Erin Rauch-Sasseen had her eyes set on kicking off own acoustic gig till she realized working with her twin sisters Anna and Katie would be a better fit. And with the addition of drummer Matthew Langner and guitarist Jamie DiTringo, Hey Anna was finally born.
Myspace had the chance to meet up with the band at Porchlight in Manhattan where they discussed their favorite songs, touring with The Boxer Rebellion and how they all became one big family that not only plays one helluva a set but also loves to laugh. Hop to the next page to read the full interview.
Hometown: New Jersey and New York
How did you guys get together?
Erin Rauch-Sasseen: I was just doing my own thing -- playing acoustically around the city. And Anna had previously been in Hawaii for a year, and she had taught herself how to play guitar and started writing songs that way. Then she came back, and she and Katie started writing songs together. And they were like, "What if we played these all together in front of other people and wrote songs together?" It's used to be that I just wrote songs, but then soon enough, the three of us started playing together. That was 2010. Then that next year, we started the band with a different drummer and guitar player, who Matt actually grew up with.
Matthew Langner: Small world.
Erin: They eventually cycled out, and Matt cycled in. And then a couple of years ago, Jamie cycled in. Jamie and Matt were playing together in another band while Matt was playing with us. And that's how he knew Jamie and brought him into the fold.
Matthew: And I think the first offer was, "Would you want to go Tokyo?"
Jamie DiTringo: Yea. The interesting timing of all that was that a couple of years ago when we sat down to talk about this in October, the tour was supposed to start in November, I had just started a new job at the time. So I had fall out of the graces with the company because I sat down and said, "I know I just started here, but I need to take a week off to go to Tokyo." We played down at the Wonder Bar and then Bowery Electric in that small room. Two shows and a bunch of practices, and then we were off.
So how did "Hey Anna" become the name of the band?
[Everyone laughs]
Katie Rauch-Sasseen: The real story is we were trying to find names for the band.
Erin: Katie came up with some strange names.
Katie: I came up with some bird names. Then I texted Anna, "Hey Anna," and then I thought, "Whoa, this would be good."
Erin: Then we thought it was cool, but it started to make sense later. That's really how we came upon [calling the band] "Hey Anna." But then we decided to stick with it because Katie and I were going to Anna a lot for musical questions. She basically taught us how to sing harmonies. It's not that we didn't know how before, but she really took us to the next level. It started out semi-random, but it felt right.
Katie: And she's the eldest also.
Erin: It also made more sense when it was just the three of us, the three girls, especially when we were more acoustic folky. And then when we became a whole live set, we wondered if the band name would still work. But it was kind of like, "Well, this is it. We're sticking with it."
Matthew: It just became our identity. It's taken all the facets of everybody's joy, but it's still within that Hey Anna universe. There's nothing more horrible and self-involved than picking a band name.
Yeah, I noticed that. So since you three (Katie, Anna and Erin) are sisters, what are the pros and cons of being in a band with your family?
Erin: Well, [recently] we were doing a writing session and workshopping, and sometimes you just get really mad at your sister. And we yell or get angry. And it can probably get uncomfortable for others in this room. [Laughs.]
Matthew: No. We're used to it.
Erin: But then that's also a pro because then the next day it's like it didn't even happen. So if you got into some crazy fight with a band member you weren't related to...
Katie: Just for the record, this wasn't a crazy fight. [Laughs.]
Erin: No, it wasn't a crazy fight, but what I'm saying is it was tense. Well, I'm saying we can say the things we want to say. It was just a normal sister [argument]. And if it would have been with someone else, maybe we would hold on to it. But when when you're sisters, it's part of the the game. Sometimes you're loving and hugging and laughing all the time, and sometimes you're not. So just kind of have to get over it.
Handing it over to the guys, what are some of the dynamics you've noticed being part of Hey Anna and working with the Rauch-Sasseen sisters?
Matthew: We've just intersected into the dynamic. I think that's just how we work. They may be sisters, bu they accept us as well.
Erin: They're our sisters, too.
Matthew: Yeah, we're all really pretty. We all do have nice features; so I guess we are all sisters. [Everyone laughs.]
Jamie: Like totally right? [All laugh.] We lived in an RV for almost five weeks, and everyone was great. It was a great experience. If you could do that, you could literally do anything. Sleeping three in a bed and then sleeping head-to-toe in a small area. You're literally sleeping on top of one another, and you're running around. Communication became that much more of a paramount for us. Everything was great.
