POST SHOW Q+A with ETHAN TASCH

Disaster Magazine contributor Alec Ilstrup had a chance to sit down with rising alternative country artist Ethan Tasch after his show at the Mercury Lounge in New York City on June 20, 2024.

Alec: Alright. If you could introduce yourself first that would be great. 

Ethan: My name is Ethan Tasch and I'm an indie-folk singer/songwriter. I put out my first album last summer and I am on my first headlining tour for the deluxe version of the album.

Alec: Right on. And when did the deluxe version come out?

Ethan: It came out like two months ago.

Alec: Congratulations.

Ethan: Thank you.

Alec: So just a couple of background questions… If you could tell me how you got into music? And if you have any formal training?

Ethan: I started playing Guitar When I was about eight because my dad played. He wasn't necessarily good but he could stream a few chords. So then I got a really bad guitar in this kit as a gift, and my mom also played piano. And then eventually I went to school to study guitar at USC. So I started writing and singing songs there.

Alec: So your main instrument is guitar then, hm?

Ethan: Yeah I would say so

Alec: If you could describe your creative process to me… like how do you start writing a song? Does it come from an idea on the guitar or a memory or…?

Ethan: Majority of the time I kind of have an instrumental guitar part or something to go off of, and then will start humming random nonsense to it. And sometimes a word will pop out and that will kind of inspire a thought and there when it turns into a song. That's mostly how it happens but every once in a while I'll be walking around and make note of little things that I think of, so sometimes I'll go to that and grab something to write around that. 

Alec: Very cool. Who would you say are your biggest artistic influences? Are there any artists that got you into music?

Ethan: I mean I think for my last album it would be (people like) Kacey Musgraves, Alex G, Faye Webster, Phoebe Bridgers, Adrienne Lenker, John Mayer… I think John Mayer earlier was someone who taught me to- well I started off playing more just guitar and then I found his music and just thought it was such a cool blend of really cool guitar playing and like indie pop songwriting. And then yeah those are the ones more currently that I think are inspired by country music but they’re not necessarily straight up country and I think that twanginess bled into my sound a lot. 

Alec: Yeah absolutely. I can definitely hear that twanginess, like you said, with a bit of storytelling that’s kind of unique to country in a way. What was the best concert you ever attended and why?

Ethan: Hmmm, I saw Bon Iver. The first time, I saw him twice, he played Creeks I think it's called, or 715 creeks, just by himself with a vocoder. It just filled up the whole room so well so it was amazing to see someone do that so well all alone. And then I saw him- the next time was Dijon and Bon Iver and that combo… I just love both of them so much.

Alec: Yeah, that's insane. I’m so jealous. Have you ever had to deal with anything while performing? Like a tough crowd?

Ethan: I opened for Rainbow Kitten Surprise a month ago and the first show was a monday and in the first 20 minutes of the set, four people passed out. I had never dealt with anyone passing out at my shows cause I had never played a show that big and I haven't played a lot in the summer either. But then people had their hands up or were waving their lights around or whatever and it's kind of hard to tell whether or not they were having fun at a concert or they were waving because another person passed out. 

Alec: Oh yeah, wow. That sounds stressful for sure. Could you talk a little bit about your journey as an artist?

Ethan: I had my first single come out in 2020 and it got on a Spotify playlist and started doing kind of well, and then it got on a lot more Spotify playlists like a month and a half later. So that song just did better than I ever could have imagined. Especially for my first song. Also I put it out independently, and then a couple weeks later a label found it and so we put it out through them. So since then everything else I've put out has been through that label. So yeah I’ve just been putting stuff out and hoping to connect and you know, letting the music speak for itself. 

Alec: Your first single was Room, correct?

Ethan: Yes.

Alec: How was dealing with that quick traction? I know Spotify playlists are pretty important now for an artist's success. But social media has changed the industry a lot. How do you feel about your journey and how it ties into that?

Ethan: Yeah I mean I think since (my single came out) during the pandemic so even though it was kind of streaming really well it just mostly lived there (online) because I wasn't playing shows and wasn't seeing people, like actual people, react to it. So it feels like numbers like that feel fake at times. But then like tonight, playing a headline show with random people across the country who will know the music, even though there’s only gonna be like 250 people here, I think that actually feels bigger than 100,000 streams or some crazy number like that. 

Alec: Totally. Having physical people in the room feels so different. What are you looking forward to the most about this tour?

Ethan: I haven’t played a ton of headline shows since the album came out, and I'm just excited to play to people who have lived with the songs and know them really well.

Alec: Awesome. Thanks so much, Ethan.