Behind the Noise: Interview With Richmond's Alt-Rock Band House & Home
Edited by Mav Mercer
The alternative-rock band House & Home recently released their latest collaborative EP, Split, on January 26th, 2024. The profusely dynamic alt-rock band from Richmond, Virginia, teamed up with New Jersey's own Suntitle to create a four-song EP with two songs written and created by each band. We had the opportunity to talk with Patrick Williams (guitarist and vocalist) and Collin Lassiter (bassist) of House & Home to discuss their evolution as a band, their creative process during the creation of Split, their close-knit friendship with the band Suntitle, and much more!
Iceis: I thought we would start off with a little game of who's most likely to. The first one is "Who's most likely to be the last to show up for band practice?"
Pat: Matt.
Collin: Our drummer Matt.
Pat: He's not even here to defend himself. He plays in both bands, [House & Home and Suntitle], and he is late to everything.
Iceis: Well, this seems like the perfect time to put him on blast because he's not here.
Pat: We will be getting ready to go somewhere, like load in for a show or [anywhere] we have to be at a certain time, and he's like, “Okay, cool! I just need to grab a couple of things.” Or [he’s] like, “I just need to jump in the shower [really] quick.” It's always when we're about to leave. It's terrible. He's late to everything.
Iceis: See, you need to start telling him the wrong time when you need to be places. So that way, he will do it beforehand.
Pat: I’ve started doing that.
Collin: We gotta tell him [an] hour before.
Pat: I did that on the last tour. I said we [had] to be on the road by nine when we didn't have to be on the road ‘til ten-thirty. We got out of there at [around] ten-fifteen.
Iceis: Well, there you go. That’s your new strategy. Our next one is "Who's most likely to know the most random, obscure facts about any subject?"
Collin: Joey.
Pat: Yeah, I was gonna say, Joey. Either Joey or Seth from Suntitle.
Iceis: What’s the most random thing they've told you?
Pat: Seth knows a lot about anime.
Collin: Joey [has] his monthly habits. He'll get really into video games and video game lore. And he's like, “Guys, guess what I just found out about Street Fighter?” And we're like, “We have no idea.”
Pat: “I don’t care.”
Iceis: It's like, “I don’t even know who these people are.”
Pat: He’s really into Tekken right now. I was over at his house the other night. I hit him up and was like, “We should hang out.” He was like, “Okay!” So, I went over to his house, and I watched him play Tekken for two and a half hours. It was fun.
Iceis: Maybe you'll eventually have to join him in his Tekken adventures.
Pat: I don't know. I'm not a huge video game person. I have specific games that I love. Like, side [scrollers]. I don't have the attention span for it.
Iceis: That’s fair. "What's your favorite video game?"
Pat: Zelda. Anything Zelda. I'm into that.
Iceis: They just put out a new one a year or two ago.
Pat: Oh, yeah. I’ve [ran] that one a lot.
Iceis: Now, you gotta wait a good five years for the next one.
Pat: I know. It's always worth it, though. [The Legend of Zelda:] Breath of the Wild won game of the year after it came out, and then they followed it up with [The Legend of Zelda:] Tears of the Kingdom. It's pretty damn good. People hate on it, but it's good.
Iceis: That's fair. I know there’ve been a lot of good games throughout that series. I think if you were going to go back and replay a series, Zelda is a great choice.
Pat: For sure. Yeah, absolutely!
Iceis: "What's your favorite of the older games?"
Pat: [The Legend of Zelda:] Ocarina of Time was [the] first game that I played in the series. I really like that one. I haven't spent a bunch of time on [The Legend of Zelda: The] Wind Waker. I need to ‘cause I know it's good. [The Legend of Zelda:] Majora’s Mask is cool. It's just really stressful.
Iceis: Yes! I never could beat that one.
Pat: It gives me anxiety when I play it.
Iceis: Well, yeah. The days go by so fast, and you don't even know what you need to do. Next thing you know, the game is over.
