Interview with Quiet Company vocalist Taylor Muse

Quiet Company has slowly been climbing the ranks in the indie rock world. After a few years of hard work, the band finally started to break out in 2010 and became one of the real buzz bands in their native state of Texas. After a lot of touring, the band is back really without a break with the release of their fourth record We Are All Where We Belong. What’s cool and original about Quiet Company that sets them apart from your average indie rock group is that they play with a choir that really adds to their live performances. To promote We Are All Where We Belong the band has been out on the road mostly in Texas, but they have also made their way to play some shows in Florida as well as New York City. We had the opportunity to speak with Quiet Company lead singer and frontman Taylor Muse to learn a little more about the band.

Quiet Company is certainly an interesting name for a rock n’ roll band. How did you come up with this moniker?
Taylor: It was the name of my first “solo project” when I was in high school. I heard it on a commercial for an insurance company, I think. When my last band broke up, I just fell back on the name out of laziness. In hindsight, we probably could’ve come up with something better if we’d spent any time at all on it. So it goes.

How did you all meet and get to playing music together?
Taylor: I did the first record with another friend of mine playing drums, and me doing almost everything else. When I decided to start playing shows, I obviously had to find other musicians. I didn’t want to play with anyone I’d played with before so I went to Craig’s List. We’ve had a few different members that came in different ways but we’ve had this line-up for almost 3 years, I think it’s permanent. Tommy and Matt both came from answering ads on Craig’s List, Jeff played with another band that we played with all the time and joined when they broke up, and Cody was just a fan of Quiet Company who happened to be in the right place at the right time with the right skill set. We weren’t friends that started a band, we’re 5 guys who came together to play music and became friends. In my experience, this way is better.

You’ve garnered some real exposure through television with your songs being features on shows like MTV’s “The Real World New Orleans” and “Keeping Up With The Kardashians”. How did your music wind up on these shows?
Taylor: I’m not entirely sure. We were just approached by the company that places music for those shows, on Myspace I think, and they’ve been really good about placing us.

You’ve played a lot of concerts and with a lot of bands over the last five years. Is there one show in particular that stands out in your mind as being your favourite?
Taylor: Playing a sold out show at the House Of Blues in Houston, opening for one of my favorite bands, The Toadies, is the first one that comes to mind. We’ve played a few shows that were bigger but that night was just too much fun. Great venue, great crowd, great sound, you can’t ask for more.

Who would you say is the largest musical influence on the band? Is there one artist or band that is above all others for you?
Taylor: I hate to be cliché’ but if I’m honest, I’d have to say The Beatles. Certainly not the only big influence, but probably the biggest. Lately, though, I’ve been more into John’s post-Beatles career. I don’t think the music is as good, but I think his priorities were really different at that point and for some reason, I connect to that a lot.

Your third record We Are All Where We Belong was just released. What was the writing and recording process like? Did you write any of it on the road?
Taylor: There actually were a handful of pieces of songs that were written on the road but not very many. A few of the songs we had time to arrange together and play live for a while before we tracked them, but most of them were learned and arranged in the studio. We recorded this album, like our last EP, in Matt’s apartment studio, so we had virtually unlimited studio time for experimentation.

Did you change your approach to writing and recording this record in comparison to the first two albums? Or was it a similar experience?
Taylor: It was virtually the same as all the others.

Check out the song “Fear And Fallacy, Sitting In A Tree” here.

In addition to the four main members of the band you perform with a choir as well. Do you all write music together? What is the involvement of the choir members?
Taylor: The choir is usually composed of my wife, Tommy’s wife, and our manager. They don’t write and only join us about half the time. We love having them and I think it adds a really cool element to the live show.

You’ve done national, U.S. tours but for the most part you play in and around your home state of Texas. Do you have any plans to tour in Canada or Europe?
Taylor: We don’t currently have any plans, but we plan to plan some. We’re getting a lot of downloads in Europe so we’re thinking that, hopefully next spring, we’ll be getting over there. I love Canada, too. My wife is from Toronto and I’ve always wanted to play up there. I love that city.

What does the future have in store for Quiet Company? What are your plans for the next few months?
Taylor: We’ll be doing some festivals (CMJ, Deluna Fest, Orlando Calling) and playing out as much as we can to promote the new record. That’s pretty much it. Eventually, we’re going to record another EP, but we haven’t discussed when we’re starting that.