IDGAF

Photographs By Stevie Anslem

New York City band High Waisted share their new single, “This Year I Won’t (IDGAF)”. Jessica Louise Dye and Dan Rico talk about doing everything themselves, taking your time, and making something for the pure joy of making it.

New York City, New York

Tell me about the recording process? You guys did everything yourself?

Dan Rico: We recorded and mixed everything at our home studio in Brooklyn. We decided with the nature of the song and the lyrics it was best not to be super precious with it and just have fun. Jennica happens to be a mastering engineer so we did everything front to back in house!

Jessica Louise Dye: I remember being in the studio and Connor immediately busted out drums that instantly felt nostalgic and had Dan and I jumping around the basement screaming at the top of our lungs.

How was the writing process of the track? We love the drastic change halfway through the song. Was this a happy accident or something you planned while writing?

Dan Rico: When she first showed me the song I thought it sounded like Hole. We thought it would be really funny - and to aid the storytelling we tried to start the song off slowly and dramatically speed up for the chorus.

Jessica Louise Dye: It felt crazy as first but now I can’t imagine it without the dras

What's the best aspect of making music completely DIY?

Dan Rico: You can take as much time as you need to work something out when recording.

Jessica Louise Dye: Which is also dangerous because then it’s super hard to know when something is done.

The puppet video is so cute, how did this come to be?

Jessica Louise Dye: About a week ago I was feeling whacky and stayed up all night making puppets. I enlisted my boyfriend Eric Gutoski and my cat Burger for their help and the video was born. It just felt right with the spirit of DIY and the antics of this song to have a totally silly video I made for the pure joy of making it.

Dan Rico: Technical and experimental limitations of your own. Like, being stuck inside a bubble with your creativity.

Jessica Louise Dye: It turns out a lot of the things I wish we could do are very expensive and we’re self funded.

Do you feel like this is a new era for High Waisted post pandemic? If so, what do we have to look forward to?

Dan Rico: It’s definitely a new era with new members of the band and we have lots of new music en route. In many ways we’re going back to our roots with the surf rock and punk sound. But we’ve also matured as musicians and as humans (sometimes) so that’s a part of the picture too.

Jessica Louise Dye: The new High Waisted is going to shock people, and I can’t wait.