Episode 139 - Circus Trees

Websites:

www.fivebytworecords.com

www.circustrees.bandcamp.com

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recorded June 10, 2019
published June 20, 2019

Listen here:

Their live acoustic set:

already gone over to Robert McCarthy - their manager/dad and founder of Five By Two Records - and he kindly gave us some vinyl of their debut album Sakura.  

Giving us free vinyl is a sure way to get on ATB, but in their case they did not need to bribe their way on.

We thoroughly enjoyed our conversation with Egg, Finola and Giuliana and talked influences, writing, rehearsing and how three sisters can get along, collaborate and create intelligent, amazingly sad, but gut-wrenchingly beautiful and emotional rock music in a band that is garnering a lot of attention in Boston.

photo credit: Maureen McDermott

Music in this episode

Song 1: Despondent (Sakura)
Song 2: Empty Cabinets (Sakura)
Song 3: Carousels (Sakura)
Song 4: The OEE (debut song)

Chuck Clough 02:15 Hello, it's Chuck from above the basement Boston music and conversation. We saw circus trees at the Sinclair in Cambridge when we were there to celebrate the record CO and their upcoming new space in Boston, three young women came on to the stage in front of a full house and once they began playing everyone paid attention, they blew us away, Finola, 15, Juliana 17 and Ed me also known as egg 13 our sisters from Marlborough mass and they play sad music, we love sad music, and by the time they finished their set, we had already gone over to their manager, dad and he kindly gave us some vinyl of their debut album Sykora giving us free vinyl is a sure way to get on a TV, but in their case, they did not need to bribe their way on we thoroughly enjoyed our conversation with egg Finola, and Giuliana. And we talked influences writing, rehearsing, and how three sisters can get along, collaborate and create intelligent amazingly sad but gut wrenchingly beautiful and emotional rock music and a band that is garnering a lot of attention in Boston. So here is our conversation with circus trees reported at Woods Hill Table in Concord, Massachusetts. We've been looking forward to this one since we saw you,

Chuck tell them the story about how we saw

Ronnie 03:40 Well, it all started many moons ago circus trees. Can I call you that? collectively?

All - Yeah.

Ronnie 03:47 We are among the tree. Yeah. It was at the Sinclair Sinclair in Cambridge, for all thosemillions of people listening to this and don't know about that venue. It's a really cool placeto listen to music in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and it

Chuck Clough 03:59 for the celebration of the record. co

Ronnie 04:02 Yes, the record co that is near and dear to our hearts. Because way back when we talk with a guy named Matt MacArthur, who you guys probably met, who was recorded at the record go, we're really feeling like, wow, we're here and Uber's here, you guys know, but

Chuck Clough 04:15 yeah, I do met her before.

04:17 No. We met her that night.

Chuck Clough 04:19 We just talked to her before

Ronnie 04:21 and Ellie McGurk was there. But then we heard the trees were in the house. I don't know what story you're talking. I remember the moment I heard. Alright, we will end in a second. We were really struck by the sound and not knowing that you three were related, much less sisters that were close in age. That was what hit me afterwards. I kind of wanted to mention that because if I heard that news before I heard you, I would almost come to it with a little different expectation, but I was wowed. Even more. So finding out afterwards. And that's my story.

Chuck Clough 04:58 Well, I haven't done them. Yes, that's the word denim.

Ronnie 05:01 You do you can attend. Okay.

Chuck Clough 05:04 So I remember when you guys got on, okay, I'm sure you get a lot, right. All these look at the kids up there right now. And then you started playing and everyone's mouth is dropped and hopeless and quiet. And it was riveted to the guys on the stage. And I was trying to think about why and certainly the music was really interesting. But the confidence when you're up there, you owned it that I think that's what surprised everybody and a lot of musicians no matter how they are, don't want it out there. So I guess you guys also get that a lot to about you know, you showing a wisdom and presence on stage that goes above and beyond your actual age. Alright, well, thanks for coming. So enough of the compliments, so that's why we asked you on and we're excited to have you on

Ronnie 05:47 why don't we mix it up a little and introduce your other sister

Chuck Clough 05:53 has an agenda.

05:55 I'm going to introduce my sister Jules.

Chuck Clough 05:58 say one thing that you hate about.

06:00 Ok. Ok. So her hair? No.

06:05 I don't want to break up the band. Right. Tell us about Jules. She just graduated high school just made it out. I think her Technical High School where she studied food, also known as culinary. She plays the drums in the band. And she is the oldest Oh yeah, the oldest she's 17. Okay, she is 17 Excellent.

Ronnie 06:30 Thank you, Jules. Now it's your turn.

06:31 On my left is Edme also known as egg cable like that.

