The New York rock band Takeover is one of the bands we’ve been fortunate to interview multiple times. Today, I had a chat with Alex (Bassist and Songwriter) to delve deeper into the band’s newest single “Wait” and their upcoming plans. Let’s discover more.
- Since we had interviews before, I’d love to focus on your latest track “Wait.” Tell your fans what inspired you to do the songwriting.
ALEX (Bassist/Songwriter): I was just sitting down, messing around with my acoustic guitar, watching the Yankees. I stumbled across the chords and kinda liked them, so I recorded them on my phone and went back to fucking around with the guitar and watching Gerrit Cole get shelled. A few weeks later I decided that I wanted a song with a long, drawn-out, vocal melody, and I paired that idea with the chords. Don’t really remember where the chorus came from. But it was one of those tunes that kinda wrote itself. Although I wrote it 2 years ago so who knows, maybe I stole it from someone and forgot about it.
- Since the band’s formation back in 2018. There are many changes in our industry. Did this affect the band agenda and songwriting plans?
ALEX: For better or worse (mostly worse), we’ve always done things our way. Our songwriting has never been influenced by contemporary trends or anything like that. For fucks sake half of my songwriting heroes are dead or haven’t been relevant since the 90s! Our philosophy has always been to do what we wanna do, the way we wanna do it. If people listen and enjoy it then great. If not, then fair enough. I’ve never had any desire or interest to shape myself to fit into a trend. If record labels & the general public want a 2 minute, 80s revival synth pop tune, with a “tik-tok-able” lyrical hook, sung by a singer whose style/image has been cynically developed by a focus group, then a-salud. god bless them. I love a lot of that type of music as a fan, but that’s not us and that’s not the type of music we make. I’d rather be true to my music and true to myself in destitution and anonymity than a soulless marketing prop sitting in a mansion while a throng of gorgeous fame chasers swim in the guitar shaped swimming pool………..…….Actually nevermind that sounds fucking brilliant. Someone go get me a leotard and a DX7!
- I noticed there is no music video for “Wait” yet. Are you planning to film one soon?
ALEX: Yeah, I asked the singer to get an estimate from our video guy and he dropped the ball on that for weeks and didn’t tell me anything! Fuckin’ hell! So I’ve been in talks with different videographers to potentially do it. A few craigslist weirdos and friends of friends. I’m hoping to have it out by the summer. But yeah there will definitely be a music video. Even if I have to rent a fucking VHS camera and film myself in the mirror Buffalo Bill style.
- Is it a part of an upcoming EP or an album?
ALEX: It’s not gonna be part of an EP or an album. It was the last of 3 singles that we recorded in 2023. With our budget it doesn’t really make sense for us to release an EP and we don’t have the money to record a full album. We can stretch out a 4 song recording session by releasing a new song every few months. Rather than blowing our load all at once and then forcing our fans to wait another year for 3-4 songs. But I do fantasize about making an album someday.
- In general, what lyrical themes provokes you guys to sing about?
ALEX: Well, there’s always the theme of love. Falling in love, falling out of love, the love of life, the love of moments. Stuff like that. I also always try and keep an optimistic tone in my lyrics. Even with my sad, “woe-is-me” songs I try and turn it around in the bridge or the last chorus. I try and make it a “it may be shit now, but it wasn’t always shit and it won’t always be shit”. I think that’s what I love about “Wait”. It’s a song about loss and change and not being ready for that change. It’s very immature in that sense. The verses have this theme of “wait, I’m not ready yet, don’t do this!” But then I twist the tone into one of optimism in the chorus with the whole “ok things are changing, possibly for the worse, but maybe one day down the road things will be good again.” That feeling of hanging on to hope. My philosophy is that people’s every day lives are shit enough, why would you want to consume entertainment that compounds those feelings of misery? We’re here to entertain you and if you come to our shows, you’re gonna have a great fucking night out. And we do it all for YOU, the fans. So buy a t-shirt on your way out the door you ungrateful bastards.
- With the advancement of AI in the music industry, do you see it as a threat to musicians and the industry as a whole?
ALEX: My guess is that AI is going to just disrupt the pop side of things. Ever since pop stars became a force back in the 50s, for the most part they’ve been curated/developed by a team of songwriters, marketing people, corporate board rooms etc. AI is just going to put those people out of business. Now, on the other side of the music industry there will always be a niche market for authentic human art. There’s just a tangible human element that can’t be replicated. Most people don’t even understand how to break down or explain that magical human touch. I sure as hell can’t. I can’t ever imagine a Jazz snob going to a club to see some computer algorithm spit out Charlie Parker solos. But yeah, my prediction is that the side of the industry where most of the money lies will be devastated by it. Session musicians for pop stars will be obsolete. Why pay a guy to play piano when you can get HAL 9000 to do it for free? Hell, why even pay the star at that point? Just feed the prompt with a “give me a pop star that will resonate with white boys and girls ages 13-17”. In 10-20 years I bet we’ll see the first completely AI pop star. No flesh and blood. They’ll just give the masses what they want to hear based on the AI analysis of trends and a musical analysis of every hit song ever. It’ll be lab grown pop. Which, if I’m looking at it optimistically, maybe it’ll be a good thing for me. Maybe all the people who are only in it to be famous and rich will find a new avenue for their “self expression”. It’ll spare me from those conversations with the kids from Los Angeles who pretend to be interested in you, all the while they’re sussing out how they can use you to advance their career. Those fuckers will all be chasing fame in some other industry. But who the fuck knows? Maybe it won’t change a damn thing. I’m certainly not smart enough to say.
- Lastly, could you reveal your aspirations for 2024?
ALEX: We’re going on our first international tour in the summer, we’re coming out with the “Wait” music video as I mentioned before, we’re recording a new batch of singles which will start to come out in the fall hopefully. We’d like to play some festivals. That’s our goal for this year. Tour internationally, get more experimental in the studio, and play a festival. And I wanna buy a mansion so go stream “Wait” as much as humanly possible.
- Thank you for your time
ALEX: Always a pleasure! Cheers!
