Texas indie rock band Corusco started their summer off right with the release of their debut full-length album, Wake. Throughout the album’s seven songs, the band not only explores their full range of sounds, from piano ballads to high energy tracks, but they also touch on a wide range of emotions and stories. By partnering with Underoath’s Aaron Gillespie, the band was able to come out of their shell to create an incredibly dynamic release that arrives just in time for you to fall in love all summer long.
With Wake out now, Corusco are looking toward the future, which includes some summer tour dates and plans to hit the road even more this fall and winter. Until then, get to know the band and listen to Wake below!
Interview by Dom Vigil
Can you tell us a little bit about Corusco for any readers who might not be familiar?
Thanks so much for reading, first off! We’re a three piece rock band from Texas. People always ask us what our name means, so I guess I’ll clear that up. “Corusco” literally means “I shine, I flicker, I quiver”. It represents the idea of how strange it is that opposite emotions can coexist within us. Like how you can experience both joy and sorrow at the same time.
Also we pronounce it “Co-ruhhs-co” (like “rust”), but it’s Latin, so who really knows.
You guys released your debut full-length, Wake this month! What are you excited for listeners to hear on this release?
My favorite thing about the record is that it just sounds like three dudes playing music together. We cranked amps, hit the crap out of the drums, and made an honest record. You can hear slight imperfections in the performances but I think it gives the songs a human touch. I hope people hear that vulnerability and connect with the songs.
With Wake being your first full-length album, was there anything you really wanted to accomplish with this release, either sonically or lyrically?
Musically, we wanted to show people the range of sounds we are capable of, and to accurately capture what we sound and feel like as a band. We have this weird tension as a band between vulnerable songwriting and really aggressive tendencies, so it was fun to play with that balance. I mean, we have one song where we down-tuned a baritone and cranked up the sludge…and the next track is a piano ballad.
Lyrically, most of the songs come in pairs (and occasionally share lyrics). For example, New Year is about a first kiss. The next track, Better Off, is the story of how I messed things up and had to deal with the consequences of my actions. The title track, Wake is the conclusion to Burn out Loud, off of our EP. Daughter and Stranger tell the story of grandfather from two perspectives: my mother (the daughter) and grandfather (the stranger). Additionally, the song The World We Know is based on the novel The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall.
How do you feel you’ve grown between the release of your EP, Don’t Give Up and Wake?
Don’t Give Up was originally just a handful of songs on an acoustic guitar – they existed before Corusco was really even an idea. Corusco ended up accidentally becoming a real band because I just wanted to play the songs with friends. The running joke about the EP is that Carlos’ drums are on it, but he isn’t (we met him the week before and our temp drummer didn’t have a kit). When we recorded it in fall of 2015, we were barely learning how to play together as a band.
Wake is the first group of songs we’ve written collectively as band, some of which we started writing before we recorded the EP. I’m really proud of what we did together, and it’s the first time I can show people our music and it truly represent who we are as a live band. Wake is the result of us playing, touring, and growing together over the last two and a half years.
You guys also worked with Aaron Gillespie for this release! What do you feel he was able to lend to the record?
Working with Aaron was great! We met up with him in New Mexico at Rio Grande Studios (with our man, Kenny Riley), and over the course of 5 days, tracked the entire record. The studio was built in a 300 year old adobe house that had the most amazing sounding live room. To me, this record sounds 100% like wood floors, burritos and the New Mexico landscape.
Aaron was able to lend the voice of experience and he helped us learn to trust our gut. All of that vulnerability you hear on the record is partially due to small changes in the songs. He would add another chorus or pull everything but vocals and guitar, and it would completely change how I felt the groove of the song. If there was one thing that sticks with us as a band, it’s that nothing matters more than the song. Everything else is secondary.
New Year is a cute little love song about a first kiss. When we first met, she made me feel like a kid again – you know one of those situations where I was a nervous wreck around her. We went to dinner and a concert on New Year’s Eve and the whole night I was nervous to even hold her hand!
When the clock struck midnight, the band started playing, confetti cannons exploded and everyone was singing and dancing. But for us, everything had stopped. It was one of those rare moments that really felt like it was plucked straight out of a movie. I tried to capture that moment into the song.
What would you like listeners to take away from the album?
Although a lot of our songs deal with heartache, depression, death, and loneliness, I’m not trying to bring anyone down to where I am at. The songs are real, vulnerable depictions of what I’ve experienced and I hope people relate to that, but I want to be the type of person who is looking for a way out of that darkness. I want them to hear these songs for what they are: an honest snapshot in time of who we are and where we’re going.
With Wake out soon, do you have any shows coming up or tour dates in the works?
We’ve got our release show here in Bryan at the Grand Stafford Theater on May 25, and we’re heading up to Dallas to celebrate on June 2. In addition to summer Texas dates, we’re planning on heading out to the East Coast later this summer as well! Which means lots of McDonalds and Wawa coffee.
Do you have any other big plans or goals for 2018?
We’re going to be hopefully touring both in late summer and winter. Our biggest goal is to hit the pavement running with this record and play as much as we can for anyone who will listen. The response to New Year and its music video has been amazing so far, and we’re really excited to put out the rest of the record.
Thanks for taking the time to chat with us! Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Thanks for having us! We really appreciate it. If readers what to keep up with us, check out our website www.coruscomusic.com. We’ve got all of our social media (@coruscomusic), music, tour dates, and a blog where I write a bit more about different aspects of our music. Thanks for reading!
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