Exposed Vocals sits down to an interview with Devin Tait & The Traitors

Devin Tait & The Traitors are all mixed up. A rag-tag group of dream chasers living in and around Hollywood, California, the band was assembled by lead vocalist and primary songwriter Devin Tait in 2011.  He intended to showcase the songs on his debut album, “It’s Never the Way You Imagine It.” Through lineup and genre changes (including a spell as an acoustic cabaretpop 4-piece), the Traitors have taken on a life and sound all their own.

New-wave inspired synthesizers, played by Tait and vocalist Jarod Millsap, combine with harmonies from vocalist Liana Hernandez. The rhythm section consists of Brandon Strecker on bass and VJ Myles Matisse on drums (he’s also a popular club video DJ at clubs like Micky’s and Oil Can Harry’s).

The current lineup solidified in 2013 and has been writing and recording in between live gigs.

Show highlights include three years in a row at the Los Angeles Marathon, the Only in Hollywood Music + Arts Festival, Kansas City Gay Pride, Canada Day at Smoke’s Poutinerie, and serving as the house band for Jasten King’s Boylesque Cabaret.

“Mixed Signals” is the result of recording sessions from the sadly now-defunct Downtown Rehearsal studio in DTLA, Ditch Road studios in Simi Valley, the mansion formerly occupied by actor Raymond Burr and later record producer Miles Copeland, to a hotel room in Dusseldorf, Germany. Tait and Strecker produced the album with assistance from Ryan Canestro and Ronnie Hendershott. Several songs include a live grand piano recorded in the historic Broadway Building at Hollywood & Vine, four floors above the famed intersection.

Millsap handles the visual side, having directed the band’s video for single “You Leave Me,” as well as lighting and choreographing the band’s stage show.

Having released the first single from the album, “Now I Know What I Want,” exactly two years before the July, 2016 release of “Mixed Signals,” the Traitors took a detour and recorded a Halloween-inspired EP “Spectres” in October 2014 before resuming work on the album.

“All Mixed Up” will be released as a single and video to coincide with the release of the album. “Mixed Signals” is available July 22, 2016 worldwide through iTunes. The limited-edition physical CD is available exclusively through CDBaby and Bandcamp.

 

Exclusive Interview:

 

Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist? 

Jarod: Devin made me do it.  But I grew up in Moreno Valley, CA, out in Riverside County.  I studied performing arts, but never really sang as an adult until 2013 for one show before moving out here, and then Devin discovered me.

Liana: I was born and raised in a small town in New Jersey, and I’ve loved singing and performing for as long as I can remember.

Exposed Vocals: How did you come up with that name? What was your inspiration behind it? 

Devin: I wanted the band to be “The Taitor Tots” but ended up going with Traitors, primarily because of the opening track on “Life’s Too Good” by the Sugarcubes, one of my favorite albums of all time.

Exposed Vocals: What do you think about online music sharing? Do you ever give your music away for free? Why? 

Devin: I don’t mind giving it away for free but we always appreciate it when fans buy the album or pay for downloads.

Jarod: I carry around a few download cards for our earlier single, “Now I Know What I Want,” which I give out for free on occasion.  You can also listen for free online if you know where to go.

Liana: I don’t love the idea but I am absolutely guilty of streaming and sharing music. I think it can be good sometimes to build or reward your fanbase. But if I truly love the artist, I will support them by buying recordings and concert tickets.

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? 

Liana: I would say to be humble and say yes – even to small or unpaid opportunities. Exposure and practice can only help the band, right?

Exposed Vocals: Do you ever make mistakes during performances? How do you handle that? 

Liana: Oh definitely – lyrics are hard to remember! I just sing through it and hope no one notices…

Jarod: Just shake my head at myself and smile, and keep going.

Exposed Vocals: Do you tour? Anything interesting happen on tour that you think our readers would enjoy hearing about? 

Devin: We have not toured. We are basically an LA band. I have played a few shows out of town, like Portland Gay Pride and Kansas City Gay Pride. But we’ve all got jobs and stuff here in LA so it makes it hard to travel as a band.

Jarod: We went up to Bakersfield once for a show and that was fun!  Just seemed like a short vacation.

Exposed Vocals: Where do you usually gather songwriting inspiration? What is your usual songwriting process? 

