Seattlest Music Presents: The Local Strangers

It's been an incredible experience to get to know each of the three bands taking part in the first Seattlest Music Presents show. Feeling as though we've known each other for a while, the conversations take on a light-hearted and fun atmosphere. It's especially obvious when talking to The Local Strangers. Both Matt Hart and Aubrey Zoli have huge grins on their faces the entire time we speak because we're talking about what they love more than anything else in life: music. It's not just a matter of making music for them, it's what they have a passion to do. Whatever it takes to get them there they'll do it and it shows in their music. With beautiful harmonies and quotable lyrics that echo in your mind long after the music stops, you'll have no choice but to set them to repeat. The new EP will be released in physical form at our show but their first single, "Hunted by Ghosts", is available now for free download on their bandcamp site. Listen below for a taste while you read the interview, you'll thank us later.

How did The Local Strangers start?

(Matt) I moved here last May, having been in a band in Chicago before that for the last three years. I was hoping to move to a more acoustic and harmony driven project. There was one day when i was feeling especially frustrated and not knowing where to put my energy. I was posting an interview I'd done with Coyote Grace and they were talking about how great Craigslist is in helping musicians find each other. So, I decided to look on Craigslist, why not? I found two ads that were what I was looking for. One actually mentioned The Head and the Heart and Mumford and Sons and I met with that guy but it didn't really work out. The other was Aubrey's ad.

What did it say?

(Aubrey) Matt actually asked me a month or two after we started playing together if I still had the post but Craigslist had deleted it already. But I'd been in a band that fell apart really rapidly and was really frustrated by that since we'd finally started playing shows. I was writing a ton of music but never actually got to play any of it. So when that fell apart I put an ad up on Craigslist. I was originally looking for musicians to continue that project and not necessarily for something new, but I was always open to it if the right thing came along. When Matt came over and we worked on some solo piano stuff I had written there was a great vibe right away. We started writing pretty fast after that but I had already planned to go to Australia for a month. We were only together for about a month when I went on my trip but in that time we accomplished so much. We played our first show, we started recording and really that was the birth of The Local Strangers.

The Local Strangers: Aubrey Zoli and Matt Hart

(Matt) The chemistry that felt immediate was the collaboration. There was almost no pretense or ego from jump street. There could be critique right away and that was really refreshing. For me, being able to play with someone who was so talented and yet so flexible was great. Usually the more talented you are, the more you're set in your ways.

(Aubrey) That's a lot of musicians' m.o. They don't like to be told to do things differently or tweak what they're doing.

(Matt) We trusted each other and our skills right from the beginning. "Hunted by Ghosts" is actually the first song we ended up working on.

Which is the single off your upcoming EP, right?

(Matt) Yep, that's our single. Aubrey said she had this song she'd written and it was really in the vein of what we were talking about doing. It just worked.

(Aubrey) Which was exciting for me because I'd been writing pretty typical pop songs up to that point. Getting together with Matt and adding the element of the guitar totally changed everything since, in past bands, I primarily wrote with piano. With Hunted by Ghosts the melody just started coming through in my head; then I wrote the song really fast. I took it to Matt and it was really exciting just to hear it come to life. Finding musicians that are willing to hear me out and let me make changes to what they come up with is difficult. For Matt to really get into my head and hear what I heard was the true test for me that it was going to work. He was able to tap into that part of my brain.

(Matt) it was also interesting for me because I write in the opposite way. It's writing with the guitar and getting melody and lyrics together then you work later on what to put behind it to support it. So this way of going about writing songs was a challenge for me.

(Aubrey) Song writer-wise I write very straight forward. I don't really use metaphors even though "Hunted by Ghosts" is one big metaphor. It's challenged me to write better songs because Matt is definitely a better song writer than I am. As I've gotten older I move toward it and this genre of music we're in now also caters to a different style of writing. That's been exciting, expanding my horizons and moving away from being so cut and dry. we've balanced each other out in that way. It's exciting for both of us... and not always fun (laughing).

