Artist Feature: In Conversation With The 4411

The 4411, an Austin-based indie rock group, sat down with Slipfast Magazine to discuss the excitement of the upcoming summer tour, songwriting, and the Austin music scene. 

Written by Claire Hookstra

Photos by Mckenna Sefcik

Started by childhood friends Cogan McBride (lead vocals) and Tomoas Gerlach (drums), The 4411 has been making music since 2021. The band has since grown with the additions of Alan Holmquist (guitar) and Nick Speer (bass). Finding success with its first single, “Candy Heart” and the EP, We Killed the Sun, The 4411 is about to embark on its biggest North American tour yet, with About to embark on its biggest tour yet, spanning 16 cities throughout the summer. Slipfast Magazine sat down with the indie rockers just before their show with Flight by Nothing in Austin, Texas, at the Empire Control Room on 5/16. 

Congrats on your latest single, “Honey, What Is Your Name?”! It’s definitely heavier than a lot of your previous discography. What made you decide to take that path with your sound? 

Speer: So Alan and I are kind of the additions to the band. It was Tomas and Cogan first. I think Alan and I are a little more heavy when it comes to what we want with our sound. So I think when we came in, it changed a little bit with what The 4411 was doing. Not in a bad way or anything, but [the sound is] a little more rocky for sure. We just kind of wanted to dive into what we felt like was our sound, like The 4411 sound. And we thought that the direction we were going in was a little more, a little more rock, a little less folk. 

Gerlach: I mean, kind of to piggyback off what Nick was saying, before they [Holmquist and Speer] really like officially joined the band and had more of a say, me and Cogan were kind of writing all the songs and doing it all ourselves. And I think the first one that we wrote in our  more “folk” era was ‘As You Please.’ And we kind of just built off of that, and then we decided, you know, it's time for a change. So I think having them kind of push us to do that as well was kind of the catalyst for that.

McBride: I think it was also playing live. We like songs that are loud and have fun guitar parts and going crazy a little bit [onstage]. So I think playing live, like the covers that we play, are more like, “Honey, What is Your Name?”. And, Alan's guitar skills act like a kind of catalyst.

Regarding songwriting, the group agreed that lyrics are typically written by McBride and Gerlach, founding members of the band and current roommates. McBride explained how most of the instrumentals are a collaborative effort, with members figuring out chords for certain lyrics they currently have or vice versa. 

With this music journey that started back in high school, was there a time you can recall that you had your “I made it moment?” Any instance that made you realize The 4411 could really be something big?

Gerlach: Yeah, I mean, I think the start of it was when we moved to college. I think because we were leaving [high school], like me and [McBride] were going to the same college, and so we were like, oh, let's room together and let's continue this band thing. We wanted to push it to be as serious as possible. I think, you know, when we were in high school, it was just something fun to do, and then we realized, oh, we can actually build off of this and do what we love to do. Because he [McBride] was self-taught in the producing aspect, he was producing a lot of our songs, and we kind of just took that and were able to go as far as we are now with just our self-determination and that skill. Then we met Alan during freshman year, so we kind of took that and ran with it, and then Nick the next year after that. So we've just been really lucky.

McBride: I think Alan has a moment like that. 

Holmquist: When we realized we were gonna make it? I think like, 'cause we started practicing, like all the songs, without playing live for one semester. Then “Candy Heart” came out, and then right after that, we started playing live. Even though that was the first big single, our shows were still very… not a lot of people, but we were still playing a lot. Then “As You Please” was the next song that came out, and it's our biggest single so far. It was really big, and the shows were getting a little better. Then the first tour, I think that's the moment that we all realized.

McBride:  We did a little Texas tour last summer, and the first show was San Antonio. And we were getting ticket count updates and were like, oh, shoot, like 100 people or whatever. And then the night of, the room just started filling up, and it's, you know, over 150 people. We had never really sold tickets to any show before for ourselves. So when we booked the Texas tour, we were like, let's just try it. You know, worst comes to worst, we have to sell 20 tickets a city to break even, so let's just do it. And then it ended up being…

Speer: Really good.

