Q&A: Creating Music for the Coming-of-Age of Your Life, Drive-In Takes a Stand in “Narcissus”
DON’T BE FOOLED BY THE SUMMERY TRACK — “Narcissus” is full of biting lyrics. New York–based alt-rock duo Drive-In makes bad relationships a thing of the past with their new single, “Narcissus.” Released on Sept. 2, “Narcissus” is part of their upcoming debut EP, this is not a romcom, which is set to release on Nov. 4.
Drive-In consists of Louisianian singer and lyricist Ally Rincon and Chicago native Mitch Meyer, who met in the fall of 2019 and hit it off, thanks to their mutual love for indie and punk music. After spending the last few years drafting songs and playing in shows, the duo is ready to deliver fresh sonic experiences that will leave listeners rethinking their life choices.
For Rincon, “Narcissus” hits close to home: she draws from personal experiences, sharing, "There was someone in my life who always had to be the center of every conversation and made me feel lesser than and stupid." The song came to mind while Rincon was rethinking the relationship: “I pulled out my ukulele and I started thinking, ‘You’re such a fucking narcissist,’ and it just kind of kept going,” she explains.
A combination of alt-rock, punk, and folk, “Narcissus” is profoundly authentic. The music flawlessly weaves together sharp, stabbing lyrics and strumming guitar chords in the background. It’s a song that will make you want to burst into laughter, cry in the bathroom, and dance in the middle of the parking lot, all at the same time. Whatever the moment, Drive-In is here to soundtrack the coming-of-age of your life.
Keep reading below to take a peek into Drive-In’s creative process, their journey toward “Narcissus,” and what’s down the road.
LUNA: Tell us a bit about yourselves — how did you two get into music?
MEYER: I picked it up as a kid. Funny enough, I always liked music. I remember the first records I bought when I was 13 were the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Linkin Park and stuff like that. So, you know, I was in my basement playing video games, jamming out. There were always guitars laying around — my grandpa played and so my mom had his when he passed, you know? It just kind of was a piece of furniture (laughs). More than we used but … I remember seeing the Phantom of the Opera when I was, like, 13, and I was like, “Holy shit,” like it just moved something in me. And then that's when I got really into guitar, so I started practicing a lot and taking lessons and I did the whole high school rock band thing with my friends, and [we] played graduation parties and pubs around town and stuff like that.
RINCON: Yeah, for me, I mean, similar situation. My household was always very musical. My dad especially was a big music nerd. And when I was a kid, I'd go look through his vinyl[s] and stuff. I've been doing music most of my life — I started doing choir when I was in elementary school, but I think what made me think, “Okay, Ally, you maybe don't suck” was [when] I was six years old. I went to Catholic school so [I] went to mast every week, and I remember we were singing this hymn and this kid in the pew ahead of me turned around and [said], “Wow. You’re really good,” and I was just hiding behind my choir book like “Thank you,” not sure how to take that in, but I think there's something about that moment that stuck with me.
Then as I grew up I got very into pop punk and the whole Warped Tour scene and the alternative music scene. Both communities in general, have given me so much joy and catharsis and ultimately got me seriously into songwriting in the first place. I learned how to sing and harmonize by listening to bands like Mayday Parade, hellogoodbye, Fall Out Boy, and Paramore over and over again until I got it right. Those communities inspired me to learn how the voice works and how to maintain my vocal health. I wouldn’t be the singer I am otherwise.' and also 'Notes On A Conditional Form. It also has a few harsher, more aggressive tracks on there too like “People.” Yeah, so I would say The 1975. The Wombats would be really sick. I'd say if we were gonna stay in the Americana-emo lane, I'd say also Oso Oso, Pinegrove, [and] The Front Bottoms. Also, Derek Sanders of Mayday Parade is also a very big reason I got into songwriting. First of all, he has an insane voice. Secondly, he's such a clever lyricist and, in my opinion, does a great job of writing emotional lyrics that still tell a story. I think it can be difficult sometimes to make sure the song's message doesn't get swallowed up by emotions. You don't want a song to be so dramatic that it Ioses its meaning, but you also don't want it to come off as apathetic for the sake of being sonically precise. So if the chance to ever work or sing with him came up I’d probably lose my shit, in a good way.
LUNA: What's behind the name Drive-In?
