“Tilted Summer” doesn’t release until June 21 but the lead single, “Leo the Lion,” dropped on Tuesday, May 10. Other singles will follow, including “Struggle” on May 24 and “Pop Music is Hard” on June 7.
Neises sat down recently at Press Coffee on Watervliet Avenue to discuss “Tilted Summer.” He was joined by longtime friend Andy Ingram, who plays drums for Kris N and released the EP on his Poptek Records.
DUAL SESSIONS
Ingram: “We recorded the basic tracks two years ago at this studio on my friend’s farm in Yellow Springs. Then, we sat on the recordings. I don’t know if it was originally our idea to do a hi-fi drums-and-guitar album in the studio and then finish it with home recordings but that’s what happened.”
Neises: “We lost the studio so we had to finish it at home. I did the vocals in my bathroom. I did the last song, the acoustic one, at home. That was a newer one but some of the songs date back seven or eight years. I always had in mind to put these songs on a collection together because they all have the same kind of vibe. I just wanted to make a rock ‘n’ roll record and these songs fit together.”
PANDEMIC DELAY
Neises: “I actually found it hard to be creative when everything shut down. You’d think it would be easy because you have all this time at home but I struggled.”
Ingram: “I had the feeling of ‘What’s the point?’”
Neises: “I’d try but you can’t force it. Then, once the vocals were finally done, Andy came over one day and we finished it up.”
RELEASE PLAN
Ingram: “We’re doing CDs and it’ll be on the streaming platforms. We’re doing the singles starting with ‘Leo the Lion.’ It’s the first time we’ve tried that model. It’s a way of creating some awareness about the EP before it comes out.”
Neises: “My daughter came up with the title, ‘Tilted Summer.’ I don’t know where it came from but I thought it was cool and fit these songs.”
More info: www.poptek.com.
Contact this contributing writer at 937-287-6139 or e-mail at donthrasher100@gmail.com.
About the Author
