The Heart Behind Their Harmonies: A Conversation with Flamingos in the Tree

I had the honor of sitting down and chatting with Flamingos in the Tree, an indie pop/rock band from Reno, Nevada. The band consists of Daniel Escovar as the lead vocalist/guitarist, multi instrumentalist Spencer Thomas, drummer Jarvis Humlick, and bass guitarist James Pizzo. With their newest album, as it falls into place, they are currently on tour showcasing their fresh sound. 

Strider: I do wanna start by asking what was the inspiration behind the name, the name as it falls into place? 

Daniel: After we released the first album, we immediately just started thinking about what's next for us, things just kind of felt like they were moving in this direction where we were supposed to be playing music. We called it as it falls into place, because everything from one song to the next, just felt like it was kind of just working out, it was just happening. Even until the end of the album, just deciding what songs actually went on. Some of the songs we wrote probably a month before recording the album, and then that was only two months before it came out. So a big part of it was we liked the idea that [as it falls into place] would come out right before it was actually fall season. It’s just like an image of how our personal lives are.

James: You had that personal Spotify playlist called that, I always thought that was super good when we were trying to think of what to call the next project.

Daniel: I make playlists of songs that I like, and I make them into small albums. And then what I wanted the album to sound like, I called it as It Falls Into Place, because I felt that was the direction we were heading in. 

Strider: Wow, two months?

Daniel: Yeah so for “Mulholland Drive”, James and I were on the couch, and we just threw it together, showed Jarvis and then showed Spencer. Within like a week, it was just done. And we said ‘okay, I guess this is the next single.’ It was just really fast, so it was falling into place. 

Jarvis: As we finished up, everything kind of just fell like dominoes.

Strider: Can you describe a specific moment where it felt just like magic, a moment where everything just clicked and a song came to life?

James: It was when Spence played guitar on “Mulholland Drive”.

Daniel: My brother does videography and press photos for us, and he was up taking pictures of us rehearsing. It was the first time Spencer heard “Mulholland Drive”, and it was the first time we played it as a band. Basically he got on the guitar and just started going. Every time that we finally decide to play together, things start to work out, and that was one of those moments.

Spencer: Like you said, ‘like magic’, there's something about being with this group, we just click and stuff happens like that. When you're writing alone, you're trying to think of ideas, and you're kind of racking your brain. But when we play as a group, things just happen.

Daniel: We can take risks while we're playing together. I'll just do something, and then I look at Jarvis and he's just nodding, and then you're like, ‘all right, cool, cool’. You get the same thing if you do something bad. You'd [ask] ‘what about that?’ and then someone [says] ‘all right, no, don't do that’.

Jarvis: That unspoken way of communicating.

Strider: Are there specific elements in your music that are direct nods to artists that have inspired you?

Daniel: For “Take me by the Hand”, the tones in the beginning were definitely inspired by Hers. But for this new album, there were a lot of inspirations to be honest.

James: Summer Salt, a little.

Daniel: For “Words You Say”, I was really big on Sun Room at the time. Sun Room is great. So we kind of had a lot of inspiration in that way.

Jarvis: It was always called “the strokes song” before we had a name. And now it's not, things evolve sometimes.

Daniel: So that one would be a really subtle nod.

Strider: Is there a message or feeling that you hope your listeners take from your newest album?

Daniel: Yes. We always try to put underlying messages. But I think this album has the message that we're growing up and still pursuing everything that we want to pursue, and we're just letting things happen. There's no timeline to your dreams, and basically you just gotta live your life and let it happen, kind of, as it falls into place.

Strider: Which song for your newest album took the longest to make, what was the most challenging and why?

James: There were a few that didn't make the cut.

Daniel: The ones that we got out are the ones that were the easiest to make. There's a few songs we’ll probably put out later that were taking a long time to make. But actually, “words you say” is probably one that took the most because it was a lot of instrumentation, and I was also so attached to it. Me and James both were really attached to that song, because we thought it was a good song right when we were playing it together. That made it a lot of pressure to mix and master and just completely produce it. We took several avenues. We decided to produce it, like Sun Room, and we're like ‘nope, that's not it’. And then we tried these other different production styles, until probably the seventh or eighth version is what this one is.

Strider: Which song do you think represents your band's essence the most?

Spencer: For me, it's “Thorned Rose”.

Daniel: “Thorned Rose” is the first song that we decided is how we wanna sound.

Spencer: Another one for me would be “Turn Out the Light”. That was an early song that started feeling like more mature songwriting, and we wrote it as a group.

Daniel: I think we like to explore different genres and hope to evolve into doing more difficult, challenging, and tonally more interesting things. I think from this album it’s “words you say”. Last album, it's gotta be “take me by the hand”.

Strider: How do you see the evolution of your sound from your first album to your second album? What changed the most?

Jarvis: Sounds so much better.

Daniel: The mix. We produce all our own stuff. [For the first album] I was in the middle of learning how to mix and master and we also rushed it, and it was fun. Jarvis recorded all the drums in one night. I recorded all the vocals in one night. Everything that Spencer had vocally was recorded from like five years ago. It was just a lot. We didn't know as much in terms of production, mixing, mastering and we had way less equipment and way less experience songwriting. I think the biggest thing is the production and the songwriting.

