Chicago – When Blake Sennett and Jarrod Gorbel began making music together in 2012, they had no intention of forming a band. They had been left broken and bruised from previous musical projects – Gorbel in The Honorary Title and Sennett in Rilo Kiley and The Elected – and were simply attempting to mend their broken hearts by falling back in love with music. Native Long Islander Gorbel made the move to Sennett’s hometown of LA to begin anew. From there, a new friendship and a stress-free collaboration blossomed into Night Terrors of 1927 on the pristine beaches of Todos Santos, Mexico.
After a relaxing and creative getaway, the duo returned to LA ready to make marvelous synth pop. Then thanks to some help from the Internet, they signed with Atlantic Records. In the short time they’ve been making music together, the guys have released two EPs, Guilty Pleas and Anything to Anyone, and despite being busy with touring, they’ve also managed to record their debut LP, due out next year.
Best New Bands caught up with Night Terrors of 1927 when they rolled into Chicago while on tour with Capital Cities. Before their fabulous set, we sat down with Jarrod and chatted about his undying love for music, forming Night Terrors of 1927 with his pal Blake, collaborating with Tegan and Sara, and their soon to be released debut full-length. He also ran us through his hip-hop workout playlist.
I read you and Blake came together at a point when you had both left bands and were feeling rather heartbroken. How did your experiences help you guys bond? And did your new friendship and collaboration repair your broken hearts?
Jarrod Gorbel: Oh, broken hearts make us sound so soft! (chuckles) I guess we both were in a way done with music because of negative experiences, so I think for that reason we were able to write together and just play together before the band was even conceived in a just more relaxed way because there was no intention, there was no plan of anything. I think that helped our development because we were able to do it organically, without some sort of pretense like, “This is gonna be something. It better be good!” We were like, “Ah, we don’t wanna do anything. Let’s just play some songs for the hell of it!” So I think it helped in that way.
Let’s talk about your EP Guilty Pleas. What inspired the title?
Jarrod Gorbel: “Guilty Pleas” is actually a lyric from the “Young & Vicious” song, which is on the EP. I just kind of like the way it sounded. (laughs) And that’s the non-exciting story of that. The words flow together beautifully. (laughs)
I actually love “Young & Vicious.” Can you talk a little bit about this song?
JG: Blake lyrically… umm it’s pretty much a personal retrospective of his, so it’s hard to give my take on it. I pretty much put everything I could into it when I saw the lyrics and he showed it to me. He conceptually had it even before, no well, it was at the time we were starting to write songs. For me, I just feel like it conveys, ugh… like a retrospective kind of emotional memory. That’s how I see it.
You guys spent some time in Mexico working on your music. Whose idea was it to go to Mexico? And how much of the trip inspired Guilty Pleas?
JG: Not directly inspired, but I think the thing was when we were in that initial stage of just writing songs for the hell of it, that was a trip that we took while we were writing. [Blake] happened to be going there, and I was like, “Oh, I’ll come!” You know I had just moved to LA, and then we rode there. When we were there, that was when we were like maybe this should be a project. It wasn’t a hundred percent solidified because I was still a little apprehensive: “I don’t wanna fall in love again. I’ve been hurt before. Blah, blah, blah.” So yeah, it wasn’t necessarily that being in Mexico inspired [the album], but being in Mexico inspired the concept of [the project] being turned into a real band.
Besides writing, what else did you guys do while in Mexico? Did you spend most of your time at the beach?
JG: We hung out at the beach. We rented this cool house and just hung out there. It was mellow. We just hung out.
How long were you there?
JG: Just a couple days.
After releasing “Watch the World Go Dark” and “Dust and Bones” on Soundcloud, you caught the attention of Atlantic Records. Seeing as you guys had been disenchanted with music and the music industry, how did you react to the signing? Did you go into the signing of the record deal with perhaps a keener awareness?
