Clarence Ewing: The Million Year Trip writesCHIRP Radio Q&A With Drinking Poppy (Performing at CHIRP Night at the Whistler on 11/7)

Chicago band Drinking Poppy (Bandcamp) will perform at CHIRP Night at the Whistler on Tuesday, November 7th. We caught up with Cisco (Bass), Mig (Backing Vocals, Keys/Synth), and Doug (Guitar, Synth) recently to ask a few questions about them and their music…

So...What’s going on? Tell us about your current releases and/or upcoming shows (such as CHIRP Night at the Whistler!).

Doug - Clarence, thanks for having us on the blog! After releasing our debut EP in May, we had a busy summer of performing all over the city and suburbs incl. Cubby Bear, the Palatine Park District, 95 WIIL Rock’s Bandemonium and more.

Our final show of the year will be CHIRP Night at the Whistler Nov. 7th! We’re ecstatic to be releasing four new singles in the upcoming months. We’re building a community of friends, family and diehard music fans. It’s fun to watch it grow.

How do you go about turning your thoughts, ideas, and feelings into sounds?

Cisco - It's more of a symbiotic thing between whoever I'm writing with.

Mig - It just depends on the idea. For example, with keys/synths it does take me a bit of thinking. Almost like solving a mathematical equation. However, doing harmonies and additional background vocals come to me as organically as breathing.

That said, I'm very big on collaboration, and I rely on my bandmates heavily to get these ideas to come to fruition.

Doug - I try to put myself into a state where I can feel creative and appreciative. I travel, spend time in nature or with my kids. I’m always listening for naturally occurring patterns and rhythms, especially outside or in a new place. I try to keep my stress low.

Eventually, I find myself humming or whistling something that I think is catchy. From there, I craft it for about a month until I have the bones of a song that I can share with these guys and we can collaborate on it from there.

Keep Reading…