[00:00:00] Speaker A: It's not just us we'd have to conquer.
We've got folk singers, rappers, and punkers, everyone taking care of one another.
Welcome to the unsigned unwind. I am Andy Scullen. I am your host. And if you are just tuning in, because the band that is on today's episode is a band that you like, and you wanted to check it out, you may not know that I do another show called Unsigned 518, and it is right here in the same feed. Wherever you are listening to this episode, you can catch all of my episodes of unsigned 518. I put out two episodes a week. It's all local music focused.
And like I said, you can get everything right here in one feed. So that's unsigned 518 right here, wherever you are listening. So what this show is, if you're just tuning in for the first time ever, is my showrunner, Angela Taranjo. She does all the incoming and outgoing communication with local bands from across the US and Canada, and she set, we have a date that I am recording, and she will set up Google calendars, and I have a first name phone number, and sometimes a band name, and that's the only information that I have. I never know what genre of music. I never know where in the US or Canada they are. I know nothing except for name, band, phone number. So today we are going to talk with Alexis of Sneakerwave. Hi, Alexis.
[00:01:43] Speaker B: Hey, Andy.
[00:01:44] Speaker A: How are you?
[00:01:45] Speaker B: I'm doing great. How are you?
[00:01:46] Speaker A: I'm good. And, you know, before we got recording, I kind of let you know that I know nothing about your band. I don't know what part of the country that you're from, and I'm just basically here to find that information out. So I guess, first of all, the name of the band is sneaker wave, right?
[00:02:05] Speaker B: Yeah, that's correct.
[00:02:06] Speaker A: And where do you hail from?
[00:02:09] Speaker B: Yeah, so glad you asked.
Our band is a five member band, and we're based out of Portland, Oregon, and we play indie rock. I would say it's surf influenced, kind of jangle rock, eighties influenced, but, you know, we pull a lot of influences.
[00:02:24] Speaker A: From all over nice and Portland. That's. I mean, you're. You're officially, at this point, the. The farthest guest that I've had on my ship because I'm out in Albany, New York, so literally the complete other side of the country. And, you know, I almost want to be like, hey, hey, what's the music scene like in Portland? But, I mean, Portland's kind of known for being, like, the cool, cool, hip city is it like, as a local band, do you find that it's like a real accepting scene. Are there lots of places to play? People get along and everything?
[00:02:59] Speaker B: Yeah. I'm so glad you asked. It's a really active scene and it's a super friendly scene. Like, we've been a band. We haven't been a band for very long. We actually started writing music at the beginning of 2023.
[00:03:10] Speaker A: Oh, wow.
[00:03:11] Speaker B: So we haven't been around for very long, but, like, the Portland scene has been so accepting and awesome and supportive. We've been on tour with one of our friend bands who's also based out of Portland. They're called nug. They're great. Look them up. We've also, we're friends with sit pretty and other Portland bands. But, like, we've been invited to so many bills, we try to invite tons of local people to our bills. It's just a really cool scene. And you can literally, you can go out and see so many live shows any night of the week here in Portland.
[00:03:38] Speaker A: And so, you know, when you say, like, your friends, like, is that, like, kind of something where you make a bunch of friends in the scene? Because, you know, out here certain certainly, like, I mean, at this point, like, almost all of my friends are people that I've met, like, through music. Yeah.
[00:03:53] Speaker B: Oh, totally. Yeah, these are, these are people we met after we started as a band. Like, I didn't know any of these people in, like, my non music life, so they're, they're people we, like, played shows with and then ended up really jiving with or, you know, people who would invite us to their friend shows or house parties. It's been, it's, yeah, it's been really, really cool.
[00:04:12] Speaker A: And there's something just exhilarating about, like, meeting people that are doing the same thing that you're doing and being excited about their work, but then realizing that they're excited about your work as well.
[00:04:23] Speaker B: You know, like, yeah, yeah, absolutely. And I feel like a lot of people out here who do music also have are just, like, creatively busy people. Like, are making videos or are doing, like, visual art or just. I don't know, it's really. People are encouraged, I think, to have a lot of hobbies and encourage each other in those hobbies.
