The Songwriter Speaks: Flycatcher's Greg Pease on "Sodas in the Freezer"

Words by Bennett Kelly

2019 was a big year for Flycatcher. They released their second album, did a cross country tour, and were “ready to go crazy in 2020” by playing shows all over. When Covid hit and they had no new music to record, they utilized the break to devote extra attention to songwriting and to thinking of how to bring it back. Their first release was the single “Games” in October 2021. Their second release was “Sodas in the Freezer” on April 1. Look At My Records! reporter Bennett Kelly interviewed guitarist/vocalist Greg Pease about the New Brunswick, NJ-based rock group’s latest single earlier this month. 

The first time I wrote any part of “Sodas in the Freezer” was in 2017. I wrote that intro riff. I wrote a whole song around that initially, but I didn't like it, so I didn't keep it. But I loved that riff. So come mid-pandemic 2021 or so, I was bored out of my mind and playing with old ideas that I just never did anything with. And that was one of them. So I wrote an entire new song around it. I wrote the music, I jammed it with the band a couple times, and we all had it locked down. 

But I didn't really know what I was going to say. I had a melody for the lyrics, but no lyrics. I booked some studio time for this thing, and said I'm gonna write lyrics, I’m gonna force myself to do it. 

I started working this job that I’m currently working now, and I had to drive an hour and a half each way. I began to spend that time just writing lyrics to the song. And then all those lyrics were written in the car while I was driving to and from work. 

I was thinking of stupid things that we all do on a daily basis. When you throw a soda in the freezer cause it needs to get cold real fast and you're like, Oh I'll take it out in a minute. And then you forget about it and it explodes and youre like Oh fuck, I’m such an idiot, I shouldnt have left that in there. 

This song is about the act of doing stupid stuff like that, but more so doing them deliberately. Like Oh I keep screwing up and I keep doing these things that are easily preventable, but I’m doing them on purpose, and self-sabotaging all of the time. I was looking at a tongue-in-cheek way to express having a problem that needs to be fixed but then just refusing to fix it. Or being too lazy to fix it. 

I relate to the lyrics in a lot of ways, but it's more a caricature of myself, or anybody who it can apply to. I imagine that somebody has their hands in their pockets, looking down, kicking rocks around, being like Woe is me and expecting everybody to pity them, when they really should just not be such a downer all the time [laughing], you know? We all do it. 

I play the song in D standard. However there are a few accidentals in there. In the chorus I play an E major and F# major instead of E minor and F# minor. And then there’s an A flat major in there which is also supposed to be minor. That’s kind of what gives it that ‘90s feel, all major chords on the chorus. 

And then that chromatic riff, that's an E major shape, and I’m just walking up the note that's on the A string for each new chord. So that's where it has the sort of creepy Radiohead, Weezer, chromatic ‘90s vibe to it. Just very rudimentary, theory-less guitar playing, playing guitar sounds that are just kind of edgy. 

It was fun to write because a lot of the time I operate in open tunings. And this one isn't in open tuning, it's in standard, more or less. With open tunings it's really hard to play outside of a key. Because if you play in open D, you're gonna be playing in D pretty much. It's hard to force yourself out of that. But in standard, standard is standard, you can play in any key at any time. That's the point of it. So that's why it’s fun to be able to throw some extra, random chords in there and make some stuff sound wonky. And then you've got a song that is pretty conventionally “easy” to play, but it's still got a unique vibe to it and it's fun. 

We recorded with Connor Hanson at Lampshade Studios in Toms River, New Jersey. We were looking for an intro, something to bring it in. I knew I wanted feedback to bring it in, but a feedback intro can be pretty played out. So I did a couple tracks of feedback, and I was like, Damn well this needs to glitch out. And then what Connor did was cut out little strips, like fractions of a second. He just cut them out of the audio, muted the audio for a fraction of a second, and he did that a bunch of times at random intervals. So it sounds like it's cutting in and out. He did it for all three different tracks of feedback, so they're all glitching at different times. It sounds like this digital thing, but it's really just guitar feedback. Which is really cool cause that's a sound I’ve always wanted to achieve but didnt know how to, and Connor just did it in like a second. 

