Interview: Weathers

If you haven’t already heard of them, this Southern California-based band is taking the alternative rock scene by storm. The four-piece, composed of Cameron Boyer (vocals), Cameron Olsen (guitar), Brennen Bates (bass), and Cole Carson (drums), originally met in quite a different setting. Originating with frontrunner Cameron Boyer and expanding throughout the likes of a Facebook ad, battle of the band’s competition, and family legacies, the band blends their unique experiences and histories to create the sound that is Weathers. 

Weathers band
Photo by: Brian Christopher

 April Bredael at Tongue Tied Magazine was able to sit down with frontrunner Cameron Boyer to get all the inside scoop on the band, their upcoming tour and more. 

Q: Before we dive right into things, I’d love to know more about your band in general for our audience who may not be as familiar with your music. Can you go into more detail on your style, inspirations, and how you got together to pursue music?
A: In terms of style, I think we just always followed what felt good to us. We've grown a lot since we all met and we are still growing and our styles have changed a lot both personally and as a band. We've been inspired by lots of artists and like to pull different inspirations for different songs, but I would say some of the inspirations we kinda have innately are from 80's and 90's bands. Stuff like The Cure, Pixies, and the Police. Some modern influences are The Killers, Sir Sly, All American Rejects, My Chem. We all met in kind of weird ways. First member I met was my bass player Brennen. I didn't know anybody who played bass so I put out a "Bass Player Auditions" page on Facebook and he somehow responded and came in and it just worked. And then next was my guitar player Olsen. We met competing against each other at a battle of the bands. We were both lead singers in our own bands and I thought he was really good so I asked him if he wanted to come play with us for a while and I guess he just decided to stick around. Last was my drummer Cole. He's from Illinois and our dads actually played in a band together back in high school so when he moved out to California, he played with us while he was going to college.

Q: You’ve been around since 2016 and are still releasing music in 2021, six years later. How has your style changed or evolved since your debut to the music scene?
A: I would say we've really let loose more nowadays. We used to have lots of rules for ourselves. Everything had to be really dark and edgy and we always had to be "the cool kids". Till eventually we were just like "ahh we kinda wanna have more fun with this" and we decided to kinda change the tune of our music and let more of our real personalities come through. It's definitely made the career overall a lot more fun.

Q: One of your first tracks from way back in 2016 (Happy Pills) is now nearing 100 MILLION streams on Spotify alone. How has this impacted you all personally as well as as a band? Did you ever expect the track to do so well?
A: We definitely did not expect it to do as well as it has. It's been really awesome having a little sliver of success to kind of push ourselves to in a way "beat it". I think as people, it's made us a lot more confident in what we do. It's really easy to lose confidence and burn out so I think that helps us go.

Q: Is there anything that particularly influences your individual style?
A: Other than the artists that influence us, we take lots of inspiration from movies and TV. I am a film person on the side, I love writing and directing film and I even direct our music videos. So I like to have an element of film present in all our work. I like to pretend our music is playing during scenes from a movie when we are writing. I also think the topic of mental health overall has really made an impact on our music. We find it really important to talk and write about stuff revolving around mental health.

‘Pillows & Therapy’ Album Art

Q: Tell us more about ‘Pillows and Therapy,’ your sophomore album that dropped August 13th. What inspired the album? Any particularly interesting memories attached to the production of it? What track are you most excited for fans to hear?
A: This album is very exciting because it's really a mixed bag. There's songs that sound like classic Weathers that fans will find familiar, and there are other songs that sound completely different and new and I'm excited for fans to feel that contrast. Also, lots of these songs were written very far apart from each other. One song was written about 5 years ago and another one was written like over 2 years ago. Most of the songs were like this. It's a tough pick but I think I'm most excited for fans to hear Talking Is Hard.

Q: The band clearly cares a lot and works hard to destigmatize mental health. As someone who also struggles with mental health issues, this is something super meaningful to me and I’m sure many of your fans and listeners. How have you been able to work towards this goal through your music?
A: We've always believed spreading awareness about mental health and that it's ok to not be ok is really important. But we've recently wanted to bring something new to the conversation that we feel like hasn't really been talked about much, which is actually taking the steps to improve your mental health and to want to get "better" or at least to a place that's more manageable. That's why in this album you'll hear references to therapy and going to a mental hospital and taking medication. I believe in the saying "it's ok to not be ok", but I'd like to add that it's ok to not be ok, but it's never ok to not get help. 

Q: How has this idea of incorporating mental health impacted your music and your fans?
A: What's funny is, that was never really a goal for us in the beginning. It wasn't until the Kids In The Night record was released where it really became a big thing for us. In the beginning, we were just so focused on making music that we like and that we think others would like. It was actually the fans that made it something bigger than ourselves, which was a very humbling experience for us. Just naturally, because of the presence of mental health issues in my life, my family's life, and in my band members lives, I think our music just already had lots of mental health messages in there. It kind of came out of nowhere to us. But the fans made it feel a lot bigger than ourselves. There was now weight added to our career, in the best way. And we wanted to do something about it. Mental health has always been a big part of my life and my band member’s lives and we decided it was time to use our music for something bigger and for something that could hopefully help whoever listens.

Q: So you also have a music video? Tell us more about that.
A: Our music video for our song Talking Is Hard just dropped. I directed this video along with a friend of mine, and I really wanted to do something special with this video. I really wanted to show our fans what it can feel like when you're taking those steps to improve your mental health. We decided to do that by representing what it might look like to "fight" and confront your demons when you're going through therapy. I really hope fans see that and I hope it encourages them to want to get better and to know that they aren't alone and that there are ways you can start taking those steps forward.

Q: What can fans expect to see from your headline tour following the album?
A: Lots of new music, lots of energy, lots of emotion, and lots of fun :)

Q: If you had to describe your unique style and brand of music in three words or less, what would they be?
A: Emotional, energetic, cinematic.

To stay up to date with all things Weathers, check out their website here and be sure to follow on Instagram @WeathersBand

Interview by: April Bredael