Berklee Musicians on How They Turned Soulful Melodies into New England’s Hottest Indie Sound

Dustin Grinnell (00:00:00 --> 00:00:03)
I'm Dustin Grinnell, and this is Curiously.

Leo Sun (00:00:03 --> 00:00:03)
Okay.

Claire Davis (00:00:06 --> 00:00:06)
Yeah?

Leo Sun (00:00:06 --> 00:00:07)
Yeah?

D (00:00:07 --> 00:00:08)
Yeah.

Dustin Grinnell (00:00:13 --> 00:01:30)
Imagine a life without music. Not possible, right? Music plays such a big role in most of our lives. Music motivates at the start of a day and relaxes at the end. It helps us push through routines and cope with emotions.

It fuels the creative process. Music can spark old memories and create new ones. It helps us connect with others and build community. Today on the podcast, we're joined by a dynamic musical duo, Leo Sun and Claire Davis, who have dedicated their lives to creating music that resonates with music lovers of all kinds.

Leo and Claire lead the Q-Tip Bandits, a Boston-based indie pop band known for their genre-defying sound and soul-stirring performances. In this episode, We dive into the stories behind their hits, explore their creative process, and discuss experiences that have shaped their art. And get ready to be serenaded with live acoustic renditions of some of their most beloved tracks. With Leo's velvety vocals and Claire's mesmerizing guitar melodies, their synergy is undeniable. So without further ado, I give you Leo Sun and Claire Davis of the Q-Tip Bandits.

Yeah, this is so fucking cool.

Leo Sun (00:01:31 --> 00:01:31)
Hello.

Claire Davis (00:01:31 --> 00:01:32)
Thank you. Thanks for having us.

Dustin Grinnell (00:01:33 --> 00:01:56)
Really appreciate you guys coming here. I was listening to your music on the way down and just rocking out. I really like your guys' style, and I really appreciate you coming on to talk about your music. So I think before we dive into some of the questions, could you just give us a little bit of an introduction to the composition of your band? Like, who's in it and their names, and what do they play? Like, what is the makeup of your band?

Claire Davis (00:01:56 --> 00:02:14)
Yeah, so we are the Q-Tip Bandits and Leo and I are 2 out of 5 members. And so we are the front people as well as bassist and guitarist. And our other members are our trumpet player, Macklin Tucker, our drummer Dakota Maykrantz, and our trombone player, Hoi Parquet.

Dustin Grinnell (00:02:14 --> 00:02:19)
Cool, cool. And how did you guys meet? How did you then form a band?

Leo Sun (00:02:19 --> 00:03:31)
Well, we all met at Berklee College of Music, so the band thing might have been a given. But not everybody goes to Berklee to try to make it as an artist. But I definitely arrived at Berklee with a collection of songs, and my whole vision or goal or aspiration was to meet my bandmates, meet the people who were gonna bring my music to life. And Claire and I met at a recording session. It was one of those quintessential first-year Berklee, you can only book the studios at 2:00 AM. So we met at like, 10 PM for, like, the one rehearsal before recording. And I just remember that, like, we were playing a very simple thing. It was nothing too flashy, but we were both enjoying it and locking in, dancing and having a good time. And I remember that's when I asked Claire to join the project, and everybody else seemed to follow suit. We all knew each other through, like, dormmates, roommates. And Hoyt, actually, our trombonist, found us on Instagram because we put out a little Instagram blast, and he saw slid right into the DMs. And yeah, the rest is history.

Dustin Grinnell (00:03:32 --> 00:03:39)
And did you guys, that night that you met and played together, did you just decide to get together then and form a band and go for it?

Claire Davis (00:03:39 --> 00:04:04)
I think it wasn't quite so immediate. It was definitely like a few weeks later, but the like musical connection was definitely instantaneous that night. It was like, wow, like this, this works. We have fun playing with each other and like we should keep doing this in some capacity. But as far as becoming a band and joining the band, I think Leo didn't ask me until a few weeks after that initial recording session.

Leo Sun (00:04:04 --> 00:04:05)
Totally.

Claire Davis (00:04:05 --> 00:04:08)
He just happened to not have a bass player for the band yet, which worked out great for me.

Dustin Grinnell (00:04:09 --> 00:04:13)
Define musical connection. What does that mean? You guys were vibing?

Leo Sun (00:04:13 --> 00:05:36)
Yeah, I think there's something interesting that I think happens, at least it happened for me when I went to Berklee, and I hear happens at other music schools and art schools. It's like we all have this chip on our shoulder when thrown into this space of incredible talent, and it's like there's a lot of flexing one's abilities, which is really incredible, and it takes a lot of practice and proficiency, and it's amazing to be in that space. But I think it's easy to lose what makes music music when approaching it from that perspective. And in my couple months before meeting Claire at Berklee, it was a lot of that, and it was a lot of things that were pushing me to grow very quickly. But in that jam session, in that rehearsal, in that space, the musical connection was just like— we played this simple 3-chord thing. Nothing really flashy was happening, but we were locking in on the groove. And we reached this place where it's like the music was playing, And we were able to be in the space rather than feeling like we needed to manipulate the space even more. It was like we had found that groove and we're dancing and connecting and really locking eyes, locking eyes with the other players. And it was just a moment of connection through music, if that makes sense.

Dustin Grinnell (00:05:36 --> 00:05:37)
Do you remember what you were playing?

Leo Sun (00:05:38 --> 00:05:49)
I think it was the Joker. It's like, wah wah wah wah. Yeah. I'm a joker, I'm a smoker, I'm a midnight toker.

Claire Davis (00:05:51 --> 00:05:52)
It's somewhere in there.

Leo Sun (00:05:52 --> 00:06:03)
It's like, right, it's like a 1-4-5 kind of deal. Yeah, it was that simple.

Dustin Grinnell (00:06:04 --> 00:06:37)
Yeah, that's awesome. Um, so I feel like in everyday life, in routines and, and just living, I so rarely see the emotion of joy. And I just saw joy. You know, you guys are joyful, man. You know, it's like the cliché of like coming alive when you guys are playing, man, smiling, moving, jamming, you know? So I just think that's really cool to see someone so joyful. And it seems like music does that for you guys, at least.

Claire Davis (00:06:37 --> 00:06:41)
Yeah, I'd like to think so. I'm glad it shows also outwardly.

Dustin Grinnell (00:06:42 --> 00:06:45)
It shows when you perform too. Seeing you guys perform.

Leo Sun (00:06:45 --> 00:06:49)
Thank you. That was really meaningful to hear. For real.

Dustin Grinnell (00:06:49 --> 00:06:59)
I just instantly like, whoa, you guys are really happy. Q-Tip Bandits, where did the name come from? Did that come early or right away?

