INTERVIEW: Diet Cig

On March 3, WTBU DJ Monica Sucic talked with Diet Cig before their sold-out show at Brighton Music Hall in Allston. Sucic met vocalist and guitarist Alex Luciano and drummer Noah Bowman and they discussed touring, streaming services, and NPR’s Tiny Desk.

Monica Sucic: How have things changed since the release of the album [Swear I’m Good at This]?

Noah Bowman: It’s been great! We started the [Spring 2017] tour two days before that record came out. Some people knew some of the songs, but I feel like the day after it came out people knew all the words to the songs at the shows and were singing along. It was really cool to see people [coming up to us saying] “Oh my god I just found out about you through this record!” A lot more people were coming to shows.

Alex Luciano: It’s really wild now, since it’s been out since last April. We were touring right when it came out and it was super amazing and fun, such an exciting and cool response. I think the album has had more time to sit with everybody and reach more people. It’s so exciting seeing even now, almost a year later, how it’s resonating with people. The shows are even more exciting and bigger and better! It’s been so cool to see the album grow on our audience.

MS: What’s your favorite song from the album?

NB: I really like “Barf Day.” I like playing [it] live; it gets so big and triumphant. It feels good.

AL: I like “Link in Bio.” I wrote all the lyrics in the studio the day we recorded. I had other lyrics for it, but I hated them so I scrapped them and just went with it. I’m really proud of these lyrics. I think it’s my favorite song to play with the four-piece [band]; I think the keys and the bass really add to it.

MS: How is touring with a four-piece band?

NB: It’s been awesome! It’s been really fun to have those two other elements fill up the sound and to have two other people to bounce off of and hang out with on tour.

AL: Carly and Anne are amazing, and touring with them has been great.

MS: What has been your favorite stop on this tour?

AL: I think The Masquerade in Atlanta. Both for this tour and ever. We’ve played there a lot of times, and the show there this tour was better than ever.

NB: We just walked in and [the crew] remembered who we are. It’s really cool. It’s a fun place to be.

MS: What’s your favorite snack on tour?

AL: I like gummy worms, like sour gummy worms.

NB: I eat a lot of corn chips.

AL: But corn chips ONLY. No salsa. No dip. No nothing. Like a psychopath!

MS: Going back to “Link in Bio,” let’s talk about social media; do you feel like it’s helped you as musicians?

AL: I think social media can link you with a community of artists, even if you don’t live in the same place. It’s helped our music reach our fans, and I think it helps make music much more accessible. You don’t have to live close to an indie record store to be able to listen to new music. It’s a super important thing for us to be able to interact with our fans and to be able to have an open conversation. They can voice any concerns to us, or even just reach out about guest list if they don’t have enough money to get into a show. It helps build community in the music scene in general. I think a lot of our best friends in the scene don’t live where we live, but we can still interact and keep in touch and support each other through the internet.

MS: Do you feel like the pros outweigh the cons of social media?

AL: I’m really skeptical of anyone who’s a social media hater.

NB: Everyone uses social media. It’s the way that life works. If you don’t use [it], you’re behind. You’re not up to date.

AL: Even if you don’t use it, it’s your own personal choice. I just hate people that say “Social media is the end of all things.” It’s a great tool for organizing, with activism.

NB: It helps a lot of people.

AL: It’s a great tool to make art more accessible to everybody, especially folks who are marginalized or have lower incomes. I think it’s so important and special.

NB: I don’t have all the platforms, but it’s not because I don’t like it. It’s just not for me. You just find the things that help you out.

MS: Did you feel overwhelmed by the amount of platforms?

NB: Personally, I was overwhelmed. I’m not a big social person to begin with. But I like it because if I want to reach someone that doesn’t live next door or down the street, say, the Spook School–they live in Scotland–I couldn’t just walk down the street to find them. [laughs] E-mail is really good too, I like e-mail. [laughs]

MS: Streaming services go along with social media in terms of modern music discovery, but there are a lot of pros and cons to them. What are some things that you would change about streaming services to improve them for musicians?

AL: I think that [larger streaming services, like Spotify] should be paying their artists more. I’m skeptical of the “playlisting” thing they’re doing now. Smaller artists have a harder time of getting into that curation of sponsored content. On the other hand, I think Spotify is super important. It can be free, and it is an accessible way to see music. Bandcamp is amazing and such an incredible model of a way to put music on the internet. It’s so accessible and cool, but I also appreciate Spotify and Apple Music for being accessible to fans who maybe can’t make it to a record store, or who are younger and maybe don’t have the means to get out and purchase music, but can stream it. It is an important tool of discovery. I think the model that Spotify and Apple Music could be more artist-friendly. I know that Spotify is going public, and I’ve heard so much about how the shareholders are probably going to make so much money profiting off the backs of artists, and the artists aren’t necessarily going to get more money. As an artist in 2018, and being a relatively new band, we never knew the age of selling records to make money. We don’t really make any money from selling our music or streaming it. That’s not how smaller bands make money. We [do it] through touring and selling merch.

MS: What was it like doing the Tiny Desk show at NPR?

NB: It was wild. It was so quick and fast. I feel like we both kind of blacked out during it, because you just get there, Bob meets you, and he brings you in. We carried all our stuff through the NPR office, which is a giant office, and then you go to Bob’s desk–which is a little bit bigger than everyone thinks! It’s not that tiny! And we set up, and within 20 minutes we’re ready to go. Then there’s an announcement over the loudspeaker, “Diet Cig is at Bob’s desk! Come on down!” and everyone comes out.

AL: We were freaking out because we love NPR, and it’s like the big DC NPR headquarters. And we’re like, “Oh my God, did you just put that over the loudspeaker? Is anyone gonna come? Aren’t they busy?” People came! It was really cool, it was like unlike any session we’d ever done before. It was really fun, even though we were really nervous because we wanted to do a good job.

MS: If you could get a tattoo representing any artist, song, or album, what would you get?

NB: That’s a tough question…I don’t know.

AL: I don’t think I want to do it because I don’t trust any musician to not let me down. I love music and music inspires me, and there are definitely songs and lyrics that really resonate super hard with me. I just don’t think I would put any of them on my body.

NB: It’s like the whole thing with Deja Entendu [the album by Brand New]. Everyone had that astronaut and now it’s like “Fuck Brand New. They fucked up.” I knew at least four kids growing up that had that same tattoo.

AL: If I had to pick an artist, it would probably be Lorde. Not that I think that Lorde is going to come out to be this abusive person, but I would have a hard time permanently idolizing music or an artist on my body like that. If I were to just do it, I think I would get some lyrics from Melodrama by Lorde. I love that record; it’s so good.