Welcome to In Conversation, a special interview column on the site where we sit down with artists and dive deep into everything music. This week, Joe chatted to Lexi Reyngoudt about their upcoming record This Is All We Get, signing to Revelation Records and their upcoming tour in the United Kingdom.
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Spotify stream can be found here.
Joe: How are you feeling ahead of the record releasing?
Lexi: I’m really excited for it to be out there, the reaction that we’ve gotten from “Landslide” and “Rat Race” has been overwhelmingly positive. I have a good feeling that it will be the same for the album. Obviously, I’m nervous because who wouldn’t be? We’ve been sitting on it for almost a year now. I think we wrote it around this time last year, and recorded it last year in May. So it’s been a minute since we had it all figured out. I’m just really excited for it to be out there.
Joe: How have you been finding the release schedule leading up to it?
Lexi: I’ve been able to manage it, it is a lot different from what we’re used to. This is the first time we’ve released something on a “big label”, I guess. We used to be with New Morality Zine and Nick would like set us up with some interviews every now and then. He would usually reach out to written publications so I would just have to answer written questions. I’ve definitely had to do more podcasts and Zoom interviews than I’ve ever done in my entire life. It’s been cool because I like being able to see the people that are writing these things face to face, which has been nice.
Joe: How have you found being on a new label and recording in a new studio?
Lexi: I’ve been really cool with it. We recorded this album with Jay Zubricky at GCR studios. All of the guys have already worked with him with other bands that they’ve been in and that it was my first time working with Jay. I’ve known Jay for a few years now so he’s a good friend of ours. I felt comfortable working with him and it was a really cool experience. He was really helpful and definitely helped push us to a different level that we haven’t reached yet. Revelation Records have been awesome, I cannot talk more highly about them. They’ve been taking care of us. They set us up with a publicist, which is something we’ve never done before. Sammy Siegler is the guy from Rev that we’ve been talking to the most, and he’s always checking in on us or letting us know, like, “hey, that like reaction to the single looks good, like keep it up”. He’s just someone that we can ask questions to about industry stuff and not feel stupid about it. He has been in the hardcore scene, basically since hardcore has started. It’s cool that he can tell us like all that stuff and it’s been really awesome experience working with Revelation and everything.
Joe: What was your biggest learning during that time?
Lexi: How much actually goes into an album, an actual studio album. I feel like before when we released all the EPs, singles and then eventually Space Jams, it felt really easy. Nick from NMZ would mostly take care of everything. And just be like, “here, like, how about this release date?”. And we’d say, “okay, cool, sounds awesome”. With this record, we’ve had deadlines that we’ve had to reach and stuff. The videos that we had to make and actually had to make music videos that we weren’t just doing it because we thought it would be a good idea. It was like, “Hey, you should make music videos for the singles”. It has been a lot but I’ve learned how much actually goes into like releasing an album. Now that we’ve done it, whenever we start releasing for whatever album in the future, we can be like, “Okay, here’s a checklist, just make sure that we got everything taken care of” before anybody like is like “hey, the deadline is tomorrow”.
Joe: The artwork was done by Eric Thompson, what was the reasoning behind the change in aesthetic?
Lexi: Donnie, our guitarist, follows him on Instagram and found him one day. I like the artwork, and I think I was the one who was the most passionate about moving away from the ‘smiley’. I wanted this to be like, “All right, it’s like a new chapter of Spaced”. I wanted it to be the next step and everybody else was on board with it. I liked the psychedelic imagery that we’re doing and Donnie is the one that found the artists and he is the one who’s done most of the work for in the past. He does a lot of our merch designs, so he like already had the eye for what we wanted to do and sent a bunch of different images that Eric has made. We picked through them, and with that one we just said “Alright, this one looks so cool”. We got to use it and I like what you said about how it has an 80s feel to it. It almost reminds me of that one painting with the melting clocks. I don’t know what the actual term for the type of art is, I think it’s surrealist. I’m not sure though.
Joe: What were the most notable changes for you in how you’ve approached and evolved Spaced’s sound on This Is All We Ever Get?
Lexi: When we wrote “Boomerang” and “Cycle Killer”, we were also writing for this album. Those were like the two songs that we just had ready at the time that we wanted to release them. With “Boomerang” and “Cycle Killer”, we actually used that to show Rev, “Hey, if you want to sign us, this is like an idea of what we want to sound like when we release something with you guys”.
I don’t know if we had any specific intentions. We have been a band for over two years now and when we were writing for that we kind of figured out, “Okay, this is a specific sound that we do. How can we elevate it? Like what can we add to it?”. I can’t speak well enough for the instrumentals because the guys are the ones who were like writing all that stuff, but I know that Joe (guitarist) always loves to add in the specific sounds and textures that make it psychedelic. So I think it was just more messing around with that, and taking more risks, and seeing how they would sound, while also still like applying the meat and eggs of hardcore. Making sure there’s a breakdown, making sure there’s a two step part, making sure there’s like a sing along, and stuff like that. It just kind of what we created with the demo but just like a more mature sound.
