BEACH FOSSILS - Feature

COMSOS.PRESS

Tell us a bit about Beach Fossils.

Dustin Payseur

Oh... haha. I don't even know - we can start with the date February 2009.

Lyrically, it's like a journal, a personal diary. Musically, it's a representation of things that move us. I really don't know how to answer that.

ETHEREAL.PRESS

It really is a hard question for people to answer. The reason I ask it in every interview is to see the perception of self or one's entity (a band). Everyone has a different perspective of themselves or what they're doing creatively - than the outside world does.

COMSOS.PRESS

Tell us a bit about your most recent project, 'Bunny.'

Dustin Payseur

We jokingly said at one point we could call it 'new greatest hits.'

(everyone in the room laughed)

It's a representation of the entire discography rolled up into one and the evolution of that. We always strive for that on each album, but I think this is the first album that was inspired by Beach Fossils.

Jack Doyle Smith

The last projects we were pushing to do something new.

Dustin Payseur

Yeah, pushing to do something new.

Jack Doyle Smith

The amount of time it took to make this record contributed to how it changed as well. Even if we tried to make it sound like a Beach Fossils record, five years is a long time.

Dustin Payseur

We were writing, and there was a long break because of lockdowns. We kind of came back, and a lot of the music was created with a fresh perspective for lyrics.

COMSOS.PRESS

It's cool how you're taking bits and pieces from along the journey. There's such a large separation in that period.

Dustin Payseur

Some of these songs were written in a few days and some were written over the entire span of working on the album, always revising.

Tommy Davidson

It was the most unique process - we had what we thought was the album for the record. We had about 70% of it and the broad strokes of the project. We had a retrospective analysis analyzing the tracklist and had this crazy flood of creativity towards the end.

Dustin Payseur

The album was a lot slower initially. We were rushing to have the album out in 2020 - we had so much time with the lockdowns and all that s***. Everything has been a bit too stagnate - let's make faster songs for the album. We needed a f***ing outlet.  

Jack Doyle Smith

We always write instrumentals first - and lyrics last.

Dustin Payseur

The music was written in like 5 years or something, and all the lyrics were written in the final months.

Jack Doyle Smith

It was chaos.

Tommy Davidson

I remember Dustin was going to fly out in 45 minutes to go to the airport, and he was finalizing one of the verses.

COMSOS.PRESS

Wow. (pause)

COMSOS.PRESS

In the description for the album on Bandcamp, it states that this is your most vulnerable work to date.

Can you tell us a bit about what it was like exploring those vulnerable themes?

Dustin Payseur

I've always had my lyrics be a bit more poetic, vague, and open to interpretation. With this album, I pushed myself to be more precise and specific. Which was a fun challenge and is something I am going to continue to do and learn from.

For a while, I thought if I leave it vague, it's open to interpretation, but if I get too specific, it would alienate people. I realized the more specific I get, the more it resonates with people.

Most people have had similar experiences and will find it relatable.

COMSOS.PRESS

I think you are touching on the realities of the human condition. Any time there is suffering, pain, problems - you can see yourself in someone's shoes.

Dustin Payseur

I want to be specific, but I also want it to be timeless. Things are always changing; the world is always changing. I feel like the human experience will always be the same.

You read books that are classics written centuries ago and are considered classics. My time here is very temporary - I want my art to be me continuing to live after I am gone.

COMSOS.PRESS

Given the emotional nature of this album - the album cover is a bunny.

BEACH FOSSILS

(Everyone laughs)

Dustin Payseur

Originally, it was just cool imagery. We found this vintage bunny on eBay, and it became a studio mascot. Then we said we should just make it the album cover because it's been through the whole ride.

It came to represent strength through vulnerability. Which is what Beach Fossils is within a nutshell.

COMSOS.PRESS

One of the standout tracks from the last album was 'Dare Me.'

Can you tell us a little bit about that track?

Dustin Payseur

Because of being in a band - we don't have to settle down and do the same style of aging as people.

