A Conversation with The Future Babes: Virtual Concerts and New Music
When we last talked with Ian Klin and Carson Fleischman, two members of the band The Future Babes, it was 2017. The band was out playing in front of crowds, enjoying gigs where they could get them and trying out new music on live audiences, something we can’t do right now during the pandemic. Things have changed a lot since then, and not just because the COVID-19 pandemic has limited public appearances and concerts. The members of the band spent some time in the past few years playing with other bands, honing their own talents and working on writing new music. Now they’ve joined back up and are ready to make their mark on the music world.
Here’s our conversation with the guys, and what we learned about the exciting news for the future of the band.
Fill your fans in on a little of what has happened in the years between your first album and now.
Ian: Things had slowed down a bit with The Future Babes, and I got an opportunity to go on tour with another band, so I jumped on it. It was a great experience to learn about being on the road, and get an opportunity to play some larger festivals and different music with some other talented musicians. A few months after I went on tour, Carson hooked up with a different band and went on tour as well.
Carson: It was really cool, because a few times while we were on the road our bands ran into each other, sometimes playing the same festival. Ian and I were both writing our own stuff all during this time, so when we were in the same cities we’d get together to play and try things out.
What brought The Future Babes back together again, officially?
Ian: We probably have to give credit to COVID for the band reuniting. We were all hanging out at home in Atlanta. We got together to play some, and it got us thinking about getting the old band up. It came about pretty naturally, since we’d been writing and playing together some during the intervening years.
What are some of your biggest influences when it comes to music?
Ian: For me, I love Motown. The classic records of Aretha Franklin, Smokey Robinson, James Brown -- I feel like it’s where rock and roll got started. It’s just so full of emotion.
Carson: My tastes are really all over the place. I listen to The Strokes and The Killers, Tedo Stone, Spencer Thomas, Bright Eyes. Just a real mix of rock, indie rock, and even folk music. I love Bob Dylan.
The Future Babes had an opportunity to do a virtual concert last fall that sort of jump-started this new phase for the band. What was that experience like?
Ian: I Voted Concerts put on a national concert last fall, and asked The Future Babes to be a part of it. It was really great to have such an awesome opportunity. This was such an historic election, it felt good to be a part of the campaign to get out the vote. It was also a great vehicle to reach more people with our music.
Carson: The concert was live-streamed, all in one take. We did a lot of work practicing before the event, and Madison Studios did great helping us put it all together the day of the concert. We really nailed it the first time, thanks in part to their production expertise. We were able to use the live room, which really gave us some space to spread out and have a great acoustic space, much better than the basement where we usually practice.
What can fans look forward from The Future Babes?
We’re still in the early stages, but we will have some cool stuff coming up shortly. We’ve got some songs we wrote during 2020 that we’re really pumped about, and we started recording in the studio in December.
Look for The Future Babes to have new music coming out soon. In the meantime, you can check out the I Voted concert here.