EXCLUSIVE: Betcha Interview

Stage Right Secrets caught up with Betcha to discuss their latest single, quarantine, and what’s next. Read our exclusive Q&A, below.

Congrats on “July!” It’s the perfect song for the summer, how did the idea for the track come about?

Thanks so much! We’d just gotten off the road with Matt Maeson and were sticking around in LA to do a writing trip. Since we’d just finished touring, a lot of the songs we wrote on that trip were ones that we could envision ourselves playing live. We got together with Nick Furlong and immediately the guitar and melody came to us. The first lyric that popped into my head was “I wish we’d started in the rain” which was really reflective of how I’d been feeling around the time. The idea of going through life with a numbness as opposed to feeling lows. However, through writing the lyrics I realized that those lows are what allow us to appreciate and soak in the highs when they happen. The “It must be July” is a shift towards recognizing the highs and living them out to the fullest.

Almost any fan of music can really get into the song, would you classify the band as one specific genre? Do genres matter today in age?

Honestly, we don’t really discuss genre that much. We kinda just go where the song takes us. So many of our favorite “rock” bands have taken so many creative steps that it’d be impossible to call strictly “rock”. We’d like our career to be the same way. Especially being influenced by so many different sounds and artists through streaming, everything kinda gets blended into one. I don’t think genres really exist today, especially in this new wave of artists.

How did the concept for the video come about? How much input did you have?

We collaborated with our friend Joey Brodnax who’s become somewhat of a creative director for us. The song is such a contrast between lows and highs. We wanted the video to show that same contrast but with light vs. dark. It starts in a dark, wintry basement and ends in an outdoor summer fireworks show. Another way we contrasted light and dark was with lasers. We teamed up with Max Lennox to do a bunch of performance shots with lasers in our living room. They ended up being so cool we put them as fillers throughout the narrative to keep highlighting that contrast.

What made you decide to reinvent yourselves from Wilder to Betcha?

Turned out the name itself wasn’t as unique as we’d thought, but in the long run we’re so glad it happened. I think we were at a point creatively where we were really starting to stretch ourselves and break out of this more “folk rock” sound we’d started as. We saw “betcha” as a blank canvas.

Taking it back, what records made you each fall in love with music?

We were all super into records like Continuum by John Mayer, Viva La Vida by Coldplay. Classic records like Revolver by the Beatles were big too. We all were really into bands growing up so it seems natural that we all ended up here.

Were there specific moments for each of you when you realized that you wanted to make music your career?

We all met at Belmont University to pursue music, so there was always this hope that we’d find a career in music one way or another. I don’t think things really clicked on a band for career level until we started going on our first tours. Once we got a taste of that, we knew there was no going back.

Since most of the country is or was in quarantine, what did you each do to pass the time? 

We all live together so thankfully we can still do stuff as a band. We’ve gotten extremely into 2v2 basketball at a hoop near our house. Honestly its been the best thing for us since we canceled our gym memberships with covid. It’s allowed us to get out any of our frustration we may have with each other outside of the studio(: Besides that just more reading, cooking, and learning fancy cocktails. Normally we’re always preparing for a show or tour so definitely lots more free time on our hands.

Did you find it easier or harder to be creative while at home?

We have our own little home studio so we’re used to doing a lot of writing in our home. I think our biggest thing is just continuing to get together and try to create. Only setback we’ve had is we normally have a lot of co-writers and friends coming over to collaborate, which was so great for keeping things fresh.

We saw you perform a live stream and a live session from home. How did you go about approaching a stream compared to a typical in person concert?

The biggest thing is not hearing people’s response. There’s a lot of “fire” and “smiley” emojis, but they definitely don’t carry the same weight as a cheer or applause. When playing live I have never been the best with talking in between songs so i like to think i’ve improved on my awkward monologues between songs on the live streams.

What else can fans expect from you this year?

A lot more music is on the way. We’ve been recording and have a lot more music to share this year! We’ll keep giving everyone as much content as we can create and hopefully get out on the road as soon as it’s safe.