Tuesday, May 15, 2018

"MAJOR CONGRATS" SNEAK PREVIEW: A BRIEF CONVERSATION WITH POST SOCIAL'S SHANNON CONNOR-A SYNESTHESIA EXCLUSIVE

The time is almost here again!

It has been nearly two full years since we least heard from the band Post Social, the Madison, WI based quartet featuring Shannon Connor (vocals, guitar), Mitch Deitz (vocals, guitar), Sam Galligan (bass guitar) and Brendan Manley (drums), as real world responsibilities from college, day jobs and tenures in additional bands have occupied a tremendous amount of their time. While more than understandable, the wait for new material is thankfully almost over.

Courtesy of the band's official Facebook page, Post Social began releasing a few teasers since March of this year. First, was the announcement that a new album would be arriving this summer with the first live performances of 2018 arriving even sooner. In April, we were given a shot of the following image: a potential final track listing!
And finally, within the previous week, we have been graced with the album cover and the official title, which is indeed "MAJOR CONGRATS." At this time, the album is being mastered, finalized and prepared for what will hopefully be a June 2018 release.

With this exciting news and activity, I felt that it was time to reach out to the band and see if I could possibly gather a bit of a preview. Gladly, Shannon Connor responded with answers to some questions I have about album #4 from Post Social.

SYNESTHESIA: Shannon, thank you so much for taking the time to answer a few questions. Now, it has been nearly two years since the release of Post Social's third album "Casablanca." Can you speak to the extended time away and how did it feel once writing and recording began again in earnest?
SHANNON: Well, with the election and life in general, the end of 2016 was really weird and draining for everyone. Not to say that we stopped because of that. But, we were kind of worn down a bit already and it was good to have some time away.

It was a weird time writing this one because it started out as Mitch and I writing songs on our won mostly. Eventually, we whipped tings into shape as a band but it was different from every other time we've written songs together for sure.

SYNESTHESIA: I understand that the band made a return to an official recording studio for this album, something you have not done since your debut release. Why did you wish to record in this fashion after recording albums #2 and #3 at home on your own?
SHANNON: Returning to the studio was just something we were ready to do after home recording because it was a change of pace. But I also thought it woud be good to get an outside perspective again and agree to let somebody else do the mixing so that we wouldn't have as much of a personal stake in it, which can lead to arguments and then, nobody gets what the want. That's how it work sot sometimes doing your own production.

SYNESTHESIA: And who is working with you this time?
SHANNON: Ricky Riemer of Science Of Sound...he is the GOAT!!

SYNESTHESIA: What perspective, specifically, did Ricky bring to the band this time around?
SHANNON: Ricky didn't impose is will on us at all but he knew where we were trying to take the songs and it was important to have somebody besides ourselves who's confident in what we're doing.

SYNESTHESIA: How do you think the songs differ, if at all, this time around with the material being written separately? And was the recording easier for the band this time around being in the studio setting?
SHANNON: In terms of how things differ from previous albums, I think the biggest thing is that the usual roles we have were switched around a lot. We wrote parts on different instruments. For some of the early writing and rehearsing, there were songs I was drumming on and Brendan was playing guitar. I ended up recording the bass on a few songs and drumming on one. Brendan plays guitar on a few of the recordings and plays bass on one. We also brought in people outside of the band to play on the album.

Recording was easier for sure even though it was hard work getting the takes sometimes, just because we knew what we wanted and we knew how to get what we wanted this time.

SYNESTHESIA: Did the "musical chairs" aspect flow easily, cause friction or create something else altogether?
SHANNON: Switching things around happened pretty naturally and made things fresher from a songwriting perspective.

SYNESTHESIA: Now that the album is being finalized, how is the band feeling? What might us fans expect?
SHANNON: I don't know what to tell people to expect! But I would say that it's a good album to play really loud for the most part.

SYNESTHESIA: Are there tracks that you are especially excited for listeners to hear and for you to perform live?
SHANNON: Everything!!! Seriously!

SYNESTHESIA: I saw that Javi Reyes of the band Post Animal recently commented upon the Post Social Facebook page with the statement, "Fire is coming, folks!" Would you agree to that?
SHANNON: Absolutely!

SYNESTHESIA: Oh yes...one last thing. What is the significance of the album title?
SHANNON: I will keep my lips sealed on that.

Fair enough...and regardless, I. AM. READY.

POST SOCIAL
(left to right: Sam Galligan, Brendan Manley, Mitch Dietz, Shannon Connor)

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