An Interview with LA’s Coast Modern

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Coast Modern is a duo from California, currently touring with the The Wombats. Twin Cities Media’s Emily Meenan talked with the band’s Luke Atlas about tour life, Prince, and their sold out show in Minneapolis on July 12th at First Avenue.

TCM: For anyone unfamiliar with you guys, can you give a quick lowdown on who you are and what you’re all about?

LUKE: We are from the coast, we are trying to be something new, trying to keep things modern. Ha, so that’s why we’re Coast Modern.

TCM: Before Hollow Life (your first single) came out and really put you guys on the map, what did you do as far as jobs or hobbies go?

LUKE: We were both in LA writing songs for pop artists or doing random productions. Like, we did a project for Nasa doing a hip hop song. After a while of that, Colin left for a while. He went on vacation to Colorado and ended up staying for like six months. Meanwhile I was back in LA still doing the same old thing and we were like “Alright, it’s time to do our own project. Let’s do exactly what we want to do without anybody trying to tell us how to sound and only have to please ourselves.”

TCM: And you guys are clearly pleasing some people people than just yourselves! Show at south by, now on tour with Wombats. Had you traveled extensively before? So how is touring for you? Favorite parts, least favorite parts?

LUKE: No, this has been really new and exciting. We just got back from a two week run. We’ve been in places and at events that I’d never even thought about. It’s always amazing how random little cities have such cool vibes. We’re still trying to get our go-to places to check out down. If there’s like a whole foods or something where we can get some greens, that’s the place. All about the greens.

TCM: I’m interviewing you here from Minneapolis, where you guys will be playing First Ave on Tuesday the 12th. Where Purple Rain was filmed, the place Prince kind of put on the map. From what I saw on social media, it seemed like you guys are Prince fans. Favorite Prince songs?

LUKE: Aw man, that’s really hard. I’m a huge Prince fan. I’ve been digging into lots of b-sides lately. So I’m kind of drawing a blank, but all I can think of right now is this song called “Crucial.” Yeah, that was I think from the Purple Rain era, but I just discovered it recently.

It’s awesome.

TCM: I heard through the grapevine that you guys will be having an album coming our way soon, right? How’s that going and what kind of stuff can listeners expect from that?

LUKE: We’re just putting some finishing touches on it now. It should be around after the Summer. It’s super varied, which might come from our background as songwriters and just letting whatever comes out come out.

We’ve got some of everything, we’re kind of pushing the edges of each genre. It’s all very different but we’re really excited for it.

TCM: And finally, if you could collaborate on a track with any artist in the world, besides each other of course, who would you choose?

LUKE: Oh, damn! I don’t think I’ve ever been asked that question. Well… honestly, Prince would have to be on there. Top three, for sure. I might have to say Beyonce for living artists, too, because that would be a really cool challenge.

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