Turnover's favourite songs

Nine Songs

Turnover

The Virginian three-piece talk Ellie Desborough through the eclectic tastes that inspire them.

08 November 2019, 07:00 | Words by Ellie Desborough

(Turnover) (Nine Songs)

With each album they release, Turnover deliver a new development in their sound.

With 2013’s Magnolia they favoured the emo/pop-punk of their youth, while 2015’s Peripheral Vision and 2017’s Good Nature steered them into the realm of dream-pop. This time around they’ve made another leap forward and embraced all things jazz and funk for their fourth record, Altogether.

Growing up in Virginia, brothers Austin and Casey Getz were exposed to a whole range of music, thanks to their audiophile loving father. “When I was growing up I thought everything he liked was so lame, but now I’m the opposite, the stuff he listens to now is the exact stuff I listen to.” Austin explains. “I remember when I was young and I was talking to him about music, and he said "One day you'll like jazz". I literally swore to myself that I would never like jazz, but now it’s my favourite kind of music, it definitely affected me in a subconscious way.

“He loves classic rock, jazz and bluegrass, so we were exposed to a lot really early on. Sometimes I hear a song now that's hip in some cafe and I'll remember it from being in my dad's car when I was six.” Their father’s taste isn’t flawless however, “He also likes some really bad music too!”

With new album Altogether written on two sides of the US, it wasn’t just new genres that they were delving into, there was a new writing process to adapt to as well, which Austin tells me gave them a feeling of liberation. “We'd set time aside to meet up and get together, so it felt like a special occasion, but it was just a different process.”

Austin explains that even when he and his brother Casey lived under the same roof, they would write separately, “but now we're living so far apart, so we're getting inspired by completely different things. The funniest part about it is we’re so separated, but I feel we’re more on the same wave than ever. There were a few times where I'd listen to a song and be like ‘Oh this is really sick’ and then two weeks would go by and one of them would be playing it as well. It’s crazy that we would end up at the same spot”

Completed by bassist Danny Dempsey, I sit down with the trio to discuss the nine songs that have been pivotal in their lives. It’s an eclectic mix, ranging from pop-punk to psychedelia to funk, with their choices reflecting their versatility as artists, as well as their ability to satiate audiences’ needs for new and exciting content.

“As you get older, you have to start making the shit that you're listening to, otherwise it's just not fun. I feel like now we're all down to make anything, and as Turnover continues there will hopefully be new, cool stuff all the time. What you consume definitely affects what you produce.”

“All the Small Things” by Blink-182

Austin: “I definitely chose this one because that's the earliest memory I have of a song imprinting on my mind.

“We were on our way to school in my mum's car and that song came on the radio. It was the first song I heard that didn't just sound cool, I was emotionally affected by it. I went to school and had the song in my head and was singing it to people.

“I went to LimeWire and downloaded everything they had and Blink-182 became my favourite band. I was listening to a CD and my mom heard them say “Fuck” and she cracked all my CDs in half! Then I couldn't listen to them for two years. I think that's what made me fall in love with music.”

Casey: “Pop punk definitely influenced us - especially our earlier stuff. They were my favourite band until I was 16 and then got into all other sides of pop punk too. By the time Turnover started Blink-182 weren’t really in the forefront of our inspirations, it was more stuff that we thought was cool. They were the segue way into that though.”

“All the Wine” by The National

Austin: “I heard “All The Wine” in the film Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist and I loved it. I had never heard of the band and then I downloaded their record Alligator. I really didn't like it that much, but I loved that song, and then their next two records, Boxer and High Violet were my favourite two records for two or three years.

“There was a certain vibe to their music that I liked. I'd heard Death Cab and stuff that people considered similar, but The National had something about them that really grabbed my attention. They were probably my biggest influence for Peripheral Vision in the way that it all sounded. It was really emotional, but at the same time simple and easy to follow. It sounded unique to me.”

“Half Full Glass of Wine” by Tame Impala

Austin: “This was the first song of theirs that I heard. It’s the kind of classic old track that lets people know that you’ve listened to a band for a long time, but I’d never listened to them before.

