Interview with Seeing Double
After the release of their two singles, “Don’t Wait” and “Leah”, the New York based band, Seeing Double, has garnered quite the attention. When I initially came across their song “Leah” I immediately thought to myself “wait a minute, is this some weird Fleetwood Mac demo??” and I soon realized that they were a fresh, new band with an older sound.
After listening to their two singles countless times, I knew I had to reach out for a chance to talk to these guys before they really made it big. Thankfully, they agreed to an interview and I couldn’t be happier about having a chance to learn more about this group. Read along below for a summary of my conversation with Seeing Double, or you can skip ahead to the full video interview if that is more your style.
Me: So tell me a bit about how this band got started. Was it one person’s idea or all of your ideas or how exactly did this come together?
Seeing Double: Allie: “The band started a year ago and we were all here last semester on campus and there were only about 500 kids on campus due to COVID so I was really bored and thought “hey let me start like a cover band and play some of my original songs” and we got together just to play one show, and then after we played together for the first time we had so much fun that we got pretty serious in August when we started playing shows on the weekends, and then we released the singles in January, and now we are taking it like a full time job.”
Me: Okay, so y’all all go to the same college?
SD: “Yes, we all go to SUNY Oneonta in The Catskills.”
Me: “Okay cool! So were y’all already friends before or did y’all know some people and were introduced by one person?
SD: “I feel like we all kind of knew of each other to an extent. We kind of just got close because of the band.”
Me: That is cool, especially with COVID, I can only imagine how that was. How was like with getting shows together when y’all first got started? Were some places not even accepting live music or how has that been?
SD: “We go to college in a really small town so there are not a lot of places to play so it’s definitely not like New York City where there are tons of bars and restaurants, it’s more like little quirky places to try and get gigs and last year, there was only like one place that was having live music. Definitely small crowds, masks, spread out but it was a really great opportunity for us to play shows in our college town.”
Me: My next question is who are some of your bigger musical influences? It can be as a whole, individually, or as a band?
SD: “Yeah, I think we should each go around and share our own since we are all so different.”
Michael: “I would say my two biggest influence are The Strokes for sure, they are probably the biggest, and The Police.”
Allie: “Ooo I am a big Paul Simon fan, especially as of late. And also Fiona Apple.”
Dylan: “So yea, I would say the Chili Peppers are big one”
Ali: “Mine would probably be this new band I am obsessed with. Well not new, but new to me, called The Beths. And then also Hippo Campus.”
Me: Y’all do have a variety though, I love it! I mean that is how good stuff comes together, with a nice variety of influences.
SD: Michael: “I will also speak for Zach since he is not here, but his influences are definitely Mötley Crüe, Van Halen, and Jimi Hendrix.”
SD: “So there is definitely a wide range, but as a band as a whole, you can probably hear in our music is Fleetwood Mac.”
Me: Yeah, that is kind of what I noticed too when I first heard your songs. So speaking of your music, I saw where your song “Leah” has gotten a lot of attention on TikTok and that was kind of how I came across it. I remember coming across a video where someone was using that song and I was like “hold up, hold up” and I was caught of guard thinking “who is this??” So I looked and naturally went down the rabbit hole and found your band. Since it has been getting so much attention, how has that been?
SD: “Oh my gosh, it has definitely been overwhelming but in the best way. We are so grateful for every single person that has listened to it and it happened so fast which is why I say overwhelming with just figuring out what we are going to do next. In general, having written this song over the course of a few months and recording it, we never would have imagined that the feedback would be so much and so strong from so many people. Definitely a good thing, we are very happy about it.”
Me: I am sure people are asking “What’s next?” “What about more?” and you are all probably thinking like “wow, it takes more than 5 seconds to put together and record a song.”
SD: “I think a big thing to is that we are full time college students and we are all busy people to begin with and our schedules never align perfectly so it is difficult to find time to figure out what we are doing next as a band. It’s tough but we make it work.”
Me: As mentioned earlier, Fleetwood Mac is a big influence on your band as a whole and that was definitely a sound I noticed as well. But I also noticed in your other song “Don’t Wait” that it has more of an edgier sound. Like I can see some Fleetwood Mac but I notice another type of sound as well. So is that an accurate representation of where you are wanting to go with your sound as a whole or are those two songs somewhat of an experiment with where you are wanting to go?