06:35 Hello, egg.

06:37 She started 13. She's going into eighth grade. She plays two instruments, plays the piano and she plays the bass

Chuck Clough 06:43 singer. Singer do both at the same time.

06:46 Yep. And she is the only one here with green eyes out of there. Yeah. Hazel. Dude, I wish I had green eyes. That's the closest compliment you're going to get.

Ronnie 06:56 Sorry to interject the introductions but the only other proficiency bass player and keyboard is that I know of is a guy named Gary Lee from Russia.

07:06 I wish I knew who that was. But I do. And

Ronnie 07:08 I'll take your homework assignment tonight.

Chuck Clough 07:10 Okay. All right now you get to rip your other sister.

07:14 on my right is Finola, she's the singer and guitarist. She's a freshman. She's ending school tomorrow. And she has a blue shirt on.

07:24 Yes. Oh, I do a stripes. Yeah. She's a second oldest. Oh, yes. I use the youngest.

Chuck Clough 07:31 And and I saw her at Boston calling just kind of out of the blue.

07:35 I love Boston call

Chuck Clough 07:36 out of the night. And I posted about it. And then your dad said, hey, my daughter's there. And I'm like, Oh, yeah, she is here. I saw her about 10 minutes ago. Yeah, you have you haven't done any festivals or anything.

07:45 The biggest thing we've done so far is play at the Sinclair because that's always been like a dream of ours to be playing on that stage. Like I've seen so many big people play on that stage. And being able to like, go up there, like play is just amazing. about that experience. Yeah, it was super nerve racking. We only had 10 minutes. 10 minutes is better than nothing. Yeah. So I think we ended up playing two songs.

08:12 But it's like, it's like one and a half songs because you know, like our songs.

08:17 Yeah,

Ronnie 08:18 sorry, long, but it seemed longer.

Chuck Clough 08:20 It didn't good way. In a good way. Yeah. Not me.

Ronnie 08:26 No, it was there was a presence there. So it seemed longer to me.

08:29 We got to go backstage. That was the first big thing. We didn't stand in front of the stage. We got to go behind it. That was the first.

08:38 Yeah, there were like y'all we got waters like there's a cooler and we're like,

08:42 Whoa, yeah, yeah, right. Yeah.

Ronnie 08:46 Yeah. Our water. Yeah,

08:48 I was like, all right. We got a little pink stickers. Yeah, you put on your class. Yeah, it was great. So we were all black. Usually, it's just like what we're into we like to wearable. People did mistake me as a sound person multiple times. Actually, Allie McGurk did. Yeah. We can ignore that. But

09:12 that's fine. Yeah. Talk to you. She did. I love her so much.

09:17 And after she did apologize,

Ronnie 09:19 hey, what's wrong? Some people?

09:20 Yeah. No, I don't. Okay.

09:23 You're right. You're right.

09:26 I remember getting on stage and looking out. Like I didn't even like plug in my guitar. Yeah, I just like looked out. And I was just like, Oh, my God, we're like playing here. That's amazing.

Juliana 09:36 I like zoned everything out. Because that big catwalk behind the stage I looped all the way around, and like, I got my sticks. And of course, she's like, so number piano and everything. And I got up there and I sat down, I was like, it's probably gonna be like, not a lot of people here. Nobody really knows who we are like, we're just a bunch of young kids. And then like, had my head down throughout the intro. And then we kick in and I look up and I'm like, Florida, top black. There's people here like, and then I started like sweating. I was like, How did

Ronnie 10:04 it feel for you? Can I call you?

Egg 10:07 Yeah.

Ronnie 10:10 like when you were up there and playing the piano, and looking at your sisters playing describe the feeling.

Egg 10:15 I was trying like, so hard not to mess up for a bunch of people. It was really fun playing with my two sisters on a big stage in front of a big crowd. It was like one of our dreams to do it. And it was really fun. And we did we played well. The

Ronnie 10:27 three of you came across very cool and calm. And what I notice is that it almost seemed like you were kind of in your basement or in your garage, like doing what you do all the time. And I've I felt that and I sounds like I may have felt it more than you guys.

Finola 10:43 Yeah, I'm very happy. You say that? Because I have no idea how I looked on stage. I just know my mind was a mess. I was just like, Oh my God, this happening?

Juliana 10:52 Yeah, I think there's some sort of not like it's an alter ego. But I know especially like the way we all hold ourselves on stage. Like we all wear the black sort of gear up, get our instruments we prepped sort of throughout the day. And we're like, okay, we have a show today, like, make sure we have all of our gear. And I think once we get there, we're very awkward people, as you guys probably already noticed, but like,

Chuck Clough 11:14

I don't get that at all. I'm not kidding.

