AFTYN-
Description A simplistic indie/folk duo, AFTYN are hellbent on keeping it personal. Comprised of members Guinnevere Philipp and Chris Maher, AFTYN aims to evoke an updated 70’s folk sound, blended with both classic and alternative influences.
Interview conducted on Aug. 27, 2020
By Dan Locke
A simplistic indie/folk duo, AFTYN are hellbent on keeping it personal. AFTYN aims to evoke an updated 70’s folk sound, blended with both classic and alternative influences who self-describe themselves as ‘modern hippies’.
How did you discover music?
Guinnevere: My parents played a lot of 70’s music when I was growing up, so that’s where my love for music began. My father also plays in a band called First of June, so seeing him perform was a big part of the reason I play music.
Chris: My older sister had a lot of burned CD’s that I borrowed growing up, but it wasn’t until 6th grade that a friend of mine showed me the album “Appeal to Reason” by Rise Against that I really fell in love with music.
Guinnevere- On your YouTube site you have the statement. “Always singer, sometimes ukulele, rarely guitar and almost never piano.” What does that mean?
This is just a fun little biography I wrote for my page when I started it a few years ago. I’m primarily a singer, but played the ukulele a lot before the band started. Now I mainly play the guitar in our songs, but we still have a few I can play the ukulele and piano.
Chris- Are you a big Taylor Swift fan?
I am! I have a lot of respect for her as an artist and songwriter. Her new album “folklore” is one of my favorites this year next to Butch Walker’s album “American Love Story.”
How did you start to write music?
Chris: I started writing some small ideas on the acoustic about a year after I started playing that sat around for a while. I didn’t really know a lot of music theory, but I tried to put unique chords together that I had learned from some of my favorite artists at the time.
Guinnevere: I didn’t write original music until AFTYN began. Originally, we were just going to play small coffee shop style places and perform covers. Chris brought up the idea of writing an original and sent me a chord progression and I wrote the lyrics to it that week. Since then, I have found a passion for writing lyrics and studying how my favorite artists write their lyrics.
Why did you pick Breedlove Guitar as your guitar of choice?
Chris: I bought a Breedlove guitar about seven years ago on the recommendation of my guitar teacher at the time. I wasn’t really aware of the brand and was mainly looking at getting a Taylor or Martin. I was lucky to find a used Breedlove at my local Guitar Center and haven’t looked at any other acoustics since. When AFTYN began, I wanted to reach out to some of my favorite brands and see who would be willing to work with us, and Breedlove was nice enough to offer us an Artist deal. They’ve been amazing people to work with and we absolutely love their instruments.
What was your first performance at like?
Our first performance was at The Fire in Philadelphia, PA. We were pretty nervous about the set since we had just met a couple of months earlier. We had five songs written at the time (which make up our first EP “Maybe Someday”) and a couple covers ready for the show. It went really well and we made some great friends that night! That show started a long summer of playing various festivals and bars around New Jersey/Philadelphia.
What was the title of your first original song? Did you record it?
The title of our first original song that we wrote together was “Blue Chevy.” The name came from Guinnevere’s old 80’s Chevy Nova. It’s about one of Guinnevere’s best friends who had just moved away for college. We recorded it in our basement studio and it was the first song that Chris had ever produced, so it holds a special place in our hearts.
How did you start the band?
The band started when Guinnevere posted in a New Jersey Music group on Facebook looking for someone to perform with. Chris responded and we met up at Rowan University to play some songs and see how we felt about playing together. It went really well and we have amazing chemistry together musically and personally!
How the band did get its name?
Aftyn is part of Guinnevere’s middle name. When we were looking for a name, we looked at where some of our favorite bands got their names. It turns out that Dawes is Taylor Goldsmith’s middle name (lead vocalist of the band Dawes), so we took inspiration from that and went with AFTYN.
Tell me about your new LP “Minutia”, which came out on Aug. 21?
“Minutia” is a collection of songs that mostly encompass events and the feelings drawn from them over the last year. Guinnevere is the primary writer in the band, so all of the songs come from a personal place for her whether they are about one of her friends, a past relationship, or a significant event in her life. She keeps the lyrics very transparent, but they still retain a sense of relatability.
Writing for the album technically started last September with the song “Anymore.” Guinnevere wrote this song a few days before the release show for our EP, so we both learned it and had it ready for the show. A few months later, we tracked the song and it became the first single off of “Minutia.” Fast forward almost a year, nine more songs were born to complete the album. We finished tracking in June and setup the release for August.
What have you been doing with your self-quarantine?
AFTYN
Fortunately, we are both lucky with our jobs because we’ve been working since quarantine started. With everything being shut down, we’ve been spending a lot of time recording covers, working on new original songs, and practicing for when shows come back!
Many artists are doing nightly concerts over either YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. What are you planning to do?
At the beginning of quarantine, we did a lot of live streams for local town programs, venues, and friends. After about two months of regular live sets, we decided to take a break from playing live sets and focus on finishing the album. We still had a few songs to track and mix, so we did that. Now that the album is out, we’re practicing new songs and preparing to get back out and play some socially distanced live music!
How was it to play at The Music Barn on May 7th?
AFTYN
Playing The Music Barn was a great experience. Jake Heil, the owner, is a great person to talk to and work with. He was actually starting the venue around the same time that we were getting started. He came out to our featured open mic set at the Red Dwarf Studios in Sewell, NJ and we talked about playing at his Food Truck Festival at The Music Barn. We agreed immediately and started preparing for our first headlining set. The food was great as well!
How do you see yourself in the next five years?
A lot of the things that have happened in this band so far have not been thoroughly planned out. We weren’t originally going to write original music, but here we are a year and a half later releasing our debut LP! In the next five years, we would love to still be creating music and playing for new people around the world whether it is live in-person, over the internet, or just through streams.
Anything you would like to say in closing.
We would just love to thank everyone who has supported us so far, the last year that we have been together! We’re still a relatively new band, and we have already made so many new friends playing with other bands and fans who have either just heard of us or came to a show and discovered us. Our debut album “Minutia” is out now and available anywhere you can stream music!
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