Joe: You will be returning to the UK this Spring on your headliner tour, how do you find the UK for touring?
Lexi: The first time we went over there, it was scary. We went over there with Comeback Kid and they are a very well established band. Our one year anniversary of Demo was the second day of that tour, we were a very fresh and young band and like we don’t know what to expect of being in the UK. It was really cool, everybody was very nice and second time around was a lot more fun. I know a lot of people say that about the UK and after first few times you go over there, you’re grinding. Then there will be those people who like you and will continue to come back each time you’re back in the UK on tour.
I’m really excited for this third time because last year when we were in the UK we did some dates with Buggin and then we went into Europe. Our tour with Buggin was done after two weeks and we did a whole week on our own. We did three more days in the UK, and it was terrifying at first because we were like, “Oh my God, we are headlining, I really hope people show up to this”. I think all three dates sold out, or were at least close to selling out which was really cool to experience. We have Shooting Daggers, Clobber and Uncertainty opening who we played with them last year and we’re really comfortable with them. We know them so we just going to hang out with our friends and do what we do best which is play some cool hardcore music. It’s gonna be awesome, I’m really excited to go back.
Joe: When you were over here last year, it was right after Outbreak which meant I missed seeing that tour.
Lexi: We went to play Newcastle the day after Outbreak last year and it wasn’t an awesome turnout. The promoter was like, “I’m so sorry, it’s literally the day after Outbreak”. As this is your big hardcore fest, I totally understand that, everybody’s showing up to it. And he was explaining that I think the year prior Angel Dust played Newcastle the day after Outbreak and how no one was here for it, and that was Angel Dust, that’s crazy. Our first show is in Newcastle this year and we have the same promoter. He’s promised it’s going to be much better than last year and I’m sure it will be, I’m not like nervous about it.
Joe: Where are you looking forward to seeing in the UK either again or for the first time?
Lexi: Excited to go back to Brighton, that one was really awesome. London is like always cool and I love Manchester too. It’s going to be different this time because we’re playing a fest in Manchester so I’m sure it’s gonna be an awesome show, but I feel like when you play a fest, it’s like bound to be a good show. I’m excited to play all the new cities likes Huddersfield, my one friend she has come and seen us in Manchester in the past few times and she’s like, “Oh my god, I live in Huddersfield. So I can just like go to that show and be home, like, a half hour after the show”, and I was like, “oh my god, I’m excited for you”. I’m excited to hit all the new spots and see what UK hardcore actually is all about.
Joe: Any plans for what you’re going to do in-between shows while over here?
Lexi: We’re definitely gonna hit Wetherspoons that’s like our favourite spot. It’s so cheap and it’s the same quality every place you go, so you know it’s gonna be good. I want to do more touristy stuff, whenever we’ve gone to London the past few times we haven’t been able to actually do the tourist stuff, and I really want to be able to do that. With Glasgow, I’m excited to look around, and I’m excited to hang out in Brighton, because last year we walked the pier and there’s like a bunch of really cool shops. I’m excited to do that again. Every city we go to we like to go around and explore it.
Joe: How do you find the tour schedule with Spaced being busy both in the UK and America?
Lexi: I’m used to it at this point if anything. In between the UK, we just did the Militarie Gun tour, we did like a few days of that, around two weeks of it. We have like a month off in between both, that’s the perfect amount of time for me to be home, because anything more than a month, I get like really antsy. I get super bored and my day to day life just feels so mundane, so I love being on tour. It gives me something to look forward to, I think all the guys can attest to that too. Obviously, it gets to a point where like, you’re like, “Oh my God, I wish I was home”, but I love being on tour even if I get a little homesick.
Joe: I have to asked, how was touring with The Armed?
Lexi: It was really cool, they’re very cool people and very nice too, they are super nice. They were very welcoming and watched our set every night so we would watch their set every night just because it’s so cool to watch. When we played Boston, they did the Converge cover, that was really cool. That was like a really fun tour and just being on bigger stages and stuff like that, we had a blast. It was very fun.
Joe: With the tour and the release of This Is All We Ever Get coming up, are there any other goals you have for 2024?
Lexi: We want to hit a bunch of new spots we haven’t played before. Right now we’re planning a full US tour for the summer. We’ve barely touched the west coast, so we’re definitely trying to hit more spots on the west coast this summer and the Pacific Northwest such as Seattle and Vancouver. We’re hoping to do more countries, we will be back in Europe later this year, and there’s a bunch of new spots that we’re hitting. I just want to keep touring, I want to play in new places, and play with like bands that I love.
Thank you to Lexi for sitting down and chatting with us, you can pre-order This Is All We Ever Get here and read our review here. Tickets to their upcoming UK tour can be found here, with live galleries to be posted on Boolin Tunes in the coming weeks.