senses on their latest single "gonna make sure", Craigslist ads and how COVID affected the music industry

senses, an LA based alt-rock band makes their sound known through their vibrant and upbeat vocals, as well as their high energy and infectious syths that really bring the listener in. Made up of singer Madison Taylor, guitarist Josh Bissell and drummer Nick Sampson, the three piece drive home their edgy sound on their latest single “gonna make sure”; a rageful track about the post-breakup experience, where taking the morale high ground is just not in the cards.

Off the Record Press got the chance to sit down with them and talk about the past, present, and future of senses.

photo by Joseph Llanes.

 Off The Record: How did you guys all meet?

Madison: I put a Craigslist ad for people in LA that wanted to start a band. So I threw, put a couple demos on there, and some inspirations or references of like other bands I liked and then just kind of waited to see who, who responded, which feels like common out here. When you first move out here and you don't know anyone or like don't have any gigs, you kind of look for anything. Craigslist is the place for anything really.

OTR: Oh really? I didn't know that! What was on your mind when you came across that Craigslist ad? Were you nervous?

Josh: Yeah, I guess not nervous or nothing. I just was kind of perusing looking for a project and heard some of like Maddie's tracks that she had been working on and her voice was just like ridiculously good. And I was like, let's go see what this is about. They were rehearsing next to a studio that I was working at at the time so I just went next door. And the rest, as they say, is history. 

OTR: Wow. When was that? 

Josh: It was a minute ago, like we all met, a couple years before we actually started this project, senses. We kind of dabbled around and then kind of found our pace.

OTR: Before you all came together, how did you know that music is what you've wanted to do this whole time?

Madison: For me music was a huge part of my family. My sisters and I always grew up singing. My mom is an incredible singer, so she used to sing us to sleep. And we grew up in a really small town in Wisconsin, by this dive bar, and they would do karaoke on the major holidays. So me and my sisters would sing karaoke and that turned to me doing musicals and then writing music and it kept evolving from there, but it started when I was really young.

Josh: I remember growing up, my mom would always like singing songs just in the house and we have like a couple songs that we would kind of sing together and we would just be nerds. I was always involved with band class and choir in school.  I don't even know the exact moment. I think [I knew] this is definitely what I want to do, it almost just seemed like this is just a natural flow of where my life's going. So every time I've tried to kind of be like, ‘Eh, maybe not,’ you answer a Craigslist ad and you're sucked right back in.

Nick: My dad's a musician, so I grew up around it, like in the church. He's a guitar player and I started with guitar, but I hated it. And then a friend of mine was like, “Why don't you try drums?” And I tried it and it just clicked. I remember when I sat, my parents sat my parents down in the kitchen, I was just like, ‘Hey, I wanna do this.’ And that's it. And I'm really stubborn, so when there was no arguing there, like, this is it. And they're like, “Okay, honey, just make sure you have a plan.” And I was like, “No plan, just doing it!”

OTR: I think that's really common too, where people start doing music in church and then it kind of  expands from there. How do you go from church music and musical theater to punk rock?  Where is the bridge there? 

Nick: I mean I never really was like playing in church. I would just  watch my dad play in church and I had played because I went to a very religious school so, I would play in high school a little bit, I guess I did play in church. But I mean, I grew up always listening to just, rock and classic rock and punk and pop, and that's just the stuff I always liked. So I just always wanted to play it and it's honestly the most fun to play on drums.

Madison: I always had a very opposite taste of music, so I still blast musicals. I love singing along to them. They're incredible, but they're a whole other side. My parents always loved music and we went to a lot of concerts. My first concert was a No Doubt concert, and it kind of evolved from there… so it was kind of like a natural progression. It was just like that's the type of mu music that resonated with me the most. 

OTR: What artists would you say that you're inspired by now?

Madison: Oh my gosh. I honestly feel like I listen to the same music I always have, so I still am always really inspired by Paramore, Fleetwood Mac, all the old bands. Now at least for Nick and I, we're huge MUNA fans. Big Fletcher fan, she is incredible. There's a lot of bands right now that are kind of coming back to that pop punk. So that's what makes it so much more exciting is cause like there's people that wanna hear that type of music again. 

OTR: Let's talk about this latest single, “gonna make sure”. The thing that's really on my mind is that it seems very personal and has a very specific backstory with the lyrics.

Madison: I think we always try to write, and I, you know, I'll only speak for myself, but I think we always try to write where people can really resonate with and  however they interpret it. So this is probably one of the more specific songs that we have. But I think what's cool about it is, even though everything that is in the song were things that were actually like said in this situation. And so while it is so specific, it's also very widespread. Like so many people can be like, “Oh my God, that happened to me”

Nick: I know I always go back and forth on when people ask like, “What does this song mean?”. Because a part of me is like, “I'll tell you exactly what it means,” but then the other part of me is like, “No, I want to leave it up for interpretation cause it could relate to anything”.

I never wanna tell people “This is what it's about, and it's only about this”. I mean this is definitely, it's a relationship song obviously, but the core of it is those moments, after whatever-- a relationship, a fight, you name it, where you can be the bigger person, but you don't want to be. [Those moments] when you can say “I don't wanna be the bigger person right now because I'm pissed off”.

OTR: How have you all grown since your first single? 

Josh: Oh my gosh, that’s before the pandemic. It's honestly hard, I think because the whole world's changed so much in that exact timeframe that it's like, yeah, I guess we changed a shit ton too. But everything's been changing.

Nick: The Comedown came out in December right before the pandemic. We had like this batch of songs and we were like, “We're gonna start putting out music, and we'll play some shows. And then it just stopped and it was like, okay, just kidding. But we're just gonna still put these songs out cause like, why not? Like who knows how long it's gonna last? Are we ever gonna get to make music again? The world is ending, like is being a band, even a thing anymore?I mean, for me personally, I mean, I feel like I've grown just like as a far better musician, like with my craft in that period of time. We've gone on tour, we've played the songs a bunch in front of people that have no idea who we are, so we got like those scaries outta the way. I've just grown as a better musician. I know what I want now.

Madison: I feel the same way, I mean, especially over covid, where were so many unknowns. So many people used music as kind of an escape. I've described songwriting as a physical need.  You have to just have to get it out of you, that's the way you communicate. And so when you're kind of stuck doing nothing and inside it's almost harder and easier in a way. And so I think just getting through that period and us just being like, you know what, whatever we have these four songs, we're gonna keep going.

OTR: What can listeners expect next from you all?

Madison: Well, expect an EP coming soon. We can't give too many details about that, but we’re really excited about it. We're gonna have another single dropping pretty soon, and we're trying to keep everything consistent, putting more material out there and just find our people, find our crowd.

End of Interview. Interview conducted by Reegan Johnson.

You can listen to '“gonna make sure'“ out now, and stay tuned for more from senses this year.