When Houston alt-pop band Polaroid Summer kicked off the year with the release of their powerful new single, “TIDES,” it was apparent that 2018 would be one hell of a year for them. Three months in, and they’re well on their way to making it their biggest yet.
For new listeners, “TIDES” is the perfect introduction to Polaroid Summer. The band wears their hearts on their sleeves in this emotional track, which touches on the heavy subject matter of the self-conflict that arises from dealing with substance abuse, anxiety, addiction and depression. In an effort to remain transparent and relatable to listeners, the band has created an incredibly powerful track, and there’s only more to come. With an EP planned for later this summer and tour dates to follow, you’re sure to keep hearing Polaroid Summer’s name throughout the rest of 2018 – so get to know them now!
Interview by Shannon Shumaker
Can you tell us a little bit about Polaroid Summer for anyone who might be hearing you for the first time?
We are a fun/energetic 4-piece Alternative/Pop band from Texas. We love to create music but I think what we are best at is creating a live experience that really captures not only your attention but also your emotions. We love connecting with real people.
How do you feel your background in previous projects has made you stronger artists and songwriters as Polaroid Summer?
When you’re young you hear old people talk about experience and how its important. You don’t really get it until you get older. Luckily for us, we all started in this business as teenagers and now have around 10 years of experience and we are all still pretty young. Since we started Polaroid Summer a year ago we’ve been able to progress much faster because we already know a lot of the “Do’s & Don’ts” on not only the music side but also the business side. I honestly feel like I could write a book… Maybe I will, but will new artists even read it? haha.
You recently released your new single, “TIDES,” which touches on the difficult subject of substance abuse. Why was this an important subject for you to write about? What inspired the song?
The song it self is not actually about substance abuse but instead about self-conflict in dealing with stuff like substance abuse, anxiety, addiction, depression and realizing you need to make a change, and then making that change. Most of the time while writing I’m not thinking about if a topic is something important or not but rather just trying to find the best lines to describe how I feel or how other might feel. When we wrote this song I was going through a period of change in my own life and fighting off depression that was related to the stress of getting older and still not being as far along in my career as I would like… basically feeling like a broke musician haha. But regardless of my situation I needed to turn things around. Once the general concept of the song was there then the thought was what are other things people deal with? How can we make this song relatable to anyone who feels like they need to make a change in their own lives? How can we make them feel the emotion of that concept with the music and the melodies?
What do you hope listeners take away from “TIDES”? What sort of dialogue do you hope to create with this song?
Ultimately I hope it makes listeners feel something. Not everyone is currently dealing with something but more than likely has at some point in life. But again, for anyone to feel the emotion of the song and then for it to inspire them to consciously or even subconsciously make a change. That is the goal.
With “TIDES” out now, can fans expect to hear some more new music soon?
YES! We are working hard on a EP we plan to release this summer (2018) and we will likely have another single out before we release the EP.
What goals do you have in mind for new music?
Consistent growth. We make music because we love it but we also want the world to hear it. Not to say that we are better than the next hundred bands wanting the same thing but I do believe we have something real that people can really relate to and that our music will continue to grow and grow.
If someone is hearing you for the first time, what would you like them to take away from your music?
I hope they would be able to listen and make the song relatable to themselves in some fashion weather current or nostalgic. The idea is to make you feel something, if we can do that, then liking vs not liking doesn’t matter.
Can we expect to see you live soon? Any upcoming shows?
We are currently working on a bunch of dates around the southern region of the United States. But Currently We will playing a (Free) Showcase in Los Angeles on April 30th and then we’ll come back to Texas for a big hometown show in Houston on May 5th.
Do you have any other big plans for the rest of 2018?
The Showcase we are playing in Los Angeles is called Musexpo and it is a pretty big deal for us. Honestly we’ll be working hard everyday getting ready for that for the next 5 weeks. After that it will be getting the EP finished and all the tour dates lined up!
Thank you for taking the time to chat with us! Is there anything else you’d like to add?
We are new and building! If anyone wants to keep up with us or become a part of our movement please connect with us on Social Media or Email us at [email protected]
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