The Daily Illini sat down with Jeffrey Paradise of Poolside on Sunday before his 6:30 p.m. set at the BACARDÍ stage to discuss his music creation process and his upcoming performances.
This interview has been slightly edited for length and clarity.
DI: How are you feeling about your set tonight?
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Poolside: I’m excited. It’s my first time playing Lollapalooza and I’m doing an after party at Lincoln Hall, which I have done before, it’s a great room. So, I’m excited to do both a big festival and an intimate room.
DI: Are there any songs you’re extra excited to play tonight?
Poolside: I mean, all of them. We’re doing a song called “I Feel High” that we just started playing on this run. It’s always cool to have a new song, but we keep getting better as a band. So, to be honest, every song feels kind of new.
DI: You have a very recent release, “Float Away,” correct?
Poolside: Yes, yes. Like, days old. It’s a new song. I collaborated with a band called Vansire. They live in New York now, I think they’re from Minnesota originally. It’s kind of a yacht rock song, an Ode to a divorce day on his yacht is regretting all his life choices. And yeah, it’s got a lot of acoustic guitar and synths and it’s very chilled, laid back and catchy.
DI: What was the songwriting process like for “Float Away?” How did that song unfold?
Poolside: It’s kind of an odd one to explain, but I wrote the demo with Alton, who’s in Poolside. We sent it to Vansire. They did some vocals that didn’t really, totally make sense with the arrangement. I totally rearranged the song and sent it back, and then they did a second verse. And then I put it all together. If that makes sense? I don’t know if it does. It’s hard to talk about the process sometimes, right? Like, ‘Is this just my head or do people understand this?’
DI: It makes sense, yeah. You also announced a new album recently, can we talk about it?
Poolside: Yeah, October 20. It’s coming out. Just announced it a couple days ago. It’s 11 songs, all brand new, and kind of a different direction in terms of songwriting. It’s very song-focused, rather than kinda track-focused. It’s not really dance floor music. One song is dance floor, but it’s not coming from a DJ perspective at all. It’s very like, verse-chorus songs, like crafted songs, so I’m super excited about that. It’s the first time with a record label — we’re signed to Counter Records. And we have a few more singles between now and then, to keep you even more interested.
DI: You’ve been making music for a long time. How has your process of making music evolved over the years?
Poolside: It depends on what you mean. It’s evolved, both with Poolside and also, I’ve been making music since I was 15 years old when I started my first band. I started playing trumpet when I was in first grade. But, weirdly enough, I’ve thought about this. My songwriting on this album sort of returned to the way I wrote songs as a teenager, just hanging out with friends, picking up a guitar and coming up with ideas. So weirdly, it’s maybe devolved back to the original way I used to write songs. But, I was into electronic and dance music for a very long time. So we used to be very much like ‘write a drum beat, come up with a synth bass, write some melodies and chords over that. Very traditional, typical dance s—. But now I’ve returned to being a guy in a band writing a song.
DI: What’s the reasoning behind your return to this form of songwriting?
Poolside: There wasn’t any reason. I just felt like it.
DI: “Harvest Moon” is one of your biggest tracks. What’s the story behind it?
Poolside: We had finished creating our first album, “Pacific Standard Time,” and we realized it was going to take a long time to put the album out, like maybe nine months. And we had developed some fans with our first single “Do you believe.” We were like, ‘f—, we’re gonna lose all of them if we don’t put out something soon. So let’s just do a cover.’
We kinda tossed around a couple ideas and we’re like, ‘Alright, let’s do Neil Young’s Harvest Moon.’ It popped out really well and people connected with it. So we stopped the press of the album and said we have to put out the song because people really loved it. We thought it might just be something that lived on YouTube. But yeah, it’s become the biggest thing Poolside’s ever done.
DI: Do you have any original songs that are favorites?
Poolside: “Around The Sun,” and “Can’t Stop Your Lovin’.” Both of those are on Low Season. “Float Away” is a contender for a favorite song right now. So those three are definitely my three favorites.
DI: What do you have coming up in the future? Any more shows coming up?
Poolside: Tonight, Lincoln Hall and Lollapalooza. I’m DJing with Carly Rae Jepsen in New York on Monday and Tuesday. And then we play a bunch of shows in San Francisco, including Outside Lands.