What are the projects you worked on before this?

(Aubrey) I was in a band called Clara's Affair. I moved to Seattle in 2004 and right away I put an ad on Craigslist. I found these two guys and over the course of three years we wrote a ton of songs and recorded a full record. Then just as I was getting excited to start playing and getting out there it fell apart. A lot of that was just having musicians that weren't committed. They were really talented musicians, but just didn't have the time and energy.

So we split up but the pianist and I looked for a drummer to keep it going. We found one but then the pianist left, so it was just me and the drummer. We teamed up and gradually got more musicians, which is when Clara's Affair formed. We were together for about two years but again it was a struggle with others' commitment to the project. June of 2010 was our last show and that's when I found Matt. This is really the first somewhat successful band that I've ever been in.

(Matt) This will be the first in the box of the thousand disc set (grinning). I'm excited to live it again through Aubrey's eyes.

You were in a pretty successful band in Chicago before you moved to Seattle, right?

(Matt) I was in a band called Cobalt and the Hired Guns. I knew the other front man back in high school so those guys are all family. I grew up and learned how to be in a band with them. I even learned web design by making the band's site. I met the rest of them in college and we ended up playing together for about five years. It was just one of those nose to the grindstone type of things. We were in college in Ohio and decided to move to Chicago and really go for it. We worked really hard, made some cool stuff happen and put out some albums that I'm still very proud of. In the end, for various reasons, I needed a change and a big one. Both in terms of where I was living and musically. It was really hard to leave that, the only band I'd ever known. They're still working really hard making good music and playing great shows in Chicago.

You're happy with your decision to move to Seattle, then?

(Matt) Yea, this is where I'm supposed to be. For me as a song writer, the kind of music that we're doing now is really the core of what I've loved the most. They are more of a rock band and it was a sum of influences when we made songs. We all had different influences and trying to incorporate them into one cohesive thing was an interesting challenge. It made each of us better as musicians but the musical focus of this project and ideology is much more in line with the kind of stuff that I always envisioned myself making.

Your sound seems to be part of the popular Americana sound we find in Seattle now days. Do you feel like you fit into that and do you like that new trend?

(Matt) The kind of music that people are making here is the kind of music I've always wanted to make; songwriter oriented. I'm not trying to be Dylan. None of us are trying to reinvent the wheel, we're trying to make honest music that speaks what's inside of us. We're pop song writers, really.

(Aubrey) Matt and I talked about this today, trying to figure out what it is we want to be and kind of work out our vision of what the band should be. We've only been together for six months and one thing I've noticed about newer bands is that they're kind of all over the place. Really you can't be all over the place for long. You kind of have to pick a style and go with it. I'm still in the vein of female vocalist pop music and I will write a song we'll just decide that's not right for this project so we won't use it. I think that's sort of part of narrowing down our vision. We are singer songwriters and we're writing honest songs. When I write a song and I know that someone else can relate to it, then that's success to me.

(Matt) Yes. We're not trying to be artistically avant garde. We're trying to write songs that resonate with us and resonate with other people. Songs that people will like.

(Aubrey) That's a huge part of that community thing, a lot of people are writing in this style. We were wondering how we would distinguish ourselves because there is a lot of fantastic music out there right now. That's great, but the reality is that you have to set yourself apart in some way. We're still trying to figure out how to do that. I decided a long time ago that I wouldn't try to be a certain type of songwriter and I'd just do what I do. That's what's great about having Matt write songs with me, having that second perspective and second set of ears to make it as good as it can be.

(Matt) It splits the pressure of writing songs too. When you get to the end of your rope and you just don't know what to do with a song. When you don't like a line or whatever, it's nice to have someone else who you trust and will buy into what you're trying to say. Then you'll figure out how to say it in a better way. It comes down to whether you want to be a solo artist and have someone sing with you or if you want to be a duo. We decided right away that we would be a duo.

So what is your version of success when it comes to this band? Is it the slow and steady that would be better or this sort of super quick success that some other bands have seen lately?