Leo Sun (00:07:00 --> 00:07:46)
Yeah, it was pretty instantaneous. This was before Claire joined the band. So a little more backstory and a little more tea maybe is that I had this group already and I was trying to figure out the sound, trying to figure out the arrangement, maybe trying a little putting a little too much of me into it, not enough of what the music wanted to be at the time. But we were just shooting the shit. We were just like, we gotta come up with a band name.

This project needs a name. And it was like Velociraptor, Infinite Jest was one of the options. Like just the craziest thing you could think of. There was a cellist at the time, Michelle Pacman, phenomenal cellist. But she was like, we should call it The Three Skins and tell people one of the members got cut.

Dustin Grinnell (00:07:46 --> 00:07:47)
Hit the cutting room floor.

Leo Sun (00:07:47 --> 00:07:51)
Yeah, right. Yeah, it was like, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, no, but that's fantastic.

Claire Davis (00:07:51 --> 00:07:52)
Yeah, exactly.

Leo Sun (00:07:52 --> 00:08:31)
Every idea flies in this space. And I remember saying, the Q-tip Bandits. And there was like a resounding, like, that's really great, but maybe not for this project. And we were playing like a stripped-down set over at the Bebop that's on Boylston. It had just opened up at the time, and it was me, Aaron Gunther, and Patrick Shelley. And I remember introducing the band, and it was like, every band needs a name, and that was the first name that popped into my head, and I was just like, we're the Q-Tip Bandits. And it just stuck, and over time, we've kind of adopted the meaning that we're here to clean ears and steal hearts.

Dustin Grinnell (00:08:31 --> 00:08:43)
Oh man, nice tagline. Yeah, it's a fun name. It's whimsical and and fun, and I feel like it matches your vibe a little bit. In terms of genre, would you guys say, is it indie pop? Is that the genre?

Claire Davis (00:08:43 --> 00:09:10)
Yeah, we kind of, it's been something that we have kind of struggled to place throughout the years, and we get all sorts of different genre labels from different people who hear us play. But I think as far as us referring to ourselves, we yet like to say like indie pop, indie rock, but we like to differentiate that like, and we also have a brass section, which is something that most other indie rock, indie pop bands don't usually have. So as a more like a clarifier of the sound.

Dustin Grinnell (00:09:10 --> 00:09:16)
What does it mean to you guys that you have a brass section? What does that kind of combination of sounds mean to you?

Claire Davis (00:09:16 --> 00:10:03)
I like to think that a brass section makes everything a party, and our horn players definitely make that very true. But yeah, I think where a lot of other indie rock, indie pop bands might have like a second guitarist that plays like, you know, the lead lines, or maybe like a keyboard that plays the lead lines. We have a horn section that plays those lead lines instead. Yeah, I think it gives us a little bit of a different flavor and also kind of a representative flavor of like just where we all come from with very different musical backgrounds. Like our trombone player Hoyt is from New Orleans, and you know, brass down there is huge, and it's really nice to kind of have that flavor of like his hometown, his upbringing in our music as well.

Leo Sun (00:10:03 --> 00:11:27)
I think brass makes everything a fanfare. Like all of a sudden it's like the Renaissance Faire. Um, I just imagine those big bugles.

Uh, but also it's just like, I talk about this with other wind instrument players, anything that takes the breath, like there's something so like connected to the player about brass, about wind. It's like, as a guitarist, I mean, it's different as a vocalist because we need to kind of be centered in our body in that way to an extent to deliver. But sometimes when I play the guitar, it's like, even if I'm short of breath, even if I'm nervous or anxious, my body can still play the instrument mechanically because it doesn't take the breath to operate that. The breath is such a vulnerable thing, and to have brass and that feeling of like you're getting this straight-from-the-source energy from these two incredible musicians and incredible performers and just incredible people to have as bandmates, it instantly creates like a deeper connection with the audience regardless of sonic quality. If you like brass or not, I just think the moment they play, it's just like every head in the room turns toward the stage to see who's playing those instruments.

Dustin Grinnell (00:11:27 --> 00:11:35)
Yeah, it's interesting powering guitars with your fingers and brain, powering a trombone with your lungs and your brain.

Claire Davis (00:11:35 --> 00:11:36)
Right, right.

Dustin Grinnell (00:11:36 --> 00:11:38)
Different vibe.

Leo Sun (00:11:38 --> 00:12:00)
The breath shows. Like, when I'm nervous, the breath gets shallow. When I'm more relaxed, the breath gets deeper. And to be so mindful of that— I am in awe of brass players and wind instrument players. That's one of those instruments that if I could pick up and play right away, I would love to be able to know how. And I think it just comes back to that connection with the body when playing.

Dustin Grinnell (00:12:01 --> 00:12:15)
So you guys are holding instruments. What are you holding? What are these instruments? And if you could just let me know, like, what's your connection to it? Like, how'd you growing up and what interested you in that instrument specifically? And then maybe play something on it?

Claire Davis (00:12:15 --> 00:12:16)
Yeah.

Dustin Grinnell (00:12:16 --> 00:12:16)
Yeah.

Claire Davis (00:12:16 --> 00:13:31)
But it was not the first instrument that I picked up. I started on the harp when I was 6 years old and really just was always kind of drawn to music and drawn to strings and making sounds and things like that. And so my parents got me into harp lessons when I was very young, but then the older I got, the more I realized that the music I was listening to was not the music that I could play on my instrument. Like, I was in 4th grade and like listening to Avril Lavigne and like rocking out to Sk8er Boi, and I was like, I can't play that on the harp. And so I picked up the guitar.

And then in middle school, like everyone picks an instrument, you know, I picked up the upright bass. And then in 7th grade discovered I could combine the upright bass from school with the guitar that I was learning outside of school into the bass guitar. And I was sold. That was That was it for me. I loved no other instrument more than the bass from that point forward.

Leo Sun (00:13:31 --> 00:13:34)
First verse, chorus. Let's do it.

D (00:13:37 --> 00:13:48)
I backed my car into a cop car the other day. Well, he just drove off. Sometimes life's okay. I ran my mouth off a bit.

Leo Sun (00:13:49 --> 00:13:51)
Too much, oh, what did I say?

D (00:13:52 --> 00:14:18)
Well, you just laughed it off, it was all okay.

It was all okay.

Claire Davis (00:14:19 --> 00:14:22)
And we'll all float on anyway.

Dustin Grinnell (00:14:24 --> 00:14:25)
What was that?

Leo Sun (00:14:25 --> 00:14:36)
That was a cover of a song by Modest Mouse, and they've been around for maybe 15, 20 years from the Boston area called Float On. Called Float On.

Dustin Grinnell (00:14:37 --> 00:14:37)
Very cool.

Leo Sun (00:14:37 --> 00:14:39)
Yeah, our little rendition of that.

