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WORDS MAISIE JANE DANIELS - SPECIAL THANKS WHITEBOARD PR
South Carolina-based, three-piece band sweet//spine have their priorities in place. Consisting of Fox Haynes on guitar and vocals, Taylor Priola on bass, and Brannan Crook on drums, they always keep each other and their fans at the forefront of their focus. Their gigs provide a safe space for escaping unwanted energy and fostering a sense of camaraderie. "I feel like the live show is one thing that no one can turn into a product or commodity, and that’s why we value it so much," Brannan says.
Refusing to be pigeonholed, sweet//spine are what their fans want them to be- a notion that transcends into their writing process. Whether ideas are formed solo or through complete collaboration, there’s no set way for this band to be, allowing room for experimentation. This has led to the creation of their captivating and thrilling new track "Lights Out," paving the way for their debut album release in August and nationwide tour starting in September.
F Word couldn't wait to catch up with this rising band to delve into their formation, discuss the struggles faced by young people today, and provide some insight into why this promising band is one-to-watch.
Maisie Jane Daniels: Hey sweet//spine, welcome to F Word. How did you come up with your band name?
Fox: I've been playing music for as long as I can remember. I finally wanted to start a rock band, so in my senior year math class, I was scribbling in my notebook writing down band names I could come up with, and it was the only thing that I could think of. It sort of stuck.
Taylor: Recently, we have been including the addition of // as "sweet//spine" because we wanted a symbol for our fans to resonate with. We had talked about how we wanted that symbol to be something fans can make with their hands and hold up at shows. The symbol // when held up by your fingers actually makes “sword fingers,” which is a hand and finger position from Taoism which can be held up to cleanse your energy system from old and unwanted energies while emitting and collecting new energies. For sweet//spine, all we can hope for is that our music is a safe place for people and a break from the bad in their lives; to free themselves from that negative energy and create a sense of safety, knowing that they are not alone.
MD: How did you form sweet//spine?
Fox: Like I said, in twelfth grade I was looking to start a band, so I started it with some local friends. Eventually, after some lineup changes, I scouted out Brannan and Taylor, and that was when sweet//spine became what it was always meant to be.
MD: How have you evolved since forming sweet//spine, both musically and personally?
Brannan: Now more than ever, we are much more okay and willing to experiment with things that might not work.
Fox: But also, it’s not only about the sound experimentation; it’s about experimenting with what sweet//spine is as a whole. I am much more okay with experimenting now than ever because our mindset on sweet//spine is that it can be anything we want it to be at any instance. We are okay with sweet//spine not being a shoegaze band, we are okay with sweet//spine not being a rock band. We are okay with it being whatever our supporters and fans want us to be. That’s all we are.
MD: Your latest single 'Lights Out' is out now! Talk us through the track...
Fox: "Lights Out" is a genre-bending track that was first born when I was in ninth grade. Me and my little sister were sitting down and came up with a few ideas, "Lights Out" being one of them. Actually, another one we came up with was another song called "In My Blood" that will be featured on our album coming out in August. Originally, the song was an electronic dance kind of song, and then years later, when I started the band, I thought the song was perfect to turn into a sweet//spine song.
Brannan: It was something that used a lot of bits and pieces we put together over a span of time. Fox brought us the idea, and we all started working on it together while we were on tour in Florida in January. It was the first song that the three of us, as the current lineup, all had a part in.
Taylor: In April, we eventually went to NY to record it in a studio with Joel Hamilton at Studio G Brooklyn. We had three days to essentially do the entire song. Going into the studio was a very nerve-wracking experience for us as it was our first time in a real studio, and it honestly had the best outcome possible. There were a lot of cool things we added to the track that weren’t on the demo like, in the bridge, there are these super eerie vocals that Brannan, Fox, and I all sang together to create a sort of cultish feel.
MD: What does the writing process look like for you?
Fox: There is not one set-in-stone thing, not one process. Some of our ideas are born when I'm walking around in public and I'm humming to myself and hear a melody I like. Some ideas are formed when I'm playing piano or writing on guitar. Some ideas are formed from complete collaboration. There’s not really one set way, and I think that that's a good way to do it because I think it leaves plenty of room for the experimentation that we crave so much.
MD: Can you describe your sound in three words?
Brannan: Fluid
Fox: Ever-expanding
Taylor: Fire
MD: What inspires you the most lately?
Brannan: My bandmates. Knowing that we all go through the same things as a band really keeps me motivated and inspired to be my best in what I do.
Taylor: There were a couple of instances in the studio where we were faced with a lot of anxiety about where we are as a band and how we were doing things, and we face a similar anxiety before a lot of shows. Something Brannan always reminds us is that at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter who is out there or what is going on outside; we are truly here to play for each other, and that’s what keeps us afloat. Our main inspiration in and out of music is each other.
