Phone a Friend: Advice from Greer.

With only one song to their name (and only three months of officially existing) when we were first introduced to Greer back in January of last year, the four-piece now reflect on their past year and a half since, crediting producer Rob Schnapf and Epitaph Records head Brett Gurewitz as two of the veteran musicians who have shared their knowledge and wisdom with Corbin, Josiah, Lucas, and Seth. The last of whom, quips, "We’ve grown a few inches taller and we smell worse," while Josiah shouts out a new addition to his life: "I got a tuning pedal!"

The band say collectively: "Our music has gone through a lot and it’s evolved. We’ve toured. We’ve matured musically and performance-wise. We’ve improved at our instruments and our craft - touring and in the studio. We take it way more seriously. At the time [we last spoke] it was kind of like, 'This is really fun, we’re doing this!' But now it’s a career thing. Before it was more willy-nilly, 'Oh, we’ll play these songs and we’ll see what happens.' But now it’s more like we’re devoting all of our time to it, and I think it shows even in our music: the changes in writing and the maturity that has come to us in the last year. And our songs are shorter. We’ve learned how to structure songs. We’ve learned a lot about songwriting."

"Chill, super high, lights off, close your eyes... Really, we want everybody to listen to it in whatever way they feel is the most comfortable, whatever way they have the most fun with it, you know? Because everyone has their own way of listening to music, and dissecting the feelings, and shit like that. And I think the EP’s made in a way where you can listen to it in whatever order you want," says Seth of how the band envisages listeners tuning into their heartfelt debut EP, 'Lullaby For You'. Josiah specifies: "Listening to it on headphones is probably the best, and listening from top to bottom. It’s fifteen minutes, and the way we placed the songs, unintentionally, is [with] 'Aeroplane' the first song we ever wrote, and 'Stay Clear' [being] the most recent one. You can literally hear the development in the way we write and make songs within the five [tracks]. But the most important thing to me: listen however you wanna listen to it."

A brief discussion of Greer's introspective EP and some life advice follows below...

COUP DE MAIN: "It's such a shame that you had to blame / All this shit on me again," you say in 'Bye Bye Baby'. Why do you think it comes more easily to some people to scapegoat someone else rather than accept their own failings?
JOSIAH: It’s easier, that’s why. It’s easier than looking at yourself and having to admit, "Oh, I fucked up majorly."
SETH: I’ve had breakups where "you didn’t do anything wrong" or "I didn’t do anything wrong"... There’s even been times where I felt I blamed the other person when they hadn’t done anything wrong just because the heartache was so powerful.
JOSIAH: When I was a kid, if I did something that I got in trouble for, I blamed it on this kid named Luke, constantly.
LUCAS: Seriously? Dude, I always got in trouble for so much stuff.
SETH: You were that kid, dude? You were that fucking kid?
JOSIAH: It was for one year and I would just say, "Luke did it," and my teacher was like, "Okay."
LUCAS: [My teacher] would piss me off so badly. I always got sent to detention and I never did anything!
JOSIAH: But, seriously, I think the answer’s literally in the question. It’s just easier for people to blame it on somebody else.
LUCAS: And no one likes to be wrong. Everyone likes to think they’re right and that they’re morally on the right side.
SETH: And how it ties into the song, is it’s something that comes with a breakup. If somebody’s just blaming everything on you, it’s almost like gaslighting.
JOSIAH: And that’s it - not a joke - that’s why you’re saying, "Bye-bye, baby."
SETH: Exactly. It’s the mature thing to do in that situation.
JOSIAH: If someone’s gaslighting you, then fuckin', "Bye-bye, baby!" It’s a fun way to say, "Goodbye, you suck."

CDM: What was running through your mind while writing 'Understand'?
JOSIAH: It’s tough to answer this question because we wrote this song over a long period of time. This song lyrically took a while for us to get. We finished it while we were in the studio recording it.
SETH: The thing is this track was the hardest because it was so devoid of concept when we first wrote it. There was no intention or something we were trying to imply with the lyrics.
JOSIAH: But then it got easier, because that song is about hiding all of your emotions and compartmentalising everything. And at least for me, the portions that I wrote, it was kind of easy because that’s something I deal with, and I feel like a lot of people deal with. Especially guys.
SETH: It’s the struggle of wanting to express yourself and say everything that’s on your mind, but not knowing how.
JOSIAH: Yes.
LUCAS: Not being understood.
SETH: Shut up.
LUCAS: Am I wrong?
JOSIAH: No, you’re not.