Dustin Grinnell (00:14:39 --> 00:14:42)
Yeah. Your instrument, Leo.

Leo Sun (00:14:42 --> 00:15:35)
[Speaker:LEO] Yes, I am currently holding a GS Mini, which is an acoustic guitar made by Taylor. And I started playing the guitar when I was 12. I had been put into classical piano lessons when I was 4 years old as an attempt to maybe increase my intellect. But I really, from what I'm told, excelled at it. Or had like a knack for remembering melodies and remembering parts. And from there I did like the thing too in middle school is like everybody plays the violin for a year, everybody plays the recorder for a year. And when it came time to choose an instrument, I chose the clarinet because they told me if I wanted to play the saxophone, I needed to play the clarinet first. Come to find out years later that I know many saxophone players who have never touched a clarinet.

Dustin Grinnell (00:15:35 --> 00:15:36)
Big news.

Leo Sun (00:15:36 --> 00:15:37)
Yeah, right?

Claire Davis (00:15:37 --> 00:15:38)
They just needed clarinet first.

Leo Sun (00:15:39 --> 00:15:49)
We need clarinet players. And there's like, there's a kid who wants to play music. Give him a fucking clarinet. He'll never know the difference. To this day, I have not played a saxophone.

Claire Davis (00:15:52 --> 00:15:52)
Still waiting.

Leo Sun (00:15:52 --> 00:15:53)
Still waiting for that day.

Dustin Grinnell (00:15:53 --> 00:15:55)
There's plenty of time. Right?

Leo Sun (00:15:55 --> 00:16:00)
Waiting for that middle school music teacher to be like, you're ready. Put the clarinet down.

Dustin Grinnell (00:16:00 --> 00:16:01)
You can finally transition.

Leo Sun (00:16:01 --> 00:17:47)
I thought guitar and music were like the coolest things there were, and like I wanted to I wanted people to look at me the way that I looked at these heroes that I had made. And it wasn't until, like, I gave college a fair shot— this was pre-Berkeley— and I ended up dropping out of school and reevaluating what I wanted. And it was like, I was really grateful that I had guitar in my life at that time, in this soul-searching kind of period. And I think that's where a transition happened, where it was like, I'm not playing to be cool anymore. I'm playing to find myself and, like, discover through music and heal through music.

And that's what became cool about it. And I think the big spark was, like, I got really into watching Red Hot Chili Peppers live videos. And just watching John Frusciante, the lead guitarist, just, like, when he would play, it just seemed like there was no disconnect between him and the instrument. And, like, the sense of freedom, the sense of, like, everything in the world has just melted away, and I am existing in this moment. And when the note bends, I bend, and my body shows this feeling.

Dustin Grinnell (00:17:48 --> 00:17:49)
And you feel that way when you play?

Leo Sun (00:17:50 --> 00:18:11)
More than anything else in life, I think. When I'm playing and performing and getting to share the stage with people who I have developed a deep connection and love for, And then share that energy with a room full of people who, to my understanding, care about what I'm doing for whatever reason, however they got there.

Dustin Grinnell (00:18:11 --> 00:18:20)
I've seen the audiences and I can confirm that they care. Just my hot take.

Leo Sun (00:18:20 --> 00:18:21)
Yeah, fair, fair, fair.

Dustin Grinnell (00:18:23 --> 00:18:45)
And talk to me about, it's one thing to commit to your instrument, to your music, to to say to yourself, like, "This is gonna be my life," you know? It's another thing to master it. It's another thing to learn the craft and get better and fail and grow. What was that process for you guys of mastering the craft of your music and your instrument?

Claire Davis (00:18:45 --> 00:18:49)
I would say I am still far from having mastered that craft.

Leo Sun (00:18:49 --> 00:18:51)
On that path still?

Claire Davis (00:18:51 --> 00:18:51)
Yeah.

Leo Sun (00:18:51 --> 00:18:52)
Yeah.

Dustin Grinnell (00:18:52 --> 00:18:54)
I think it's a lifelong thing, right?

Claire Davis (00:18:54 --> 00:18:54)
Absolutely.

Dustin Grinnell (00:18:54 --> 00:18:59)
You can be in your 70s and 80s and you're still trying to reach for that perfection, that excellence that's always out of reach.

Leo Sun (00:19:00 --> 00:19:35)
It's an interesting balance of like, I'm perfect in every moment in the expression because the channel is only as open as I have carved it out to be open. So when we perform, when we practice, when we play, and I'm giving it my all and I check in with myself about that, that's perfect in that moment. But also recognizing that I can still get better, or I can still widen this channel or clear out some of the wreckage in the channel. It's always this ongoing process that I don't think I'll ever master.

Claire Davis (00:19:35 --> 00:20:51)
Yeah, and I think there's a lot of different ways to go through that process and to like be on the journey of mastering your instrument. And I think at least for me, I was always— I was so bad at practicing whatever instrument I played. I hated practicing, but I loved performing. And so that was kind of where all of my like playing experience came from was I would just like learn songs and like go to perform them and like just try to find spaces that I could like play songs for people or like make videos and things like that. And I think that definitely, you know, leads to benefits and downsides. Like I think I'm definitely not the most like proficient bass player in terms of like music theory, all these other things, you know, technical ability. But from my experience, like, I feel like I, I'm a great performer, you know, like I have other skill sets that I think my path of, of learning and playing my instrument led me down. And I think everyone has a different experience with that, but that was at least more my journey of, of getting here and getting better at the bass.

Leo Sun (00:20:51 --> 00:20:53)
Confirm, Claire is a great performer.

Dustin Grinnell (00:20:53 --> 00:21:10)
Thank Yeah, totally. And it's an interesting idea too, like you're talking about maybe not loving the process of practicing but loving performing. Do you almost feel like the music is incomplete without the performance? Like you need the audience in order for you to feel like it's right? Or—

Claire Davis (00:21:11 --> 00:21:52)
I think it's different, um, because I think like a recorded piece of music can exist without the audience, and I think that is totally good and fine, and it's just a separate space for something to exist in. But I do think, at least as far as our band philosophy goes, we always like to think of like a piece of music isn't complete until we've played it for people and we've kind of like gotten an audience reaction. And we usually like take a song and we shape it afterwards after we have played it for people. And yeah, I don't know, I think playing a song for people is a big part of bringing a song to life and creating a song?