Fox: Now more than ever, I am driven by our ability to help people through our music. All we want to do is create a safe environment and space for our people. The people who come out to our shows have a safe space through our live experience- where they can let go of all their worldly problems and let themselves fall into whatever emotions they need to be feeling in the given moment. Being able to provide that experience to our fans is what drives us.
MD: What was the biggest change you made to the single during the writing process?
Fox: In all honesty, the structure of the song never really changed, but we all threw in little pieces and things that we thought were cool, like a clock sound effect and a jaguar sound effect. There's a lot of layers in the song that speak to the experimentation that we have been striving for.
MD: Let’s chat about the music video for ‘Lights Out.’ It’s eerie, thrilling, and captivating. Where did the idea for this come from?
Fox: Something we had to overcome with the process of doing this music video is that we are a small band with really big ideas. We have a lot of things we want to say, and we want to say them as much as possible. With this music video, although we started with an elaborate scheme, we had to boil it down a whole lot.
Taylor: But Dylan Budnieski, who directed the video, did a great job at bringing our vision to life and creating something that aligned with the feel of the song.
MD: If 'Lights Out' was the soundtrack to a film, what would it be and why?
Fox, Taylor, & Brannan: Transformers cause' it’s cool
MD: If you had to choose one component for a great song, what would it be?
Fox: Not fearing the outcome and letting it surprise you without trying to control it.
Taylor: Collaboration. Oftentimes in the studio, it’s really hard to put your ego aside and admit, “Maybe my idea isn’t the best fit for this part of the song,” but at least for us, recording the upcoming album, we made the best products when it was an accumulation of all our ideas together.
Brannan: Drums
MD: You’ve just played Music Farm- how was that?!
Brannan: It was really intimidating because it was the biggest concert we have ever played.
Fox: It always shocks us to see how many people come out to support in places we’ve never played or in situations where we feel super anxious about the outcome of the performance.
Brannan: We're still adjusting to the idea that people are coming out to places we’ve never played and want to see us.
Fox: Overall, it's the people who are there that matter, and if our supporters are there, then it's our place to play.
MD: What is the biggest change that you would like to see in the world?
Taylor: Lately, we have been feeling frustrated about the current state of music due to social media.
Fox: I don’t think that constant exposure to consumers is a good way for artists to find people who genuinely care about their art and their message. We live in a world of constant distraction, so music and art have been diminished to a scroll on TikTok or a view. I think it would be really nice to see the world reevaluate how much art has impacted our lives and reevaluate the value of art.
Taylor: This is something we have been feeling a lot lately, especially as we were sitting down and coming into the new album cycle and how we promote our music. We are in a day and age where many artists are forced to sort of feed into this “brain rot style content” in order for the algorithm to push their name, and oftentimes the attention you are receiving back doesn’t correlate to the value of someone coming out to a live show.
Brannan: Our main focus has always been people we can see in front of us. I feel like the live show is one thing that no one can turn into a product or commodity, and that’s why we value it so much.
MD: What do you think is the hardest thing for young people these days?
Brannan: Social media, for sure. I think the unrealistic expectations set by social media make life a lot harder than it has to be. Comparison is the thief of joy, and social media thrives on that.
Taylor: And right now, especially for young people, the main culprit for poor mental health is for sure social media. Because, as Brannan said before, social media keeps one engaged by the constant addiction of seeing what other people have, look like, or do, while also creating an unhealthy dependency on likes, follows, etc., for a constant stream of dopamine.
Fox: In a world of constant distraction, it's easy for people to forget how important it is to have time alone with your thoughts. So many times I've been anxious about something or been in my head, and then I'll just use a distraction like a video game or Instagram to get my mind off of that. But what really matters is having the moments late at night when I'm all alone in my room thinking about the things that make me anxious. That's how I make my art.
MD: What would be your dream venue/festival to play and why?
Fox: I think our dream is not to play just one mega festival but to play them all.
Brannan: Shaky Knees
Taylor: Yeah, it’s Shaky Knees.
Fox: Oh, okay, yeah, it’s Shaky Knees.
MD: Do you have anything coming up that we should know about?
Brannan: We have an album coming out.
Taylor: And then we have a nationwide tour starting in September that we are really excited about, especially getting to play a bunch of places we have never played before and meet a bunch of fans we interact with online.
Fox: Yeah, the album and tour coming up - both are honestly huge moments for us. For the first time, we’re playing for an audience we know will be at our shows and delivering an album neatly packaged and planned to people we know care. It’s important for us, and we’re extremely excited.
MD: What’s your favourite “F” word?
Taylor and Brannan: Phryigian
Fox: Fox
