I was lucky enough to run into Tyler Ochs (guitarist & lead vocalist of Receivers) at a local show. After Tyler unexpectedly played a few Receivers songs acoustically, I was amazed by his talent. One of the first things I did when I got home that night was check out the full band songs that Receivers have released so far. So if you haven’t heard of this band, you should look them up as well!
1. When did Receivers form and how was the line-up finalized?
I had a bunch of acoustic songs when I was younger, and I thought up the name Receivers to put it all under probably around late 2008. I did the acoustic thing for a while, but wanted to see how the songs would sound live with a band behind it, so for a while friends of mine would get on bass and drums and jam and play shows using these acoustic songs. I called up Ryan and we recorded a few songs two years ago, and the following summer we asked Mike to play bass and we’ve been going strong since.
2. Explain the writing process for Receivers. Do you write all the songs or is it an equal collaboration?
At first it was just us making acoustic songs into full band songs with some tweaks here and there. Some came out really cool, but re-hashing acoustic songs gets redundant. The way it works now is someone will have an idea and we’ll just jam on it. I still write songs for the band but if anything they’re just skeletons for the band to fuck with rather than a song with every little detail penned.
3. Can you tell us about your involvement with Little Heart Records? What have they put out so far for Receivers?
I got in touch with Bryan a couple of years ago about putting out Two Years. He’s backed what we’ve been done since. They’re great people at Little Heart, always pushing their bands as much as they can. They were also very supportive of the shift from acoustic to full-band.
4. Your EP Two Years was released in Dec. 2010, while EP Haunts was released a year later. Were there any noticeable differences between the writing/recording process of these songs and the songs in general?
Minus the cover, Two Years was just a bunch of songs I had written over a two year span and brought together for an EP. A lot of the songs were about relationships I had with people. Haunts had similar song structure and content except for “Worn” which was a change-up musically and lyrically. It was the first song the three of us wrote together.
5. You recorded Haunts with Maker’s guitarist/backup vocalist, Eric Soucy. What was it like recording with him?
It was real cool. The three of us have all been in bands with Eric before, so there was a lot of constructive chemistry and the whole process was really hands-on. Eric has a real good ear for what sounds good and always has ideas to put out there. I’ve been recording with him since he started a couple years ago so its cool seeing him getting good at it too.
5. What are some bands that influence Receivers?
There are a lot of bands that influence us, everything we listen to has some sort of impact on the music we write. Jimmy Eat World, Brand New, Hot Rod Circuit and Rival Schools are definitely bands that have influenced the style of what we’ve put out so far. Lately I’ve been into a lot of classical, Deftones, M83 and The Sidekicks; none of which really sound anything like Receivers, but I’m sure it will have some sort of influence on the stuff I write now.
6. Any future plans for releasing more music soon?
Definitely, we have a few ideas for songs we’re working on right now. Nothing is set in stone yet, but I would like to see us have AT LEAST another EP out by the end of summer.
7. Any shows/tours coming up that we should know about?
Touring is going to be scant for a little while just because everyone has full-time jobs. We plan on getting some weekends together when we can, but we’ll definitely be playing shows otherwise. We have one in Enfield, CT with Westover and Storm The Bay on June 15th.
8. Which bands would you guys love to tour or play shows with?
Westover, Avely, Crucial Dudes, Caleb Lionheart, Sleepsick, The Stereo State, Maker, and Youth are all bands we’ve made friends with over our time as a band, and touring with any of them would be great. Citizen and Basement are both bands that have put out some good stuff recently; I’d eventually like to make our way out a little more so we can play shows with them.
9. You guys released a new song “Solidarity” recently. Does this song differ a lot from your previous recordings? Is this going to be on an EP?
We recorded this time with our friend Sean Wimer. It’s more aggressive than anything on Haunts. The tones are a lot thicker and my voice got a little better. The song has been kicking around for a while, the lyrics were a process but we finally got around to finishing it and recording it. This is the second song we wrote as a band, its good progression for us. It’ll probably be on our next EP.
10. Last words?
Stay tuned for new music soon! I’m a big fan of consistently writing and putting out new stuff so hopefully that will be the case soon. We plan on playing all over New England this summer, keep an eye out for us. And thanks for the interview!
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