Any band that references the Monkees and the Velvet Underground in their PR materials is okay in my book, so I was definitely curious to find out more about Eggs on Mars…

Eggs on Mars is an interesting band name. How did you come up with it, and how does the name reflect the music you make?

I think an old friend of ours came up with it. It was likely an unconscious riff on the David Bowie song “Life on Mars”. A lot of bands ditch their first goofy band name, but we’ve held strong, lol. I think it has affected the music we make, it’s somewhat psychedelic and zany sounding, and yet still approachable and playful. I think we’ve grown into it and now it’s just part of us.

You’ve described the band as soft psych/fragile rock/garage pop. How do each of those elements fit into the equation, and how do they all complement each other?

We love 1960s psych garage rock bands like the Electric Prunes, Love, The Zombies, but we’re just not that rocking, so I like the “soft” modifier to better exemplify what we’re trying to do. It’s not just shredding with the fuzz pedals maxed out, it’s a simpler, sly kind of psych. Fragile rock was actually a name we discovered by accident on tour. We were at the Electric Fetus record store in Minneapolis and there was a used box holding some “rock” records and the word fragile was left from the box’s previous use. We thought it was such a great way to describe our music. It’s rock, but not too rocking.

How did the band come together?

Right out of high school, me (Brad), Mason, and our former bassist/current good friend Justin Longmeyer formed the first lineup. Justin and Mason were in a high school band together called Consider the Lemming, and I was so blown away by the music they were making and the shows they were playing. Justin and I used to write songs together in my bedroom back in middle school, and so I was chomping at the bit to start my own little project. Even though Justin is no longer in the band and lives abroad, he still frequently collaborates on songs with me. I’ll send him songs and he’ll write lyrics. One of the songs on the new album “Takes Time” was written this way. Doug went to high school with us and was also a part of our music circle. When Justin moved, Doug filling in was such a natural move. Joel joined the band right after the last record came out. He played electric piano on a few of those songs on Warm Breakfast and then we just decided we couldn’t live without him in the band as a full-fledged member.

I love that a love of lesser-loved music brought the band together. Are there any touchstones that you all share?

I think the Beatles, the Zombies, Beach Boys are essential listening for all of us. Those 1960’s pop tunes are so influential to all of us. We are constantly recommending new music to each other; Chris Cohen, John Andrews & the Yawns, Cut Worms. I think the most recent one has been Andy Shauf and his other band Foxwarren. We’re all really into their newest record “2”. We are all heavily inspired by local Kansas City bands like Shy Boys, Fullbloods, and Koney. Just great pop music, with harmonies and great guitar tones. Those bands were and still are hugely influential on what we do and showed us that great music can be made right here in Kansas City. 

How did you discover that music?

I know for me a lot of music discovery came from learning to play guitar. Started off learning all the big Led Zeppelin riffs and listening to classic rock radio (101 the Fox, and 99.7 KY, to be exact). Then you eventually learn about newer stuff, I think CAKE and then Built to Spill were the first bands I got into that were still active and touring. CAKE was my first concert! I also remember listening to the golden oldies station when I was in elementary school (Oldies 95), when they played “the hits of the 1950s and 1960s”. So a lot that was imprinted on me from an early age, I still love all those vocal groups and teeny bopper stuff. I think the local library also was super important for my music discovery. I first heard the Velvet Underground, Built to Spill, and Frank Zappa from CDs I checked out at the library. It really expanded my palette. 

I love the idea that you attempt to summon the sound of the Monkees if they were chosen over the Velvet Underground to be the house band for Andy Warhol’s Factory. Can you say a little more about what you mean by that?  

I think what I mean is that we kinda want to be this cool, deep semi-experimental, rocking band but we still have the bubblegum harmonies and shiny guitar sound of 1960s made-for-TV band music. Also love the Monkees and how they tried steer away from their TV roots and be a real band, made some freaky stuff like the Head album.* Also the VU made some very tender sweet songs, so they’re maybe more linked that first appears.

You’re from Kansas City, Missouri. What’s the music scene like there?

Kansas City has an eclectic music scene. Being a mid-size city, we’re used to having somewhat varied shows, we played with hip hop acts and folk singers pretty frequently. There are a lot of great bands like The Creepy Jingles, Thimastr, Teri Quinn & the Coyotes, Kat King, Field Daze, Big Fat Cow, 2weedy, Jacob E.Chord and so many others!

Your latest album is called Good Morning (I Love You). How does it represent a leap forward for the band?

Perfect question with daylight savings time just starting!** This album was a huge group project for us, it was the first time we didn’t record with our long-time friend and studio engineer Rodd Fenton. Rodd helped us record the previous four albums at his Solstice Audio studio. We love him and he’s taught us so much! As usual we all worked on making the songs come to life based on demos and little ideas that I had. This album marks Doug’s first contribution to the songwriting through “Shooting Stars”. Doug sings lead vocals on it and also “Takes Time”, marking the first time I didn’t sing lead. Harmonies are a big part of this record. I tried to up my game writing more interesting and complex (to me) harmonies and also the melodies. I am always working to make catchier and more interesting melodies to the songs. Joel acted as our sound engineer for recording and then he and Doug mixed the record. Doug did the final master and also assembled the album art. The cover art was created by a couple dozen different artists who contributed flowers. We all contributed to the listening and tweaking of the album to make it sound just the way we wanted it.

Everyone had a role in the bringing the album to life. Do any of you have any training in music production, or did you learn by doing it?

Joel went to school to study upright bass. He has our one classical training credit, haha. The of us just learned by doing. Doug is a wiz and has worked in radio and all kinds of music and video production. He picked up a lot of knowledge that way and just by tinkering. Me and Mason don’t really know much about the production side, so we rely heavily upon Doug and Joel to make our songs sound great and our musical dreams come true!

Do you have any plans to tour?

I am having a baby this spring so likely we’ll hold off on any extensive touring until the summer or fall. We’d love to play some new places to celebrate this album though! Always wanted to go to either of the coasts, or pie in the sky would be to tour Japan or Europe.

What’s on the horizon for you? 

We’ve been working on this record for a few years. I think we’re going to bask in the glow of our hard work and enjoy it with some local shows and hopefully a bigger tour later this year. And we’re always working on new music. I’ve got half a dozen songs I’m at various stages of tinkering with, and we’ve already started sneaking in a new song when we practice. It’s all for fun and we love making music together, so we hope to just keep on doing that.

*I’m a big fan of this one, too!

**We conducted the interview in March!