Ben Leit: My dad got me into music at a very young age. I grew up in Queens. My mother is completely tone deaf and just completely musically illiterate. My dad raised me on The Beatles, The Beach Boys, and a lot of jazz. I was always surrounded by music. I took guitar lessons at 3. I couldn’t physically get around the guitar - it was too big for me, which sucked. I remember that being the first time I felt defeated, because I was so interested in it. I took piano lessons from 7-12, and then I stopped when I got to middle and high school. I was just playing baseball for years and years, but taught myself guitar in the meantime and continued doing musicals to train my voice. The only thing I refuse to touch is acapella just because instruments are so cool. What are your creative processes like, and what inspires you to create? Andrew Little: Honestly, I just listen to music and walk around a lot. I love sampling things, so I like to listen and just record things. My creative process comes a lot from procrastination. It’s just me sitting in my room trying to focus on school work, and I usually end up getting distracted because all my music equipment is right there. I’ll jot down the lyrics or little sounds and, over time, I’ll piece them all together into a project. Ben Leit: I don’t know. It’s just fun to play music. It’s fun to express yourself in any way particularly as I have spent time playing more instruments. I have found that I am able to articulate things better on an instrument than in words. In terms of creative process, creativity just comes to me from hearing a “perfect” song. I remember hearing Frank Ocean’s “Self Control” for the first time, and that was a big turning point for me. I don’t know how it was made, but it captures an emotion and doesn’t feel mathematical in any way, which is what music is all about. Essentially, trying to chase after something one can’t get.
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