Cover Image and all featured photos by Christian Gough
Hailing from Cincinnati, Ohio, Coastal Club is an indie rock band that's been winning over audiences with its uplifting and introspective sound since 2017. Comprised of members Alexandre Hirlinger, Avery Benter, and David McGuire, who share a background rooted in both early 2000s pop-punk influences and church music, the band channels their diverse musical experiences into a cohesive and ever-evolving sound. With influences ranging from Hippocampus to Young the Giant, Coastal Club’s music is an ode to adventure, introspection, and the ever-changing tides of life.
Coastal Club’s latest album all of the things you said, which dropped earlier this summer, embeds a deeper layer into the band’s usual optimistic sound. While maintaining its breezy, light-hearted feel, the band has transformed from its surf-rock beginnings to a more mature, reflective style. While their lyrics are always rather contemplative, the slowed tempos in tracks like “existential” and the beginning of “conversation” on all of the things you said evoke a nuanced sense of happiness underscored by genuine gratitude. With grooving vocals and dazzling guitar sequences, the album alludes to the whole of Coastal Club’s discography in their chronicles of love and the human experience.
We talked with Coastal Club’s Alexandre Hirlinger about the band’s musical journey, the evolution of their sound, and their upcoming tour. Read the full interview below and check out all of the things you said on your preferred music streaming platform. Let us know what you think!
How did you all get started in music?
All of our origins are similar enough for everybody in the band. A lot of us grew up listening to bands like Fallout Boy, Panic! At The Disco, and Paramore way back in the day, those kinds of early 2000s-era bands. And so that kind of gave us a love for music, and then a lot of us in the band have a lot of background playing in churches. Most of us in the band aren't really in that world so much anymore, but it definitely, in terms of musicianship, really helped us all gain a lot of skills as musicians, just because you're learning new songs every week and you're constantly figuring out how to learn and adapt with new players. For example, I know a lot of gospel musicians who are truly some of the best musicians that I've ever met and it comes from that repetition. I think a lot of us naturally gained some of our chops, per se, from playing in that world. But, all of us have found a love for music outside of that and a lot of our favorite bands have also certainly influenced that.
I had one guitar teacher in particular who played for a band called Sea Bird, and he showed me how to learn how to play the guitar in a way that was very intuitive to me. It wasn't like reading sheet music, where it was a burden that I had to do. It was more so like: “What songs do you like you want to learn? A Fallout Boy song? Sweet. Let me show you how to play a Fallout Boy song and then you can figure out how to play any other Fallout Boy song that you possibly want,” or whatever it is. Our music tastes have changed and evolved since then, but that's how we all got started, or at least a vaguely similar story.
Who are some of your musical influences and inspirations?
I mean, so many. All of us are constantly listening to music, but I think the typical artists that we say include bands like Coin, Colony House, Bahamas, Vampire Weekend, Knox Hamilton––all bands that are vaguely in an indie pop/indie rock world. Hippocampus is also definitely a huge, huge, huge influence. I think that that's pretty similar for all of the guys. I know Avery, our guitarist, his favorite band is probably The Strokes, and anything that Julian Casablancas touches, he's just obsessed with. And then our drummer really loves Calling House. And again, all those bands are kind of hovering around the same world.
One of my favorite bands is Young the Giant. They're probably my favorite band. They’re one of those bands that I think has evolved with me as I have evolved as a listener. I'm also a Coldplay fan. I'm not the biggest Coldplay fan in the world, but I feel like that's another band in that genre of music where I’ve found they’ve evolved with me. I was talking with a friend once, and they were saying how they could picture different seasons of their life through whatever Coldplay record came out around that time. And I can feel a very similar thing with Young the Giant. They've been there with me through thick and thin, so many different projects, and I've loved every single one of them. That's a huge influence as well.
What is Coastal Club’s ethos? What do you hope to evoke in your listeners when performing and releasing music?