Juliana 11:17

anti social. I don't know what it is, before we play. We're very just like, Where's egg?

Where's Finn? Like, let's just keep our little posse together. As soon as Finn kicks in with

that intro before set. I don't know about you guys, but something just kind of comes over.

And it's like, this is what you do. You know, it's one of those like, you're ready, like you're

set. And then obviously getting off stage or like talking to people and having people come

up to us and all that. It's very like reassuring. This is what I love doing.

Finola 11:44

Yeah, it's like when the music starts. I totally like feel comfortable for that. 10 minutes that

we played. I just feel like the most comfortable behind my guitar playing and singing. And

like my mind changes. But it's like getting on and off stage before I'm playing is like a

totally different story.

Juliana 12:03

Yeah, from the outside. Looking back and watching videos. It sounded so good.

Chuck Clough 12:09

What did dad think he said that? Was that a good performance with him?

Dad 12:13

Well, yeah, it was nerve racking.Yeah. He's really interesting to look across a very large

stage and see my little girl singing, you know, like 30 or 40 feet away when I'm used to like

the five feet, right? Yeah, I thought

Chuck Clough 12:31

I saw you booing but

Ronnie 12:33

the stage is big. There's this distance between you physically. But tell us about the

connection that you guys have as sisters. I'm curious about the writing process. And about

you guys, like take me to Marlborough. And like where it happens. I love to hear about

how you guys Connect.

Finola 12:51

So us three sisters live in the same house. That's the thing in Marlborough. We all do a lot

of things outside of music. We all kind of do as much as we can in school, extracurricular

activities and everything. But we all know at the end of the day, like music, is it for I'm

pretty sure all three of us

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Ronnie 13:12

is it literally at the end of the day to like every day, you guys I mean, I can like let's jam.

Juliana 13:16

I know when we were first writing we like go down at like 930 or 10 o'clock and be like, let's

just like write a song. Like, let's just like do it. Yeah,

Finola 13:25

yeah, it's usually at night, but we practice in the dark. Kind of,so it doesn't. So really our

house, we have a basement that was finished a while ago. And we're kind of building a

studio in there. Our older brother he plays in another band. He's got a lot of shit. So that

that's all there. It's like in the middle

Chuck Clough 13:50

guys either explicit. No, it's fine. Good.

Ronnie 13:57

So your brother's got a lot of shit. So he's really door down there is

Finola 14:01

no there's windows like one window, but we close it because we don't like light. We just

practice my doors, we practice in the dark, we set up just like a stage. We have this one

little light that we turn on. And so we can like actually see.

Ronnie 14:16

So is the darkness that you actually rehearsing? Is that is that give a vibe, or

Finola 14:21

I think it definitely reflects on the stuff that we write.

Juliana 14:26

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I know the way that we used to start. So like before circus trees was more of a legit circus

trees when we're just kind of like messing around on our older brother was in a previous

band. And my dad was like, yo, like, they need to kick it up a notch. Like they need some

aesthetic on stage, like all this kind of stuff. So I was like, All right, let me get a lighting rig.

And so I got two lights, stood him up, got a couple lights for the ground, got a couple

boards. And I just like DIY, I just like learned. And then I think when we started playing out

just a little bit more, I kept that stuff hooked up for us, and my dad or somebody else

would run lights. And I think we sort of realized like not really who we are. That's not really

how the band is. And so I think we had to sort of pull back and rethink how we wanted to

present ourselves as circus trees, we ended up getting some more like yellow, we orange

tinted lights, and then we put some cages around them. And so we can like hang them,

we hang them off for microphone, off the piano over the bass cab guitar cab,

Finola 15:31

we got to a point in our bands where we thought we had our sound. So the next step was

aesthetic. And what we look like definitely aesthetic is extremely important for a band,

because it just gives off more of a vibe when you play. And it gives it more of an

experience more like a show instead of just a band performed live. I don't know, it's like an

important part of circuitry is now our aesthetic.

Chuck Clough 16:52

I'll talk about how you fell into your instruments. How did you fall? How did you end up

playing two instruments and what

Egg 16:58

we ended up having me play the piano Tucson drums and fins playing the guitar? Yeah.

And then we had another guitarist and then a bassist. The basis ended up dropping out

like right before our show. And so we played the show without the basist and then we're

like, we need a basist. And then Finn and my dad were thinking like why not just have egg

have her play bass and piano so we don't need to find another bass player. So I ended up

just learning the bass parts and then learn the piano parts. And

Chuck Clough 17:24

we originally a piano. Yeah, can you take lessons up?

