Photo by Corey Poluk
Fueled by a deep friendship and a shared love for classic pop songwriting, the Bay Area group Ryli is making a statement with their new album, Come and Get Me (Dandy Boy Records). Led by vocalist Yea-Ming Chen (of Yea-Ming and The Rumours) and guitarist Rob Good (of The Goods), the band, which also includes the dynamic rhythm section of Luke Robbins (bass) and Ian McBrayer (drums), has already earned a reputation as a powerful live act. With Come and Get Me, however, they prove that their formidable skills translate just as effortlessly to the studio.
Engineered and produced by Good in his Oakland studio, the album came together with remarkable speed and an organic flow. What began as a one-off recording project quickly blossomed into a full-fledged band with the addition of Robbins and McBrayer, whose immediate chemistry was undeniable. The group seized the moment, tracking the entire album in just a few months.
Following their 2024 single “I Think I Need You Around,” Ryli delivers a fully formed pop record that feels both familiar and refreshingly new. While the band cites influences like early McCarthy, The Smiths, Camera Obscura, and Belle & Sebastian, Chen and Good’s experience as veteran songwriters allows them to synthesize these inspirations into a sound that is uniquely their own. And though Chen and Good are the primary songwriters, the album is a true collaborative effort as both Chen and Good will soon reveal. Notably, Robbins and McBrayer’s contributions add a layer of nervous, post-punk rhythms that perfectly challenge and complement the pop sensibilities of the songs.
The album’s high-wire balance between musical brightness and lyrical darkness is a defining characteristic. This captivating interplay makes Come and Get Me feel more like the work of a band in its prime than a debut from a group barely a year old. Ryli makes a compelling case that while misery might make for great art, the joy of creating is truly essential to the love of listening.
Much appreciation to Katy Henriksen at Riot Act Media for the coordination and to Yea-Ming and Rob for such a fun chat.
James Broscheid: (Conversation starts about coffee) I’m still trying to wake up so I hope you’re both talkative today!
Rob Good: I’m getting in my second cup of coffee, so I might get really chatty! Thank you so much, by the way. We’re super excited to be talking to you and just really appreciative that you wanted to reach out and do this with us. It’s really cool.
JB: My pleasure. I can’t heap enough praise on what Dandy Boy Records is doing and the bands that Bobby’s (Martinez, owner) putting out. The Bay Area in general right now … it’s kind of my equivalent to the Sarah Records scene around Bristol back in the early 90s with what you all are doing up there and how much diverse, quality stuff’s being released. It just blows me away year after year.
RG: Cool! So, you know, Bobby, then?
JB: Yeah, I want to cover everything coming out of the bay, but it’s really hard to keep up!
Yea-Ming Chen: Yeah. I mean, Dandy Boy alone. The output is hard to keep up with, let alone all the other bands and labels, you know?
JB: Yeah, for sure. Paisley Shirt, and of course, Slumberland too.
YMC: Yeah, I mean, we can’t keep up. We’re trying to but we can’t go to all the shows (all laugh)!
JB: I know! The only band I have seen so far out of the bay area is The Umbrellas – a couple times now which were both fabulous but that is it. I’ve been trying to get up there for the festivals every year, and it’s just not working out yet. I’m dying to cover the Weekender over in Oakland, but we’ll see.
YMC: That would be fun to do, too. If you came up for an open weekend or something.
JB: Yeah, I tried doing it a couple years ago, and it just didn’t shake out so.
YMC: Well, hopefully soon.
RG: All the same reasons that we don’t make it out of the Bay Area that often. It’s just tough to coordinate travel and figure it out.
JB: Yeah, that’s true. Look at Chime School. When they go and tour, they go over to the UK and Europe. Wouldn’t it be easier to tour the states and come down through Tucson? We have a really good scene here (Yea-Ming laughs)!
RG: You would think. From my limited experience, the tour support in Europe for smaller bands is a little better, whereas in the U.S. you’re on your own. Kind of roughing it, you know? And so, it’s almost more appealing for bands to go over there because you can hire a driver and kind of a de facto tour manager and then they have places was for you to stay and maybe they’ll make you a hot meal. Whereas in the U.S., you’re on your own driving along and all that stuff.
JB: Makes sense. So, I’ll start by saying congrats on the release of “Come And Get Me.” I’ve been playing it the last few days and love it. This album is just one on top of a mountain of quality releases coming out of your scene!
