Conversations with The Kilans
The Kilans, a young Salt Lake City band, took the stage for their first time back in September of 2023. The band has just released their debut single Curly and has so much more to bring us this year. The band is made up of frontman Jack Ongman, followed by Jacob Shultz on guitar, Cooper Brezoff on bass, and David Wiseman on drums. That is a wrap on intros, let’s dive into this candid, chaotic, beautiful conversation with The Kilans.
Interview by Keira Zoumadakis and Photos by Dylan Wise.
Your guys' debut single Curly dropped on February 2nd. Can you share the inspiration behind it?
“It was after a long day, we were drinking and it was hot out. We were super tired but we came back to my place and started playing guitar. I started messing around singing that melody and was like yeah this kinda cool. I went to the F chord and Jacob hit that melody that you hear in the chorus and we just wrote it from there. It’s kind of a mixture of things we’ve had in the past and it all came together really nicely in that one. It’s about a girl with curly hair. We don’t say “curly” at all throughout the whole song; it's just the title that references back to the girl it’s about.”
-Jack
Do you guys hope to convey any certain emotions through this song?
“I do for sure. I think that it has tones of regret and sadness in it because in the lyrics it says “I forgot your name” and “I didn’t stay awake.” It really puts into perspective the feeling of not having the chance to apologize.”
-Cooper
How has your musical style evolved since playing together?
“Jack and I started jamming a while ago, we were playing whatever honestly. The music we were playing then is very different to the kind of music we’re playing now.”
-David
“Yeah we used to play a lot of blues together. Lots of genres we didn’t stick to one in particular. I feel like we still don’t but it was a nightmare at the beginning”.
-Jack
“We started out more surf rocky , I would say. The first couple of songs we had written were more indie or alternative you could say.”
-Jacob
“Yeah, we used to be very surf rocky. We pulled a lot of inspiration from The Growlers, Skeggs, and The Buttertones. Now that we have met up and started playing with Coop where he kind of has an indie sound it’s like a mesh between all of it.”
-Jack
With playing so many different genres, how do you guys overcome the challenges of creative differences?
“We’ve honestly agreed for the most part. We work really well together.”
-Jack
“It has been really easy because a lot of bands everyone comes in with their own set of tastes and what they want to hear from the band. We’ve all been really good at compromising when there are creative differences. There has been rarely, if even any times where we’ve been mad at each other over what we have wanted to create. It’s always ‘that sounds good, let’s add this into it’ and then we’re overall pretty happy with how it turns out.”
-Cooper
What has been the best piece of advice you’ve received throughout the curation of The Kilans?
“I don’t know if it was directly said to us as a band but one of the best pieces of advice I’ve received about songwriting is don’t ever get caught up if your song sounds like someone else's. You’re going to write songs that are close because there's billions of songs in the world. Being able to be okay with it sounding similar to another song doesn’t mean that this song isn’t us or isn’t unique.”
-Cooper
What have been some of your most memorable moments as a band?
“We were at our friend Chris’s house he has a studio called Three Toads Studio that is where we recorded our song Curly at as well as another one of our songs that is releasing soon. I remember I felt so out of it. I was in the vocal booth. The rest of the band was in another room but we all had headphones on cause we were all talking to each other.”
-Jack
“Jacob, David, and I were in a separate room and Jack was alone.”
-Cooper
“We could just hear his voice through our headphones.”
-Jacob
“It was really funny because it was all reverb coming through because there were vocal effects on Jack’s voice in the vocal booth. It sounded like his voice was coming from the sky.”
-David
“We were having a conversation with Chris about recording I think and all the sudden Jack chimed in.”
-Cooper
“It was a very reverberated, I would poke my head around and ask ‘hey what’s going on in there’”
-Jack
“The rest of us were like ‘woah’ since the vocal effects were on. It became this whole joke of us saying ‘God are you there?’”
-Cooper
“I think the Halloween gig is worth mentioning too. I mean that was a nightmare. It ended up being good but man it was awful leading up to it. It was our third gig I think. I don’t know, we put up a flyer for it like two weeks in advance. Very little promotion about it.”
-David
“No, like two days before.”
-Jacob
“Okay like two days, not weeks. The gig comes around and the doors are supposed to open at 7:00 by 6:45 we are still setting up. It’s a mess and looks really bad. 7:00 rolls around no one there. 7:30 still no one and we are still setting up at this point. It’s 8:00 by this point and the power had gone out. Nothing is working. We had to go rent a generator that doesn’t have gas.”
-David
“We had plugged everything in and that is when the house lost all power. Still, no one was there”
-Cooper
“It was a little embarrassing, I won't lie.”