Pat: Yeah, exactly! You're racing the clock as part of the game, and I hate that.
Iceis: Our next question is "Who's most likely to improvise their part on stage?"
Pat: That one's tough.
Collin: Maybe Joe, from Suntitle.
Pat: Yeah, Joe will just yell things into the mic sometimes.
Collin: I think the rest of us are pretty [copy]-and-paste [when] we play [live]. But Joe gets a little crazy sometimes, and he'll just start yelling stuff.
Pat: Especially in between songs.
Iceis: Sometimes that’s the best thing. You gotta keep the audience entranced. You gotta entertain them.
Pat: Entranced is one word [for it]. Remember when he got in trouble in Dallas that one time?
Collin: Why? ‘Cause he just screamed, “Fuck the Dallas Cowboys!”
Pat: He was talking about the Dallas Cowboys the whole time. Somebody approached him after the show [and] was like, “Don't do that.”
Collin: I was entranced for sure. Entranced is one way you can put it. I can't stop watching that man.
Iceis: Yeah, I would say if you're gonna say, “Fuck a football team.” Maybe don't do it in the city where the football team is from. I'm just saying.
Pat: I think he wore his Eagles jersey on stage, too.
Iceis: That made it worse.
Pat: Everybody else but that one dude thought it was funny.
Iceis: There's always that one dude.
Pat: Yeah, and then his buddy came up [afterward] and was like, “I'm sorry about him.”
Iceis: That says a lot. "Who's most likely to pull an all-nighter to finish a project?" Whether that's music-related or something else.
Pat: I think we would all do it for different reasons.
Collin: Not me. I'm different.
Pat: Yeah, Collin goes to bed.
Collin: Yeah, [I] will stay up late if I have to. But I go to bed early. I would probably say Matt. ‘Cause he stays up late anyway.
Pat: Yeah, Matt's got the gnarliest sleep schedule for sure. Joey goes to bed pretty early, too, just not on a tour. Yeah, me and Joe will stay up working on music for a long time. Matt will stay up playing video games or just talking and hanging out. I was recording vocals for a demo for a new Suntitle song a couple of weeks ago, and [Joe] had me at the studio ’til almost three in the morning. We're recording again tonight. So, we're gonna see how late that goes.
Iceis: Better have enough Redbull and coffee for those late-night sessions.
Pat: Yeah, there’s a coffee maker at the studio. I need to take advantage of that [more].
Iceis: Most definitely. And our final one is "Who's most likely to be the last one to respond to a group text?"
Both: Matt!
Pat: So easily, Matt. It's impossible to get that boy to check his phone. It makes my life so difficult.
Collin: We [found that] he Likes to check it, but he won't respond right away.
Pat: I'll ask a question about booking or a logistical thing in the band group chat, and then he won't respond after everybody else has responded for like two hours. But he'll send me Russian dashcam footage on Instagram. I have to message him and be like, “Hey, look at the group chat.”
Collin: He's just got a really high ping. He's on a big delay.
Iceis: See, that's what you gotta start doing. You just gotta start making Instagram group chats and send all your important shit through there.
Pat: At this point, I think part of it is deliberate to mess with me.
Collin: The new Meta is [to] send a reel on Instagram and then attach an important message to the reel. So, I know he sees it.
Pat: That’s a good idea.
Iceis: Yeah, that should be your new strategy. Whenever you need Matt instantly, just send him meme reels attached with, “Hey, we need X, Y, and Z and need you to be there.” Or, “We also need your opinion on this super important thing.”
Pat: Yeah, Matt has really good ideas when he does respond. The ideas are always really solid, and it's usually something that nobody else thought of. But he'll do [this] thing [when we're] all talking about something [time sensitive], and we will all agree on [it], for instance, like a merch design. [I’ll be like], “Hey, we need to order merch by this day.” And all three of us will go back and forth for a while and be like, “Okay, cool.” We'll all agree on something, and then finally, [at] the [last] minute [for] the deadline that we need to order the shirts, [I’m] digitally yelling at Matt like, “Hey. let us know!” And then he'll finally get back to us and be like, “I don't like it. What if we change this?” And then it usually ends up better [than it was before]. [It has] turned into a joke. It's just one of his things.
