INTERVIEW: "Get Obsessed": Parachutes Rocks Out on Their Debut EP
- Olivia Smith
- 9 minutes ago
- 3 min read
The women of Parachutes talk the band’s multi-genre stage-to-studio journey
Hot and fresh off the musical presses, local rockers Parachutes just released their debut EP, Get Obsessed. Comprised of Megan Faye (vocals), Rachel Burdge (guitar), Scott Ellison (drums), and Neal Aronson (bass), Parachutes fuses garage rock, riot grrrl, and much more for an in-your-face and out-of-this-world sound. On a windy Sunday morning, Art Seen ATL met up with Faye and Burdge at Marietta Square to discuss what Get Obsessed has in store for the band and fans alike.
Like all great acts, Parachutes has a memorable origin story. After attending a Sleater-Kinney show, Burdge was fired up and ready to start a band. In hopes of making a connection, she logged onto an Atlanta music subreddit to find a post about forming a female-fronted rock group. It was Faye, hoping to return to the scene after working on a hybrid hip hop-electronic collective a decade prior. “I posted on Reddit, and Rachel saw it,” the vocalist explained. “She started sending me tracks, I started writing over her tracks, and then after that, we kind of pulled in other band members.”
Get Obsessed presents the perfect opportunity for Parachutes to showcase their wide-ranging sound. Faye noted that the EP explores the “different flavors” that the band has to offer. At the time of our conversation, the three main singles had been released: “Squawk Rock,” “Fantasies,” and cheeky 90s reference “Grungasaur Jr.” Now that the project is officially live, fans can expect the remaining tracks to continue with a blend of alt-rock subgenres, along with some more stripped down and “emo” sounds, according to Burdge.
For many local artists, moving from the stage to the studio can be a bit of a learning curve, but Parachutes used their production journey to experiment and explore the possibilities of recorded music. Marshall Coats of Atlanta’s own Bombshell Studios brought Get Obsessed to life, creating a sonic playground for the band to reimagine their intricate live tracks for listeners at home. Over email, Ellison described the studio experience as a “whole different beast” compared to their shows, which tend to provide more room for extended solos and riffs for each member. “I've never stuck to one way of playing the art I get to be a part of,” the drummer wrote, “so the studio teaches me to simplify and streamline many ideas and to make the reps consistent.”
Out of all the (equally wonderful) tracks on Get Obsessed, Faye and Burdge both agreed that they were most looking forward to sharing “Marilyn Monrogue” with the world. Faye wrote the song many moons ago for one of her pre-Parachutes projects, but it never saw the light of day. The band has since “rockified” the track and reworked it into an over-the-top, head-banging anthem. “Sorry for all the White Stripes references, but ‘Ball and Biscuit’ is, like, my whole approach to the guitar for this song” Burdge grinned as she explained the song’s elaborate solo. “That's kind of what I tried to channel with it. The ridiculous, noisy guitar stuff, I'm all about that. We shortened it in that song in the studio recording, but [...] we just picked all the most ridiculous-sounding moments and then just put them all together.”
Even after getting to experience the joys of recording and releasing music, Parachutes feels most at home when they get to play their songs to a crowd. “For us, playing live is the whole point, like getting connected with the audience, getting to have people vibe with that,” Faye said, “to have that emotional experience and the visceral experience versus just recording and putting things out and then hoping anonymous people out in the universe are tapping into it.”
The band is gearing up for a busy weekend, with back-to-back shows this Saturday (tomorrow!) at Virginia Highland Porchfest (coincidentally where they met producer Coats in years prior) and a release show at Boggs Social & Supply. At the end of the month, they’ll be hitting up Newnan Porchfest for some more pre-summer shenanigans. Faye has a simple wish for these upcoming audiences: “I hope they get hype and they want to start pushing each other, and then feel like [they] want to go home and listen to it.” For a local band riding the high of their killer EP release, I don’t think Parachutes could ask for anything more perfect than that.
Listen to Get Obsessed now, and purchase tickets for 5/16’s release show here. Follow @parachutes_atl for more updates.
