Interview: Sarah and the Sundays and ‘The Living End’

The members of the five-man indie rock band discuss their latest album, songwriting stories, and how the group came to be.

Written by Victoria Canales

Photo by Ivy Fowler

After nearly two years of preparation, Sarah and the Sundays finally released its second album, The Living End, on Oct. 15. The group is made up of lead singer Liam Yorgensen, bassist Declan Chill, guitarists Miles Reynolds and Brendan Whyburn, and drummer Quinn Lane, who connected in high school and college and recently relocated to Austin. 

Afterglow saw them at their album release party and asked a few questions about their beginnings, their songwriting process, and what they hope their fans get out of The Living End.

Afterglow: So, your new album The Living End just came out. Tell me about the central themes around it. What were you trying to say through the album?

Liam: It's (about) a lot of growth. It's a lot of change. You know, I started writing for this album before we moved to Texas. And we all finished writing it during quarantine — it was the beginning of COVID. So many things were changing, and it was such a transition period for us. So I think that really came out in the record and a lot of it was based on that concept.

Who were your biggest musical inspirations when you were writing and recording this album?

Quinn: So, as a band, for this album specifically, I would say we're huge fans of Peach Pit. So there was a lot of influence from them on it. A lot of Wilco too, a lot of Pinegrove. Sort of like a live session sound.

Going into specific songs on the album, which ones were your favorites? And do any of them have fun creation stories behind them?

Liam: There's a song called “You Might Not See Me Again.” I was in the shower, and in our bathroom, our fan just blows out hot air. So you have to open the window in the bathroom, or else it fogs up. I got in the shower, and then I realized I hadn't opened the window. I reached my hand out, and as I was reaching my hand out, I thought, “Hand searches for the window.” And then I turned off the shower and ran to my room and wrote this whole song and the first lyric is “Hand searches for the window, I want to get the fuck out of here.” It's just me thinking, “I want to get the fuck out of the shower, so I can go write the song.” So that was a fun one. 

And then there's another one called “Stick Around.” I was on FaceTime with my friend from Colorado, and we were talking about COVID, and he said, “We could have done something about this.” I was like, “I have to go!” I hung up on FaceTime and I wrote this song. The first line is “We could have done something about this.” Yeah, so that was a fun one too.

Miles: So our top song right now is called “Moving On,” which we released when we were still in high school. One of the songs on our new album, “Miss Mary,” the lyric in the chorus says, “Do you remember when I said I was moving on? Yeah, just forget it.” And that's kind of an allusion, direct allusion to that song.

It’s like you’re talking to your high school selves. Did you have any stories while recording, or did the process go pretty smoothly?

Declan: So we had been writing and demoing all these songs for a year plus, and then COVID hit. Then we came together a little bit more and really tried to hone down on what was the actual essence of the album and what songs were gonna make that up. Then we actually had all the songs completely finished and we could play them live, so then we went to the studio and recorded it. This studio experience was like, we recorded a song a day, we were there for two weeks, and we recorded 14 songs. That whole process happened here in the months leading up to the album actually being recorded.

What is your songwriting process like? I know that you gave me some examples of inspiration, but are there any songs where you really have to sit down and think about it?

Liam: I wrote most of the lyrics. And I would say I don't think too much about it. I have been learning to think more about it as I've gone on and tried to find a balance between it being organic and natural, and it being, you know, sensical. So a lot of the time, it's just like, whatever comes to mind is what I start with, and then I build off of that. But more recently, I've been enlisting the help of the band and we’ve been sitting down and having group sessions and writing in a more thought-out way and trying to get the message as clear as it can possibly be.

Does that extend into like the instrumentals also, or has that always been like a group thing?

Liam: It's always been somewhat of a group thing. Our last album, So You're Mad About the Cops, was mostly me, Declan, and Miles sending audio files across the country to each other and then getting Quinn to drum on them once Declan dropped out of college and moved back to Connecticut. It definitely changed when we moved in together; it definitely became much more like, everyone finds their part and we come together and write the songs as a whole.

Declan: I think the main difference too is like, the three of us started making music in high school as just a hobby. The first album — that's no longer out — and the second one weren't necessarily made to be played live. So a lot more emphasis was just put on like, what does the song need? The Living End was a lot more like, Liam comes up with lyrics and and chords, and we sit for hours until we find the right configuration of two guitars, a synth, bass, drums until that works. 

I was listening to the album today, and I was like, some of these are kind of confessional. Songs like “Time Well Wasted” and “I’m So Bored” were the ones I noticed, but maybe some of these mean more to you all. Was it difficult being so candid?

Liam: No, it's my instinct to be candid and personal. And that’s the way I started writing songs and it was before we had an audience at all. So I've come accustomed to writing songs and in that direction, and it's definitely become, you know, more of a thought process now, because we have an audience. Like, what are people going to interpret this as? But I would never censor myself or tone down an emotion I'm feeling if I think it belongs in the song. So it's not a hard thing for me to do. But it has become more of a thought process.

What do you want people to feel when they listen to this new album?

Quinn: Honestly, just like general stokedness.

Brendan: Like an exciting comfort.

Declan: I kind of just want people to rock out, personally.

Brendan: I want them to want to hear it live.

Is there anything else that you'd like to tell people about the band or music or something I missed?

Brendan: We love our fans!

Be sure to check out Sarah and the Sundays and follow them on Spotify, Twitter, and Instagram.

This interview has been minimally edited for clarity and length.