We recently had the chance to catch up with guitarist Daniel Inskeep of the Chicago native pop-rock band, Sweatshirt Weather. The band recently released their third EP, Translations, and their career is only looking up from here. Inskeep told us everything you would want to know about the new EP, any future plans for touring, and a few odds and ends you might want to know about the band. We have a pretty good feeling this won’t be the last you will hear from this up and coming band. To keep up with Sweatshirt Weather news, take a look at their Website, Facebook, and Twitter.
Interviewed by Jenn Stookey
Tell us a little bit about yourselves. Who is Sweatshirt Weather? What makes this band really “this band”?
We’re just four kids from the Midwest writing music that we enjoy. Sweatshirt Weather consists of singer/guitarist Chris Stewart, drummer Nate Adams, bassist Chad Kulaga, and I play guitar and sing on occasion. I’ve known Chris and Nate since high school and we played in some bands together back then. I met Chad while in college in Orlando. It’s always been important to us to have distinguishing elements to our music, since the over-saturation of bands in the pop-rock genre has made it hard to remain unique. At the end of the day, it’s always about the integrity of the music and not compromising the quality of the songwriting.
Sweatshirt Weather is no stranger to the studio and in fact you just released your third EP, Translations. Now that you have more of a following than your last release, did you try to make this EP a “crowd pleaser” or did you continue to just make music for yourselves?
When we narrowed down the track listing, it was based off what songs we thought would work best for acoustic guitar and what songs we liked the most — as simple as that sounds. We always consider our fans, but at the end of the day it has to be something we’re happy with and proud of.
How would you compare all of your releases to each other? Was there one that you significantly like more than another, or maybe one you wrote out of certain life situations that don’t stand up to another one?
With High Hopes was the culmination of demoing songs back and forth from 1,000+ miles for two years, so getting that released was our first milestone. It was also an attempt to establish a sound, which was difficult. Our demos were terribly unfocused, but our producer Mark Kiczula really helped us with the arrangement in pre-production. We weren’t exactly thrilled with some of the mixes and three of the songs were recorded in an awful basement in an old house, so listening to a few of those tracks is kind of a bummer.
Recording Getting By was exciting because we worked with iconic producer Jim Wirt and later, with Rob Freeman. Working with those guys was a beneficial experience and helped us to establish our sound a little more. It was more polished and overall I think we’re pleased with how it turned out. Nate really stepped up and contributed a lot as far as the songwriting was concerned, so it was nice to have that new dynamic.
I think Translations makes people do a double-take when they first hear it. It’s a far step away from the typical acoustic EP, since Chad utilizes a very particular style of playing. He did a phenomenal job re-arranging all the parts for acoustic and I enjoyed engineering it. We all went through several setbacks and disappointments in the past two years, but it represents a step forward for us musically and lyrically. It’s stripped down and raw. We tracked it in basements and bedrooms with a $200 microphone with a cheap pre-amp. There aren’t any gimmicks or tricks.
Because your band is so spread out across the Midwest (Chicago, Detroit, and Indianapolis) was/is it difficult to write music? Do you think the new EP would have sounded different if you all lived in the same city?
We’re actually pretty used to the distance at this point. We’ve never all lived in the same city at the same time, so sending demos and sessions via Dropbox is pretty standard. I feel like Translations would’ve turned out the same either way, since Chad did all of the acoustic guitar arrangements, mostly in his bedroom with headphones on. It just would’ve been completed a lot sooner had distance not been an factor.
Are there plans in the future of living closer?
As of May, Chris, Chad, and I will all be living under the same roof in Chicago, so we’re pretty excited for that!
This EP took a while to write and record. Was the product what you had wanted? Had it changed at all as time went on?
The end result is definitely something we’re proud of. When we started it in April of 2011, Chad and I sat in my childhood bedroom and tracked guitar for four songs in a week. Things deteriorated soon after — Chris left the band and we focused on the release of Getting By while looking for another singer. I was pretty bummed out that the songs got shelved because I loved what Chad had done with them. I moved to Chicago a year later and showed the songs to Chris. He was definitely excited to track vocals for them, so little by little, we got things done. Chad took the Greyhound from Detroit a bunch of times to finish guitars. We ended up trashing one song and adding two more, not to mention he had more parts to add and other tweaks to make after not touching the songs for so long.
With 3 EP’s under your belt, are there plans of a full-length anytime soon?
Our next goal for Sweatshirt Weather is to release a full-length. I think it will be our chance to establish ourselves and our sound. We have a handful of demos that we’re excited about and hopefully the songwriting process will benefit from 3/4ths of us living together. We’d like to transition away from the synths and keys and bring the foundation back to guitars, drums, and bass. In the past, we always outlined our songs by first programming keys, strings, and synths. Guitar was typically something we just added in the studio. Now, we’re essentially going back to basics and back to our roots, as cliché as that may be.
Let’s talk about touring. Give us the basics. Will we expect to see you on the road soon? Maybe summer?
It’s hard to say at this point. We plan on booking some acoustic shows around Chicago and the Midwest this summer and hopefully full-band shows will follow soon after. I’m not sure if we’ll be able to venture too far for too long, but you never know how things may play out.
We love to ask band’s about the ‘highlight’ of their career for obvious reasons, so without further ado, what has been the highlight of your career as a band?
The highlight for me was doing a Northeast tour in January of 2011 and going straight into the studio in New Jersey after that. It was absolutely freezing the whole time and Nate and Chad got terribly sick, but I think we made the best of it. We had some really fun shows and got to meet some great people along the way.
Do you have anything you want to see happen or would want to accomplish before the year comes to an end?
The main goal is getting a full-length released. The whole process of demoing, tracking, mixing, mastering, and releasing always takes us way longer than we ever hope, so if we could just get it released in 2013, I’d be pleased. I’d also love to play an acoustic show with the band Owen here in Chicago.
Thanks again for talking with us! I have one more question. Each band has different experiences but from your own, what is a piece of advice can you share with our readers about following their dreams through music?
It’s not for the faint of heart. Don’t do it because you think it’s cool, because the vast majority of the time you’ll be questioning what you are doing with your life. Do it because you’re passionate about music. Nothing else matters if the music isn’t great. As legendary engineer Bruce Swedien once simply stated, “Music first.”