Iceis: See, you just have to give him time to ruminate and come up with the right ideas. It's worth the two-hour, four-hour, or maybe even two-day wait time.
Pat: [It has] definitely taught us to do things further in advance.
Iceis: So, moving on to the beginning periods of your career. I feel like most people who end up becoming musicians and such all have that defining moment when they realize, “Hey, I wanna be a singer, or a guitarist, or an actor. And I really want to do that as my career for the rest of my life.” and I was wondering what that moment kind of looked like for each of you?
Pat: My dad's a musician. So, I was always interested in playing music. He plays guitar, too. So, I would mess around on it with him, and he would teach me super basic stuff. I was always curious about it. And then one day, my parents got me, for my birthday or something, when I was six years old, they got me International Superhits! the Green Day [compilation]. And I had never heard music like that before. As soon as the song ‘Maria’ [started], my eyes got really wide, and I was like, “What is this? How do I do that?” And then I watched School of Rock, and that just made it worse. Or better, depending on how you look at it.
Iceis: Depends on the opinion.
Pat: Yeah. So, from a super young age, [I] just found Green Day and started learning more about bands and everything that goes into being in a band. I decided, pretty young, [that this is] what I wanted to do.
Collin: Yeah, I'll try to fast-track it. When I was eight, my cousin had a drum set. I'd never seen anything [like that] before, and I tried it out. I really wanted my own. So, my dad bought a drum set for his house, and I would go over and mess around on it, but I never got good at drums. And then every year from when I was eleven to fourteen, I went to a church summer camp, but it was music incorporated. I just took a guitar class. They [taught us] the basics, and I was gifted an acoustic guitar to take and keep with me. And I learned the chords from that. And after learning the basics, people started showing me heavier music. Stuff you would hear playing in a Hot Topic around the time in the 2010s. That was my shit growing up. So, once I could play along to those songs, I was like, “This is awesome!” I got my first electric guitar, which was ridiculous. It was a Jackson with EMG pickups, and [I was] like, "[This] is so dope!” So yeah, I [started] out with just the basics, and then [started] having more fun with it. Realizing I could play songs that I enjoyed was my awakening [to this].
Iceis: "What did the beginning stages of House & Home look like? How did you all get acquainted and realize that this is what you wanted to do together?"
Pat: So, Matt and I went to high school together, but we were never really close. Through mutual friends, after we graduated, we ended up moving into the same house together. [We started] talking about music and sharing ideas back and forth, and we [found that we] both have similar creative visions with music. Both of the bands that we were working on separately ended up ending around the same time. So, we started playing together and clicked. And then we met Joey through going to shows around Richmond, and he was working at a music store in town. He came over and started playing with us, and we ended up writing a few songs, recording them, and playing a few shows. And then right before the pandemic hit [when] we were putting out our first record, we ended up needing a new bass player. And we had known Collin from going to shows around Richmond. He [was playing] in another band called Fanfare that played a lot [around town], and we had played a bunch of shows with [them] at that point. So, he filled in on some stuff for us. Musically and personality-wise, we were pretty locked in immediately. So, we ended up just asking him to join the band full-time. That was back in 2020, so [he has] been [with us] since then.
Collin: Yeah, I was a House & Home fan before anything. I enjoyed Pat’s band before House & Home. And when they started something different, I was like, “Alright, this is awesome!” I would [just] show up at their house. Most of the time, the front door was unlocked. [So] I'd just walk in, and we'd hang out all day. [I was] like. “I play bass, you know.” That worked out.
Pat: Yeah. [And we were] like, “Oh, cool.” And then we needed a new bass player.
Iceis: See, you started advertising yourself early. So that way, you would be in the pot for when the new bassist was needed.
Pat: Yeah.