CDM: Is there a special significance to the imagery/metaphor of paper birds that made you want to revolve your song 'Paper Birds' around it lyrically?
SETH: At the time I was going through a difficult time with a girl. The paper birds were kind of symbolic in a heartfelt… what am I trying to say?
JOSIAH: Notes you wrote, that flew away, representing your feelings.
SETH: No, but it’s kind of the same thing. Basically, notes I wrote - texts, words I would say, things I would write about this person and to this person - that seemed to go completely over their head.
JOSIAH: You’re trying to let them know, but not today because they just won’t let it happen.
SETH: Exactly. It’s taking all the emotions that you feel for this person as paper-made birds. Like, when you love somebody, you make them little paper-made birds as words. Those are your words to them. Those are your affections towards them. And you give them to this person. But in my situation, they all just flew away because it just went right over their head. They were fragile and my feelings were fragile and in the process I got hurt.
LUCAS: Love is a fragile thing.
SETH: Yes, love is fragile. You really have to treasure it.
JOSIAH: Love is a battlefield, as well, ya know?
SETH: We can’t use that, that’s copyrighted.

CDM: What are Greer's upcoming plans?
JOSIAH: We’re writing. We’ve already made pretty good progress on what we are thinking right now is gonna be our next record. So the plan for the future, since we can’t tour, is just to keep writing and rehearsing and hopefully start working on a new project.
SETH: Hopefully tour. But we probably won’t for a while.
JOSIAH: Yeah, whenever we are able to tour, we will.
LUCAS: Creating more content too. Trying to connect with fans.
SETH: More Greercast!
LUCAS: Greercast Season 2… should we though?
SETH: Yeah, people asked me about it! I got like five messages today.
LUCAS: Yeah, people really like Greercast.
JOSIAH: Greercast Season 2, writing and working on a new project for maybe 2021, who knows? Emphasis on the 'who knows'. (Thank you Coup De Main for talking to us again!)

HOW TO HAVE A YEAR LIKE GREER:

SETH: Be chill; be yourself. You’ll win.

JOSIAH: WEAR A MASK. WEAR A MASK, KAREN.

SETH: Spray paint graffiti, take big risks, and follow your dreams. Take the big leap.

JOSIAH: Make a change.

LUCAS: I have advice: showers aren’t necessary.

SETH: Shut up.

LUCAS: No, it’s true! The past five days I haven’t showered. I look fine, I seem fine, everyone thinks...

JOSIAH: But the nostrils of other people tell a different story...

SETH: Can I actually tell some serious advice? This is for anyone who’s going through something difficult right now, whether it’s a breakup or grief of any kind. 'Cuz I just went through that too, and I guess it’s a good time to say something about it. It’s okay to feel sad and it’s okay to go through your grieving process, whatever that may be. Be easy on yourself, be comforting to yourself, and take whatever process you need to feel like yourself again. It might suck for a long time, it might feel like your life is ruined, and it might stick with you for years, but you know, that’s life, and being sad is not bad. Crying is healthy. It’s okay to feel emotion right now. There’s a lot going on.

CORBIN: And know that all things pass.

SETH: Yeah, all things must pass.

JOSIAH: 'All Things Must Pass' [by] George Harrison, 'Nothing Lasts Forever' [by] Maroon 5, and also 'Feel Your Feelings Fool!' by The Regrettes!

LUCAS: Also, love yourself.

JOSIAH: Yeah! Love yourself and love others. I say that constantly. Love is the most important thing.

LUCAS: Josiah does say "love yourself" a lot.

SETH: After I said it a lot.

JOSIAH: Love, love, love!

LUCAS: It was Seth's saying first and then it became Josiah's.

JOSIAH: Do what you love!

LUCAS: Ummm... coffee makes your stomach hurt sometimes. Isn’t that true?

CORBIN: Not for me.

JOSIAH: Don’t wash your hair every day. It’s bad for your hair.

LUCAS: Don’t shower, too!

SETH: Banana peels don’t make you slip like in cartoons or Mario Kart. Don’t try it.

LUCAS: Oh! '90 Day Fiancé' is really good.

SETH: Get a banana split plug for your amp, it’s awesome!

LUCAS: Watch 'Jersey Shore'.

SETH: Practice kissing your pillow for kissing practice. Do jumping jacks twenty-five times a day!

Listen to Greer's EP here and watch the music video for 'Bye Bye Baby' below: