Inspired by everyday life and thousands of young independent artists from all over the world, we are constantly on the lookout for interesting new records and setting up numerous possible conversations with their authors. Boise, Idaho’s emotive alt post hardcore / punk rock act OVERCAST have been a band for just a little over a year and just released their first EP called “Feel Free To Speak”. These guys caught our ears immediately and we are pleased to reveal some more details on their projects, local music community and plans for the future. Read the full interview below.
Catch OVERCAST live with WHERELING and GHOST TOURS at The Olympic Venue in Boise, ID on December 17, 2016.
Hey there guys! So nice to meet you. How are you? How on Earth did you across my poor little zine? :)
It’s nice to meet you too! We’re doing great, we’ve come across your zine multiple times through various posts on the internet/Facebook and it definitely grabbed our interest.
Awesome! Ok, so let’s learn more about OVERCAST. How long have you been writing music with this band? What prompted you to start this band? Also, is OVERCAST the first musical project you’ve had?
As a band we’ve been writing music for a little over a year now. In the beginning I had just learned how to play guitar well enough to write simple songs so that’s kind of what it started out as. I showed them to max and he liked them, so he wrote to them and we started writing together again. We liked what we were doing so we started trying to pursue it. It just kind of snowballed from there. All of us had been in a handful of bands before OVERCAST throughout the years but it was the first in quite a while for us.
How did you choose the name?
We were just looking for something that fit. Our name was kind of just a reflection of our music and the weather from where we’re from. It just made a lot of sense with what we write about.
Is this sad, emotive post hardcore / alt punk your primary passion? What are some of your other interests that affect both you personally and your work with OVERCAST?
I would say so. It’s what I feel I’m good at portraying and I think we put that vibe out through our music.
Outside of OVERCAST I spend a lot of time alone or with my dogs. Sitting in my back yard Listening to music or just driving around and writing/memorizing lines in my head. When you spend a lot of time alone thinking about everything thats wrong with you or that you’ve done wrong it’s bound to affect you. A lot of those things go together. My lyrics are almost always about personal experiences and the effects they’ve had on me or others because of me.
As far as those characteristics go I think we just blend whatever styles and patterns we can to create what we do. There’s a lot of different styles and influences we borrow from.
Photo by Chelsea Hugo
Do you leave your lyrical themes the same across your records? What kind of a place do they come from?
Yes and no. As of now we only have our EP and some older acoustic songs, so it’s hard to say just yet. They come from a place of honesty. Growing up and looking for answers and coming to terms with those things.
Ok, so let’s learn a bit more about your closest neighbourhood. What’s the Idaho music scene like? Please share some details about DIY music scene in your area.
Our music scene is doing well at the moment. There are more local bands than there has been in a really long time. Spanning all different genres and styles. Between a group of local promoters and venues there’s a handful of shows every week. which helps keeps things mixed up and fun. Plus we have Treefort music festival every year. Right now Idaho is a good place to be for diy music.
Any cool local artists you’d like to share?
YOUNG, PLANETARY and GHOST TOURS each just put out records. Check ’em out.
And each already featured on IDIOTEQ, haha. Awesome.
Have your involvement in this music scene enabled you to discover new places in your area?
Sure. We’ve played a lot of different places throughout our area over the last year. Our involvement has allowed us to meet a lot of cool people too.
What are your release plans? When do you plan on revealing more tracks and what format would you choose for your next record?
We released our three track EP titled “feel free to speak” for free download via our bandcamp in October. We don’t have a set plan or time frame for any other releases yet. The last few months we’ve spent most of our time working on new material.
How about taking it on the road?
Right now We’re looking to start touring in the spring of 2017. We don’t have any dates set in stone yet, but we will be visiting and sharing our music with as many different places as we can next year. That’s something we all have our hearts set on.
Are there any bands you’d like to invite and share the stage with?
Locally? Or like bands from places we visit or bands I dream of touring with? Haha locally, again I’d have to say the dudes in GHOST TOURS and Trevor from YOUNG, PLANETARY. They’re cool dudes. It’d be fun to be on the road with them. When we get to California it’d be rad to play a show with MARINER or PITY PARTY again.
Alright guys, so what else? Is there anything you’d like to share before we sign off?
Thanks for taking time to ask me questions and helping spread the word about our band idioteq! I appreciate it. Keep on the lookout for our tour dates next spring. We hope to see some of you soon.
Thanks! Cheers!
