Arist Spotlight: birthdayboy
For our July Artist Spotlight, meet birthdayboy. birthdayboy is a three-piece San Diego band that consists of one human and two demons. I had the pleasure of interviewing the band in celebration of their next single release, their song "Black Water," coming out this month on July 28th. Let's get to know birthdayboy, hear about their upcoming single, and talk about their plans for the future!
BAND MEMBER NAMES, WHAT EACH PERSON PLAYS, WHERE YOU ARE FROM, AND WHAT GENRE OF MUSIC YOU MAKE.
Alyssa: "My name is Alyssa Rodriguez. I'm from Fresno, CA, and we make some type of mutt pop music."
Demond 1: " I'm from both heaven and hell - guess purgatory? I play guitar and sing and scream."
Demond 2: "My name is Demond/ Imaginary Friend 2. I play drums, guitar, and background vocals. I'm a Demond from a southern French town called Montpellier; I make all sorts of music, but mainly indie, grunge rock, and tech house."
HOW DID BIRTHDAYBOY FORM?
Alyssa: "birthdayboy formed around three years ago, but we didn't really get the ball running until Demond/imaginary friend/hallucination 2, joined the band about two years ago. Demond 1, and I met in a pretty peculiar way at this thingamabob where I was pretty bored. I noticed right away this insane energy in the room and gravitated toward it. It seems I must have had equally insane energy because the next thing I knew, they latched onto me. Demond 1 actually taught me my first chords and notes on both guitar and bass. The project started innocently. I did not ever imagine I would be playing an instrument and singing in it, I just really enjoyed writing songs with Demond 1, but eventually, they convinced me otherwise, and here we are.
Demond 1: "I came to Alyssa in a nightmare and refused to leave when she woke up."
Demond 2: "From my perspective, Birthday Boy formed during Covid when the three of us started making music in my living room."
WHAT INSPIRED THE NAME BIRTHDAYBOY?
Alyssa: "I have a lot of wrong answers to this prepared, but only because I don't think there's one that's 100% true. The closest version to the truth I can give you is that Demond 1 was trying to name us bagel boys, and I was not having it. I had been listening to the song 'Birthday Party' by the 1975 a lot at this time, and my birthday was also coming up, and I was also in this headspace of questioning why every story I've ever written is in the perspective of a boy. With all this processing in my head, I decided I liked the name birthdayboy, and luckily Demond 1 was down."
WHAT ARE SOME OF BIRTHDAYBOYS INFLUENCES?
Alyssa: "I would say Halsey, Dominic Fike, Cranberries, and Girl in Red, to name a few ."
Demond 1: "I feel like with guitar playing, influences are a mix of folky (Field Medic, Sadurn) and pop/indie (Dominic Fike, Snail Mail)."
Demond 2: "Our biggest influences for this project are: Dominic Fike, Halsey, 100 Gecs, WetLeg, and Crumb."
TELL ME ABOUT YOUR NEW SINGLE COMING OUT THIS MONTH; WHAT IS IT CALLED?
Demond 1: "'Black Water!'"
Alyssa: "The single is called 'Black Water,' it was written over two years ago now and is an extremely personal song. Well, they are all pretty personal, but this one is a bit more so. I wrote this song as an expression of the acceptance I have towards the chaos that I plunge myself into every day. It's a testament to both my stubbornness and resilience. Mostly it's an outstretched hand to anyone who also feels like they are running themselves to the ground but is not ready to make any drastic changes to fix this."
WHAT WAS THE RECORDING PROCESS LIKE FOR THIS SINGLE? WERE THERE ANY CHALLENGES?
Alyssa: "The recording process was so long. We recorded it, I believe, in Demond 2's living room. Demond 1 wrote the guitar part immediately following my completion of the lyrics. They helped develop a strong melody for the single, and together, we edited the lyrics to support this melody. The song was written for a while before being recorded. I couldn't tell you why it took us two years to record this."
Demond 1: "The challenge was timing - getting music recorded and released is so freaking time-consuming. We wrote the song over two years ago!!"
Demond 2: "We recorded our music in a very low-pressure/intimate setting, hanging out in each other's bedrooms and working out the tunes one sound at a time. Our main challenge was figuring out what sound we wanted to go for, you only get to make your debut as a band once, and we wanted to get it right off the bat."
WHAT IS THE MAIN MESSAGE/THEME OF "BLACK WATER"?
Alyssa: "It's okay to feel like you're losing your marbles and to be okay with feeling comfortable in that mess, but don't forget that there are people and options to live life differently."
Demond 1: "This song means to me that there can be calm within the chaos, for better but mostly for worse. That when everything is crashing and burning around you, the go-to is to say 'this is actually fine,' instead of addressing the fire."
TELL ME ABOUT YOUR LAST RELEASE, "SALTING SLUGS," WHICH CAME OUT ON MAY 8TH THIS YEAR. WHAT IS THE SONG ABOUT?
Alyssa: "That song is literally just insanity. I don't know where the idea came from. I just remember laying in bed watching tv with my girlfriend when the lyrics came to me. I loved the line, 'I'm salting slugs at your door.' Fun fact though the original melody I wrote sounded a lot more like 'Kiss Me' by Sixpence and not how it sounds now. The song is about vengeance and reminding people you are not to be played with."
Demond 1: "I absolutely LOVE that song. It's about the excitement an infatuation within toxicity in love. It also speaks particularly to the gay girl web - everyone knows who you're with, who you've been with, and who you'll probably be with in the future. Can feel like a small community."
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PART ABOUT BEING IN A BAND?
Alyssa: "Having an excuse to hang with my friends multiple times a week."
Demond 1: " I love the writing more than anything. Especially since Alyssa and Demond 2 are two of my closest friends. Writing and rehearsing is one of the most fulfilling things I do every week for sure. Also, I am a demon and love torturing sweet souls."
Demond 2: "The best part of being in a band is being able to express yourself with your best friends and sharing the experiences and hardships that come with that."
WHAT CAN FANS EXPECT FROM BIRTHDAYBOY IN THE FUTURE?
Alyssa: "Tons and tons of singles! Also, a sick music video for 'Black Water' is coming out with the single on July 28th. birthdayboy will write your new favorite song. Just wait and see."
Demond 1: "Hauntings, curses, and hopefully no exorcisms. She needs me!"
Demond 2: "You can expect world domination and possibly a polyamorous relationship with Dominic Fike."