Leo Sun (00:21:53 --> 00:23:09)
Yeah, I think that's like the moment where what we do can become valuable to more people, and I think that's kind of the goal at the end of the day. And I've been trying to stomach this little part as like Claire and I share the songwriting role in this band, and I'm not sure if you feel the same way, Claire, but I've kind of come to learn that like even when I play the song alone and I'm writing it and there's this moment of like conception, if you want to call it. It's like, oh, that's the idea. Oh, that's the concept. Oh, I'm feeling something by myself in the room with this instrument and these words and this melody and this harmony. And that moment is like, I'm doing this for me. I'm doing this for me and whatever connection I have with the world around me and trying to make meaning of my space. And then when I present it to the band, that's another like, hey, I created this thing. Do y'all want to help me shape this into something that is meaningful to others as well? Because I know the core was meaningful to me. And then when we present it to the audience, it's like, now we see if we have created something that has that ability to move people and to connect.

Dustin Grinnell (00:23:09 --> 00:23:28)
Now, when you say, you know, you happen upon like the core of an idea, like the concept, what does that mean? Like, is it a set of lyrics? Is it the like, oh, here's like a topic or subject matter? Or does the melody drift into your head? Like, what is— what's that mean when you get the core of it and you're really excited on your own? Maybe for both of you.

Leo Sun (00:23:28 --> 00:23:29)
Yeah.

Dustin Grinnell (00:23:29 --> 00:23:32)
Uh, yeah, I guess it's asking, you know, how do you write a song? You know?

Leo Sun (00:23:32 --> 00:23:33)
Yeah.

Dustin Grinnell (00:23:33 --> 00:23:59)
I'm— I write myself. I write fiction and nonfiction, and I don't know how it's done. Something comes into your head and, well, that feels like a first sentence, or You know, you get an idea about structure. That's how I want to end. Or, oh, that would be a useful quote to use here. And you just start constructing. And I wonder if the music writing process is similar or dissimilar. I don't know.

Claire Davis (00:23:59 --> 00:24:54)
I think so. I think at least for me, I very much relate to what you said about like the— someone will say a sentence, or I'll read a sentence, or something will just like pop into my head like, oh, that's 'Cool way to phrase that,' or 'That's like an interesting— I could expand on this concept into, you know, something that could turn into a song or a story of some sort.' And I think generally most of the songs that I write start with a lyric, or at least a lyrical concept that I think hasn't maybe been written about enough, or I have— at least I have not heard a song written about it. And then Sometimes the music will follow after that. Sometimes it'll happen hand in hand. And sometimes I'll get like a little melody and then I'll try and find the lyrics to that melody and go from there. So it really, it's not a linear process. It's different every time. But what about you?

Leo Sun (00:24:55 --> 00:26:14)
Yeah, I think I'm recently in the last few months, I've moved into like writing prose and taking little bits that come out of that and writing a few stanzas from ideas or sentences from there that feel more like poetry to me. And then I'll try to fit those over music, reword it to fit the rhythm of like a guitar part that I have in mind. But for the most part, I like to sit down with the guitar and just fiddle around. And like with Willow, for example, like that chord was just like, okay, where does my ear want to go? And then naturally it was like, okay, what's the next bass note that I want to hear?

That's— something's drawing me to that. What notes do I want to hear above it? And then, then you have two chords, or I had two chords to a song. And this is before I had like the theory knowledge that I have now and just like following that. Where does the song want to go?

Dustin Grinnell (00:26:15 --> 00:26:55)
Yeah, I remember reading, like, Stephen King's book on writing. He talks about how he does what he does, and there's something of a mysterious, magical process to it. He talks about how a story is kind of buried under the earth and he has to kind of like dig and wipe away the sand to get to the story, almost as if it's already there. It's already created and you're just kind of bringing it into the world. And it's interesting to hear you talk about how you're like following the sound. It's sort of like this, what's next? What's this sound calling for next? And following that until it like reaches a level of completeness. Like, that's a really interesting process.

Leo Sun (00:26:55 --> 00:27:18)
Yeah, we've definitely experienced that recently as well. We're working on a new EP and first time working with a producer, and he's kind of been that person in our corner that has, I think, used that language of like, dig a little deeper, you know? Like, it's— we're, we're almost there, just keep digging for that next idea. I think we're we're almost to where this song wants to be.

Dustin Grinnell (00:27:18 --> 00:28:13)
Have you guys heard of Rick Rubin? Yeah, it's kind of guru, yeah, musical producer. He's all over the place now because he just published a book, yes, on how he does what he does. But he had the 60 Minutes segment as well, and he seems to be the quintessential midwife for musicians. It's sort of like they just jam and he says There's something about my taste and experience that is telling you to follow this part right here. So just wipe away everything else and go with that, you know? And I think that's art making really, 'cause you just kind of throw a bunch of raw material into the air or onto the page or whatever. And it's a process of selection. That suits my taste, or that sounds different or whatever. And then kind of following it. I haven't read his book yet, but it's very ethereal and sort of, but he's a guru, you know? Kind of knows how to get the sound, I guess.

Claire Davis (00:28:13 --> 00:28:30)
Totally. Yeah, he's someone that, as Leo said earlier, Red Hot Chili Peppers was a big influence for him and myself as well. That was one of our first main bonding moments, I guess, was discovering that we both kind of grew up listening to this band and were very shaped by those musicians.

Leo Sun (00:28:30 --> 00:28:39)
Right. And it was like we knew all the deep cuts. Like, it was something that brought us together very quickly. Yeah, yeah.

Claire Davis (00:28:39 --> 00:28:43)
And Rick Rubin, you know, big part of, big part of their sound and their journey.

Leo Sun (00:28:43 --> 00:29:03)
So, right, yeah, yeah, he did, uh, Blood Sugar Sex Magic was the first record he did with them. And a lot of those ideas and simplification of a lot of the musical parts is what I kind of see it as. And like getting to the core of what, what the part is, you know, removing the fluff.

Dustin Grinnell (00:29:03 --> 00:29:08)
And the fluff is great, the fluff is cool, the fluff gets you to the Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Claire Davis (00:29:08 --> 00:30:07)
I feel like something that also we've been through this process of like working with a producer, um, recently we've been kind of experimenting with is like, as of now, our songs have always been kind of journeys on their own. Like they've been little tiny books or like little chapters of books and like, you know, little memoirs. And then working with like an outsider or an outside perspective He will often challenge us to be like, well, what if this song wasn't a whole book or a whole journey? Like, what if this is just a moment? What if this is just a sentence? And it can be a greater part of a greater whole, but this particular song can just live in this one moment for a second, which is something that's new to us. And there's just so many ways to think about songs and about music, and there's so many different directions to take. Yeah, it's been cool to experiment and dig deeper and see where the song wants to go.

Leo Sun (00:30:07 --> 00:31:11)
I like it. You like it? You don't like it? You don't like it? You're kind of on the fence?

All right. Do we vote on it now, or do we try like 10 other ideas until maybe it's like 4 of us like it and 1 of us is kind of on the fence, and then we can kind of commit to that idea? And it's just like, so much of it is opinion-based. But the closer we can get to something that's like, everybody's vibing with it, everybody feels like it's doing something, we're closer to tapping into whatever that collective space is. And yeah, that's kind of where the heads start clashing, but that's kind of where the fun happens.

