Tag: Penpals with the President

Inside Out – Easy Beach Seeks Catharsis on Punchy Self-Titled Debut Album

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Easy Beach’s Sean Tarolli, Dave Laginess and Ian Cruz pack a memorable punch on their self-titled debut album. Photo courtesy of Easy Beach

Ian Cruz openly shares past internal struggles and releases lingering frustrations on Easy Beach’s mighty self-titled debut album.

The frontman for the Detroit emo/punk-rock trio chronicles the challenges of working a tough job, preserving a relationship, and tackling guilt and self-doubt across nine raw tracks.

“Using the band as an escape or some form of therapy, I wrote a lot about what I was dealing with. But truthfully, I think it’s the only way I can write—being sad,” Cruz said.

“I can’t be creative when I’m happy. It kinda bums me out because all of our peers write these poppy, catchy tunes, and I write songs that might make people depressed. I wish I could write a catchy song.”

Despite Cruz’s reservations, Easy Beach indeed writes “catchy” tunes—ones that instantly grasp listeners’ hurtling emotions and translate their discouraging realities into cathartic tales of life, love and growth.

Cruz’s fierce vocals and crunchy electric guitars and Laginess’ fearless bass repeatedly elicit that response alongside Sean Tarolli’s thunderous drums. (Bassist Dave Laginess joined the band midway through the album’s recording process.)

While only 24 minutes long, Easy Beach packs a memorable punch with its emotionally charged lyrics and propulsive instrumentation. Released via We’re Trying Records, the album is an efficient, intense therapy session for anyone who needs immediate relief.

“I was talking to Sean and Dave yesterday about this, and even though we’re finally putting the record out, I think we’re all a little jaded. For Sean and me, we’ve been playing these songs since we announced the record two years ago,” Cruz said.

“I couldn’t tell you how many times I’ve played ‘Selena Gomez’ or how many times we’ve recorded different versions of the album. It’s nice to get this thing out, but we’re definitely ready to get working on the next one.”

To learn more about Easy Beach’s creative journey, I recently spoke with Cruz about writing and recording the band’s debut album, exploring the album’s highly personal tracks, playing shows this summer and working on new material.

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Sand Down – Easy Beach Uncovers Personal Losses, Struggles on ‘Selena Gomez/Blurry’

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Easy Beach’s new single “Selena Gomez” is a two-minute, rage-filled banger in response to losing a best friend. Photo – Sean Tarolli

Easy Beach didn’t intend to share a song title with Selena Gomez.

The Detroit emo-punk rock trio of Ian Cruz (guitar, vocals), Bradley “Beau” Stone (bass, backing vocals) and Sean Tarolli (drums, backing vocals) originally called their latest single “Forget Forever,” but quickly learned the track duplicated the name of the pop singer’s 2013 song.

“It became a joke at practice to call the song ‘Selena Gomez,’ and it stuck. The song took a couple practices to finish; it’s probably the only song we have that took less than a month to write. The song is about giving up my dog for someone who didn’t love me,” Cruz said.

Officially called “Selena Gomez (Took the Name of This Song),” the Easy Beach track fuses buzzy, roaring guitars, clobbering drums and propulsive bass into a two-minute, rage-filled banger in response to losing a best friend. Cruz sadly reflects, “You left last holiday/Without you I’m all dead/Now I can’t see my friend/Without him ever again.”

“I was doing some workshopping with Dylan Baldi of Cloud Nothings when I was writing this song, and he had a few ideas for the guitar parts that I used – particularly the lead guitar in the second chorus,” said Cruz, who co-produced the track with Tyler Floyd.

“Selena Gomez” also features a dark, gritty basement jam video filmed by Mark Larsen of Static Screen Productions. Easy Beach cathartically processes their frustration while rehearsing, hanging out and eating pizza together.

“When I saw Mark’s video for ERODERS’ ‘Lose My Mind,’ I knew I wanted to do a video with him. Originally, the video was going to be us playing at a house party, but that’s exactly what the ERODERS video was, and Mark didn’t want to make the same video again,” Cruz said.

“He came to us with the idea of doing a video reminiscent of old emo/punk videos where the band is playing in a basement and just hanging out doing weird stuff. The video is just a peak into a regular practice for us, except we don’t usually eat pizza. It was shot in April at Bradley’s house/practice space.”

Continue reading “Sand Down – Easy Beach Uncovers Personal Losses, Struggles on ‘Selena Gomez/Blurry’” →