[00:04:43] Speaker A: Do you think that something that you find out in the scene out there is that more than just music contributes to the music? You know? Cause you just had making video and art, you know, obviously any of that could tie into music. Like, is the scene bigger than just the music is what you're saying?
[00:04:59] Speaker B: Yeah, I think so. I think that there are definitely people who like to stay in the music specific world, but it's very accepting of other influences. Like, I personally do a lot of visual art, and I did a bunch of screen printing with a band for all of our merch, but I'm also like, hey, other Portland bands, like, we should get together in screen print because it's an affordable way to make merch. It's super fun. You get, like, a lot of, say over the creative process, and I think it adds a lot of charm. And I think that that is, like, an ethos in the Portland music scene at large.
[00:05:28] Speaker A: Right. And, I mean, that's, like, to a smaller extent or maybe a larger extent if you think geographically. Like, that's what I'm trying to do with this show, is that there's so many small pockets of local musicians and local bands all over the country, and if they all were kind of aware of each other, like, even if they don't, aren't in the same room with each other, like, even when you just said getting bands together to screen print and make their own merch, like, that's a grassroots thing that, like, everybody. Everybody should get that idea in their head to be like, no, you can just do it yourself. Get a fucking bunch of people together. And, like, so, you know, hopefully some people out here listen to this episode and then take that idea and run with it, you know? I love the DIY arts. It's. It's such a. I don't know. I get a charge out of knowing that, like, there's other people doing the same shit that I'm doing on the other side of the country. You know what I mean?
[00:06:25] Speaker B: Yeah, totally. Totally. And, I mean, like, we. We've done. We did our first tour in the spring, and it was, like, it's so funny to call it a tour. It was a tour. Like, we did multiple shows in multiple places, but it was so diY. Like, we did it with one of our friends. You know, we hopped in a couple of vans. We printed our own merch. We booked all the shows ourselves. Like, we all slept in one Airbnb. Like, it was very, very diy, but it was so, so fun. And we got. We just got total control over it. Like, one of the shows we did was up in Seattle, and we played a show at a roller skating rink, which was so cool. Like, we set up in the middle of the rink. People skated around us, but we just, like, took that whole day hanging out around the sound, eating fish and chips, like going to a guitar store. We just, you know, we just got to do whatever we wanted, which was so fun.
[00:07:14] Speaker A: And that's, like, kind of the dream, you know? Like, as you were saying all that stuff, I'm, like, picturing, like, a montage from, like, a Cameron Crowe movie or something, you know, I'm like, yeah, that sounds amazing. You know, doing all these things.
[00:07:24] Speaker B: It was so fun.
[00:07:25] Speaker A: On your own terms, you know, like, to be like, yeah, we want to do this, we're gonna do that. And I love that.
[00:07:32] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, it definitely. I mean, I feel like it's, you know, we're lucky. Like, we have the means to financially do it, but it definitely helps that we go as a big group, you know, help spread the cost around. So it's not like, it's not nothing, you know, but. But it is. It's fun when you can get enough people to make it realistic.
[00:07:51] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. And so before we go, I just want to, you know, kind of the theme of the show, you know, this is my third podcast show. Like, I have. I have two other other shows that, you know, focus on the 518 music scene. And one of the things that I wanted to use this show for, and I kind of said it, you know, talking about the screen printing t shirts, is I want it to be, like, just a little bit of an advice network from local bands around the country because, you know, obviously, doing the diy, doing everything yourself, it takes a toll, and we need to rest, you know, like, you cannot just go full bore all the time because it's just not sustainable. So I guess my question to you, Alexis, is, say you had a little bit of time, whether it's a day or just an afternoon, where you were given this free time to unwind something that has nothing to do with music or the hustle or anything. Like, what would you personally do to unwind?
[00:08:55] Speaker B: Yeah, great, great question. And I love the theme. I am a big cyclist, and I also really like to walk. I like, I find being outside really wonderful. And, like, walking especially, it's easy to detach it from, like, exercise and performance. You know, it's easier to just take that as, like, I'm out just relaxing. I do like to listen to music. I mean, just for pleasure. Like, it also can be easy to turn that into, like, you know, a learning moment. But it's nice to put on something, like, ambient. Like, I'm a huge fan of Mogwe and grouper, and I'll just go on, like, a nice, long walk. That definitely helps.