The bridge is a bit different. I knew we wanted to bring it down. So we started with an acoustic guitar track where I played it sitting across the room from a mic, kind of just sitting in the room, and I played the acoustic part over and over again. And then we just built it from there. 

We initially had a guitar solo but then we decided against it, because we also had that little piano part hanging back there. And it just became so lush that we were like Damn, this doesn't need to have a ripping solo. We had this twangy, countryish solo, which I really liked, but then we’re just like this needs to be different from the rest of the song. 

Connor has a bunch of synths. He’s got a Moog synth which we used to lay down the initial part after the bridge, and then I got the idea to use the EBow. It’s a little box that you hold over the string on your guitar, and it basically vibrates the string for you. It sends a little electromagnetic pulse through the string and makes it ring out. 

So I played the same lick on that and we just blended the texture so it sounds organic, and a little digital. And we added some extra sound waves, some wooshing noises in the background. It was really fun to sort of just soundscape that for a bit. There were no rules. As long as it really stayed true to the vibe of the section we could really do whatever we want. 

We played a show on Sunday (April 2nd) and we played “Sodas in the Freezer” live. We’ve played it live a couple times now, I think probably five or six times. And each time it's getting better. We’re getting more comfortable with it. It's coming together better than I would have hoped. I think it translates. It's definitely a little more of a conventional rock song when you hear it live, but I feel we stayed pretty true to the recorded version, and we’re able to play some pretty fun stuff in that bridge section. I would encourage anybody that's curious to come check it out live and see for yourself [laughing].

We do intend to record more music, but no album for now. Right now we just have singles. We are kind of in a spot where, with budgets and all that sort of stuff, it's kind of nice to not worry about dumping money into a record. The singles are honestly really gratifying. It’s better to focus on one song at a time and make it the best it can be, and treat each song like a whole record. I feel that I'm giving each song more attention than I ever have before, and they’re coming out way better. So I kind of want to stick with the attitude of making singles, and then having enough of those to make a record, if that makes sense. Like make a bunch of singles, don't release a bunch of them and save them for an album, but they're all single quality, at least to me. 

That's the dream. I do hear a lot of albums where there's very obvious album cuts. And we've done that already. We've done two records, we have plenty of album cuts. And I don't feel the need to do album cuts for the sake of doing them. I want to see how far I can take it. I’m happy to keep making singles for now. It's just fun. 

Flycatcher - “Sodas in the Freezer” (2022)

Greg Pease: guitar/vocals

Justin VanNiekerk: guitar

Jack Delle Cava: bass

Connor Carmelengo: drums

Lyrics:

I've been picking fights but no one listens

Running out of guts to spill

I just wanna play the victim

Someday I will

So I'll keep leaving sodas in the freezer

Hanging clothes out in the rain

I'm trying on my worst demeanor

But I can't be blamed

[Chorus]

I'll be no one, except what you want

While you chase the sun I'll sleep in for fun

And I'll be your greatest stunt when I'm done

I'm done

So I'll keep passing out with double vision

Find it hard to stay awake

Left the gas on in the kitchen

Well fuck its too late

I'll be no one, except what you want

While you chase the sun I'll sleep in for fun

And I'll be your greatest stunt when I'm done

I'm done

“Sodas in the Freezer” is available on all streaming platforms. Keep up with Flycatcher by following them on Instagram and liking them on Facebook.

The band also has some big gigs coming up. They’ll be at Elsewhere in Brooklyn on May 6th with Girl Skin and they’re at The Saint in Asbury Park on May 21st with Pine Barons, Lightheaded, and Sol. Tickets for both shows are available now.