Varsity - Interview with Pat Stanton, 7/17/18.

Look at those cute hipsters.

This is the raw email interview I conducted with Chicago indie band Varsity last week. Varsity plays a show at Milwaukee's Cactus Club on the 25th and their sound is really mellow. They're not really something I would listen to, but I think getting in touch with any artist no matter what they make is a good thing.

I was originally supposed to do a phone interview with the band but missed it over work. Luckily, they were able to respond to my questions in text. Answers were written by Pat Stanton, the band's guitarist.

First, tell me a little about yourselves. Full names, where you grew up, how you got into music. Indulge me.
Stef Smith - Lead vox / keys
Dylan Weschler - Guitar / vox
Pat Stanton - Guitar
Paul Stolz - Bass
Jake Stolz - Drums

We all pretty much grew up in the Chicagoland area except for Dylan who is from Detroit. Stef and Pat met in college and became good friends with Dylan who went to Columbia College in Chicago. Jake and Paul are brothers from Oak Park and went to the same high school as Stef. As we started playing more seriously the members changed a couple times but we’ve been playing as this lineup since about 2015. All of us grew up playing music, some more seriously than others, but studied something else in college. The band came together post-college when we were all back in Chicago.

What influences your band? Were there local acts in your hometown that impacted the band's music? How long have you all played together?

We all have different influences which is part of what makes writing a fun process! By now we’ve pretty much shared our favorite music with each other, but initially we all came from different musical backgrounds listening to different stuff. Before we made Parallel Person we compiled a playlist of songs that we were really into at the time and songs where we liked how certain things sounded. It’s pretty much the ultimate Varsity influence compilation playlist. Some of the artists on there include Spoon, Frankie Cosmos, Fleetwood Mac, Andy Shauf, Land of Talk, Chris Cohen, Cate Le Bon, and The Beach Boys. Our favorite local Chicago bands are Pool Holograph, Clearance, Divino Nino, and NE-HI.

How long have you been signed to Babe City Records? Do the members feel that the band has changed since being signed?

We’ve only worked with Babe City for our latest release, Parallel Person. I don’t think it’s affected the band or the creative process at all. It’s not really like how big record labels can sometimes have creative control over their artists, this is more of a partnership. We wrote and recorded the record before discussions even began with Babe City so there was really no outside influence on the record.

What is the band’s primary method of spreading its music to people? What’s the hardest part about promoting a band?

The internet is the best way to get our music out there. Ever since we started as a band we’ve put all our music online for free. We also try to get it on every possible media platform available. There are so many different ways that people discover music now, you got to make sure you’re everywhere. YouTube especially has brought us recognition and followers. The hardest part of promoting our music is putting together a tour or hopping on a support tour for a band we really like. Touring is probably the second best way we build up our following, plus it makes us better musicians and let’s us build relationships with listeners face-to-face.

Who would you say your music is ‘for’? What kind of people do your shows attract? What do you identify your own music as, in your own words?

I would say our music isn’t specifically “for” anyone. I often hear many different reasons as to why people like our music. There are a lot of people who relate to Stef’s vocals and lyrics, there are people who are really into guitar and like watching and listening to both the guitar lines, and there are other people who like to groove out to the rhythm section. We don’t write music to please a specific group of people, for us that would be disingenuous. It’s more like we write for ourselves and are always pleasantly surprised when other people like it too.

Are you selling merch at the show? What kind? Can I get a picture?

We have our music on CDs, Cassettes, Vinyl, and we also have some new enamel pins and T Shirts! One of our T Shirts has the art from our Cult of Personality / So Sad, So Sad single and the other has the art from our new record. All of our album art and t-shirts designs were done by the super talented artist Clare Byrne and I’m so happy with how everything has turned out. You can check them out on our bandcamp or come get one at the show!

Are there any other acts accompanying you for the show? Who are they?

We’re playing with All Tiny Creatures and Moon Ruin!


As some extra notes, I'm pretty sure Stanton mixed up his opening bands. Checking the event on Facebook, their opening acts were actually a band from Toronto named Tallies and a Milwaukee band called Northern Haunts. I cleaned that up in the article and so far I've had no complaints.