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Egg 17:27

And I think Bass Lessons,

Chuck Clough 17:29

I think Bass Lessons. So how does it work? certain songs will only have piano or bass or do

you kind of mix them up and within each song

Egg 17:36

usually in like one song one part while piano and then the next song like once it gets or in

the next part. Once it gets heavy, we'll add bass to it.

Finola 17:44

Yeah, so we write the song specifically so that she'll be able to like play bass and piano

got it so that she doesn't have to like do it exactly

17:52

same time. Cuz that'll be difficult.

Ronnie 17:58

actually thinking about you talked about the writing the aesthetic divide, but you're also

thinking about the live how this is going to play out? Yeah.

Chuck Clough 18:06

Yeah, there's a lot of thought that goes into this. Kind of, and I didn't I never thought this

deeply in high school and middle school, like how to pull the whole thing together. I mean,

it's impressive. And so how about the drums? How did that fall into your lap?

Juliana 18:20

I think before everybody started finding their own band in their own way, in music, we were

all sort of like, we need an instrument first. Nobody's got the drums yet. So I guess that's

me. And then it took a while to pick up. I would do some lessons. And then I was like, nah,

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nah, for me, overall, it's more just like, listening, playing feeling.

Ronnie 18:42

Yeah. On the drum note, what's the cooking connection? Is there one?

Juliana 18:46

No, no, I mean, when you're a kid? I don't think so.

Ronnie 18:51

It's just what I think of what I think of someone that's very ambidextrous. It makes sense.

Using different you're putting it all together. You're kind of the backbone, you're thinking

about different ingredients, so to speak, that you can put in I mean, you know, it doesn't

really surprise me that you're thinking about culinary

Chuck Clough 19:08

school. And it kind of surprises me, but

Ronnie 19:13

would you ever see a bass player go to culinary school, she's gonna be a lawyer. And he

was smart enough. So the guitarist,

Finola 19:21

I kind of got jealous. My older brother was like, good at bass and like being good at

something. And I was like, all right, I gotta do something better. I picked up the guitar first

and acoustic electric. And I was like, this is pretty cool. I mean, I went through some rough

patches, lots of crying because I didn't want to do it too hard. This was like eight years

ago, though, don't worry. It wasn't like yes. Five minutes

Chuck Clough 19:48

ago, trying this morning trying to play the guitar. So

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Finola 19:52

we have a really cool teacher that I've been going to for about eight years. He's definitely

taught me everything that I know on guitar,

Ronnie 20:00

we give a shout out was his name.

Finola 20:02

Yeah, his name is Rich. Martin. Does lessons. Love you rich, really cool.

20:07

guy.

Chuck Clough 20:08

I don't really know. But

Ronnie 20:11

I love the circus trees, therefore, I love it. I love it. Do you think of the lyrics in school? out of

school? When did they come to you guys contribute? Or they all you

Juliana 20:23

all have the physical writing, lyrically? And like the guitar, bass and piano is this kid Finn?

Finola 20:31

It's that's me.

Ronnie 20:32

Have you always done poetry? Or

Finola 20:35

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Finola 20:35

no, it was kind of just like, I had an acoustic guitar, I kind of just ended up like locking

myself in my room. This happens quite often, where I just locked myself in my room. And

then it's kind of just like that, like, inspiration strikes me or something. I don't really know. It

just happens. But I just like, put the guitar down real quick. And then start writing lyrics.

But

Ronnie 20:57

put the guitar down, you pick up a pen? And then something there's a concept that comes

in your mind?

Finola 21:03

Yeah, it's usually theme, something strikes, my minds are usually dark themes

Juliana 21:08

to if you think about it, we're three girls all under the age of 18, living in a suburban

neighborhood. And she's got some pretty dark themes sort of born around like mental

illness and sort of abuse, that kind of realm of things, sometimes some, like, some deep

stuff, and it's like, how did that come out of you? Like, yeah, you know,

Finola 21:33

it's just like, what I'm feeling and what my mind is kind of going to at the moment.

Chuck Clough 22:58

You know, I didn't want to talk about you know, the, the sad thing playing music like this, I

listen to stuff like this all the time. If you listen to the cure, if you listen to Ron playing, it's

very sad. But it's a way for people to cope. It's a way for people to feel better, even if I'm

happy. I still listen to different types of music that people may say like, what are you

listening to this sort of wrestling?

Ronnie 23:21

What I find striking too, is that you'll actually overtly say that were three girls beside me,

right? Sad music,

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Chuck Clough 23:27

you're out front with it. But I took it seriously rather than these two kids. I you know, I

mean, I'm sure you get that. Right. But it's I think it's so well done. And I said this before,

it's like if no matter how old you are, if you don't take yourself seriously, when you're doing

something no one will? Well, as soon as you start taking yourself seriously. That's when

you turn heads, that's when that's when you get the respect that that you'd hoped for. And

that's why you got everybody's attention in the audience the other that night. So

Ronnie 23:53

but how does that feel to get the audience attention? And there's the now what factor?

