Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?
Tyler: James and I grew up in Bradenton, Florida. We had both played music together for a couple years at the neighborhood church. We decided to start playing some covers together with some friends we knew that had like tastes. We were playing mostly Bombay Bicycle Club, Phoenix, Two Door Cinema Club, and The Royal Concept. Sometime after deciding to play a couple sets at a graduation party, we ended up writing some of our own tunes.
Exposed Vocals: How did you come up with that name? What was your inspiration behind it?
James: Originally we’d called ourselves Coastal View because we grew up in Sarasota, Florida. After sitting on it for a year, we talked about having a new name and decided to simplify our name to Coastals. It felt like a better fit for our band.
Tyler: I’ve been working on becoming a sort of minimalist over the last few years and changing the name to something more concise appealed to me.
Exposed Vocals: What do you think about online music sharing? Do you ever give your music away for free? Why?
James: I think it’s a fantastic idea for new artists to get their name and music out to everyone.
Tyler: As long as I’ve been a listener of music, I know that it often takes time for something new to grow on you. If someone is new to our music, I want them to be able to give it a chance without making an investment.
I like that today there are fewer barriers between music and listeners. Because of streaming services, I can save so many more songs and listen to a much broader variety of artists than I would have been willing to before. When an artist really speaks to me, I always support them by purchasing their music.
Exposed Vocals: Since everyone was a start-up once, can you give any smaller or local bands or artists looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?
Tyler: *Laughs* I think I still consider ourselves to be a start-up.
James: We still have a lot to do, but remember to network. Meet other bands, talk to promoters and bloggers. And love what you make, because that’s what the fans will love. Have fun with it.
Exposed Vocals: Do you ever make mistakes during performances? How do you handle that?
James: Of course, we’re only human. Just play it off. What else can we do? Practice makes 95% perfect, but sometimes mistakes can lead to happy little accidents that sound cool!
Exposed Vocals: Do you tour? Anything interesting happen on tour that you think our readers would enjoy hearing about?
James: Not yet! Very excited to!!
Exposed Vocals: Where do you usually gather songwriting inspiration? What is your usual songwriting process?
Tyler: I’ll usually play around until I find a riff that sounds exciting. I love moving rhythms and I love music that feels optimistic. I always write the music first. Then I write a melody to match and words to express a view or an experience. Often I’ll record a rough demo of the song and bring it to the band to critique and make improvements. We always show each other musical lines that we’ve come up with and if we catch on to one, we’ve been known to write entire songs side by side.
James: I think the best music comes from jamming out a burning tune in your head that you keep tapping your foot to all day. Some of my favorite ideas have come at 2 a.m. as I’m falling asleep. I’ll have to get up, set up, and record it.
Exposed Vocals: Do you have a band website? What online platforms do you use to share your music?
Tyler: We have a bandpage. ( coastalsofficial.bandpage.com/ )
We use bandcamp and soundcloud, but we’ve been getting a lot of traffic from twitter and instagram and from youtubers who share our music on their channels. We’re @coastalsofficial across most platforms. On twitter we’re @coastalsview.
Exposed Vocals: What are some really embarrassing songs that we might find on your mp3 player?
James: Well I have a swedish song about muffins. That is my guilty pleasure.
Tyler: Your Love is my Drug, Ke$ha.
Exposed Vocals: If you were given half a million dollars and a year off, what would you do? How would you spend it?
James: I would buy more music equipment for the band and side projects as well as touring. Put money into a savings account. Definitely give some away as I was so fortunate to be given it in the first place. And probably go on a cruise/travel Europe to play music and learn about the culture.
Exposed Vocals: Any planned studio upgrades? What are you working with now?
Tyler: I don’t know, it doesn’t take much. We’ve been recording in my bedroom and closet with a Focusrite 2i4 interface, an MXL microphone, a pair of Mackie CR4 Monitors, going to Logic on my Macbook Pro. I use an external hard drive to keep all of our projects. There’s been talk of switching to Ableton in the future because James works on a PC.
Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?
Tyler: Social media and Youtube bloggers
Exposed Vocals: If you could perform anywhere and with any artists (Dead or Alive) where and who would it be with? Why?
James: I would love to perform with Cage the Elephant one day. The bands combined energy and creative talent is truly inspiring. I would love to tour with them overseas in Europe.
Tyler: Phoenix. Definitely Phoenix. To me, they really break down the walls of conventional music.
Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?
Tyler: We’re writing new material while we fine tune everything for our debut EP. I’m very excited about our new songs but it’s too early to say much more than that.
Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?
James: If I couldn’t DJ or produce EDM? I would pursue a career in accounting, then eventually my own startup which would have something to do with music.
Exposed Vocals: Do you remember buying your first album? Who was it? What was going through your head?
Tyler: I think the first CD I bought was The Temper Trap’s Conditions album. I remember it being the first album where I liked every single song right away. It’s still my favorite album, although it lead me to many more great albums that really set me on fire.
James: My first vinyl album was Bankrupt! By Phoenix and I still love listening to it through after at least 20+ rotations.
Exposed Vocals: How do you juggle the rest of your responsibilities while trying to stay ahead in your music life?
Tyler: I don’t know, I try and keep it simple. That’s really difficult to do though.
James: Simply put: I don’t. But everything somehow works out in the end!
Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in the next year or so?
Coastals: A professionally mastered EP, local shows, maybe an east coast tour, and more bedroom mixes.
