A rainbow mandala takes over one of four walls in a “pig pen.”
The rest of the surfaces are littered with posters, stickers, paintings and art of Bob Ross, memes and Flock of Pigs merchandise. Fresh out of climbing a tree, four of the six band members take to the couches and sit to discuss how they went about preparing for their Norman Music Festival debut.
“We all have to get (on stage) and know that we’re doing this together and that we’ve all got each other or else it doesn’t work,” vocalist Joe Lee said. “Support is what makes this band work.”
And support is what the members have found and shared with each other. Their support can be found in their music, especially with their new single “Good Morning,” which was released in 2018.
“Good Morning” is a different sound for the experimental band that draws on soul, reggae and rock ‘n' roll for inspiration. Although the song begins slowly, it picks up in tempo and beat. The single has a more soulful and funky presence, especially with featured mellow vocals from NBC's “The Voice” Kristen Marie.
The lyrics, though, hold even more meaning for Lee who wrote the song while trying to lift himself up out of a darker place.
“‘Keep on living,’ I say that at the beginning,” Lee said. “I feel like that sums up the majority of the message of the song. Just keep on going.”
Lee said he didn’t have to worry about opening up about such a dark time with his bandmates because of how close they have all been and come to be over the years.
According to guitarist Ben Renfrow, the members have been good friends since starting school at OU, although some of them have known each other since high school. The connection the band has allows members to open up to one another on another level.
“I personally have struggled with depression, I know everybody in this band at some point has struggled with pretty bad depression,” Renfrow said. “We always kind of laugh it off, sometimes in a cynical way, but we all do recognize that that’s a thing, but it’s not that necessarily spoken.”
Members of the band continued and bounced off of each other, saying that their emotions come through in their music and their presence on stage. One aspect Lee reflected on is being able to communicate those same emotions to the audience.
“It’s pretty powerful,” Lee said. “We’re always experimenting. We have this trust and common understanding that – Ben will show me something that he’s been working on that ... I won’t necessarily understand it straight off the bat, but I trust it, and I trust him.”
“It’s the same way for me,” Renfrow said.
Along with the support they are able to give one another, they are also able to put a considerable amount of trust in one another.
“If you don’t totally trust everyone you’re going up on stage with to do what they’re supposed to do, the whole thing completely falls apart and doesn’t work,” trombone player Riley Richardson said.
The amount of trust in the band is apparent in the music they create, on their couch, while building a treehouse but will especially be seen through their Norman Music Festival debut. The band would not give away too much, but said they prepared their setlist specifically for this festival’s performance.
“We like for there to be a purpose for everything that we do. We like to drive through our set and purposefully put songs where they’re supposed to be to create a flow to the whole thing,” Richardson said.
“I always like to think of our live performances as not just a show, it really is a performance or an experience,” drummer Nick Lovatto said. “We’re definitely pushing our limits — not our limits, we’re just pushing some of our pre-setup boundaries to break into new territory as far as stage antics go.”
The band said the fans can expect a “spectacle” and maybe some destruction, although they wouldn’t say what.
“We have something to prove,” Lee said. “This will be the time we can actually show people, get people to (A.) show that we’ve been planning to give Norman Music Fest for two years.”
The Flock of Pigs will play at 9 p.m, April 27, at the Budweiser Depot Stage.
