Today we’d like to introduce you to Erin Malone and Lauren Davis.
Hi Erin and Lauren, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
In fall of 2020, we met through a mutual friend in the heavy music scene and immediately hit it off as friends. We’re both from the Midwest and basically have identical taste in music, so we had a lot in common. A few months after that, Lauren reached out to me (Erin) about wanting to start a heavy music project with her as the vocalist/lyricist and me as the guitarist. We both grew up going to hardcore and metal shows and have listened to heavy music for most our lives, but this was the first time either of us had attempted writing music in this genre. This was a bit intimidating at first, but our first song Monolith came together very quickly. We share a similar vision and realized our creative styles and influences meshed so well that we knew we wanted to commit to forming a band. We wrote a few other songs over the following months and have reached out to friends in the scene to help us with writing and recording drums and bass. All of our recording is done remotely, which is cool because it allows us to collaborate with amazing musicians all over the country. We released our first single Monolith in July of 2021 and were floored by the response. We released our second single Sage in January of this year, and have been working on finishing a few more songs to release our first EP later this year.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Overall, yes, the journey has been pretty smooth thus far. Lauren is the creative visionary; she is very good at communicating the mood she’s going for in a song as well as giving direction for the sounds and tones she’s hearing. I (Erin) take on more of the composing role; I’m more methodical and analytical with writing parts and arranging the songs. We definitely complement each other creatively and have been very pleasantly surprised at how quickly and easily most of our songs have come together. We’re also fortunate to have friends helping us in this process and wouldn’t be where we are without them!
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
We write heavy music with influences of post-hardcore, metalcore, and post-rock. What sets us apart is that we’re two women spearheading this band in a genre that is almost entirely male-dominated. It’s amazing that we’re starting to see more women in this genre and we hope to show that no genre or style of music is off-limits to women. We are most proud that we’re making music that we’ve loved for our entire lives and not limiting ourselves because we had no experience. We decided to learn how to create these sounds and just go for it. Doing anything new is always a risk, but this risk has definitely paid off.
Are there any books, apps, podcasts, or blogs that help you do your best?
Lauren listens to the podcast Good For a Girl which is hosted by metal vocalist Courtney Laplante of the band Spiritbox (a huge influence for us). On this podcast she interview women from all aspects of the music industry and shines a light on their experiences. A book that has been largely influential for me (Erin) is The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. This book is about creativity in general and how to overcome creative blocks, become more confident in yourself, and therefore more open to the flow of creativity in your life.
Contact Info:
- Email: greybloomband@gmail.com
- Website: https://greybloom.bandcamp.com/
- Instagram: @greybloomband
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greybloombandtx
- Twitter: @greybloomband
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3TYQeLCYGh5JCR5q0PixPQ
Image Credits
Ashley Highbarger
