Looking back at Stopover, one of the things that made the entire experience so special was the connection that the artists made with not only the press and their fans, but also the connections that they made with the locals in general. While randomly standing on a corner during the festival, I was lucky enough to meet a group of guys who one guess at first glance were just another group of friends enjoying a night on the town. After a few minutes of chatting, I came to find out I was actually hanging out with the members of Bedroom, the project of Nashville native, Noah Kittinger.
Bedroom originally began as the brainchild of Kittinger as an outlet for him to create his own brand of dream pop with a bit of a folk twist. Conceived in high school, Bedroom has since evolved to incorporate a live band composed of Kittinger’s close friends, as well as two releases on one of Savannah’s own label, Furious Hooves.
With a new music video recently released and a new album that’s dropped today (soon to be reviewed here as well), I thought I’d take a look back at an interview I had the opportunity to do with some of the band members after our chance meeting where we discuss Bedroom’s origins, their relationship with Furious Hooves, and (most importantly) their appreciation for a few Savannah art students who helped make them feel at home during their Stopover experience.
Be sure to check out Bedroom’s recently release music video and as well as Noah’s new album, Grow. Although they just finished up a tour in which they stopped in Georgia along with Tennessee and Florida, I’m sure that the guys of Bedroom will be back sooner rather than later so keep a close eye here to catch the latest updates.
Photo courtesy of Furious Hooves
Noah Kittinger (guitar, vocals)
Stephen Walter (bass)
Petee Worrell (Hissing Lawns)
Petee: So if you guys would, give us a quick introduction to the band.
Noah: I’m Noah, I’m behind the bedroom solo project
Stephen: I’m Steve and I’m the bass player.
Noah: He’s my live wing man haha. We’re from Nashville, TN.
Petee: Cool, so I guess the first thing to touch on is describing your sound.
Noah: I’m going to let [Steve] take this one, because I make the music and I don’t want to talk about my own music. It’s kind of like having a third party haha.
Stephen: I kind of compare to if dream pop had a baby with anti-folk. A lot of the vocals you can tell are lo-fi driven with kind of an anti-folk style while the instrumentals are a bit more modern. It blends the two styles of dream pop and anti-folk
Noah: That’s what I like. I like ambient sounding stuff, kind of capturing the way you feel or how you’re thinking at the time, through crazy reverb or crazy delay, you know?
Petee: So like you said earlier, this started off as a solo project right?
Noah: Yeah! Basically, back in the end of 2011, when I was just turning 16, I started wanting to make music and release it. I was always interested in making music and I was always doing it but I started wanting to become an active artist. So I started thinking of names for the project and I thought “What is music to me?”. It’s an escape from everything, and someone’s bedroom is like an escape from everything so it’s kind of a relatable thing. So I made the project, made the toys EP, put it online, and contacted Furious Hooves about doing a tape release. So, two years later here we are haha.
Petee: So tell me what it was like trying to make that transition from a solo project to doing a full band. I’m guessing you guys were friends beforehand?
Stephen: Yeah, we met each other in high school, we took a guitar class together and kind of failed because we sat in back and did our own thing. We just had a really good musical connection. Everybody else was worried about the notation and we were just like “We’re going to sit back here and jam.” haha.
Petee: That’s definitely one of the best ways to learn an instrument I think. Just playing around with it and figuring out what sounds cool, what flows well!
Stephen: That’s the whole idea, that’s why I really love furious hooves. They really have a great background for DIY. It’s all pure DIY, the way they release the EPs, the presses they do. I think right now they’re doing EPs and analogue tapes. It’s just really great. I think a lot of people are respecting that style.
Petee: I think one of the big things with FH is that they’re somewhat of a smaller label but now they’ve got the Sixth Man imprint which is rereleasing a lot of the older material making it a lot more accessible for people. I think Toys is getting rereleased on it right?
Noah: Yeah! It looks beautiful, Ryan did an incredible job! And then my new record which is To Be Announced is going to be amazing haha. I’m really excited for it. It’s also going to be on Sixth Man, but that’s the cool thing is that they still do their hand-numbered, handmade thing. It gives a sense of that these guys really get it. It’s the best of both worlds for an indie artist. I’m really proud to be a part of it.
