Interview & Article by Brittany Ormiston

Bre Kennedy

How is your experience at Bonnaroo going?

Bre: “It’s going very well. It is my first time camping here. It’s been interesting. My boyfriend and I brought a two-person tent, two pillows, and a blanket. So it’s been a learning experience for the camping part. It’s been great. It’s really been nice to settle into the Bonnaroo vibes.”

Have you met any other artists that you have been able to bond with?

Bre: “I got to sing a song I wrote with Goldpark yesterday [Killer Queen (What I Need)]. They played the Who Stage. Joy Oladokun is here. Just ran into her and Patrick Droney.”

What’s it been like collaborating with other artists like Goldpark?

Bre: “I think it is amazing. It’s why I love Nashville so much. It’s very much a community of people. We grab beers after 5 o’clock, and then we get to write songs together. It’s great! They are dear friends, and we wrote that song…I think it was our second session ever writing together. Just instant chemistry.”

Do you have any dream collabs since we are talking about collaborations?

Bre: “Oh yeah. I mean I definitely would love to collaborate with Brandi Carlile. She’s my number one. Adam Melchor is another one. He is one of my favorite voices, and I love his songwriting a lot.”

Since we are talking about Nashville a little bit, we are wondering if Nashville influences your songs at all? You do a lot of storytelling in your songwriting so do you pull influences from books you read, personal experiences, Nashville itself?

Bre: “Nashville has definitely influenced the way that I write music. It was the first time I had ever seen a song being crafted with such care. It taught me how to share my story, and find my own fingerprints. Nashville definitely absolutely has [influenced it]. And maybe some of the beverages have allowed me to relax, and sit in my room with my guitar and get it all out. The biggest inspiration for me really is, it sounds cheesy but, it is just pulling from my life and my past life and figuring out how to weave it in poetry a little bit. I think Nashville is really good at doing that.”

Charlotte Sands

We saw you perform with YUNGBLUD in Indianapolis. How was it opening for him on tour?

Charlotte: “Incredible. He is such an, obviously you guys know since you saw the show, but him as a performer is absolutely everything I want to be. Creating this really safe space that people really feel comfortable being who they are and expressing themselves. And also never stopping on stage. He never calms down. He is always top 10 energy. And such a good example of what it is to be an incredible performer and a good person.”

What about collaborating with The Maine? We know that was so huge for you!

Charlotte: “They are the sweetest people. That band is such a good example of exactly how I want my career and my team members to feel. They are so respectful to everybody and they have so much fun on the road and they've obviously worked so hard. I’ve been a fan of them since I was like 16 years old. Every interview I ever did about music I always mentioned them and say, “Ah I love The Maine!” and I’d always talk about them. Literally they reached out to do the song [Loved You A Little], and I was so shocked and agreed to do it before even hearing the song. I was like, ‘Yes 100 times yes! I don’t care if it’s one word, let me on it’. I was so excited. They have been nothing but kind - like my bigger brothers and just so sweet.”

What about your song ‘Dress’? We know you wrote it about Harry Styles. What is the backstory for the track?

Charlotte: “The conversation when we were writing that song, as much as it was about one specific person, the majority of it was about the fact that me as a person and my personal life and dating - my view and my type had changed so much. And I started realizing that I actually started becoming attracted to people who fully could express themselves and [be] confident in who they were, and more so than I was [attracted to] when people who had to prove their confidence by doing things that they felt were masculine because that was society’s standard of masculine. Masculinity changed so much in my mind about what it really meant. Masculinity is kind of embracing your femininity as well embracing all sides of who you are, and being able to be super confident doing that.

So we talked about YUNGBLUD before I even met him and talked about him during the session. Obviously there are so many incredible artists that have done that, and have pushed the boundaries of gender norms. David Bowie and all these incredible people. But he [Harry Styles] was kind of that person for me because he is just so obviously massive, and such an example to so many young fans. And he chooses to really embrace who he is and express himself without holding back, and it’s really inspiring to me and still is inspiring to me. Yeah so we had a conversation about all of those things and were able to write that song, and make it feel like a casual conversation and a casual pop song…Not make it feel like we were forcing opinions or views. It’s supposed to be fun, it’s supposed to feel like a normal thing because it is.”

Is Harry Styles one of your dream collaborations?