It's changed throughout the course of our band's life. But, throughout it, we're always trying to create music that's that's relatively uplifting and happy. When we first started, Coastal Club was a very surf rock-themed project, and it had a lot of surf rock influences: a lot of spring reverb on guitar and chorus, modulation, slap delay… things like that. I think that element of our sound is definitely still present, but we've moved away from the overtly beachy sound. We definitely still want our music to feel light and wavy and breezy––like you can picture yourself driving down the Pacific Coast Highway listening to our songs and vibing to them. Some of our earlier stuff from 2020 is very much so on that wavelength; you’re on a road trip and it's upbeat and everyone’s having a good time, hanging out of the sunroof waving their hands around. Some of the songs on our more recent release portray these kinds of visuals as well. The majority of the tracks on our recent release speak to a progression in that timeline: the sun is setting, you've had a great day, and it's chill. Perhaps you’re just driving down the same highway but in a more somber and reflective space. We’re always hoping the overarching vibe is a moment in which you're enjoying your life.
"We’re always hoping the overarching vibe is a moment in which you're enjoying your life."
Tell us about all of the things you said and the creative process behind it- how did these songs come to be on the album?
The creative process was long and ongoing. We released our second to most recent release, ~ I get nervous sometimes ~, in 2020 and took an unintentional hiatus as a band during the pandemic. So we started on it in 2021 or early 2022. But then, around around this time last year, we really started to turn our gears again. We were ready to get something new out. We worked with three or four other folks, engineers, producers, during this time. A lot of the songs that are on it are actually songs that we've written or rewritten relatively recently. But, a lot of them still have existed in some form for a very long time. For example, “be like me” was the third or fourth song that we ever wrote as a band. It's been an ongoing labor of love, and we're really excited now. We're writing more now, and excited for the next thing that we put out to be a lot more fresh and relevant to us on top of these songs that we've been playing live for so long. It feels good to finally have those songs out in the world in recorded-form.
"It's been an ongoing labor of love, and we're really excited now."
Do you have a favorite song on the album?
That’s really hard. I like “existential” a lot. It has a really cool vibe to it. And “are you there?.” I know those two tracks are definitely not the upbeat songs on the album, but I really like the vibe they have. I go back and forth between those two consistently as two of my favorites.
As you’re saying that all of the things you said is an accumulation of pieces you guys have had over time, are there any consistently overarching inspirations for songwriting for you?
Like I said earlier, a lot of us have some kind of church-music background. So, a lot of our inspiration draws from working through what all of us are processing spiritually. I think there are religious and mental health themes sprinkled throughout our work. A lot of these songs were written a while ago too, so some of them are more angry or frustrated than I am now, and some of them aren't angry at all. Avery and I are the main songwriters, to an extent, and both of us have been walking through a period where we don't really know what we think about anything when it comes to church, God, religion, anything like that. There are definitely some deconstruction songs on there. But, we have also mixed in a lot of tracks with more upbeat, love-song vibes. It kind of goes back and forth, but it's generally one of those two extremes.
How would you describe Coastal Club’s sound in three words?
This question always stumps me. I would say wavy –that's an adjective we kind of use a lot. I like it because it’s a bit ambiguous.--, uplifting, and contemplative.
Listening to your discography, there’s an overarching wanderlust energy and zeal for adventure. Do you plan to expand your travels and try and get outside of the US, kind of satisfy that longing for adventure as the band continues to grow?
I think individually, yes. I've spent a decent bit of time traveling outside of the US, going to places like Portugal, Norway, Peru, Canada, just a number of different places. I think we all want to satisfy that as much as we can.
I don't know about touring as a band outside of the US at the minute. I mean, that would be awesome. And we definitely have folks that want us to come to places like Brazil or Argentina or London. That always blows our minds. The realities of touring internationally right now wouldn't make sense for us. We're doing more touring, domestically, though. We're kind of gearing up again as a band, starting to play in different cities and states. It is really cool to see people actually show up, because before that, we were just a small local band from Cincinnati. Now, people are actually showing up to our live shows. We had a show in Columbus a couple of months ago, and people were traveling from so many different places like Arlington, Virginia, and Madison, Wisconsin to come to Columbus to see us.
