PREMIERE: Los Angeles Indie Rock Act Interesting Hobbies Club Unveil New Single “Man On Top Of The Sun” From Upcoming Album

Los Angeles-based indie rock outfit Interesting Hobbies Club came to be from the small confines of a drum practice room at Occidental College. Originally known as Zero Degree, the band composed of frontman Jules Caspole, drummer/producer Max Young, and guitarist Parker Capp, began writing writing songs and playing shows in their dorm room for a good portion of 2019, before adding bassist Alex Prichett to round out their ensemble. A name change would soon follow, after discovering a defunct Germanic death metal band had released a project; enter Interesting Hobbies Club. Since their debut album The State Of Being Here, released back in 2020, the four friends have been busy writing and recording a new project as IHC, and are set to release it in January 2022.

Building momentum for the project, the group have shared their latest single “Man On Top Of the Sun”, a laidback garage rock track that was entirely self-produced by drummer Max Young from his garage, make-shifting the process to fit the space. Microphones were hung up on bungee cords, blankets were draped over Jules and his microphone for a makeshift vocal booth, and noise complaints were received for loudly mixing the album in Jules’ cramped Eagle Rock apartment. 

Shifting away from their indie folk origins, the new effort dives into hazy west coast indie rock, reminiscent of The Districts, Houndmouth, and Twin Peaks. “With Man On Top of the Sun, we wanted to mix our style of catchy, four-piece indie rock hooks with inspiration from the dreamy, laid-back qualities of artists like Current Joys and the instrumentation of the classic rock we grew up on”, the band shares. “Man On Top of the Sun is a part of the softer side of the new album, bringing in melodic guitar solos and forgoing the punchy choruses and general chaos of songs like Wednesday and Middle of the 110“.

Listen to the single below, and discover more about the band in the latest Q&A just past:

Other than the naming conflict with the German death metal band, what inspired the new name choice? 

Jules Caspole: Interesting Hobbies Club was the name of a club from my high school. I wasn’t a part of it, but I always loved their name. When the conflict with the German death metal band came up, I knew exactly where to look.

On the topic of hobbies,  what are some of the band member’s favourite hobbies?

Alex Prichett: Max, our drummer and producer, likes to construct elaborate picnics. Jules enjoys freediving in the ocean. Chris, our guitarist, mostly plays video games in his free time when he’s not grinding out music. And for me, I’m a pretty active competitive Super Smash Brothers player around California. 

What is “Man On Top Of the Sun” about?

Jules: I think it’s – besides all the sun imagery and everything – really about a love that’s very comforting and safe. It’s also about being in a place where you’re anxiety free, and where everything is easier.

Is there anything that truly feels new & improved on the record? 

Max Young: Production. The production is a hundred times better. 

Jules: I think that the songwriting is more mature. It’s not just about getting drunk all the time. There are more themes, and more variety to it.

How does “Man On Top Of the Sun” fit within the tracklist on the new record? 

Alex: I think as we begin finalizing the album and tracklist, it’s hard to tell for sure. “Man on Top of the Sun” definitely fits in more of the brevity of the album, as we reach some pretty depressing and intense moments on other tracks.

Your band took a very DIY approach to recording. What were some of the challenges you overcame? 

Max: We had to figure out how to set up the drums microphones entirely on our own. The biggest challenge there was the overhead drum mics. We wound up having to hang them from the ceiling on bungee cords to figure out exactly which orientation was best. I feel like every other instrument was pretty straight forward. Either DI, or just straight input. We did mic up a real grand piano though.

Listening back, do you notice any moments or sounds that were a result of the homemade recording process?

Max: “Man on Top of the Sun” was a song where we changed the angle of the vocal mic. For the vocals, we angled the microphone in different positions to get different effects and layered them together. It was really fun to figure that out.

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