SD: Allie: “I gotta be honest, the next song that we are working on has a completely different sound than these other two or it is more of a combination. So I guess what we want to do at first is just show range and an example of what all we can play so that there is a little something for everyone. But the difference between “Leah” and “Don’t Wait” is because Mike and I have completely different taste. He came up with the riff for “Don’t Wait” and I came up with the sound for “Leah” so it is like two very different people on two different songs.
Me: I mean I like that! It shows range and I feel like if y’all just keep putting out music that all sounds the same then people will start to ask “what else can they do?” However, with “Leah” getting so much attention, do you kind of feel like you have to go in a certain direction or do you still think it is one of those things where you sort of have complete control to say “hey, we are still experimenting with our sound and we are still working on all of this, I am glad you like “Leah” but here is some other stuff we can do.”?
SD: “Totally! We get that pressure sometimes since “Leah” did so well and its like “oh we have to write Leah part 2 and Leah part 3” but at the same time that we care how our music is received, we still want to do what we want to do.
Me: I am sure that also makes the band have a more authentic sound too instead of thinking like “well these people on TikTok liked this song so now we gotta keep doing more”
SD: Michael: “It is funny because growing up, some of my favorite bands would change their sound and I never really understood it until I started making music and playing it bands. It’s like, you can’t keep doing the same stuff forever.”
Me: Any plans for new music? An EP or album? I know y’all just said how busy you all are haha no pressure, just a question!
SD: “We definitely are busy but we are also putting the band as a priority as well since we love playing and the writing process is also so much fun. But, we are not planning on doing any big projects like an EP or album at the moment but plan to just keep releasing singles and seeing how those go because it is fun to just release things as we go. So that is our plan, but we don’t have an exact date yet for our next release but keep an eye out for the Spring or early Summer.”
Me: So I noticed on social media that y’all started playing more shows and one of them already sold out. How is that going to be this Summer? Are you going to do a mini tour, play just wherever you get gigs, or more like how you said with COVID and playing at the same location?
SD: “So our plan for the Summer would be to do a mini tour where we hit many of the cities around us here in the Northeast. We have a show in New York City and then another in Pennsylvania. We plan to announce it once we have them more lined up in a row but definitely just play as often as we can despite the fact that we will all be spread out during the Summer.”
Me: Oh wow, I didn’t event think about you all going home for the Summer. That definitely will be tough.
SD: “Yea but it will be fun and we are looking forward to it. We do have a van now too!”
Me: Who are some other bands or artists that you have been digging lately?
SD: “We have all been kind of digging the new Hippo Campus album.” Allie: “I don’t really listen to that type of music, I mean they aren’t bad but just not my taste. I am been really in to a Steely Dan album.”
Me: My next question is if making music and playing in a band something all of you wanted to do or did it just sort of happen?
SD: Ali: “I am the only one in the band that is not a music major, I am actually early childhood education so it has been more of a hobby for me but I have always loved singing and playing guitar. I definitely wasn’t expecting to get into all of this during my college experience but I am so glad I did.” Allie: “I think the rest of us always panned to be in some sort of band or something.” Dylan: “I think Mike and I have been playing in bands for a while now so we’ve been doing this.”
Me: I think that is great that most of you are music majors, it gives you a bit more street cred. My next question is what are your short term or long term goals at the moment?
SD: “Short term would be to finish booking this tour for the Sumer. It has been very stressful and I didn’t know how much work would have to be put into booking a tour at all. We probably send like 15 emails a day and you don’t hear back from people or they say no, but people do say yes though! We have had a few say yes so thank God! But yea, our short term goal is to just solidify what we are doing over the Summer and get some new music out, which is on the way. For long term, I am not sure, just taking it months at a time.”
Me: My last question is just if there is anything you wanted to share with people who are just discovering your music or anything you were prepared to say that I didn’t ask today?
SD: “Ooo so we are starting to call our fans “Doublers” but we want to know if that is well received or if that is something the fans are into. So we will just see how that goes.”
Me: Speaking of the name, where did it come from?
SD: “It is so cheesy! But the first time that we all met and got together, it was pouring rain and it was coming down hard. So we met at a pizzaria and when we left there was a double rainbow and we thought that it was a sign.”
Me: Well that was all the questions I had so thank you for your time. I am so excited about your music, your band, and I hope this Summer works out for y’all. I am a fan for sure!
It was so great to have a chance to sit down with the members of Seeing Double and get a feel for them as a group and see where they are planning to head with this new found attention from their double single. I can’t wait to see where this band goes and I look forward to rooting for them along the way. Give these guys a listen and especially “Leah” if you are a fan of Fleetwood Mac.
To watch the full video interview with Seeing Double, see below!