Collin: Yeah, [it] turns out if you just annoy the shit out of them every single day for months at a time, [they'll be] like, “All right. You can join.”
Iceis: It's like, “Oh, God! We've heard you say that you play bass five hundred times. Join the band so you can stop talking about it.”
Pat: Exactly.
Iceis: You guys, House & Home, and Suntitle are both from the East Coast. How did your paths originally cross over with each other?
Pat: We did a short tour, [it was] three or four shows, with Suntitle in 2018. We didn't know those guys at all. We had never met. But we started the tour in Richmond, and they pulled up, and we started talking. We clicked pretty immediately. They're originally from New Jersey, near Philadelphia, and we just kept in touch. Especially with Joe over the next few years, and we all went to his wedding. We ended up just becoming really close friends. Eventually, he made the move down to Richmond after a couple more tours that we did together. So, [he] and his wife Gabby moved down here, and Matt ended up joining [their] band, [too]. So, we only got tighter after that. It's just an example of one of those times when you meet somebody playing music, [and they end] up [becoming] a super close friend. We meet a lot of really cool people, [but] they've been primarily one of the ones that stick out as being a really good example of making lifelong friends through music.
Iceis: It's always important and really cool when you get to actually make friends on tour because a tour can be stressful. So, it's really nice when you get to build those friendships and work together, too.
Pat: Yeah, we've been lucky enough to never have been on tour with a band that we didn't vibe with. [Doing] this at the level we're at [is] really hard, so you all have to love it a lot. So you show up to tours with that being a predetermined common ground, that you all really like doing this. So, with that in mind, you end up being bound to be compatible personality-wise. We've gotten along really well with everybody we've been on tour with. Luckily.
Iceis: That's always good because it would suck to go to work every day for a month and have bad vibes and be like, “Well, this sucks.”
Pat: Yeah, one hundred percent.
Iceis: "When you compare where you are right now in your career with House & Home, versus when you had first formed, what do you feel like is the biggest difference?"
Pat: I feel like people care more. We've learned a lot about what it is to be in a band and a lot about ourselves as musicians and songwriters, too. We get messages and stuff from people all over [who] are actually paying attention, which is cool ‘cause I've never been in a band where people actually care [about] what we're doing. So, the fact that people are actually listening, want to come see us, and want us to release new music is cool. Because every band that I've ever been in, [it had] just been for us. We weren't actually thinking about anybody else. Not that we're thinking about writing music for anybody else. But the fact that people want to be a part of it is really cool. That's probably the biggest thing for me.
Collin: From my perspective, [it’s the] band's shows. When [I] started [with the band], [they] were definitely the first shows that I had gone out and done on real tours. The reception has just gotten [better] every tour. We're seeing an increase in people coming out, which is awesome. And from a fan perspective [and] seeing where they started in 2017, the sound is so much tighter between everything. I feel like we're a real band now.
Iceis: You know a little bit about what you’re doing. Instead of being like, “Well, we’re writing, but we’re new. And we don’t know what our sound is completely yet, but we're gonna get there.”
Pat: Yeah, there's still a lot to learn and a lot of experimentation to do. But I feel like we have our feet under us a whole lot more now. We have failed a lot, so we have that experience now. We know a lot more about what not to do.
Iceis: Well, I feel like that's the biggest thing that people forget when it comes to doing things like music and being in a band and stuff. Unfortunately, you're probably gonna fall flat on your face a lot of times in the beginning. But eventually once you start getting that momentum, it makes the shift a lot easier and a lot more rewarding. It’s like, “Yay! I'm so happy I didn't give up on this ten years ago!”
Pat: Oh, a hundred percent. I could have.
Iceis: In this day and age, there are so many different bands and artists all trying to enter the scene at once. "What do you feel like really sets you apart from some of the other bands and artists that are in the scene right now?"
