“I don’t think at a single point in the recording process we referenced anything before 1990.” – Alex Bailey
As simple as this quote from the Eggy drummer appears to be, it is equally as profound. Within these few words lives the explanation of why fans of all ages find themselves drawn to the band. Within these few words lies another perfect example of why Eggy is inexplicably wise beyond their years.
To be clear, Bailey is completely sincere in his statement. He’s also completely wrong. For Bailey to be accurate, he needs to add one word… Intentionally. Eggy didn’t intentionally reference anything before 1990. As Bailey mentioned in part one, the goal of Waiting Game was to be a modern sounding album paying homage to their musical influences and peers. Fruit Bats, Fleet Foxes, Vampire Weekend. Even old timers like Radiohead and Weezer.
It doesn’t take ten seconds into album opener Laurel that Bailey’s theory of not referencing anything before 1990 blows up. At least for anyone over 45. The band/song paints the perfect picture of the 60’s and 70’s Laurel Canyon vibe. For the “older enthusiasts” the song wreaks of Jackson Browne, The Byrds, and The Mamas and the Papas.
For Eggy and their “younger enthusiasts”, the song pays equal tribute to Eric D. Johnson and the Fruit Bats. Even Melt and Veronica Stewart-Frommer who joins Bailey for the jaw dropping duet So Long later in the album.
Waiting Game is a tribute to those peers whose sound, while current, is filled with the flavors of Laurel Canyon and numerous genre defining musical paths that clearly pre-date1990. That’s the rub for Eggy and friends. That old school sound has influenced them to the point they don’t realize it manifests itself into their current output. That’s why Bailey is truthful in his assertion the band didn’t reference anything before 1990. Intentionally.
Bailey picks up the conversation by pulling back the curtain on the songs on the album. Sharing the behind the scenes magic that brought them to life. Bailey starts with the album opening duo of Laurel and A Moment’s Notice and the current, yet old school flavor they have.
“It comes from internalized musical vocabulary. As soon as Laurel and A Moment’s Notice came out, people started connecting them to Steely Dan and Jackson Browne. That Laurel Canyon sort of rock and roll. It’s funny. That wasn’t our intention at all. Whenever we were playing music in the studio or showing our producer a song we were trying to get the vibe of, it was almost all music post 1990. Some of it is Radiohead from the later 90’s, White Denim and modern indy bands. It’s interesting, we have spent so much time listening to music from the 70’s and 80’s, it’s ingrained in our bodies. It comes out naturally.”
“On, A Moment’s Notice, we were going for an Anderson Paak sound. Its hip hop meets soul meets R&B. It’s not a hip-hop song. In the groove there are lots of elements of hip-hop and instrumental music. It was one of the first songs we dug in on. After Come up Slow which was the first one we recorded. There are so many different sounds on there. It was fun to dive into all the gear in the studio and see how much we could throw on the track.”
Smile provides more clear evidence of the band’s pre-90’s influences. Again, anyone over 45 will instantly recognize the beat and feel of an 80’s movie soundtrack. Battat’s synth and keyboard wizardry screams “Beverly Hills Cop”, “Fletch”, and “Back to School”. Bailey concedes the 80’s influences are there and points out how one of his favorite “older enthusiasts” unexpectedly digs the song. “Now that I’m thinking about it, we were definitely referencing some Michael Jackson in that one. We got it back from the mixing engineer and it was polished and sounded big. I didn’t know what I was listening to. It’s psychedelic, funky, dancy. It’s got Zappa vibes but also Michael Jackson. There’s weird psychedelic with a sitar on there. It’s a very strange song.”
Bailey fondly recalls, “I showed my parents the album not expecting them to get Smile. It’s more on the jam band side of things. When we wrote it, we felt our fans were going to love this one. I didn’t expect my parents to like it. My dad was like this Smile song is my favorite. That’s a hit right there. I was like really dad? He doesn’t like much new music. That had me surprised.”
“Shallow Rivers is the most stripped down song. It had the least number of tracks. That’s my favorite song on the album.” Bailey muses. “Talking to a lot of fans and friends of ours, they say the same thing. I have a very close love and relationship with that song. I didn’t know how it would be received. Especially because it is bare bones in terms of production. People are loving it. Once you strip back the production you can hear the lyrics and song in its truest form. I know someone has actually listened to the album when they respond to Shallow Rivers. It’s track four so I know people made it past the singles.
Way of the Stone is another example of the how the listener’s age determines the musical reference the song extracts. For the “older enthusiasts” it will immediately evoke the Kansas classic Dust in the Wind. For Bailey and Eggy, that was not where they were going. “Fleet Foxes was our inspiration for that. They’re a 2000’s band but their sound feels timeless. It could be a folk song from the 1600’s. We wanted this song to have a timeless feel like it’s always existed. That’s the kind of vibe that you get from the Fleet Foxes.”
With a year long gap between the recording of Waiting Game and its release, Eggy tried to keep the songs as close to the studio version when introducing them to a live audience. While their intentions were pure, it didn’t take long for the songs to override the band’s wishes. Bailey reflects, “When we recorded the album, we wanted it to be totally different than what we do live. We release 100 live albums a year. There’s no point in jamming out on a whole studio album. People already get that side of us, so let’s give them something we’re passionate about.”
He continues, “When we first started playing the songs live, we kept them in a tight pocket and did not open them up. We wanted to get them right and serve them well. The more and more we played them, the urge to open them up started growing. We didn’t play Shallow Rivers until the album came out. Within the first couple of times we played it live it started extending like crazy. I think the last one we played was like 30 minutes. Some songs more than others lend to improvisation. Laurel is fun. When we play it live, we dance it up a bit. Add more bounce and groove. That can lead into some fun jam sections.”
