An Interview With Dorian From Signal Pine

Finding new bands at the ground level has to be one of my favorite things. Sometimes they reach out to me, sometimes I find them randomly. Regardless of how new bands come onto my radar, I’m thankful every time and Signal Pine is no different. They had reached out about their new album ‘Most of Every Day’ and although I haven’t had the time to review the album yet (don’t worry, that’s coming), I did have a chance to ask them some questions that have nothing to do with the album!

What’s your go-to coffee order?
Iced coffee, small coffee, Irish coffee, tall coffee

Everyone says that every crowd is their favorite but, what city has the best audience and why is it Minneapolis?
Right now our favorite crowd is whichever one is there at our first gig AND THAT’S MINNEAPOLIS BABY SEE YOU IN 2022!!! Jk, it’s gonna be somewhere in Vermont, probably, hopefully. Once we play a few gigs I’ll get back to you.

What’s a new hobby you have taken up during quarantine? If no hobby, is there a random TV show that you binged/ have a very strong opinion on?
This is an easy one! Signal Pine was our quarantine hobby. We had all wanted to be in a band for years, but going to school in three different states made it difficult. When the pandemic hit and all our schools sent us home, suddenly we were all close together. We found out we’d all been writing songs in preparation for forming a band someday, so we just did it! We quarantined together in a basement to record the album, and here we are. It’s bloomed into much more than a hobby now…

What’s your favorite topping(s) for pizza?
Patrick’s favorite is bacon, pineapple, and hot honey. I don’t have the confidence to go around admitting to liking pineapple on pizza, so I’m gonna stick with sausage, onion, and mushroom. But secretly his sounds pretty good too. Jack is lactose intolerant, but he’ll gladly suffer the consequences for a veggie pie.

Did Matt Skiba help or hurt Blink 182? Or, if you have no opinion, that’s fine too (although I’ll absolutely be judging you)!
Regrettably, we really don’t know anything about Blink 182 or, especially, Matt Skiba. But, we don’t want you to give us a shitty review, so I want you to know how strongly I feel that Matt Skiba is THE DEVIL INCARNATE. I would go as far as to eat Jack’s shitty veggie pizza to demonstrate just how much I despise Matt for the unfathomable damage he has caused. He is the reason none of us know about Blink 182. Sorry Matt, coulda gone either way.

If you could compare yourself to a bird, what bird would it be and why?
We would be an ortolan, because, as a 16-year-old, I read a gory Wikipedia article about people in France eating songbirds and thought it would be edgy to name our band The Ortolans. It didn’t stick. It’s apt, though, because the French ARE gonna eat us up (go check out Signal Pine on Deezer, French people! that’s what Deezer is, right? Minneapolis, France, here we come).

Are you okay with unconventional interview questions? (too late!)
This is our first interview, so this is our normal

Favorite lyrics of all time? (it can be a full song, a phrase, etc. just please let me know who it is and what song!)
One vote for “Strawberry Swing” by Coldplay
One vote for “Fear is a Friend Who’s Misunderstood” (from John Mayer’s “Heart of Life”) [although the entire song is a gem, as well]
One vote for “Changes” by David Bowie

What’s your favorite menu item at Taco Bell?
I’m kind of convinced that every menu item at Taco Bell is the same thing presented in a slightly different way. Honestly, they have like 5 ingredients they’re working with, right?

If you were to rob a bank, what would be the song playing in the getaway car as you escape?
Anything Blink 182, as long as it’s from before Matt Skiba got his grubby, evil little hands all over everything and ruined it

What’s one thing I should know before listening to your new album (do you have a title for the new album yet by chance)?
If you like Matt Skiba, please, the first thing you should know is that I’m deeply sorry for guessing wrong. Seriously, though, one thing to point out is that we recorded the whole album in a basement in a week. It was super important to us to get the momentum going and put out an album, but it meant that we didn’t have the luxury of committing multiple days to the finer, production aspects of the songs. In that way, it’s a pretty raw representation of us as musicians. I don’t think this is a bad thing: it makes it more diverse, each song a snapshot of where we were in our musical evolution when we wrote it.

Although they went the wrong direction with my Blink 182 questions if you ask me, getting to know this brand new band was so fun and I am seriously honored to be their first interview (don’t worry guys– they aren’t all going to be this random!). Make sure to spend some time with Signal Pine’s brand new album ‘Most of Every Day’ which is out now (and conveniently linked below along with their social media accounts!