(Aubrey) I feel like I've been doing music forever so I'm ready to not have another job and just do music. I've had multiple friends over the years that wanted me to audition for American Idol and I just said I didn't want to do something like that. For me, I always envisioned a struggle I always envisioned it being hard because for me I think with anything in life, the harder it is to achieve the better it is when you finally get it. That's the thing that I would never want to give up.

I think everyone should be able to do what they love for a living and i just happen to pick something that's a little more challenging to achieve. I think being any kind of artist like an actress or whatever is like that. I'm lucky that my parents encouraged me to do this. I've had a huge transition in my life over the last six months which is kind of all around the same time that The Local Strangers started happening. Now I do get to focus on music and have that be my primary goal.

(Matt) Yea that would rule. I totally agree, and I was actually just thinking about this the other day. That principle of the way to be happy in your life is getting to do something you love for a living. That's something that my family definitely instilled in me. So having the opportunity to do that even though it's a choosing a more difficult path, it's worth it. We've both been around the block enough times, it wouldn't seem fast to us. But even The Head and the Heart, they're working their asses off right now. It's a hard life. Being on tour ten months out of the year is really hard.

Do you feel a sense of community here in the Seattle music scene and how is that different from what you experienced in Chicago?

(Matt) my experience here in the last year, or even in the last five months has been unlike anything I've ever experienced in Chicago, in a very positive way. It may be the way we're going about it, but I think it was not necessarily more a sense of competition in the music scene in Chicago but isolation. Everyone was kind of doing their own thing and it felt like it was your band against the world. Every good opportunity that someone or some other band got was something you didn't get.

(Aubrey) For me having been in the Seattle music scene I think there's two things. One is that this particular genre tends to have more sweet and nice people associated with it. They are just honest song writers and we appreciate each others' music. There are so many people that are getting recognition right now that I'm a fan of and we're all excited for each other. I think a big part of that is the open mic at Conor Byrne. We'll all see each other on a weekly basis and constantly trying out new material. You're able to get the opinions of other musicians that you trust.

The other part of it is the whole DIY musician thing has become so much more prevalent now a days. Before you were kind of waiting for someone else to come along and help you out; there were too many fish in the pond and not enough fishermen I guess you could say. Now, you don't have to wait for that and you can see the success of local bands doing it on their own. I think what it comes down to is that you're your own worst enemy. If you don't push yourself and excel, then you won't succeed. So, I think that's the reason why people are more supportive. There isn't the competition amongst bands anymore.

(Matt) In Seattle there's more of a culture around independent music than in Chicago. It's a great music town and it's legendary for blues and great bands like Smashing Pumpkins and Cheap Trick. Here everyone knows someone in a band and it's cool to go see a show on a Wednesday night. It just wasn't like that in Chicago. It was such a struggle. People would go to support their friends and they'd talk during the other sets or they'd only come for their friend's set. That happens here too but there's just such a culture of going to see music.

(Aubrey) - The biggest struggle I've dealt with lately is going to too many shows. If we're not practicing or playing ourselves then we're at another band's show, which is great. I've been in Seattle for about six and a half years and it's really only been this last six months that I've been submerged in this music world.

(Matt)Every city has a great open mic. Every city has a place where the really good bands play and Conor Byrne has become this kind of cultural hub.

(Aubrey) Yea, It's become sort of this expectation and this thing that everyone looks forward to every Sunday. It's our church.

(Matt) The one thing that's different about Conor Byrne is that there's bands. It's stripped down versions of bands but bands that are doing cool stuff. When we first started going I said 'Oh my gosh, there's that person and this person. We have to play the greatest three songs that we've ever played. This is going to be the make or break moment of our careers!' and it's just not like that. Now we've gone every Sunday since the beginning of January. Especially now that The Head and the Heart hasn't been here and even without that buzz around it. I never thought that I would be part of a community like that. This kind of community around music is what I've craved for years and never found.