Dustin Grinnell (00:31:11 --> 00:31:22)
Yeah. So you guys have instruments in your hand. It feels like a sin not to be playing something at like every 5-minute interval. Do you guys want to play a song? Like, did you have something in mind or?

Claire Davis (00:31:22 --> 00:31:28)
Yeah, sure. We can play the first song we as a band ever put out, I guess.

Leo Sun (00:31:28 --> 00:31:28)
Let's do it.

Dustin Grinnell (00:31:28 --> 00:31:30)
From what album? Is it the first?

Claire Davis (00:31:30 --> 00:31:33)
This, uh, is our first ever single. It's called Willow.

D (00:32:10 --> 00:35:19)
I seen fire and I've been batshit deranged.

Found my castle through a jungle of silly string. But my mama, she asks me why I fly so low, so low.

Your teardrops of hail impale my skin while the lightning laughs at me. At me.

The jackals, they cackle into the night. They leave me wondering why.

I, I hear the whispers of the willow and all the sirens of the sea.

Found shelter while outside the wind blows.

From all the sights I've yet to see, I hear you call my name.

I hear you call my name.

I seen fire and I been batshit deranged.

I'm no higher than a man who hangs on string. But my mama, she asked me me why I hang so low, so low.

Your rolling thunder meets the rumbling in my stomach. I will wonder if I ever grow up from it. But my mama, she asks me why I grow so slow. Oh, so slow.

I hear the whispers of the willow and all the sirens of the sea found shelter while outside the wind blows. From all the sights I've yet to And I hear you call my name.

I hear you call my name.

Dustin Grinnell (00:35:45 --> 00:35:46)
Someone had to clap.

Claire Davis (00:35:46 --> 00:35:47)
Thank you.

Dustin Grinnell (00:35:47 --> 00:35:50)
Thank you. Thank you. Where'd that come from, that song?

Leo Sun (00:35:51 --> 00:36:04)
This song for me came from a place of a lot of healing. I had just moved home from California and I had a lot of substance abuse things going on.

Dustin Grinnell (00:36:04 --> 00:36:09)
And this after Berkeley, or this is before Berkeley? Okay, after college, probably.

Leo Sun (00:36:09 --> 00:37:15)
Yes, yes. I was, uh, I was going to college in Los Angeles. And it was when I first kind of picked up the guitar again, and it's kind of that space where it's like— you asked how the songs were written earlier, and this was one of those songs where I started with the guitar part, and it really just started with screaming, and I was screaming notes over these two chords, and Oddly enough, or surely enough, "ah" turns into "I" really well. And so the first lyric of that song, "I seen fire," was just me going like, "ah." And it was just, yeah, it came from that space of needing to heal, needing to like let something out, needing to be grounded in the world around me.

Dustin Grinnell (00:37:15 --> 00:37:25)
How did the, you know, songmaking process facilitate healing? Well, why is it that the guitar, the song, is that kind of facilitator for you?

Leo Sun (00:37:26 --> 00:39:01)
I think for me, part of what making music— why making music is healing and grounding is because when we or at least I'll speak for myself, when I sit down with my guitar and when I sing, I get to create my own space. I get to hear the reflections of something I'm doing in the space that I'm in. It kind of reminds me that I'm there. It reminds me that I'm in this moment. I don't know if there's other physiological things of the vibration in my body or the strings vibrating under my fingertips and these are acupuncture points. Maybe people— I've heard a lot of things along the way, but more than anything, it's like when I write a song, it gives meaning to a feeling that I feel alone in. And here's this tangible thing, as wispy and in the air as it is, that is birthed from my feeling. And this thing that I thought was so internal and painful and there's like this inability to like take this and just be like, "Here, feel it, take it, rip it right out of me, fucking take it." Music has that ability for me of just like, now here's this thing that creates feeling or generates something that is outside of me and I can hear it and I can feel it in the air and it's not just in me anymore, it's in the space that I'm in and there's something grounding and liberating about that to me.

Dustin Grinnell (00:39:01 --> 00:39:09)
What about you, Claire? Any of that resonate with you in terms of how it works for you and how you engage with music?

Claire Davis (00:39:09 --> 00:40:19)
Yeah, I think music is great at taking those feelings that we don't really know how to share with others and, like Leah said, put them in a tangible format. And I think Music as well as poetry has just this way of being like, oh wow, like hearing it from someone else's perspective, right? And being like, wow, I can't believe I've never thought about that feeling in this certain way, or I've never been able to put it into words like this person just did. And it makes you be able to feel that feeling in a whole other way. And, you know, sometimes you really just need to feel that feeling to get through whatever you're getting through in that moment.

And the perk of music beyond just poetry is that you get this added layer of depth of just the crazy feeling that, you know, vibrations can make you feel in certain frequencies. And really just putting that together with meaningful lyrics, I feel like is so cool. I can't believe that. Humans get to do this thing and get to share it with each other. It's such a cool thing.

Leo Sun (00:40:19 --> 00:40:33)
Yeah, which is cool, like getting back to a previous point of like the digging for something. It's almost like we know what vibration we want to feel when the song is like beginning to be written. We know the feeling we want.

Dustin Grinnell (00:40:33 --> 00:40:36)
You talked about screaming. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that led to—

Leo Sun (00:40:37 --> 00:40:56)
yeah, yeah. It's like, uh, it's cool that it's this like human thing that we get to give meaning to, and it's like a thing that we share, like that note going to the next note creates more or less the same feeling for me as it does for Clare. And the question is, is that the feeling we want to feel?

Dustin Grinnell (00:40:57 --> 00:41:14)
Yeah. Yeah, I remember Friedrich Nietzsche, a philosopher, German philosopher, he said, "Life without music would be a mistake." It just wouldn't— doesn't work. What is life without music? What if you guys didn't have music? Where does that leave you?

Claire Davis (00:41:16 --> 00:41:21)
I know, like, at all? Or if we were not doing music, how heavy do I go?

Dustin Grinnell (00:41:21 --> 00:41:26)
You know, let's just go right to the max. Well, no, like civilization without music at all.

Leo Sun (00:41:26 --> 00:41:31)
Yeah, like a The Giver kind of situation where it's like everything's black and white.

Dustin Grinnell (00:41:32 --> 00:41:33)
Yeah, good example.

Leo Sun (00:41:33 --> 00:43:05)
Yeah, I think there's a level of like the intellect in me is like, well, if I didn't know it, it out didn't exist, I wouldn't— I wouldn't know I was missing anything. But there's that thing of like, there's that itch of like, well, I still feel things. I still— there still needs to be something to get it out. That aside, I don't know if I would be here if music didn't exist. Music is like the place that I turn to, like Claire was saying, like when I'm sad, when I have these feelings that are— that feel so overwhelming, and feel alone in them, I think about my favorite musical artists.