Pat: I feel like for [us and Suntitle], one of the biggest things is that we just wanna be on the road. We just want to tour, and the live show is such an important part of that for us. Speaking for myself, it's the whole reason I want to be in a band. I want to play the songs live. Honing in [on] the live [shows] for Suntitle and House & Home, I know for a fact, is a huge part of what we're proud of as bands. I think that we've put a lot of work into making our live [shows] as awesome as it can be without shelling out thousands of dollars for pyro and stuff. But I really do feel confident in both of our bands, how we play live, the way that we present ourselves, and the whole package [we bring] on stage. I feel like that's where you really get to see what the band is. And I genuinely love the songs that we play, too. I feel like we write them in a way that translates [really well] to a live show, rather than just relying on studio magic to make something catchy, if that's what you do, no shade. But we really want to be able to kick ass on stage playing these songs.
Iceis: Well, I feel like that’s an important thing, too. I feel like sometimes artists or bands have a great studio recording album, but then on stage, that doesn't come through like the majority of people would probably like to see. So, it's nice when you get the best of both worlds, where you’re like, “Oh, yeah, this sounds dope coming through Spotify!” Or Apple Music or whatever. But then, when you see it live, it adds even more to it.
Pat: Yep.
Collin: That, too. Obviously [with] our sound, we're not building a new genre or anything. You can definitely hear a lot of the influences that we take from. It's not our job necessarily to make something completely out there and different that no [one has] ever heard before. We wanna find that sound, make what we enjoy with it, and add on to what we are taking in. And like Pat said, the live show is huge. I think stage presence and sounding tight are the most important things to us. I want people to come to a show and have fun watching us.
Pat: Yeah.
Iceis: Yeah. Otherwise, it's like, “I could hear this same thing at home on my phone at any time.” Good live show experiences are very important.
Collin: Yeah, I don't want someone to show up and just watch us and just wait for the next band to come on. I want someone to have fun while we're doing our thing. I want huge participation [during] it. You don't have to stand there and watch us the whole time. You can move [or] stage dive, you know? Do your own thing. As long as [we’re] invoking something in somebody else.
Pat: Yeah, or just vibe out. I just wanna leave an impression on people. I never want the reaction [people have] walking away from the show just being like, “Oh, yeah, that band was cool. Whatever.” I want more than that. I need to elicit a reaction from people.
Iceis: Yeah. Well then, it’s like, “That band was so cool! Not only did they sound cool, but they looked cool. And I had fun, which means I’m going to actually remember them.” And not be like, “Oh, that band was cool.” And then, three days later, you forget you even saw them.
Pat: Yeah, I genuinely believe that's how you fill rooms at shows, too. I think people focus a lot on Spotify numbers and stuff, but I could name four bands off the top of my head that have one hundred thousand monthly listeners and millions of plays on a song that couldn't pack out a two-hundred-cap room. So, I don't give a shit about that. Having a song blow up doesn't put heads in the room where you're playing. I want packed rooms. I [truly] think the way that you do that is [to] put on a live show. Word will spread. It will Snowball. If you don't do that, I don't think it's possible.
Iceis: Yeah, because in the grand scheme of things, Instagram followers, Spotify followers, and all that, it doesn't matter if people aren't coming to see the actual performance.
Pat: Yeah, exactly. At least the way we do it, that's a hundred percent true.
Iceis: You guys recently put out a new EP called Split with Suntitle. Exciting!
Pat: Yeah.
Iceis: I feel like the way you guys did it was very unique. Bands will have features and stuff for EPs or albums, but you did something totally different. You each put two songs onto the EP that were just done by you. Two from House & Home. And two from Suntitle. I'm curious who came up with that concept?
Pat: I mean, conceptually, we're definitely not the first to do it. We all take a lot of influence from hardcore music, and that's a big thing in [the] hardcore [scene]. Bands will team up and do splits all the time. It's always [been] something that we talked about doing with another band. And we had a couple [of] songs that we were getting ready to record. Suntitle had just finished up a few songs, and Matt, being in both bands, was the one that brought it to us like, “What if we just put them out together?” ‘Cause neither of our bands [was] really sure how we wanted to release the songs by ourselves, and it seemed like a really cool way to do it. Double the promotion for each band, and [we] support each other. We just want to watch each other's band succeed. So, it was a cool way to do it together. And then we brought it to the label, and they were down for it. So, it wasn't really [a] whole big deliberation process. It was a very organic, no-brainer kind of thing.
