The Baxbys Are Ready For More

On a snowy and frigid Saturday, we met up with New York City based indie rock band, The Baxbys, at Artist House.The group includes Alex Nordlund (vocals and guitar), James Miller (vocals and guitar), Spencer Rosenfeld (bass and keys), and Chris Sciucco (drums).

After a string of singles, The Baxbys released their third EP, Human Music, on January 9th. The five-song EP is reminiscent of 2000s indie rock, balancing a raw yet polished sound with a tightly controlled rhythm section playing metronomic tempos and higher-pitched garage rock-adjacent guitar riffs. Human Music is an accumulation of songs the band has been working on for some time. The EP contains an intriguing dichotomy of songs, switching between the sultry and slightly surf-rock harmonies of ”Julia (I’m Not in This Soul Alone)” to the more simple and soft “Do You Love Who You Are?” then to the feel-good upbeat tempo of “Human Music.” And yet their music exceeds the bounds of genre. Their songs are fueled by bouncy rhythms that are easily danceable, and simple, yet punchy lyrics that are sure to get stuck in your head. I’ll save you the trouble; prepare to keep listening over and over.

And the band ethos? To make fun music. 

The band began in 2021 in Massachusetts, correct? How did this formation of the group come together?

Chris: Well, I met James in our freshman year at [University of Massachusetts] Amherst. And then we kind of got sent home for COVID really. So when we [this band] wanted to play music, we each took a guy that we knew prior to UMass. Alex and I’s dad were in a band together. 

Spencer: James and I met in a class in high school. And then kind of fell in love. Chris and Alex knew each other in high school. Then [during] COVID, Chris and James were jamming, and they brought me in and then I started playing bass. Then we decided to bring in someone who could sing and that was Alex. At some point Alex was like, "Are we going to be a cover band or are we going to be a real band?" And that’s when it started.

James: And then we continued to play covers for a couple of years in the Amherst basements. 

You have house-show roots. Has that had any change or effect on the type of music that you play or how you structure your set?

Spencer: I think it's made our roots sort of like a band for fun because a lot of those events that we played at UMass were just like a bunch of drunk people and the goal was for them to have fun. So we try to have fun with our music, but we also go on the other side and we like to not have fun sometimes. 

James: We all love music so much. And so it's hard to make something as a joke and then pass it off like that's a joke because we really care about it. So I feel like it sometimes does get more serious than we expect. That's how it kind of was in Amherst. I think too, because we all knew deep down our childhood dreams were to be rock stars and then we were playing in basements.

Chris: Yeah, it felt really fun, and it really inspired us to stay fun as much as songwriting and music making is serious, which I think is good. If we had come out and played our first show ever at a venue, it probably would have been very stoic and stiff, and instead we're just excited to perform.

Do you have any crazy stories from the house-show days? 

James: The heat wave show.

Chris: I was going to say the heart attack show. 

Alex: It was 100 degrees there.

James: Alex had to stop singing cause he blacked out.

Alex: There’s footage of it. 

Did you pass out or just go blank?

Alex: I just kind of went blank and fell and I was trying to get back up. 

James: Nobody really said anything. I just started singing the rest of the song. But that's what I mean, we used to take it pretty seriously. I was like, “we have to finish this crazy important song.”

Chris: We had a concussion happen. We had people hanging off garage doors. We got fined $2,400. 

Spencer: That was a big one. Small backyard, 150 people there. I had a heart condition and I found out I had it at a show because I had a SVT attack, like a very fast heart rate attack.

Oh my God, were you okay?

Spencer: Yeah, we were playing “Reptilia.” 

Let's talk a little bit about your EP, Human Music. You said that you've lived with these songs for a long time. What was the process like of creating the EP?

James: It was more like we weren't sure what to do with them when they were at a stage where we could have released them. And there were a lot of other things happening that we were trying to do. Then we just sat with the songs until we were kind of ready to release them. And it had been a couple years already since they were recorded, and we had tweaks that we wanted to do. So we kind of went in and changed a few things. Then that's when we just like, “let's get these out.” And I think we are pretty happy with it now.