But overall, I think we all have an innate desire to travel. While we are from landlocked Ohio, some of the ethos of the band when we first started was that we wanted to emulate a longing for the coast in our songs and transport you to those places you may long for.
Do you have a personal favorite beach?
I went to San Diego as a young kid, and that was one of the best. We also actually toured a little bit throughout the northeast coast. Those beaches were also really cool but in a much different way.
What is something you’re currently reading or watching?
I watched The Iron Claw recently, which was really good and unexpected. I didn't know what to think walking into that. I'm not a reader by any means. But most of the time when I'm reading, it's educational for me. It's not necessarily even books– I’m mostly reading articles that center around audio production and whatnot.
With your knowledge of production, is Coastal Club producing its own music?
Historically, we have gone to other producers and engineers for the most things. Even though I do it on my own time for others, it's nice for our music to get an outside perspective of objective ears and an objective, creative mind in the process. But, some of the stuff that we're working on now, we’re taking it a lot further than we have in the past, with maybe 80-90% of the process being done by us and then getting the last 10% sprinkled on with outside help, as opposed to in the past, were it would be 30, 40, maybe even 50% us and then we bring somebody else into the process from that point.
We're starting to do a lot more on our own. It is partially a financial decision because it makes it much more sustainable for us as a band, but also allows us to execute the vision of the songs better and more precisely on our own. Avery is also incredible at production engineering in his own right. He's helping with a lot of our production process stuff as well.
"Just keep pushing to figure out what you really, really want, and just go after that one thing to make it the focus, the priority."
Do you have a piece of advice you’d give your younger selves at the start of your career?
Find that thing that you really care about, you're really passionate about, and that gives you the most joy. Focus your time and energy on that thing. I got into production and engineering, and I really love it. I still do it for other folks. I've gone through so many different experiences of what working in music can look like. But, I've come back to Coastal Club as one of the things that is most fulfilling and satisfying for me. I feel like I would have told myself to just keep pushing to figure out what I really, really want, and just go after that one thing to make it the focus, the priority.
What’s next for Coastal Club?
We're excited to be touring a little bit more. We're officially going on tour in about a month with our good friends, Gable Price and Friends. We're doing a short, five or six-show run with them in September, and then another three or four-show run in October. Then, we're working on some of our own headline dates across the Midwest and Northeast area.
It feels wild because, up until our latest release, what was next for Coastal Club was releasing that record, and our album release show. Now, we've got a tour. And then after that, we'll probably start to focus on the next release, especially because there was such a long gap period between our last release and this most recent. We're definitely trying to make sure that that doesn't happen again, even if we just get one song out in a couple of months to keep the gears turning.
Who are three artists you’d like to see next on Enharmonic Magazine?
There are so many people I’d love to see. I'd probably go to mostly my friends because those are people that I love and support. They do incredible things. I would say Abby Holiday is an amazing artist that we're good friends with, and also her husband, whose project's name is Moony. Michigander is also another close friend, and he's just incredible. And then I would say Motherfolk, who's another incredible Cincy band.
"We're all really proud of [the album]– probably more proud of it than anything that we've put out in the past. We feel like it's really authentic and true to us, and we're excited to make more music like that."
Is there anything else you want people to know about you?
Personally? I mean, I'm obsessed with tennis right now. I've been a tennis player for a long time, so that's something that people probably don't know about me. I love tennis and I'm playing a ton of it, but that's not necessary information, per se.
As a band, the biggest thing that I would want people to know is how much we want everyone to keep streaming all of the things you said. Keep listening to it. We're all really proud of it– probably more proud of it than anything that we've put out in the past. We feel like it's really authentic and true to us, and we're excited to make more music like that. Also, come see us live if we’re coming around you. I think we put on a really good show-- if anyone decides to, they'll have a good time.
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