Within the past year, alt-indie trio Coyote Theory has evolved as a group—and as professional music-making Coyotes. They released their debut album, Still, after “This Side of Paradise” from their 2011 EP randomly went viral on TikTok. The track reeled in over 714M Spotify streams and even bumped Cardi B’s “WAP” out of the number one spot on the Billboard Top Viral Songs Chart. So, following such success of the track, Coyote Theory unleashed their debut album and received rave reviews from the likes of New Noise Magazine and MAGNET. This praise confirmed that Coyote Theory’s resurgence wasn’t just a fluke, and it ensured that the world would be ready for whatever the trio did next. With that, they began to work on their next release, a four-track EP called Talking 2 Strangers. They also said goodbye to their lead vocalist Colby Carpinelli and inducted a new member into their pack, Kyle Talbot. Together, Kyle, Jayson Lynn (drums, percussion), and Grayson Hendren (bass, guitar) are now ready to boldly step into their new era. I caught up with the band to discuss this era, touching on Talking 2 Strangers, how Kyle fits in, and how Still motivated them to get right into making more music.
The last time I checked in with Coyote Theory was almost a year ago to the day when I talked to Jayson about the release of your debut album, Still. This was just before the release day, so picking up where we left off, how has Coyote Theory been since the release?
We’ve been pretty busy! We went right from releasing the debut album to recalibrating on what would become this new EP, Talking 2 Strangers. Somewhere in between, we also got to collaborate with the amazing Arrows in Action.
Have fans reached out to you about the album? What’s the consensus been?
The consensus always feels like, ‘more music please.’ The music industry is in such an environment where music isn’t ruminated on, but instead, seen more as a topical affair. No judgement or critique in saying that, but it illustrates the importance we felt in not lingering on the last album, but instead, pushing right into new songs.
What kind of vibes does Kyle bring to the songwriting process? Also, side note, it would have been amazing if his name also ended in an ‘ayson.’
Kyle has actually offered to go by ‘Kayson,’ so you may be onto something here. Kyle is such a skilled songwriter, and it’s been such a great experience welcoming him into the Coyote process.
Well, let’s get into your new EP, Talking 2 Strangers, which will be out by the time this interview gets published. With Still, Jayson mentioned that some old songs were reworked to be on the album. So on Talking 2 Strangers, are these all new songs or have some been around for a while?
All of these songs are brand new. Not a single one was fully recorded before. We wanted to take ideas and fully flesh them out together this time.
For Still, you all had to record separately because of coronavirus, so was the process different this time around?
It was different. We flew out to LA over the summer to record with Neil Wogensen for a week. The process felt much more traditional in that respect.
Does each member have a different favorite song on it or do you all have love for the same song?
I’m not sure if we’ve actually talked about our individual favorites. We’re all really proud of all four of them, so I don’t think we could choose.
Did these songs all come from one place or did the inspiration come from various things?
The inspiration varied. The goal we set out with was to create a few songs that could act as tentpoles for how we wanted future releases to sound. These four songs really represent the possibilities of future records by us Coyotes.
What do you hope that your fans take away from Talking 2 Strangers?
New favorite songs by this little niche group!
What does the rest of 2026 hold for Coyote Theory?
We’re figuring that out now, but a portion of the year will definitely be dedicated to compiling our next album.
You can listen to Talking 2 Strangers here.
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