Iceis: You guys and Suntitle both have EPs and your debut albums out at this point. "What do you feel like makes Split, and the songs that you did within it, separate itself from your past work?"
Pat: I think we are taking what [we did] on our last EP and pushing it harder in the direction that we were headed. Honestly, I think that our mindset around being in a band has intensified. I think all of us are starting to see this might actually be a viable [career option]. Not that we weren't trying before, [but] things are starting to happen. So, I think we really were just like, “We gotta put our heads down and run as hard as we can at these couple of songs and see what happens.” The writing process was different. I think the way that we thought about it was different. And I think the end product still [sounds] very much like us, but it's a little bit more nuanced in ways that I think maybe our other songs were missing a little bit. [There are] little bits and pieces all over the place. You have to listen to it a few times to pick everything out, which I really like.
Collin: I agree with you completely. I think you can tell from our older stuff, I won't speak for Suntitle, it's a little more all over the place. You can tell we have a spread of a lot of different sounds, very soft songs, more rock songs, faster and slower stuff, and some more pop like pop-punk songs.
Pat: There's pop sensibility in the new songs.
Collin: You can definitely tell we're refining at this point. We're coming [up with ideas] that we're all on the same page [with]. And we're not trying to sound as different with each song. We’re pushing this one direction really hard, and I think it's getting better each time. We still have these massive chord parts. We still have very catchy choruses. And then at the end of the day, [they’re] still songs that I would want to listen to. I'm not getting sick of these songs anytime soon. I still enjoy them every time I hear them. If another band put [them] out, I'd be like, “Those are awesome!”
Pat: Yeah, that's a huge thing. And I will say for Suntitle because I've heard Matt and Joe explain it in interviews and stuff, and Suntitle tracked the vocals with me at my apartment. We did the vocals together. So I'm quoting them when I say all this, but they were in a weird, unsure spot about a year ago. They had a lot of members come and go, and they were figuring a lot of things out. So, when they did these few songs, they had a bunch of original members. They had their original drummer, bass player, and one of their guitarists [that had] filled in with them a bunch, [work] on the songs with them, and put it all together. Then, Joe came over and tracked vocals with me. Then, Jake Clarke from Webbedwing and Superheaven ended up mixing it. But a lot of it was Suntitle working through growing pains, from what Joe has said. I think the lineup that they have [now] is stellar, and I think it's so solid. I think it was a necessary catharsis for them to get those songs out and really pour into 'em. And I know for Joe, [it has] reignited his drive to make the band happen. And based off of how Split [has] done, the songs [that] ended up coming out, [and] the newest Suntitle stuff that they're working on right now is stellar. It's really good. But yeah, it was a transitional thing for them that we were stoked to be a part of.
Iceis: Sometimes, within those transitional periods, the experiences, journeys, and emotions that are happening at that time will always make for really good music subjects. Not every band does it. But if you do it well, I feel like the listeners can hear some of that within the music, and that makes it a bit more authentic and easier to connect to as well. The stressful part, I imagine, about having so many member changes is that you need to figure out what your sound is all over again because people are gonna bring new things in.
Pat: Yeah, and I think Joe has been the driving force behind Suntitle for such a long time. Joe, their singer and guitar player, I think for a little while [was] just trying to hold it all together and make it so that the band didn't lose momentum. And they didn't, thank God. But I think he pulled it out. And now [he has] Matt, Seth, and Jessie. They're all crushing it. Also, it's worth mentioning one thing. [What] I've always liked about the way Joe writes songs is he's not afraid to write about anything, which I think is really good, especially when you're going through the stress of those transitions and stuff. And I think that came out in their songs for sure.
