Las Vegas-based pop-rock group the Increased have all the time caught out in a traditionally oversaturated style. The band rose to prominence with their 2007 sophomore album On Hearth, a set of songs that match with the Warped Tour crowd whereas seamlessly fusing genres similar to R&B and funk to create their signature sound. Throughout this time, the band additionally determined to lean on their Vegas roots, incorporating neon lights and on line casino imagery into their movies and photograph shoots. The Increased went on to tour alongside main acts similar to We The Kings and Movement Metropolis Soundtrack earlier than releasing their remaining album in 2009, It’s Solely Pure. Now the Increased are reemerging after a 12-year hiatus to launch their gorgeous new EP, Elvis in Wonderland, a recent batch of fabric that accommodates the band’s traditional DNA, various sounds and their allegiance to Vegas.
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On the EP’s lead single “Free Journey,” the Increased have proved as soon as once more that they know their means round a powerful refrain whereas penning witty lyrics that’ll keep in your head for days. Unique members Seth Trotter (vocals) and Robert “Reggie” Ragan (guitar) have by no means sounded extra in sync, and the ensuing EP displays a labor of affection that is each tailored for die-hard followers and progressive sufficient to achieve a complete new viewers.
The Increased have such a definite sound the place you incorporate the whole lot from R&B, funk and emo. With that being stated, what went into creating your signature sound?
SETH TROTTER: All of us hearken to a little bit of the whole lot. Myself and Reggie hearken to numerous R&B, and we undoubtedly nonetheless hearken to the bands which can be just like our style, however we often like one thing that has a bit of extra funk to it. We didn’t go into it saying, “That is how we needed to sound.” We simply wrote the songs and sounds that got here to us. With us being ’90s infants, we grew up on boy bands, and numerous that received introduced into the combo to enter the pop-rock emo sound that was prevalent within the scene that we had been in.
Your hometown of Las Vegas has all the time been a central a part of your imagery and lyrics. What’s it in regards to the metropolis that continues to encourage you a lot?
TROTTER: We go off the vibes that Vegas provides. Once you dwell right here, you get to see the town in a distinct gentle than lots of people get to see. We lived it day in, time out. Vegas is the land of debauchery to have a good time and escape, which I’ll even say the title observe “Elvis in Wonderland” is about. It’s about getting misplaced within the debauchery and misplaced within the second whereas making an attempt to have the very best evening of your life.
ROBERT “REGGIE” RAGAN: Including on to that, the On Hearth report was once we actually began to embrace Vegas as a theme within the music, and I believe that needed to do with touring, going to different cities and realizing that we dwell in a very nice metropolis.
[Photo by Alex Bemis]
Seth, if I’m not mistaken, you carry out on Freemont Avenue in Vegas very often with a canopy band, proper?
TROTTER: I do the quilt band factor on a regular basis. It’s one thing that occurred after our band [went on hiatus] as a result of I needed to maintain singing. It’s enjoyable to expertise the folks you run into, and it’s only a totally different world. We do the whole lot from high 40 ‘90s stuff and hip-hop to traditional rock.
Elvis in Wonderland is your first new music in over 12 years. What was the journey like?
TROTTER: It was very collaborative, and that has all the time been in our DNA. With this report, every track was written by a collaborative group of our bandmates, outdated bandmates and our producers. What’s nice about this new report is that COVID impressed the band to reunite. All of us had this time the place we weren’t working, however had been all writing individually and determined to satisfy up collectively in LA to see what would come. We wrote in all probability an album’s value of music and took the very best 5 that we felt had been essentially the most completed merchandise, and I’ll say that each one of those songs are cohesive with that the Increased sound but in addition totally different.
What did it really feel prefer to get again right into a jam area collectively for the primary time in so lengthy?
TROTTER: We felt actually outdated. [Laughs.]
RAGAN: In all seriousness, it felt good. It was like using a bicycle. All of us had been simply able to get these concepts to the end line. “Free Journey” was carried out in 10 hours.
What are you trying ahead to most about your upcoming tour this fall along with your scene counterparts Anarbor?
RAGAN: Seeing outdated faces. We have now so many followers which have been hitting us up on Instagram, so we’re simply excited to see the outdated followers popping out. Anarbor is gonna draw folks, and we’re excited to additionally make new followers.
TROTTER: We’re each large followers of Anarbor, so when the chance got here, we knew it was an ideal match for us. I believe our band nonetheless has that sound that may draw a few of the newer followers whereas additionally giving a rebirth to the Increased’s older music as nicely.
Are you able to recall essentially the most surreal second you skilled in your profession?
RAGAN: We had been enjoying a present in Tokyo, and myself and the drummer had been strolling round in Shibuya. There was an enormous video board up with music movies enjoying, and I keep in mind saying, “Wouldn’t it’s cool if we had been up there?” Actually, it was like anyone heard me and our video popped up. This was like 2007 so I didn’t have a smartphone to take a video of it, however we had been actually on the largest display in essentially the most populated space of Tokyo.
TROTTER: The display was on the three-story Tower Data. Simply seeing our CD on the endcap with the cardboard cutouts, we actually felt like we got here a great distance.