Gerlach: An insane experience.

Holmquist: And also, with social media, numbers become this abstract thing. Like, if a song has a thousand listens, it's nothing. But if you have 150 people at a show, it at least feels like a lot of energy. So, starting to see around 150 to 200 people per show, you can start noticing the energy and how people feel about the music.

I believe this summer tour is your biggest headline tour to date, if I’m not mistaken?

Gerlach: Oh yeah, very much this summer tour. We had a winter tour that was four dates, and then this one is 17. So it's a big jump up. We're a little ambitious. It’s addicting, a little bit. 

McBride: We love selling tickets to shows. It's so much fun meeting people and playing those shows and exploring the city. So it's like, if we could do it in these cities, I feel like we could do it in any city.

Is there a city that y’all are looking forward to playing the most?

Holmquist: I think either Nashville or LA, just because of the music scene. Those are two of the biggest cities, music-wise, and I’m curious to see how people react. 

Gerlach: I was gonna say Nashville too, but I was also thinking New York is going to be fun. 

Speer: New York is what I am looking forward to the most. I love New York. I’ve been there a few times, so I’m super excited to actually play there.

McBride: Probably New York. Chicago’s gonna be cool too… It’s hard to say. We’re definitely missing Florida, so we’ll have to go back to Florida one day.

With Austin, Texas as your home base, is there anything you find special about the Austin crowds and music scene? 

Gerlach: I feel like a lot of our Austin audience, at least in our past shows, maybe not the most recent ones, have been a lot of our family there. And then, it's kind of cool to see the transition between like, oh, it's just family coming to like, oh, these are like random people who are your fans. It's also just home, so it's nice to be there and be comfortable in that kind of space.

McBride: I think at Austin shows, each of us knows somebody that's there, like, because it's our hometown, so everybody's family or friends are there. It's like, oh, I know them from this and this and this. You don't get that in other cities. It's like everybody [in other cities] is somebody that we've pretty much never met besides, you know, oh, I have family in this city. For the most part, Austin is where all of our parents come and stuff, so it definitely has a feeling, especially at the end of tours. It's like an “oh, we made it back!” kind of thing.

Holmquist: I feel that because we've opened for a lot of bands, lots of people have been able to meet us through opening shows. For the last tour, at the last stop in Austin, people showed us pictures of us from when we opened for Matt Hanson at that same place.

What is your favorite song to play live on tour? 

Holmquist: For me, it’s gotta be the unreleased one. I think it’s the most different song that we have. 

McBride: So you [the fans] have that to look forward to!

Gerlach:  I like our most recent one, “Honey, What Is Your Name?” It’s so fun. Since we started playing it, that’s what inspired us to release it. 

Speer: I’m going with “Pool House.” I just love that song. 

McBride: Maybe “Come Together” by The Beatles. I think we do a cool cover of that. I think it’s unexpected, that’s why it’s fun. 

Thank y’all for talking with me today! Before we go, I want to ask some more rapid-fire personality-like questions. So, number one. Whenever y’all are just listening to music, who gets the aux? 

McBride:  I definitely played a lot of music on the last tour.

Speer: We start a jam!

Gerlach: It’s definitely between these two for sure. [laughing and motioning to McBride and Speer] 

McBride: Never let this guy. [jokingly pointing to Holmquist]

Holmquist: I’ll queue like two songs and they’ll skip one!”

Number two! What’s the go-to Austin spot after a gig? 

The 4411: Cane’s!

Number three! What’s your favorite travel song? 

McBride: I think the last time I was on a plane, it was the La La Land soundtrack.

Holmquist: I have a playlist that I’ll put on, and it’s like 40 hours.

Speer: A lot of Hozier, we tend to find a Hozier song that we like [when on tour].

Gerlach: For the winter tour, it was Bob Dylan a lot. 

Listen to The 4411 on Spotify and Apple Music

Support the band’s tour here!

This interview has been minimally edited for clarity and length.