Page 95 - JanFeb 2024 ION Indie Magazine

TB: Who are your influences?

WRO: A little of everything! River definitely leans Jazz in her biggest influences. Frank definitely leans
Garage Rock in his biggest influences. So, when someone like James Van Osdol on his Car Con Carne
Podcast, describes us as “Amy Winehouse meets The Black Keys and challenges them to a game of
strip poker,” we both smile at the description because there is definitely a degree of that going on. But
our long drive playlist is pretty all over the place. How often do you hear Billie Ellish followed by Muddy
Waters followed by Zaz followed by The Replacements followed by Marc Broussard? There is definitely
a little of all of that in what we do. We draw inspiration from everything around us, including where we
are from and where we live now. Frank was born in New Orleans, River was born in Paris, France, and
we came together in Chicago. But it is this push/pull/give/take/compromise which really is defining the
direction of our sound.

TB: Your EP Whiskey Hotel Tango came out in late 2023, It contained five songs, three which
were previously released as singles. Talk about the EP and the creation of it.

WRO: We should clarify this…we wanted to drop those singles in advance of the EP just to “waterfall”
the release. When you are an indie band, you do everything you can to cause as much noise as
possible. So, all five songs were recorded in 2023 to be released on the EP Whiskey Hotel Tango.
Initially, it was just going to be four songs, but we decided to hold back the EP and add No Rainbows
In Indiana because the song gets such a huge reaction when we play it at shows.

Creatively, we wanted to touch the bases. We wanted to make sure we were reflecting both of us as
artists, and then also show how these things get meddled into coherent works. We also both enjoy a
more “retro” sound which we think we captured with the EP.

But we really wanted to make a statement with this EP. We wanted to show the listener who we are,
and the best way for us to do that is to surprise the listener. Just like we play with dynamics in our
songs, going from soft to loud and back again, we wanted that same feeling of change and dynamics
to be present in the tracks of the EP. We want to keep the listener interested, and the best way to do
that is often with a change or a surprise. We want listeners to walk away from Whiskey Hotel Tango,
eagerly wanting the next EP because it is a cliffhanger and you don’t know what will happen next.

TB: Were there additional musicians on the EP, or was it just the two of you?

WRO: There were other musicians on the EP. In the beginning, it was just the two of us. But we like to
include other musicians because they can bring so much more diversity to the table. They carry their
influences into the studio and that makes for an amazing meld of sounds, and we are blessed with just
being surrounded by talented people. We have a very good friend who is the lead guitar player in
wht.rbbt.obj, Doc B. He did 80% of the lead guitar work on the EP. He just shreds. He is an amazing
person and an amazing musician. We are so lucky to have him be a part of this.

We used a couple different drummers in the studio, but we are currently playing with an amazing
musician and just one of the greatest people we have ever met, AC. We are really looking forward to
getting him in the studio in 2024 with the next round of recordings.

And then all the lead guitar work and the Hammond Organ on Keep You Like A Secret (Tidal Wave)
was done by an old friend of River’s, Scott May, who plays keys with The Ides of March. He just added
so much to the song, though if you ask him, he will tell you that the song told him what to do. We would
love to get big enough to make him a permanent member of wht.rbbt.obj, but we are pretty confident
he will be a part of our next couple EPs as well.