I'm a big, hot beverage person. I love a big mug of tea or a big cup of coffee. And I love to walk somewhere, grab a book, get a coffee, like, oh, that's one of my favorite ways to unwind. Cause I can fully take my mind out of my life, my problems, my aspirations, and just get really into someone else's story.
And I actually am, like, one of my guilty pleasures is competitive tetris. Weirdly, like, I. There's this game called TEtris 99 that I just. When I'm, like, bothered by problems, I love to get in and just play TetrIS because it literally takes every iota of my attention. I can't think about anything else. So that is also super helpful, honestly, for unwinding, for me, respect.
[00:10:20] Speaker A: I love that. That's great.
So. And, you know, in Portland, such a great when, you know, you're saying, like, grab a coffee and a book and, like, because Portland is a great city to do that. I. My wife and I visited, I don't know, probably four or five years ago. And I don't know if you ever go on those vacations where, like, you go to a place and then, like, when you leave that place, you start, like, having those conversations about moving there.
Portland was one of those places where I was like, I don't know. I don't know. Maybe might be pretty cool to move to Port Larkin.
[00:10:54] Speaker B: I mean, come back and visit any time.
[00:10:57] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm sure we will. Like, I really. I really dug that city. I thought it was cool. And as, like, a. An old skate rat to go see Burnside.
[00:11:05] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:11:06] Speaker A: Was just like, unre. You know, I was like, holy shit, like, I'm standing, like, at Burnside. This is amazing. It was. It was awesome.
[00:11:12] Speaker B: Speak of DIY. Yeah, right?
[00:11:14] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. It was like the something that's been a part of my. I mean, part of my life forever. And it started as just a, hey, let's build this under a bridge.
[00:11:24] Speaker B: Yeah. That's awesome.
[00:11:25] Speaker A: I love it.
So let's listen to a sneaker wave song, and I guess, Alexis, which song do you want to feature for the folks to hear?
[00:11:36] Speaker B: Yeah, great question. We submitted Clover, which is a song we wrote last summer, and it's about maybe sometimes saying more than you wanted to say when interacting with people.
[00:11:47] Speaker A: I'm guilty of that.
All right, cool. So, Alexis, thank you so much for taking time out of your day to talk to me and talk a little bit about sneakerwave and give us a little advice. On how to unwind. I really, truly appreciate it. And where can people find you? Online?
[00:12:06] Speaker B: Absolutely. Yeah. It was a pleasure speaking to you, too, Andy. Folks can find us online, Instagram, TikTok, we're under sneakerwave PDX, like the Portland airport.
And our music's on Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, you know, et cetera, the whole deal.
[00:12:22] Speaker A: All right, excellent. So, Alexis of sneaker wave, again, thank you so much. So let's check out the song clover from sneaker wave. And it's here on the unsigned unwind.
[00:12:45] Speaker C: It's the way between us how the days coming around they begin to see us.
Change my mind, dreams change my heart I wanted not to break out even now I wanted just to say how I am I wanted not to say everything else I wanted not to break everything tell me how change my life, change my heart I wanted not to breathe my way out.
I wanted not to say.
[00:15:03] Speaker A: That was clover from sneaker wave here on the unsigned unwind. And again, I want to remind you to check out the other shows that are right here in the same feed. No matter where you're listening, whether it's Spotify, apple music, you know, overcast, pocket cast, whatever, they'll all be in the same feed. Unsigned 518. Unsigned 518, weekend spotlight, and the unsigned unwind. And it just made sense. Even though they're three kind of separate shows, they're all kind of the same thing, and they're all hosted by me and produced by me. So it just makes sense to have them in one place. So check out the other shows. I promise you, there's lots of cool music and great discussions with musicians. So that is it for this week. Make sure that you, like, rate, subscribe wherever you listen, and follow me on Instagram. Unsigned 518, where you'll get information on all three shows on the Instagram. It'll be all in one place as well. So just all under unsigned 518. But anyway, I am Andy Scullen. This is the unsigned unwind. I'll see you on the road.
If you would like to be a guest on the unsigned unwind, send an email to
[email protected]. take care of one another, and I'll see you soon.
