Photo courtesy of Wil Church
Yes, another interview with a band I discovered from the group Female Christian Rock & Metal. And one of my favorites. Some of the questions were answered by lead singer Lauren Kinder (identified as LK); the others were from the band.
JR: What are the origins of the band? Who is in the group? And where does the name "Theody" come from?
LK: THEODY started as my solo project in 2013. I asked a few friends to
play some shows with me, and we thought it would be fun to keep it
going. We decided on the name THEODY which means “a hymn praising God”.
We have had several member changes over the years, and currently, the
members are Charles (bass), Chad (drums) and myself (vocals), and we
have a few good friends that play guitar live with us.
JR: I believe you have two albums out: "Define The Relationship" (2016)
and "Smoke and Mirrors" (2021). Could you tell us about these projects
and the development (both personal and as a band) in that five year
span?
LK: “Define the Relationship” was a milestone for us as a band. Until
then we had been playing a lot of songs I had written personally several
years before. We wanted to write new songs that better represented the
style of the group, and we were so proud of the outcome. We toured all
over the country playing that album! Photo courtesy of Wil Church
In 2018 we released an EP titled “Prelude”. This is where Chad was able to contribute to the music for the first time. We leaned a little heavier with the sound and lyrics on that project.
“Smoke and Mirrors” released in 2021. We collaborated with a good friend
Tyler Simpson to write and record the project. He was able to help us
finally produce a sound that I’ve always wanted but didn’t know how to
achieve. In between releasing “Prelude” and “Smoke and Mirrors” we were
blindsided by some personal issues that took a lot of time to work
through. It definitely was a time of personal growth, and I used that to
fuel my lyric writing! Our music style has changed a little with each
release. Maybe it’s because it’s most recent, but I think we would all
three say that ‘Smoke and Mirrors’ feels the most authentic to us.
JR: 2021 was a difficult year, and one of the disappointments I had was
missing Theody coming to Indiana not just once but twice! (The first
time, while you were performing at the Kingdom Come Festival, I was at
home an hour away watching golfball size hail outside our window.) What
do you like best and least about traveling on the road? What are the
most interesting locations you've performed in?
THEODY: We have had vehicles break down on the road more times than I can count! So there’s always a little bit of anxiety that we might not make it to the venue when we are traveling so many miles on a rigid schedule. Funny thing is, we have only ever missed one performance because of car trouble (and that show was kind of a bust anyway, so we didn’t miss much).
Some of our favorite shows have been the unassuming places, like a tiny room in an old school with no stage, a park in Oregon where the homeless gathered, a tattoo parlor lobby… It was also pretty exciting to play Exit/In in Nashville!
JR: Who were some of your influences/heroes/mentors, be it musicians, teachers, authors (fiction or non-fiction), etc.?
THEODY: We are definitely more music listeners than book readers! A huge influence for Charles is the band The Wedding. For Lauren, Red, Children 18:3, Wage War, Rivals. For Chad, Bring me the horizon, Breaking Benjamin, The devil wears Prada, August burns red, A day to remember, Switchfoot, Fit for a king, Kanye west… too many to list!
JR: What would you say the highlight of Theody's tenure has been? Anything that happened that made you glad the band was formed? Any impact it made on people's lives?
LK: It’s always great to see the crowd singing and shouting along. We have played lots of shows where you can feed off of the energy of the audience as much as they feed off of ours. Then there’s the shows where it’s a bit harder to read the room. There have been a few of those where someone came up to me after the show to thank me for something I said on stage, that it was exactly what they needed to hear, or that certain songs we played really spoke to them personally. It’s a humbling reminder that it’s about more than just putting on a good performance, but about connecting with other people. Writing lyrics is a vulnerable thing, and it’s rewarding when that transparency can help another person feel understood.
JR: Thank you for your time. Is there anything else we should knowabout Theody? How can we keep up with what you all are doing? Photo courtesy of Wil Church
THEODY: Thanks for having us, and thank you to anyone who has read all of this! We have been quiet recently, but we do have some shows booked for 2022 and we hope to do more creating also. We are on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram, or you can see our news and tour dates on our website theodymusic.com
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