© Renee Newman
Gollylagging is a Boston-based indie rock band made up of Jake Regulbuto (vocals, guitar), Jules Skiffington (vocals, guitar), Andrew Garas (drums), and Joey Lorant (bass). Blending shoegaze, bedroom pop, punk, and alt-country, the band brings their dense, fuzzy sound to their debut album, Real Life, out October 16 via Disposable America. Built through years in the New England DIY scene, Real Life explores dissatisfaction, difficult relationships, and breaking old patterns, while reflecting the friendship and community at the heart of Gollylagging. We caught up with the band for the release of their latest single "Red Fish", out today.
The B-Side Hour: Your upcoming debut album Real Life explores the frustration of feeling stuck in your life while learning to make peace with where you are. How did you approach translating that tension across the album?
Andrew Garas: I think that while making the album, we didn't go in with a cohesive narrative in mind at first. As the songs came together, we found a lot of narrative threads through the lyrics and just our general outlook on life at the time of making it. It felt right to name the album Real Life after all the frustrations and all the positives in our lives.
The B-Side Hour: You've spoken about friendship and community as sources of strength and healing throughout Real Life. How did that sense of connection influence the way you wrote about some of the album's more difficult experiences?
Joey Lorant: I think that having all of our friends around us in the local Boston scene just naturally makes it easier and more fun to put the songs together and not have to worry about the initial negative experiences that inspired them.
"It felt like one day we had two finished tracks we were not sure what to do with, and then in a matter of days, we had an album"
The B-Side Hour: That duality is very present in "Comet," which channels anger about the collapse of a long-term friendship, while the music video shows you getting together with friends and captures that spirit of community. What did you want that contrast between the song and the video to bring out?
Andrew Garas: The song to me, sonically, was always so fun and bouncy—before I even dug into the lyrics with Jools I heard a summery sounding song. Once I understood the lyrical themes, I loved the idea of the harsh contrast of the fun summer vibes of the music video and the negative lyrics. It felt like, in a weird way, we were the ones coming out on top of the bad situation that inspired the song.
The B-Side Hour: You just released "Red Fish," the latest single from the album. What were you exploring through the song, and what made it the right one to share after "Bronco," "Jackknife" and "Comet"?
Jake Regulbuto: The song is one of the most catchy and fun on the record and it's always stuck out to us for that reason. Lyrically, I was exploring how people care way too much about how they look in their social interactions, whereas I've always believed in people just being themselves. It's harder to be around people always worried about looking "cool."
The B-Side Hour: After releasing singles and EPs, Real Life is your first full-length project. What was different about developing a concept and vision for an entire album compared to working on individual songs or shorter projects?
Jules Skiffington: With Real Life, the songs honestly came together very quickly and suddenly we ended up with 10 tracks that we thought flowed together very nicely. Having two vocalists on board also definitely expedited the songwriting process. This is simplifying it, but it felt like one day we had two finished tracks we were not sure what to do with, and then in a matter of days we had an album.
"The only intention throughout the tracklist was to make it sound like all the genres we like and have played in the past, but seen through a new lens"
The B-Side Hour: On Real Life, every member of the band contributes to at least one track. How did bringing those different perspectives together help the album become a fuller picture of who you are as a band?
Joey Lorant: I think we all have slightly different music tastes and were looking to push the boundaries of what a Gollylagging song could be. I wrote the instrumental of "Heart of Ice" which is one of the most modest songs, sonically, on the album, but once Jake heard it and added the lyrics, it still made sense sitting on the shoulders of the other tracks.
The B-Side Hour: This is also the first time the vocals are split between Jake and Jules. How did having two voices shape the way you approached the arrangements and production across the album?
Jules Skiffington: Having both Jake and I writing and singing songs made the collaboration of the album feel much more natural—we felt allowed to do more harmonies throughout the tracks and I was able to ask Jake for assistance on my tracks and vice versa.
The B-Side Hour: Real Life feels like the culmination of years of defining your sound, from indie rock into elements of shoegaze, bedroom pop, punk and alt-country. Did you set out with a specific sonic vision for the album, or did you let everything you'd developed over the years express itself naturally?
Andrew Garas: The only intention throughout the tracklist was to make it sound like all the genres we like and have played in the past, but seen through a new lens. We all like a vast variety of genres and do try to channel those, but also hope we are creating something new in the process.
"We just want the shows to feel light and fun, we want everyone to feel included and like we're all homies"
The B-Side Hour: You've cited influences ranging from Pavement, Dinosaur Jr. and Alex G to Lil Wayne and Future. When you're drawing from music you love, what are you actually taking from it and bringing into your own songwriting and production?
Joey Lorant: I think within the artists we all like and share as common interests, we like the way they present themselves and their albums. They are oftentimes no frills and to the point, which is how we wanted Real Life to feel.
The B-Side Hour: With that sense of friendship and community running strongly through the album, what kind of experience do you hope to create when you share Real Life with a live audience?
Jake Regulbuto: We just want the shows to feel light and fun, we want everyone to feel included and like we're all homies. There's no point in showing our songs off in an overly serious manner, especially when we had so much fun making them.