Thank you guys come back and say, Okay, what does this mean? What do we do? What's

next?

Juliana 24:05

I think that question is sort of always floating around sort of just what's next? And what are

we going to do? The one thing that's in my head, I know is that everybody, anybody

anywhere is always going to have that one spot, deep down, where they're just kind of

like, I need this, like, I need this release, or I need this cope, whether it be music, or dance

or cooking or an extracurricular activity at school. And I think embracing that is a really

good thing. I know a lot of people struggle. I know, I've struggled before and I'm sure you

guys have some struggles or have had some struggles in life. And I think, accepting that

and embracing it and finding some way to sort of get past it and look back and sort of

make it a positive thing is something that we try to do with our music. And we try to not

push towards people, but sort of just present to them. Like this is what we do. And we're

happy that we do it. So that's why we

Ronnie 25:04

always say this makes us happy.

Finola 25:06

Yeah. Does. Music makes us happy.

Juliana 25:09

Julian Baker.

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25:10

Yes. Julian.

Juliana 25:12

Julian Baker is one of like, she's like one of our biggest influences. I don't know if you guys

know about Julian Baker. My God, we love her. She just writes a lot of this sad music and a

lot of this, like heartbreaking music. I know, not so much recently, but she did an interview

in Cambridge, I believe, and she just sort of talking about her writing process and what

she writes about how she creates her songs. And one of the lines that I'll always remember

is her just saying like, sad music makes me happy like writing sad music makes me happy.

It

Finola 25:47

makes us feel better. Yeah.

Chuck Clough 25:48

I was interested to see some of your to hear about some of your influences. Who do you

like listen to

Egg 25:53

into a lot of Oh, brother, Caspian, Julian Baker. tides of man. Like a big influences our

brother, his band. Yeah.

Chuck Clough 26:03

with his band,

Juliana 26:04

reprieve. He's been playing forever, and he co wrote it for us. And he'll do sounds for us

and he's just like, even even if he doesn't show it. We know he loves us so much. And it's so

cute. We love him.

Ronnie 26:15

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Ronnie 26:15

Well, it sounds like he's a mentor or like you look up to him.

Chuck Clough 26:20

That's great.

Ronnie 26:21

Would you say that if he was sitting in the room?

Finola 26:23

No. No.

Chuck Clough 26:28

What do you like let's do other than Julian Baker

Juliana 26:29

To be honest, I am less of a cultured person in the post rock sort of genre. Yeah, I think

more now I'm sorry to enter the country

Chuck Clough 26:42

my daughter same age as you listen to country music Yeah. blows my mind is living in

Massachusetts as

Ronnie 26:47

well. So what do you mean by country?

Chuck Clough 26:49

Not like all 93.3 kind of thing? Like the new stuff?

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Juliana 26:51

Yeah, like one on 1.7 Travis Scott or whatever, then yeah, like those kinds of guys. Like I

know most of it's like, that's very heavy. Not very good. And like happy and like Dixie cups

and like, this girl and that girl on the bed of my truck. Yeah.

Chuck Clough 27:07

drink tequila. Yeah.

Juliana 27:09

All that kind of stuff. But like, I'm chillin like windows down like sons. Oh, right. Let's go you

know,

Finola 27:15

I listened to a lot. I I love all types of music. I love classical music. I love pop. I love all that

indie stuff. I love post rock post rock definitely helped me branch off into everything. What

is post rock? Post rock? That's a good question will give me I mean, if you can't explain it,

can you give me an example of a band? That's post rock? Definitely one of my favorite

post rock bands is Caspian. Guys, man. I listen to their music all the time. Then there's

other bands that we've seen. Post rock festivals like tides of man.

Chuck Clough 27:47

Have you guys ever heard Sigur Ros yourself reminds me a lot of them. You know them. It's

very, it'll start off slow, like like that. What's the first song on the album? Very Sigur Ros.

And then later on, you get the crescendo of the electric. There are waves of different parts

of the song dance. Plus, I love how they're really long. A lot of times as long to be too

short. If it's a pop song I get it needs to be 232 and a half minutes. Yeah, but if it's

something long, or like I'm a big Pink Floyd fan, too. So like I don't want to just keep on

going I'd like listening to that. So keep just keep going. So I like how your song like 567

minutes long. And then not only that, like sometimes you think like the first song I think it

ends.

