We recently connected with Savage Parakeet and have shared our conversation below.
Savage Parakeet, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard.
If you would not keep in a band someone with stage fright, someone who is legally mentally disabled, someone with arthritis, someone with autism, and someone who grew up tone deaf, you must not be Savage Parakeet. Every band has its challenges, but they often remove the misfit, the outcast, the other, which every band manager would advise. We were told to cut our singer; we kept him. We were told to use only a session drummer; we found a great band drummer. We were told to pick and stick with a genre; we play whatever we want. We were told to stop making music altogether; we produced an EP and had a song on the radio – even if as a gag because, as we admit, we are gag-worthy. We don’t consider ourselves a punk band by genre, but we often refer to ourselves as punk in relation to the counsel we’ve been given and by our rebellious and nonsensical actions for the industry. Against the norm, Savage Parakeet is about letting loose, surrendering to goofiness with our music, using our creativity to knead through our personal issues, and trying not to take ourselves too seriously. Numerous groups start this way but quickly lose their path. For over 4 years, we’ve been following a consistent formula of fun, and we intend to keep the recipe a secret. Our anti-industry predilections may be our downfall, or they may be our claim to fame. It’s a risk we’re taking and a ride worth riding. We’re hoping our fans notice how we’re different from the industry – how we’re just like them – and love us for that.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
As an official band, Savage Parakeet started as a COVID-19-isolated trio of Alex (lead and rhythm guitar), Muffin (bass and backing vocals), and Eric Hinwood (vocals and rapping vocals) in a phone booth of a home office meant for two, in which we eventually stuffed a welcome fourth and all our bulky equipment until we were inches from each other’s faces. Our original name was “A Room Full of Fools”, admitting that we were goofs sardined into a little square. At first, we wrote songs about the turmoil of dating apps, fruit-based murder-suicide, and the burgeoning throne of culture that is Nebraska. Leaning into songs with more gravitas, we eventually changed the name to the still comical but obviously more interesting “Savage Parakeet”. Even as we grew to our current 5-member band and have since moved into a larger space, that tiny office remains our metaphor for us in the music industry: We simply don’t fit.
With roots as a gag band, we still have humorous undertones and evident self-deprecation in our performance that juxtaposes the serious topics in our songs, something fans might not realize until they see us perform live. Intertwined with our comedy, we write about fringe stories, the horrors of human life, and the insanity we experience because, even though we are working through past traumas, injuries, and illnesses ourselves, we know others out there are processing the very same. In a way, we hope even one of our songs lifts up a fan regardless of it being a similar experience, clever lyrics that put a smile on their face, or a rocking melody that stays in their head all week. Pulling from different genres like grunge, rap, indie, blues, jazz, and metal, we do our best to broadcast our fun demeanor, our love of music, and our stories of the margins to the wider world.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
One of our most consistent bandmates in the early days of the band was a synth we dubbed Scotty, who acted as our drummer. Never out of time, never out of tune, and absolutely zero back-sass, Scotty the Synth was our best musician and most solid member. There’s only one problem: Scotty had no soul. Devoid of personality, we needed a real drummer, so we did what any logical person would do – we picked up a guitarist.
Stacking this, Alex and Eric were soon to be moving out of their apartment where we practiced, which was too small for a drummer anyway. We searched and searched for an affordable music space as your classic broke musicians when Adam (lead and rhythm guitar and vocals), our new fretboard wizard, found a local studio. Pushing the boundary of our inflation-stretched budgets, we moved into a Whittier-based studio full of gritty character. We loved it. But we still had no drummer, and might not be able to afford the studio in the long-term.
We posted for drummers on numerous social media, band search sites, and even did the unthinkable post-2020, talked to actual people about it. We tried out, scheduled, and/or had for a short time a jazz drummer, a metal drummer, a world drummer, a punk drummer, a rock drummer, a folk drummer, a post-hardcore drummer, and even a drummer who was a singer that was less than honest about her drumming abilities. As we were trying to record our first EP by a certain date, we opted for pulling soulless Scotty out of the closet to be our main guy when Sparky (drums) entered the studio. Bringing a reliable passion for music of nearly all genres and a production background, we found our drummer and sound engineer, fought the studio in a technical and mental battle, published our EP, and found our lineup.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
Music as therapy is nothing new to the world, but to us, it’s something we’ve affixed ourselves to. When we have a terrible week, we drive back home listening to Snoop Dogg, Nirvana, The Naked and Famous, The Police, and Soilwork in order to peel away the mask we wear at work, connect with voices of the socially shunted, and let the airwaves rife with emotion be absorbed into the pores of our skin. Taking a cue from our own influences, we want both to heal people and to lay down our talents in the great arena of previous artists who have aided us in times of need, crafted us as musicians, and shaped us into the people we are. When we hear someone sing along to one of our songs, see someone so moved that they want to record us, or even subtly bob their head along with the music, – as presumptuous and pompous as it may be – we know we are lending our voice to others and contributing something positive for people to enjoy. We are still too fresh to know exactly why the people who like our music do, but part of us hopes that our silly jokes, fun demeanor, and energetic stage presence help them deal with their own terrible weeks, passing on the positivity we receive from our own inspirations.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.savageparakeet.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/savageparakeet?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
- Facebook: N/A
- Linkedin: N/A
- Twitter: N/A
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@savageparakeet?si=W2TD9oaIZazTp_Jc
- Yelp: N/A
- Soundcloud: N/A
- Other: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3DX8ADMyl0v7fDjlcu4sRv?si=8N4X6P_uROSYNyx1ItyDNQ
Bands in Town:
https://www.bandsintown.com/a/15514457Apple Music:
https://music.apple.com/us/artist/savage-parakeet/1730163412
Image Credits
Savage Parakeet