Devin: Ideas hit me at certain times and they come from all kinds of things. “Sprinkles” came to me one night at the Palms, which was one of the oldest gay bars in LA but is gone now. It started sprinkling outside and the idea just came to me. Sometimes the topic isn’t inspired by anyone in particular, but other times, like with “Quitters Never Win,” it’s a direct thing. That was from my friend Robin, who was the singer in the band Invisible Material that I used to play drums in. He’s also a personal trainer and I had done his boot camp, and he really motivated me to try harder and push myself further.

Exposed Vocals: Do you have a band website? What online platforms do you use to share your music? 

Jarod: The band’s updates can be found on www.devintait.com.  You can often link to the music sources from there.

Liana: If I ever make some solo recordings I’m really proud of, I’ll share them on Soundcloud. So look out for that in 2056.

Exposed Vocals: What are some really embarrassing songs that we might find on your mp3 player? 

Jarod: Oooh, I know there are some I try to skip when I am in the car with someone, but I’d have to have them come up to remember what they are.

Liana: Paris Hilton – “Stars Are Blind.” It’s actually a pretty sweet summer jam. And lots of early-00s emo rock.

Exposed Vocals: If you were given half a million dollars and a year off, what would you do? How would you spend it? 

Jarod: I would probably just save it.  Hopefully it would grow into enough to buy my own house.  Or, I would take some classes and learn some new skills.

Liana: First, I’d pay back all my debts and loans and buy my mom a daily massage for a year. Then I’d probably travel and spend all the rest on food and weed!

Exposed Vocals: Any planned studio upgrades? What are you working with now? 

Devin: Right as we were finishing the album, a friend of mine donated some great equipment to me. I was able to utilize it a little bit in the final mixing of the album, but it will be great moving forward. We record almost everything on to my MacBook using Logic Pro X. I don’t really have the ability to record drums so we got help with that, and Brandon records all his own parts and just sends them to me.

Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you? 

Jarod: It’s fun to do it on Facebook and Twitter.  But I also bring it up at work when it’s around showtime.  I am a tour guide, so if we can get some visitors interested in seeing us, that is a great thing!

Liana: I’m pretty bad at self-promotion, and social media. So, Facebook.

Exposed Vocals: If you could perform anywhere and with any artists (Dead or Alive) where and who would it be with? Why? 

Jarod: I used to have dreams (literally, while I was sleeping) that I would step in for Boyzone, who is my favorite vocal group.  My favorite voice is dead now, though; Stephen Gately.  It would be great to just hear them live all together again.

Liana: I always wish I could have been on stage with anyone at Woodstock ’69, or at a giant stadium show with Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd. That was such a great time in music history, and in my opinion, that era produced some of the best rock music that exists today.

Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about? 

Jarod: Well, I hope Devin lets me tell you this, but there are a couple more singles and a couple more videos coming from “Mixed Signals,” so I hope that you like the tracks that you hear, because we’re hoping they have a future!

Devin: Jarod, you’re not supposed to divulge all that! Just kidding. I have an electronic solo album that I’ll be starting work on soon, but the Traitors are planning to release an EP for the single “Mindframe” which will include some new tracks. It may be a double A side with “To Be Young and On Downers,” so then it will have a double B side. And yes, they will both have videos.

Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing? 

Jarod: I would be wandering around taking in new sights and history, which I love to do.  I still have to do that kind of thing now, so I am pretty grateful for that.

Liana: I’d still be doing something impractical, like comedy or writing.

Exposed Vocals: Do you remember buying your first album? Who was it? What was going through your head? 

Jarod: Hmmm, I remember my first CD!  It was Tragic Kingdom by No Doubt.  I thought it was pretty cool just to have one, because we never had the most current stuff growing up.  But I loved the album, and still do!

Liana: I remember getting Ace of Base’s first album and thinking they were so cool, and now I was gonna be cool too.

Exposed Vocals: How do you juggle the rest of your responsibilities while trying to stay ahead in your music life? 

Jarod: It’s tough, but I just make it all fit in somehow.  I feel so disorganized, even though I am able to keep it all organized.

Liana: If I get a spurt of inspiration, I focus on that until I’ve gotten all my ideas out, and then I go back to my normal routine. For me music is a constantly-ongoing project.

Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in 2016? 

Liana: More money, more problems.