By Erika Kellerman
The Mowgli’s are a band that embodies their multi-genre sound. Their music is the equivalence of spending sunny, warm summer days with friends. Colin Dieden, Katie Jayne Earl, Matthew Di Panni, Josh Hogan, Dave Appelbaum, and Andy Warren are California-based indie rockers who use their music and various platforms to promote unity, inclusion, love and to protest the unjust. They are a band built by the American dream and are a band who believe in the power of music and the power of words.
The Mowgli’s keep listeners moving when their heart is broken or when they feel like giving up. Even if the song is sad, their melodies and harmonies alone can uplift the masses. Hand claps and gang vocals on most The Mowgli’s tracks are reminiscent of 60s beach rock, much like The Beach Boys or The Mamas and The Papas. The gang vocals on The Mowgli’s songs also encourage fans to sing together, like they are apart of the band. Fans can scream along to the band’s sweeping choruses knowing that their words are just as important to those who wrote them.
We recently caught up with Katie Jayne Earl and Josh Hogan about their latest EP, American Feelings, which was released on March 1. The four-song release has garnered a combined 650,000 streams on Spotify. The EP is based on various shared experiences between the members, thus the “Feelings” of American Feelings. The EP took over the course of six months to write.
“We’re always writing songs, but sometimes little ideas pop up months later and you’ve got something really special,” Hogan said.
The writing process for The Mowgli’s changes with every song’s creation.
“When writing songs, we don’t have a set in stone way of doing things,” Hogan said. “Sometimes we start with a deep verse lyric or a title concept. Other times we come up with a really catchy chorus hook and work backward.”
When co-writing with other artists, they always try to let the other artists’ ideas be heard, otherwise, they wouldn’t be writing with other people.
American Feelings actual recording, mixing and mastering process only took a few days. “We have such a great system with our producer,” Hogan said.
“Mr. Telephone” was Hogan’s favorite to record from the EP.
“I started that one with the band at my apartment,” Hogan said. “I sat on it for about a month just waiting for the perfect chorus to hit me in the face, probably [while]on a dog walk. We started the track with Matt’s bass line, then I had David play around 16 tracks of weird synth parts, then I put some of the pieces together and it felt really good to me so I stuck with it.”
“Norman Rockwell”, “Hard to Love”, “Mr. Telephone”, and “Talk About It” show the true versatile nature of The Mowgli’s multi-genre sound.
“I think it offers us a diverse path in sharing our music,” Earl explained. “We can have one song on a pop playlist and one on a rock playlist, both from the same body of work. That seems like an advantage in the Spotify era.”
Many of the songs on American Feelings talk openly about wanting a better life and love. “Norman Rockwell” was inspired by Dieden and Hogan’s midwest upbringing. It’s a message to the “dreamers” who want more out of life.
“We both grew up in great communities that we just didn’t quite feel in line with, so we took a chance and moved away,” Hogan said. “’Norman Rockwell’ paints the portrait of America, but what would happen if you could paint yourself out of that world? The sky is the limit.”
In retrospect, “Talk About It” was inspired by a trip to London where Earl met her half brothers for the first time.
“We started telling the story in the session and immediately started writing about it,” Hogan said. “We were outside of our comfort zone and I think we got a really important song out of it.”
American Feelings also encourages listeners and fans alike to have hard conversations like in “Talk About It”, whether that be about politics or relationships. While American Feelings isn’t inherently political, the EP is an inner look at the lives of six outspoken Americans.
Being an American in 2019 is understandably tricky. There are numerous amounts of people who are debilitated and devitalized, not that it’s new. For many, it’s hard to be patriotic or proud of a country that thrives on racism, xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia, classism, gender-discrimination, etcetera. Depending on who someone is talking to, the “American Dream” is either long gone or thriving, a work in progress or a facade.
“I think it depends on who you ask,” Earl said. “To me, it means you see the potential in this country and that the potential this country has is a reflection of our own personal potential. If we all had the freedom to be healthy and financially stable, we could push ourselves to be great, and when we are all great, America is great.” She added, “To quote The Mowgli’s ‘it’s more important now than it ever was before to dance into the room of love before they slam the door.’”
For Earl, it’s very important that artists use their platform to talk about politics and injustices, even if others feel that they don’t have a right to.
“It’s a musician’s job to travel around and connect with people,” Earl said. “We have as much right as anyone else to our political opinions. In fact, one of my favorite things about being a woman in America is that I have a right to speak my mind and my personal truth, even if that means speaking out against the most powerful people in the land.” She added, “It’s important that we all remember that and hold these people accountable. Whatever you do for a living, whatever your platform may be, we need to communicate.”
The Mowgli’s are currently on tour with Jukebox the Ghost, playing songs off of their discography and American Feelings. Catch them in a city near you!
