Future.exboyfriend, originally from Salt Lake City, is currently supporting The Palms on their short summer tour. However, this isn’t their first time in North Carolina. FXB recently supported The Moss on their winter tour of 2023, and played at the same sister venue.
FXB is a cultivation of interesting sounds, with an inclusion of using the voice as an instrument itself. The rock of this experience of sound is Tyler’s unique voice, and strategically using supporting harmonies from Isaac and Ian to elevate it to a new level.
Before their set, I (Alyssa), had the opportunity to sit down with the members of FXB; Tyler Harris, Isaac Paul, Ian Kirby, and Josh Arina to learn more about the birth of FXB and how they continue to evolve their project.
Tyler, future.exboyfriend was your solo project that catalyzed in 2020, how did it begin and how did it grow to four members?
Tyler: I mean, it’s been really cool to see it grow how much it has. When I first made my first record, I kind of thought that’s all it would be. Covid was very much still… a thing, so playing live didn’t seem like a possibility. About a year into it, I asked Josh and Isaac to play in it and it felt really good, really natural. We added Ian about a year after that and, I don’t know… I come from a background in bands and I didn’t think the solo project thing would ever work out for me. It’s a funny thing to write all the music, but I’m lucky to have the support of these guys, with some input of course–
Josh: I don’t know, I just play drums.
Group: *Laughs*
Now that the project has manifested to four people rather than one, how does the songwriting process split in both lyricism and instruments?
Tyler: I actually still do everything pretty much. I ask them what songs they like, basically, and those are the songs we end up finishing. For FXB’s record, Isaac helped me engineer it and we spent 2 ½ weeks in his house finishing it. But all of the new stuff has been me in my studio, with input from them.
What was it like playing FXB live for the first time?
Tyler: Uhhhh. Scary? *Laughs* It was scary, and we were doing a lot of things new to us, like playing to the click and stuff like that. But, it was cool to see how it sounded live, and things changed because things kind of have to be in a live setting. But it’s really fulfilling to see, ‘Ah! Yeah! This is how it’s supposed to sound!’
Josh: It’s a good feeling for sure.
As Tyler is a member of the indie band The Moss and Isaac is one of I DON’T KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME how does the music/touring schedule and music making experience interfere with FXB?
Tyler: Yeah, I’ve actually talked a lot about this with Tyke (band mate and lead singer of The Moss) because I feel like we’ve influenced each other a lot. Especially in a live setting, The Moss is like, so high energy and doing that so we kind of try to bring that into FXB stuff. There’s a part in our new (FXB) song, “Forget”, where we stop hits and we subconsciously took that from The Moss because they do that so much. Isaac?
Isaac: Uh, yeah, of course. You kind of are who you surround yourself with. So, whether you like it or not, we all kind of take from our friends-slash-coworkers so, uh, there’s a lot of general knowledge. IDKhow has given me in terms of what goes into the performance and really what it takes to put it all together from start to finish so it’s been nice to have that alternate perspective. And it really goes both ways; some FXB knowledge, too, IDKhow is also a great thing. So really, everything should be symbiotic, especially ‘cause, I can speak for The Moss as well considering we are all good buddies. It’s nice to have a circle of dudes that all share the same dreams and aspirations on music.
Alyssa: My last serious question is for Ian-
Ian: Oh boy
Group: *Laughs*
Ian, your artistic work is very apparent on FXB’s discography as well as your personal social networking channels; where did your visual work come to play in the music making process; does it inspire sound or does sound inspire it?
Ian: Most of the time, I think sound inspires it. Uh, just like growing up with music, music has always been one of the biggest inspirations for me. So I think having Tyler send me a song, I’ll have an idea immediately in my head, or even me and Tyler will flesh out an idea together. But, it’s been lucky enough to have these guys do what I see fit and I’m grateful for that, so.
Alyssa: I will say, your hole punched self portrait…
Ian: Oh, yeah!
Alyssa: So cool. One of my favorite pieces of work.
Ian: Thank you! That means so much!
Lastly, a silly question: Is there a story behind you all (Tyler/lan) shaving your head for the Are You Indie promo?
Tyler: *Laughs* Um, so we did that the day? After we came back home from The Moss tour in March, ‘cause Caiden (band mate and bassist of The Moss) did it with us, and I think I had this band fever or something and I was like, ‘I need to get rid of it all.’ (Group laughs). ‘I’m gonna do it.’ And then we was like, ‘Well, we need a promo thing, because we always need something for someone,’ And Ian was like, ‘I’ll do it with you, if you need someone,’ and so we shaved our heads!
Ian: And we never looked back!
Tyler: And now it’s all grown back!
Ian: There’s some hair (in reference to Tyler’s head)…
Alyssa: Sick.
The week of this show, FXB released a new song called, “Good Girl” that was previewed before the release in their set in Carrboro. Good Girl is now public, and I highly recommend giving it a listen!
Show Date: 08.07.24 // Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle // The Evolution of Future.exboyfriend – An Interview with the Band Supporting The Palms
Photos & Interview by Alyssa Scinta
