Q&A: BOYO Talks Making Music, Navigating the LA Scene & More
☆ By HOLLY ALVARADO ☆
THE EPITOME OF “DON’T THINK, JUST DO” — Robert Tilden has carried this short motto their whole life, and most evidently with the formation of BOYO. With two complete records and another single in 2020, it’s no surprise that BOYO keeps the creativity afloat 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Their energy is unmatchable, and one that artists who come and go out of Los Angeles have a rough time managing with a particular aspect: authenticity.
BOYO emerged in the light in their early teens and has since been on a fast track to success not only locally, but globally as well. BOYO’s latest releases, Where Have All My Friends Gone? and Alone Together in Los Angeles, meditate on those questions and feelings. The cumulation of health scares, anxiety, and nostalgic memories allow Tilden to manifest a music formula based on the soles of inevitable growing pain. So, for BOYO, managing their way through the minefield that is the LA DIY scene has been done with ease. Within the past few years, BOYO has skillfully mastered their ability to implement psych-tinged, bedroom-pop that feels like the byproduct of early Alex G. And yet their style can’t be categorized, leaving them space to flow out creativity on their own terms.
Read our interview with BOYO below as they discuss their passion for creating meaningful bodies of work, finding the secret button to navigate life positively, and the rebirth of indie music as we know it.
LUNA: How is pandemic life treating you? Are you getting ready for any new music endeavors?
BOYO: To be honest, I’ve just been chilling at home. I've been lucky to just rehearse with my band again, which is fun because I have to do these sets for SXSW Online, and it was great. We just did a couple of songs for our label’s showcase. We're also doing another set for this thing called Baby’s All Right for a Brooklyn venue, and they throw online shows. We’ve just been practicing old and new songs, and my band is just my close friends. So we hang out anyway. Even though quarantine is hard, it's been nice to just be with friends creating. I'm not just alone making weird sounds.
LUNA: Your backstory to how you began BOYO is super interesting. I know you dropped out of college to pursue music fully, so how was that experience?
BOYO: I started college in 2015 and dropped out at some point in my sophomore year. I was going for music and production at CalArts, but I was already playing many shows in high school. We were also touring while I was in classes. So it felt like it was taking me away from my start with music already. I met a lot of people I play music with now, but I'm glad I made that decision. I don't think staying there was the move. I don’t want to speak for the majority, but I think for a lot of kids, gap years are crucial to have. I think it just helps you process high school and not to be thrown into the world so quickly.
LUNA: In the beginning stages for BOYO, your sound was really synth-pop and bedroom-pop heavy. But your latest two records released in 2020 with Alone Together In Los Angeles and Where Have All My Friends Gone? really push back from that a bit. What led you to find a new avenue for these records?
BOYO: I think it just depends. Like, if it’s in my head, I’ll just hear the arrangement for it. But it also depends on what I’m listening to as well. I'll just go through phases of being super into synthy music and then guitar music, and then I'll make more guitar music. I think I fluctuate — I just go back and forth.
LUNA: I remember you being heavily involved with Danger Collective Records back when you were releasing your first few records. What led you to transition to a new label?
BOYO: I grew up with everybody who started the label and everyone who was a part of the formation of it. We released all my old records together so I still connect with Danger with my back catalog and we're doing some pressings of some old releases this year. Reed, who is the creator of Danger Collective, is also one of my best friends, so we talk all the time. He was also the one [who], when I got the offer from Park The Van — which is my new label — I asked him if it was cool, and he looked at my contract and was super supportive. It's never been where I’ve been torn between two worlds. My family right now is Park The Van but I always have Reed as a resource and someone that I will always be really loyal to, only because he helped me start it all.
LUNA: I used to go to some of the Danger Collective Record shows a few years back. So I know you’ve always been in that circle of up-and-comers in the Los Angeles DIY indie scene. Do you think being a part of that community helped you frame the way you see music in general?