YMC: Thank you so much.
JB: You’re welcome. Thank you for putting out some quality stuff. We need it now more than ever, I think! (All agree) I understand this project started between you two as kind of a casual recording session, and so I wanted to see if you two could talk about more that initial session, and what evolved it into a band?
YMC: Yeah, well Bobby put out that Cleaners From Venus compilation (called “Tales Of A Kitchen Porter”, released in 2024 on Dandy Boy Records), and he asked me to do a song for it and I wanted to do “Night Starvation.” Around the same time, he was also like, “You should do a song that sounds like Mazzy Star!” So, I had this song that I was working on that ended up not turning into anything, but both of those songs Bobby said I should hook up with Rob and we should record them at Rob’s Studio. I had only met Rob one time, I think at a show, and vaguely knew him. We went into Rob’s studio and during those two sessions we found out that we have a really good rapport. There is a point in “Night Starvation” where Rob threw a harmony in while I was singing and I said, “Oh fuck! Our voices sound really good and that harmony’s sick!” So, that was kind of like the first light bulb moment. I thought, “I need this singer, this perfect person around, and I want to play music with him more often!” Then at the end of one of those sessions, and Rob could talk about this more, we had a moment where we were all messing around.
RG: Yeah, it was that first, or if it might have been the first day that we got together or certainly within that first little run of sessions and we wrapped for the day and we were just kind of playing around. I had my guitar out and I was plunking around on something and how I remember it was Yea-Ming started singing over it. That became “Downtown” and that was the first song we wrote which is on side B of the record. We just spontaneously kind of wrote something. I was sort of picking my way through some chords, and she just picked out a vocal, and I asked, “Oh! What are we going to do with that?” We had, sort of, a guitar part and a vocal and a harmony right there! That was kind of bubbling, and then it seemed like every time we got together to work on something else we’d end up with some idea that would float to the surface at the end of the session or whatever and we’d pick out another harmony for something. The collaboration, just sort of, started to happen almost on its own. And so it wasn’t too long before we found ourselves starting a project. It wasn’t even, like, “Hey, let’s start something!” It just happens by itself.
JB: Everybody else up there seems to have other projects that they’re working on. So, how did that initial spark happen where you needed to do something outside of the work you’re already doing?
YMC: Yeah, I think I was kind of craving something new at the time anyway, you know. I love my band, The Rumours, but I’ve always wanted to be in a rock band (laughs), which I feel like Rob has the capacity to do. You know, like, I, I feel like we really rock. I mean, I’ve tried, and it’s not like I haven’t done that at all. There was this excitement, like, “Oh, we can really get into it if we want to!” Especially after we found the rhythm section. Luke had filled in with The Rumours on bass. At some point, this is before he joined The Rumours as our drummer, he had filled in on bass with The Rumours that at the time I thought, “Oh man, Luke is a great bass player. I want to play with Luke!” I wish I didn’t already have bass player, you know (both laugh)? So, when me and Rob were looking for a rhythm section, he asked, “Who do you want as for bass?” I said, “Definitely Luke, no question. We must get Luke!”
JB: Good call.
YMC: Yeah! The same thing kind of happened with Rob. Rob has known Ian for years. I’ll let him talk about that!
RG: Yeah, Ian and I have played in a bunch of bands together over the years and right before the pandemic, or shortly before the pandemic, he moved down to L.A. to do music stuff with people down there. We never really lost touch, but there were some ensuing years in there where we weren’t playing together. As this project started to bubble up, he was still living down there. I kept saying to Yea-Ming that a drummer is the hardest thing to find.
JB: A sane one anyway.
RG: Yeah, yeah! I told Yea-Ming I know the perfect guy! I know the chemistry would be good, but he lives in L.A. Lo and behold, right about the time that we were really getting enough songs together and knew it was time to start forming a full group, he just happened to move back up north and was available. We snapped him up right away! But to answer your question, I think it all just kind of speaks to like. You know, and this is true of working with Yea-Ming, we have other projects, but there are so many people in our orbit who are good. you’re always looking for people that you connect with on a creative level and that no one project can satisfy the breadth of your interests. You always have other parts of your musical personality that you want to explore and so when you get an opportunity to do it, and when it works, and when there’s as much chemistry as there is, you know it just sort of demands that you find the time to squeeze it in, you know? Certainly when Yea-Ming and I started playing together, speaking for myself, she will come in with an idea, and I just start hearing all these things. I’ll say, “We can do this and add that!”, and that’s not something that I have experienced to quite that extent with anybody else, and so we had to do something together.
