Under The Rug Interview

We caught up with Under The Rug, the Austin-based indie trio known for their heartfelt storytelling and DIY approach to fan engagement. With a decade of music under their belts and a dedicated fan base, the band just dropped their ambitious new album, happiness is easy =). As they prepare for their upcoming headlining US tour, we discussed their journey, the inspiration behind their latest release, and what's next for them.

• Can you share the story of how Under The Rug was formed? What brought you all together, and how has your journey evolved over the years?

Casey here. Sean and I started making music together in college at UCSC. He used to stick his amp out his dorm window and shake the courtyard like a lil punk. We ended up winning a contest for a scholarship for a song we wrote together, which put us on a little show circuit playing for the Franco family. We picked up Brendan a year later and have been grinding ever since.

Fifteen years.

Fifteen years it took us to find our way here. So many open mics and art walks and empty, cringey Los Angeles venues. Thousands of hours of busking and collabs and side-hustles and band name changes and lifestyle tweaks and here we are! Still kickin!

• What are some of the major musical influences that have shaped the sound and style of Under The Rug?

Elliot Smith has become one of our lasting heroes. The way he took accountability for so much of his arrangements and recordings, and some inarticulable thing about his vision. I think he saw the world in a similar way to me/us. It’s just a feeling I get.

Some other artists we love: mewithoutYou, Big Thief, The Mountain Goats, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, The Punch Brothers, Mitski, Radiohead, Mason Jennings, Andy Shauf, Nina Simone, Blake Mills, Wilco, Gillian Welch, Madison Cunningham, Patrick Watson, Brittany Howard

• Your DIY marketing efforts, such as direct-to-fan handwritten letters and The Secret Hideout membership service, are unique. How did you come up with these ideas and what impact have they had on your relationship with your fans?

We didn’t have any connections or funding or really any help at all when we started (still don’t). We built everything from the ground-up direct-to-fan, which, I think, humbled us in a way I’m thankful for.

There is a lot of smoke-and-mirrors-silliness in this industry that can balloonify an ego, but nothing levels you out like a lot of hours busking with hardly a dollar in your case, or writing letters to each individual new fan you make, or making 100 personalized paper-mache album launch boxes for every fan who buys your first album.

Our toiling has helped us truly feel in partnership with the folks who listen to us and support us, which is something you can feel in our close fans, the rug rats, and in our Secret Hideout discord/patron service.

• Your latest album"happiness is easy =)" features collaborations with notable songwriters like Sam Hollander and Mason Jennings. How did these collaborations come about and what was the experience like working with them?

We reached out to Mason because we love his music. His self-titled was one of my first high school car rotation CDs. I shared it with Sean and Brendan in college. That album is kind of our long-tour-leg comfort record. I’m grateful… he was nonchalant, creative, and kind to me, and his addition to the album, while modest, lends it this smidge of heart that I think matters very much.

Sam, too. He’s a friend of our manager, and he’s brilliant. Really. And kind and generous and funny. He has this way of closing his eyes and humming a single note change into existence, one melodic tweak, and it’s the exact thing the song needed all along. I would love for UTR to write a whole record with Sam. I think there’d be a lot of laughing and hard work, both, and I think it would be a very special piece of art.

• What was the songwriting process like for this album? Did you approach it differently compared to your previous works?

Yes, absolutely. This record was very much a form of therapy for me as I figured some things out about myself and who I am. It was a very vulnerable process and there were times, pretty far in, where I was convinced we should scrap the whole thing. I still feel that way sometimes.

Process-wise, it was very exhaustive. Every thought I had, every insecurity, seemed songworthy at that time in my life. I was walking into our living room with my guitar saying, “I have another,” and Sean and B would look up and groan (this is probably mostly fiction, but there’s a kernel of truth to the feeling).

• Casey, you mentioned that "happiness is easy =)" is the least fictional thing you've written. Can you delve deeper into how personal experiences influenced the lyrics and themes of the album?

Ay ay ay. Well. I was contemplating a medical gender transition, which, I’ve learned, touches on insecurities and creases that most people on earth have about themselves, myself included. There was a lot to untangle—what better way to manufacture some grace than to do it in front of an audience?

Not that this is an album about gender. In fact, it very much isn’t. It’s more of a sketchy rumination on happiness, finding happiness, being willing to try for happiness, to let myself feel deserving of it, to stand up for having it when other, unhappy people, didn’t want me to. Misery, they say, loves company.

I’m thinking of a Tobias Wolff line from

his memoir, “I recognized no obstacle to miraculous change but the incredulity of others.”

Anyhow, this happiness-dousing demanded of me a lot of approaches, too. Pt 1 alone has a song about dissociating from feeling sad, one about self-hatred, one about judging others for pursuing their own happinesses, a song about how our bodies and physicality affect our ability to feel happy, one about exhausting our friends while we trudge through the bogs of cringe towards The Land of Figuring Ourselves Out.

I don’t know.

I worry about people misinterpreting this album, or pigeon-holing it into a “trans” album. It isn’t.

In fact, something I learned through writing this monster—something that I think terrifies the folks who are, for whatever reason, opposed to trans people…existing?—is that we are really not very different. Even the farthest diametrically-opposed outliers of human experience seem to be hardly different at all at scale.

We are all just little beans in our parent’s clothes, looking to be loved. It is a shame that those wholesome inclinations are ever twisted to be anything else. At the end of it all, we’re all gonna die—we might as well be friends about it.

• What's your favorite song from the album and why? (each member)

Casey: They Said

Sean: They Said

Brendan: They Said

~they all said they said~

• You're preparing for a headlining North American tour in support of the album release. What can fans expect from your live performances this time around?

We are! Honestly, this set is nothing like our previous ones. We’ve been waiting to get to play these songs live. That, and I think we’re a little more seasoned. I feel like we’re in a very special moment as a band right now, but only the shows will tell!

• Do you have any favorite venues or memorable moments from past tours that you'd like to share?

I’ll never forget playing Turner Hall Ballroom, which was massive and beautiful. The staff was lovely. They even had a barista on staff for us (Thanks 502s!).

I’ll also always remember The Fillmore in Philly. We snuck into a whiskey convention next store and got Michelin-grade tapas before the show. We didn’t have a huge crowd, but we were on. Songs ended to a beat of silence and someone in the crowd would audibly break the silence with, “No way. Holy shit.”

It was a moment!!

• After "happiness is easy =)" what’s next for Under The Rug? Are there any new projects or collaborations on the horizon?

Oh lord, we have the second part “happiness is easy =(“ coming out shortly after. We also recorded an EP in New Mexico a few months ago that we’re excited to share and a WHOLE bunch of new songs written for our yet-unnamed 5th LP.

I. Am. Excited.

Writing and recording time might be my favorite part about being alive.

• Lastly, is there anything you’d like to say to your fans who have been with you on this journey?

Yes. I wish I had a better way of articulating it over this interview blurb but, Rug Rats, truly, from the bottom of my heart, thank you. All of you. You showed me a kindness that I never thought was possible in this world. It felt like every time I wondered if y’all were still here, you answered with “Of course.”

I’ve been wobbling, off-kilter, and trying to rediscover who tf I am, and you’ve all been here, unphased. Unblinking. Total support. Some of you more than my closest friends and family. Thank you.

I hope you see me doing my best for you guys. I hope I keep making things y’all enjoy. I hope you hear these songs and feel a little less alone. I hope you have the same kind of support in your lives. I hope we all figure out how to be happy.