The Co Founder interview
Interview by Destiny Ross and photos by Christine La
Introduce yourself and what you do for the band.
Eller: “My name is Hayden, I sing and write songs for the band. I usually bring song structures to Andrew (chord progressions, lead lines, vocal melodies, etc.) and then we work through them together before bringing them to the rest of the band. I also run our social media + booking.”
Graves: I’m Andrew, I play guitar (and do backup vocals live). I help out with songwriting too, and manage finances for the band.
How did you guys meet and what inspired you to form a band?
Eller: “Andrew and I started playing music together a few years ago, after knowing each other since around 2017. We met as DIY musicians back in 2017, though we were both playing in different bands at that time. I moved to CA in 2019, but it wasn’t until late 2022 that we started playing + writing together. When we first started writing I was convinced I wouldn’t ever play music again - my last band had ended on bad terms, and it felt like the world was crumbling around me. Andrew really picked me up and got me going again - writing, planning tours, everything. Without Andrew, this new record would never have come about.”
Graves: I also wasn’t sure I would play in a band again before Hayden reached out in 2022. I was in a bit of a musical rut during the pandemic, I wasn’t really picking up the guitar very much. Starting to write/play with Hayden in The Co Founder rejuvenated my passion for music and I’m super grateful for that.
Has music always been something all of you have wanted to pursue? If not, what really set this idea in stone for you?
Eller: “My family is relatively musical (my Mom and Grandma are always singing silly songs about our pets), but it wasn’t until I hit high school that I really started getting into music. My parents are international school teachers so we moved abroad to Latvia when I was 14 - that made it really difficult for me to get into local scenes or to start playing in bands. Instead, I just locked myself in my room and listened to everything/anything I could get my hands on. Youtube was blocked in Latvia so anytime we would travel to Western Europe my brother and I would mass download music videos + albums from any band we had relative knowledge of. I grew up on East Coast hardcore - Crime In Stereo, Small Brown Bike, ETID, etc. Reading about old punk bands touring the country and booking shows via word of mouth cemented in my mind that touring was an attainable goal. I’ve always been an all-or-nothing kind of person, which does tend to get me in trouble sometimes (I have a candle burning at both ends tattooed on my arm) so once I started down the path of touring musician I couldn’t stop.”
Graves: I started learning guitar in middle school and really loved it, but I actually joined my first band in my 20s. It was always something that I wanted to do but I never took the leap. The Bay Area has such a great music community, and I was really fortunate to befriend some of the most selfless and caring people around when I started searching for a band. I joined Lawn Chairs with Billy and Colin from Slang Church (Colin is in The Co Founder now too!), and we spent a couple of years touring the country. I felt like I was able to fulfill a lifelong dream through that experience. Hayden actually joined us on our last tour which is where our friendship truly started to evolve. The Co Founder has been such a fun and rewarding return to music. I’m so excited to get back on the road for the first time in 5 years.
My favorite question… How would you describe your genre to first-time listeners?
Eller: “I think our recordings are pretty indie rock-leaning, with some punk elements thrown in to keep the energy high. Our live set is LOUD, much more punk-centered. I’m usually a pretty quiet person but I love to scream on stage so integrating that into the live set has been super fun + genre expanding for us. We can play a punk bill, indie rock bill, rock n roll bill - our music tends to fit well with anything guitar-centered. I like to think we’re like if Webbed Wing + Militarie Gun had a musical baby.”
Graves: I’ve also heard people compare us to early Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age, and Third Eye Blind. Something I appreciated about Hayden’s songwriting while writing the record is how versatile he can be. There’s a lot of variation in the songs, I’m always excited to hear the new songs he’s working on because I never know what to expect.
Being from California what do you feel are the main obstacles you’ve had when it comes to putting yourselves out there with music?
Eller: “Oversaturation is definitely part of it - there's soooo much music out there that it can be hard to get folks to pay attention. We’ve been extremely fortunate though - the Bay Area scene has been so supportive + welcoming to us. Whether it’s Slang Church or Twin Peaks Sessions throwing us on shows, or bands hitting us up to tour together, we’ve been so fortunate. Gonna take this opportunity to shout out some of my favorite Bay Area bands: Star 99, Grumpster, Shut Ups, Preschool, Big Dumb, Marbled Eye, Spiritual Cramp (really anything Michael Bingham is a part of). Also shout out Christine La + Ishan Ghosal (two incredible visual artists from the Bay).”
