Lollapalooza Music Festival celebrated its 32nd edition this past weekend in Chicago’s historic Grant Park, and we were there to capture the festivities – see our 2023 recap here.
We were lucky enough to speak with many of the talented performers about playing Lollapalooza, their musical process, new music, and much more. View all interviews from Sunday below:
SUNDAY:
SARAH KINSLEY:
Your set was earlier today – how did it feel to play Lollapalooza?
Sarah: It felt so good, it was really incredible. I was just really floored by the crowd that came out. I was really nervous playing so early in the day would be like, I don’t know, nerve racking or no one would come like of course I was just being a bit anxious about it, but it was an absolute dream and I couldn’t have asked for a better time it was so great.
What is your songwriting process – do you usually work on the lyrics first, find a melody, or have an idea that you want to convey?
Sarah: I think a lot of the time it is some sort of feeling whether that’s expressed in text through lyrics, or sometimes I’ll have a melody. It’s really 50/50.
You come from a classical music background. How does that influence your work?
Sarah: It influences the way I think and the way I hear music which is a good and bad thing. I think because classical music is really, it’s not strict, but there’s a lot of form and there’s so much structure. And I think that my mind has been changed from that sort of education which I’m really grateful for, but it influences things that I do or think about or how I write music because there’s flow, there’s organization, there’s different sounds. I love string instruments, I love orchestras, I love piano. So I think that it’s really influenced not only who I am as a person but how I think about music..
On a similar topic – your EP Ascension came out earlier this summer and it’s about creating an unknown ethereal place. How did that idea come about?
Sarah: It was just crazy to me because I’ve been writing a lot of these songs about revisiting memories. I write a lot about time and I have this inside joke with my partner about how – and a lot of people have actually spoken about this like directors who have spoken about this too but the idea that your relationship with memories with one person, it’s like a little island. It’s a place that you hold onto and only you two can access. I think it was a director who said this but the language that only two people speak, and that idea of a place where all of these things live was so compelling to me. It was just interesting as someone who had lost friends throughout the year, people who I knew that were no longer around, and that blessing and a curse of the thing that we hold onto this place that we return to was just really beautiful. So I wanted to write about that.
What is your favorite song that you’ve released?
Sarah: I think off of the recent album I love “Lovegod” and I love playing it because that’s the most quirky and silly I’ve been in my music. When i was younger and starting to write. I thought I had to be really serious with a lot of melancholy, a lot of drama, a lot of seriousness. And “Lovegod” was one of the first times that I really just said silly things. I say the word prick and that’s something so silly you know. I talk about being in a bar, being desperate for love. It was really the first time that I just let loose so I love that song.
Who have you been listening to lately?
Sarah: I’ve had this song by Tennis stuck in my head all day, it’s called “Never Work for Free.” It’s so good and sounds great. Also a Canadian named MorMor is an artist who’s indie-rock and who I think deserves a lot more hype, I love his music. I’m listening to a lot of Frou Frou and Imogen Heap – lots of old stuff. Also this new band The Last Dinner Party. They’re really great, I love their sound.
What’s next for you? Any new projects?
Sarah: I’m going on tour for the rest of the year. My band and I are opening for Gus Dapperton in the fall, and I’m opening for Weyes Blood in a week which I’m really nervous about since I’m doing that solo which will be crazy but I’m very excited about that. I’m also just writing, trying to figure out my next body of work and trying to make it the best thing ever.
UPSAHL:
How does it feel to be playing Lollapalooza?
Upsahl: Insane, i’m so excited. It feels like a little full circle moment because I played in 2019 on the BMI stage and that was my first time ever playing a music festival. I was freaking out. And so now that I get to be back playing one of the bigger stages I’m really excited.
The concept of THE PHX TAPES with the Side A’s and Side B’s is really creative – where did the concept come from?
Upsahl: At the beginning of the year I just decided that in the studio I was going to not care about genre anymore and just make whatever I wanted to do. And that resulted in me having so many songs that I loved. I was like we have to figure out how to get all these out. And so I somehow convinced my team into letting me put out two songs at a time basically all year. Making the project felt like how I felt when I started music as a kid back in Phoenix, just very freeing, and so it had to be called THE PHX TAPES. I was like this is an ode to where I come from. It just feels very experimental. And volume three comes out in a couple weeks, and the Side A that I called “0 or 100” is i’m pretty sure my favorite song I’ve ever done.
What is your songwriting process – do you usually work on the lyrics first, find a melody, or have an idea that you want to convey?
Upsahl: Normally it’s just kind of an idea or like an emotion. Sometimes I’ll come in with a title or concept, but normally we just kind of get in the studio and I start treating it like therapy and I start talking about my life. And then we’ll all start talking (me and my co-writers) and then somewhere along the lines of conversation someone accidentally blurts out the title and then everyone’s like “oh we need to talk about that.” So that’s kind of how the lyrics come to me. Production wise, musically, I add songs to a playlist and so I’ll just pull from that playlist like a cool song that I love and be like we should do something that sounds like this drum pattern or this bass tone. Drawing inspiration from other music is really helpful.
Who have you been listening to lately?
Upsahl: I love Remi Wolf, I am forever obsessed with her. I’ve recently been listening to a lot of the old No Doubt albums like Rock Steady. I’m in my sad girl era listening to a lot of Bon Iver which has been great, and I feel like that has kind of been seeping its way into my songs as well, like the more ballad type of stuff so it’s been fun.
What’s next for you? Any new projects?
Upsahl: THE PHX TAPES will be done by the end of the year we’re doing five volumes. So at the end of the year I’ll put out volume five and that project will be done. I’m also in the meantime just working on hopefully a new album for next year which will be sick. Lots of touring – some festivals here, some festivals in Europe which will be cool. And then I get to open for Tove Lo on tour in September which I’m so excited for.