JB: So is this project going to stick around? I hope to God (all laugh)!
YMC: I really hope to God too. I love it. It’s so fun for me!
JB: Speaking of that collaborative spirit, was Ian and Luke joining as seamless as it sounds? And was that collaboration instant?
YMC: Yeah, for sure. Luke and Ian are they didn’t know each other before, and now they’re totally bros (laughs). I feel like we were a matchmaker for them (more laughter)! But, yeah, the collaboration came pretty quickly. I think there was some timidness at first. I’m used to The Rumours where I kind of, for lack of better words, like the boss, and I guide the musicians. Luke and Ian are just so solid, and we noticed right away that Ian naturally tends to look for ideas. He’s always thinking if I have an idea. That is really exciting to see. Like Rob said, it’s hard to get a great drummer, but then on top of that, it’s hard to find a drummer that has that interest, and that creative impulse. So, watching him have all these ideas, I’m going to let him go with it because this is exciting. This is rare. It was kind of strange at first, but then I quickly saw what was happening with both Luke and Ian and their great ability to play and then also their tastefulness. They have all these great ideas. They have more post-punk interests in music, so they bring that in and it’s really cool to see where that goes.
RG: I agree with everything Yea-Ming said. They’re great, and they always seem to provide an interesting sort of counterpoint. A lot of times they’ll do something unexpected and it’s a thread that we didn’t even know was there, and all a sudden we’re tugging on it. You know, things become something else in a good way.
JB: Yea-Ming, you mentioned that those two didn’t even know each other before now? That must have been cool to see that friendship develop and those two contributing ideas.
YMC: Within the first practice, we were like, “Whoa!” They play together so well. Luke is really on top of Ian’s kick drum, you know, it’s like they were so synced. You would have thought that they had been playing together for years, but it was the first time from the jump. They just played so well together!
JB: One piece I read highlighted Ryli as being a committee-based creative process and how the arrangements come about through a committee which I thought was pretty cool. You’ve already talked about the collaboration between the four of you, but could you walk us through an example of that committee approach?
RG: I feel like I’m speaking for Yea-Ming here a little bit, but it’s different. The songs all take shape in a different way. I think most of them start with the framework of an idea from Yea-Ming, there’s a version or chorus. That’s the way it worked on this record. A verse and chorus, and maybe a structure of some kind. Yea-Ming and I would sit unplugged most of the time and just kind of play through it and hammer out other ideas, maybe some bridges. We’ll bat some ideas around for some different lyrics for certain sections or something, just feeling our way through it together. And you know, picking out a harmony or an intro and that kind of stuff, so already, you know, before it’s even landed in the room with the full band there’s that raw piece that has my fingerprints on it a little bit.
Then we get in there with Luke and Ian and like I said earlier, sometimes it’s surprising the bits that they’ll latch onto or the directions they’ll take things. We might have an idea more or less of how the song is going to go and what the song is going to sound like and then letting the rhythm section run with it and figure out what they’re going to do becomes the whole other part of the process. Sometimes it’s unexpected where they’ll go. There are always suggestions being thrown around, but nobody is totally charged with guiding where the arrangements are going to go. We’re just finding our way together, it feels like sometimes. If somebody in the band has a thread that they really feel like they need to tug on, even if the rest of the band can’t tell where that’s going, I think we give each other the space and the time to explore that to its natural end. So that’s really the committee, collaborative thing is that we are giving each other the space to try out all our ideas. Try to figure out where things are going to go and where things are going to land if that makes sense.
JB: Yeah, it does. It sounds like all four of you have that freedom to throw out ideas as opposed to you, or Yea-Ming jumping in and saying, “No, that is not what I was thinking for that. This is what I want!”
RG: By and large we found that we just like what each other does and what everybody adds to it. So, even if you can’t tell where it’s going at first, I think we have the trust that we’re going to come together over something at some point.
YMC: Yeah, I agree. Trust is huge for me. I don’t have the easiest time (laughs) with trust sometimes and I trust everybody in this band. They all have great tastes, and they all know what to do. They’re all tasteful! No one overplays and all the ideas are always interesting.
JB: It was noted that this record came together within months of the four of you forming, which is kind of mind-blowing. I mean, that. Does that speak specifically to the chemistry between the four of you? Was it as easy as that sounds?
