INTERVIEW: COIN

It has been five years now since American indie-pop band COIN formed in Nashville, Tenn. as four college students. In the time since, the band has released a self-titled debut album and, most recently, their second studio album, titled How Will You Know if You Never Try? Amidst the release of this new album, the band is currently out on their first ever U.S. headlining tour. WTBU DJ Daniella Weiss had a chance to talk with lead singer Chase Lawrence about the new album and tour.

One year after releasing their debut album, COIN released the track “Talk Too Much,” which would become the first single off their second album. The upbeat tune took off as a popular radio single for the band. When asked about the effect the single had on the band’s increase in success, Chase referred back to the band’s roots in America’s music city.

“Being from Nashville, people always say it’s about the song. I think ‘Talk Too Much’ is an example of how we were not a very well known band, and we didn’t have much of a fan base before ‘TTM.’ A song can open doors for you; it spread organically,” said Chase. “More than anything the song really connected with a lot of people. Gratefully, it was just the song that did all of the work for us.”

In the time between albums, “Talk Too Much” is what catapulted the band into this next chapter of new music.

“It was like night and day. It’s been incredible to watch the growth and watch people go back and rediscover our old music, too. It just really opened doors,” said Chase.

Forward a year to 2017, and the band released four more singles prior to the April 21 release date of HWYKIYNT. One of the four is the lead track, “Don’t Cry, 2020,” which dropped a week before the album release.

“It’s my favorite song on the album overall. It was probably the second finished song we wrote for the album,” said Chase about “Don’t Cry, 2020.” “Every line is so specific. It’s basically about my fear of growing older.”

The entire premise of HWYKIYNT came about naturally as the band was writing for the album.

“We were talking about releasing it and I was like, ‘Well, how will you know if you never try?’ And I just said it so nonchalantly and everyone just stared at me. I was like, ‘I think that’s an album title,’” said Chase. “And from there all the lyrics started taking shape around that concept. It all started to steer towards this idea of not fearing the inevitable, but being motivated by it.”

As the band’s new tour is underway, there is a heightened excitement amongst them to play the new album and make each show their own.

“It’s honestly so crazy. It’s really cool to have something that’s ours. We’ve supported so many bands for basically two years now. We’ve just been grateful to play for thirty minutes in front of anyone, and now we’re at the point where we’re able to have a show that’s ours,” said Chase. “It’s curated from the music we play before the show to the music that plays when we end, to the lighting and everything. We’re super excited to make an experience that’s uniquely us.”

Chase hinted at an art installation that will be onstage resembling the album artwork for HWYKIYNT. In their longest set yet, the band will be playing several songs from the new album for the first time but also keeping in fan favorites from the past.

“For some reason the song ‘Time Machine’ is really fun to play live. It’s really connected with new fans and old fans,” says Chase. “But I’m really excited to play ‘Malibu 1992’ for basically the first time on this tour.”

As for who will precede the band as an opening act, COIN brings along emerging electro-pop group A R I Z O N A.

“They have this song called ‘Oceans Away’ that we really love. The song has an incredible amount of streams on Spotify; it’s crazy, and we didn’t even know that. We just heard that song everywhere and loved it,” says Chase. “We definitely wanted to have [an opener] that was a slightly different departure from what we’re going to do.”

Beginning with this tour, there is an exciting future ahead for COIN as their newest album takes off. The tour began in mid-April and will run until the end of June with support from A R I Z O N A in select cities. The band made a Boston stop at The Sinclair on May 3rd as part of the How Will You Know If You Never Try? Tour.

-Daniella Weiss