Bethany Cosentino and Bully’s Alicia Bognanno seem in our Fall 2023 Situation with cowl stars Scowl, Yves Tumor, Poppy, and Good Charlotte. Head to the AP Store to seize a replica.
Bethany Cosentino and Alicia Bognanno, the voices and minds behind iconic indie bands, Greatest Coast and Bully, sit aspect by aspect in Cosentino’s LA dwelling. Business misfits turned staples, their friendship is undergirded by a mutual respect earned over the course of years spent within the music enterprise. After assembly on tour circa 2015, the 2 grew to become pals over a recreation of arcade basketball, for which Bognanno took the crown. However as indie music entered the popular culture enviornment within the early aughts, and have become topic to the feuding of bands fronted by girls, Cosentino and Bognanno maintained an adoration that wouldn’t come to fruition till years later of their careers.
Now, in opposition to the backdrop of Cosentino’s gallery wall of paint-by-the-number canine portraits, buying and selling Starbucks orders (iced espresso with slightly little bit of oat milk and sweetener and matcha) and misremembering the drink of selection throughout their arcade basketball days (Corona-ritas or Jägerbombs), there may be an earned camaraderie. The pair had been introduced nearer during the last years by way of the shared lack of their pets Snacks and Mezzi — symbolic and lyrical fixtures of their music — administration adjustments, and the idiosyncratic expertise of being a lady in indie music.
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The factors of intersection of their work are as nuanced as they’re apparent. The songwriters behind their respective music initiatives, each skirt themes of angst, love, loneliness, and revolt. Pulling on the similar thread with diverse depth, Cosentino wraps pop-punk melodies round her finger, whereas Bognanno frays the hem, letting the entire thing unravel with a grunge-inflected ferocity. And as Cosentino is taking management forward of her first solo album, Pure Catastrophe, Bognanno is releasing it, handing over the reins on her final album, Fortunate For You.
There’s a shared sentiment that some issues are out of their fingers. The 2 discover magnificence in catastrophe as not solely imminent however anticipated — pure. Confronting the uncertainty of such magnitude, the one tonic is change itself. In Pure Catastrophe’s polished pop-rock manufacturing, Cosentino enters a brand new chapter. Self-reflective lyrics and triumphant melodies run by way of pop-rock manufacturing by the use of Nashville producer Butch Walker. With youthful angst nipping at her heels, her new file traverses advanced themes of local weather change, grief, freedom, and management.
“Life can change on a dime. Something can occur. You could possibly actually stroll out the entrance door and never come dwelling later as a result of some tragic factor occurred, particularly the world that we stay in,” Cosentino says. “It will have been very simple for me to go in [the] deep black gap of, ‘Nothing fucking issues,’ however as a substitute it actually impressed me to truly need to stay my life.”
In a dialog between two iconic girls in indie music, an “introverted extrovert” and an “introverted introvert,” the duo have as a lot to show one another outdoors of music as inside it.
BETHANY COSENTINO: I really feel like each of the data we made are fairly bold.
ALICIA BOGNANNO: We each took huge leaps.
COSENTINO: We actually had been one another’s pep speak system. Just about each day, all day. We’ve recognized one another for a very long time. I really feel like we didn’t actually turn into that shut till after each of our pets died. As a result of it’s such a particular stage of grief. It appears like dropping a toddler. I feel for each of us, our pets had been with us a lot by way of all of those completely different phases of our life, from beginning our bands whereas rising up.
So after I discovered that Alicia’s canine had handed away, it was perhaps a pair months after my cat died. I despatched flowers as a result of after my cat died, I felt like I needed to present up and be supportive as a result of it’s simply next-level grief. Then I really feel we actually began to attach another way than we had earlier than. We additionally occurred to each be making these data, taking dangers. We actually needed to be one another’s cheerleader.
BOGNANNO: We had been each going by way of administration adjustments, which is a fairly intense relationship. I imply, I used to be with my earlier supervisor for eight years…
COSENTINO: Oh, my God, I used to be with mine for eight.
BOGNANNO: It’s a giant relationship shift as a result of they principally know every thing about you and have entry to all of your stuff. It’s a extremely attention-grabbing dynamic, nearly like a breakup. However that is additionally Bethany’s first solo file, and this was my first time significantly working with a producer, the place I used to be collaborating in a method that I by no means had earlier than. Often I’m going right into a file cycle, and I’ve every thing demoed out to the T, and I’m simply moving into and having it engineered. So in that method, we’re each doing very unfamiliar issues, and it was very nice to have a help system. These three issues on their very own are fairly life-changing.
COSENTINO: On this business, the quote-unquote issues of a working musician are so particular that it may be laborious to know on your pals outdoors of the business. In case you speak to them about being overworked or doing press all day or it’s important to go on tour, lots of people nonetheless take a look at you want, “However you’re dwelling the dream.” We’re very lucky to make a dwelling off our artwork, however it comes with loads of problems — stuff that impacts your psychological well being.
BOGNANNO: I might say that’s the largest factor. It’s the psychological well being facet of making one thing so private and susceptible, after which placing it out for everyone else to resolve the value of it. I do know that we each have an identical mentality that each one you are able to do is genuinely one of the best that you could. Create one thing that you just love. From there, you might want to do all this work on accepting the way it’s going to be acquired and never letting it validate you.