Iceis: Yeah, ‘cause then you're writing for you. That's your release of whatever shit you're going through at the time. You have a way to get rid of that. And with the way music is, so many people can listen to that, and even if they don't know what it's about, they can apply that to themselves in some way or resonate with it in a way. It’s always a great thing when you're able to write about things like that.
Pat: Yeah, absolutely.
Iceis: You said that the writing process was a little bit different for the songs that you guys did for the EP. I was wondering if you could take me through what the creative process for those songs looked like from start to finish.
Pat: Yeah. So, we realized while we were writing these songs that [we'd] never done the same thing twice to write songs. The process has always been a little different. And for these, we were writing and demoing in a new studio in Richmond. We would show up, and we would all sit in the control room and bounce ideas back and forth and try [to] piece songs together. We had never really done it like that before. Before, it had been people sending demos back and forth or us just all jamming in a room trying to work off of some ideas. We’d never all gotten into a studio and put a song together in Pro Tools [on] the computer. And seeing what happened [with it for] ‘At The Bottom’, it worked great. That song came together pretty fast. And then for ‘Cellophane’, we ended up working on a different idea that we [had] spent a whole day workshopping, editing, and tweaking. [There was] something about it. We were all on different pages with it. Something about it wasn't clicking. And then, by the end of the day, we were all getting a little bit frustrated. So, we took a break and came back to the studio [around] nine o'clock. And then our producer, Will Beasley, set Matt up in the live room with his drums and [set] him up [with mics]. Then Joey, Collin, and I were all plugged into the control [room’s] DI, and we all started playing together just to find a completely new idea. [We started] something fresh, and then we had the skeleton of ‘Cellophane’ written in thirty or forty minutes. It came together really naturally. So, I think we've all agreed that the way that we write best through this trial-and-error process is [to] just [play] together. I imagine that's how we're gonna write the next stuff we do, [just] all [of us] jamming together. So, we learned a lot from it. But it was different.
Iceis: Oh, I feel like some of the best songs are the ones that just happen naturally because they're not forced. And in that case where you wrote a song in basically thirty to forty minutes, that's when you know you got something ‘cause you're not going back and being like, “I need to try to figure out what goes here. What can I force into this spot to make it sound better with this other thing?” It's all-natural.
Pat: Yeah, totally. It felt much more organic. It felt like we were trying to force it a little bit when we were all just sitting in a control room in front of the computer.
Iceis: "If you were going to choose lyrics from a song off of Split to be set as a social media status, which one do you think you would choose?"
Collin: I’d pick ‘Bad Luck’ by Suntitle.
Pat: Oh, yeah, [I’d] probably [pick] ‘Bad Luck’, [too]. I just think there's a certain charm to a lot of the lyrics [in] that song.
Iceis: Is there any specific lyric you would choose?
Collin: The very first ones where Joe says, “Bad luck.”
Pat: “Bad luck. Always tripping over my feet.”
Collin: No, just the “Bad luck.” Part. It’d be “Bad luck.” The song ‘Bad Luck’ by Sunitle on Split. Yes.
Iceis: See, you'll just have to take the song and isolate just the lyrics “Bad luck.” And get rid of the rest, and then you’ll just have a fifteen to thirty-second loop of Joe, just going, “Bad luck. Bad luck. Bad luck.” over and over again.”
Pat: He comes in so hard with it, too.
Iceis: I have a Sentence with a couple of blanks in it that I would like you to fill in for me. “Split is the best EP to listen to when you're blank, because blank.”
Pat: Split is the best EP to listen to when you’re on the way to buy tickets to a House & Home show because we need money.
Collin: That's true.
Iceis: Well, that's just a factual statement.
Collin: [Split is the best EP to listen] to when taking a shit because it helps with constipation.
Iceis: So, to get this straight, people should listen to Split while they're taking a shit after being constipated. Right before they head to the House & Home show, so that way you can get more money?
Pat: Yes!
Iceis: Perfect!
Pat: That's the tagline for this
Iceis: We'll just put that as the title for this interview.
Pat: Sweet.
