Wandering alone in the desert, treading through the soft solitary night, crystalline silence of the mind, impenetrable as an atom, stars shining down bright, the heavenly light surrounds you completely. You are nowhere. The Lunar Sludge Band plays all night long forever and ever, they're always changing, people always coming and going and coming back again. But the band plays on long after we're gone.
Echo Kid is a "sludge rock n' roll" duo from Philadelphia comprised of multi-instrumentalists Brendan McHale and Christian Turzo. Conceived through a shared love of raw, DIY recording techniques, light-hearted lyrics, and weirdo rock’n’roll, the pair began writing and recording music in earnest throughout 2019 while living together in Fairmount, Philadelphia.
Echo Kid epitomizes the Philly DIY scene - unapologetically weird and individualistic while finding joy in the minute details of music. Throughout the time I've known them, Brendan, Christian, and their merry band of lunar souls meticulously craft vast soundscapes that transport the listener into their own world, invoking nostalgia while at the same time delivering their own refreshing sound of perfectly tight performances.
As Skylyne Summer Series veterans, we were lucky enough to host Echo Kid once again this past May, and of course they did not disappoint. Following their show, answers to our interview questions were telepathically placed in our heads.
SKYLYNE: Hey guys! So glad to be chatting with you guys, we were pumped to have you again at the Skylyne Summer Series! I’ve known you guys for a bit - all the way back in the RFA days - so would love to start by hearing about how Echo Kid came to be?
Echo Kid: We’ve been playing together in some form since we were 14 so in 2020 we got this project going after RFA broke up. We had been writing songs for a long time and when the pandemic hit we figured we’d start recording at home and see where it goes.
SKYLYNE: You’ve described yourself as a “lunar sludge band”. How did you come up with that description?
Echo Kid: Dripping through the craters, seeping in and out of shadows. A saloon on the moon, dark and dusty but moist and heavy air. All the curtains are red velvet. A spirit appears to us and begs a favor. We acquiesce to it’s request. Nothing to see here. Move it on.
SKYLYNE: Oh, makes total sense. One of the things I love about your music is its power to transport you to a different era of music, invoking nostalgia but still feeling fresh and new. Is that nostalgic influence intentional? And if so, who are some of the artists who have inspired it?
Echo Kid: Very nostalgic. Peter hemisphere, hemispheric John. We just like to go for that sound. Like a crystalline blue glass sound with icy chandeliers and red wine spilled all over everything. We enjoy people who surf but not in California. The real surfers are in New Jersey. They know how to fly that kite. Raephael detrich is a good one to know. Gets it all the way. Also Henry James. Natural born remedy of the highest caliber he can’t help it. Casandra Williamson is also really hitting the nail with the jack hammer these days. I really want to meet her. Casandra ! Come on over! Meet my son! Seth.
SKYLYNE: Watching your live shows, it’s clear that your band has a very natural connection on stage and I’m always amazed at how tight the sound is. Can you talk about your process from writing a song to performing it onstage?
Echo Kid: First we write it in the attic. Then we take it downstairs to the band. They usually send it back up to Congress. And then this process carries on in a similar fashion for two to three years. That’s why we haven’t released very much music. Then once we’ve really got it cooking in the grease, we sear it on the cassette branch and usually send it off to our friend cefe the chief to paint it. After that it’s off to the races. We have a band called the lunar sludge band. It’s like a vaudeville circus thing, funny cast of characters, people are always coming and going. You see, the thing about it is, once you’re in the band, you’re always in the band. You can’t really leave. It’s getting really hard to pay everybody. That’s the price you pay though. Gotta keep it light.
SKYLYNE: That's quite the process. You guys have had a steady stream of albums and EPs roll out over the past couple years, so you must spend a lot of time writing. When you’re making these songs, do you write with album concepts in mind or are they grouped together after they’re written?
Echo Kid: Never. We never write any of that stuff down. We don’t even write the songs actually. They write us. They wake us up in the middle of the night and threaten us. We have to put them together with their friends cause they get lonely and then they get restless. It’s not good for anybody.
SKYLYNE: This past spring you toured on your way to a showcase at SXSW. How was that experience? Any good stories from the road?
Echo Kid:
It was a real
Hoot I’ll tell you
What we all had
A really great
Time and got along
Real well with
One another. The
Band we have right now
Is really fucking tight
Some of the best people
We’ve had the pleasure of
Playing with. Kieran an old
Friend of ours from high school
And our dear old friend Nicole
June, both supremely
Talented songwriters in their
Own rights respectively
We crashed on some flllrs
And slept in some Arkansas
Hotels filled with preachers
And coffee beans all over
The toilet cause someone
Spilled them whilst opening
The batch to make a cup
At 1136 at night. Nobody likes
A tattle tail. Tale. Either way.
SKYLYNE: Sounds like fun. If you could change one thing about the music industry that would make things easier for rising indie artists, what would it be?
Echo Kid: We would love to get paid.
SKYLYNE: I’ve seen you guys play plenty of packed basement shows in Philly. Who are three of the best artists you’ve ever played with or seen in a basement show?
Echo Kid: Muskrat John and the Visigoth band, whipping Molly, and I’ll never forget seeing the Ledge fucking kill it at the soda bin on 43rd.
SKYLYNE: As the premier lunar sludge band on Earth, what’s the first song you’d play for the aliens when they come to visit your show?
Echo Kid: They’re already here. They always wanna hear that Nancy Sinatra song. The one about the boots.
SKYLYNE: Thanks for taking the time to chat with us, this has certainly been the most unique interview I've ever done, lol. Here’s your spotlight - tell us what you have going on and what’s coming up.
Echo Kid: New album out 6/29 via castle crank records. Johnny Brenda’s 6/29 with some old lunar sludgers coming out of the woodwork. Further plans top secret. Things are moving. Everything is going according to plan.
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