INDIE SPOT
Exclusive: Indie Newcomer Tropical Distractions Debut in Virginia, Release New Single “Try”
Indie Newcomer Tropical Distractions Debut in Virginia, Release New Single “Try”
Where did you all meet? How did your band become “a band”?
We all met through music school – School of Rock (in Virginia, USA) – in the same performance program. Originally, the band was Alexa and Ian, then Megan joined as vocalist. And, finally, Amanda joined as bassist. Tropical Distractions was born.
How did you get the name Tropical Distractions?
We were all talking about names and Amanda said “Hey, did you all hear about the tropical depression coming our way?” We thought, “Hey wait, that’s actually a pretty cool band name.” It was already taken, but Megan liked “the contrast between paradise and chaos” so we threw around some similar words landed on distraction.
What elements/characteristics made your band say you wanted to perform music? Who are your band’s influences/heroes/role models?
We are all just very passionate about music and we decided to share this passion with other people. We’re creative, and we have the drive necessary to perform. Each of us has different influences and sometimes we get influences from certain songs rather than specific artists. Some of our influences include Clairo, Radiohead, The Strokes, and The Walters.
If you could compare yourselves to an already established band, who would that be and why?
Something that sets us apart musically from other bands is our combination of different elements from all different types of music. We have some elements of pop, mixed with some elements of newer indie music and indie rock, and even some elements of older rock music that all come together to create our sound. Additionally, our vocals set us apart from other musicians because Megan’s voice is so unique. It’s not every day you find singers with a voice like hers.
How would you define your style of music?
We make indie music. Whether it is indie rock, indie pop, dream pop, etc. Really depends on the song, but overall Indie music.
How do you prepare yourself to write certain songs? What is your songwriting and recording process?
Honestly, there is no preparation that comes with writing songs, songs just come when we feel inspired. Typically, what will happen is one of us comes up with an idea, we send it to our band group chat, and we collaborate on it. We each contribute our own ideas and get a demo finished, and then we record it.
Because of COVID, we’ve had to be extra safe, so what we did for “When She’s Gone” is recorded the guitar and bass outdoors with an interface, Ian recorded his drums in his studio, and Megan and Amanda went to Ian’s house on separate days to record the vocals. That was the only time we saw each other was not all of us wore masks.
Unfortunately, the music industry is full of talented individuals who just don’ get any recognition for their talent and hard work. What do you plan to do to make sure you stand out and get noticed? Would you rather be on a major label or would you rather stay independent? Why or why not?
As of right now, one thing that really sets us apart from other musicians is our age. We are very young compared to a lot of people in the industry. But we won’t be this young forever, so we hope that our sound sets us apart from other talented musicians and gets us recognized.
However, fame is not our goal. To be honest, we really just want to create music and share it with others, no matter how big or small our audience may be. Recognition for our hard work would just be a nice bonus.
As of right now, we would prefer to stay independent or be with a smaller label. We like the amount of creative control that we have over our songs and we worry that if we join a bigger label, we may no longer have that power over what music we make.
How do you think the internet and social media affected the music industry and how musicians are able to market themselves? Do you think an artist will be able to survive in today’s industry if they’re not social media savvy?
The internet has made marketing for smaller musicians a million times easier. For example, buying ads on Instagram doesn’t cost that much and it gets you a pretty good amount of exposure. Plus, there are so many different social media platforms out there available for bands to market themselves, each with different audiences, which allows us to be able to be exposed to all different kinds of people.
Now with social media, you’re able to market yourself and your band exactly how you want to and it’s pretty easy to do just that. We think it would be pretty hard for an artist to survive without social media nowadays. Everyone’s on it so it’s the easiest way to relay information to people, such as song release dates or gig info.
Professionally, where does the band see themselves 5 years from now?
One thing coming up in all of our futures pretty soon is college, some sooner than others. We all hope to keep some music in our lives and a couple of us even hope to go to music schools to learn more about songwriting and production.
Megan is the first to leave for college out of the band, and we are hoping that we will be able to stay in touch and still write songs even if she isn’t physically with us all the time. Our plan is to write while she’s in school and record on her breaks. 5 years from now our lives will be very different, but we all hope that music will still be involved in each of them.
Tropical Distractions songs available on Spotify at:
• Try: https://open.spotify.com/album/64OPQgV9FapMVAhBNmKzAA?si=Mn6Mem4zSEyGJMbwiN9FBw&nd=1
• When She’s Gone:
Tropical Distractions is on-line at:
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tropicaldistractionsband/
• Website: https://www.tropicaldistractionsband.com/
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