The Talkies, a fairly new alternative grunge indie band on the local music scene, released their first EP this month entitled These Aren’t My Friends, I’ve Just Known Them For Awhile.
The Talkies, a fairly new alternative grunge indie band on the local music scene, released their first EP this month entitled These Aren’t My Friends, I’ve Just Known Them For Awhile.
In truth the members of the band, Taylor Dunivan, Marissa Porcelli, and Jake Shinn have known each other since high school, but unlike their four-track EP title suggests, they are very close friends.
They met at Burke Point High School in Stafford, Virginia and the three have been virtually inseparable ever since. After graduation they all went to VCU and formed an indie band called Indigo and the Folks, which enjoyed some moderate local success and even performed at The National.
“Even when we were in Indigo and the Folks we knew we liked making music together,” said Shinn. “This is probably the first time I’ve recorded as a group that everyone’s been happy with the way it turned out.”
The Talkies formed in the spring of last year and have been releasing rough demos and performing since November at local venues including The Camel, Bellytimber Tavern, and Capital Ale House. This is their first EP as a group, and the title came from an inside joke among the band members.
In fact, all of the song titles and much of the lyrics in their music stem from inside jokes and personal experiences among the members, mostly from lead singer Marissa Porcelli. Porcelli, a petite brown-haired pixieish girl, spins a web of words woven from strands of her very life.
“Most of it is things that happened to me and things I feel like I have to talk about,” Porcelli said. “It’s really therapeutic. I’ve been doing it for a while and I’ve learned that I feel most at peace after something occurs if I write a song about it.”
Her style is similar to the look and sultry tones of Lorde, but with a harder mood and at a quicker tempo. Sometimes her voice moves in and out of range to allow the music of the instruments to overpower her song, it swells and falls while the beat marches on.
“If Jake’s writing the song my focus is to adorn what he’s doing,” she said. “But if I’m writing something it usually derives from lyrics first and then the music comes after.”
Shinn is the guitarist and composer of the group, who draws much of his inspiration from other bands that he admires, especially Dinosaur Jr. Shinn’s music is heavily influenced by 90s shoegaze, 90s emo, and the grunge revival movement that’s happening today.
“When I write I’m always listening to a band… messing around on the guitar and something gets pieced together,” said Shinn. “We revolve around fuzz, chorus and delay. As long as we have those three covered on the pedal board we’re solid.”
Shinn and Dunivan, the bass player of The Talkies, were highschool sweethearts and have been engaged for three years.
“I don’t think I would even play music if it wasn’t for [Jake]. I didn’t even start playing bass until after they met,” said Dunivan.
The couple live together in the same apartment building as Porcelli, where they all practice, produce, and record their music. The band also recently added a new drummer, Austin Rühf to replace former drummer Brett Minard.
These Aren’t My Friends I’ve Just Known Them For A While represents the first of three EPs that The Talkies plan to release on the first of every month this summer.
“It might sound like a lot of work for a summer, but when you have the facilities to do it in your apartment it’s easy,” said Shinn.
When asked to describe their style of music, a tractor just happened to be passing by on Broad Street during our interview screeching and rattling, after which the band replied, ‘like that.’
Look out for The Talkies’ next EP on July 1st and catch the band July 16th at Capital Ale House’s downtown location alongside Suneater, The Second Phase, Gemini Love, and Grem Smiley.