James: I don't know if it's really true at the end of the day, but as we were writing and starting to work on recording, I really felt like this is a very guitar centric album. Even though a lot of synths ended up on it, a lot of the early writing for everything was on a couple guitars.

Daniel: That's true, I used to write with more synths.

James: This was more of a guitar album.

Spencer: The songwriting style, and the way we write harmony is different depending on what instrument you're doing. The piano brain is different than the guitar brain, different ideas. So it does make a big difference what instrument you’re on.

Strider: What’s one thing that you've learned from each other that applies to your music, or even your personal lives?

Daniel: I think we learn from each other every day. We all have different strengths in both music and our personal lives. Jarvis has the most vocabulary for anything rhythmics, James has the most for anything harmonic, they're always teaching me. I think Spencer and I have the most confidence with writing lyrics. Not like they're learning necessarily, but just leading by example, and doing it.

Spencer: At first, it's embarrassing to come up with the lyrics. It's like, ‘is this dumb? Is this cheesy? Is it cliche?’. There's so many things, it's hard to just go out there and say it sometimes.

Jarvis: I'm just a thesaurus for different words. Generally applying to everyday life though, just the power of taking action and trying stuff, and being persistent with it.

Daniel: We motivate each other to do that.

James: Definitely a lot to be said about doing the same thing until it works, and sticking to it.

Daniel: Because if you think it's good dude, other people probably will think it's good. So just do it as long as you like it.

Strider: If you could capture the vibe or essence of as it falls into place in one or two words or phrases, what would it be?

Spencer: Growing up.

Daniel: It's a direct chapter two of “Growing up Hurts”. I think sunsets that i had w u really displayed that naive hope, just [sending] it anyway, who cares if you're doing it right? “Growing up Hurts” was like, okay, things are getting serious, life's happening. And as it falls into place, we're growing up, and how are we gonna deal with it?

Strider: Knowing how to deal with it?

Daniel: We're trying to, it's falling into place as we speak, right?

Spencer: We’re still kind of beginners in a lot of areas.

James: I think overall, there's a lot darker tone to this album than the last one.

Daniel: A little bit of the harshness of reality, maybe in that way.

James & Jarvis: Some melancholy, but with some happiness.

Daniel: Even with a little sarcasm with “Make U Smile”. A lot of the reason we get to play in front of audiences is because we would make TikToks, and people would either hate or love that we made them. Personally, I think I speak for all of us here. We don't like making videos, we're here to make music, but you gotta do the videos. That song, “Make U Smile”, the chorus is “But if I wanna stay a while, well then I have to make you smile” It's about how if we wanna keep playing music, we're just gonna have to keep making the videos. We're not hateful of it, but it's just a lot of work.

Spencer: It’s not the part we love.

Daniel: It’s that part of work, where you're scrubbing the fridge, and it's just not the good part. You wanna talk to the customers. Maybe you like making art.

Strider: If you guys could form a supergroup with any musician dead or alive, who would it be?

Spencer: Hers inspired me a ton. They're one of the first indie style artists that I ever listened to. A lot of the choices I make in music are inspired by them.

Daniel: Hers was a huge influence, especially on the sunsets album. John Lennon I think is the guy I would make a supergroup with.

Jarvis: Eddie Van Halen. I think we need more shreddy guitar licks and tapping. That is the next step.

James: That’s hard, there’s so many amazing people I would kill to ever be in the same room with. It’s a weird one, but I really like Paul Simon, his songwriting is a lot of great work.

Jarvis: All of Radiohead.

Spencer: We all like Radiohead.

James: Realistically though, there's a lot of people in the SoCal psych rock scene that were massive influences on me, like Ty Segall and Cory Hanson. Those guys are all kind of my heroes. They're not superstars, exactly, but they're great, awesome stuff.

Strider: If you guys were to write a memoir about yourselves, what would the title be?

Jarvis: Smooth Indie Rockers. Even the first show we ever played at, the venue described us as Smooth Indie Rockers.

Strider: What are some hobbies or interests outside of music that you guys still enjoy? And do any of them contribute to your music?

Spencer: We all like playing outside.

Daniel: I play basketball, James mountain bikes, and Jarvis snowboards. We all love to play sports, but there's not much overlap from our active lifestyles to music.

Spencer: For me, the biggest thing is nature is inspiring.

Daniel: We love listening to music and going to shows. We'll see someone on the stage like ‘Oh, that was cool, what kind of amp is he using? Maybe I should get that amp’. That definitely influences our music, but we're there to get better. When we went to see Symposium, we were like, ‘what are they doing? Are they using tracks? Are they playing? How are they doing it?’ The same thing when I saw Wallows, I wanna see, I wanna learn.

Spencer: We went and saw Vacations as a band, that was sick. And Last Dinosaurs, they were insane. We learned so much watching Last Dinosaurs to be honest.