BOYO: There are different sides to it in Los Angeles. There're some folks that aren't the best and there's some weirdness in terms of, like, socialites and vibe. But then there's also really genuine pockets of people — you just have to look for it. I think it's easy to just say, “Screw LA,” and I’ve definitely done that in the past whenever I felt bitter or angry, but there are pockets of genuine people, cool scenes, and bands. It just takes a little while to sift through it. I've learned what kind of people not to be around and what I want to be like, what kind of bands I like, what kind of bands I want to sound like, and what people I want to tour with too, you know?
LUNA: Being a part of the Los Angeles music scene for so long, were you shocked by how many bands were being called out in the summer?
BOYO: I think things were getting so normalized — especially the bands that were a bit older. It was like a scene before us, if that makes any sense. It was just a scene of older people that you would open for and they wouldn’t look at you, and they weren’t very nice. It wasn't really people that I connected with emotionally. But you would hear all these anecdotes to stay away from these people and bad stories. You would always wonder how are they getting booked — how is this a thing? The hope that I always had was that my friend groups and the people that I played music with were always really good people. Even outside of LA — like once I started making friends and touring — everybody was just so sweet. I didn't feel unsafe around any of those people. But I remember being a kid and it was just so much drugs and excess to things. [Mind] you, we would play these shows, and we were the youngest kids at these festivals. It's a shame that I wasn't surprised to hear the other things. Luckily, nobody was playing shows during that time and we were all kind of out of everything, because I wouldn’t even go to a show and be in that type of environment. Those stories that came out were just so awful. Thankfully, a lot of those bands were already being phased out in terms of popularity and relevance just because of karma. I heavily believe in karma and I believe if they already put out bad energy into the world, it’s going to catch up. I’m happy things are shifting now. It fucking needs to be.
LUNA: Your latest record Alone Together In Los Angeles is so personal. The lyricism for this record flips through the emotions of anxiety and nostalgia. Were those elements more personal for you especially in quarantine?
BOYO: I think it was really just about growing up. I’m 24 right now, and [that’s] still really young, but you just find yourself getting to an age where you’re having more adult relationships. Like, I’m having more intimate talks now with my parents and having discussions on who they are as humans and not just as my parents. But [also] talking about who they were when they were younger and talking about real intimate stories about what they've done in their past and not just seeing them as this authoritarian figure. We can just talk about life. That probably affects me and also getting over illnesses and not feeling like I’m immortal. Not only that, but just living on the road for tour — which isn’t the healthiest lifestyle. I think it all just plays into my head and then when I write lyrics, I don't think too hard. I don't allow myself to edit, or else I’ll do it forever. So it's just first thought, best thought. I'm sure it's just involuntarily about all that stuff.
LUNA: Does tour life play an instrumental role on the way you create music as well?
BOYO: I was creating music way before I was doing any touring. It's just something that I've had to get used to, and you have to turn it into a fun party. It's like mind over matter. You can get really miserable and think to yourself all these things, like, “This is gross — they put us in the smoking room at this motel and I feel like I’m living inside of a Marlboro Light.” And you didn't get any sleep because your one bandmate who snores had apnea that night. You know, you could feel like it’s all going wrong. But instead, you can just find this magic button in your head and snap out of it. I've learned it from touring with Hot Flash Heat Wave and seeing how they do it. You just snap it and you're like, “You know what, we're playing music for people on the road. This is crazy. Let's just be happy. This is fun. This is an adventure.”
LUNA: Do you have any guidance for young artists who are just barely starting to create in the LA music scene and don’t know where to begin?
BOYO: It's just stealing like what Kenny Beats always says, “Don't overthink shit. Just do it.” When I was younger, I don't think I was any bit more talented than a lot of people. I don't think I was any bit smarter or had a better voice — I just did it. I discovered what Bandcamp was and how to home record when I was like 12, and I just kept doing it. My idols at the time were people like Jay Reatard. He made so many records and his whole thing was to make a bunch of records before he died. I just want to make a lot of music. I always thought, you know, don't sacrifice quantity over quality, but don't be afraid to take that first step and just put out a demo and just do shit.
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