We’ve actually known Julian since the band started very early on. With the mention of the Sanders campaign, I thought it important to address the thing we’ve all been thinking since we saw The Strokes and Sunflower Bean were on the same bill: How was meeting Julian Casablancas? “Yeah, we did two shows in a row with Bernie, and The Strokes played after him on the second night.
It’s been very hard the last two years, but we all put in a lot of time and effort into the Sanders campaign because it just seemed like the biggest change that we had at having large, systematic change in our country.”
Outside of our music, I think it’s important for us to do things and be engaged. It’s written in plain language, but the things that the record is talking about are directly impacted by the politics of what’s going on. There’s not a single ounce of anything academic about our record. Our record, I don’t think it has any political words in it. People might not even realise that what they’re addressing or what they’re talking about is political. “I’m not sure that music or people have to incite change within their platforms, but I think it’s always going to be a question of the context in what’s going on. Unsurprisingly, Kivlen said this was a question the band are frequently asked. Following from this, I asked Kivlen what role he believes artist should play in enacting or inciting change through their larger platforms. Sunflower Bean have been prominent political activists, even performing alongside The Strokes in a rally for Bernie Sanders in 2020. Sunflower Bean have been prominent political activists, even performing alongside The Strokes in a rally for Bernie Sanders in 2020 Exactly two years ago, they gave the lockdown order and all of a sudden it was very creepy.” “We spent the first three months apart and then in late May, when things were finally feeling a little bit more safe, we all started living together. So, the biggest influence was just having the time to write so much.” Interestingly, Kivlen shared they didn’t spend a lot of time together towards the start of lockdown due to New York being hit hard and early on in the COVID-19 pandemic. We were allowed to explore, and we spent so much time singing and writing and journaling and wrote a ton of songs. There wasn’t really a deadline because no one knew what was going on in the world, so it wasn’t like we had to have a record turned in within nine months or something. Lockdown gave us so much time in our home studio to really work long hours and not do anything else.
Kivlen answered, “I think that we’re always just kind of changing in a way, always doing whatever we want. With their third album ‘Headful of Sugar’ set for release on 6 th May 2022, Molly Hancock caught up with the guitarist of Sunflower Bean, Nick Kivlen.Īfter being sent their new album ‘Headful of Sugar’ two months prior to its release, and giving it a good few listens prior to talking to Kivlen, I delved in by asking how (or if) it was influenced by lockdown, with a definitive switch from a more alternative rock sound to one with more pop undertones.