We interviewed Small Crush frontperson Logan to discuss our favorite cold-weather beverages, embroidery, and our love of Percy Jackson and other fantasy worlds.
Your most popular song is “Chicken Noodle.” Besides the obvious, what’s your favorite comforting meal or drink on a cold day?
Logan: Ooh, I love coffee. It’s my go to, but just one cup day really. And tea the rest of the day, multiple cups of jasmine or anything green or yummy. I’ve been having fun doing my own thing and trying different blends. There’s this herb called Skullcap, which is really good for anxiety. And then lavender and chamomile, that’s one of my favorites. You gotta chill out from the coffee.
After all the stuff with Burger Records over the summer, how do you think we can keep the scene safer moving forward?
Logan: Definitely. I’ve been thinking a lot about this. I even played with some bands that were affiliated in that kind of stuff. Just going forward, doing our diligence to not play with those bands and to promote a safe environment at our shows. I’m trying to work on a little zine or something we can give out to people about safety and keeping a lookout, and resources and stuff. Once shows happen again, we’ll try to be better and look out for people. Just spread awareness and say who we really are and stuff, and what we stand for.
What are some of your non-musical influences, like books or movies?
Logan: I love all the 80s, kinda kitschy sci-fi weird thriller space stuff. Like Gremlins and Labyrinth and stuff. That’s always been a form of my imagination. Books and such, I did read a lot when I was younger. Like Percy Jackson, all those things. I was so into and now I’m understanding more why. Just things that kind of take you into another world and immerse you in new feelings.
I don’t think I can capture that [in my music] as well as other people who make mystical fairy music. But I do escape in another world when I play. I don’t know why [Percy Jackson] was my thing. It was a thing my personality could latch onto, and I could live through him vicariously on all of his adventures. I love the mythical god aspect of it, and learning about it through that. That was cool. Even The Magic Tree House, I’m realizing how much those books really shaped who I am, unconsciously.
What’s your star sign? Do you think it fits you? Why or why not?
Logan: I am an Aquarius Sun. My birthday is on the 7th.
Sarah: We have the same birthday, that’s wild!
Logan: That’s sick. My moon sign is Pisces, and my rising is Gemini. There’s an Aquarius poster behind me. That was a score, I was like, “I need this!”. I do think my sign fits me very well. I’m a pretty stereotypical Aquarius. I do say my Pisces moon and Gemini rising make me a little less of the… I feel like Aquarius people can’t generally express their emotions or get it out. But I feel like I can. I use The Pattern, which isn’t really astrology, but it is based on Astrology. That one you can find little things about yourself and time passages. It’s the holy grail, I’d say, of astro-knowledge.
I’ve seen that you dabble in several hobbies and activities aside from music, including roller skating. How have these other outlets been fulfilling for you?
Logan: They’re pretty much all I can do at the moment. I haven’t been able to see my band at all this whole time. We got together one time for a video thing, with masks on and stuff. We haven’t really been able to practice. Definitely roller skating, and embroidery, and knitting. Well, actually crocheting. But doing those things has been so peaceful, and kind of mindless thinking almost. It’s been hard for me to write lately because I don’t have that full band experience keeping me invigorated and going. And I can’t hear how things sound, so I don’t know.
[My hobbies] are therapeutic for sure, I just got an embroidery machine. Going to heck with it, and trying to make some band patches and see what I can do with it. It’s fun! I feel like it’s easy to do, and you kind of don’t need to practice that much. You just have to have a good idea of what you want to draw or whatever. Dazzle clothes up, it’s fun.
Your most recent release is called “Running”. Have you been mentally finding yourself running towards something or running away from something lately?
Logan: I’d say, I wrote the song awhile back. It doesn’t really apply to me at the moment. That was more of a relationship kind of thing. I feel like I was running away from the person I was with, and I felt like we were at this point where we weren’t really together, it was like a race against each other. Of like, fame, or art, or whatever. I don’t know, just moving past that. Very fulfilling.
Where do you hope to see yourself and Small Crush by the end of this year?
Logan: I hope we play a show, maybe. That would be cool. Cross my fingers, whatever. That would be cool, but if not, I really hope I can push through my songwriting block to write an album or something.
Can you walk us through what your typical songwriting process looks like?
Logan: Usually I just play my guitar, and I try to play some chords I think sound cool together. But sometimes, it’s hard because then I get into this “Oh, someone’s already wrote this song before” syndrome, like “Whoa! Oh no, they’re gonna realize I’m playing the chords from their song!”. But I realized everyone uses the same chords. I write some chords, I just kind of freestyle however I’m feeling over it, pretty much, just words or feelings that come out to me. I try to write them down if I think they’re good enough, or voice memos is helpful.
The problem with that is I’ll just record it and I won’t even return back to it. Or it’s like, “Why did I do that, that sounds bad?”. It’s like, “Oh, okay. Put that away.” I found a little notebook of poetry I had, and it’s like “I’m going to the grocery store. I need a coupon.” It was like, oh my god. I remembered writing all those poems and thinking they were like, “Ooh, I’m about to be a poet.” [Sarcastically] I have some amazing ones I’ve been finding, like, oh my god.
What have you been listening to lately?
Logan: I’ve been listening to a lot of Joni Mitchell because of the weather and the mood. She just matches it, the wintertime or whatever. Blue just reminds me of the winter, I don’t know why. I’ve been listening to just kind of everything. That sounds bad, but yeah. A lot of 90s girl rock bands. My favorite changes all the time, but my favorites are The Muffs, The Breeders, and Liz Phair. I can listen to each one of their albums all the way through and know what song is next and scream it out. It’s awesome. It’s so satisfying.
Do you have any upcoming plans, whether it be personal or band-related?
Logan: I think we’re just gonna try to keep going. I’m gonna keep writing songs, try to maybe release something this year, if we can get back in the studio. We’re just planning to go up and hopefully have more people listen to us. It’s hard to promote yourself when you don’t have shows to go to, because it’s so helpful when people go and record their snippet for their story or whatever and tag you. Or people just wearing your shirt, buying your merch, whatever. That stuff helps tremendously. Not having that real-life connection is really hard.
THE END
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