Photo Credit: John Lafirira

When you came up in a time of Taking Back Sunday and Brand New, you tend to lean towards the east coast when it comes to music that just well, gets it. So when play was hit and the sounds from Spanish Love Songs made their way to me, that’s where my mind and heart went. Surprisingly enough, the band was from where I’ve called home over three decades. That was where our conversation started but far from where it ended. Everything from their new video for “The Boy Considers His Haircut” to the remakes was on the table, so grab a chair and dig in.

Kendra: Whenever I hear a band as good as you guys, I don’t think they’re from LA. I think east coast because of bands like The Wonder Years. Is that something you’ve heard before or am I bias towards the coast I’ve called home over 30 years?

Spanish Love Songs: No we hear it all the time! People think we should be from Chicago or Philly. I like to joke and call us “West Coast Emo.” I think it just happened that a lot of the bands we grew up loving were from the East Coast or Midwest. But we also loved the crap out of Blink-182 & Green Day. I think that mash up comes across in some of our songs.

Kendra: Now about the video for “The Boy Considers His Haircut.” I got this sense of happiness passing you by and the world continuing on as if nothing is wrong. Was that the message you were conveying and if so, why do you think we’re so accustomed to just passing by despair in others?

Spanish Love Songs: That’s an interesting take on the vid. Me & Clay Barnes (my directing partner) definitely wanted to convey the sense of isolation as the fun of the world passes us by, but I never thought of it as other people ignoring my despair. I’ve always seen it as my fault for not taking the chance to reach out and ask for help, or even just try to participate. Even in the video, the band is trying to engage with me and I’m not having any of it. So I don’t know if we have a problem recognizing despair. I think we need to make it more socially acceptable for people (especially men) to be able to reach out and say “Hey, I’m struggling.” At least that’s the problem me and my friends have had for most of our lives.

Kendra: I also wanted to talk about one line in the song that really stood out, “…scared of getting hurt but never really been hurt.” That screamed at my belief that our generation is scared of any sort of struggle. Hence, living at home well into their 30’s. Do you feel like millennials are pushing back adulthood just a bit to avoid the so-called struggle?

Spanish Love Songs: Not at all. Quite the opposite, in fact. Everyone I know is struggling and has been since we left college as the economy collapsed. Very few of us are where we want to be (which I think is the case for any generation). My friends who live at home aren’t doing so to avoid the struggle — they might be facing it more (if you don’t believe me, try telling your co-workers or a date that you still live at home). As you say, adulthood feels pushed back, because so many of us are figuring out how to get on our feet and survive on 3 shitty minimum wage freelance gigs while paying for healthcare, rent that won’t stop rising, and the little vices we indulge in to keep us from blowing our heads off.

What I think you’re speaking to is our generation’s tendency to just call bullshit on systems that aren’t necessarily working for us. We’ve been vocal in our selfishness. We want to be happy, we want to see the world, we want a life free of complications. Anything that doesn’t contribute to that is dead weight then. But, every generation has been like this. Boomers were just as selfish as we are because humans are incredibly selfish.

Kendra: Back to the music as a whole, Schmaltz dropped back in March. Thinking back on that process, what do you want to do to evolve with the next record?

Spanish Love Songs: We’ve been discussing this a ton lately. I’m not sure we have an answer yet. We don’t want to do the same thing again, I know that. We can’t write the same punk album over and over again. Beyond that, maybe a song that ends on a positive note?

Kendra: The sequel to this album if you will. Which, we have to have a question about remakes and such because of “sequels, Remakes, and Adaptations.” Which one do you think should’ve never been greenlit?

Spanish Love Songs: There won’t be a sequel to this album. I said what I needed to say about this moment in my life. Whatever comes next will definitely be its own beast. Hmm. Most movies probably shouldn’t be greenlit. I’ll say any board game adaptation outside of Clue, which was good because it felt like it was in on the joke.

Kendra: You’re on tour now in the US and then are heading to the UK. America is great but what are you looking forward to on those international dates?

Spanish Love Songs: We love touring anywhere. We get to drop into world’s that aren’t ours & play some music on a daily basis. I’m looking forward to our UK dates, simply because I’ve never had the opportunity to spend time there. We’re going to make so many new friends. Also, I can’t wait to see our European tour manager Gregory. He is like a little brother and the sweetest person to have on the road.

Kendra: I would hope that when you get back from the UK you’ll rest until 2019, but once the new year hits – any plans?

Spanish Love Songs: Finding a practice space and writing a new album is priority number 1. We have some spring festival and tour announcements we’re excited for. And hopefully, some support tours to pay the van payment and play to some new people.