Ronnie 28:35

No, it doesn't. And then it doesn't it Yeah, I got no happen to be a couple times in a circus

tree moment where I was. I it's gonna be over. No, it's not over. And so I like that. And I

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wanted to ask about time signature to how does that come into play? Because you

change it up? Sometimes?

Finola 28:52

I do. It's, I usually don't think about it. When I first read the song. It's like, it's not even in my

head. It's just feeling and then wind up playing it out. Then like when I step outside for a

second and look at the song I'm like, Oh, so I'm like changing time signatures here. And

here. And then tempo change here. And I'm like, why did I do that? I don't know about

healing. But yeah,

Juliana 29:16

I'll start like writing the drum part and she's like all right, and then then it is next part we're

going to do this so let's play it all out. I start playing where I'm like six eight, it's like mad

slow. I'm like All right, we're chillin and then she'll kick like straight into this like for for like

really fast

Ronnie 29:29

Chuck and I've been in many bands since your age. I started when I was 13 or so. And I've

had many friendships they're like kind of like brothers to me and family. I played with

some women to some sisters. I guess it's really special. I don't have to tell you but you

have something else going on and that you get you share some DNA. But how does that

work? If there's conflict I mean, you know if you know Is it bad subject

29:53

matter? excuse yourself?

Juliana 29:57

Like on a good day, one more like yes, let's right be like Sorry, I'm just like, I'm dumb today

like my arms are noodles. And then I know unlike the bad days I think it's good that we

share DNA because my trucker mouth comes out of you like it would be tough to know

this and that and I think anybody outside by the way

Ronnie 30:19

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she's got that country edge to barbecue. I don't know it's great. And that's a Marlboro

Southern accent. So you know the limits?

Juliana 30:33

I mean, I don't know the limits I think we've definitely maybe once or twice had very juicy

arguments. I know at the end of the day no matter how much we want to punch each

other in the face will go to sleep will wake up and we know circus trees is still gonna play

on definitely easier to bounce back.

Finola 30:51

Yeah. gotten in fights all of our life.

Ronnie 30:54

You must have some interesting moment especially in the dark on

Juliana 30:56

this one I know. I know especially her being the youngest not that I'm outing you right now

but hard spoon on necessarily outright contributing to like the first writing of the song like

a no one Finn will bring lyrics and Finn will bring the bass part and the piano part and

then me trying to write the drum parts. The first few tries she can get the brunt of a lot of

things. Yeah. So I know for her it's been tough. But she she's a tough kid. She's tough egg.

Chuck Clough 31:30

So as far as that is concerned,

Ronnie 31:31

those good to hear right?

Chuck Clough 31:34

When you bring in a song, you basically have just your that the guitar part? Is it all sorted

out already? Is it kind of a living, breathing thing until you're on the same page? How's

that work?

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Finola 31:45

I usually bring a song to the table with some structure, I think what they add to it is they

add the real vibe that we get from the part when I bring it to them. They're deciding how

the vibe is happening during this part and what they're feeling. And it definitely changes

everything.

Ronnie 32:05

You bring the basic recipe and you add some of the spices.

Chuck Clough 32:09

you and your cooking the metaphors.

Ronnie 32:11

I'm hungry. What can I say? What kind of spice do you bring?

Juliana 32:14

Salt?

Chuck Clough 32:17

Really quick answer is

Ronnie 32:19

salted up.

Egg 32:20

Yeah. I'm some salt. Pepper maybe depends on the day. The taco season. Yeah.

Chuck Clough 32:27

Yeah. Talk about your relationship with Clarissa. Because we had Chris on here. What

about he couple years ago? Yeah. And she brought this woman that we didn't know. Her

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name was Vanessa. And they haven't been. Silberman with the BB. And they're both cool

as hell. And she won the rock and roll rumble last year or two years ago. She's as cool as

you as it gets. How's it? What's your relationship with her

Juliana 32:55

when we decided to record our first single Vanessa and Clarissa where the first two

people who were just like, we need to get it done? Like we're going to do it like, like, let's

do it today. You know, they're very, like, we love you guys. And then men. So they are the

first people, we recorded our first single with our first single impermanence. Yeah, I know,

you can sort of talk more about how we met them. Um,

Finola 33:16

they came around to play show with us. I don't remember exactly how that happened. I

don't know how we ended up playing with Clarissa Johnson. But that ended up being a

thing. I remember our whole thing that day was like, we need to impress them. Like we

need to, like, make a good impression on them. Like they're going to be there like wrinkle

release your shirts, like make sure everything is like steam. Like, let's go. I remember we

started playing. This will never leave my mind. As soon as we started playing couple

minutes in, they get up and leave. And and I'm like, Oh, no. Oh, no. What did we do

wrong? Like what happens? They come back after eventually they come back. Later. We

fast out they left to go talk to our father. Yes. And tell us how good we were. Yeah, yeah.