Tommy Davidson

We age faster.

EVERYONE

(laugh)

Dustin Payseur

In some ways, but we also remain young. It's a big part of our life is being immersed in a very social environment - nightlife + parties. This is a song I could have written when I was 22, but it still represents the life I live.

The line, 'dare me to say something stupid' is in that Beach Boys movie. He's got a guy following him, writing down things he's saying, at all times, to be able to turn that into lyrics.

I thought that was so cool, and I wish there was someone that could follow me around and just turn what I say into lyrics.

Tommy came over while I was writing some lyrics sitting in the back of the room...

Tommy Davidson

Kinda a fly on a wall in a way. It was fun because it's a conversation, but having that fly-on-the-wall mentality, I'd write things down.

Dustin Payseur

I didn't know he was writing this down. I feel like talking to him in between recoding, writing takes, and bouncing ideas off him at one point, I said, 'dare me to say something stupid.'

Later he pulled that out, and I knew that had to go in that song. These words are so benign, but when they're put together, it starts to have meaning. I thought oh this actually is kinda romantic.

In a way, when you start to have feelings for someone, you have to put yourself out there and say something stupid. The stupid thing maybe how you feel and if they don't feel the same way you'll feel really stupid.

COMSOS.PRESS

Building on that, Alan Watts said, 'the nature of love is self-abandonment.'

Dustin Payseur

Giving yourself out selflessly without looking for reciprocation. If you truly love someone, the way you treat them is out of genuine love, not because you want something.

COMSOS.PRESS

You get to experience so much more day-to-day with that mindset than operating under scarcity.

...

COMSOS.PRESS

We touched on this before, but how has the band evolved in this more recent iteration?

Dustin Payseur

I think in a lot of ways. We bounce ideas off each other, and it will naturally change the course of something we're working on.

If you were to isolate all three of us - that idea would not come from one. I really trust their takes - if it goes through the filter of all of us, I trust that it's good.

It's more helpful thinking that a bad idea is good, than it is thinking a good idea is bad.

COMSOS.PRESS

I love outsider artists in music for this reason. All art is really beautiful in the same sense, it doesn't need to be nuanced.

Dustin Payseur

Art is play. If it feels like work - it's not gonna be good.

COMSOS.PRESS

That's part of the reason we don't write negative interviews and are very selective of our features. If we don't like it, we don't review it. I don't see the point of a negative review.

Dustin Payseur

A lot of that criticism can be punching down. It's okay to punch up if it's massively successful and top 40. It can be healthy, but there's no point in punching down. Why are you going to beat up on indie artists?

COMSOS.PRESS

For sure, like if Marvel is generating 1.2 billion in the box office in a few days, yeah I can talk s*** about this. You know how many indie films you can fund with a fraction of that money?

Napoleon Dynamite was made off of $90K (fact-checked $400,000) and made millions (46.1 million).

COMSOS.PRESS

This is a more general question, but you were on tour with Post Malone - can you talk a bit about that?

Dustin Payseur

He's one of the most genuine people in top 40 world. He's genuinely a music lover, he's never fake, he is who he really is.

He doesn't have to pretend to be someone else. Especially at this point.

He's so successful he could bring on another huge radio artist, but he picked us up because he liked our music, and we're friends.

These people that are coming to his show don't have a f***ing clue who we are. I don't know anyone else who's in that contemporary A-list celebrity stardom who would take a risk like that.

Jack Doyle Smith

I don't think most of those fans have heard a live vocal or guitar.

Tommy Davidson

4 or 5 years ago, when we were on tour, there were obligations with a label to pair - but he's so 'post' post that reality that he can do whatever he wants.

COMSOS.PRESS

What's next for Beach Fossils?

Dustin Payseur

Continuing to write music and go on tour. We never really try to think ahead. I don't see the point in trying to think ahead.

It's worked out so far - let's keep doing what we're doing.

Links: Website - YouTube