Graves: This is more about the West Coast than California specifically, but touring is much more of a hassle here compared to the East Coast. If we want to string together a week or so of shows, we’re gonna be driving about 5,000 miles to make it happen! I can get a little jealous of East Coast bands that only have to drive a couple of hours between shows, whereas we are driving 6 hours on average. The drives are definitely beautiful though so I can’t complain that much.
Could you walk us through the process of making music for y'all? What goes behind the inspiration and the meanings behind each project?
Eller: “I tend to take the lead when it comes to the songwriting process. I’ll work on an idea by myself in my apartment until I start to hit roadblocks; then I take it to Andrew and he interjects his perspective. I used to write strictly on the Takamine acoustic guitar my parents bought me as a high school graduation gift, but lately I’ve switched to starting with my Fender P-Bass and drums. I start by creating a drum track in Logic using one of the Logic drummers (shout out So Cal Kyle), and then I play bass until I find a cool chord progression/riff. I don’t have any musical training, I never took lessons or anything like that, so it comes down to me just messing around and trying stuff out until I hear something that resonates with me. After that, I’ll either layer on guitar or start writing vocals - it depends on what I hear first. Once I’ve fleshed out a song to the point where I don’t hear anything else, Andrew will start poking holes in it. For NMAGOTSTFU we would end up with multiple session files - the ‘Andrew Version’ and the ‘Original Version’. We ended up sticking with Andrew’s revisions on almost every instance - he is an incredible musician in his own right and he’s an absolute shredder. I’ve never had a songwriting partner with the musicality that Andrew possesses, it’s super inspiring.
After we fully demo out 3-4 songs we will take them down to San Diego to re-record everything with Daniel Charlson and Jordan Krimston. Those are the absolute homies - they take our silly little demos and turn them into fully-fledged pieces of art. For NMAGOTSTFU we had three separate sessions in San Diego - Jordan writes/plays drums over the demo stems and then we build up from there.”
Graves: Back when we were writing the record last year, meeting up with Hayden to record was always my favorite part of the day. We spent a bunch of time messing around with these songs in the Slang Church basement, trying out different arrangements and adding/removing different layers. Both Hayden and I expressed at the time that it was the hardest we’d ever worked on a musical project. My songwriting improved a lot as a result. Seeing Daniel and Jordan work their magic during the recording process was super inspiring too. They added so much to the songs and elevated them in really interesting ways. I’ve never worked on a record that sounds as good as this one.
What has been some of the most memorable moments for The Co Founder? Whether that be collaborations, performances, interactions, etc.
Eller: “Working with Jordan Pundik from New Found Glory was a complete pinch-me moment. That’s a band I grew up listening to, so having Jordan sing the lyrics on my songs was really rad. Andrew and I went to When We Were Young 2024 in Vegas shortly after working with Jordan and seeing NFG play that big stage knowing we had collaborated with them was super humbling. In terms of shows, playing with Sydney Sprague was great - her guitarist Sebastien has been a buddy of mine for a long time, so seeing them perform together really warmed my heart.”
Graves: “At the end of last year, we were contacted last minute to open for Into It. Over It. on their Intersections 10 year anniversary tour. Evan Weiss was a big inspiration for me when I was growing up. I always loved his guitar work. I still remember the first time I heard Intersections, putting on “New North-Side Air” as I walked back to my apartment in college. Getting to share the stage with him is one of my favorite moments as a musician for sure. Also worth mentioning is that we played at Bottom of the Hill in SF which is one of my favorites venues! I’ve seen so many of my favorite bands there, so getting to play there was a big bucket list item for me.
Looking ahead, can you tell us some of the goals you aspire to accomplish within the next year?
Eller: “Playing big shows! Playing live is my favorite part of creating + sharing music. My goals are all focused on playing bigger and bigger shows - not for the notoriety or anything like that, but just to feel the energy of big crowds. I especially want to play Sound & Fury in LA next year - that’s a big goal of mine. I’d also like to complete another full US tour with this group of bandmates. This past year has been the most fun I’ve ever had playing music, so mostly I just want to keep the ball rolling.”
Graves: I’m really excited to write our next record too. Hayden and I have already been cooking up some new songs that I’m pretty excited about. It will be fun to push ourselves beyond what we’ve already done and see what new sounds we can uncover.