They weren't leaving

Ronnie 34:09

so smart.

Chuck Clough 34:12

I did want to talk a little bit about the singing. Because it is very unique. And it's difficult

because you you hit a note and you hold it, which is not easy to do. But you also had

these kind of little things that I noticed.

Ronnie 34:26

Can you try it for us? It's

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Chuck Clough 34:29

a

Ronnie 34:32

throat noise.

Chuck Clough 34:38

but you do it to stop your voice with. Right. You know, I mean, you know, I'm saying it's not

all over the place. It's not like your signature, but I hear it here and there.

Ronnie 34:47

Yeah, audio signature. Very good.

Finola 34:50

I mean, my vocals definitely I started singing when I started playing kind of, and then I

ended up going to vocal lessons actually, it really, really helped me not to necessarily be

classically trained in vocals. But it helped me in a sense that my vocal teacher definitely

helped me to like believe in myself. Yeah, and like the only way you're going to be able to

project and sing well is if you really believe that you're going to hit these notes and that

you are good. Exactly. And so she definitely taught me a lot about that and about

breathing and everything that

Chuck Clough 35:24

goes back to my initial comment about saying how you guys owned it and you have the

confidence if you do not own it your voice when you hit when you had that known you

hold that note for a long time. You and you wouldn't blow everybody in the audience away

but it's because you had that confidence that's that strong voice that's what makes the

song

Ronnie 35:44

you harmonize it all you do a little So you mentioned something interesting that you want

to hear the lyrics in your monitor loud You follow the song that way?

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Juliana 35:57

Oh, yeah. Hundred percent. I know one more on stage no egg The only way show plays if

she's turned around facing me. Yeah, I don't know if there's ever a moment where she'll

sort of look out but I know she'll look at Finn sometimes but like just like seeing egg and

knowing that we're both physically singing the lyrics and we can both hear the lyrics it's

like a very like common thing

Ronnie 36:17

women sing you guys mouth it.

Juliana 36:19

Yeah. I know. She I know she legit sings like she'll just like screen.

Ronnie 36:25

I love this. I mean, you you guys are really the song is resonating through all of you.

Chuck Clough 36:30

Yeah. So your album out is called Sakura. Sakura? Yeah. What does that mean?

36:35

It means cherry blossom? Yes. My dad is from Robert. He used to travel a lot, especially

doesn't make you call him. Mr. Robert. Yes.

36:47

He only answers to Mr. Robert. Yes.

Juliana 36:50

He used to travel a lot for like his job. And I know when my mom was pregnant with her.

He was in Tokyo. And he got the call. My mom was like, yo, she's coming. So they were

going to end up naming her Sykora. And then I got some then she just got stuck.

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Finola 37:07

So yeah, when we heard that story, we heard that story. We were like, We need to name

our first EP Sykora.

Chuck Clough 37:16

I know we have to wrap this up. But how do you keep from repeating yourselves when you

write your socks?

Juliana 37:21

That was actually one of our like, first big argument. I don't know what was wrong with

me. But I got into like such a moon. And then Finn was like, well, we need to write this new

song. So let's go. And I was like, all right, fine. Like let's go. And then so we like started

playing through our set. Was it empty cabinets? Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. It might

have been empty cabinets that we started playing. And then she was like, Okay, this is the

new song. And then she starts playing and I think she's just like, fooling around and

playing empty cabinets again, but she was like, Joel, why aren't you playing? I was like,

you're literally playing the same song. And she was like, Oh my god, it was so bad. We got

into the,

Finola 37:57

like, a two day argument.

Juliana 37:59

Same guitar part. Like she's like, no, it's not like I swear in my mind.

Finola 38:04

I was like, damn it right. By the way. I

Chuck Clough 38:07

was very impressed. And I'm guessing that I can. Thank you dad for doing this. Do you

guys have vinyl? Is that Is that him? Or is that very very good. Vinyl fan?

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Juliana 38:18

She has mad stacks.

Chuck Clough 38:20

When's the new album coming out? Is it what's what's the big plan over the summer and

just

Dad 38:24

want to remember that they said one of the biggest influences is Oh, brother. Yeah. You

talked about their sort of long form a talk about you know, their dynamics, and and the

vocals that is all heavily influenced by this band. Oh, brother.

Ronnie 38:44

Let me guess what's going on this summer. You guys are going on tour with Oh, brother.

