Ugly Flannel are Michigan newcomers in the emo revival scene. Their debut record To Make Up For The Depleted Oxygen kicks in with a downtempo presence while building emotion. Reminiscent of The Promise Ring, Oso Oso, Michigander and Mom Jeans., Ugly Flannel are green and ready even when the Midwest “feels pretty gray, stressful, and depressing,” to the band. By the outro “Ouroboros” the instrumentation picks up and leads the album into the Midwestern night. The influence of living in the heart of it all is apparent in the nature of To Make Up For The Depleted Oxygen.
Tell me a little about what the album is about.
To Make Up For The Depleted Oxygen is a gradual loss of faith and motivation. It’s mainly for my friends who have been let down, connecting to the main idea that even though it will always happen to us, that someday we could hopefully receive it with grace.
How was it writing and recording your debut record?
It was so very stressful. Switching back and forth between who I should record, and trying to put my ideas out there. I have removed, added, and changed a lot with all these songs. Recording with Nick Rozegnal though, made it so much easier to get my ideas out there and make all these songs sound the way I want them to [be]. Athen Erbter had a good understanding of how I wanted drums to sound and totally nailed it for all of the full band tracks. I started writing this in sophomore year of high school and all of it didn’t become anything until the fall of Junior year when I finally accepted that I can always improve with the next album. I wrote a lot about losing faith, beginning writing of the album with a strong faith and ending with none at all. Most of these songs are everything in between.
Who are some of your inspirations or influences?
Towards the beginning of the album, I was really inspired by David Bazan and his projects, especially Pedro The Lion. He’s a very clever and smart songwriter and I just wanted to write music like he did. Most of this album focuses on similar topics. Since the beginning of High School, I’ve been in love with early Emo bands like Christie Front Drive and Mineral. I wanted listeners to feel just like I did when I first listened to those bands. I’ve also been in love with bands like Mansions and Japanese Breakfast more recently during the recording of the album, you could definitely hear a lot of their influences as well.
I’m a Midwesterner from Ohio and there’s just something about punk or anything rock related about the Midwest that is so special..especially Michigan and Ohio. Do you feel like Michigan has influenced your sound at all?
Yes definitely, the area, as well as the music, has definitely influenced my sound. Most of the Midwest feels pretty gray, stressful, and depressing. It’d make sense to write songs that resemble that. The stress it’s dealt me contributes to the environment I’m in and in the end, impacts the sound altogether. I really wanted to represent “Midwest Emo/Emo Revival” well with this album as well as carry a punk and D.I.Y mindset during our shows.
Tell me about your single “I Want To Leave The House”?
Since most of the album deals with mostly problems outside of school, I really wanted one that represented my time in high school. I wanted a song that showed how much it sucked as well as how it’s also been an important experience. I wrote it mostly about the difficult time I had socially. How I used to want to stay occupied and not be isolated but at the same time, not want to be there. It was a confusing cycle at one point, not knowing what I wanted or what would make me feel better. The music video for this song was really fun to make. I wanted it to represent how things really were. How some days I’m so glad to not be alone and how some days, I really don’t want to be there. It was almost as if we were doing what we usually do, except Tanner was there recording the whole thing.
What is your favorite song and why.
The most important song to me on the album is the song “It’s Like I’m Talking To Myself”. It was a song that took the place of another song I didn’t like and I recorded it long after I finished the rest of the album. This was a song about heartbreak, a song I wrote when my friend was broken up with on her birthday. I remember the day I recorded it because I recorded it on my own birthday and I had to ditch all my plans that day. It’s a special song because it didn’t just have my influences on it, it also had Nick’s [influences]. He mentioned a lot about The Velvet Underground and The Microphones and how they recorded, I wanted to make something that sounded like The Red House Painters. The final recorded song ended up to be the saddest sounding song on the album.
What’s in store for you after this release?
After this release is a lot of writing and drafting. I really want our Midwest emo side to be more visible on the next album. I’m hoping for a lot less breathing but an equal amount of emotion. I’ll be working on this for a while, but I’m hoping that it will all be worth it in the end for LP2. For playing shows, I will hopefully be playing out of town more and make the most out of being in a band in High School. It’s such a crazy experience playing eight hours from home one day and then being in Algebra 2 the next day, but I’m glad I got such a head start.