RINCON: Prior to workshopping the project with Mitch, I was brainstorming names with this other dude named Ian, and I remember we had come up with a short list of names that we thought were cool and kind of conveyed the thought. My friend Quinn had talked about how everybody thinks that they're the hero of their own coming-of-age story. I don't know why that stuck with me so much but I thought of what I want Drive-In to be, and I wanted it to be music that could kind of soundtrack your own coming-of-age story, and that's how I've thought about a lot of the music that I write. And that just really stuck with me, so I thought, what are some things based on that idea that kind of encapsulate that? And I think Drive-In just came up and it just felt really good. Plus, it's a bit referential to the two sides of music that I grew up listening to, which is like DIY-pop and the punk scene because [of] two bands that I love. There's one called At The Drive In, which is a hardcore band, and then the other is Drive Like I Do, which was the original name of The 1975. It's funny how all these little things in your life kind of line up and then that just makes so much sense.
LUNA: Could you talk a little bit about your process? How do you two work together?
MEYER: I can only speak from my perspective, but it's been fairly easy to flush out tunes because I’ve worked in a lot of projects where there's a bit of confusion with who does what, like whose job is to do what and then that kind of leads to stepping on each other's toes and that [might] lead to something not getting done. But Ali and I just kind of rolled into this process [that] works. Essentially, Ali will come in with a nearly completed song, which consists of just a vocal line — no chords, no instruments, nothing, just a vocal line. I've never worked with someone who can even write without the piano or the guitar, so it's a fascinating way of doing things. One of the reasons I even rarely write by myself anymore is when you collaborate with someone, their idea sparks an idea with you and then you come up with something else that sparks [an idea] with them — it's like this game of ping pong.
I think it brings things to fruition quicker than if you work by yourself. Essentially, she will come in with these tracks that are nearly completed in terms of vocals and then I just get out the guitar, and we talk a little bit like, “Hey, what mood is this?” Because you could take the same vocal line and depending on how you arrange the chords behind it, the progressions and all can be sappy or aggressive or nervous, like, you could do a lot. There's a lot of emotion in the harmony work. So we'll talk like, “Hey, are there any songs that you were thinking of? Like in terms of mood? Did you want to be light and floaty? Do you want to be more angsty?” And honestly, as cliche as it is, I feel like the best music is not when you sit down and write it. It kind of floats through your head and you almost catch it, so oftentimes when we're talking I'm listening to her song [and] suddenly a guitar part will jump into my head, and those are always the ones that stick. When you try to mathematically make any piece of music, it doesn't really turn out that well. So that's how we get the basic song together, and then we have a few friends that help us out with the final touches, the accents and some of the lead guitar parts, so there's some honorary driving members like Quinn Devlin who helped a lot with the project.
RINCON: Quinn is definitely an honorary driving member (laughs). I feel like the reason we love [the single] so much is because we had people like Quinn to help us flesh it out and turn it into something really beautiful.
From my perspective, when it comes to just creating the single or creating music in general, at least for the songs on this record, I did write most of the lyrics by myself. I mean, Mitch gave a couple of suggestions when it came to more fine-tuning thoughts. But yeah, I think a majority of the time, and even still, I'll be sitting down or on a walk thinking about something, trying to process the experiences that I've had or things that I'm dealing with. I'm not the best at talking about those things or experiences with people, so I write about it instead. Because in discussions sometimes it can be very hard for me to verbalize how I'm feeling, but if I'm writing it down it forces me to confront it and think about how I'm feeling. In the case of “Narcissus,” I was experiencing something in my life where I was dealing with somebody I was close with and didn't realize how horrible they were. Sometimes you have a friend or a partner, and it's not until you take a couple of steps back that you realize, “Oh, wow, you're not really adding anything that makes me feel good to my life.” Like, “You make me feel small, dumb and you make somehow make everything about you when I'm giving so much of myself to this relationship or friendship or whatever.” So I remember I was listening to a lot of Never Shout Never, and I just pulled up a ukulele and because I was inspired by Never Shout Never’s music — they incorporate a lot of ukulele, riffs and stuff. So I pulled out my ukulele and I started thinking “You’re such a fucking narcissist,” and it just kind of kept going. A lot of the time, I'll just think of a hook or phrase and just stick with it until it all flows out of me. It's almost like I had a therapy session via my ukulele (laughs). Then I send it to Mitch, and I’m like, “Hey Mitch, here’s a song,” and I'll just kind of communicate to Mitch how I kind of think of it instrumentally, what I'm hearing in my head, and we'll just like work through it until we're happy with it.
LUNA: Do you draw inspiration for your music from real-life experiences?
