GETTING TO THE CENTER OF 'PEACH PIT' WITH frames.
frames is an indie-rock band from Central Illinois, who describe their sound as “power pop”. Consisting of Singer, Darcy Johnson, Lead Guitarist, Max Hutti, Bassist, Nathan Logsdon, and Drummer, Ellie Long; since 2019, they have been writing and releasing music together. Their newest tune, “peach pit”, has three awards in tow, for songwriting, engineering, and production.
frames is most recognizable by their use of blunt and relatable lyrics that confess their real-life experiences.
In the end they’re just four hooligans trying to make it big in the music industry.
Peach Pit Lyrics:
Had dreams of taking you to see my favorite band
Then you broke it off like you didn’t give a damn
I was content, didn’t need anything new,
But I guess that wasn’t on the docket for you
Now I don’t know what’s going through your mind
But just know you’re going through mine
Can’t listen to Peach Pit, makes me sick,
Still looking for your car, parked at that drive thru we used to go to every night
And tell me why I see your eyes? Bright blue and still locked on mine.
Bought tickets to that show six months in advance.
Kinda sucks that I’ll have to cancel those plans.
Don’t know if you’re fine or if you’re in hell,
But it’s safe to say that I’m not doing well.
Now I don’t know if I messed up your mind,
But just know that you messed up mine.
Can’t listen to Peach Pit, makes me sick,
Still looking for your car parked at that drive thru we used to go to every night
And tell me why I see your eyes? Bright blue and still locked on mine.
Can’t listen to Peach Pit, makes me sick,
Still see you in your car, parked at that lake we used to skate through every night.
And tell me why’d you say goodbye? When did things all go awry?
You sure know how to drop that guillotine on me
But you never want to clean up the debris
You sure know how to drop that guillotine on me
But you never want to clean up the debris.
Can’t listen to Peach Pit, makes me sick,
Still looking for your car parked at that drive thru we used to go to every night
And tell me why I see your eyes? Bright blue and still locked on mine.
Can’t listen to Peach Pit, makes me sick,
Still see you in your car, parked at that lake we used to skate through every night.
And tell me why’d you say goodbye? When did things all go awry?
What are your favorite lyrics from your latest single?
DARCY: Probably the hook, “Can’t listen to Peach Pit, makes me sick”. It was the first line I wrote for this song. I heard the melody in my head, and couldn’t stop hearing it. I knew that it was going to turn into a song one way or another. After a little bit of time, and a little bit of word vomit, I had the song “Peach Pit”.
NATE: “Now I don’t know what’s going through your mind, but just know you’re going through mine”. I personally love how later into the song this lyric changes from “...but just know you’re going through mine” to “...but just know that you messed up mine”. I think it really adds to the story of the aftermath of a breakup.
MAX: My favorite lyrics are “you sure know how to drop that guillotine on me”. We sometimes cover the song “Drop the Guillotine” by Peach Pit, so it was a nice little nod to their song, and them as a band. I also think you could put those lyrics in a metal song that I would listen to.
ELLIE: Probably “Now I don’t know what’s going through your mind”. I am quite the over-thinker and find myself getting lost in my own thoughts. I would say that’s probably the most relatable line for me in the whole song.
What kind of pull did you feel about making the single?
DARCY: There are a lot of risky things I put in this song. I wrote it after a breakup. I had purchased some tickets to see the indie-rock band Peach Pit, and was planning on surprising my boyfriend with them, however he broke up with me a couple days before I was going to surprise him. I knew that if he heard the song he would know exactly who it was about, but sometimes you just have to do risky things. I don't regret releasing the song, and I haven't heard from him, so I think everything's going to turn out okay.
NATE: Once I’d first heard the basic idea of the song, I knew that there was something we could eventually mold into a final product; and at that point the creative mindset takes over and wants to make that “something” as amazing as possible.
MAX: When we finally heard the final rough draft of the song, I loved it. It all fit together really well and I had zero problems with it. I wanted to just put the song out there. The new single is probably my favorite to play live (next to well, it’s wrong), because the flow of the song is so good.
ELLIE: It was a really groovy song and I was thinking I should make some kind of fun drum part for the song. It’s one of my favorite songs to play.
Are all your writing sessions collaborative or do you go off on your own? Do you have a preference?
DARCY: I do the majority of our songwriting. I’ll come up with lyrics, a melody, and a rhythm guitar part, then send a voice memo to the rest of the band. Usually, they’ll all come up with their own parts, and shortly after that, we’ll come together for a rehearsal, and tweak some small things.
NATE: Most of our music stems from more private solo writing with some input here and there, and then coming together as a whole to construct the full sound of the song. I think this works well, and most importantly, we aren’t afraid to ask for input on something we do.
MAX: I would say both. Personally, I don’t put that much input into the songs except for the guitar parts (I stick to what I’m good at), I’m pretty neutral to everyone’s ideas, but we definitely work together to try and make things fit well with each other.
ELLIE: Writing sessions are somewhat collaborative. We pretty much go on our own and then come together and work from there. I don’t really have a preference either way. As long as we’re writing music together, I’m happy.
Do you ever compare the work you bring to the table?
DARCY: If someone has an idea for a certain part, we’ll definitely work with those ideas. We compare the different thoughts we have, and sometimes those thoughts can make changes so drastic that the song switches genres. I think that’s one of the great things about collaboration- when you work with people who listen to different things, or play different genres, you realize how much your music can change.
NATE: I’m not sure if “compare” is the word I would personally use. I would say more: we share ideas whether that be lyrically or musically, and then we are able to compile all those ideas together in our metaphorical songwriting library that we pull from.