YMC: It was pretty easy. I mean, as a songwriter, I go through these phases of being really prolific and then just empty. At the time, I think I was just so excited about the band that I just got kind of lucky. The songwriting was really easy during that period of time, and the recording sessions were really easy. Rob is an official audio engineer and he produced the record. He’s it! We didn’t have to do any, “Oh, let’s see if so and so is available.” It’s just internal. We’re just doing it together. Think the combination of all of those things and the chemistry and the excitement of playing together we learned the songs really fast. I think we got together twice. Most of the songs were done. Well, not everything, but obviously, the basic tracks were done in two days, which is really fast. We spent time doing overdubs and vocals and all that stuff, but the whole band only had to meet twice, (to Rob) right?
RG: Yeah, we got all the basics in two days.
YMC: Yeah, and Rob’s fast. He’s speedy. I mean, he edits music for a living, and so if you watch him on Pro Tools and he’s just like (makes scurrying noises). I didn’t even know you could do a lot of that stuff!
RG: I know my way around Pro Tools.
YMC: Yeah, he really does!
JB: So, was this album recorded in a studio? And as far as production and recording, who all was involved?
RG: Yeah, I have a small studio, it’s not a commercial space. It’s just my own/our own creative space. Occasionally, I’ll record friends, like I recorded Bobby’s band (The 1981). Then, I finished one single that they’re about to put out. But yeah, it is a studio but it’s not a commercial one which is nice. We can get in there whenever we want more or less, and uh. Not being on anybody else’s time and not churning on ideas while the money flying out the window. It gives us the space think about stuff. It did come together fast but it came together fast because we don’t have the pressure to get it done or keep things that we don’t want to keep. And ironically, that lack of pressure, I think, speeds up the iteration cycle just because you feel free and not stressed. Having our own space to record has been really valuable. Certainly Yea-Ming and I might not have met each other if not in that space, and so we have that to be thankful for too!
JB: Nice. No overbearing Engineers telling you it’s their way or the highway!
YMC: Actually, really nice, because I think both me and Rob had sort of worked on our own records and you’re when working on something by yourself, you get unsure of yourself. Like overpainting the painting constantly, right? You know, the two of us, and then even with looking Ian, it’s just kind of like, do you like this? Okay, I like it, and then we just move on. It’s not we’re being over obsessive. We can trust the other person to move on!
JB: So, in light of that, do you think there are any pros to professional recording studios anymore because I don’t know of too many records coming out of them these days.
YMC: Rob talks about his space modestly, but he makes it easier, with digital recording, to sound professional. Rob knows a lot and he set it up really nice. I think that it just depends on the person. I think Rob should answer this question (all laugh).
RG: I don’t know. I think different people might give you different answers because it’s all really down to individual taste and what sounds good, right? That can mean a whole lot of different things, and what sounds right for any one piece of music might not sound right for another piece of music. I’ve heard bands that have really big, really nice studios and come out with a record that, on paper, sounds really, really good but doesn’t have a vibe or whatever. And then, I’ve seen other bands go into those same studios and come up with a record that sounds fucking great! I mean, there’s a lot of things that have to do with the chemistry between you and who you’re recording with. It all plays into that. Really, at the end of the day, if a song is good in a performance, it’s good. It doesn’t matter where and how you record it. For the last song on the record, Yea-Ming and I recorded that into a fucking iPhone! (James laughs) That was cool, and it sounds great so, it really doesn’t matter. It’s just where you’re going to get the best performance and where you have the most chemistry with the people that you’re working with. I think recording ourselves works really well for us and works really well for me. I like recording and I think that that works for us. I should say, we did go to a studio to mix and master the record, too. So there was some collaboration with another engineer, this guy, Jack Shirley, (who is great), at the end of the record production process. He’s responsible for a lot of what sounds great about that record, too. There’s a lot of Jack in there sonically. He’s a guy who I like to work with a lot too.
JB: Rob, I think you touched on it, but it makes me wonder how many bands or musicians put out albums recorded at professional studios that ultimately, they weren’t happy with the end product, but to me they’re great. One band that comes to mind, is Nirvana when they recorded In Utero (DGC, 1993), and how they worked with (Steve) Albini and then some tracks were re-engineered after the fact.