Where did you end up recording those?

Spencer: So we recorded the bulk of the EP in Amherst in our basement. We started with a producer and then we finished it without a producer. We didn't really have a strong footing in working with a producer when we started it. I guess some of the songs took a turn in the direction we weren't thinking, which is why we ended up kind of waiting on them and then revisiting. And then “Do Love Who You Are” was the only one that we didn't work with that producer to begin with. That one was recorded last year.

“Masses in Glasses” was first released as a single in June, the first from the EP. Back when you were releasing that as a single, did you know that you were going to be releasing the EP then? And if you did, why did you choose that song to be released first?

James: We didn't know actually, to be honest. We were kind of sporadic with how we release sometimes. But we were planning something else kind of, and then it shaped into just being the EP, which we had planned to do as an EP two years ago even. Two years ago is when we recorded all these [songs] except for “Do You Love Who You Are.” And so that was the song that was done first, and then we thought it was good for that time. Yeah, it’s not that deep. 

Chris: I actually totally forgot that. We went into it as an EP and then it took a lot of turns and then somehow it just kind of ended up being an EP, but two years later. 

Spencer: It's always better to stick with the original idea.

So track number two is “Julia (I'm Not in This Soul Alone).” I thought sonically it was very interesting, and the first thing that caught my attention was the drum patterns. Walk me through the creation of this song. Did it start with the lyrics? Did it start with instrumentals? 

Alex: It’s pretty close to the demo actually. It was like some weird song I heard, a cliche, I heard it in a dream. My mom had a dream too, and we combined them one day and then the drum pattern was because I was-

Pull it back. You had a dream and she had a dream and then you were talking about it or were you in the same dream?

Alex: No, she came to me and was like, “I just had a dream about someone named Julia.” And I was writing a song called Julia the same day. Then she's like, "You need to use these chords." 

Are you being for real?

Alex: Yeah, and she wrote a poem about it too that's on the internet somewhere. But the song was so stream of consciousness, I did it in an hour. And the drum beat was because I was lazy and I just had like one thing. I think the vocals on there are the same as the demo.

James: Those were just grabbed from the demo. It was funny because in the demo you just screamed into the mic or you just had the input gain really high so it was all crunchy and you can't change that after it's recorded. So the vocals are distorted and there's no choice. 

Spencer: Yeah, when we were recording that, we were trying to record new vocals and just nothing had the energy that the demo did. So we just pulled it from the demo.

Track four, “Human Music.” Did you name the song or the EP first? 

Alex: The song. It was like the first thing that came to mind, I guess.

Did you [Alex] write the lyrics for that?

Alex: Yeah, it was just the Logic file name for it. It was kind of a joke, making fun of the song.

Why did you choose to name the EP after that song? 

Alex: Guess I have some kind of stupid reasoning, it kind of just sticks, but “in the age of AI, here's human music.”

“Goth King.” I feel it is a bit more dancy, and it seems to be a fan favorite, and you often end your sets with the song. I was really interested in the lyrics.

Alex: Oh yeah?

I was really curious because it’s the same string of lyrics throughout the whole song that continuously repeat with little variation. I was curious about your intention when writing that song. Or was there none?

Alex: I was having a lot of fun that night I wrote it, I guess. I had some, what's it called, Rum and Coke? I found some cool synth sounds. It was pretty stream of consciousness and then I changed it to make a little more sense. It's about being confident and stuff like that.

Spencer: That song came from a stream of consciousness. Just like making something super fun and stupid, then take it to the band and reinterpret it and turn it into something that's like amplifying, or whatever the feeling that was there. So that's what we tried to do with that one.

Alex: I brought a big speaker to them one day and just played it really loud. I was like “this is a banger.” 

