[Graphic courtesy of Hudson Forman]

By Sophia Hoffman, former General Manager

On Sept. 28, local band Riley James & the Doppelgangers played an exclusive live studio session as part of ACRN’s newest series of on-air radio residencies. As a current band signed to Ohio University’s student-run record label, Brick City Records, the band discussed their origins, writing inspirations and future plans as a group between a selection of songs. The session will be broadcasted on acrn.com on Monday, Tuesday and Friday at 7 p.m., and on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday at 9 p.m.

[This interview has been edited for length and clarity.] 

SH: Hey, rock lobsters! This is Sophia, your general manager for the hottest sounds of Athens, Ohio, ACRN. Welcome to the first installation of our new radio residency series. This is Riley James & the Doppelgangers.

[Song One – “Skin”]

SH: That was sweet, guys! How did you all meet and decide to start playing together?

RJ: We’re all music majors. [The band] are all in the same major—except for Miles now. We met through school and we’ve been friends for a bit, and we’ve all been playing together for awhile. At some point last semester or so, I was trying to get a band together to play some of my songs and I was asking a ton of people to see if anyone would be down to do it. At some point, they came to me and were like, ‘Hey, we’d be down to do it,’ so it was a very recent thing.

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[Song Two – “Our Facade’s Up”]

SH: That reverb on the guitar gives you guys such a soft, dreamy sound and it has me wondering; what inspirational forces are there in your music?

RJ: When I first started writing music, my biggest inspiration was The Beatles. Anyone that knows me knows that they were my obsession. Other than that, a lot of indie stuff like Mac DeMarco, Men I Trust, Crumb — things like that. With the reverb-y stuff, that’s probably where those kinds of sounds that I enjoy come from, but I think for writing in general, it’s a lot of 60s rock and The Beatles in particular.

[Song Three – “Moon Eyes”]

SH: I was thinking about how you said that The Beatles were a big inspiration, one of your favorite bands. I’m a giant Beatles fan, so the first thing that pops into my head when I hear the build up to this song and the grand piano in Sgt. Pepper, which I think is super cool. I am always curious about what first made people get into music — I know that’s the classic question — but, I’m curious to know what first got you guys into music?

RJ: For me, my parents were always listening to music when I was a kid and a lot of it was The Beatles and stuff from the 60s and 70s, some stuff from the 90s. I think that was probably my earliest times when I would hear those songs and be like, ‘Woah, what is that? That’s really cool.’ Some of my earliest memories are the first times I heard some Beatles songs, so that’s probably the main point where it started for me. Beyond that, I had a sibling that was six years older than me, and they were a band kid. They played flute in high school and they were a theater kid too. I wanted to be like them, so I started doing theater musicals and then started doing marching band and all that stuff in high school. I think a combination of those things [made me interested in music] and went from there.

[Song Four – “With the Luck Tonight”]

SH: That was Riley James & the Doppelgangers. Thank you guys so much for being our first participants in our new radio residency series. What’s next?

RJ: I’m working with Brick City this year, so we’re probably going to be doing a five song EP coming up. After that, I have an album that I’ve been working on and I have to wait until the Brick City thing is over with to put it out, but that’s what’s coming down the pipeline these days. This last song is called “Daisies” and this song is actually on Spotify currently.

[Song Five – “Daisies”]

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