JG: We kind of just put the music out there with no expectations, but it moved along way faster than any of our previous projects or anything we had done, so we just got really excited when we saw our songs were picking up some momentum. Obviously then Atlantic noticed us. It was cool to enter the industry at this time where Soundcloud and just the Internet is so powerful and the speed at which you can get noticed is almost instant. So that was satisfying.
So have you fallen back in love with music again?
JG: I’ve totally fallen back in love again! I never fell truly out of love with music. It is personally everything to me, but I definitely feel hopeful, as far as with the music industry these days and figuring out how it works these days. So that’s good.
You recently released the EP Anything to Anyone, which features the single “When You Were Mine,” with Tegan and Sara. How did that collaboration come about?
JG: When the song was recorded, it wasn’t a duet, but it felt like we were missing something. We were at Blake’s studio, and we just thought, “Wow, this would be really cool as a duet!” The first female voices that came to my mind were Tegan and Sara, being fans of them. We had just played a show with them in LA. You know, we were becoming friendly with them, so we just simply texted them and emailed them the song. They were into the song. It all worked out!
You’ve been working on a full-length with some pretty heavy hitters: Andrew Dawson and Ben H. Allen. Can you share some details with us? Perhaps a release date?
JG: The album will come out in January. It’s actually done already. We’re just setting up the release. We recorded part of it in Atlanta with Ben H. Allen. He’s great. He worked on Walk the Moon, Washed Out; a lot of cool stuff he’s worked on. Andrew Dawson who is from the whole Kanye West slash fun. world. We did a bunch of songs with him in LA. We did a bunch more songs in Blake’s home studio in Los Angeles. So all those pieces came together, and we’re really looking forward to putting it out.
Do you have a title?
JG: Tentatively, I think it’s going to be called Everything’s Coming Up Roses. I think. Not a hundred percent sure.
I hear you’re a huge hip-hop fan. Who are some of your favorite artists?
JG: Yeah! I love the major guys of course, like Kanye and Jay-Z. I love newer stuff, like Schoolboy Q and Run the Jewels and Kevin Gates and so much stuff! What have I been listening to? Where’s my phone? (Pulls out his iPhone) I make playlists all the time.
For the van? Are you the official tour DJ?
Well, they’re more for my headphones or the exercise world. (laughs) Let’s see, 2 Chainz. I even have Kendrick Lamar, Rick Ross. I got Iggy Azalea. I got Flying Lotus. I even have Eminem. Everybody loves Eminem a little. Grimes, A$AP Rocky. Yeah, I love all this stuff!
Jarrod, I read you really love anthems songs – which can definitely be heard in “Shine” – especially Bruce Springsteen’s. Do you have a favorite Springsteen song or album?
JG: Oh gosh, I’m so bad at coming up with names of songs… I love the whole album Nebraska. I love “Tenth Avenue Freeze Out.” I love the obvious ones like “Born To Run,” and some of the cheesier ones like “Dancing In The Dark.” I’d really have to scroll through my ipod, but I love his early records.
I also read the name of your band came from one of your grandfather’s journal entries. Can you share with us what particular entry was about, if you remember?
JG: I think that was our original story. We’ve totally trashed that! (laughs) It’s a bunch of bullshit! (laughs) We realized that there were so many, so much, well it’s not totally true, it’s got pieces of truth. We realized there is so much around that year that everybody that asks us about the name or interviews us, tells us something new about 1927 that’s cool every time. So we’ll just leave it open to interpretation at this time. It was just before the Great Depression hit. People were partying, but darkness, depression, and sadness were right around the corner, so that seemed like a cool concept to us.
Another cool concept: Staying up to date on tour dates and releases by following the Night Terrors of 1927 on facebook! You can purchase Guilty Pleas and Anything to Anyone on iTunes.
Photo Credit: Jess Ewald
Sarah Hess
After attending The School of the Art Institute in Chicago, Sarah went on to study education at Dominican University, earning a degree in history. When not teaching, writing, or taking in a show, she is most likely to be found with a camera to her eye or hanging out in a darkroom.
You can follow Sarah Hess on twitter at @Sarahhasanh and view her music photography on her website: smhimaging.com.
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