m going to go with Kendrick Lamar, just because I know he played with Thundercat once and I feel like that drummer with them would be super interesting. And then, I’m going to go with the Edge on guitar, some sort of ethereal thing over something tight.
Jake: Final question, very serious: in a world where everyone is a human biscuit – what biscuit would you be and why?
Jack. U: I would say oatmeal chocolate chip, it’s a cookie that looks very unappetising, but you try it and it's really good.
Jack. C: I’d be an undercooked chocolate chip cookie, because that’s actually the best ,ever, and you’re not supposed to eat it so there’s a bit of risk.
Jack. U: I think we just went for what our favourite cookies were.
Jack. C: Absolutely.
Kitty Donnelly and Jake Longhurst
Edited by: Roxann Yus
Cover image and in-article images courtesy of Dead Poet Society via Facebook.
Comentários