Interview with Coral Benders

Pretty stoked that for Interview #17, I got to chat with Jake from the Coral Benders! These guys are from DC and are a really cool psych rock band. We chat about how they met, how Coral Benders started, how they got to write a song for Long John Silvers, and future goals. Check it out here:

trtlz: Well, hi! Thanks so much for doing this interview with me! 

trtlz: It's introduction time! Who are the Coral Benders?

Coral Benders: Of course, thanks for asking us! 

Coral Benders: The Coral Benders are a 5 piece psych rock band from DC. We’ve been playing together for like 2 years now I think.

Coral Benders: But I’ve been playing with Brennan (Guitar and Vox) for like 12 Years.

trtlz: So you guys have been in multiple bands together in the past or just jamming for fun?

Coral Benders: Both, we played in a band called FiNN in high school together and this band was actually called The Virginia Slims before we named it Coral Benders but we’ve always jammed together.

trtlz: Nice! Ok, so you’ve been together as Coral Benders for about 2 years . How did the rest of you end up together?

Coral Benders: Well when we were Virginia Slims we started playing acoustic with some of Brennan’s friends from college and their friends and we ended up having a residency at this bar called Dr Clocks Nowhere Barwhere we played once a month for a year and so as that built up we started playing with a more regular line up and drums and electric guitars and we picked up Shawn (Guitar & Vox) and Matt (Drums) through that. Shortly after that Brennan smashed his finger and Pat (Organ/Keys) another friend of the group filled in on guitar until Brennan could play again and ended up moving to Keys and staying permanently.

trtlz: Oh that’s cool. So Brennan smashing his finger ended up bringing you Pat! Brennan might not feel the same haha. But kind of interesting how that worked out!

Coral Benders: Yeah it certainly was a silver lining haha we probably wouldn’t have expanded to add keys without it but after hearing it with such a full sound and the extra space it allows for guitars and stuff it’s hard to go back. Wish we could add somebody to the rhythm section haha

trtlz: For sure!

trtlz: So how did you go from Virginia Slims to the name Coral Benders?

Coral Benders: We figured we couldn’t sell anything that said “The Virgina Slims” on it for copyright reasons haha but we considered naming the band Coral Bleaching but couldn’t reach a unanimous decision. The Tone Benders was the other option I believe and we kinda mashed them together.

Coral Benders: That’s the abridged version anyway there were hundreds of names proposed and shot down.

trtlz: Haha true . Virginia Slims probably would not approve . But Coral Benders has a nice ring to it!

Coral Benders: Yep, no regrets on the name!

trtlz: Do you guys have any musical influences overall as a band? You know, bands or musicians you all love?

Coral Benders: Yeah for sure, we like music all over the place but we all love the Pixies, and The Beatles, more recently King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, The Oh Sees, La Luz. We’ve all been getting down to Steely Dan lately, but Brennan is a recent convert haha

trtlz: those are some amazing choices! Such good bands. And haha hanging out with you all so much, it was only a matter of time before Brennan was gonna convert, right?

Coral Benders: Yeah we had to trick him he finally asked who it was when Steely Dan was on and he could no longer deny it.

trtlz: I noticed you have an album from 2017 out "Terra Foma" and a little EP that is recent "Dolores After Dark". (Both sound wonderful by the way.) Are you working on more material or just chilling right now?

Coral Benders: No, we’re working! We have been recording and producing everything in house since Terra Foma and we’ve been recording some new songs we’re just about to start on another two or three.

Coral Benders: It’s hard to get 5 people with full time jobs in the same room especially when you’re gigging as well.

Coral Benders: But we have new stuff on the way. We’re only getting better haha

trtlz: Of course! I totally hear you it's hard enough finding time after having jobs to do anything but then also having to meet each others schedules, I'm sure they can get a little crazy

trtlz: But super stoked to hear there is some new music in progress!!

Coral Benders: Thanks we’re excited too. It’s always fun to record and write.

trtlz: You did mention you are gigging as well. Do you guys play a lot of shows? I'm sure it's probably hard to fit that in sometimes as well. 

Coral Benders: Yeah we play pretty much twice a month. We love playing live it’s kinda what we wanted from the start. We like to have a lot of fun and it’s great to include other people in that. Meeting other bands and getting to see live music, what’s not to like!

Coral Benders: We’ve even played a few fancy private parties and that’s a blast.

trtlz: Oh shoot! Fancy parties? That's awesome!  Haha. That does sound like fun!

Coral Benders: Yeah one for Professor and another for a Law Firm. The open bar really livens up the crowd. 

trtlz: And yeah..I'm sure playing live is definitely one of the best parts of being in a band and also getting to meet other people and chill

trtlz: I love going to shows so I can imagine

trtlz: Are there any bands you love playing with or would love to play with if the opportunity came up?