Finola 38:48

I wish I was and

Ronnie 38:50

you're gonna name yourselves. Oh, sister. Oh,

Finola 38:52

sister. Gosh, yeah. Whoa. So So basically, I think Oh brother was really the band that

introduced me to the world of music and experimentation and music, and how it doesn't

have to be all the pop songs on the radio. And I remember listening to them for the first

time it was so amazing. I was so blown away. I think I had to listen to the album like four

more times after that before I could actually understand what was going on. I know that

it's always been a dream for me to like, even be on the same stage with them and share a

stage with them. Luckily, this summer we are invited to play post festival in Indianapolis is

in post rock yes post rock Okay, and then post festival Okay, so post Rock Festival and

then you take out the rock and then suppose festival?

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Ronnie 39:45

Yes,

Chuck Clough 39:45

yes or no? You asked me but

Ronnie 39:48

I'll tell you later.

Finola 39:51

So who was headlining post festival?

39:55

No idea. Oh brother.

Juliana 40:00

So we get to play with Oh brother at this huge festival. I'm so excited to play the festival.

We're basically like best friends already.

Chuck Clough 40:08

Yeah, we basically reach out to them. You share the spotlight. million dollars they will

reach back. They're not young kids. Are they older guys?

Juliana 40:17

Like like medium rare.

Chuck Clough 40:18

Medium rare like that. What am I well done. Yeah. Well, good for you. That's awesome. I'm

very that's exciting.

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Ronnie 40:31

Tell us when post fest is and where it is. So not

Juliana 40:34

towbar, Tolbert, my birth month, October 4, and fifth managing were You know,

Indianapolis?

Chuck Clough 40:43

Indianapolis. So,

Ronnie 40:52

October 4 and fifth Indianapolis. Chuck's gonna go he's never been there before. And

that's great.

Chuck Clough 41:00

Well, you guys, I tell you there was a buzz in the audience and you guys went on and

talked. I tell a lot of people about you and I success man. In fact, I think we've actually

brought you up in previous episodes.

Ronnie 41:09

We talked about God. What were we driving? We were both was.

Chuck Clough 41:14

that's what made into the episode. Right. I was in here setting us or

Ronnie 41:19

who was it for? I don't know. We were both driving and Joe would. Okay. Okay. From the

cape. I was working on the

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Chuck Clough 41:25

on the cape. I had your music blaring on here. And we were both listening to at the same

time. Really?

Ronnie 41:30

Yeah. Oh, it was so funny. Like I was listening to circus reason the way I was listening to

circus circus.

Chuck Clough 41:39

One last question. Where does circus trees come from? Within?

Juliana 41:43

It's like from the 1800s over in like Sweden or something like that. They would plant trees

and then the like farmers or whatever would legit just like twist them around. Train so it's

a circus tree

Chuck Clough 41:55

history. I like that a lot. Yeah, I know you're talking about Yeah, they could they can afford

tree shapes and stuff like that.

Ronnie 42:01

There's goats in trees. That's actually a real thing. That's a bad friend of mine was in

ghosts and trees. You ever

Chuck Clough 42:07

seen those goats in the trees?

42:09

I like the calendars of goats and trees.

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Finola 42:12

I actually have calendars of goats and trees. Yeah, I strongly believe

Ronnie 42:17

it's a great name for a band. Jason. What was in

Chuck Clough 42:21

what about what about you know those goats was fainting goats. Have you seen those

guys? Yes, the fainting goats. Another one.

Finola 42:27

We love goats.

42:28

Real quick. You should.

Dad 42:30

The knuckleheads album that you guys released.

Finola 42:36

So we have another brother, a younger brother, as well. So there's five children. We were

all in a band while back called the knuckleheads. And we did release an album. This

album was called goat dealer because we really we love We really wanted to go at the

time and

Chuck Clough 42:56

as most children do.

Finola 42:58

Yes, of course. Dad can we just find a goat dealer? Yeah, to get a go?

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Juliana 43:03

Yeah, we had like our whole neighborhood was full of just like goats. Just like this one

month. It was getting like mad goats and we're like, Where's everybody getting like the

goat dealer like it was like we want to go name it Rick.

Chuck Clough 43:16

What does that mean?

Finola 43:23

The Observer expectancy effect

Chuck Clough 48:44

We would like to thank their father and manager Robert McCarthy, who is the founder of

five by two records for his assistance in getting these talented musicians on a TV and

certainly wish these three great young women the best you must check them out at circus

trees dot band camp, calm and spread the word about their music. Please go to above

the basement calm where you can join us on Patreon. Sign up for our newsletter. Listen

and subscribe to our podcast like our Facebook page. Follow us on Twitter. And look at all

the nice pictures we post on Instagram. We are everywhere. On behalf of Ronnie and

myself. Thanks for listening. Tell your friends and remember Boston music like its history is

unique.

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