Matthew: Yeah, there was no resentment. That [experience] really created a family dynamic that there's no separation...
Jamie: I think it's funny when bands end up building tension. In my experience, it's been like that, especially when everyone's coordinating schedules. But with [Hey Anna], everyone is professional...
Matthew: There's just a mutual respect for everyone and their goals. Yeah, I don't think there's a separation between them and us. Over time, it's become more of a family dynamic.
Anna Rauch-Sasseen: We're like a traveling family gypsy band with brothers from other mothers and fathers.
Favorite song to perform at the moment?
Katie: There's a new one we just made that no one's heard yet. That's my favorite to perform.
Erin: We haven't performed it yet. So Katie, you have to pick a new one.
Katie: Oh, one people have listened to?
[Everyone starts talking at once and laughs.]
Katie: Definitely "Don't Talk Stop." It's the most fun.
Anna: I like "Night River."
Erin: That's not from the album.
Anna: Well, it's coming out soon, and we have performed it. So if you've seen the tour, you've heard it.
Erin: I don't know we've been doing a cover song, which is coming out, "Sunny Afternoon" by The Kinks. And I loved doing that one on tour.
Matthew: It has this cool vibe.
Erin: It's a little darker, a little slower, obviously not acoustic. That's right now one of my favorites to perform.
Matthew: I don't know. Pass. It's any moment on stage is the best moment ever. So it's really hard to pick one song. To have that time and have people actually pay money to come see us. I'm humbled by that fact. It's just enjoyment from start to finish. So I didn't answer your questions, but kind of.
Jamie: I think "Island" off Run Koko really took off the tour and became our staple opener. It was more open and more dancey, and it's a really good way to open the palette of the show. It's livelier and jumped off the page for me.
Erin: Yeah, "Island" was fun to play on tour.
Jamie: And "Don't Talk Stop" was great. It was always our ending song. It's great even though we're thinking, "Shit, we're done." So with that song, we're putting it all on the table when we play it live.
So you toured with Boxer Rebellion recently. What was that experience like? And what did you learn from touring with them?
Erin: First, it was just an amazing experience that just wouldn't have happened without them.
Matthew: They really championed us. They fought for us to be on their North American tour as much as they could.
Erin: Yeah, they didn't have to take us on the tour. Their tour managers were probably like, "Why are you touring with this band? They're not going to sell tickets around the country." But they respected us and our music. We played with them last May in New York and thought it was cool.
Matthew: And how did they find us?
Jamie: I think it was Spotify or something.
Anna: I think Nate (Nicholson)'s aunt sent it to them.
Erin: Someone sent them our song "Mt. Pichu." A relative head it and passed it to them, and they dug the song. And that's why they reached out to us about playing with them in New York. And then we all ind of got along. And I think they jokingly asked us if we wanted to go on tour with them, and we were just like, "Uh, yes! What do we need to do?" And it all just kind of happened. They were just so nice. I feel like you hear these horror stories of bands just being not nice to each other.
Matthew: Especially when you're support.
Jamie: But they're really humble guys, extremely professional. From the band to the road crew, everyone was on time with loading in and kept to the schedule. Just touring with a band that does that full time and have done tours all over, seeing all that was great. They're just classy people, really magnanimous. They did everything they can to help us and give us advice.
Matthew: They definitely took us under their wing and helped us become a more professional band and doing six weeks of touring without killing each other. They showed us what it was like to do this for a living.
Jamie: And they also wore our [band] t-shirts during that show in Birmingham, AL.
Erin: Yeah, one of my favorite shows was in Birmingham, and it was a really nice venue but a very small crowd. And when they played, we were just there enjoying the show with the audience, dancing and stuff. Then for last song of the encore, we went onstage and danced.
Matthew: Yeah, we took the whole audience and put them onstage.
Erin: It was just magical. It really turned around what was a somewhat depressing night and became a really good moment when everyone had a lot of fun.
What's next for you guys?
Erin: We're releasing "Sunday Afternoon" hopefully by March 1. Hopefully shortly after that, we'll try to release some new songs just to get something out there.
Anna: We have some live recordings. So hopefully you'll get to see that soon, too.
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