“A friend of mine said "You ever heard of this band?" I'd heard “Elephant” on the radio and I didn't think that I liked them, but then he played me this song and it was really sick. I was so late to the party.

“They were a kind of crossover band for me to get into psychedelic rock. I’d heard songs before but “Half Full Glass of Wine” grabbed me and it was a bridge to a lot of other bands. It was also cool that they were a modern band, because when I first heard them I thought they sounded like they were from the 70s!”

“Wouldn't It Be Nice” by The Beach Boys

Austin: “I grew up listening to The Beach Boys because they're my uncle’s favourite band. I would always hear “Fun, Fun, Fun” and “Little Deuce Coupe” and I always loved ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’, but then I kind of wrote The Beach Boys off.

“Three or four years ago I started to really get back into them again after listening to Pet Sounds. When I was young my uncle would say it was the best album, but it was weird and I was young, so I didn’t like it.

“Wouldn’t It Be Nice” is like a weird bridge between the two, because it still sounds so sunny and fun and happy, but it’s got a lot of Pet Sounds-y stuff on it. That probably made me more down to like Pet Sounds, as I recognised elements from that on the rest of the record and now it’s one of my favourite records of all time.”

“Pet Sounds as an album is such a journey as you go through it. Some songs as singles would be terrible, but bookended by the songs they’re next to makes the album so much deeper. I really love that and how deep all the instrumentation is and how orchestral it is. I just love that record.

“I saw the film Love & Mercy and Brian Wilson’s story is so inspiring; his lyrics are very influential to me.I think they write some of the craziest melodies and harmonies and that was definitely something I was trying to chase on Good Nature.”

“Loud and Clear” by Title Fight

Austin: “I was probably in my room on Myspace when I first heard this. “Loud and Clear” was the first song that I heard that was by people of our age, in the modern times, making really fast punk stuff, and we were pulled in by it. There was also an emotion to it that I wasn't used to hearing in punk.

“That band set the trajectory for us being kids in a band touring and doing cool shows, they set a wave for Turnover's early years for sure, they were very influential.”

“Move On Up” by Curtis Mayfield

Austin: “This was the first Curtis song I’d heard... in Bend it Like Beckham! From there I started listening to his stuff, and that was one of the first deep dives I did into soul.

“After I started listening to him I was like “This is who Pharrell wants to be’. It was his vocal style and style in general, I was really grabbed by it as soon as I heard it.”

“September” by Earth Wind and Fire

Casey: “September” is so good, it’s like THE wedding song. I remember I made a playlist on Spotify because of that song and named it ‘Songs that everyone likes’. I feel like there’s no one that can say that they don’t like that song. I want to make music like that.

Austin: “I think Earth, Wind & Fire are one of the greatest bands of all time and that song is a mood enhancer at any time. I love it because it’s so pop, but it’s so not bubblegum.

“It’s such a well written song. It’s so deep with the instrumentation and different melodies and parts. “September” is an amazing song, people hear it and think of a whole genre.”

“Corcovado” by Stan Getz

Austin: “I feel like I got into jazz via bossa nova. I can't remember what the first bossa nova song that I heard was, but that record Getz/Gilberto is Stan Getz, Antônio Carlos Jobim, João Gilberto, it's the quintessential bossa nova record and that brought it to the Western world from Brazil.

“Corcovado” was always my favourite song on that record, so that was the bridge into jazz for me. I love it a lot, I think it's beautiful.”

“I Wanna Be Your Lover” by Prince

Austin: “This was the first Prince song that I really loved. It’s the same as with Earth, Wind & Fire, I just think it's a great song, that is excellent pop that pushed boundaries for it at the time.

“It's inspiring to me, because any time that you can write a pop song, and it can be really consumable without sacrificing individuality and being unique is really special. This song does that really well.

“I can put “I Wanna Be Your Lover” on at any time and love it. It was definitely really influential post Good Nature and into this period of using other influences.”