Innerlove.: From the Long Island Music Scene and Beyond

Innerlove.: From the Long Island Music Scene and Beyond

Meet Innerlove., a collective from the legendary Long Island music scene ready to break out and make it happen in nothing short of an epic way.  Their new EP Fine By Me has just been released through Know Hope Records, featuring five vibrantly introspective songs that will linger with the listener long after the recording spins to its conclusion.  Fans of acts such as Transit and The Weakerthans will definitely want to discover what Innerlove. has to offer on Fine By Me.  Highwire Daze recently caught up with the lads in Innerlove. to find out more this inspiring band on the rise.  Read on…

Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in Innerlove., and how long the band has been together.

Hey I’m Jon I play Drums, *points to guitar and mic* That’s Ryan, *points at another guitar* That’s Joe, *points to trash can* and That’s Dan. We’re Innerlove. from Long Island and have been together for almost a year

Where is the band based out of and what is the local music scene like there? Are there any local bands you could recommend?
Jon: As a long time promoter (Long Island Emo) and musician on Long Island it’s absolutely wild over here. Watching (and playing with) bands like State Lines//Oso Oso, Macseal and Moon Tooth go from playing small local shows to blowing up over the years has done nothing but motivate each one of us. 3/4 of us work at one of (if not THE) busiest venue on the island (Amityville Music Hall). It’s a smaller room but it’s been there for years and the amount of bigger bands that play there are incredible. Between the sheer amount of talent on the island and a surging DIY scene here there will always be music coming from the island. It’s incredibly hard to pick a small amount of bands to recommend so I’d say look at our past shows, look at the bands we’re playing with and fall down that rabbit hole. BUT If I had to play favorites look into Figure Eight, Strawberry Blonde and Bigger Better Sun.

How did you wind up signing with Know Hope Records?
Jon:  Haha Well it’s a bit of a long story but I can simplify. Over the years of playing in bands (Table Talk) we’ve become synonymous with the South New Jersey//Philadelphia scene. Touring with our good friends in Rich People, Breaking Tradition (RIP) and playing a whole slew of shows with Sleep In really cemented them in our hearts. After Ryan and I’s old band broke up we ended up writing and recording demos (which of course we’re going to show our good friends). Around that time our friends (Rich People, Sleep In and 2319) were all signing to Know Hope Records based out of Philly. The demos got shuffled around in the mix, landed in Shawn of KHR’s hands and now we’re gigantic rock stars.

Is there any overall story or concept behind the Fine By Me EP title?
Ryan: I thought that “Fine By Me” would be a good title for this EP because most of the songs are about things in my life that I let affect me way more than they should. Eventually, you have to come to terms with the fact that you’re not in control of every little aspect. The last line of the EP is “I can’t change the world and that’s fine by me” so thought it was a perfect fit.

Select two songs from Fine By Me and what inspired the lyrics.
Ryan: Relax – I wrote “Relax” about myself. It’s pretty self-explanatory. I tend to get really in my head and make everything seem way worse than it is. This song is just about slowing down, taking a couple breaths and remembering that it could always be worse. All The Weight – I wrote this song a long time ago. It’s just about how I used to be this young kid with a great outlook on life. A lot of family issues came up and lasted for a very long time putting me into a very weird funk that I’m still not out of to this day.

Who did the cover art/photography for Fine By Me and how much input did you have on it?
It was all Connor Rothstein. He is one of the most genuinely talented photographers we’ve met over the years and he has done nothing but support us. At the end of it all we had the final say, but Connor came to us with a vision and we let him run with it. What he came up with was nothing short of beautiful. I’m glad the record has his touch of grace on it.

What could one expect from a live Innerlove. show?
4 Guys on stage that never know what to say other than tell inside jokes to each other. But we also rock. It’s a give and take like no other band out there.

What was the experience like opening for Vinnie Caruana of The Movielife and did you get to meet or hang out with him at all?
Ah that show was a whole slew of fun. We got to play with our close friends in The Meantime, collect food for the less fortunate AND open for Vinnie. I didn’t really get to talk to him much but Vinnie has one of those voices where he starts singing and it completely fills the room. It truly was an honor getting to share the stage with him.

If Innerlove. could open for any band either now or from the past, who would it be and why?
Jon: I think 2006 Black Holes and Revelations era Muse. If I was ever given that chance I would have a heart attack.

If the music was Innerlove. was a donut, what kind would it be and why?
Dan: We’re chocolate glazed donut with a strawberry filling cause on the outside the lyrics can be dark and heavy but when you look within, you find light and a surprising depth that makes light of it through music and expression

What’s up next for Innerlove.?
For the most part we’re focusing on touring in support of “Fine By Me”, but I’d also be lying if I said we weren’t working on something new…

Any final words of wisdom?
Never let your lawyer sign your checks…

(Interview by Ken Morton)

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