Planetary Group took some time to get to know The Thing With Feathers, an emerging indie outfit from Nashville, Tennessee.
Planetary Group: Tell us about your latest release. How did you come to create it?
Dave: “Static” kind of started as a riff that Alex brought in, back when we had all recently just gotten back together right after the initial wave with quarantine. We had jammed on the idea a bunch and we kind of tried to put a couple of different hats on it, but we couldn’t really get it to work. And we still hadn’t written a song to it. When we met with the producer, initially we showed them all our ideas and he was like, oh, do you guys have anything else? We were like, oh, we got this one thing we’ve been messing around with.
And, uh, we showed them Static and they were like, that’s the song? Like, you need to finish that song. And so we did. And now it’s here! So it was kind of a run around to get to it, but it’s cool. A lot of fun.
PG: Share a bit about your musical journey, from when you first started making music until now.
Alex: We all met in college, and we were kind of just like a party band for a little while. Then we kind of wanted to do more, so we just kind of started writing better.
Dave: Yeah we used to play a lot of house shows and parties; it’s kinda all that young bands could initially book in Nashville. There wasn’t a ton of clubs that were doing shows… well [there was] The End, that was the first venue we played. But yeah, it was really fun seeing and there’s a lot of great bands and artists that have come up through that process.
PG: Let’s talk about the music that you love. Pick one album for each category below & tell us a bit about it!
- An album you grew up listening to:
Alex: Transatlanticism by Death Cab for Cutie,
Dave: A Rush of Blood to the Head by Coldplay.
Chris: By The Way, Red hot Chili Peppers.
Sean: Some kind of Nirvana album.
- An album that inspires you as an artist (I’m sure there are many, but pick one of your choosing):
Alex: Deafheaven’s last record Infinite Granite.
Dave: Born to Run, Bruce Springsteen
Chris: Malibu by Anderson Paak.
Sean: Probably still some kind of Nirvana album.
- The album you currently have on repeat:
Alex: The Vroom Vroom EP by Charli XCX
Dave: I’ve been listening to this new Flyte record a lot, plus Youth And Young Manhood [by Kings of Leon].
Chris: Honestly just the last couple of days it’s been That’s What They All Say by Jack Harlow.
Sean: Flood – Herbie Hancock (Live 1974 in Japan).
PG: What do you want people to take away from your music?
Dave: I think that we really try to be ourselves and share our experiences, honestly. And so I don’t really want to over explain too much of the music for people, but it’s got a lot to do with youth, feelings, dichotomies we find ourselves in. Basically we just want people to see themselves in it and make it their own.
PG: What’s next up for you?
Alex: More releases from our upcoming EP and back in the studio!
Dave: We’re finishing up writing a new EP that we’re going to go in and record in January, plus we’ve got more releases coming from Sundays in the South!
Thanks to The Thing With Feathers for speaking with us! Their latest single “Lights Down Low” is out now.
