Brothers Matt and Dan Fullam have joined with friends, Matt DaSilva and Hart Mechlin to create the sound known as Parlors. It started when Dan received his first drum set from "Santa" when he was in 5th grade. The duo started to gain inspiration and passion for music, striving for more they added DaSilva as bassist and Mechlin as lead guitarist. This crowd-pleasing alternative indie rock band creates an energic tune, influenced by; Arctic Monkeys, Foals, Queens of the Stone Age, and COIN. Parlors are native to New York City. When asked what their music is striving for, Dan states “we half-jokingly call our sound desert rock on the beach”. The dichotomy of desert guitar and beachy melodies create a unique and creative vibration.
In 2018, Parlors released a collection composed of; “A Night out of Dallas”, “Glass Bricks” and “State Lines”. Building from this success the group released “Lemon Ice” in 2019. In June, the song was critically acclaimed by Two Story Melody noting that “it bleeds raw crowd-pleasing energy”. “Stucco”, was recognized by Original Rock as an “old world desert grit and modern urban energy that begs to be heard live”.
In November of this year, “Lima” was released and has been scheduled for live performance throughout New York City. “Lima” has the perfect combination of slick dance chords, hand-clapping energy and a beat that will carry you from fall to spring. A perfect addition and display of the group’s growth and what's yet to come in 2020. Keep this track close! It's one of those tracks that you can find on all your feel-good playlists.
Listen to "Lima" here.
We love the use of conflicting sounds that you're seamlessly blending in your music. Can you explain why you wanted to focus on a “desert rock on the beach” kind of sound?
Thanks for the kind words! That blending of grittier guitars with dancier melodies and beats is definitely something that has come about naturally, rather than it perhaps being something we were intentionally going after. The tongue-in-cheek description of our sound (‘‘desert rock on the beach”) describes the trade-off between the Fullams’ (brothers Matt and Dan) penchant for Queens of the Stone Age-Esque riffs with the pop sensibilities of the other two members (Hart Mechlin, lead guitar and Matt DaSilva, bass). While of course not every song gets put through a strict desert rock vs. pop formula, we do think there is something interesting in blending a catchy pop hook with our love of energetic drums and guitars. The band is certainly not a one-person show, and hopefully, that collaborative, ‘best idea wins’ mentality will continue to keep the songwriting process exciting for all of us for a long time to come.
Out of all your tracks so far, which was the most musically and lyrically challenging to create and how did you overcome that?
That would probably be the first single we put out this year, ‘Lemon Ice.’ We originally started putting it together based around that big riff from the chorus, which is still one of our favorite things to play live. It did take us some time to really hone in on the structure though, and to give the song an opportunity to breathe dynamically in the verse and bridge. We played around with different intros during the demo process and are really happy with how the song builds from start to finish, but it was definitely the trickiest one to piece together. Lyrically, the track discusses the ‘grass is always greener’ mentality of having to escape where you live every weekend for a getaway. It certainly is much more of social commentary as opposed to any direct criticism of anyone or anything, in particular, so navigating those waters while also telling a cohesive story was a challenge that forced us to flex our songwriting muscles a bit as well.
Primarily influenced by indie rock, do you see other genres influencing your work in the future?
Absolutely, we’ve been loving what a lot of ‘bedroom producer’ artists such as Clairo and Dominic Fike have been doing. We admire how impactful their relatively simple arrangements can be, and the freshness of their vocal melodies and harmonies is something we’ve been steadily incorporating into our sound as well. The Fullams also love listening to laid-back classic stuff like Neil Young’s ‘On the Beach’ or Black Sabbath’s ‘Planet Caravan.’ Thinking back on it now, the very end of ‘Lima’ definitely took some influence from the eerie calmness of Elvis’s ‘Harbor Lights’ as well. We would love to record some tunes we have that show the subtler, nuanced side of our sound as well.
Some of your previous work has been influenced not only by artists like Arctic Monkeys but also famous writing like F. Scott Fitzgerald and Hunter S. Thompson. Can you explain how these two different muses work together to create your sound?
Yeah absolutely. The literary side of things definitely helps to influence some of the general themes of our songs, one example being the influence that Hunter S. Thompson’s “The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved” had on ‘Lemon Ice.’ Reading fiction also helps to flip on that songwriting switch in your brain, which is probably why those themes and sometimes even the vocabulary in those works finds its way into our tunes. ‘AM’ by Arctic Monkeys is a record that really made us want to become a proper band. The production on that album felt so fresh and peerless when it came out. There’s probably a thousand bands that can say they were influenced by the Monkeys, but what we really love about that group is how effectively they have been able to evolve their sound. Their chameleon-like nature is something we really admire, as they continue to push the bar higher for themselves with each record.
What is your favorite thing about how "Lima" came about?
Overall we were really happy with how quickly the song came together. We wrote and recorded the song with urgency, simply because we were excited to finish it and get it out into the world. With that said, nothing felt rushed. The pace encouraged us to be agile songwriters, trusting our guts and our ears while adding or improving parts on the fly. We feel like the energy of the song reflects that process.
Thank you for chatting with us. We are excited to see the success and growth of Parlors. Do you have any planned tours outside of New York City?
Right now we are planning on heading back into the studio early next year, and are working on lining up some shows both in and outside of NYC for 2020!