Charlotte: “I think he is such a perfect example of an artist that can do the pop thing obviously with One Direction he was a pop artist. I feel like flipping from that genre to being an artist that is doing their own solo career is so difficult and usually doesn't work. I think he fully embraced his artistic style, and was so confident in what he wanted to make and who he wanted to be. He didn't really listen to outside input, and all of his music feels like he’s doing whatever he wants to do, whatever he feels it, in whatever space of life he is in at that time - that’s what he’s making. It doesn't ever feel like it’s about chasing the charts, or about making things that feel cool or not cool. He just makes whatever he wants to make, and I respect that. I love that so much. That’s exactly who I want to be as an artist.”

He literally is in love with his art, and that is all he cares about. He’s like if people listen great, and if not - so be it.

Charlotte: “Yeah! What’s the point of making stuff if you don’t love it yourself, and you don’t want to listen to it. Absolutely the same thing. That is my forever goal is to make stuff I am proud of, and that I want to perform, and hopefully other people like it too.”

How has Bonnaroo been going for you? Going to a festival scenery is so huge!

Charlotte: “It’s so much fun! Honestly, Bonnaroo is one of my favorite festivals ever. Obviously since I live in Nashville, I live so close by and so every time I am here I see so many people that I am friends with and that I love, and other artists I don’t really get to watch their shows. So I feel like it’s the only time I get to really run around and see all the acts I really want to see, and actually enjoy music. Kind of remind myself why it [music] is so wonderful, and just seeing how many people actually come here to get a break from their life and to be able to celebrate things they have in common and feel safe, feel welcome in a space together is such a beautiful thing. I love walking around feeling that energy, and feeling like everybody is here for the same reasons and everyone’s spreading positivity and yeah. It’s my favorite. I love it so much.”

I am sure it is great to be on stage and do what you do best, and then also be in the crowd to watch other artists and take mental notes, and all that.

Charlotte: “It’s so inspiring! We’ve been so busy this year. I played three festivals in one weekend a week or two ago so I didn't get time to see anybody else. I did my set, got on a plane, and flew to the next one. This [Bonnaroo] was really important to me, and [I said] I want to spend time here, and I want to be able to watch music…watch people, get excited, and feel like I can be a human. It’s my whole team’s weekend. We are able to take a step back and enjoy and have a good time and hang out.”

Any other bucket list items besides festivals you want to share?

Charlotte: “There are so many I don’t know where to start! I feel like I am at the beginning of my list, and I have so many big ones. I could definitely go as far to say I want to play stadiums. I want to be a headliner at a stadium, and I want to sell it out. I have so many random collaborations…My next goal I want to accomplish is I’ve never done a song with another female artist. Whenever I am doing features, I am so obsessed with these bands I grew up listening to and that I love so much. But I feel like I want to be making more music with women and be able to play these shows with more women. It’s really important to me to try to do more collaborations with women because my team is mostly women…So that is my goal in the next year and try to do that more.”

FLETCHER came to mind when you said that!

Charlotte: “She is my biggest crush. Truly I love her so much. Her aura and energy as a person - you just know she’s a good person. I think that is so important. You can see it and you can tell. She’s really authentic and she’s so talented and wonderful. Yeah definitely that would be amazing.”

flipturn

So glad to meet you guys and talk today about Bonnaroo and how things have been going! Are you enjoying yourselves so far?

flipturn: “Yeah! We’ve never been though. Brand new to it.”

Did you guys do your set on Wednesday [at Roo Bus]?

flipturn: “We did a smaller one Wednesday, and then we play tomorrow. It was good! It was fun. Very hot. Like 95 degrees. It was a learning experience. I think we found our limits during that show to be honest. The way the sun was angled, and our laptop overheated so our tracks died. Shortly after that, we started overheating so we were sweating really bad, getting dizzy, seeing spots. We made it work.”

We wanted to talk to you about your upcoming debut album [Shadowglow]! Can you share anything about that?

flipturn: “We’ve been working on Shadowglow for about two years now. We started off the writing process by doing a writing retreat in Arizona. We drove from Florida all the way to near Phoenix, and stayed there for about two weeks in a cabin where you could see cacti around you. We wanted to go to a completely different climate to kind of clear our creative juices I guess? Creative energy? I don’t know. You feed off of your environment and atmosphere quite a bit when you are writing, or when you are trying to get creative. This definitely influenced [the album], and you can pick up and pick out [those aspects] in some of the songs. We came out of that trip with about 10, 11 songs so a couple of them are on the record, and a couple didn’t make it...We had the first one and the last one though for the record. The vibe of the record was definitely made there [in Arizona].”

Are there any bucket list items you guys want to accomplish during your careers?

flipturn: “Bonnaroo is happening right now! Checking it off the list. Hopefully playing a higher bill next time. Lolla [Lollapalooza] is happening this year. It’s really cool. As far as the festivals go, it’s starting to happen which is really encouraging. All the cliche ones [bucket list items] we really want to do: Red Rocks, Saturday Night Live, any late night TV show, Hot Ones.”

Any dream collabs while we are talking about reaching for the stars?

flipturn: “We were talking about Billie Eilish earlier. I love her vocals so much, and I think that would be really neat. Her and FINNEAS. You know, create a different vibe. FINNEAS for production. His production is insane. Maggie Rogers would be cool too. There would be a cool contrast there. One of my favorite pop artists for sure.”

I heard you are going out on a headlining tour. Are you guys excited for that? What are you looking forward to?

flipturn: “Very. Very. Playing the new music honestly. Being able to put a show together with this album because for so long we’ve been playing together all of our old catalog. Obviously you have to play the old ones, but…it’s going to be different. I am really really excited for that. Being on the road too. There’s nothing like being on the road. You have a whole different mindset and day-to-day life. Every day is the same, but different. The same, but a different city. Where am I today? I drove here. Why don’t I know where we are?”

Any venues you are looking forward to on that tour?

flipturn: “Bowery Ballroom [in New York City]. The [Aggie] Theatre in Fort Collins [CO]. Bluebird Theater [in Denver, CO]. It will be cool to headline those venues because we opened for Wilderado in the spring and got to play those venues, but being able to be the top name on the bill and actually have our set. It will be mostly our crowd this time, and I am very excited for that.”

Judah & The Lion

Have you guys been to Bonnaroo before?

Judah & The Lion: “Yes! We’ve played here and we’ve camped here before.”

Does the energy feel different because it's been a few years since everyone has been here?

Judah & The Lion: “Yeah it does. I guess we played Firefly [Music Festival] last year. It’s kind of our first big festival back since the pandemic. It's kinda feeling a little weird just because we were touring for so long pre-pandemic then you don't do that for close to three years now.”

Obviously festivals have probably been on your bucket lists. Are there any bucket list items that you guys have that you haven’t done yet?

Judah & The Lion: “We’re from Nashville so playing Bridgestone Arena in Nashville is like a bucket list [item] for us if we are lucky enough to do that one day. Fortunately, we have been able to check off a lot of metaphorical boxes. We are excited to be back here closing out a tent at Bonnaroo which is our hometown festival, and that is a dream come true.”

Any dream collaborations while we are talking about bucket list items?

Judah & The Lion: “One for the band has always been Coldplay! We just admire their whole art of a career. That would be wild. That would be fun. Frank Ocean, someone like that, would have a weird spin on what we do. It would be like mixing genres too.”

So you have been in a band for 10 years now, how has your journey been from forming at Belmont University to playing festivals and winning iHeart Awards?

Judah & The Lion: “I don’t want to say surprising, but to be able to do what we do for the past 10 years as a living…When we were first starting out, me and Brian [MacDonald] were living in the same place for 3 years outside of touring, splitting rent kinda living off of ramen noodles and PB&Js, and just doing it because we love music. That heart hasn't really changed, but it has been such a beautiful thing that certain people are connecting to it [our music] in a way that has allowed us to still be a band.”

Are any other plans coming up? Albums? Touring?

Judah & The Lion: “We are doing a tour this fall to tour on this album and it will be across the US. We are really excited because it will have been 3 years since we actually did a full tour. Which was very unexpected. We didn’t think it would be that long. We are excited about it, and we feel refreshed. Today is kind of kicking off [everything]. We just came out with a record last week. This is kind of a start to that.”

How has the response been to the album [Revival]?

Judah & The Lion: “It's been really really sweet. This has been the longest record we’ve had to prepare. We spent about 2 ½ years from the writing to the recording. We just haven’t had that much time just because pre-pandemic we were touring, and we would have to record and then go back on tour. We are really proud of this record. I think our fans were anticipating it too.”

Any venues you are looking forward to performing at on your tour coming up?

Judah & The Lion: “Boston House of Blues is one of our all-time favorites. We always love The Roxy in Atlanta.”

The Aces

Have you been to Bonnaroo before?

The Aces: “Nope! This is our first time!”

That’s so exciting! What are you looking forward to?

The Aces: “Performing! I mean all the acts. Stevie Nicks c’mon. It’s so surreal. A friend of ours is playing as well. A couple friends of ours: COIN, FLETCHER. We toured with them [COIN] a few years back so we got to catch up with them. It’s just good vibes. It feels good.”

How has the response been from ‘Girls Make Me Wanna Die’?

The Aces: “It's been great! We have been excited to put this song out for a while now, and I think it's going pretty much exactly how we wanted it to. We strategically put it out during Pride Month to give that to our fans, our queer fans, during this month has been super fun. We’ve been playing a bunch of Prides [Pride Festivals] and they know all the words already. It’s been really fun. It feels great. The response too has been seen most because we’ve played it live the past couple of Prides, and it's just been fun to see the energy with that song.”

I like the positivity of it too. Just all good vibes.

The Aces: “Yeah! It’s upbeat. It feels like there is a sense of urgency to it. A summer vibe to it. Our fans have loved it. We love that song so much. I think more than anything we are just excited to get new music out and share it.”

Was the creative process different for this single compared to your other music in the past?

The Aces: “No, I think it came together pretty much how we always do it. It was fun! Making this new music I think our creative approach has been shifting and changing which is cool. We have been taking more of a band approach and getting in the studio [with] just the 4 of us, plugging in and jamming and having a good time. Making that the foundation of how we make music having that raw, organic band vibe. You hear that in ‘Girls Make Me Wanna Die’ and you will hear that across more music we will put out. Very garage band approach.”

That way nothing is forced, and the creative juices flow better that way.

The Aces: “Yeah! We’ve been a band since we were kids. That’s all we did you know? We would go and write songs together and play music. When we get into a flow state together is when we get to perform and play together, so it’s been really cool to make music out of just that. And like you said, organic and natural and nothing is forced.”

You were talking about playing music as kids and how you’ve grown over the years. Is playing festivals a bucket list item you are checking off?

The Aces: “Specifically, Bonnaroo has been on our list for a long time. We got the call super last minute like two days ago. We were like f*** yeah we want to play Bonnaroo. All of us have slept maybe an hour-and-a-half each. We love festivals and playing live, it's our favorite part of what we do. To just get to be around other artists like there's something so special. We’ve been lucky to play a lot of festivals. We’ve played BottleRock and Lollapalooza. Never done Bonnaroo…Why we’re so excited to play Bonnaroo is because we’ve heard about people camping out, hanging out, and it’s very friendly. There’s nothing like that. We will always jump at the opportunity for sure.”

Are there any other bucket list items you have besides festivals?

The Aces: “We did make a bucket list goals list when we were 14 or 15. [Playing] Arenas, Madison Square Garden is a massive one. Let’s do it all baby! We want to do everything. Do festivals in the Uk, travel to Asia, and Latin America. We just wanna travel everywhere. A huge bucket list [item] would be headlining a festival, getting to that level where you can do that would be insane. Headline Bonnaroo let’s go!”

Are there any dream collaborations you have with artists or songwriters?

The Aces: “Oh yeah, for sure The 1975, Tame Impala, Paramore. Paramore would be insane. We have so many artists we are massive fans of, and would love to collaborate with. For this new single we are working on some really exciting remixes with artists we are really big fans of. So yeah. The list is endless, truly.”

Speaking of new things coming up, we wanna talk about your upcoming tour with Why Don’t We?

The Aces: “That tour came about in a really organic way. Jonah [Marais] DMed Crystal randomly and was like, “Hey, do you wanna go on tour with us?” and we were like, “Uh yeah! 100%.” We are super stoked. They are so sweet. We’ve met three of them, and we know Jonah the best. They’ve all been so lovely to us. We have heard amazing things about their fanbase, and how passionate their fanbase is. Touring with 5 Seconds of Summer [5SOS] was a massive step for us as a band. They [Why Don’t We] has really passionate fans. 5SOS has really passionate fans. When you get an opportunity to tour with a band that has a really passionate fanbase, that's just like the bread and butter. It’s amazing to get to be on a stage like that. We feel really grateful to those guys for taking us and we are so excited. It is a long tour, but coming out of not being able to play shows for two-and-a-half years…We are so ready…We are like a bat out of fucking hell. We are just like ready to play. With every day, you never know when it could all be gone.”

Bonnaroo Festival

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The Midnight