Interview: Water Gun Talks DIY Music Production and Their Brooklyn Influence

The self-described “swaggy, sticky, and authentic” five-piece band sat down with Afterglow to talk drunken recording sessions, their love of Deftones, and their anticipated upcoming single, “Bryn.” 

Written by Olivia Abercrombie

Photos courtesy of Water Gun

Dropping into the Brooklyn, NY music scene from a chance meeting on so-called musician Tinder, Water Gun is looking out for the middle children and stepmoms of the world. Consisting of lead vocalist/keyboardist Gaby Mitford, drummer Gabriel Seiler, guitarists Emma Todd and Casey Brock, and bassist Nasan Roberson, the group released its debut single, “Heaven Sent,” in 2022. That’s not their last release — the group is gearing up for a new era in 2023. 

Afterglow: What have you guys been listening to lately? 

Emma: The new Boy Genius songs have been on a loop all day.

Gaby: Everyone in the band knows that I've been really obsessed with Pretty Sick. Also, I've been listening to the new Die Spitz album that just came out.

Gabriel: I've been listening to a lot of Deftones. Also, this band Microwave that I just recently discovered. I heard one song from them called “Circling The Drain,” and then I immediately went and bought a ticket to their next show in Brooklyn.

Casey: I've been listening to an old Queens of the Stoneage album, Songs For The Deaf, which I never really listened to before. I kept hearing about it over and over, so I finally decided to check it out. 

How do you feel that your day-to-day listening influences Water Gun musically?

Gaby: The new song that we're writing has been really influenced by all the bands we talked about. We wanted to do something more punky. Do you guys agree with that?

Gabriel: Definitely. Heavier.

Emma: What I am listening to on the day to day impacts what I end up playing on my guitar throughout the week. So that subconsciously informs what chord progressions I play when we go to practice and write a song together. 

I have to ask. Why just one water gun instead of multiple? Are y’all just good at sharing?

Gabriel: I think it's a convention of indie bands nowadays. I don't know, maybe it's just me, but I get tired of bands that are called ‘The Blanks.’ Not to say bands with that name aren't good, but I think it might be a little kitschy to just be the blank something nowadays. Now there is a widespread phenomenon of people just naming their indie bands after an object which is why we like [our name] so much.

Casey: I regret it. I think we should have been Squirt Gun.

Gaby: You're canceled.

Gabriel: We have to save something for the cover bands. 

So you all grew up in different places but found yourselves in Brooklyn together. Could you tell me how you guys all met? 

Gaby: We all joke that we met on musician Tinder. Hasan, who's not here, was the one who put out the initial post looking for people to play music with. He put it on every different musician form you can think of, and we all responded, “Hey, I also make music.”

Casey: Yeah, I saw it on Craigslist. He said I was the first one to respond. So yeah, I got in early.

Yikes, Craigslist. You're playing with fire.

Gabriel: For real? That's not a joke? You just met Nasan in a dark alleyway, and he was like, ‘I have a guitar?’

Casey: Yeah, we met in a strange warehouse that turned into rehearsal.

Gabriel: That's really dark. That could have turned out really poorly. You guys needed an open setting to make sure he didn’t shake you down and take you for parts.

I saw on your Band Camp that you said you make music for stepmoms and middle children. Do any of you identify as those, or is that just like who you're trying to attract?

Gaby: I'd like to identify as a stepmom because there's a certain type of energy that comes with being a stepmom. Like “The Parent Trap” stepmom. You know what I mean? She's just kind of the worst, but you kind of love her a little bit.

Gabriel: Yeah, I feel like stepmoms have a reputation as being either super cool or awful. And I feel like we kind of cover both ends. 

So no middle children?

Gaby: I think we just empathize with the middle children, but none of us were middle children.

I did a little bit of Instagram stalking on you guys and saw you wrote, produced, and recorded “Heaven Sent” on your own, and it got over 1000 streams in one week. Can you speak about creating the track and the success you received afterward? 

Casey: Nasan had a demo of it that he recorded himself and sent to us before the first time we met. 

Gabriel: It was truly a hybrid work-from-home style of songwriting. It worked really well because we got together once a week, but the idea evolved.

Gaby: We still have the demo from when we played it together for the first time.  It’s so different now. We recorded the first vocals at my house, and I was underneath a blow-up mattress to try and create an acoustic effect. Then we went to a DIY studio in Bushwick to record and ended up getting way too drunk. It was the middle of the day, and we were trying to record to the point where honestly, everything sounds the same. It was absurd. That was the final take, actually, so I guess the final take is the drunken version that we recorded in Bushwick. Then we mixed and mastered everything at Emma's.

Having a drunken recording session in the middle of the day? Very rock and roll.

Gabriel: Very. In the final mastering session, we were not sober either. 

Emma: I'm very proud of us for mixing and mastering it independently. We're still learning and growing those skills as a group. We could send it off to a producer to perform in a mix and master, but I'm glad that we kind of pushed ourselves to craft the sound that we wanted for it. I think that was like a big moment for us and a testament to the fact that we're working pretty hard at it.

Gaby: And yeah, it was super insane to get 1000 streams in the first week for something that we did ourselves. So that was cool.

I know you guys are still a baby band, but how do you feel coming up in Brooklyn has influenced you all as musicians?

Emma: I feel very privileged to be able to participate in the scene. I would say it's one of the best in the country. There are so many people that are performing or creating something and so many opportunities to play live, so I'm very thankful for that.

Gaby: We played our first show before we released anything and were super lucky to have such a huge turnout. It was pretty insane because we got to play with a bunch of other bands from Brooklyn and the like New York circuit and through them, we've met so many cool people. 

You have been talking about the new song you all are working on. Can someone give me a description of it?

Emma: There are two sections that are pretty unique. The first section is a little quieter and builds into the second section. I'm excited because it shows the multifaceted interests that we have as a band. We are into Deftones, but we also like acoustic, singer-songwriter, or songs that have strings. I'm daydreaming about what it's gonna sound like the first time we play it live at a show.

Gaby: The beginning is really melodramatic, really slow and really somber. The storytelling part was from a song that I'd written a long time ago. It's about a breakup, obviously, as all good songs are. The beginning is very woe is me, maybe I'm the problem, and then the second verse is like, actually, fuck you. You're the problem. Then there's an intense build-up part in the second half of the song in the lyrics and melody. I think it's gonna be so cool. 

One last question. If there was one word you could use to describe Water Gun to someone who's never listened to the band, what would it be? 

Gabriel: You could try and describe the type of music or you could just say indie, which is just a genre that is so varied nowadays. So I would say swaggy. I think we're very swaggy. We're just swaggy because the music feels very fun and cool, and exciting.

Casey: I'm gonna go with sticky. We make me think of when your shoe gets stuck to the floor because everybody spilled their beer at a show.

Gaby: Thanks for clarifying. That was a good explanation. I thought he was gonna say gum or some shit. 

It's perfect.

Emma: I'm gonna go with genuine. You can hear the DIY feeling in what we've been doing. And I think we're all pretty open and honest about what we enjoy. And we genuinely like to spend time together. So that's my answer.

Gaby: In kind of the same vein, I think I’d just say realistic. Our music is just like us as a band. Also, our music is realistic in terms of the way that we portray ourselves on social media. We want to be ourselves, which is very authentic to the idea of being people who just really enjoy making music. 

You can find Water Gun on Instagram, TikTok, and Band Camp. Stream “Heaven Sent” and pre-save “Bryn” on Spotify or Apple Music. 

This interview has been minimally edited for clarity and length.