Interview by Madison Boyce
Photo by Astrid Elstrom
A few weeks before the world would get to hear "Imposter Syndrome" for the first time, we got the chance to speak with Tate Logan from Happy. about their upcoming record, favorite memories from touring and recording, and how he feels they have progressed as a band since their first release of “Cult Classic”.
For those who don't know, who is Happy.?
I am Tate, I sing and play rhythm guitar. Sean plays the drums and John plays lead guitar. We are goofy and fun as a rule at our live shows, but our music covers heavy subject matter.
Who or what would you say inspired you to start playing music?
Music has always been a part of my life. My parents constantly had records playing in the house when I was a kid, our house was never silent.
I grew up with my parents jamming The Wallflowers, Third Eye Blind, The Smashing Pumpkins, The Eagles, Sheryl Crow, and so on. I started playing the violin in second grade, and I did that until seventh grade when I decided it “wasn’t cool” (which is hilarious because it is totally cool) and wanted to play something LOUD.
I learned drums first and played drums in a bunch of terrible bands in high school. (laughs) I then taught myself how to play guitar.
My mom used to take me to every concert I wanted to go to, including Warped Tour and other festivals. I honestly believe Alex Gaskarth is the reason I decided to pursue music as a career. He pulled me up on stage to sing a song with them at an All Time Low show when I was in tenth grade and it changed my perspective.
How did you guys come up with the title “Imposter Syndrome?” Any special meaning behind it?
This is kind of a funny story. I was having a breakdown in the car with my fiancée about how nervous I was to put out new music after the success of our first release.
The first song we ever dropped has over a million streams, so the pressure was real. She looked at me and said, “you’re totally just experiencing imposter syndrome right now.”
It was a term I wasn’t familiar with, so I looked up the definition and it was mind-blowing. I was like “this is everything I am feeling and everything this album is about.”
I think every artist has dealt with some form of imposter syndrome at one point. Trying to get used to the fact that people can love something you created enough to get it tattooed on their body or drive 15 hours to see it live can be intense.
It’s super insane, in a good way, of course; it’s incredibly humbling and we are forever grateful, but we're just people, like everyone else. The pressure that can create can sometimes be overwhelming.
However, we love what we do and it just comes with the territory. We just want to talk about it. This album discusses both the extreme highs and lows of that.
Can you explain the meaning behind the cover art for the album?
This image to me represents feeling like an imposter. At first glance, it just looks like a jacket hanging in a closet, but if you look closer, there are hands coming out of the sleeves.
There is a person there, but their identity is unknown. The metaphor is that our music is the jacket hanging in the closet, it can be picked up and worn at any time like our fans can listen to our music at any time, but we're the hands, the real people behind the song.
What would you say your favorite song off of “Imposter Syndrome” is and why?
Overall, our favorite track on the album is “Hooky”. It was the last song we wrote for the album and we explored a couple of different sounds within it. We feel it’s one of the best representations of our writing style.
"Black Picket Fence" is another favorite. It’s the most personal song I’ve ever written and it’s also our first acoustic release. I think fans will be shocked to hear the piano and cello in this song.
How would you say the recording process has changed from “Cult Classic” to “Imposter Syndrome?”
We were so young when we wrote our first album; most of those songs I wrote between the ages of 15-19. This new album was written in the last year, after touring, meeting fans, and figuring out who we are.
This record flows like a rollercoaster; there are fun songs about love, happiness, and friendship, and there are dark songs about addiction, depression, and death. The writing process of "Imposter Syndrome" was entirely different than our first album.
With this record, we all sat down together and fleshed out each song, one by one, until we had a cohesive record. We practiced in an old, empty church and had all of our song ideas written all over the walls, which was just really raw and organic.
All of these tracks complement each other in a way we have never done before. We also experimented with a lot more this time; we wouldn’t even really consider ourselves a pop-punk band anymore, so we're excited to see what our fans think!
Any cool memories you want to share from the recording process?
We recorded the album in Chicago in January and it was negative 13 degrees! We're from the south and the coldest it gets here is like 40 degrees, so we had no idea how to deal with that climate.
Our car got stuck, our snot was freezing in our noses, we were busting our asses on the ice...it was hilarious. Our producer Marc let us crash with him the entire two weeks we were there and we had a blast with him, he’s the coolest dude.
Once shows come back, are there any certain bands you want to play with? Any certain cities you want to hit?
My dream is to tour with All Time Low, but I'd also love to go on the road with Yungblud, iDKHOW, our buds in Point North, Palaye Royale, Badflower, and honestly so many others. As far as new cities, we’d love to tour the UK, Australia, and Japan.
In the time without live music, I’ve been sitting at home thinking a lot about my experiences at shows. What would you say your favorite show experience has been?
Orlando and Seattle on the Super Whatevr tour were sold-out shows, and that was insane. Also, the California shows were crazy because we had never been there before, and these kids were screaming the lyrics to our songs, bringing us gifts, and waiting for hours to meet us, which was incredibly humbling.
Philly was my favorite show of the whole tour; we played The Fillmore and my buddy Elijah Daniel came and we had a wild time. Also, Trippie Redd played in the bigger room that night, and their green room care package got sent to our green room by mistake.
We were like “Woah, thanks for all this cool stuff!”; then the woman came back in two seconds and was like, “uh yeah, I’m gonna need that back. It’s not for you.” It was hilarious.
If you could say anything to anyone reading this right now, what would it be?
Be kind to yourself. It’s exhausting to try and compare yourself to other people’s success or goals. Everyone has a different life experience, no one is the same. Set your own goals and define your own happiness. You can do anything you’re passionate about!
Huge thank you to Tate of Happy. for taking the time to talk with us! We'll have a full review of their new album "Imposter Syndrome" up for the release date tomorrow.
You can support Happy. by following them on Twitter @bandcalledhappy, streaming their new record out October 30th, and picking up some merch for the new album from their online store, including socks, beanies, lanyards, vinyl, and more. Be sure to let us know what you think of "Imposter Syndrome" by tweeting us @lgndsoftmrw!
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