Today we meet – The Foresters. They have to be the youngest group we have ever covered here at 50thirdand3rd. Ranging from 13 to 17, their sound will amaze you, in all seriousness I would guess they were all in their mid 20’s. You can pick up on some influences from some great Indie rockers but the overall sound is distinctively their own . The Foresters even have a little bit of the surrealism of Robyn Hitchcock (Paper People) and that’s some crazy stuff..
Give a listen to these guys and I think you’ll agree that the future of rock is in good hands…
Hi our name is…
The Foresters
Our sound is…
Indie Rock with a mashup of all types of sounds
We are…
Evan Nork – Lead vocals and guitar
Hayden Nork – Bass and harmonies
Liam Nork – Drums
We are from…
A little town outside of New Haven, Connecticut called Bethany
Who are some that have an influence on you?
We draw inspiration from a diverse group of bands such as Pretty & Nice from Boston (Jeremy Mendicino was the producer on our most recent single Machines along with a few other tracks) and Violent Mae (Floyd Kellogg was the producer on several tracks on the new album as well). We also draw heavily on bands such as Sparklehorse, The Shins, Built To Spill, Elliot Smith and early Death Cab For Cutie records. We were also inspired to start our own record label called the Dord Music Group patterned after the Elephant 6 collective founded by bands such as Neutral Milk Hotel, Olivia Tremor Control and Of Montreal.
How old were all of you when you started to play and who plays what in the band?
We started The Foresters back in 2010 when Liam was 7, Hayden was 9 and Evan was 10. We bought our first instruments in September and played our first live concert in November of that year! Evan mainly plays guitar and sings (but he also plays some keyboards and other stuff). Hayden plays bass and sometimes fills in on drums in the studio. Liam plays drums, he’s just a natural and we haven’t seen many drummers who can do better.
Can you tell us about the process you use, from writing the songs all the way through getting the songs out?
Evan usually gets a melody in his head and starts to develop it with Hayden and Liam. Most of the time the lyrics come after, but not always. We will record them in our studio and sometimes use those as preproduction songs to re-record in other studios or just release them ourselves. Our upcoming album was recorded in 4 different studios in 3 different states, but going forward we’ll probably do a good portion of the tracking ourselves and just send it out for mixing and mastering.
What are some of the challenges you face as musicians and how have you overcome those challenges?
One of the hardest things is getting people to take us seriously because of our relatively young ages. The only way around that is to keep on playing. Our sound is maturing and we are connecting with audiences of all ages.
1st concert you went to and age….
That’s a hard one, our parents have been taking us to concerts since before we were born. One of Evan’s earliest memories (probably 3 or 4 years old) is requesting the “ABC Song” from the band Miracle Legion and they played it. But probably the concert that inspired us to really want to form a band was Green Day back in August of 2010.
Coolest band t-shirt you ever bought…
We got shirts hand drawn by Jeff Mangum from Neutral Milk Hotel when we saw them in Providence. We also got to meet Julian Koster after the show. We were so psyched when he told us he had seen our latest music video on YouTube.
The most insane concert you ever went to or were a part of….
We actually played at a festival one time where there was a riot that started when the police tried to shut it down for being too loud. There was lots of yelling and pepper spray.
If you could open for any band right now who would that be and why?
We would have loved to have opened for Sparklehorse, but unfortunately Mark Linkous is no longer with us. It would be pretty crazy to open for the Flaming Lips, but our dream come true would be to open for Built To Spill at The College Street Music Hall in September.
My youngest son is 13 and in a band, what advice would you offer him…
Oh cool, Hayden is 13 too. Keep on playing and writing and find a group of friends who share your same passion. We love our labelmates on Dord, we support each other, go to each others shows and collaborate on songs. It’s fantastic.
Your thoughts on the state of music in 2015…
We’re really excited about the music scene right here in New Haven. We just played at a local club called Cafe Nine and someone handed us a mixtape of New Haven indie bands. There is some amazing music being made right here. We’re also lucky to have a killer local promoter, Manic Productions, who brings all kinds of bands to New Haven. We’ve got to see so many great ones like Alvvays, Speedy Ortiz, The Feelies and Hospitality to name a few. Because we’re pretty close to New York we got to see Tame Impala when they played at the Beacon Theater recently. The last time Liam was in NYC he actually got to meet David Byrne! We really love how he just does whatever inspires him. Evan loved his book “How Music Works.”
Our plans for the rest of 2015…
We’re so excited to release our 3rd album Sun Songs, coming out on July 21st on the Dord Music Group label. We’ll be playing lots of shows to support the album. Evan and Hayden are also working on putting together a radio show this summer that they would like to syndicate. We’ll be helping the other Dord bands put out their albums and start work on our 4th record that will probably come out sometime in 2016.
new album just released yesterday..
social sites:
These guys are absolutely amazing. I have been following them for a few years now and they are going places in the music field.