In an interview with KGNU’s DJ Jules, Boulder-based band Earth to Aaron discusses their upcoming performances and new album, Strange Notion. The band chats about their history, their songwriting process, and exciting future events (Interview date: 5/9/2024)
DJ Jules: I have some very special guests here with me in studio. I have the Boulder-based Band, Earth to Aaron, that’s going to perform. Hello, Earth to Aaron.
Earth to Aaron (Aaron): Hello.
DJ Jules: Hi. How are you today? How is everyone?
Earth to Aaron (Aaron): We’re wonderful.
DJ Jules: We are so excited to have you here in studio at KGNU. Thank you for being here. So what brings you into town here with us to perform live?
Earth to Aaron (Aaron): We have a lot of exciting things coming up and we’re mostly excited about our upcoming shows and our new album.
DJ Jules: Those are very exciting things. What is your next show? What’s happening? What’s on the calendar?
Earth to Aaron (Aaron): We have a show on Saturday at Beyond the Mountain Brewery over in Gunbarrel. We’re going to be playing at the brewery from 5 to 8 on Saturday.
DJ Jules: That sounds lovely. Let’s jump right in and give the KGNU listeners a taste of what they can expect for Saturday’s show at Beyond the Mountain Brewery.
Earth to Aaron (Aaron): Of course. This one this is the first one is “Strange Notion” here
DJ Jules: Beautiful. Thanks for sharing that “Strange Notion” with us, Aaron. And if I’m not mistaken, that one recently came out, is that correct?
Earth to Aaron (Aaron): That’s correct.
DJ Jules: Awesome. When did that one come out?
Earth to Aaron (Aaron): This was a single this past week. May 6th is when we initially put it on the streaming services.
DJ Jules: All on the streaming services. So that song’s right at our fingertips. And hey, earlier, before that song, you talked about an upcoming album. Can you share with the KGNU listeners this upcoming Earth to Aaron album?
Earth to Aaron (Sarah): So the album is also called Strange Notion. That was the title track.
DJ Jules: Look at that. And when should we expect this album?
Earth to Aaron (Aaron): June 2nd.
DJ Jules: June 2nd. We’ll mark our calendars for June 2nd for the album release.
Earth to Aaron (Sarah): We also have a show June 2nd. It’s at the Jamestown Mercantile from 12 to 2:30, I think. That’ll be the official album release party.
DJ Jules: Fantastic. All right, let’s jump back into some more music. What else do you have for us today?
Earth to Aaron (Aaron): This one’s called “Another Day”.
DJ Jules: Lovely. Thanks for playing that one for us. So all of us Earth to Aaron fans have had to wait lots of days for music. There was a bit of a lapse. We didn’t have Earth to Aaron for a while and now you guys are back. Can you share with us, the KGNU listeners, a bit of your story and who Earth to Aaron is?
Earth to Aaron (Aaron): I was lucky enough to be able to convince my wife, Sarah, to sing with me again.
We started this thing in Brooklyn, New York. And put out our first record in 2016. Took a little break with two kids. Lovely to embrace that and enjoy them. But we took a little break and now we’re back.
DJ Jules: And so when it was started in 2016, was it just you and Sarah, the two of you?
Earth to Aaron (Aaron): It was just us. We had no band, no idea what we were doing. No, it was fun and busking and doing the thing in New York was, it was a lot.
DJ Jules: And now you’ve grown. Now you have a band and maybe an idea of what you’re doing, right? That’s the goal?
Earth to Aaron (Sarah): That’s the goal. Yeah. But yes, we have grown.
We have lovely band members here with us.
DJ Jules: Will you introduce who else is in studio with you right now?
Earth to Aaron (Aaron): Yes, we have Adam Noah Levine on bass. He and I grew up together. We’ve known each other since we were kids. We have Jay Pillitteri on guitar.
Earth to Aaron (Sarah): Jay, we also met in Brooklyn and he has come out here.
Earth to Aaron (Aaron): And then Shin Kamei.
He is a friend of ours, longtime friend and on the drums.
DJ Jules: Lovely. We are so excited to have the whole band and to watch the progression of Earth to Aaron. So what’s the next track? What do we have in store?
Earth to Aaron (Aaron): “You Came Along”.
DJ Jules: I love that that one was played right after we talked about how the band has grown and you have these three new band members and they came along! They made life better. How wonderful. What a nice nod to the band members.
Earth to Aaron (Aaron): This was not written about Adam and Jay and Shin.
DJ Jules: You couldn’t let them think that for a moment. They almost had it, right? Something I’d like to know, and maybe the KGNU listeners as well, what is your style? What’s your songwriting process? Is this a group effort? One person? Are we collaborating, bringing in other people? How do you do what you do?
Earth to Aaron (Sarah): Aaron over here writes all the songs and then brings them to the group and everybody then learns and practices.
And he basically teaches me the harmonies and yeah, I would say it’s mostly all living in Aaron’s brain and then he shares it with all of us.
DJ Jules: I love that. Thanks for getting it out of your brain and out to the world, Aaron. It’s wonderful.
Earth to Aaron (Aaron): Thank you. Yeah it’s a beautiful process and you have to let the music and the spirit move you.
And that’s what we’re doing right now.
DJ Jules: So then with this upcoming album, since you had years in between the last Earth to Aaron record and this one, have these songs been building up over the years and just stored away? Or did you close that door with kids and the craziness of life? And then once you opened it again, it came flooding right back out?
Earth to Aaron (Aaron): There’s so many songs that were written over the eight year period, and it was hard to cull it down to just eight songs, but it was a fun journey, and a lot of it was thinking about what was our sound back then, how can we grow it and build upon what we’ve already done.
DJ Jules: I love that. We continuously grow and evolve. So that’s a good thing. What is the next song that you are going to play for all the KGNU listeners today?
Earth to Aaron (Aaron): Yes, this one’s called “Tell Myself” and it was our first single off the new record.
