ATP! Interview: We Are The In Crowd

The guys (and girl) of We Are The In Crowd have been hard at work on their sophomore record, Weird Kids, since last February. They wrote in New York, they wrote in Georgia, they wrote in Los Angeles; writing and recording this record was happening at every moment that they weren’t on stage, which is impressive since the band spent the majority of 2013 on tour.

With 2014 under way and the record release quickly approaching, lead vocalist Tay Jardine spoke with Alter The Press on the details of the record and what it’s been like transitioning from Guaranteed to Disagree. Jardine explains that the recording process for Weird Kids was actually difficult in the beginning due to the fact that they hadn’t written any serious material together in almost two years. Once they got over that hurdle, the writing process was actually fairly easy.

“It was actually really interesting to come together again and to learn from each other. It was really cool! It was sort of like conspiring all over again because it felt like we were just writing with random people even though it was ourselves… Before we knew it, we had 25 songs to head to the studio with. I feel like in the past we had problems where we thought ‘no this definitely won’t work’ and this time we just never said that… I think we figured it out, we had enough time to really figure it out where with the last record there was a lot more pressure; we were a new band and we were also crunched for time. It was nice this time around to get to know each other creatively.”

As for the title Weird Kids, Jardine gives lead guitarist Cameron Hurley all the credit. While throwing out names during their writing sessions, this one stuck to the group.

“We were talking about the general idea of our scene and our world – not even our scene but the music world or any kind of creative world. Like my brother and sister are artists and my brother is a landscaper and they’re just weird people. I think all creative people are pretty weird and strange and our fans are really weird. It’s more of an idea and not a gimmick like ‘Be Weird! Get Weird’ because then those t-shirts start coming out and we’re like ‘Shit! We can’t do this anymore!’ (laughs). It’s just something that means a lot to us – it’s the idea of people being kind of strange and outside of the box and making it work.”


Jardine also spills on the music video for “The Best Thing (That Never Happened),” which was actually shot in the same location as the Spice Girls video for “Say You’ll Be There” and the film Holes. “I was actually drooling for no reason,” Jardine admits when bringing up the Spice Girls. The nostalgia wore off towards the end of shooting, however, when the band became stranded in the desert. Jardine jokes that she thought it was the end for all of them; she says, “I even called my mom and told her that I loved her. Deserts are creepy at night!”

As if they didn’t spend enough time on the road last year, the “We Are The In Crowd Reunion Tour” is already underway in the UK and will hit the US on February 21st starting in Philadelphia, with support from Candy Hearts, William Beckett, Set It Off and State Champs. Fans can expect a good five to seven new songs on this set list in addition to older hits; something Jardine was excited to talk about. “It’s nice now to have options to make a set list!”

- Gina Catalano

Weird Kids is out February 18th via Hopeless Records. Dates and ticket information for the band's upcoming tour can be found here.