cool people know: hereboy (Q & A)
BOSTON-BORN BAND HEREBOY SHARES THEIR DEBUT EP SITTING DUCK — proving that their stripped-down trio is anything but complacent and apologetic.
The group is made up of a seamless combination of Sarah Gyurina’s introspective songwriting, Ona Griffin’s precise rhythm, and Jon Wallis’ unique and integral approach to bass melodies. With a blending of folk, psychedelia, punk, and rock, Sitting Duck is a project that sticks with you and continues to draw you back, offering a deeper listen each time.
Read below to dive into the origin of hereboy, the inspiration behind their music, their own nostalgic listens, and more ⋆｡°✩
SIICK: How did you guys meet? What sparked the decision to form a band together?
SARAH: I’ve been writing songs with my acoustic guitar since high school. When I graduated from college, I was reaching out to a lot of people, seeing if they knew anyone who wanted to be in a band. Jon was booking for shows and ended up hiring me for a solo set through this musicians’ Facebook group. We ended up jamming later and connected instantly. His bass complements my songwriting really well. It’s very melodic — not as simple rhythmically as other bass playing might be. It drove the sound of my songs, taking them in different directions. We were playing together for a year, then brought Ona. That was over a year and a half ago.
ONA: I played in a band with one of Sarah’s friends, so she connected us. She knew I wanted to play the type of music Sarah was making.
SIICK: What was the thought process for maintaining the band as a three-piece?
ONA: Jon has such a creative approach to the bass. He’s able to make much more music with it compared to a lot of other bass players. It makes the sound fuller.
SARAH: We’ve had people tell us before, “you sound so much bigger than a 3-piece band.” My melodic songwriting and Ona’s really strong, steady percussion, combined with Jon’s layer of melodic interest and fuzz from the distortions on his pedals all come together. It’s also way easier to tour with 3 people.
SIICK: You just released your debut EP sitting duck. How did you land on that specific title for this project?
SARAH: It comes from a line in that last song where I say, “You thought that love was a game where you hunt down your prey, and I’ll be the sitting duck that pretends I’m so hard to get, playing target”.
It’s an ironic line that speaks to the project's entirety, feeling like I’m expected to be complacent. Women as a whole are expected to be like sitting ducks and let things happen to us. The energy of the EP really goes against that narrative and is very vocal in declaring its desires and needs unapologetically. Also, we’ve had a bit of an animal thing going on — our band name hereboy and one of our songs mentions bunnies — so it was fun to keep it going.
SIICK: What song best introduces you as a band?
ONA: Maybe “Old Spice”. That was one of the first songs Sarah and Jon played for me when I joined the band. It's such great storytelling, I really understood Sarah’s point of view.
SARAH: The song has some of our widest range sonically too.
JON: I think “Daylight” too. It’s our epic song — there’s a lot of different sonic components, and it hits all of our influences from folk to psychedelic.
SIICK: Is there a song on the EP that you’re most proud of or were most excited to share?
SARAH: I’m thinking of “Swim Lessons” right now. It’s the weirdest song of ours, I’d say. The writing is more abstract and poetic, and the sonic influences are a little more out of left field. When I first wrote it, I was excited about its experimental feel. When we’d play it live at shows, it was the song people talked over the most, but it’s been getting great reception from friends, and it’s been doing well on Spotify right now compared to our other songs, which we didn’t expect.
SIICK: What stands out about the Boston music scene to you?
SARAH: My experience with it has been so positive. It’s very underrated. There aren’t these huge recording companies or labels like in LA or New York, so there’s a lot of independent music being made there. A lot of that is driven by these younger musicians who come from the Berklee College of Music and were trained in jazz or music theory. They’re coming in with a lot of skill and collaborating with local sounds like shoegazzy, punk, and more abrasive artists. It’s a cool incubator of different styles.
JON: There are a lot of tiny tape labels putting out their friends' music. Boston could be better about reaching out to the rest of the world and sharing the music, but we’re alos so far from everything.
SIICK: What do you hope listeners take away from this project?
SARAH: It’s this collection of songs from my early 20s, right out of college, which is a period of uncertainty and big feelings for a lot of people. It’s figuring out how to navigate the world in a new way. Each song feels very personal and specific to me at times, but I hope people can apply it to themselves and relate. I hope it feels like a little time capsule of youth.
hereboy’s sonic picks —
What’s a song or project you remember blasting in your car when you had a lot of big, adolescent feelings?
SARAH: I Love My Mom by Indigo De Souza. That album is so cathartic.
ONA: I love the band, Hop Along. That was always my “big feeling in the car” type of music. Specifically “Tibetan Pop Stars”.
JON: “17” by Youth Lagoon. In high school, that was the song that instantly made me cry.
What was your first favorite song that you can remember?
SARAH: “Dead” by My Chemical Romance. I remember listening to it when I was 12, thinking “I’m so emo” (laughs). Taylor Swift’s Fearless (Deluxe) also hit so hard.
ONA: In middle school, my friend and I used to make each other mixed CDs. She loved KT Tunstall’s “Black Horse and The Cherry Tree” and put it on one. It blew my mind.
JON: “Wake Me Up When September Ends” by Green Day. That’s my favorite riff to play to annoy people at band practice (laughs).
Who’s an underrated artist we should all be listening to?
ONA: I’m really excited for Paper Lady’s new album. They’re a boston band.
JON: Tiberius is another Boston band. They’re like Pinegrove if Pinegrove listened to emo music before starting Pinegrove.
SARAH: mer marcum and Farrah Hanna are both great.
