Interview with Atta Boy

I recently had the pleasure of talking with Atta Boy right as their new album Slit came out. The band consists of long time friends Dashel Thompson, Lewis Pullman, Eden Brolin, and Freddy Reish. While they originally met while living in LA they have moved and are now spread out across the country. Yet this still does not stop them from creating music and sharing it with us all while out on tour. 

How did Atta Boy start? 

Atta Boy: Well we met in the 6th/7th grade and then by senior year of high school Dashel and I (Freddy) had asked Eden if she wanted to be in a band with us and then we asked Lewis to be the drummer and ever since then we’ve been writing music together. 

The 4th album Slit is out now - how does it feel? Are you already thinking about what's next? 

Atta Boy: relief, nervous, excited. Finally feeling like it's real now and everyone can hear it, now. There's something kinda funny about completing and finishing something. It's a bit surreal and it's almost non tactile at a certain point then you’re finally at the finish line. It's exciting and I think we’re really happy about finally letting it go out and now turning a page to what's next. 

What songs are you most excited to perform from this album? 

Atta Boy: 

Lewis - Full Cloud

Freddy - 1st Street Bridge

Dashel - Silt 

Eden - Full Cloud (but also Silt too) 

What song changed the most between initial writing and the final version? 

Atta Boy: 1st Street bridge maybe? - it started as a voice memo and with Eden on Acoustic to the full band production. Another one was Can’t Hardly which started as a little thing Eden had written with a synth line and then to a full rock and roll tune

What’s your favorite lyrics on the album? 

Atta Boy: 

Lewis - I guess my favorites are the ones where you can hear Eden’s smile or attitude in them as she's singing. 

Freddy - In ‘Oh Mama’ I grew up knowing Edden’s mom and the writing in this song was really beautiful like I can see her hugging her mom. The lyrics “Oh, Mother you sway me - with your moss hair, I’m a baby” 

Eden - There's a couple lines in ‘Scratch’ “There’s a bloodhound, and she’s at my heels” and “Picking asphalt from her cartwheeled palms” 

Who are your musical inspirations? 

Atta Boy: MJ Lenderman - and Dr. Dog was a fundamental one that we all had in common, especially when we were younger. 

With you all based in different spaces (spread out between California, New York, and Ohio) how do you make it work as a band? 

Atta Boy: we get together when we can and technology helps. We have to work to figure out times to flush things out and make a trip when needed. We’ve never played super locally to where we live and have always been more of a recording band that put off touring until later on mostly because we really only get together to make records. 

What are you most looking forward to on this tour? 

Atta Boy: Getting to hangout together! With recording we are all over the country but we will finally get to spend time and be on the road together. This is like a road trip with your best friends. Also getting to see how this comes out live and how songs translate from a recording studio into a live setting. Excited to play certain venues and cities as well. 

Is there a specific venue or place you are most excited about? 

Atta Boy: 

Eden - I’m curious to see how the free show in Philly goes. It's great for the community and it's outdoors so hoping it's not a melter of a day but otherwise excited. 

Lewis - The last show, because I hope I'm warmed up by then 

Dash -  since we grew up in LA getting to play in a venue where we’ve seen bands play before is a trip. It's terrifying but very exciting and that show will have a lot of friends and family which makes it even more exciting. 

Freddy - The Bowery in New York, we played as an opener and now we’re the headliner there. It's a great room. But there's also a whole bunch of new cities that were playing in for the first time.