Recorded over one year, in four studios, the debut EP from the band explores “themes of isolation and not being able to leave certain circumstances in your life”
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No matter who we are, what we do, where we’re from and where we’re going, there’s a certain state—one particular emotional experience—that everyone in our generation can relate to: isolation.
There is of course the physical manifestation of this sensation. Whether we were stuck in our apartments in a fearful attempt to avoid COVID or banished to our bedrooms to quarantine while recovering from it, the pandemic established a baseline that bonded us all—afar, while all alone.
Of course, isolation wasn’t introduced as part of the pandemic; just like it hasn’t vanished as restrictions have been lifted and normal life’s resumed. Connection can be difficult and life can just be lonely sometimes — maybe you’ve lost your people or maybe you never managed to locate them. Maybe you’re surrounded but just can’t manage to reach out, or allow yourself to be reached.
It’s this emotionally siloed state that serves as one theme explored in I Will Not Die in Upstate New York, the debut EP from Rookie Mistake. However while that theme may inform the art, the band itself is a case for what can happen when the right people find each other—
Namely, a really good record.
“This is our debut EP that we recorded over the past year at four different home studios on Long Island, Westchester, and Brooklyn,” shared the band of their EP over email. “I’d like to think of it as a snapchat of our lives over the past two years since forming and meeting in college with themes of isolation and not being able to leave certain circumstances in your life.”
The title of the EP itself, of course, hints at the latter. One can envision someone stuck, desperately attempting to claw their way out of a town — or, taken less literally, not just a city but a situation… or perhaps a relationship. A world they’ve been born into, stumbled upon or maybe even actively chosen or built themselves, but one but that no longer feels right. And the record is ripe with an honest, appealing rawness that simultaneously expresses a sense of desperation and determination. It’s full of feeling, a voice pulling from within then reaching out.
IWNDIUNY dropped back in April, and around then the band sent over a track-by-track breakdown, featuring a little bit about each of the songs — from jokey origins to title-inspiring cuisine to def-not-mom-approved scream-y shifts.
I Will Not Die In Upstate New York —TRACK BY TRACK:
“I Will Not Die In Upstate New York”
“This song was initially written as a joke until the band heard it and fell in love with it. I (Justin) was listening to a lot of NYC antifolk (Jeffrey Lewis, The Moldy Peaches) at the time and wanted to see if I could write a song using their stream-of-conscious songwriting style. I just played a super simple C-F chord progression and tried to talk about whatever came to my mind which ended up being something that resonated with most people that heard it. Production wise we had a lot of influence from long ballads like ‘A Day In The Life’, ‘American Pie’, and also the movie Forrest Gump.”
“Fortune Cookie”
“This song came together quickly in my basement. I had the opening guitar and vocal melody but didnt know what to do after. Ethan came over to my house in February 2023 and we finished the song in maybe 30 minutes? We looked at each other after and felt super proud of it composition-wise and it’s probably our most fun song to play live. I also always think of chinese food when I hear it because we were eating chinese food when we wrote it and subconsciously that might be why it’s called Fortune Cookie. (I just realized this right now).”
“Trampoline”
“This song was also written in my basement in a short amount of time. It definitely feels like our most formulaic song in terms of form and I think it’s super easy for the listener to hear and connect with.”
“Famous”
“Famous was the first song we wrote as a band and played live. Nick’s drumming and Gianna’s bassline really give the song movement towards the end and it also has a nice dynamic shift at the end that my mom hates because she doesn’t like screaming in music. Sorry, Mom.”
“I Love It Here”
“This was a demo that Ethan recorded his freshman year of college at SUNY Oneonta back in 2019. That’s where we all went to college and met. It just has this authentic raw charm that we felt like had to be on the project. We play a fleshed out version of it with the full band to close our sets and it’s always a hoot.”
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A HOOT!
Rookie Mistake is playing TONIGHT with Talking Points and Tom Redshirt at Piano’s. Grab your tix here.
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Follow Rookie Mistake at @rookiemistakeny and add their songs to your Spotify playlists.
Feature image provided by the band.