The Earth & I have proven to be quite the interesting prog unit for a number of reasons. Whether you consider their singer’s recent run on the television talent show The Four or this entertaining write up provided by their guitarist (CLICK HERE to read), it’s clear that there’s a lot of personality and talent to be found with this band! That’s precisely the reason why we wanted to work with them and precisely the reason that brings us here today. We shot a bunch of questions in their direction and got some interesting answers in return. You can check out how the story unfolds here:
There’s some big news surrounding The Earth and I. Kendyle was recently making waves on the TV talent show The Four. Do you want to speak on that and what it means to your band?
We’re super proud of the progress she’s made as a musician in the last year. The Four was the latest development for her, but as early as last Spring she was hopping from studio to studio at the midnight hour to work on multiple projects at once, getting two hours of sleep, and then going to work. We’re happy she went out there and kicked some ass. We’re looking forward to majorly disappointing her with our production values.
How does it feel to be placed among such great company on Spotify so early in your career? Those algorithms appear to be working in your favor!
It’s nice to know that the people who like our music also have the good sense to listen to better music as well. Those bands are some of our favorites, and we’d be only too lucky to work with any of them in the future.
I just watched your music video for CGMTC (Life in the Sunset Zone) and it was a damn trip. I’m actually not entirely sure what I watched but I enjoyed it and it looked great. Can you speak on the concept of the video a bit?
The record itself tells a continuous story, and CGMTC serves as a bit of a thematic overture, both musically and lyrically. For the video, we were hoping to paint a strange portrait of what life might look like in The Sunset Zone. That, and we really wanted to get our bassist Nick on camera eating a tube of lipstick.
What inspired you to wear the masks? Will that be a thing moving forward or was it just a one off?
Our casting department took the week off, so we put our bassist and guitarist, Nick and Liam, into the video. We didn’t want to confound the story with the performance clips, so we disguised ourselves using those masks. In hindsight, it probably wasn’t necessary to wear so much mascara if you weren’t going to see our faces, but we felt super pretty. Masks were just the once, unless I’m wrong, in which case we will do it again, of that you can be sure.
You released your debut album “The Candleman” last year and it’s had time to settle into people’s ears a bit. How do you feel about the response to the record?
Truthfully, without significant exposure, it’s difficult to get a large enough sample size to really know how it was received. I think once you start hearing about people who hate you, you can assess how a piece of music stands up. Generally speaking, the comments we got were very, very positive, and we were humbled.
You guys sent out notes and Chinese restaurant style fortunes with every physical copy of the album. I think that’s an admirable and hilarious idea. Can you tell us some of the best fortunes you came up with?
As is the custom with fortunes you forget them immediately after you create them, much like ransom notes or drunk phone calls, so here’s one we stole from the Museum of Useless History “You will connect with long lost family… on… OkCupid? Alright, don’t be stupid, you can figure this one out, I’m done.”, we’ve tried to translate it to Chinese many times, but we always end up with this “签饼有强大魔术。
我们有計劃接管世界。”
If you had the hypothetical opportunity to show a single song from “The Candleman” to the entire world, which would you choose and why?
Our producer and friend Shane Stanton, of Architekt Music, once said that he thought CGMTC was the freshest sound we had created. While “And Now for a Slight Departure” might be more accessible, we think CGMTC is probably the sound most people will associate with The Earth and I.
If you could collaborate with any artist dead or alive (doesn’t even have to be a musician), who would you choose?
We think it would be phenomenal to do a music video with a director like David Lynch or Tarantino, but those guys don’t answer our phone calls, so we’re going with Fred Rogers. The fact that that man never had a mixtape is a goddamn tragedy.
You’re one of the few bands in the world with a leaf blower player (a leaf blowist, if you will). How does it feel to be pioneers in this field?
You would not believe how hard it is to breathe with that much air being forced into your mouth. We’re desperate for your love, and we’ll do just about anything for it.
Have you guys received any unmarked postcards from aqueducts recently? According to your Bandcamp page, that’s a thing.
A lot of people who purchased the record sent us mail that way. Mostly very kind words. Occasionally we’d receive a dead raven in an unlabeled brown paper satchel, but those seem to have stopped since we started mixing goat’s blood with our morning OJ. Success is all about establishing healthy routines.
What has been your best live experience?
We played Warwick, NY not so long ago and had our levels just right. Halfway through our set we destroyed a stage decoration, which had survived two bands before us, with our bass tone. Can’t beat that physical presence. And it only cost Nick thousands and thousands of dollars in equipment.
Do you have any shows or tours coming up?
We do! We’re looking forward to:
February 23rd in Warwick, NY with Sawce, Deeply Woven, and Into the Infinite;
March 10th in Brooklyn with The Flying Machine Collective, The Mantle, and Fall of the Albatross;
March 25th in Poughkeepsie, NY with Deeply Woven, Sawce, and more TBD;
April 14 in Worcester, MA with Chuggernaut, Valence, Circuitry, and Aviations; and
April 17th at Madison Square Garden with The Beatles.
How do you feel about the New York prog and metal scene right now? Any bands you want to recommend?
It’s alive and well. We have friends in other bands who have been nothing but supportive of our efforts. If you’ll pardon a slight change to the question (we like to include our Jersey brothers), we can’t speak highly enough about the kind and talented people in dhärä, Deeply Woven, Fall of the Albatross, The Mantle, One Hundred Thousand, Bangladeafy, Adesta, Mid Atlantic Title, Bear Success, and Valence, most of whom we’ve had the pleasure of performing with on multiple occasions.
If you had to pair your music as a soundtrack to a movie, what movie would you choose?
Oh that’s easy. Our record already syncs up perfectly to the first act of Cube 2: Hypercube.
Okay, last chance. Is there anything else you want to say to the people out there?
Actually, Mike, we’d like to thank you. You went out of your way to ask us some fun questions, and we really appreciate the chance to speak with you. To anyone who reads this: thanks to you too! The record is out everywhere. Look it up now, because we’ll all be dead some day.
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