RG: Or the second Cheap Trick album (In Color, 1977 – Epic Records), which is a great record. They famously hated the production on that record, and eventually in the ‘90s, did a version of it with Steve Albini to sort of rewrite history. I think that record sounds great, but the band hated it.
JB: I haven’t heard the Albini version.
RG: I think there are bootlegs floating around. It’s cool. It’s weird.
JB: It’s Albini (all laugh). I was delighted in the fact that a lot of greats were being mentioned as influences from The Smiths to Camera Obscura. I wanted to ask you what specifically draws you to those artists and how do you incorporate those influences without redundancy, if that makes sense?
YMC: Well for me, Camera Obscura, is one of my most favorite bands.
JB: I finally saw them for the first time; they were so great.
YMC: We did, too. That was so good! For me, my focus is generally, the things I end up liking usually have great songwriting, great lyrics, great melodies, and something that’s hooky. Something that makes me feel something. It’s usually pretty simple and when I’m writing, I gravitate towards that kind of thing. I think makes it unique and not repetitive is the interests of other people in the band, you know? That is what’s happening, is that everyone has different ideas of what they like, and so we’re just drawing from different inspirations from each of us individually. I think that’s where it comes from.
RG: Yeah, I give big props to Yea-Ming’s songwriting. From my perspective, Yea-Ming’s songwriting is so unique. I think you can think about it, and you can pick it apart and can say, “Okay, I kind of see where this or that seeped in” or whatever. Part of that sort of big light bulb moment when we started working together, I thought, “I want to work with this person. It’s just the songs and her voice is so unique to her. I don’t think there’s anybody else who does …
YMC: Stop (James laughs).
RG: Sorry, this is just how I think.
JB: I agree with you, Rob (Yea-Ming laughs).
RG: I hear a song that she writes and then go, “Oh, man, why don’t we pull in this and that and this and that?” And I think that’s what Luke and Ian do too. They think of different bands and influences, but they hear something in a song and they go, “Oh, I want to take something from this over here, put this in here, and play that against this unique kind of idiosyncratic thing that Yea-Ming does. In hindsight, when we look back on this batch of songs, and we say, “Oh, I guess I hear some Camera Obscura and some Belle and Sebastian and some Smiths in there or whatever.” Or maybe there are hallmarks of the production sounds that we chose where we’re like, “This would sound cool if it sounded like a Smiths record”, or whatever. I don’t think that comes in at the front end of the creative process. Yeah, and that’s. That’s one of my things as a writer that I absolutely hate is, “What does the band sound like?”
JB: That’s one of the things I absolutely hate is, “What does the band sound like?”
YMC: I’m so glad you hate that (laughing)!
JB: I understand if I’m really raving about a band, and want to turn on other people, but you inevitably get, “What do they sound like?” That’s the beauty of the internet, go have a listen and if you like, buy it.
YMC: Or, “What is this song about?” (All laugh). Do you ask a poet what their poem is about? You don’t ask a painter, “What is this painting about?” You look at it and decide for yourself.
JB: Descriptors too. Whether I hear something pop or blues it’s like, “Oh, that’s shoegaze!” What?
YMC: That’s happening with dream pop too. Dream pop is being thrown around a lot.
JB: (Agrees) Some people are going to hear what they want to hear and won’t take the time to really listen (both agree).
RG: To that point, it’s kind of interesting because the people that, yeah, you know again. Like the people that we’ve talked to about the record, keep saying, “Oh, it sounds so California”, or “It sounds so West Coast” or whatever.
JB: And then I come in, “It sounds like Bristol!” (All laugh).
YMC: I LOVE that! That’s great!
RG: As long as you mean it as a compliment, I’ll take it!
JB: Absolutely a compliment. The reason why I equate with what’s going on now in Bay Area to Bristol and Sarah Records is that had The Field Mice and The Orchids and those sounds did relatively well but they also put out really weird, abrasive stuff like Action Painting and one-offs like Poppyheads and Christine’s Cat. Then Harvest Ministers, which sounds like nothing else on that label. That’s the kind of scene I think you have now and that’s why I love it so much because everything so different, a wide variety and great. It seems to have a shared enthusiasm with all the bands and musicians up there right now.
RG: Yeah, I think so. You’re hard pressed to find somebody who isn’t in two or three or even four bands, and often all of them are great. We’ve been playing in the Bay Area my whole life and, you may disagree with me Yea-Ming, but I think that this is the best batch of bands I’ve ever heard around here. Just that I’ve been aware of, I’m not saying there haven’t always been great bands, but I just feel like there’s so much going on now that’s so good and that I like so much. It feels like a cool time to be around and making music here.
