Q&A: The Millennial Club

Wendy Rosales

Meet The Millennial Club (TMC), an indie-pop, R&B-inspired band that have perfected the blend of the two sounds. Their music gives off the best mixture of 80’s inspired pop with a 90’s R&B twist. The California band is made up of Andres, Jared, Jake, and Tyler, who met in their high school jazz band. The group has since released two EPs, one of them titled summer nights in 2020.

Their newest single “complicated/overrated” captures the feelings of fantasizing over a perfect relationship while recognizing the tedious aspects of love. This single manages to still hold TMC’s root sound “remaining consistent and cohesive” while maintaining that familiarity of their previous music. 

We are pleased to have the opportunity to interview TMC. We discussed their perpetual growth as a band, the wishful eagerness of the future, and the creative process behind “complicated/overrated”.

BW: Your latest single is titled “complicated/overrated”. What’s one takeaway you hope your fans and new listeners take from this track?

TMC: I hope everyone listening can feel the sense of levity that we felt making the track -- the fact that there’s so much tension and anxiety surrounding ‘making the perfect song’ and the whole production process is honestly draining so we tried our best to just have fun with it and not take ourselves too seriously. Gonna start doing that more often.

BW: Can you tell us more about your songwriting and production process?

TMC: The songwriting process for the song was fairly simple, I wrote out the entire idea in about an hour and then took a year to finish the music and production (lol). Ironically, that’s usually how these things have gone for us - I finish the concept for something within a day or two, and then it takes us forever to finish it. The production was actually really interesting for this tune because I had initially made everything with stock sounds but decided later on in the process to find and chop up samples from a bunch of different places - I think it gives the record a distinctive and uniquely nostalgic feeling. 

BW: For those who aren’t familiar with your music, what is one feeling you hope they feel when they listen to TMC?

TMC: I honestly just hope they can relate to our struggle. I think the best music is always the songs that speak directly to our personal experience, whatever medium or framing that may be. If someone new is listening, I hope they feel like I wrote the song about and with them in mind - the truth is, I kind of did.

BW: Your songs sound like they have the feeling of sounding bigger live. When writing your music, did you think about how it would sound in a live setting?

TMC: I’ve heard a lot of musicians talk about that but the truth is, for me at least, I tend to get lost in the process and honestly don’t think about the live component all that much. When I start writing, I just flow and don’t consider all the live implications - it isn’t really intentional, it's just what happens when I get caught in the moment I guess.

BW: You use sax in your music a lot. Where does that inspiration come from?

TMC: I think we all just love the sax so much in general, it seems like a no-brainer to incorporate it into our music. Even though my boy Jake plays everything, the parts themselves have historically been fairly collaborative, so the instrument itself feels incredibly special to me.

BW: As a band, what are some goals you hope to achieve in 2021?

TMC: Definitely to release as many songs as we can. That’s it. That’s the vibe. 

BW: How has quarantining helped you grow artistically?

TMC: I think quarantining has really forced me to push forward - since I haven’t been able to see the boys for a minute, it’s been crucial that I continue the forward momentum and finish more music. I didn’t really feel that sort of pressure before like I do now - I think recently, something sort of hit me and I realized, “Oh my god. it’s completely on me. If I want it, I have to go get it, no one’s gonna get it for me.” And so now, we're out here getting after it.

BW: What’s one of the most exciting highlights from TMC’s journey so far?

TMC: There have been so many amazing moments from performances and touring and stuff but honestly, just seeing and hearing everyone’s reaction when new songs come out is enough to make me emotional. It’s so incredible and we’re so blown away when we get messages from people we’ve never met saying how much they love the songs. Every message is a highlight to me and I'll always try my best to let them know how much we appreciate it.

BW: How do you think your music has evolved from when you first started creating music?

TMC: I think we’ve had a really big shift in our ability to not take ourselves too seriously, myself in particular. When we started the project, there was always this sense of ‘competition’ or like ‘trying to sound perfect’ but I think slowly over time, we’ve broken out of that and fallen more into just making music for fun. I’d say it’s helped our final product immensely and helped us not be stuck in any sort of musical box. 

BW: For people wanting to start writing and making music, what are some tips you would give them?

TMC: Just go for it. make as much music as you possibly can and send it to as many people as you can — the only way to get better is to make mistakes. When we first started making music, everything sounded horrible, but we gradually got better over time and truthfully still have a long way to go. If you fall in love with the process, you’ll never stop learning and your mixes and music will only get better and better.

BW: What’s something we can look forward to from TMC in the future?

TMC: More music, more merch, and hopefully if things get better and stuff starts to reopen, more shows too!