So then [Alex] did the lyrics and the synths in that? And then how did that develop for the band?

James: There's a demo that no one's heard of course… 

[Pause to listen to the demo off of Jame’s phone]

The synths remind me of a video game a little bit.

Chris: This thing we kept, right? This is in the actual song. 

James: Yeah, this little guitar thing. It's a lot of noise. The first time I listened to it, I don't remember having a big reaction. But it was one of those things that I think may apply to the release version too where it's like I just want to keep listening because it's kind of stupid. I think it's good. So then we were like, we're going to record a new version of it. We saw a few things to change and guitars to add and structure it a little bit.

Chris: Well, the song took a long time. I mean, we recorded it like seven different times, I feel like. Certain parts, the drums at least, were done in three different locations.

You think that's the song on the EP that took the longest?

Chris: I think so.

Alex: Took too long. 

Spencer: But I think that's like the best way for us to write stuff is to take something that is super stream of consciousness and then mold it.

What's everybody's favorite from the EP? One, two, three, four, go.

Alex: I really like “Masses in Glasses.” It's just a happy kind of song.

Chris: I think “Do You Love Who You Are?" 

Spencer: I think “Goth King” is definitely my favorite. We really molded that song into something really sick, I think.

James: I would say the “Goth King” as well. I'm pretty happy with how it came out.

You began releasing music in 2022? What has really changed or stayed the same in your songwriting process?

James: I think our tastes have changed a lot, mine at least has evolved in a way. And songwriting is still pretty new to me. I feel like there's a lot to learn. Before I met Alex I didn't really write songs, I kind of just was a guitar player. Then when Alex showed me some of his songs, I was like, "Well, we're in a band now, so maybe I should try writing something." And I started writing some songs. It's really fun for me. I think we're always learning new things, so we've learned a lot since then. 

Spencer: Really nothing has stayed the same other than the four of us. But every song we record is a different journey, but we've all grown old now. We're living up in the country of Bushwick.

James: It is nice to live in Paradise.

Chris: You said something that I liked, oh, every song is a different journey. I agree with that. I also feel that especially with Human Music, which is why I think that phrase, “we lived with these for a long time” makes sense because it was a lot of different journeys all in one. We started somewhere, went in a million different directions, kind of ended up where it was going to go in the first place, but with a lot more context. 

Spencer: It's such a weird thing how, when you're thinking about it, just in thought, recording a song sounds so easy. It's like we can just go into a studio and record the parts. But it never is like that. We're kind of always searching for the best angle to come at something from. And we're still figuring it out.

James: I'm sure a lot of artists face the same challenges we do. 

Alex: I like the idea of just really simple songs. You don't have to think, or taking some idea you really like and boiling it down to its simple form. 

Spencer: I mean, it's not like we've even recorded that much music, but going through what we've gone through and stuff, we've really all taken a turn toward minimalism.

It’s the new year, so what’s a goal you each have for the band this year? 

Alex: Hopefully we do a little better.

Chris: I mean, it is the best way to put it. I would obviously just want to improve. I would like to play bigger shows, release better music. Maybe a mini tour. I don't think any of us are eager like, “oh, let's go tour.”

Alex: I am. 

Chris: Oh, Alex is. But I'd love to have the opportunity to play fun shows in new places. Well, we do want to play on the moon at some point. Forgot about that. 

James: Actually nobody will know about it except for us. 

Spencer: Yeah, they don't have any of the broadcast systems on the moon yet, so it's going to be us. 

Tori: Well, maybe by the time you're playing the moon, they will.

James: What next year? I don't think so. 

Spencer: We have a lot of music to record and write. I want to continue finding ourselves and maximize how much fun we have when we make the music and let people feel our energy through the music and relieve the pressure.

James: I just have this burning desire to write better songs every day. So I just want to continue that. Nothing more than that.

Find The Baxbys on Spotify, Instagram, and their website.

All photos by Tori McGraw (@afterr.hourrs)