That's where my brain goes. I think about my favorite songs. Sometimes they're ones to pull me out of that darkness and remind me that, like, life is worth living and that there's beauty and love to be experienced. But sometimes those songs are also, like, the things that rip the feeling out of me. The songs that remind me that I'm not alone in my feeling, and I can listen to and just weep because I'm reminded that somebody else out there that I've never met, that I may never meet, feels this way too.

Dustin Grinnell (00:43:05 --> 00:43:46)
Yeah, that's interesting too, just the idea of music, but storytelling in general. It's a way to make meaning, to give meaning to your existence, but it is also, like you said, a way to feel less alone because, oh, someone else has been through this. And this is how they navigated it. And especially through fiction, we can see objectively, we can objectively judge characters through a story about how they're navigating that challenge. And maybe they navigated it in a way we wouldn't navigate it, or maybe they're doing it the way we would maybe want to do it. So we get to see this like simulation play out.

Leo Sun (00:43:46 --> 00:43:50)
Yeah, totally. There's a lot to be learned from fiction. Yeah.

Dustin Grinnell (00:43:50 --> 00:44:02)
Well, yeah, when listening to your music and lyrics, I think about poetry, the turns of phrases. I think it's in "Tiptoe," "Even the devil needs a friend to rely on." Is that what it is?

Leo Sun (00:44:02 --> 00:44:03)
To depend on.

Dustin Grinnell (00:44:03 --> 00:44:06)
To depend on, yeah. That's an interesting line.

Leo Sun (00:44:09 --> 00:44:10)
Yeah.

Dustin Grinnell (00:44:10 --> 00:44:11)
That's poetry.

Leo Sun (00:44:11 --> 00:44:13)
Thank you. Thank you.

Dustin Grinnell (00:44:14 --> 00:44:22)
So I feel like we could talk about you know, the art, like, all day. I want to talk about the business too. So the business side, right?

Claire Davis (00:44:22 --> 00:44:23)
It's a big part of it.

Dustin Grinnell (00:44:23 --> 00:44:47)
So it's one thing to learn your craft and fall in love with your art and to put it out there. But it's another thing to go for it like you guys, you know, you're touring, you're getting up there, you're putting yourself out there through different digital channels and producing. Talk about that experience of like, making that step, like, okay, we are going to go pro, and like, what's that been like?

Claire Davis (00:44:48 --> 00:45:59)
It's a journey of just one step after the next. I think it is less a decision of one day you're like, we are going to go pro, and more of like a, well, we have songs, we want to play a show. Oh, okay, we've played a show, we want to play another one, but with more people there this time. Oh, okay, we did that. What's next? Oh, okay, we want to play a festival. Okay, how do we make that happen? And it's It's a bunch of little steps to trying to get to the big picture. And yeah, we've been doing this for almost 6 years going on now. And yeah, it's definitely been— Leo and I put a lot of time and effort into this band. And I heard someone say a while back, if you are not doing at least one thing every day to make your dream happen, then it's not going to happen. And I really think that is true. It could be even the tiniest thing of like, oh, today I'm working on a song and tomorrow I'm going to do a social media post and the next day I'm going to send this email out to this person and just doing one little thing each day to make something bigger happen.

Leo Sun (00:45:59 --> 00:47:52)
You know, it's one yes out of 1,000 nos. And I think it comes back to a question you asked earlier too about mastery of craft. And rather than mastery, I think it's because we touched on how that's like a lifelong process, but more so what I feel like I have found is like calling and purpose. And it's like, I think why we're still around is like we've played the shows where we drove 10 hours and played to 3 people in a basement. And that feels— that can feel like failure.

At the time, it didn't feel like the best night, but we showed up, we played to the room like there was 100 people. And I still believe that those people think about us every once in a while, you know? But that aside, it's like, I will only know once I give it an honest shot. And when that honest shot happens and it didn't pan out how I wanted it to, am I still called to do this work? And in that space, it's just like those questions that Claire talks about.

It's like, okay, well, how do we make it happen now? What do we want out of this? And how do we make that happen? And this continuous, like, okay, that was really great, but that wasn't it. What can we do now?

Dustin Grinnell (00:47:52 --> 00:48:04)
Yeah, I get the sense that you guys can't not do this. Do you guys have day jobs? Like, do you— what do you— how do you break— how do you make them— how do you make the numbers work?

Claire Davis (00:48:04 --> 00:48:14)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, I would consider myself a gig worker, and in the sense of I have tried to avoid getting a day job for as long as I possibly can.

Dustin Grinnell (00:48:14 --> 00:48:15)
God bless you.

Claire Davis (00:48:15 --> 00:48:50)
Yeah, I really just try and say yes to as many gigs as I possibly can, which for me as a musician looks like weekends during summer when we're not playing gigs as the Q-Tip Bandits, I'm playing wedding gigs and I'm, you know, doing that on the side, or I'm doing some session work as a bass player and writing and collaborating with other people. Also just saying yes to random non-musical gigs, which is how I met Ellen, who is the reason we are on this podcast today.

Dustin Grinnell (00:48:50 --> 00:48:53)
My neighbor who was on the podcast as well. Yeah.

Leo Sun (00:48:53 --> 00:48:55)
Yeah. Shout out Ellen.

Dustin Grinnell (00:48:55 --> 00:48:56)
Ellen Damski.

Leo Sun (00:48:56 --> 00:48:57)
The Craigslist queen.

Dustin Grinnell (00:48:58 --> 00:48:59)
The myth, the legend.

Claire Davis (00:48:59 --> 00:49:14)
Yeah. So Leo and I also do a lot of like Craigslist searching, looking for gigs and looking for random things to just— anything that will help us kind of make ends meet in order to help us keep doing the music thing. Yeah, yeah.

Dustin Grinnell (00:49:14 --> 00:49:24)
Thanks for answering that in such a practical way. Like, it seems like you just cobble things together, you combine income sources, and you make it work, right?

Claire Davis (00:49:24 --> 00:49:31)
There's some months where I'm really like, I don't know how this worked, but this ended up working this month. Let's try again next month, you know?

Dustin Grinnell (00:49:31 --> 00:49:42)
How do you navigate that? One could say it's sort of precarious. It's, uh, other people may prefer like more security and stability of like a salary or something? How do you manage that?