MAX: Absolutely. That’s just something you have to do when you make songs with a band. If no one compared work and figured out how the song is going to work in structure, it would be a complete mess. However, I’m really thankful that we’re all able to offer constructive criticism when we’re writing music together.
ELLIE: We compare somewhat. We don’t really argue about parts too much. There are a few suggestions here and there.
What is standard practice when it comes to if the song is really finished?
DARCY: Generally, we’ll take a song to the studio, we’ll do a full-band recording of it, and then we’ll slowly add little pieces of “ear candy”. Our goal is to make sure the song is full, but once it gets busy, we cut back. We also like to make sure everything makes sense. If the song lyrically dies down, we’re not going to add more instrumentation. Whenever the song feels like it’s accurately portraying the emotions that were involved during the writing process, that’s when I can comfortably say the song is finished.
NATE: At this point in the process, it becomes very collaborative and we are able to work together to make something we can all agree on, obviously there might be compromises along the way, but overall, it’s a group decision if it’s finished or not.
MAX: I play the song many different ways, and once I find my favorite method of playing the song, that’s when I know my work is done. However, when do I know the song as a whole is done? I just get this feeling. Everything glues together and feels right.
ELLIE: We usually spend a lot of time on every song after they’re finished being written. We work really hard to make sure each song is solid and would draw in new fans. If we have songs that are sub-par, they might be listened to by people that have already found us, but we also want to make sure that there are people who are finding us because of other people sharing our new music. When we think a song is good enough to draw in new listeners, that’s when we know it’s good.
What was the goal for making the latest track?
DARCY: I really needed this song to be a representation of all of the incoherent thoughts that ran through my head while I was mourning this relationship. I wanted to make sure that the message was understood and made sense to the person listening to it, while still making sure that it was a direct reflection of the situation at hand.
NATE: Making something people will want to listen to because of how they relate to it, and as with every track, we want to make something as amazing as we possibly can.
MAX: I just like to ensure that we’re making solid, catchy songs. When we’re recording, we try to make it sound as good as possible before it goes into the mixing process, because we know then that it will only sound better once it’s been fully mixed and mastered.
ELLIE: It was a little different than the previous ones we’ve done. It overall had a nice groove to the piece and I just wanted a solid drum part to go along nicely with it. Our recording process was also a little different than in past projects. We weren’t all together when the final tracks were being recorded, so when the final mix was sent to us, it was a little bit of a surprise.
Challenges to the new music that no one would know about?
DARCY: I am a mega perfectionist. I always want to make sure that the music doesn’t only please myself and the band, but I also want to ensure that it will please the average listener. I keep track of what’s popular, and try to tailor my writing to that genre. You’ll hear that our sound has changed a few times in the two-year span of us releasing music. It’s difficult to find a nice gray area between what people listen to, versus what genre you find yourself lying in.
NATE: Behind the scenes there are almost always compromises that we have to work through for all of us to be happy with the track, so sometimes that means, for example, changes that weren’t originally planned among other small things.
MAX: It never really felt like a challenge for me, I guess this isn’t really a good question for me to answer. I just played the chords and the solo, and that was it. However, I’d like to think that my parts still added a decent amount of embellishments to the song.
ELLIE: For me, I always tend to find myself second guessing. Thinking things like “Do the drums match the genre?” or “Am I overplaying here?”. I always want the songs to be perfect and you have to remember that sometimes the best parts come the fastest.
Favorite memory in the making of this music?
DARCY: My favorite part of the creation of this song was when Max was recording his guitar parts. Everything started coming together really nicely, and every lick he came up with was better than the previous one. His parts are really just the icing on top of the cake.
I also thoroughly enjoy the days where I walk into the studio to see what our producer has done, and I open the Pro Tools session to find 20 new tracks and tons of new ideas. Our producer, Wyatt Boyer, has such an insane imagination, and he never fails to leave me amazed.
NATE: For me, it’s always hard to say, whenever we make music there’s always a “wow moment” where something happens and you’re shouting “yes!!!!!!” and getting more excited than ever about the project you’re working on.
MAX: The studio time. I got to meet the crew that Darcy had been working with, and it was nice to finally get to meet Wyatt, our producer. He was super nice and made sure that all of our wants were met. He turned the song into something amazing and I’m so happy with the way it turned out.
ELLIE: I would have to say watching Max record and harmonize over the previous guitar tracks. You hear it right at the end of the song during the solo. Once he played that, I think we all were like “Oh yeah, that’s going in the song”
Is there anything off the table when it comes to bringing yourselves into your music?
DARCY: I like to stay real. If at any point I find my lyrics to be superficial or giving off the wrong message, I will instantly change them. I never want people to think that my lyrics don’t mean anything. Oftentimes, they’re very blunt, but I think that offers a lot more opportunity for them to be relatable.
NATE: I think getting yourself to connect with the music is a personal process, and I would say: do whatever it takes to be able to get in that “zone” so to speak.
MAX: There’s nothing really “off the table” for me. Making the songs is just part of being in the band and it’s cool to be a part of that process. You just have to practice and be in the “creative zone” when you’re making the songs.
ELLIE: I don’t think so. I mean, I think it’s important that everyone is in the correct mindset whenever they’re beginning to write a new song. If you’re not feeling inspired, chances are you’re going to get frustrated when you try to write. I think that as soon as you start to feel the song, you should be able to ride through the writing process.
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The band is currently working hard on some new songs, so make sure you keep your eyes peeled for those! You can also follow us on all social media platforms to keep up with our whereabouts!
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