In Conversation With Adult Prom
Just picturing an adult prom can be off-putting, to say the least; adults gathering to reclaim their past unrealized dreams that they had when they were so much younger than they are now, which means that they had to wait decades until they had enough other lonely adults that they met and gathered to “Boogie” to realize their dream. Much like a character who would go to an adult prom Russ Allphin didn’t realize his dreams for some time, writing songs in the shadows, developing sick tracks in his beat laboratory, and finally forming Adult Prom, a band from Salt Lake City who just released their self-titled EP on Spotify in November 2018. We sat down with Russ Allphin to talk about the past, present, and future of Adult Prom.
Q: How did Adult Prom come to be?
A: So Adult Prom officially started in 2018, I had been writing secretly for years, when my wife told me I had to do something; I had to do this band thing. I was finishing up school, and I released an EP last November on Spotify. I really needed to share my songs.
Q: How would you describe your sound?
A: I would say we’re reminiscent of 90’s low-fi like Mazzy Star, and Galaxie 500. They were really simple and really powerful at the same time, and I would say that is what we are shooting for when we record as well.
Q: What is your songwriting process like?
A: Just dicking around with my guitar, I will find something that sounds good and it blossoms into something. As soon as I find something, I explore it, and there comes a point where I decide if it is something good or something shitty. Mostly that’s how it goes.
Q: Your most popular song on Spotify is the song, I Adore You, what is that song about?
A: That’s about when my wife and I were dating. She lived in Provo and I lived in the Linden or Pleasant Grove area. The song is about how it might be a school night for us, but we would still stay up until like 5 am. I thought that experience or time in my life was a good inspiration for that song. It is based on the same sort of 90’s lo-fi vibe with the slide and background vocals.
Q: So, what has been your favorite thing that you’ve done with Adult Prom?
A: Playing live is my favorite thing. Live Adult Prom is Jonny Seegmiller on lead guitar, James McIntyre on the drums, and Ethan Martel on bass. I love all the guys that I play with. It’s really interesting to see how we play a little bit differently live; you know because the guys have their take on it, as well as the audience’s responses to how we play live. It’s a lot of fun.
Q: So, given the fact that you record the music by yourself for the initial song, do you know how to play all of those instruments?
A: (Brief laugh) Yes, everything except for the drums. This last album I went into Garage band and wrote the songs as best as I could through that, and people were surprised I did it on Garage Band, and I was surprised that they were surprised.
Q: You have had a lot of good responses to your album, how has that been?
A: It was really surprising for me actually, because when we started the scene wasn’t into softer indie bands. When we first started, we didn’t know if they're even was an audience out there for us to play to, so it was a good surprise.
Q: Where does the name Adult Prom come from?
A: I lived in Seattle with my wife in the U district. You could walk down a historic street where there is a Petco that stands in the place where beehive records used to be; a record store where Nirvana first released Nevermind, as well as a bar where Dylan Thomas used to hang out.
Anyway, one day I was showing my friends around and a limousine pulls up. Then these adults got out of the limo wearing very decadent, but tacky, outfits like Dumb and Dumber tuxedos and flowery dresses, and we were like “What is that? It’s like some sort of adult prom”, and we all agreed “Adult Prom” would be a good name for a band. Looking back at it, I think it was a pathetic name that sounds intriguing, so people think to themselves “I want to know what that is!”.
Q: Yeah, the name is reminiscent of Adult Mom, have you heard of them?
A: Yes, they are a great band. I think they played at Kilby not too long ago. I saw that and thought we need to get a show going, Adult Mom and Adult Prom together. Also, there is a Canadian band that just started following us on Instagram called teenage Wedding, the opposite of Adult Prom.
Q: Did you have any specific themes in your album last November (self-titled “Adult Prom”)
A: Not really, but I wanted there to be a balance with it for sure. I wanted a short little ep one soft song, one ruckus rock song, and the rest sort of in-between. So, it was musically balanced, but I didn’t have any theme or agenda in my lyrics, all the songs are just about different things.
Q: Where you writing the songs for a while? Or did you come up with all these songs just recently?
A: The oldest song was one I have from 2016 called Last call, and there was a song I wrote two weeks before the album was released called Biblical so I could balance the album with a pop song.
Q: Are you planning on releasing anything any time soon?
A: Yes! This February I’m going into record at June Audio with Nate Pyfer. He produced Moth and the Flame, and stuff by Kaskade. So, we are planning an album, and it’s going to be our first full-length album and I am really excited.
Q: As a songwriter, what is harder for you to write the music or the lyrics?
A: I guess it depends, but if I think about it too much It’s hard to make lyrics. If I think about it too hard, either way, it’s going to cloud what I’m trying to do.
Q: So, what do you do if you’re stuck?
A: If I can’t think of a lyric or something, I just put it aside and wait until I get a chance to come back to it, or if I think of something that fits perfectly, I will come back to it. So, yes; I just wait generally.
Q: Do you have any advice for other bedroom artists out in the world?
A: Yeah! Just do it, it’s hard. Get out there. Sometimes you don’t want to do it, but something will come from your own willpower. Don’t be afraid to put out your own stuff.
Q: How did your music-writing evolve?
A: I think it evolved a lot lyrically I feel like I have a lot more to say now that I am older. Musically, I have been doing the same thing this whole time just verse-chorus-verse-chorus-type stuff.
You can find Adult Prom here:
https://adultprom.bandcamp.com
https://www.instagram.com/adultpromband/