YMC: It does it. I feel like it’s just a lot more open, and it’s not as smarmy like ten years ago. It was just kind of gross.
RG: There are a lot more women now.
YMC: A lot more women.
JB: That’s always good to hear.
RB: And for the better even though I’m talking over a woman now (uproarious laughter).
YMC: There’s this sense that, I’m not a woman in a band to be hot or to be eye candy. There’s actual respect for women musicians now.
JB: I’m sure you get that crap too still. “There’s a hottie in a band!”
YMC: Yeah.
JB: A scene I think about up there was the Haight-Ashbury scene of the psychedelic ’60s. I think what’s happening now up there is better than that, and I love that era. A lot of cool stuff and sounds came out of that era, but it seems like every week, or every two weeks there’s a new album coming out or a single or a cassette on any number of really cool labels.
YMC: Yeah, I think Bobby feels that way, too. I think he’s overwhelmed with releases, and he’s tired saying, “I can’t put anything more out!”, but then he says, “Okay, I’ll put this one out but I’m so stressed!” I’m told him he needs to work on his boundaries (all laugh). and He’s like, “It’s too good. I have to put it out!”
JB: I think my last correspondence was Bobby was, “I can’t keep up!” (laughter). He had another album to promote. I thought Slumberland was doing a lot of stuff!
YMC: Yeah, I’m sure Mike feels the same way, too. They’re doing great. Everyone’s doing so good.
JB: That’s great. This record comes out following the “I Think I Need You Around” single from last year I believe. ‘Come And Get Me’ is being described as “a more fully formed pop record.” How do you feel that that the record itself builds on or differs from that single?
YMC: I think of the single as an introduction, and so I just think of this record as an extension of the singles. We have two sides to us, one is the more rocking, propulsive, rhythmic songs, and then the other is more indie pop songs. So, “I Think I Need You Around” was our fast song, and then “When I Fall” on the B side was kind of our like indie pop song and so I think that this record is just an extension of that.
RG: Yeah, for the single, I think we went in and wanted to capture exactly what we’re doing live more or less so, it wasn’t super layered. Not that we did a ton of layering but comparatively, a little more barebones, which reflected where we were at the time. I think when it came time to make the record, not only did we have a bunch more songs that sort of stretched out in natural directions from that little starting point, but I think from an arrangement and a production perspective, we started to say, “Okay, how can we plus this up a little bit?” So we did a little more layering and the production is more nuanced. We got a little more cerebral with the arrangements too.
YMC: That’s true (laughs). That’s a much better answer (all laugh)!
JB: Benefit of time, too. It sounds like (both agree). So, one cool thing about “Medicine Speed” that I read was that it was written during a moment of insomnia, Yea-Ming. Can you elaborate on that creative journey of the song from the initial feel to the final arrangement?
YMC: So, I woke up in the middle of the night and I was alone. I had woke up with really bad anxiety as one does. It was associated with the kind of anxiety that you may have in a new relationship and trying to figure out if you could get through a moment of panic on your own or if you were going to ask for help. And you know, it’s 3:00 in the morning, and you’re wondering if asking for help is toxic, you know? It was that feeling of being really needy and panicky versus, “No, I know how to breathe through this panic attack. I know it’s just anxiety. I can take an Ativan, which I did (laughs). But in the time that I took the Ativan and fell back asleep, I had all these spots swimming in my head and this kind of imagery of crows. Ever since the pandemic, I’ve noticed there’s a lot more crows, and they’re always so eerie. So, yeah, the whole song was written with all the lyrics completed. It’s that’s not really common for me, where all the lyrics are written in one sitting. I go back to songs and complete them in two or three sittings, but that one just came out. It’s just spilled out, and it was written right before a recording session, so I hadn’t played it for the band yet, and we have finished all our songs. Was this our second recording session, or first, the second one, right?
RG: I think this was the end of the second recording session.
YMC: It was the second recording session and we’re done and out. I hadn’t shown it to them yet, and so we had extra time, and so I showed it to everybody. Everybody learned it within five seconds (laughs), and it was written really quickly. It was a weird song and it just came so fast. It came together really fast!
JB: That’s got to be a relief that you’re working with three others that can jump on it, like that. And you don’t have to explain it away to engineers in recording studios.