RINCON: Yeah, I would say maybe 100%. I've tried writing exercises, I've done writing class and sessions where you're supposed to put yourself in the shoes of someone else or try and write about a situation that didn't necessarily happen in your life. I'm not saying that those songs are bad or that I haven't done it, but I find that the music that I love the most and [I am] the most proud of are based on things or experiences that I've had in my own life, and I feel like what I said earlier, it's just very cathartic for me because I don't really process stuff well and so writing it down and turning these negative things that have happened or things I'm really frustrated or stressed out about and into something creative is very cathartic for me.
LUNA: What inspired you to incorporate the warm, grassroots instrumentals in “Narcissus”?
MEYER: To be honest, I think the best songs flirt with the line of cliche but then they have something that brings it out of that description. I guess I have a breadth of musical interests, me and my buddies go to deathcore and shows every month, and I go into mosh pits — I love orchestral and theater music. I love everything — I grew up playing Bob Dylan; I love the folk stuff as well, which I consider lucky that I like it. [For] some people, it doesn't all resonate with them. So I had a couple palettes to pick from when me and Ally started working together. [We were] just kind of considering what would make sense with these lyrics [and] the first thing [that came to mind] was punky emo. To me that felt a bit on the nose, and I want to do something a little more interesting — I'm always interested in creating something unique. There are bands with emo and folk influence but there's not a lot, and I just kind of heard it in my head where it's like, okay, we can get some power chords strumming, but then also have these more stretchy, complicated chords over-the-top and some more Americana-esque riffs, which, Quinn was a big part of those as well. Even my verse part … it's not fingerpicking, but it almost resembles it. I use a pick, but the riff is [a] very folky finger-pick style. I [wanted] this to have the emotion of emo but I [wanted] to reel it in a little bit and make it like a little more grounded in a sense, and … all this is subjective, but that's just what I thought.
RINCON: I think … when we started this project, because with Mitch’s background and my background, we both grew up in the workforce and both very much enjoy that very aggressive, very emotional, type of music. We grew up in that scene, but something we also grew into was this very indie-DIY, alt-rock. And something that was important for me was trying to create music that would honor our roots but also honor where, what we grew into. So combining those two elements of the very emotional, very punk-oriented, very emotional lyrics with something that’s grounded — that's really us doing both of those worlds justice — at least, in my opinion. At least to us, bringing those two worlds together was something that we really wanted to do so.
LUNA: Who is your dream collaboration, if you could choose anyone?
MEYER: I mean, I have so many favorite artists that would not work, but I think The 1975 would be — you guys could sing together.
RINCON: I don’t know if sonically, that would necessarily work, but just to do it would be super cool! (laughs).
MEYER: What's that last record [of The 1975] that had 40 tracks on it? They have a bunch of songs that are very finger-picky, folky, and piano[-focused], but yeah, that's what I would say.
RINCON: I would say The 1975. I'd say if we're gonna play on the Americana-emo lane, I'd say Oso Oso [and] The Front Bottoms.
LUNA: Beyond your upcoming EP, this is not a romcom, what else is down the road?
RINCON: We've recorded so many songs — right now our set list [for this is not a romcom] is maybe seven to eight songs, but there's so many things that are semi-finished or just need to be recorded or just need a couple more things that I'm so excited for. I mean, I think ultimately based on what I know we have, I would love for us to do another EP and then ultimately an album. We definitely have the material — at least I know that we have the material; I have yet to give it to Mitch. It'd be cool to go on tour someday. I don't know with who or where but just cramming into a van or something and just seeing the states and playing our music for people will be cool. I think as an overall goal, I just want to keep making music with Mitch and make people happy. Make people cry, make people dance, just keep working on music that allows people the opportunity to feel — that's my overall goal.
MEYER: Yeah, I might add, we're gonna release a couple of singles [and] we're going to release the EP and then we'll see how that does and that can always change the trajectory. You know, what we're going to do will depend on the outcome, so we don't know exactly what we're going to do next, but we have been playing a good number of shows around the city and we have a somewhat consistent live band — our friends Carl and Izzy help out in bass and guitar and we'd like to give them liberties, and they've been really impressive so I think we're looking forward to a couple of tracks that we play live that are not on the record. I think we're looking forward to maybe recording those with with Quinn, Carl, and Izzy, and, I mean, all three of them are so talented at what they do that it [would] kind of be stupid not to at this point. I think we'll hear a similar style out of the records after this, but it's going to be different in a good way.
LUNA: Are there any final thoughts you want to share?
RINCON: I think overall as an overall message, I'd probably just say, be nice to each other. That's it.
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