Iceis: "Is there anything that I or anyone who has interviewed you before haven't asked you yet that you’d really like to talk about?" It can be music-related or something random. The floor is yours.
Pat: That's a good question.
Collin: I’d just like to talk about my cat for an hour.
Iceis: I can arrange that.
Collin: [If] someone [just] wants to talk to me about my cat, her name's Peach. She's four years old. She's a calico. I could go on.
Pat: Honestly, we have so many nicknames for Peach and our photographer, Elyza's cat, too. And it just devolves into us just making noises at each other in the van. Our van atmosphere is absolutely fucking ridiculous, and I feel like we don't talk about that. And I'm not gonna go into specifics because it just gets shameful, but we have so many weird songs that we listen to and weird noises that we make at each other. It just ends up devolving into utter Neanderthal chaos after two hours in the van. I don't necessarily want to talk about that.
Iceis: But you could.
Pat: That is something that doesn't get touched on a whole lot, and it might be for the best, because it's absolutely ridiculous in there.
Iceis: So, we'll revisit this in five to ten years if things are less shameful, and you can tell us all about the shameful things that happened in your van.
Pat: It won’t be. When I say shameful, it's nothing debaucherous or upsetting, but any outside ear [that hears] us in the van [would] be like, “What the fuck are they doing?”
Iceis: They’d be like, “Who are those weirdos?” Who let them drive on the highway?”
Collin: I'll give one example. For this last run [we were on], I was driving. And for some reason, the last fifteen minutes of my drive was so long. If you think about it, fifteen minutes is just sixty seconds fifteen times. So, I just counted to sixty fifteen times.
Pat: As loud as he could. [He] tried to make it match up with the clock changing.
Collin: My internal clock got so good. I got to sixty, and the minute would change.
Pat: It sounds so dumb. But dude, Cam was about to jump over the seat and strangle you.
Iceis: They say if you go, “One Mississippi. Two Mississippi. Three Mississippi.” Eventually, you won't need to say, “Mississippi.” You just go “One. Two. Three.” until you get to exactly sixty seconds.
Collin: Spot on.
Pat: It's stuff that, objectively, is not funny. It's not funny or entertaining or cool at all. But when you're delirious, and we had been in the van for fourteen hours at that point, at that point anything is funny or makes you wanna grab the wheel and drive off a bridge. We were delirious.
Iceis: Sleep deprivation, stress, and you’re all going stir crazy because you’ve been inside a vehicle for hours on end. You gotta find ways to entertain yourself.
Pat: Yeah, exactly.
Collin: That's what I'm saying.
Iceis: We’re in March, but we're still pretty new into 2024. Going forward for the rest of the year, "Is there anything that you guys are looking forward to, either professionally or personally, or both?"
Pat: Professionally, we're going on tour a week from today. [On] March 7th, we start tour with the band called Stand Still from Long Island, [New York]. It's just a short one. It's just four shows, but we've got a lot more lined up for the rest of this year that is not announced yet. So [I’m] super excited about that. Personally, I'm getting married in October. That's super exciting.
Iceis: Congratulations!
Pat: Thank you. Yeah, that's pretty much been my entire life for the past year. Band and marriage. So that's all I got.
Iceis: That's all you need.
Pat: Yeah, exactly.
Collin: [As far as] the band [goes, I’m] just [doing] the same stuff he's doing and just writing some more. We’re trying to get another record ready to go. And then [in my] personal life, [I’m] just trying to pay the bills so I can do this full-time.
Iceis: That’s the dream.
Pat: We'll be writing another record this year. [We’re] gonna be playing all over the place. Shows are confirmed. Stuff's locking in. [And] we will announce [everything] in due time.
Iceis: Exciting!
Pat: We [have] big plans.
Iceis: Big plans are usually great plans, so I’m definitely excited to hear about what all those great, big plans are.
Pat: Awesome. Thank you so much.
House & Home will be playing limited shows with Stand Still starting this week. You can find more information on their website.
House & Home
Suntitle
