The Links are an alternative/psychedelic indie band with tinges of goth, post-punk & shoegaze painted throughout their sound.
The band is currently made up of
Andrew (A) drums
Wesley (W) guitar
Grant (G) bass
Jack (J) vocals, guitar, additional instrumentation
Hiya Links, thanks for joining us in the virtual RGM lounge today. Grab a brew and take a seat.
J: I got my E22 from CC’s in hand, hopelessly addicted to those as of late. I need my own machine
What made you decide that music is a thing for you?
A: Parents were always playing music growing up and top of that I was always going to my dad’s band practices, and he also played drums, so I suppose that’s somewhat straightforward.
W: I don’t really remember a time when I wasn’t in or actively surround by music, honestly. My dad ran a website that listed & documented local shows and my grandfather was a musician as well. I still have a 45 framed & hanging on my wall he recorded on that made it to the country charts called “Hands of Time” – in both English and French no less, one for each side!
J: I was introduced to a lot of things at a young age, but something about the abstractness, or ability to be abstract and not necessarily have everything make “sense” that art & music provided hooked me immediately, I think
G: The mere existence of Dave Matthews. Also picking up saxophone in school band as a kid. What more do you need?
Introduce us to you all and your musical history.
J: We’ve all been playing for quite a while, I think everyone in the band was playing music on some level by at least the time they were teenagers. I don’t really come from a musical family at all, but I was learning piano by around age 6 and truthfully only really got into guitar when my cousin quit playing and lent me his – and being self taught and generally not a “guitar kid” (I was more into Eminem than Led Zeppelin) I spent a good couple of weeks or so fretting a lot with my thumb. Not trying to speak for everyone here, but it ain’t my fault everyone needed a “smoke break” at the same time!
What’s the live music scene like in Lafayette right now? Anyone we should be looking out for (bar you, of course)?
J: It’s… mixed. When people think of Lafayette it’s mainly Zydeco, Blues, and a whole lot of other things we’re not, but honestly even with that perhaps being the case we’ve gotten compliments from quite the array of characters. Truthfully, your’e more likely to encounter “snobbery” from the so-called alt kids (and when I say kids, I mean 30-something adults) & “jazz cats” then people who you would otherwise assume were there for a different kind of music.
As far as what you could call our actual contemporaries from the area, we’ve played a number of shows with Kaleidscope Crux, the premier shoegaze act of the city, and have one coming up with Mangata in support of this great post-punk trio from ATX called Urban Heat we’re quite excited about. All the bands I just mentioned I consider to be genuinely very, very good and listen to them regularly as I would any supposed Established Act or even newer stuff that has out & out gotten popular.
I’ve seen a lot of people struggling for support recently online. What’s your view on the industry?
J: Still obscenely money-driven, but now it’s from the artists instead of labels. Unless you get a really good, music-loving sugar mommy(/daddy) of course
Where do you feel you currently sit within the music industry?
J: On its front porch, crying
Ah look, the fellas are back!
Tell us two truths and a lie about you.
A: I only have 4 toes on one foot, never been out of the country, and I was born on Honolulu
W: I’ve illegally crossed two international borders, I’m married, and I’m a founding member of the band
J: I’m gay, I’m straight, I have an orange cat. Damn, I think I did it backwards.
G: I’ve opened for Trapt, I’ve opened for Puddle of Mudd, & Jack Morrison murdered my pet betafish
Do you ever worry about people taking things the wrong way or cancel culture? Discuss….
J: No
Do you sign up to any conspiracy theories? If not, why not?
A: The deep state is real & Zuckerberg is a lizard person
W: Bob Lazar was telling the truth
G: Not only is the moon-landing not real, neither is the moon
What was your best experience on stage?
J: Pretty much any recent performance, save for one maybe. Also the time we played in 2018 or so, before Grant was in the band but still in attendance for that show, I jumped off stage & had him plus others in the crowd play my guitar. Audience interaction at its finest, innit.
G: Keepin’ it Twisted, 2023 and the accompanying trip to Mel’s Diner afterward.
A: I got to play a Pizza Hut one time with Pagoda Mambo on tour, someone saw us at a show the night before and ended up being a manager who offered us the gig. Think it was Amarillo
W: Any show with The Links is a good time for me!
What was your worst experience on stage?
J: Last show of the But Then: The Links tour. Was supposed to be something of a glorious homecoming and suffice it to say… it wasn’t quite!
G: Keepin’ it Twisted, 2023 but not the accompanying trip to Mel’s Diner afterward.
W: New Year’s Eve 2020… shit was falling over… relationships and friendships were either ending or in jeopardy, who would have thought it could be such an omen for the year to come?
A: Probably the night I threw up on stage at an old Lafayette venue called Poet’s around 2014 or 15, again with Pagoda – no drinks involved believe it or not. Almost made it through the whole set then we got to the second to last song and it was all over.
Tell us something about each member that you think people would be surprised about.
J: Wesley has walked the entire Appalachian Trail. Andrew, despite being the only member of the band not “playing strings,” can build a MEAN pedal board. Grant is a certified personal accountant. I got a shout-out from Joseph Gordon Levitt once (& I can prove it!)
What are the next steps you plan to take as a band to reach the next level?
J: Keep honing the live performance – which in my opinion we’ve gotten quite good at! I really want to blow people’s minds, we’ve played with some AMAZING bands and it ups the ante in such a positive & exciting way. We may not be planning to set our instruments on fire quite yet, but to experience even a fraction of the type of glory you see going on at something like a Daikaiju show, that I think is the pinnacle.
W: Links tour of Australia would be nice!
I hear you have new music. What can you tell us about it?
J: It’s probably the darkest Links song lyrically. Ever. But I’m proud of it musically and genuinely don’t know how much of that people are going to get that by casually listening… maybe that’s for the best, not trying to ruin anyone’s “morning commute!”
Well, most people’s at least
What was the recording process like?
A: It was a grand old time
W: I actually don’t recall recording it, they swear I’m on it though…
G: Transformational. I came in a lowly caterpillar and left a beautiful butterfly, or something like that
J: and what an incredible transformation to behold, truly
What was the biggest learning curve in writing the new tunes?
J: It was interesting to see how much the song was affected by even the simplest of alterations on parts for this one. Since we’d only played the song together maybe 2-3 times before hitting the studio with it, a lot of finalizations were happening right then and there. Not sure how much that answers your question, but it was certainly a bit of an adjustment in relation to how we’d approached the last song (“sela”)
Would you change anything now it’s finished?
J: No, I’m incredibly proud of our last couple of singles and even the fan reaction etc has been so strong. Multiple people genuinely coming up to me and saying that either this one or “sela” (or both) is the best thing we’ve ever done truly means a lot – especially when you consider how much we HAVE done by this point – despite being a band with basically a decade’s worth of “lore,” history, triumph & turmoil, stuff like that practically makes you feel like the clock is reset, and you’re a brand new band. In a good way.
Is there anything else you would like to share with the world?
A: Good afternoon
J: Good evening
W: Good night
G: My name is Walter Harwell White…
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