YMC: Yeah, I mean, these guys, everybody in this band are such pros. I’m constantly saying that I’m the weak link (laughs). I really feel that way. It’s like they’re so good and I’m just trying to keep up (all laugh). They have these crazy arrangements, and everyone’s rhythms are insane. They’re able to do these weird rhythms and time signatures, and I’ll just be like, “What …?” (Laughing) They’re so good that I can mess up and it still sounds great so it is a relief!
RG: Yea-Ming might be selling herself short a little bit there.
YMC: I mean, like they are, everyone is so good. You guys are all so good. It’s crazy how good they are.
JB: We touched on it for a little bit about Danny Boy Records and Bobby earlier. How did this project get flagged by Bobby initially? Was it a matter sending him what you had recorded? There are so many options up there, how do you decide where to go and who to work with?
RG: Well, Bobby was there when we wrote that first song. Bobby was the one who brought us together in the first place, so Dandy Boy was in on it at the ground floor of the whole thing. There was no question about shopping it around or whatever. It was a Dandy Boy joint venture from the outset, I think.
YMC: I feel like we’re kind of Bobby’s babies a little bit (laughs).
JB: So, yeah, so maybe this is a question for him but how did he know to put you two together, and how did he know the results were going to be so good?
RG: It’s a good question. Bobby had been at my studio a lot during that time because I was working on other stuff. He’s a good sounding board for stuff and I’m really into what Dandy Boy is doing. We’ve both been friends with Bobby for over 10 years now, so you know he’s just a good hang, and somebody that we like to be with. And so, I think it just came about organically and by chance. I just happen to be working a lot with Bobby and Yea-Ming was working with and hanging with Bobby at the time so. I think it was only natural that the two things sort of coalesce at some point.
YMC: Dandy Boy released stuff by our other bands too. The Goods and he also released two Rumours records. And he’s going to be putting out… Rob has two projects… (just so you know…), (all laugh). The Goods is putting out another record, I think, later this year, and Rob made a solo record that’s also amazing. That’s going to come out next year, I think.
JB: I’ll keep my eye out! I don’t know if you two want to elaborate on it, but you did mention, Yea-Ming that Luke and Ian’s contributions reflect more of a post-punk background and you two are evolving that pop side of things and. Was it difficult to navigate the balance between more pop-oriented melodies with their edgier rhythms? Or does it just come together?
YMC: It’s just so cool. They just have these ideas that are different from mine. I’m really a straightforward person, you know? If I’m going to write a drum part, it’s like, “Kick/snare, kick/snare…” That’s all I have in my brain. These guys just have these great ideas. And we also don’t want to forget, Rob also has these great ideas. I’m very simple, and you can tell when you listen to The Rumours. I like simplicity. These guys have technically minded, complicated brains when it comes to musicality. It just comes together and they’re tasteful. It’s really fun for me.
RG: There might be something about the accidental way in which the project started that let us and everybody to be a little more open to just seeing what it organically kind of turned into. You know what I mean? Because we didn’t even know that we were starting a band in the first place when we got together. The whole thing was born out of a series of happy accidents, and so maybe that has led to an environment where we’re open to more happy accidents.
JB: Do musicians do that often, where they’ll just get together and jam and not really have that in the back of their mind, like they’re looking for another project or starting another band? You mentioned earlier Rob that you and Yea-Ming sat down unplugged and started playing. Was it something you knew you had right off the bat?
RG: I think we knew from the get-go that we had a lot in chemistry. Like Yea-Ming said earlier, from working on the cover to later that evening, stumbling into an original song. I can speak for myself and say there was definitely a light bulb that that turned on. I think were open to seeing where that went. In in my life, it’s not as often as I like that random jam sessions or random collaborations come together because everybody’s so busy. It just so happened that this did, and that it really, really worked.
JB: How much fun is it to have that chemistry when playing live?
YMC: Playing live with this band is so fun (laughs)! I love playing live with this band. It’s. It’s just so fun. The collaborative part has already been done, and everyone’s gelling. Well, they’re gelling and I’m trying to keep up (all laugh)!
JB: Rob disagrees again! (More laughter).
YMC: That’s not true. I feel really comfortable. It’s like a squishy rock pillow (all laugh).
For more information or to have a listen, please visit Dandy Boy Records to purchase. Also keep track of Ryli on their socials including Instagram and Bluesky
