A Collection of Memories

Photographs By Athena Merry

Indie band Not From England released their EP, “For the Second Time”, late 2021. They open up about the difficulty of recording during the pandemic, the story behind the EP’s cover image, and capturing nostalgia.

Los Angeles, USA

You are sharing your latest EP, “For the Second Time”. What kind of story are you trying to tell with this EP?

I don’t think there’s just one story we want to tell with this EP, but more a collection of memories and stories from each of us that are in each of the different tracks. The project aims to capture a feeling of nostalgia in a melancholy way. The tracks represent this feeling of missing out and being frozen in time during a pandemic when all we wanted to do was get out of the limitations.

How does “For The Second Time” show your growth as a band? Especially since your previous EP, “Kick Me Down to Dead Horse”?

This EP had contributions from all of us where as the first EP was just Leo and Cass. I think the songs are more versatile and showcase our sound in a much clearer way. With that being said, we didn’t try to all equally contribute to each song or even each stick to our instrument. Instead, we just wanted collectively to come out with the best sounding finished product we could. If that meant we were switching instruments around, then that’s what we did. This is something that worked out well and we plan on continue doing for upcoming projects.

What were some difficulties and memorable moments while recording?

When we recorded 'for the second time’ we decided to record the songs all ourselves. Leo’s house was are only place to record as any studios or spaces were closed during the pandemic. We had some basic recording skills and equipment, but we had to learn so much while recording the EP mostly through trial and error. It was definitely a challenge at first, as we were also building and modifying the studio as we were recording. For example, we started out recording the drums in a bathroom because we were able to close the door and therefore there would be less noise bleed. But, by the end of the recording sessions we decided to record the drums in different places to eliminate sound reflective.

Additionally we were constantly getting tested for Covid and there were many times weren’t able to see each other and the recording process would get halted or delayed. That was a challenge in itself and we were forced to make songs and record when we were able to, due to the restrictions, instead of when we felt most inspired. Overall, this process made us mature as songwriters and as a band and gave us the opportunity to really focus in on the songs and on what we wanted as a band and as a sound

What’s the story behind the EP cover image?

The cover of the EP was able to capture some of the ideas we wanted to present and comment on and hopefully the audience is able to connect with some of the emotions it depicts. DeRon shot the cover on film of his cousin while at the service for his great grandfather’s funeral in Florida. The film roll was accidentally double exposed and so there is also a photo from a show he shot at Non Plus Ultra of the band Reckling that is visible in the image. We also included a scan of an image that our drummer Beckett drew that we thought fit the project well as a symbol or logo for the EP.

What’s next for Not From England?

We have a lot of exciting things planned for this year that we will be sharing soon. Our new process of recording our music ourselves has been really beneficial and continuing to do that in the future will give us the opportunity to experiment more with our music and to be able to fine tune everything we want, which feels like it has endless possibilities. So there will definitely be more new music and a bunch of concerts and touring. We also are working on doing a collaborative song as well as stepping into some slightly different genres of music and releasing more visuals to go along with our music.