Boston's new party-rock band Mike and Cody is excited to announce the release of their debut EP, "Let's Go!" The Daily sat down with one half of the duo, Tufts senior Cody Hochheiser, to discuss their EP, their influences and the power of music. "Let's Go" dropped on Oct. 25 and can be downloaded at MikeAndCody.BandCamp.com.
Christopher Ghanny: How did Mike and Cody get together?
Cody Hochheiser: In high school, I was part of the Blues Alley Youth Orchestra in [Washington] D.C. One summer, I asked the assistant director, "Who's the best person to ever play in this band?" and he was like, "There's this kid, Mike something … As a high schooler, this kid is the best I've ever played with." And then, one time, we're just jamming, and this guy comes in, and he's playing upright bass, and it's Mike [Okusami]! I didn't know it at that time. But we played some song, and he was soloing, and everyone in the band just kind of dropped it because he was so good.
We got together after that. We used to play in front of this Häagen-Dazs in Bethesda [Md.] with a couple friends. And then, my junior year at Tufts, I was taking Music 64 and we had to do a final project … and Mike and I had been talking for a little while about making modern pop kind of music, with little synths and stuff … So I did that for my final project, and Mike helped me out. And then we were like, "Hmm, that's pretty good!"
CG: Who does what within the group?
CH: I'd say Mike does pretty much all the production. He just graduated from Berklee [College of Music]. His major was Music Production and Engineering, and he's been doing that since he was a little kid. He's a master with Pro Tools and has tons of equipment, so he's that guy.
It's more 50-50 in terms of melodies. We'll work on melodies together and play them on the piano. Or with lyrics, sometimes he'll sing a melody and it'll sound like gibberish, but then I'll write lyrics around it. I was doing all the singing for a while, but I've convinced him to do some.
CG: Mike and Cody is listed as "Grime/Pop" music on MySpace. What would you say is the sound or genre of the music you're making?
CH: I wrote "Grime" as a joke … I don't even know what grime music is! But Mike always tells me I have grime in my voice. I don't know what that means, so I just wrote grime. For some of these tracks, we tried to make something that sounds like [music] you'd hear on the radio. We're really obsessed with this guy Dr. Luke. He's really mysterious, but produces like all these catchy pop songs, and we like his sound.
CG: What kinds of sounds should we expect from Mike and Cody's debut EP?
CH: A few songs sound kind of electronic-dance-y, a few are more rock-y. Then there are two songs Mike put on that are more low-key — sad, kind of Radiohead-y. The whole EP is a little '80s, a little Dr. Luke, a little Phoenix.
CG: Who are your biggest influences?
CH: Lots of different stuff. Ever heard of David Bazan? We like him. If you listen to his stuff, you wouldn't hear any relation between his stuff and our stuff, but we really like some of his chord changes and melodies, little synth things … We'll just be like, "Let's make something Bazan-y." Also, Julian Casablancas of The Strokes is the man.
CG: What albums have been on heavy rotation for you recently?
CH: I've been listening to Phantom Planet's "Raise the Dead" (2008) a lot … and "Fantasies" (2009) by Metric. My favorite of all time is probably Stevie Wonder, "Songs in the Key of Life" (1976) or "Innervisions" (1973).
CG: What do you love about music?
CH: I think there are two different ways I listen to music. Sometimes it just makes me groove — you just feel it when a song rocks or makes you happy. On the other side, I think I have an insane emotional connection to music. There are songs that make my heart feel like it's about to explode.
CG: Describe your dream gig.
CH: I'd want Phoenix to open up for me. They're one of my favorite bands who can play a large venue and just rock out. I want to be in a ginormous stadium where everyone would have to stand. Or maybe a warehouse rave with, like, 1,500 people? Just people partying and getting into it.
CG: What do you think about Tufts' musical community?
CH: I think there's a lot of different kinds of stuff going on. I'm head of the Musicians Collective at Tufts and you'd be surprised by how many awesome Tufts bands are around.
