Congratulations Jocelyn & Chris “Edges” was voted favorite album of 2016 by the fans! You guys had some stiff competition but your fans blew it out of the water! What are your initial thoughts on even having been nominated?
AHHHHHHHHH THIS IS INSANE!!! I can’t handle this, it’s too groovy! Thank you so so SOOO much for nominating us… And thank you to all of the wonderful people who voted for us, it means an absolute ton. I think it’s safe to say neither of us can stop smiling at the moment. I can’t even believe how we came to be up against such amazing artists. It’s an absolute honor to even be in the same ballpark as these musicians, and we’re just thankful to have been considered in the first place. So thank you for that.
The album is still up for “Album of the Year” the full list will be unveiled on December 16th so good luck!
Oh my goodness. You are seriously the best ever. How is this happening? Thank you so much!
The album features 12 magnificent tracks which we play on the radio show constantly; when the album was first released we talked about the album’s creative process. Now that you’ve toured the record have the songs taken on new meaning?
First off, we can’t thank you enough for playing our music on your show… That’s about the biggest compliment anyone could give us as music artists. Playing these songs on the road definitely lets us continue to let them breathe and develop. We’re always trying new things, adding new things, making little tweaks and messing with pieces. I guess we can’t help but tinker. That’s one of the coolest parts about going on tour… We get to play our music every night, and it’s always different. Each club, each song, each moment on stage is always unique. It’s such a privilege to be able to go to a different place each night and have people react to our music in such a positive way, and that really inspires us to continue to develop our music and make each set better than the last one.
Which songs have been getting the best crowd reaction?
Ooh, that’s tough to say. I think sometimes it depends on where we’re playing. I’d say “Jagged” is always really fun to play, because it really grooves. Chris can really dig into the guitar part, and people go wild for that wah-wah pedal. It’s only natural… You hear that thing and you have to move. I think “Where’s the Rain” also gets a good reaction. That’s one of our most emotional songs, and it’s awesome that people who hear it pick up on that. But really, people are generally just really awesome to us about our music.
Someone once said write what you would want to perform over and over. With that in mind, what song do you love to perform the most?
Oh no… what a tough question! I’ve never had kids, but if I did, and someone asked me which one I loved the most, this is how I imagine it’d feel. They’re all so much fun to play live. ‘Jagged’ really gets into a serious groove, which is also nice, but then again, so is the jamband-like beat to ‘Because of You’. I really enjoy ending shows with Icebreaker, because it’s so high energy I feel like I’m about to explode while performing it, but there’s also something really beautiful and just awesome about breaking it down and doing a slow song. It’s pretty nerve-wracking, opening up that much in front of a bunch of people, some of whom I don’t even know. But it’s so worth it—music is all about emotion, and nothing is more emotional than a great ballad. Sorry, I know this has been a total cop-out answer. I don’t think I can really do any better! We love playing all of our music so much, it’s basically impossible to pick one that’s ‘the most fun’. Come out to a show sometime and see for yourself!
You guys have been so busy you just released a Holiday EP, “Still: A Holiday Collection” what made you choose the songs featured on this collection?
We really put a lot of thought into it! We focused a lot on choosing a group of songs with a little something different. Everyone loves the classics, so we definitely wanted to include some of our favorite well-known Christmas songs, but we wanted to show people some lesser-known tunes as well. That’s where ‘Christmas Man Blues’ and ‘Mary, Mary’ come in. They’ve been Arndt household favorites for as long as we can remember, and we thought they matched our musical style well enough to make it worth a shot. ‘Still’ is our original. One snow day in high school, we decided to record our parents an album of holiday music and give it to them on Christmas morning. We wanted to include an original on the list, so we threw that one together and ran with it. It was really nice to be able to revisit it without the limitations of a living room studio and a single microphone! We actually got to have a lot of family members play on it as well—our amazing cousin Kate played the violin, and our uncle Don is rocking the electric bass. ’What Child is This’ is a personal favorite, especially among the traditional carols, and Chris has always wanted to try to work up a guitar part for that one. We were pretty much raised on the Vince Guaraldi Trio’s Christmas album, so ‘Christmastime is Here’ is pretty much ingrained into our DNA. Since it’s also one of the most beautiful songs ever written, we couldn’t really say no. And ‘The Christmas Song’ is our father’s favorite holiday tune, so we wanted to get that one on the list as well.
With 2016 coming to a close what are some of your plans for the New Year? Will 2017 consist of more touring will there be new music?
Why not both? We’re definitely going to be hitting the road as much as possible. Our current plan involves being in NYC and Boston on the regular, and heading out to Cali and the Pacific Northwest and such a bunch of times too. We’ll let you know more specifics when we can, but you can totally expect to see us at SXSW, and maybe possible fingers-crossed hopefully even in the UK! That said, we aren’t going to take a back seat on making new music at all. We’re gonna spend all our free time writing and recording, and you can expect a new album sometime this winter. I can’t say that much yet, but we’ve got a bunch of the material together, and I think it’s fair to say we’re all HELLA PUMPED about how it’s turning out so far. We’re really pumped about how well Edges has done on radio and in the press (vis a vis high national radio chart positions and SINISTER GIRLZ FAN FAVORITE ALBUM HELL YEAH BOOO-YAAA), and we’re definitely going to try to ride that wave as far as we can. That means getting as much of our music into the hands of listeners as possible. So get ready, cuz 2017 is gonna be our busiest year yet!