If you missed Generationals at Hopscotch in 2011, don’t miss them in Chapel Hill this Sunday. Formed in 2009, this indie rock duo has released two full-length albums and has a sound that’s all their own.
Diversions writer Meghan DeMaria spoke with Ted Joyner, who sings vocals and plays guitar for the band, about their inspiration and musical influences. Generationals will play at the Local 506 at 8:30 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets are $10.
Dive: Before you formed Generationals, you and Grant [Widmyer] were co-founders of The Eames Era. How did being members of that band help you when you were starting Generationals?
Ted Joyner: It’s helped us a lot, actually. A lot about band stuff, we had already done one time before, so it wasn’t really learning from scratch. We had a little more of a game plan going in, so we got things up and running faster, but it was still a lot of learning to do. We also met a lot of people through touring with The Eames Era, and so when we were starting a new project, we already knew a lot of people who were interested to hear what we were up to.
Dive: You named your band after the 2008 presidential debates referred to hot-button topics as generational issues. Do you think it’s a good idea for musical artists to address political issues in their music, or do you try to maintain a wider appeal?
TJ: I don’t know that it was really a political statement. It was more that we just liked the sound of that word. It was one of those things that made more sense over time — a lot of people point out that our music draws from a lot of generations of pop music history, so on some level, our name echoes that. I never felt like it had any political baggage to it as a word. We don’t really go out of our way to stay apolitical. We’re just more concerned with writing good songs than we are with getting political on people. It’s more about personal and emotional stuff than larger world issues or politics.
Dive: Who are some of your musical influences, from any generation?
TJ: We often get tagged as being very influenced, by pop girls of the ‘60s, but certainly those aren’t the only things we listen to. One thing Grant often points out is our micro influences—when we’re recording, we’ll be chasing after a specific sound that might be one small element of a song instead of being influenced by an entire artist’s career or genre.
Dive: You’ve opened for big-name bands like Broken Social Scene and Two Door Cinema Club. Do you have any favorite memories of working with other artists?
TJ: We’ve gotten to tour with a bunch of cool bands. We’ve been doing a bunch of shows with Devin, and those guys are hilarious. We’ve been hanging with them a lot. As far as stories go, there a billion.
Dive: Your songs have been featured in numerous advertisements and soundtracks, from Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups to a Drew Barrymore romantic comedy. Are there any ads or movies you’d most want to feature your music?
TJ: It’s always really crazy when that happens! That’s actually a really good question. Maybe a Wes Anderson movie? It’s always strange and surreal to hear our music on TV or in movies, but it’s never been our goal. I think our favorite place to hear it is when we’re playing it live in front of people, you know? Nothing’s better than that.
Dive: Earlier this month, you released your second EP, Lucky Numbers, which has an interesting image of an eye within a geometric hand on the cover. What inspired the cover art for that EP?
TJ: That was an image that our friend Scott Campbell made for us a while ago, for another smaller piece of art, for a poster for a show, and we always really liked it. When we were looking for artwork for this EP, I remembered that and felt like it went with the vibe of the EP, so he reworked it to become the EP artwork. It’s interesting because it’s different from anything else we’ve used for artwork.
Dive: What are your plans for after the fall tour? Do you have another album in the works?
TJ: We have our third full-length record that’s going to come out in early 2013, that’ll be the next thing we have going on. It’s pretty much done, Grant and I started recording in January of this year.
To get the day's news and headlines in your inbox each morning, sign up for our email newsletters.
