Interviewed by: Jay Neiss

Jay catches up with the Graveyard Choir after their set at FourWinds festival.

The Lineup: Eric Riley – Drums / “The Kid” – Guitar / Jen Riley- Vocals / Thom Whitney – Bass / Nate Valdez – Guitar/Vocals

Jay: How was the band formed, and what was the inspiration for the name?

Nate opens up about the roots of the Choir. “The band was kind of formed out of covid, our original band wasn’t really doing much, so we decided to start writing some more like American music. Graveyard Choir actually came because I grew ip on a mortuary, and my grandmother would hire me to sing songs for services. She always wrote it off on the bill as, ‘Graveyard Choir.’”

Jay: What was your life like before the band?

Tom Whitney shares a bit of insight. “Most of us have been playing in bands for a long time, Jen’s got a background in Opera performance, The Kid’s played in other bands, Nate and Eric have played in bands together, we’ve all been doing it for a long time.” “Before this [band life] was when we were like 15,” Nate laughs.

Jay: Was there a lot of early on support from your hometown community?

Nate offers his thoughts. “We’re still fresh on this band, it’s only been a couple of years, but early on, it can be hard. It’s hard to get people out to shows, and excited about things, they can just watch it on the internet. But it’s always growing!” 

Jay: What musicians, or albums, inspired each one of you?

Nate starts off. “American Aquarium and their new record, as well as Lucero, basically everything those guys have done, I highly recommend.” “For this band? My favorite band, Murder by Death.”, Jen laughs along with the band. “As a guitar player, I was really into Buckethead for a while. For this band, I would say Soundgarden’s style really inspires me a lot.” The Kid shares with us. “I would say Manchester Orchestra, and Half Moon Run are really my biggest bass inspirations towards this.” Tom tells us. When asked of Eric, he offers a simple, yet sure, “Jeff Porcaro.”

Jay: What has been your favorite show to date?

“Probably Halloween last year, opening for The Reverend Horton Heat, for me.” Jen shares, followed by much agreement. “Meow Wolf in Denver was insane for me. They have like this, active wall that they use, it’s almost a little too distracting.” Nate chuckles. “They project on all the walls, and we played this song called Roads, about this flood in Colorado years ago, and the lighting guy did this effect where you could watch the whole room fill up with water throughout the show, and when it ended, it flushed. It was insane!” Tom shares.

Jay: If there was anything you could say to anyone in the world right now, what would it be?

“Listen to live music,”, The Kid offers. Jen chimes in enthusiastically. “To be real? Fuck AI art. Real art, real people.”

Make sure to look out for their new record, coming soon,“The Space We Leave”.