Interview: Supergroup alltheprettythings releasing new album this summer; vocalist Logan Tabor goes in depth
A collective of musicians from the early-2000’s era have come together to form a remarkable supergroup of sorts: alltheprettythings. The band includes: vocalist Logan Tabor (Mood Mechanics), guitarist Tristan Matthew (Newlands, Chiodos), drummer Jeremy Bryan (Alesana), guitarist Worth Weaver (He Is Legend, Thousand Foot Krutch).
Since 2022 the band has released some songs (“Gimmie One (Little Love),” “Carousel,” “A New Forever,” “Teenage Lines,” "Every Now And Then," and others) that have received affirming, positive feedback; now, the full album showcasing the Wilmington, North Carolina group’s exceptional diverse talent and reputable experience will be released Aug. 21.
prose is an epic 10-song journey which is full of emo nostalgia as well as fresh modern heavy rock stylings that will surely take listeners to the hot summer Warped Tour days when bands would walk around and let those waiting in line sample their songs through a pair of headphones.
The album was produced by Worth Weaver at Red Room Recording NC, mixed by Beau Burchell (Saosin), mastered by Grammy nominated Mike Kalajian (A Day To Remember, Thrice).
Fresh off a jaunt with Alesana and Vampires Everywhere!, vocalist Logan Tabor discusses the band’s formation, the song composition with lyric writing process and more in this interview with OOTB.
Hear the latest single “New Teeth”
How did everyone come together to form the band?
Worth and Tristan were the first to get started on the music. They met while both were helping set up a local recording studio here in Wilmington NC - they hit it off as buds and because Tristan was itching to record some music, they tracked a few demos at Worth's studio, Red Room Recording NC. During COVID they got very restless and started looking for singers. I was able to hear a few of their early recordings and I was immediately interested in working with them on vocals. I had known Worth for a number of years but hadn't yet met Tristan. One day I finally had a great idea for one of the songs -- this song would eventually become 'Every Now and Then' -- so I spent all day recording my ideas for melody and harmonies. There was a good bit of experimenting but for the most part, I was able to make my vision happen. I sent it to the guys and they loved it, so we started down the path, albeit slowly, of recording some more songs. Eventually we got serious enough to go looking for drummers and luckily Tristan and Jeremy already knew each other. So Tristan reached out and Jeremy was into it. We got Jeremy down to NC to record a bunch of drum tracks, and the rest is all pretty.
Having a range of experience all within the same general era of music, how did you decide on a sound or genre to focus on with all your influences?
There was actually never a discussion about focusing on a sound. We were all inclined to write hard rock as that was a huge part of everyone's musical upbringing, so I think we just headed off in that direction and never questioned it. None of us were terribly attracted to extremely aggressive music but we definitely wanted to create something hard-hitting and emotionally impactful. As a singer, I prefer more melodic vocals than screaming -- not knocking it, it's just not so much my thing. We knew we wanted the music to have pretty undertones and to often act as a wall of sound. I've always put a lot of energy into writing meaningful lyrics that can hopefully reach listeners on a deeper level, so that aspect was extremely important to me. But there's a delicate balance between being thoughtful and being unrelatable or "trying too hard." So finding the balance between accessibility from a listener's standpoint, and fulfillment from an artist's standpoint was always paramount.
When did recording the record begin and end?
I tracked the vocals to 'Every Now and Then' as a proof of concept back in the spring of 2020. After that, it took a good bit of time for us to continue making progress. I was living about 8 hours away from the studio at the time so I needed to prioritize getting back to Wilmington so I could work on music more regularly. Once I came back in the fall of 2020, I was able to start focusing on the rest of the original demos but there were only a few more. So while I was working on writing vocals to those songs, we were also working on writing the music for the rest of the album. We began releasing songs to the public in November of 2022 but we were still in the process of writing the rest of the record. And I believe we finished writing and recording the entire record in early 2023.
What does the album title prose convey and how does it relate to the album?
Because of the way we wrote this album over an extended period of time, and because I was digging even further into the past to write the lyrics, whenever I think back on the entire process it feels more like writing a novel or a memoire than writing poetry or song. Often times, when I read my lyrics back without the context of the music, they tend to read less like verse and more like prose. Even though they are full of rhyme and meter, there is often a conversational quality to them. I really dug deep for these lyrics. They mean a lot to me, and I think they mean a lot to the rest of the guys as well. They are full of stories, emotional landscapes, experiences, dreams. A listener could go as deep into the lyrics and music as they want to, or they could remain at arms length. It's all up to the listener. Just like with a great novel, the reader can choose whether they want to feel what the author was feeling, invest in the characters fully, connect to the words on a deeper level, or simply be entertained. There's nothing wrong with just letting the album entertain you and not adopting the words as a way to define yourself through art. Entertainment is just as valuable as anything else. But the option is there for the listener to go as far down the rabbit hole as they choose.
What’s your favorite song on the album and why so?
That's a tough call. I care about all of these songs for different reasons. At the moment, 'Weeping Season' has been the most fun for me to listen back to. It slams, it's full of hooks, clever rhyme schemes, and it has a very specific "character" telling the story. As far as a song that is deeply important to me and helped me get through a really bad time in my life, 'Every Now and Then' probably takes the cake. That was the first one I wrote, and it got me through a dark time. It showed me that I can still do this, and that I can do it better than ever.
After the album is released next month, what’s next? Do you have plans to tour?
There will be a ton of promo in the weeks following the album release. That's a big job all on its own. We have a music video for 'New Teeth' coming out soon, which will require plenty of time and attention. We are also working on a cover song we are really excited about. Getting close to sending that off for mixing is exciting and we think people will really dig it. And then yes, the goal is to keep touring as often as possible. We want to be in front of crowds showing them what we're all about, meeting new people, spending time with each other, writing new music, and seeing how far we can take this thing. There are a number of different conversations going on regarding next tour(s) but I'm not at liberty to get much further into the details than that. Rest assured, you'll be seeing us on the road soon.
Follow alltheprettythings:
https://alltheprettythingsofficial.com
https://m.facebook.com/AllThePrettyThingsOfficial/?wtsid=rdr_00dMQcz9QFZI2rRZZ
https://www.instagram.com/alltheprettythingsofficial/
https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCS4_FehzGBG2NYNltl_bIHg
https://www.tiktok.com/@alltheprettythingsband
Can’t wait to see where they end up.
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