Claire Davis (00:49:42 --> 00:51:31)
Yeah, like I said, I go a month, a year at a time. I have many other friends who I feel like have kind of opted for more of that stability, security, and that is a total respectable choice. I think just looking down the line a few years, you know, it can be scary to be like, okay, you know, music is such a volatile thing, like, should I get into something else and then just have have music be the side project until it can become the main project, you know, kind of thing. But I think that attitude is a little bit dangerous almost in the sense of, I feel like Leo was saying, I would regret not giving this music thing an honest shot. And if it does end up not working out for any reason, Sure, I can fall back on something, but I'm not going to bank on falling back on something right now.

I'm going to give this all my effort. And I like to think there's no way it can't work out if you're giving it all your effort. And, and, and like Leo said, the purpose is real and true and genuine behind it. And you're not just doing it for fame or for all the other superficial things that aren't necessarily part of the purpose. But yeah, it is very tricky.

Leo Sun (00:51:32 --> 00:51:51)
It takes some faith. Yeah, it's like, uh, I know that something will come together. Also, I, I can't speak. I just think I'm a little bit nutty in the sense of like, if I don't have money, I'll do— I'll, I'll clean your toilets. Like, I just—

Dustin Grinnell (00:51:51 --> 00:52:17)
it's one of those like, I don't I mean, let's be honest, there's a little bit of, I don't know, madness involved, like, to believe that you can chase this dream, get this dream done, because it's just so unrealistic from a practical standpoint. So you have to be a dreamer. You have to self-delude in a way too. You have to think, you know, I got what it takes, but statistically I'll fail. And yet I go for it anyway. Yeah.

Leo Sun (00:52:17 --> 00:53:38)
I mean, to use that language, I don't know if that's helpful, but there's something that's like very I think it is pretty wild that music exists because it comes from a place. It seems nonsensical that I would believe so strongly that my feeling is so important that I think I need to share it so that many people need to hear it. Like, there's something a little diluted about that to begin with. But the truth of that is like, for some reason I write songs. For some reason I'm called to do this work.

For some reason, I have spent so much time with this instrument that I can write a song, and for reasons outside of my control, people are connecting with that. And it almost is like I found myself in an obligation that, like, I have to keep thinking this way, or I have to understand that, like, it's not that I need to share my feeling because me. It's like, it's because we're all people, and my feelings are a human feeling, and if I can channel that I can get it to other people and they can feel what they need to feel. I don't know, it's like the— Yeah, I question my sanity. I'm like, why do my feelings matter so much?

Dustin Grinnell (00:53:38 --> 00:53:39)
You're just an artist, man.

Leo Sun (00:53:42 --> 00:53:44)
Yeah, it's all that.

Dustin Grinnell (00:53:44 --> 00:53:47)
Yeah. Yeah, you're doing it right.

Claire Davis (00:53:47 --> 00:53:48)
Yeah, thanks.

Dustin Grinnell (00:53:48 --> 00:53:58)
That's all you can do. I've had a similar dynamic in my life. Yeah, day job versus— yeah, because it's interesting idea of making like the side project the main project. I like that, you know?

Leo Sun (00:53:58 --> 00:55:29)
Yeah, totally. I always like to think that the band is the main project and everything else is the side hustle that keeps the main thing afloat. And to put very simply, to kind of further Claire's point, One of the first people who ever hired me for a music gig, hosting an open mic out in Somerville, and like a great teacher and someone who gave me a lot of direction, Tom Bianchi, he was like, you're gonna meet a lot of people in your life. And when you meet the doctors, the lawyers, the accountants, the business people, everybody who's like making a lot, a lot of money, and they see you play music, the way that you do, you're gonna get one comment more often than other things, which is, "I wish I had spent more time playing music," or, "I wish I'd spent more time painting," or, "I wish I spent more time writing poetry. I wish I did the creative thing more in my life." But rarely, if ever, do you meet an artist or a musician who's like, "You know, I think I should have just been an accountant. I really should have just been a lawyer." And most artists who have committed their lives to it, regardless of financial insecurity, have stood firm on this idea that, like, a life creating art was a life well lived. And just thinking about that, I'm in the same camp of, like, there's no plan B.

Dustin Grinnell (00:55:30 --> 00:55:31)
Yeah, burn the boats.

Leo Sun (00:55:31 --> 00:55:32)
I'm going.

Claire Davis (00:55:33 --> 00:55:33)
Yeah.

Leo Sun (00:55:33 --> 00:55:39)
I'm going. Burn the boats. If I need to get somewhere, I'll learn how to swim. You know, it's like, yeah.

Claire Davis (00:55:39 --> 00:56:53)
But I do also want to add that I feel very privileged in my financial situation, and I know that not everyone's coming from the same backgrounds. And so I don't want the things that I'm saying here to be like, yes, like, if you have no money, to keep having no money, and, you know, like, kind of thing. Like, I also want to say, like, don't be afraid to ask for help. Like, one of the reasons that I think we as a band were able to get off the ground the way that we were was like during the pandemic. We applied for pandemic unemployment assistance for gig workers, and, you know, we really tried to look for all the grants and all of the, the possible ways that we could get money, including like Kickstarters and things like that. Things that really— it's like, okay, we don't have this money right now, but how can we ask for help to get totally somewhere, you know? And, and kind of reaching out to your community and your supporters that are like, I believe in this thing that you do. And I don't know what the right word is, but not being so stubborn or, or like putting the ego aside for a second and being like, okay, there are people out there who may be willing to help me make this happen if I were just willing to maybe be a little embarrassed at first and ask, ask for that help.

Leo Sun (00:56:53 --> 00:56:56)
The strongest thing I can do is ask for help.

Dustin Grinnell (00:56:57 --> 00:56:58)
You have to be vulnerable though.

Leo Sun (00:56:59 --> 00:57:37)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's a part of it. I mean, like, to answer your questions, like, I'm not working at this very moment because I got a grant from Mass Culture Council and they were doing grants for artists and I reached out and I filled out the forms and followed up with them for months and they just sent me a pretty substantial amount of money and I'm able to step back from the work the day job work I was doing, to take some time to myself and focus on the art. And we wouldn't be around if it wasn't for the community around us and the people who are willing to support what we do and see that we are giving it our all and an honest shot.

Dustin Grinnell (00:57:37 --> 00:57:43)
You guys had a successful Kickstarter recently, was it? Did you raise, uh, $17,000 or something?

Claire Davis (00:57:43 --> 00:57:43)
We did.

Dustin Grinnell (00:57:44 --> 00:57:54)
Yeah, that's amazing. I saw your Instagram post thanking everybody for their contributions. Um, yeah, so that was able to get money for an album, was it?

Claire Davis (00:57:54 --> 00:58:10)
Yeah, for our next EP that we're working on. And that was our second crowdfunding type thing that we've done for an album. And we are just always blown away by the support from our friends and family and fans and really the people who make what we do possible.

