Words By: Octavia Allison
Graphic By: Josh Reynes
On April 8th I got to sit down with New Friends, to talk about their latest single and their plans for the future. New Friends is an up-and-coming alt pop group out of London Ontario. After meeting in college, they quickly came together as friends and the music followed. Here’s the formal introduction…Ayden plays keyboard, Stefan, is on lead vocals, Conrad is the bass player and Cole on lead guitar. On top of those roles, they are all responsible for producing as well as their portion of writing and vocals. “We’ve been a band for over 3 years now and this is our first headline show.” Ayden said. Cole jumps in to add “It’s a crazy feeling that people listen to our music.” New Friends just shared a track called “That’s Whatsup”. The self proclaimed, “song of the summer” is endlessly relatable to college kids everywhere, “The whole point of the song is that nothing is wrong just let me have a midnight toke.” says Conrad. “That’s Whatsup” is signalling the bold change in the group’s sound. The track “fell out of the sky” while the band was in LA to record. Inspiration everywhere and famous friends along the way, meant that this song came about in exactly the right way. The group looks back fondly at the 2 months they lived in LA this year. Cole tells me “Its cliché to say it but its so true, there’s a reason everyone’s in LA.” The boys had a chance meeting with Silk Sonic, and worked with Anton Khabbaz, from Motel 7, on “That’s Whatsup”. Besides sleeping on air mattresses for their time in Los Angeles the boys made the most of the trip. According to Stefan “There was inspiration everywhere.” From standing in line for a John Meyer concert to viral twerking videos, this is only the beginning of their adventures. Conrad explains their experience in Los Angeles and what they have learned. “We got to play in LA, and it was a blessing and a curse. We played in another city that’s not our hometown. It’s a blessing because everyone there loves music. It's not even a question, you and your friends go out to see shows on a Friday night. The other side of it is that there’s so much competition because everyone and their mother is going to LA to pursue their creative art. It’s a lot tougher of a crowd. You have to work really hard to convince them that you’re worth listening to.
We gotta be better, respectfully.”
With their previous record, The Pilot, centered on more wholesome topics, the band now feels “like ripping the band aid off” according to Cole. “We get to push the boundaries a little bit” Stefan adds. The boys are working towards building the sound they always wanted. “That’s Whatsup” is only a taste of what the group has in store. They previewed new tracks at their show and hinted that they hope to drop another song sometime this summer. “Going forward we might have more of a cohesive sound” Ayden includes “We’re trying to map out how we want to present it and do it in a more exciting way then we have before.” Titles like Ricochet and Benefits lean into the edge they’re looking for.
After playing at their “home base” (London Ont.), LA and Toronto, the group is also booked to play the Sound of Music festival in Burlington this summer. “We are going in very wide-eyed and very excited” and “meeting other artists is one of our favorite things and festivals are pretty much a big artist mingle,” Conrad says about the upcoming performance. The boys are seeing progress towards their goals of playing more shows and growing their following. When I asked if there were going to be more shows soon Ayden replied with a grin “We’re working on it.” “Hopefully we are coming to cities near our fans-touring is the best-case scenario for us” says Conrad… And now you know what’s up with New Friends.
New Friends:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/newfriendsmusic/
Website: https://newfriendsmusic.com/
Octavia Allison:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/octavia.radio/
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