So Long is a breakthrough song for Eggy in numerous ways. The band welcomes Melt’s Veronica Stewart-Frommer who joins Bailey for a deeply heartfelt duet. A first for Eggy. According to Bailey, once So Long went through the Team Eggy filter, it was completely different than originally imagined. “Dani wrote that song. That was the one he was going to sing. In the recording process it was decided I was going to sing it. I recorded the song myself and sang all the verses. It wasn’t written as a duet. It was written for Dani to sing. After we recorded it, Jake was listening and the idea popped in his head it could be a duet. To introduce a new female vocalist at that point in the album would be beneficial to the flow of the album.”
“I was in a thrift store in Chicago.” Bailey remembers, “Jake called me with his idea. As he’s telling me I’m envisioning it in my head. How to divide the lyrics. I was like it works perfectly as a duet. We didn’t change any of the lyrics. It worked perfectly to switch back and forth. We called up Veronica and asked if she’s interested. Melt and Eggy, we feel very one in the same. We’re coming up around the same time and are the same age. We have so much love for each other’s music. Veronica was very happy to hop on. I rerecorded my vocals. We sat in the same room with two mics facing each other and we sang the whole thing. We didn’t do anything extra. No overdubs. It’s special, I’ve never done that before. Never sang in the same room with somebody like that. Dani knocked that one out of the park. If you go back and listen to it from the one person perspective it still works. It more effective and interesting to have the two vocals.”
Eggy brought on White Demin’s James Petralli to produce the album. His use of the George Costanza “opposite” theory was tough at times. Eventually it created the polish and shine that elevates Waiting Game to a higher level. “James encouraged us to not go with the natural instinct of what sound to use. We use a lot of organs, piano and clavinet in our live music. Using those instruments are our initial instinct. He helped us steer away from those instincts sound wise. He really helped flush out these songs. He helped with vocals. For Shallow Rivers, Gentle Clown and one or two others he decided it would be a good idea to do a vocal take himself. Do what came natural to him. Disregarding the written melody. He was like I’m gonna riff on it and you can take bits and pieces from it. There were some cool lines I picked up from him that ended up in the final take.”
Bailey adds, “We wrote most of the title track Waiting Game at home before we went to the studio. It was around the same time we recorded You. We were thinking it about releasing it at that time. It didn’t feel complete so we shelved it. When we were playing some of the demos for James, we played that one. Wondering if there’s anything we can do to complete it. He was like it sounds good. It just needs a couple of things to add. He sprinkled a little bit of creative sparkle on top and that was all it needed. It was 90 percent there and he helped get it the last 10 percent.”
“Gentle Clown was all James. We were listening to Weezer. They had some songs with a fast tempo we didn’t have. He said play Gentle Clown quicker. So, we played it quicker. He was like go faster. We played it faster. Then he said play it as fast as you can. I can play the beat faster but Jake’s guitar part is staccato and can only be played at a certain speed. We kept it at top speed. If felt like a joke a first. There’s no way we were actually keeping it like this. We were so used to it being so slow. We almost cut it entirely from the album. We recorded the basic tracks at top speed the second week in. We all felt really weird about it. We were like I don’t know if this sounds good so we shelved it for a few days. We wouldn’t be disappointed if we didn’t get back to it and it didn’t make it on. James was adamant about us giving it a chance. Once we filled in the blank spaces and added the layers we totally fell in love with it. We can’t imagine it being any other way. We recorded a slower version when we were at home. Maybe one day we’ll release it.”
Encore:
2024 has been a momentous year for Bailey, Brownstein, Battat, and Goodman. Waiting Game further cements the band’s well earned space in the music world they were destined to explore. Whether opening or headlining, the band and their energy filled live shows were welcomed with open arms by new fans in new cities across the country. Bailey concludes by reflecting on ‘24 noting several bucket list items he and the band crossed off. He also looks forward to ‘25 and the new horizons that await.
“It’s been a crazy year. In the moment it’s hard to have a full scope of all the great things that have happened. Zooming out now, we played Red Rocks for the first time. We played Bonnaroo for the first time, we played Austin City Limits, our first big city festival. We played Electric Forest for the first time. For me it means so much. For a lot of those things, it’s been ten years since I’ve been to them. The first and last time I’ve been to Red Rocks was 2014 for Umphreys McGee. The band that got me into this kind of music. They were my introduction to jam music and we went on tour with them this year. It’s been twelve years since I first saw them. It was ten years since I went to Bonnaroo. Ten years since I went to Electric Forest. It’s serendipitous. Lots of amazing things have happened. Red Rocks was a huge highlight. It feels like it went by in a second. We played forty minutes at 5:30 or so. The sun was beating down in our eyes. It was amazing and overwhelming. Not because of the nerves. It was stimulating physically. Looking up, it’s the only place I’ve been where there’s a wall of people. Usually, you see a flat crowd. Red Rocks you can see each individual person because it goes up. It’s a completely different experience. The Umphreys shows were incredible. We had done a few one off shows opening for them. To do two weeks with them and getting to know them. I played two of my favorite songs with them. It was so crazy. Having all their numbers now and feeling like we are peers and homies is the coolest thing.”
“For 2025, it’s so wild. We’re at the point where we’re booking so far in advance. It’s crazy to know what we’re doing all next summer and into next fall. We’re booking things literally a year from now. It’s amazing but such a weird feeling we’re already locking in next September. Some of the festivals we’re doing next year are so cool. Super excited for Northlands. We’re doing m3f in Arizona. That also has LCD Soundsystem and Justice two of my favorite groups. It’s so not the music we play alongside of. It’s very exciting. Were gonna play a lot more headlining show next year.”