We sat down with pop-punk midwesterners Lake Mosaic to talk about their upcoming about, recent inspirations, and who they would trade places with for a week if they could!
Your most recent single “Perseverance” has been out for a few weeks now. What has the response been like?
People have been very excited about this one! We’ve had some folks reach out to say this is their favorite song by us so far, which is awesome. At our live shows, before we released it, we’d play it and notice that the crowd would be super into it. It’s a perfect mid-tempo jam for the middle of our setlist, so we’ve been kind of surprised that people get a bit more amped up when we play it!
“Perseverance” has such a strong message. What was the motivation behind writing the song?
We get asked this a bunch about our music, but especially with this song. Everyone in the band has a different connection to it, but the main idea is that you have to keep pushing when things get tough. Life is always going to throw some curveballs at us; the best thing to do is grit your teeth and try to hit some home runs. Matt’s lyrics for this song, while they’re very personal for him and relate to some specific events in his life, are applicable to lots of scenarios and that’s probably why people are vibing with it so much.
Punk music has been on the rise over the past couple of years, especially with major artists like Halsey and Machine Gun Kelly putting their spin on the genre. Is there anything you guys try to do with your music to stand out?
Well, as y’all probably know, punk’s been around for decades and has gone through tons of stylistic fragmenting over that time. Our specific brand of pop-punk is more tied to the early 2000’s Midwest emo sound. Being from Michigan, this is probably not much of a surprise. We bring in a bit of darkness to our music with that emo flavor; add in some easycore (basically, metalcore in major keys if you haven’t heard the term before – think ADTR) breakdowns and more complex riffs, and there you have it!
What’s been your recent inspiration for your new music?
As far as the tunes we’ve been releasing, leading up to our debut album’s release, Adam wrote a ton of that music. He started working on song ideas and riffs back in March 2020 and was inspired by newer pop-punk stuff like Belmont, Microwave, and Meet Me @ the Altar. There’s some Deftones in there, too. Most of these ideas and songs made it onto the album, with some additions from Evan when he joined the band later on. Matt came in last and added vocals. The three of them worked together a bunch early-on to write lyrics and vocal lines, most of which were inspired by a wide variety of artists. We all have different backgrounds as far as inspiration goes; check out our “Influences” playlists on our Spotify page!
Can you talk about the upcoming album? What was your writing process like?
It was, and is, always very smooth. We had one bump in the road with one song for this album, but the song became even better after we hashed things out. We are definitely a group of guys that will work on a song until it feels just right, and sometimes that leads to disagreements. Luckily, we’re all really good at relaying what we are looking for in songs, so those disagreements are usually just about ironing out details or overhauling one specific part. Otherwise, usually we just all send each other ideas via Google Drive and they tend to coalesce into songs. Others in the band chop these ideas up and rearrange them, or add to them. For our next album, we’re going to try a process somewhat similar to Periphery’s, where we get together and have a “round table” and just shootout riffs and songs until we pick all of our favorite stuff.
What’s the one song on your album that sets the tone for the rest of the record?
Really, this new single “Perseverance” does that. But, our first single that we put out, “What’s Left of Me,” is also a great representation of the album and of our sound in general.
What track are you most excited for fans to hear and why?
Personally, and this is Evan speaking here, I’ve been most excited for folks to hear two songs that we haven’t released yet: “Spring” and “Wasted Love.” The first of these, “Spring,” is one that I wrote the lyrics for in late spring of 2021, and it’s very personal to me. The intro guitar riff for the song was written by our original singer, Madeline, and it’s pretty unique compared to the rest of the album’s riffs. But, she injured her voice early in the band’s formation, and unfortunately she had to leave the group. Matt and I reworked the song to turn it into a surprisingly heavy banger! “Wasted Love” has a similar vibe to me, but the riffs are more complex, and the breakdown that Adam wrote is absolutely bonkers – people are going to go WILD for this one at live shows.
If you could trade places with another person for a week, famous or not, living or dead, real or fictional, who would it be with and why?
Evan here again. This is an extremely hard question. Honestly, I would love to live a week in the mid 1980’s as James Hetfield. Not for the alcoholism part, but I could die happy if I could go back in time and play with Metallica on stage in their prime.
If your fans were to take one message away from your music, what do you hope it would be?
Stay the course, and believe in yourself. Don’t be afraid to walk away from a person or situation that is holding you back. And, when you fall down, always get back up and try again. Always.
Finally, is there anything else you’d like to say to the All Punked Up readers?
Thanks for listening to our music, and we hope to see you at our release show on February 11th at the Blind Pig in Ann Arbor, Michigan!
We’d like to thank Lake Mosaic for taking the time out to chat with us! You can check out their single “Perseverance” now on all streaming platforms! Their debut album of the same name is out everywhere February 11th!
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