Both from Southern California, Austin Roach and Jachob Behnke met in their early twenties at a mutual friends party. A few beers and a few years later the two would later become what is now known as The Missteps. After six attempts of collaborating as two individual artists, the two attempted to collaborate one more time. This time the two started a project from scratch instead of bringing ideas to the studio session. It was then the two realized they had something special. They began meeting once, sometimes twice a week in Austin’s bedroom. After a year long of writing and developing their sound, the two are still constantly challenging themselves to break through genre limitation. Each individual member of this two piece special unit, brings their own unique style into the fused together sound. While Roach brings elements from his roots of genres such as house, future bass, dubstep and hip hop, Jachob brings elements of blues, classic rock, jazz and funk. The result? An intricate hit record such as “April 10th”.
“April 10th” has this grimy and funky beat supporting the idiosyncratic rap flows. It showcased the computerized element of dubstep and house while having a soulful consistent progression in the bass. That soul doesn’t escape as it remains present in the blues like elements you hear from an acoustic guitar. The beat you hear in the beginning of the single isn’t the same beat you hear by the end of “April 10th” and I was a huge fan of that. They were able to transition the melodic instrumental into a new direction to add flavor to the song while sticking to a simplistic nature that people can become bored of. The Missteps poetic lyricism was deep and conveyed a sense of knowledge, wisdom, and emotion. With the canorous jingle presented in the hook, the rap seemed to hold deep context behind it, grasping your attention even more. The Missteps hope to continue strive towards their end goal of becoming successful musicians, song writers and artists. The Missteps may have missed a few steps, and although they may miss a few more, one way or another, they will reach their goal.
Be sure to check out The Missteps "April 10th" on Spotify, and keep scrolling for the duos exclusive interview!
What inspired you guys to call yourselves “The Missteps”?
We wanted a name that not only told our story thus far, but also something that was going to continue to carry on our story. We’d like to think that even though we’ve taken several wrong steps in life, that we’ll end up where we are meant to be. We to carry on the philosophy that missteps are the building blocks which create the individuals we are today. We live, we experience, we fail, we succeed, we learn and adapt. The Missteps is the result of two individuals that, on paper shouldn’t make music together, but for whatever reason it works.
Tell us a little bit about the single “April 10th”, what’s the meaning behind the lyrics conveyed in this single?
It’s a song about the shooting that took place on April 10th 2017 at a school in San Bernardino and the child that was killed. You hear about these shootings that happen on the news and you’re saddened by such atrocities. But this one was so close to our home. It took place in a city that I was familiar with and have friends in. It struck on a different level than any of the other shootings I had heard about. I felt this urge to write about it. So on April 11th 2017, as Austin continued working on the production of the record, I went outside for a cigarette and wrote the lyrics. Went back inside laid down the vocals and we finished the tune in a 6 hour session.
How do you manage to showcase versatility while attempting to stick to your niche as artists?
We talk about that all the time. We still don’t think we’ve found “our sound” yet. And to be quite honest, we may never find it. Our goal with this project is to mend genres together, push boundaries, experiment with sounds, tones and instruments in the hopes that there’s people out there that want to hear something exciting and different. We’re honestly just here to have fun making the music. As long as we continue to make music that we enjoy making, we believe there will be those out there in the world that will enjoy listening to it.
Any major musical influences?
Austin’s influences: Flume has been a huge influence when it comes to my production. His constant strive to experiment and push boundaries, while still infusing pop music elements to his music is really inspiring. Mac Miller’s lyricism, production and overall artistry has been a real inspiration to me in recent months. I listen to “Swimming” at least once a week. Rest In Peace Mac.
A few others that have played a major roll in my development as an artist would be:
J. Cole, Porter Robinson, deadmau5, The Gorillaz, Skrillex, Chance The Rapper and JID.
Jachob’s influences:
Well I grew up a classic rock kid. All of the legends from Hendrix to Steely Dan have really cemented my ideals of music. Also, growing up in So Cal, Sublime and the work/genius of Brad left a massive impact on me. I think I’ve drawn more to the honesty of his lyrics and they way he used blues in his style of play to accent reggae. Growing older I took to blues, funk and so many other genres and bands. I found a beautiful connection with Austin in our appreciation and love for The Gorillaz which then lead me to discover MF Doom. This created a desire to use hip hop in our music and fuse it all together.
What can we expect from you guys through 2019?
We just finished our third single that’s going to be released within the next few months.
We have about 4 more tunes finished and ready to go. We’re just being patient with our releases to give us time to continue to write new records. We’re starting to shift focus from writing and recording to getting our live show in order. We’re really excited to start playing shows. We’ve only been a “band” for about year so this is still really new to us. We’re really hopefully and very excited for what the future has in store though.
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