You’ve described ‘I Give In’ as a song about the tension between motion and stasis — how much of that came from personal experience versus observation of the world around you?
Kevin: “I Give In” is almost exclusively describing personal experience and emotion. We really tried to harness the essence of an internal emotional rollercoaster and reflect that in both the lyrics and sonic elements of the song.
‘Endlessly’ dives into this idea of a “second death.” Was there a specific moment or late-night thought that led you to explore that concept in a song?
Evan: There are a few specific moments that made it into the song, but “late-night thought” feels more accurate. I was thinking about how fixated people can be on being remembered, and how much effort goes into shaping or preserving a legacy.
I remember first seriously thinking about that idea in 9th or 10th grade, when I heard the song “By Torpedo or Crohn’s” by WHY?. There’s a great line in that song that says, “Only those evil live to see their own likeness in stone.” I think everyone wants to be remembered to some degree, but that song was the first time I really thought about how wanting to be remembered or chasing your own ego could make you “evil.”
The “second death” quote you’re talking about is something I read years later that feels much more narcissistic: “You die twice: once when you die, and again when your name is last spoken.” Like, is that suggesting that not having people talk about you is as bad as physically dying?
“Endlessly” is me working through these two conflicting attitudes towards legacy: how much of our legacy is real impact, and how much is just performance? Ultimately, we don’t get to control how we’re remembered, but that doesn’t mean our presence goes unfelt. Even our smallest, day-to-day interactions have consequences that ripple out into the world — not to mention the profound impact we have on the people and communities we care about and work hard to support. That feels more meaningful to me than any statue or gravestone.
The lyrics in both tracks feel deeply introspective. Do any of you tend to write alone first and bring it to the group, or is the songwriting process more collaborative from the beginning?
Evan: Most of the time, we will develop the core of our songs solo, like the sound and themes and the majority of the lyrics, but we rely on each other a lot to help fine tune things and round out our songs at the end. But we don’t adhere to any particular writing pattern. In the past we’ve all gone into a room together with a bunch of guitars and no ideas only to emerge a few hours later with a finished song. We’ve also done some partner writing where one person will give a pretty fleshed out instrumental to another person and ask for lyrics or vice-versa.
You toured Australia for the first time last year — how did that trip shape you as a band? Did any part of the tour leave an unexpected impact?
Kevin: I think our tour was a very validating experience. We’re so grateful to feel validated by like-minded bands and fans – we know it’s not something that many artists can come by easily. It was unexpected and extremely humbling to learn that our songs are part of people’s musical world.
You’ve mentioned being long-time fans of the Aussie indie scene, drawing influence from bands like Floodlights and RVG. What is it about Australian indie rock that hits differently for you?
Evan: We all bonded over a love jangly, bright, fast-paced, guitar-driven indie rock, and we’ve found that Australia consistently generates a ton of awesome bands that share a lot of those qualities. We are all huge fans of Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever and started out basically just trying to copy their sound and vibe. While diving into their influences and contemporaries we got to know Australian indie rock pretty well and fell head-over-heels in love with the scene.
There’s this beautifully bittersweet tone that threads through both tracks. Was that emotional palette something you aimed for from the start, or did it emerge naturally as the songs took shape?
Evan: I think we came at these songs from both of those angles. We wanted to write about more abstract emotional concepts, so we felt like a touch of melancholy would help convey the lyrics better. We also felt inspired and empowered to push ourselves into more complex harmonic territory after recording our album One Way Ticket to Midnight.
Working with Mark Anderson, Joey Oaxaca, and Nick Townsend brought some serious talent into the room. What did each of them add to the tracks that felt especially vital?
Evan: Mark worked as both a producer and recording engineer with us on these tracks as well as our last album and we love every minute that we get to spend with him. He is sort of a local legend in the Denver area who is extremely talented as an engineer and musician in his own right, but what really blew us away is how quickly he can hear us play part of a song or even just describe a song and he immediately understand exactly what we’re going for and knows how we can achieve it. Working with Mark is like feeding napkin sketches into a machine and getting back beautiful, vibrant oil canvases. Also, he’s just a super cool and nice guy. Handsome too.
Joey has mixed a ton of music for bands that we love and he knows how to make us sound like our idols. When you’re in a band, you sometimes hear your own song so many times that you lose perspective and don’t know if you’ve strayed too far from your vision or if the song has just lost all its structure and cohesion. Joey is great at putting life back into our songs and making us feel excited again.
Nick has also worked with a ton of bands that we love and knows how to elevate our songs so that they can stand up next to our inspirations. It’s an emotional experience to hear Nick turn something you started out writing on your couch into a polished track that fits in with the music you admire.
A lot of your music wrestles with weighty ideas — legacy, identity, letting go — yet it’s delivered through energetic, jangly rock. How do you strike that balance between heavy themes and melodic lightness?
Evan: Pairing weighty, emotional ideas and lyrics with energetic yet moody sounds is central to indie rock. It can be very cathartic to hear those kinds of ideas sung in that way. I think that’s a lot of the appeal of music in general, taking words or a melody that resonates with you or reflects something inside of you and then using instruments to amplify that message. We just cover this one specific case where maybe you resonate with vague lyrics about legacy or identity and feel like the message is more powerful in the context of jangling guitars. I mean, at least that’s true for me
When you talk about taking the “path of least resistance” in ‘I Give In,’ it almost sounds like resignation can be both tragic and freeing. Is that duality something you were consciously exploring?
Kevin: Absolutely! That sentiment and duality was a driving force when we wrote the song. The idea was to find something freeing or something positive out of a sense of tragedy or frustration. We’re all generally positive-minded people, so we wanted the final sound to lean a little towards the “freeing” side of that duality.
Now that this double A-side is out in the world, where do you see things heading next for Mainland Break in 2025? More new music, another tour, or something unexpected?
Kevin: We’re looking to focus on writing new music. We aren’t locked in to an album cycle at this time, and that’s really freeing. That gives us the opportunity to explore new sounds and tones. It’s exciting to try and overlay new sonic filters with the classic jangle pop sound.
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