Leo Sun (00:58:11 --> 01:00:07)
Yeah, one of my favorite things is— I might piss off a lot of people by saying this, but I don't think— I think anybody who says they're self-made is full of shit. Everybody who says, "I did it by myself," is just not seeing the world around them as clearly as I think it actually is going down. It's like, my favorite anecdote is Arnold Schwarzenegger is like, people look at him like, you know, like when he moved here from Austria, no money, and like now he's the governor. Regardless of what you think about local politics, like this person went from zero status in this country to somewhere. And whenever he's asked, how'd you do it?

How'd you make this happen? How did you get from where you were to where you are now? And he's just like, because there was 10 guys at the gym I went to that was like free to go to, and they drove me everywhere I needed to be, and they taught me English, and they brought me to all of my appointments, and they became my friends, and they became the community that helped me find my footing. And so, please don't tell me I did any of this on my own because I didn't. And I think I get the same feeling from this band.

Dustin Grinnell (01:00:07 --> 01:00:12)
Yeah. So maybe another song if you guys want to play?

Claire Davis (01:00:12 --> 01:00:26)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think we'll do, um, our song off of our first and only record at this point, uh, called Melancholy Flowers, and this song is called Better Place.

D (01:00:47 --> 01:00:55)
Give me your demons, they play well with mine. Give me a moment and let me waste all of your time.

Claire Davis (01:00:56 --> 01:00:58)
I hope you don't mind.

D (01:01:01 --> 01:01:08)
Give me your angels and your devils too, and I'll do my best not to let them get the best of you.

Claire Davis (01:01:11 --> 01:01:12)
What's left of you?

D (01:01:15 --> 01:02:31)
'Cause all of these shoulders hold ghosts on their crowns, and all of these bright eyes, they just dart around the room.

Are we going home soon?

And all of these fingers hold stories and time that books fail to dictate and pens Can't define. Do you need a ride to, to a better place than here?

To a better place, my dear, my dear.

My dear, give me your reason and I'll give you mine. Don't even matter if they don't align. It's true, 'cause they don't need to.

Claire Davis (01:02:31 --> 01:02:35)
I'll wait for years if it means you'll be fine.

D (01:02:35 --> 01:04:23)
And that's alright too.

And all of these monsters hide under our beds and whisper sweet sounds to the ones in our heads, they do.

But we're going home soon to a better place than here.

To a better place, my dear. To a better place than here.

To a better place, my dear. My dear.

My dear, all of these shoulders are thrust on the ground, and all of these bright eyes, they just all around.

Dustin Grinnell (01:04:27 --> 01:04:29)
Beautiful, beautiful song.

Claire Davis (01:04:29 --> 01:04:30)
Thank you.

Dustin Grinnell (01:04:31 --> 01:04:38)
So give, like, listeners a sense of what's next for you guys. Like, where are you guys playing? I think it's the On the 15th of September.

Claire Davis (01:04:38 --> 01:04:49)
Yeah, September 15th, we'll be at Paradise Rock Club in Boston. Um, and if you're not listening from Boston, we are also touring around, um, the East Coast in New England.

Leo Sun (01:04:50 --> 01:05:19)
We'll be headed to Los Angeles as well on October 8th. And if you're hearing this years from now, we'll probably be on the road somewhere near you, so keep those ears peeled. And we're getting into the studio in Los Angeles to record a new EP, and that is scheduled to be released spring or summer of 2024. And you can find us anywhere on the internet.

Dustin Grinnell (01:05:20 --> 01:05:22)
Mm-hmm. Your Instagram page, website.

Claire Davis (01:05:22 --> 01:05:24)
Yeah, it's @theqtipbandits.

Leo Sun (01:05:26 --> 01:05:28)
And theqtipbandits.com. Yeah.

Dustin Grinnell (01:05:30 --> 01:05:41)
And the last question is like, what are you guys excited about right now? You know, you're making this EP, maybe something like that, or performing, touring. What's, what's getting you really excited right now?

Claire Davis (01:05:41 --> 01:06:10)
All of it. Yeah, I think we're really excited to put out this next EP, and these songs are very fresh and very, very new, I think, for our sound and I'm very excited to show them to the world. And we are also a very— we're a very live band, and so I'm also very much looking forward to touring those songs, performing them live, and hopefully playing some festivals next summer as well.

Leo Sun (01:06:10 --> 01:06:33)
Yeah, I'm looking forward to everything as well. But personally, we go back on the road this weekend. It's been about a month and a half of hiatus from live shows and I'm excited to connect with people again and put on the performance, put on the show, give them ourselves directly from the source. Yeah, you know, that's always exciting.

Dustin Grinnell (01:06:33 --> 01:06:49)
Well, uh, yeah, I wish you guys like great success, and I can't wait to go to the show on the 15th myself. And, uh, thank you for coming here and talking about how you do what you do, why you do what you do. It was really cool to hear your music as well.

Claire Davis (01:06:49 --> 01:06:51)
Yeah, thanks for having us, Justin.

Dustin Grinnell (01:06:51 --> 01:06:58)
You're so welcome. If you guys want to play something to close it down, maybe?

Leo Sun (01:06:58 --> 01:07:02)
Yeah, this is our latest single called Tiptoe.

Dustin Grinnell (01:07:18 --> 01:07:18)
Bliss.

D (01:07:19 --> 01:10:35)
He's a morphine mentalist with a melancholic floral wit. Oh, what a cryptic kid. He'll tiptoe through the window, taking one more for the road, and he'll hang on to your halo, knowing he's still gotta find his own 'Cause he might choke on this tightrope if he don't keep holding on to letting go. He'll be wayward and too far gone, but even the devil needs a friend that he can depend on.

Manic and mischievous, an altruistic piece of shit that you can't resist. He's an alky anarchist with a silver tongue tucked between the ribs of pretty painted fists. He'll tiptoe through the window, taking one more for the road. And he'll hang on to your halo, knowing he's still gotta find his own. 'Cause he might choke on this tightrope if he don't keep holding on to letting go.

He'll be wayward and too far gone, but even the devil needs a friend that he can depend on.

He'll feel it in his fingers, it's buzzing in his bones. He'll fill your life with laughter to feel a little less alone. He'll tell you of his heartache till time has got him grown. In a tale of ever after, he'll love you like one of his own. You'll feel it in his fingers, it's buzzing in his bones.

He'll fill your life with laughter to feel a little less alone. He'll tell you of his heartache till time has got him grown. In a tale of ever after, he'll love you like one of his own. Own.

He'll love you like one of his own.

He'll love you like one of his own.

Dustin Grinnell (01:10:35 --> 01:10:46)
Thanks for listening to this episode of Curiously. I hope you enjoyed this conversation with Leo Sun and Claire Davis of the Q-Tip Bandits. Stay tuned for more conversations with people I meet along the way.