Photo Courtesy of The Fairweather
So who is The Fairweather?
The indie alternative band The Fairweather formed in January of 2015, when Ashkan Karimi & Austin Donoho invited mutual friends Kristopher Elliott & Bobby Ross over to jam in a suburban garage in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Ever since that first cold rehearsal, The Fairweather have been constantly reinventing themselves, synthesizing their sound with passion born out of frustrated hope and dogged optimism. They play spirited rock that is emotionally moving and groove driven, dusted with classic sonority reminiscent of their Middle America home.
Since their inception, the band has stayed committed to writing & recording even while touring and playing a steady stream of live shows. Sharing stages and festival slots with national acts like Mute Math, The Rocketboys, Civil Twilight, Young The Giant, and many more have been highlights during their short time together; now, with the release of their debut record “Untie My Tongue,” they have begun to establish their own reputation, with bold, bombastic rock built on a foundation of greasy, infectious grooves. With their goal to create art that is close to the heart and honest, The Fairweather value staying true to what they believe music should do: make you feel. Relevant and timeless, personal and genuine, The Fairweather captivate listeners with thoughtful songwriting, meaningful, heartfelt lyrics, and a passionate live show you don’t want to miss.
The Interview:
-How and when was the band created?
We started in January of 2015 when Austin & I (Ashkan) got together from time to time to work on new song ideas. One night our mutual friends, Kris & Bobby came into the mix when we invited them to come jam to some songs we had written for a jam sesh in Austin’s garage here at home in Tulsa.
-How did you come up with the name?
Man, we had list and lists of names but before we came up with a name, I had designed what would become our logo so that was the only direction we really knew we wanted to follow that would be representative of us. We had a big festival show coming up in the July following our start and we knew we wanted that to be our night to “announce” our name. After going through a handful of ideas we landed on The Fairweather, which worked great cause of the juxtaposition of our logo..it just fit.
-How long have you been a band?
January of 2015, so we’re a little 18 month old toddler.
-What is the best part about performing and touring?
For all of us it’s probably something different, but I think one thing we could all agree on is getting to play music for people who are listening, enjoy and grooving with it means the world to us. We love being able to go to new cities and connect with new people before and after the shows. I think to have the chance to play music for people we’ve never met and have them enjoy it enough to hear their response on how the music made them feel or how it gave them chills is always something that inspires me and makes me feel great – to know that something we wrote affected someone emotionally is a very rewarding feeling – the whole experience can sort of become a cycle of inspiration.
-How do you get inspired for new music?
It can be anything but I can at least say that 9 times out of 10 our songs are written from an experience we either all have gone through together or individually. We all have different tastes of music but when we all 4 come together with the goal to write something new the dynamic has been quite creative and exciting. Like our recent record, Untie My Tongue, our new music we’ve been writing has been collaborative, but on a whole new level because we have taken our release as a means to look back on and grow from and define certain goals we want to accomplish musically in this next little chapter of the band and our music.
-What is your guys’ favorite song that you have done?
Mmmm, man that’s tough.
Ashkan: Between Drifting Home and Untie My Tongue
Bobby: Untie My Tongue
Kris: Untie my Tongue
Austin: I agree
-What are five things you’d like your fans to know about the band?
1. Ashkan’s name is commonly mis-heard and called Trevor. Just call him Trevor when you meet him.
2. Kris’ beard is the 5th member of the band, sometimes he grows arms and plays drums when Kris needs a rest.
3. Kris’ beard also seems to get the most women, which is probably a good thing.
4. Bobby is a lover of longboarding and skateboarding – that would probably be his main job if it was possible.
5. Austin: I agree
-What is your favorite city that you have performed in?
Besides our home town of Tulsa (Don’t Hate The 918) I’d have to say Columbia, MO has been a pretty great place to play so far for us. Also, we recently played Fayetteville, AR and that city has such a dope music scene – everyone at our last show seemed to really have a good time and interact with us during and after our show. Really friendly people.
-Which musicians influence you the most?
I think the common thread for us all are musicians that adapt while fusing who they are and their creativity with what music is doing at the moment seem to be who we look up to most. Relevancy, while maintaining who you are can be a battle for a band – you want to be successful, and want to be well received but you also don’t want to “sellout” and give up who you are. But I’m sure you’re just wanting an answer that is less philosophical and have me just list some bands we all like right? So here ya go…
Miles Davis, Jeff Buckley, Radiohead, Manchester Orchestra, Mute Math, Coldplay, Switchfoot, U2, Catfish & The Bottlemen, The Notionaries and the list goes on.
-What makes your band stand out among the competition?
I think the reason we stand out is because we don’t view it as a competition. I think when we were younger and immature I totally saw it that way, but when you grow up and zoom out you realize that music is art, and all of us bands and musicians are contributing to a gigantic pool of music. We try to differentiate ourselves by being eclectic, and not pigeon hole ourselves so we aim to evolve. We want to be good but we’re definitely not trying to compete, if anything we’re just competing with our last project or our old selves. Our goal is to give our fans and friends a band and music that they can believe in, latch onto, and connect with emotionally, and hopefully if we can do that our music can help them make that “big decision” that they may be facing in life where they won’t be afraid to take the plunge and go after their dreams.
Unite My Tongue EP is available on iTunes and Spotify now.
Songs available on SoundCloud:
Untie My Tongue:
https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/265537681&color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false“>listen here.
Drifting Home:
https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/265537664&color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false“>listen here.
(my personal favorite, it will give you chills).
You can follow the band at any or all of these pages:
Official Website: www.thefairweather.band
Snapchat Username: thefairweather
A HUGE shout out and thank you to The Fairweather for making this all possible! I’m so excited to say that you were my first band that I was able to interview. You are all wonderfully talented gentlemen and I can’t wait to see what the future holds.
Until next time,
Chloe
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