Words + Interview By: Emma Hintz
Central Florida's own The Forum are back and better than ever, with their first release in over a year Honeypace. The track is very reminiscent of the golden age of indie pop, the 2010's, it feels frozen in that time in the best way possible. It is somehow a breath of fresh air, while also feeling extremely nostalgic, like something you've heard before in a dream while living out your best main character fantasies. I am very excited to see where the trio goes with their next single, and you should be too. If you've seen The Forum live then you are just as excited as me to see this track in their set, their energy on stage is infectious and with a song this fun I know it will be a hit live. If you live in or near the Gainesville area go check out The Forum's set at Playground Fest at Heartwood Sound Stage, they play from 3:00pm-3:40pm at the Saw stage, go dance your little heart out. You can purchase tickets to the fest here.
I had the absolute pleasure of doing a quick little interview with the guys to get to learn a little more about the story of Honeypace and how it came to be. Here's how it went!
Starting off, can you tell us a little bit about yourselves?
Yooooo we are The Forum, a band from Gainesville who now lives in Orlando and we try to make stuff that excites us and meet people who are excited about what we make! Who does the songwriting in the band?
It’s generally pretty collaborative, usually one person comes in with the basis of an idea and the rest of the band works together to fill it in. Half of it is written and re-written in the studio at times. Some songs are totally done by one person, some are even split – it really depends on the track! Where did the inspiration behind Honeypace come from? Any specific musical inspirations? We were all approaching this song with a few similarities but a few key differences in mind when it comes to musical inspiration. There’s definitely some Tears for Fears, Toto-type inspirations from the 80s, synth-pop and new wave. I think the ending kinda reminded me of those “coming of age” playlists that would play in a teen romance end-credits sequence on Disney Channel in 2006 – we even put a little line in the song reminiscent of the Disney Channel theme. The vocals in that section are inspired by newer stuff from Wallows and Hippo Campus that I was listening to a lot in the spring when this was written.
What's the story behind it? Musically, Nick and I were messing around with those chime-type riffs in the beginning of the song one day in my kitchen. We took it to the band and it took on a mind of its own from there, and was fleshed out in the studio all spring and summer. Jake and I really liked the idea of moving on past a friendship or relationship at the pace of running honey – slow but sweet. Moving on from something that you know isn’t good for you is very difficult and a clean break is hard to achieve, but this is a positive song. Half of it is like “hell yeah I did it, that’s over with and I’m happier” and the other half is “oh my God why am I putting myself through this again?” – we had fun writing the back and forth lyrics for the chorus this summer.
This is your first release as a band in over a year, what's changed? What have you guys been cooking up? A lot has changed for each of us personally, mostly work-related. We are all in our mid-20s and scary career stuff is happening! So we have had to shift and plan around that much more than pre-pandemic times, but we are definitely in a groove now and excited for the coming year. As for what’s cooking, a LOT. We are working through a slew of new songs that are already recorded and being mixed, as well as collaborating with new artists and engineers as often as possible. This definitely won’t be the last release of the year. You're playing Flipturn's Playground Fest in Gainsville, FL, what can people expect from your set? Yes! A little old, a little new. It will be fun to try a few new ones for the first time in front of so many die-hard music fans. We are getting a little fun for a cover, playing multiple songs for the first time ever, and playing our favorites from the past few years. And we gotta dress to impress of course.
Lastly, what can people expect from The Forum in the future? MUSICCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC AND some cool support slots this fall
The Forum
Emma Hintz
Amanda Laferriere
Comments