Strider: What's one piece of advice you would give to yourself at the start of your career?

Jarvis: Sign up for Pub Admin. It's an industry thing. It's how you collect your mechanical royalties.

Daniel: There's so many things we learned about the music industry that you just wouldn't know until someone tells you ‘this is something you've been missing out on’.

Spencer: That’s one of them. Also the business side of things was hard. It's a tough learning curve.

Jarvis: There's a lot of gate keeping in the music industry. You have to know someone. So you don't know until you know. Just telling the younger us, ‘hey, this is what you don't know’.

Daniel: It’s gotta be about the industry, which sucks. It's not inspiring at all, but it's very practical advice.

Jarvis: Maybe practice drums a little more.

Spencer: That's true. I didn't even learn guitar until I basically joined this band. If I could go back to young me, I'd say ‘hey, maybe, maybe see if you like guitar at all’. And listen to more music. I lowkey did not listen to music until I met these guys. I would just turn on the radio if I was in the car.

Strider: What's one item you can't go on tour without?

Jarvis: Walkie talkie.

Spencer: We bring walkie talkies sometimes, just cause they're funny.

Jarvis: Monster energy.

Daniel: Oh yeah, probably caffeine.

Spencer: We have a lot of really long drives. Yesterday, we didn't sleep at all. We drove from Denver all the way through the night to Dallas, played the show, and then stayed up till two talking to some other bands.We were doing a live show in the morning, so we had to get our stuff there. We'd probably be dead without caffeine. That’s the must have.

Strider: Anything else besides caffeine?

Jarvis: Spencer always forgets his belt.

Spencer: Almost every single tour we’ve been on, I forget a belt and then have to buy one. This is the first tour I remembered a belt. I have four belts at home that are $3 belts that are ugly, just because I buy them on tour.

Daniel: That's maturity right there.

Strider: This is kind of a similar question to earlier, but how do you guys stay grounded and connected to your roots despite the pressures of being in a band?

Daniel: You get humbled consistently being in a band this size, I'm not gonna lie. You go to a venue, the sound guy’s talking down to you, and there's always so much to learn. You meet a new manager, you meet a new person in the industry, and you realize you know nothing, and it's just constantly happening where you feel like you're on top of the world, and then suddenly you realize you're not even close to where you wanna be. So that keeps us grounded. Also just talking to each other, because we'll have days where we're like ‘wow, this is awesome, this is so cool, we’re doing so well’, and then other days we'll think, ‘maybe we gotta improve in all these ways’.

James: Almost a majority of the music I really love and listen to are a lot smaller groups than us. I found that success, as far as the numbers and streaming, has nothing to do with how good the songwriting is. A lot of it is luck. I feel we're a pretty lucky group to have gone to the size we are, and that we're continuing to grow. It's really appreciating art at any level monetarily, just where their numbers are. It's a good reminder that we're just doing music. It doesn't matter what kind of clout is around it, it’s not that deep.

Strider: Before we wrap up. Is there a message you'd like to give to your fans? Anything we should keep an eye out for?

Daniel: Definitely keep an eye out for shows in your city. We're gonna keep posting songs. Like we said earlier, there were a lot of songs that didn't make the album, but I think we're just gonna get them out.

Spencer: EP’s or singles! We haven't decided, maybe an album?

Daniel: We haven't decided yet, but we want to release more music.

Spencer: It’s our favorite part!

Daniel: Putting out more songs so that we can play them live and everyone can enjoy them. So I think just keep an eye out, because we don't even know when the songs are coming out. They’re recorded mostly, we just haven't mixed them. That's a whole other process. It takes a while sometimes, and sometimes we do it in one night.

Strider: Is that why it didn’t make the cut?

Daniel: Mixing and producing defines the song in a big way. Like when we do something live, how we move, or how we physically play, there's a certain feeling, right? But portraying that in a song is completely different. You can record it sounding exactly the same tone that you have live. And just because it's not as loud as it is on a stage, you'll be like, ‘this isn’t the song, it sounds small, it sounds weak’. Making production decisions that make it sound how it should is difficult.

Jarvis: Playing live is for that night, putting a song out is forever.

Daniel: You really want it to be the representation of the song.

Jarvis: We could play songs totally differently, depending on the energy of the room and what's appropriate at the time, and portraying the song in the best light in the truest form on the recording.

Daniel: We really don't like to just say, ‘oh whatever, that's close enough’. We just didn't put it out if it wasn’t good enough. We're just gonna wait until it's good enough in our eyes, or at least, not that the mix is perfect or not, that the takes are perfect or anything, just that it sounds like what the song always felt like.

Spencer: Once it portrays the feeling that it’s alright now, it's good enough.

Thank you Daniel, Spencer, James, and Jarvis, for opening up and providing some meaningful insight on your music. What Daniel said about how there is no timeline to your dreams really inspired me and has stuck with me since. I saw them play for two nights, and I absolutely loved every second of hearing their music. These guys are definitely doing something right, and their powerful connections with each other have a major positive impact on their sound. It’s undeniable. If you want to read about my experience at their show, you can find the concert review here.