Coral Benders : Yeah tons of bands have been great to play with! But to name a few Bottled Up is probably our favorite DC band to play with. They rip and have a high energy live show, with great songs. We played recently with Kiss the Tiger and they were super tight, super nice and sounded great, very rock n roll. Also Prude Boys ripped it. Sounded just like the record. Always nice to be inspired by the bands we’re playing with. Makes the whole show so much better.

trtlz: Have you done any touring or do you plan to do any tours in the future?

Coral Benders: We have not but we’re trying to nail down a time for one hopefully at the end of this year or early next year. Whenever we get around to releasing the new songs.

trtlz: What's the writing process like? Is it a group thing? Is there one or two members that do most of the writing? How does everything come together to become a Coral Benders song?

Coral Benders: Largely, somebody comes to the band with a riff or a couple parts of a song and we all work it out together. Some times there’s a line or two and we all write the lyrics together. But mostly we jam on all parts of the song until we like it and arrange it to play live and basically work it out until we have to finalize it for the studio. But even then we’ll play things differently live.

Coral Benders: Very rarely does somebody come to the band with a finished song. I think "popsicle girls" was probably figured out before it was introduced to the band and a few others.

trtlz : Yeah every band is different and the writing process totally varies, but I like when mostly everyone contributes to creating the song so that's really cool

Coral Benders: Yeah, we’re heavy on democracy in the band try to make sure everybody is heard out and has a say. The more mixes of influences you can get hopefully the more interesting the final product.

trtlz: That is very true I think. I totally agree.

trtlz: You had to know this was coming, but it's how I even found you guys haha. So I have to ask. How did your relationship with Long John Silvers and Fish Yeah! Records start?

Coral Benders: I actually just tweeted at them asking if they needed a theme song and that we were nautically themed and got lucky haha our genre at the time was listed as Beach Adjacent Dad Rock and I guess somebody for their PR thought that was funny and responded and I pushed a little more and they asked for a demo. So like the next day we got together and wrote and recorded “The Ballad of Long John Silvers” and they loved it. We had a call about a contract the next day. It was wild.

Coral Benders: Still kinda hard to believe haha

Coral Benders: The internet is crazy.

trtlz: That's amazing! I love that haha. Crazy how something can happen just by taking a little risk.

trtlz: And yes! you have "The Ballad of Long John Silvers". And my shirt says it! I was so excited when they sent me Fish Yeah gear haha. It's amazing. 

trtlz: Now I need some actual Coral Benders gear soon!

Coral Benders: Yeah just on a whim, it was a good lesson in the value of putting yourself out there ,you know. You’ll never know if you never try type of advice.

Coral Benders: Yeah the fish yeah gear was cool we didn’t even know about it! Until we saw it on twitter haha. They were super cool to work with and we had a blast doing the songs. Love my fish yeah hat.

trtlz: That must be so much fun and really exciting for you guys. And yes the hat is dope. Haha.

trtlz: I know this is more of a Fish Yeah! Records thing, but you guys are part of it. The Merry Fishmas project - how awesome is that? You guys did "The Twelve Days of Fishmas" which is obviously one of the best songs haha, how did you feel about doing that?

Coral Benders : Um, it was a fun challenge to take on. We’re not much for Christmas songs but all of the songs were like a chance to explore some different styles and we treated it as such. When we were asked which song we couldn’t pass up 5 hush puppies haha

Coral Benders: We also had such a blast recording the other songs that it was fun to have another go, it was pretty easy to get into the Fishmas spirit

trtlz: Yeah normal Christmas songs are kind of meh but it's cool for me to have something different to listen to!

Coral Benders: Yeah I’ll probably put on the Fishmas album for some Christmas cheer haha Most of the songs are hilarious

trtlz: They really are haha

trtlz: What are some of the most exciting and most challenging things you've faced as a band?

Coral Benders : The LJS thing was pretty exciting, one time we entered into a contest to open for Bon Jovi and forgot about it, but then got a call that we had made it to the final round. That’s was exciting but it didn’t pan out haha

Coral Benders: Brennan losing his finger was tough cause we didn’t really know how to process the band was really new and we had just finished recording Terra Foma, but that did pan out haha

Coral Benders: Sorry he didn’t lose it but he couldn’t use it for a few months haha. He still has the finger.

trtlz: Oh good! I was like shoot I didn't realize he lost it! Haha. For sure that's still a struggle. But definitely awesome what came out of it!!

Coral Benders: It’s been a great trip so far.

trtlz: What's next for the Coral Benders? Any news? Do you have some goals in mind for the future?

Coral Benders : Yeah we’re looking to release some new music and do a little tour with that. Hopefully a music video. Goal wise we want to play at the 9:30 Club in DC.

Coral Benders: Maybe another brand endorsement deal, just want to keep it fun.

trtlz: Yeah definitely! You've already had some incredible opportunities, I'm sure your future will have plenty more.

Coral Benders: We certainly hope so! Thanks for taking the time to talk to us and support new music.

trtlz : I am so glad we got to do this. I learned so much about you guys. Is there anything else you'd like to add?

Coral Benders: It was fun, thanks again 🤙

You can check out the Coral Benders on Spotify here: https://tinyurl.com/y4okyzx2.