From dreaming of taking part in on large phases to lighting up TV screens on late nights, Momma returns for a headlining efficiency in Philadelphia as they wrap up the primary leg of their summer season tour.
The New York-based rock outfit launched their fourth studio album, Welcome To My Blue Sky, just a bit over a month in the past. The band’s co-founders and important songwriters, Allegra Weingarten and Etta Friedman, say the album facilities on two themes: being caught between two locations, at dwelling and continuously on the highway, and rising up.
“We’ve like discovered our sound as a result of I believe we’re simply much more assured now and I believe that this report, we actually wrote for ourselves,” Weingarten mentioned.
The 2 band members grew up in California earlier than touchdown in New York as they seemed to pursue the band full-time. Whereas for many, the cross-country replanting of roots could be powerful, the duo shortly took to the East Coast, appreciating how many individuals within the space have a tendency to chop to the chase.
“I really feel like individuals are actually direct on the East Coast in a means that I actually admire and it’s not imply,” Friedman mentioned. “It’s actually simply attending to the purpose like, ‘I’ll assist you to out, however I’m additionally going about my day.’ After I was dwelling in LA, I felt like if I used to be to ask somebody for instructions, almost certainly there could be somebody who could be like, ‘Um, I don’t know,’ or like, ‘Transfer on.’ ”
Constructing on their success
Momma constructed off the sound established on their third report, Family Title, which featured fuzzy guitar tones harking back to ‘90s different rock from the Smashing Pumpkins and Veruca Salt, and helped the band attain new audiences. It was named among the finest albums of 2022 by Consequence and Paste Journal.
“There was a way of like, ‘OK, that is the primary time we all know lots of people are going to listen to about us,’ and that was undoubtedly looming within the writing course of,” Weingarten mentioned. “There was extra of a acutely aware resolution again then to be like, ‘OK, effectively, we wish to make a extremely large assertion. So how are we going to do it?’ And this time round, I actually don’t suppose we had been fascinated about how folks had been going to obtain it. We actually had been simply writing songs that we preferred and we needed to take heed to.”
The 2 started crafting songs as youngsters rising up in California round a decade in the past, releasing their first EP in 2016 with songs that featured them taking part in each instrument. Since then, the band has stuffed out and solidified its lineup with drummer Preston Fulks and bassist/producer Aron Kobayashi Ritch. A few months in the past, the band performed their first late-night TV gig on Jimmy Kimmel Stay.
“We’ve simply had the good experiences on the earth that we by no means thought we might have and folks that we actually respect and admire respect and admire us,” Weingarten mentioned. “That’s all I’ve needed since I used to be like 12 years outdated, to simply be somebody that individuals respect and be a musician that individuals respect.”
The large highs of the band’s latest success have additionally been coupled with the stresses that touring brings, together with the band’s headlining present in 2022 at Johnny Brenda’s, which Weingarten described as a “nightmare night time” fueled by almost two months of nonstop exhibits — and perhaps a number of too many drinks on the bar.
“There was only a lot occurring at one time, like so many alternative issues had been taking place and there was like a variety of heightened feelings,” Weingarten mentioned. “I believe that there was by no means some extent the place we weren’t going to proceed as a band, however I believe like every thing that might have examined us to our limits did occur, and it did check us.”
These rising pains had been numbed by way of the band’s work ethic. Friedman mentioned there have been difficulties, nevertheless it felt like “we had been simply all the time going to be doing this.” That bond between the 2 is mirrored within the pinky promise seen on the band’s new album cowl.
“It’s actually superior to see the place we are actually. It’s not like we ever anticipated something to occur actually. We undoubtedly all the time needed to since we had been youngsters,” Friedman mentioned. “We by no means anticipated to be right here, but in addition we had been simply all the time going to be working to get right here regardless.”
And with a much bigger room to play on this go-around, the band hopes to earn some extra “Philly avenue cred” Friday night time.
“All the folks I do know who’re from Philly or the encircling space, they journey for that shit prefer it’s no one’s enterprise,” Friedman mentioned. “That’s their … metropolis, so respect on that.”
Momma performs tonight at Union Switch, with Wishy opening. Doorways open at 7 p.m. and the present kicks off at 8. Tickets begin at $39.70.