COSENTINO: We all know that that’s the rational method to it, however I feel most artists wrestle with a concern of being not acquired effectively or getting unhealthy critiques or any of these issues as a result of it’s a really susceptible factor. Everybody needs to be beloved and accepted for who they’re. However I feel that despite the fact that we each know this and would inform this to one another on a regular basis, generally it’s simply actually useful to have to inform anyone else as a result of once you hear your self say it, you’re like, “Oh, I’ve to use this to myself.” We might say that to one another forwards and backwards over Voice Memos. Like, “Bear in mind bitch, you gotta let go.” We “Jesus take the wheel” one another loads. That’s one in every of our favorites. That and YOLO. We’ll textual content one another, “YOLO, babe.”
BAGNANNO: Mine is YOLITA.
COSENTINO: However significantly, Alicia and I met many, a few years in the past, and each of us have grown a lot. While you’re within the public eye, even at our stage — we’re clearly not Katy Perry well-known — however when anyone has entry to you and your life, it’s actually laborious to evolve. I generally tend to actually establish as what the general public perceives me as, so I actually wished to make this file as a result of I obtained so bored with being perceived as one factor. At this cut-off date, I’ve to decide on myself and do the factor that I need to do. I feel we’re each experiencing that by the use of completely different circumstances.
We’re very related in loads of methods, however we’re additionally so completely different. I feel you’re much more introverted. I’m an introverted extrovert, the place I could be very “on.” I understand how to work a room or play the sport, however afterwards, I would like to go away for my alone time.
BAGNANNO: I’m introverted introverted. I’m method worse in social conditions. I don’t have a capability to show it on. I’m not good at networking or social media. It’s actually exhausting to me. After I drank, I felt like I used it to faucet into being like all people else. I may escape from being in my head, however it by no means obtained simpler. I simply needed to settle for that I’m actually not going to be that individual.
COSENTINO: I feel we each wrestle with that, like impostor syndrome. I typically really feel like I’m undeserving of the eye that I get. I always inform individuals I don’t know the best way to play guitar. I’m not a guitar participant. I don’t know any of the technical stuff. I’m not a musician. However none of these issues truly matter. So now I’m proudly owning all of that. On this file, I’m actually singing and actually prepared to be like, “I’m a singer.” I began singing actually younger. I took opera classes, and I used to be all the time hiding. As I obtained older, I actually began pondering, “Wait, I would truly be a superb singer.” [On] this file, I used to be actually asking myself, “Why am I attempting to fake? Why am I insecure?”
BAGNANNO: That’s type of the evolution of vocals once you begin a rock band.
COSENTINO: Effectively, additionally indie rock. I feel [in] indie rock, there’s this concept that you just’re not alleged to be a superb singer. So I feel I used to be alleged to have a cool indie voice. However this was my first time actually doing my very own factor, not having to run it by one other individual. It was simply me and Butch, my producer, and a few session musicians. By way of the inventive, too, simply having the ability to make my very own selections has been very crucial for me and my development as an artist, however [as] a human being, too.
Certainly one of my greatest anxieties is individuals feeling like I’m abandoning Bobb [Bruno] or Greatest Coast. It was very laborious on me, and I really like him a lot. I’ve recognized him since I used to be actually 16 years previous. It was a really intentional determination to hold all that up. I don’t know the way lengthy it’s going to be. Perhaps it gained’t ever come again. Perhaps it’ll come again subsequent yr. I don’t know. I’m very lucky to have a collaborator and pal in Bobb Bruno, who helps me by way of that. I really feel like loads of my concern stemmed from a misogynistic viewpoint of girls can’t select themselves.
BAGNANNO: That’s why I used to be in a quote-unquote “band” for therefore lengthy. Everybody was like, “How dare she be the one one?” That was the rationale to return out and be extra like, “It’s been me the entire time.” I nonetheless get requested about it, however no person else has ever written for Bully. I feel it’s primarily as a result of it’s rock music, and I don’t use my identify, however it’s me.
COSENTINO: I bear in mind getting shit from individuals to principally cover how a lot I contributed, however it’s simply eager to be the peacekeeper. Bobb and I actually did collaborate, however do you suppose a man was writing these songs about “I want you had been my boyfriend”? It was very a lot a collaborative factor between me and Bobb, however I used to be the only real songwriter. So it was all the time my tales and my lens life and my experiences. So I made the choice to be like, “I’m gonna stroll away from this and begin performing music beneath my very own identify, make my very own file, and do a very completely different fashion of music.”
I wished it to be mine. I actually wanted a brand new canvas. I had all these experiences by way of the pandemic that made me actually reevaluate my priorities. That was the primary second I spotted life can simply change at any second. You may actually stroll out the entrance door and never come dwelling later, particularly on the planet that we stay in the place there’s shootings and political upheaval and chaos on a regular basis. It will’ve been very simple for me to enter a deep black gap of, “Nothing fucking issues.” However as a substitute, it actually impressed me to truly need to stay my life.
BAGNANNO: I obtained fairly into Dharma talks years in the past, so I positively already had some moments of being within the current as a result of that’s all there may be. It’s simply acceptance of impermanence.
COSENTINO: I spotted that I didn’t relate to that identification anymore, of Bethany from Greatest Coast. I had outgrown myself — that’s so painful. That’s why the file is named Pure Catastrophe. It’s additionally a commentary on the state of the world and local weather change. However I additionally really feel like I skilled my very own type of pure catastrophe. I felt like my core and my basis was breaking. Nevertheless it’s all offered in a method the place it’s catchy. You may sing alongside. I don’t need to stare down into darkness for too lengthy as a result of then I really feel I simply turn into the darkness. So I hope that individuals can hear it and really feel impressed to permit themselves to evolve.