Stephen: As am I, it’s really awesome. And Stopover’s been awesome. There’s no reason why it shouldn’t be one of the next big festivals in the Southeast! Everyone had a great time. Plus you can drink in the street!
Noah: It was such a good weekend, and we met some SCADettes haha.
Petee: It’s a great place to be! So is this your first time performing in Savannah?
Noah: Yeah, this is actually like the third show as Bedroom. Back in January, I wanted to start doing live stuff, I started looking for a live band. It’s like there are two worlds to Bedroom now. There’s the writing/recording process which is just me and then there’s the live process which is Steve, Blake, and whoever else wants to join in. So it’s still not a set thing, we don’t have a “set band” yet but I think that’s what’s next.
Stephen: Yeah, we’re looking around. We’ve actually got some leads for a drummer and guitar player for a tour and everything. I think that’s the next step. Then getting the synth element in there. With this set, we really had to lean on the anti-folk element, driving things with the acoustic element, then beefing up the songs with vocal harmonies.
Noah: It was much more singer-songwriter and I feel like with a live band it’s going to be more like a live show.
Petee: Right, I know things can be a bit shaky with a rotating caste of people.
Noah: Yeah, well not really like rotating but it was kind of loose. Getting Steve was like a last minute thing almost. I mean, we hadn’t even rehearsed haha. He just learned the songs like three days ago. So this is like the start of it.
Petee: Awesome haha. So you guys are some of the younger artists playing Stopover, probably the youngest band. What was that like as far as setting up a place to play?
Noah: People kept asking me if I was 16 even though I just turned 18 in November haha. It wasn’t really offending, it was actually kind of cool because how many young artist are out doing things like this? It feels good because I’m out here and trying to do something.
Stephen: It’s funny because we couldn’t even get into the venue we played in after 10 haha.
Petee: It’s one of the downfalls of Savannah, our all ages scene is a bit lacking. So, it’s your first time in Savannah, right? What kind of things have been checking out, where’ve you gone?
Stephen: Let’s talk about Savannah haha.
Noah: Yeah, let’s talk about Savannah! So here’s the deal, we met some SCADettes, and let that go on the record! SCADettes are what we call SCAD girls, shouts out to Miranda, Michelle, Pauli, Inbal, Chloe, and all the SCADettes we met! So Friday, we went and met the label and after we were walking around the city when all of a sudden these girls saw us and we ended up hanging out with them all weekend.
Stephen: We felt like cool rock stars haha.
Noah: They made us feel right at home!
Petee: It’s that Savannah hospitality!
Noah: It really is, everybody was so great! All the artists were so open too, we met Sun Club. Such awesome guys.
Stephen: All of the artist, even like management and production, everyone was so inviting and nice!
Petee: That’s definitely one of the best things about Stopover, since it’s so young, all of the artists and the press members, even going to the event staff, nobody really holds themselves above anyone else.
Stephen: Yeah, it’s just that community. Savannah’s so tightknit but it’s really welcoming. You can tell everybody knows each other but they’re willing to take you in too.
Petee: For sure. Once you’re in, you’re a part of the scene!
Stephen: Exactly!
Petee: So I guess, looking forward, what’s next? More tours? I know you said the next album’s in the works.
Noah: Yeah, the record’s been done for a while, and we’re putting it out on Furious Hooves. There’s going to be a vinyl release and a tape release.
Stephen: We were talking last night about putting together a Southeast mini-tour in support of the album.
Noah: The southeast is a ground floor scene and it’s definitely growing. It’s becoming something big. I think the record’s going to well, I’ve got a really good feeling about it.
Petee: Well guys, we appreciate everything, coming down and sharing your music and all.
Noah: We appreciate you for doing this! Shout out to Savannah Stopover!
Stephen: Savannah definitely stole our hearts haha.
Petee: We hope you guys come back! Any last shout outs? SCADettes maybe?
Stephen: Definitely, shout out again to the SCADettes!
Noah: Shout out to Hissing Lawns and Petee haha.
Petee: Thanks again guys!