A name to remember: The Regrettes. Pay attention to them. Lydia Night (vocals/rhythm guitar), Genessa Gariano (lead guitar/backing vocals), Sage Chavis (bassist) and Drew Thomsen (drums) make up this punk rock group. Don’t be fooled by these young kids, they’re probably more punk, badass and talented than most bands out there right now. We recently got to hang out with the band while they made a stop at this year’s Governors Ball and we discussed their Hamildrops cover, new music, touring and more.
So you just dropped your cover of “Helpless” from Hamilton. How’d you become a part of Hamilton’s Hamildrops?
SAGE: Well, so our producer is Mike Elizondo, who went to high school with Alex [Lacamoire] or went to jazz band – something like that! They knew each other for a long time and Alex is the arranger of Hamilton and good friends with Lin [-Manuel Miranda] and Mike is also good friends with Lin. He pretty much emailed him when he heard about the Hamildrops and was like, “look, I have this sick band that would make a great cover for your Hamildrops series.” Alex met us at our London show and then we did it! It was really fast, it all happened within like three days! Then we released it like, yesterday.
Awesome! So of course that’s not the first cover you guys have done. You dropped Attention Seeker a few months back which also had a cover of “Teenager in Love” by Dion and The Belmonts. Any reason for that specific song?
LYDIA: I just love it! *laughs*
Speaking of Attention Seeker, that EP has received such a positive response the last few months. What were your inspirations for the new music?
GENESSA: Make new music!
EVERYONE: *laughs*
LYDIA: I don’t know, I think both songs it’s funny – they’re both written about the same person but very different experiences about the same person. I think it’s kind of a cool side of things, a side of love showing that you can hate someone and that you can love someone.
The good and the bad.
LYDIA: Yeah, in a very close time frame.
Are you working any new music currently?
SAGE: We write all the time. We try to write weekly. We did some demos recently in Joshua Tree and we’re really excited about those. Hopefully they end up on our next record and we don’t know when that’s coming but we’re working towards it as soon as we can!
Cool! So you’re touring a lot this summer. You’re currently on tour, on top of stopping at festivals and also have some shows with Cold War Kids. How’s this summer treating you so far?
SAGE: I’m sweaty, it’s hot today!
DREW: SWEATY, it is hot.
GENESSA: We’ve been in England for a while, so we haven’t really had too much I feel like of summer. It’s been nice weather but not super summery, so I feel like we haven’t really entered the summer until we just got into New York.
DREW: We’re in it.
GENESSA: So far it’s been great!
So, you’re playing pretty much all of the major fests this summer. I’m sure that’s super exciting but nerve wracking, right?
LYDIA: Totally!
SAGE: We feel really lucky. We’re just excited to find new music and for people to find us and hopefully enjoy our show.
DREW: Yeah!
Anything else you’d like to add?
GENESSA: Check out Attention Seeker!
EVERYONE: Yeah!
SAGE: Look out for new music because it’s coming! Catch us in a city near you.
LYDIA: We’re coming for you!
DREW: You said it very rhythmically, *starts rapping* coming to a city near you, coming to give new music to you, yeah!
SAGE: We’re sending new music to you!
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