-Jack
“I drove 20 miles to Home Depot to get this generator, I had to put a down payment on it of $500 so I went into my savings account and transferred that money. I end up getting it but it is heavy as hell. I had to carry it to my car and I brought it back to the house. We plug it in and we pull the tab and it won’t start. We were trying to get it start for probably 10 minutes and then we realized that there was no gas in it.”
-Cooper
“Not to mention it was around 20 degrees and the show was in the garage.”
-David
“We were reading the generator label and it said If you leave this on in an enclosed space for more than 15 minutes there’s a high possibility that carbon monoxide poisoning may cause death or something like that.”
-Cooper
“We were panicking at this point thinking we about killed everyone who trickled in throughout this nightmare of a night.”
-David
“It ended up being a really good show but the power was cutting in and out of lots of technical difficulties but we’re still stoked about that show.”
-Jacob
Going into a deeper, more serious question. What role do you think music plays in social change?
“When you look at these larger artists and they’re wearing more risky items you could say. It makes it easier for other people to run with their influence to be able to wear certain items or do certain things. Music influences the way people act and their creativity. I think that has a huge impact on social change. As a band, we have a lot of inspiration that has influenced our music and our scene. I think creatively is where it affects us most. I don’t necessarily feel like socially.”
-Jack
“I think genres of music highly influence fashion how people have used the terms indie or punk in a fashion setting more than in a music way.
-Cooper
Following up with that last question. Who have you guys been listening to that inspires you?
“The Strokes, The Backseat Lovers, The Moss were a big inspiration for us for a while too. We always take points in The Growlers as well.”
-Full Band
“We have a new one that is very inspired by King Krule.”
-Jack
“Symposium they really inspire me to write loud indie music.”
-Cooper
Should we be expecting an album or an extended play from The Kilans this year?
“We have the music for it, it’s just a matter of recording and money. I think we will definitely have an EP out this year, look out for it. There could be an album later this year but we will see.”
-David
If you could choose any artist to cover “Curly”, who would you choose?
It would be pretty cool to hear The Backseat Lovers cover it, The Growlers would also be sick. Maybe even Brooks Nielsen, his voice would sound awesome on it
-Full Band Discussed
What are you guys looking forward to in 2024?
“MORE SHOWS!”
-Jacob
“We’re playing Black Lung Society on February 22nd in Ogden and then Whysound in Logan on March 1st.”
-Jack
“Also just releasing more music for sure. I think we have a nice year ahead of us. We’ve only been a band for a little over four months and we have a couple of venue gigs secured and music dropping.”
-David
You guys do have a show tonight (February 2nd). What does leading up to a show look like for you guys?
“We try to keep it as chill as possible, it’s good to not get too anxious about it. We don’t do any pre-huddles or anything I think that works up the nerves more.”
-Cooper
“For me, vocally I try to drink tons of water before. I always get super nervous that I’m going to lose my voice even though it hasn’t happened yet. It’s an intrusive thought that I’m going to forget how to sing once I get up there. Drink tons of water, get to bed early, and take lots of hot showers. I’ll do some breathwork in the shower and hopefully, it all turns out. That is my pre-show preparation.”
-Jack
“I was just warming up right before you got here.”
-David
“Our previous shows it’s been us setting up.”
-Cooper
“Yeah, that is mainly what it is.”
-Jacob
“Now our friends upstairs are messing with our sound system after all the preparation.”
-Jack
How does Curly reflect the current direction of your band's sound?
“I think Curly is our most indie sounding song.”
-Jack
“It’s definitely the most emotional.”
-David
“It’s also the slowest I think we’ve written too.”
-Jacob
“It has a more walled sound to it whereas the other ones we are working on are more rhythm-based. It’s very flowy and has a somber type of feel to it. It’s not 1:1 of what we're making now.”
-Cooper
“I think it does a good job of our sound. It really touches on all the bases though.”
-David
What’s the most unexpected source of inspiration you guys have found?
“We have a song called ‘Abstract Liquid’ that we have been writing. I wrote a chord progression when I went back home for Christmas break and I brought it to Jacob. We were sitting in our basement playing it and I was trying to come up with a melody and I looked at the TV, it was on the screen where it rotates through pictures when it’s been on for too long. The photo was of paint and the caption was actually ‘Abstract Liquid.’ I realized that was fucking dope. So now we have a song called ‘Abstract Liquid.’”
-Jack
“The lyrics too, Jack was just singing along to the different photos and captions. It’s really random but it came together.”
-Jacob
If you could go back to any show or festival in time and play at it what would it be?
“I would love to play with Mac Demarco or The Strokes”
-Cooper
“Playing a show with early Strokes 2001-2002 would be sick”
-Jack
“We’re a newer band so if you’re free we would love for you guys to give us a chance.”
