Emily & The Complexes “What Good Is Summer”
Today marks the first official day of summer, but it’s already hit the “dog days of summer” on the thermometers around the country; Ohio’s Emily & The Complexes delivers a scorcher to celebrate asking “What Good Is Summer” on the premiere of their first single off of their upcoming sophomore album Baby, Get To It Before the Heartbreak, due out August 19th.
Emily & the Complexes began as a solo outlet for singer/songwriter, Tyler Verhagen, while he was hitchhiking the country in his younger days. In 2012 he re-located to Columbus, OH where the full band was created with friends Tom Konitzer, Jordan Finke, and Brett Gregory. Those experiences brought the band a myriad of influences that spans their midwestern roots, to west coast influences, and southern rock shown on their debut album Styrofoam Plate Blues (2012) and EP Dirty Southern Love (2014). Emily & The Complexes sound can best be linked to 90’s alt-rock, grunge, garage, and post-rock, forming a cohesive sound of some good ole dirty rock ‘n’ roll.
After committing their lives to the project for three years touring behind the debut album and EP, things began to change. In 2015 Emily & The Complexes was effectively on hiatus with drummer, Tom, moving to Brooklyn and Tyler hitting the road again. In the convening six months there were no shows, instruments went untouched, and people who had spent an inordinate amount of time in a van together rarely saw each other. From the outside it appeared to be the end, but on the inside there was a growing, unspoken consensus. After months away from music, the band finally got around to talking about the future. There were no concrete answers, just a single agreement: they were going to make another album even if no other person would ever hear it.
The band spent January 2016 in Brett’s basement in Columbus piecing together the songs Tyler had written. In February they headed to Chase Park Transduction in Athens, GA to work with beloved producer/engineer, Drew Vandenberg (Mothers, Of Montreal, Futurebirds), for two weeks. The new album Baby, Get To It Before The Heartbreak is what came out of those beautifully intense days in Georgia. It was mastered by Doug Van Sloun out of Omaha, NE.
“The album name was created on the drive home from Georgia. We stumbled upon some crazy conservative talk show in Tennessee. The host was answering calls regarding the current state of the GOP and Donald Trump. It was a fast paced show and when a caller took too long to introduce himself, the host rushed him by saying, “baby, get to it before the heartbreak.” We thought it was funny and memorable at the same time. We joked about calling the album that, and I guess it just stuck” said Brett Gregory.
The band’s third release, Baby, Get To It Before the Heartbreak, will be released digitally and on tape cassette on August 19th.
The first single, “What Good Is Summer,” which we are excited to premiere today, is a shimmering new song, a cheeky anthem for those stuffy hot summer days that you want no part of. But who knows, looking back at those days, they always some of the best times.
Gregory says “It’s definitely one of the more straight-forward, catchy songs on the album. We thought it would be a good starting point for listeners. We historically avoid repeated hooks in our song writing, but embraced the line “what good is summer anyway” for this one. Our music has always been vocally and lyrically driven, and usually comes out pretty sad. We try to avoid cheesy, cliche lines. The timing and song title just kind of matched up for this one (it is deliberately coming out on the first official day of summer). It’s not sad. It’s a bit more rebellious. It is cheeky for sure. It’s like an anti-summer anthem in a summer sound kind of way. It’s meant to be listened to loud while drinking.
As far as back story, the song is not about a single person/experience. It touches on the feelings of fleeting summer relationships and being bored with the people/things around you in an almost shit talking kind of way. The album in general comes off with a candid vernacular (I think).”
Listen to “What Good Is Summer”:
Emily & The Complexes “What Good Is Summer” artwork
