Edgehill is an alternative trio based in Nashville, Tennessee. The band consists of Chris Kelly (lead vocals/guitar), Jake Zimmermann (lead guitar/vocals), and Aidan Cunningham (drums). For the band, a project that originally started with a single song idea in college has evolved into living their dream.
On Friday, February 13th, Edgehill released their debut album, "Ode To The Greyhouse." We caught up with vocalist Chris Kelly to discuss the album and every aspect of touring with friends.
MSM: What went into the formation of Edgehill? What did that look like? Chris: Edgehill started when Jake and I (Chris) met at a jam session on our college campus. I had a song idea that I shared with him, and he immediately played a part over it that I loved. We decided to meet up again and finish the song, which we did, and had a sort of prolific run there for a sec. We met up with a drummer and bassist, both of whom were super talented and have since moved on to other things, which led us to finding Aidan (drums). Asking him to be in the band was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. How would you describe what you do and your sound to new listeners? It’s always a bit hard to explain, and I think it can be confusing for listeners too—for a while, we were making music more in the “feel-good indie rock” realm. After four or so songs, we naturally shifted to a more alternative sound that is super influenced by the 90's and other groups the 90's influenced. It’s all very emotionally driven. We also naturally want strong structure and integrity in our songs, like you can play them on an acoustic guitar and the song will still hold true. Can you describe what a typical creative/writing session looks like for you? We really have no typical way of going about it—we all have written individually, finished each other’s ideas, and written start to finish together. The most frequent way we write, though, is typically by bringing a half-baked idea that one of us individually came up with and workshopping it, jamming on it, and finishing it together. I think it gets a piece of everyone’s identity in there and helps us create something that no individual member could make on their own. The title of your debut album, “Ode to the Greyhouse,” is very unique. Can you tell me a bit about the album and where that title came from? Absolutely! At some point in mid-2024, our job was to write, write, write. We were holed up in our house for 6 or so months, really not writing as much as we should have been (in my opinion) and feeling pretty discouraged. It led to a general anhedonic vibe, and one day I felt like writing about it. The song, “Ode To The Greyhouse,” came out of that. It is a title track that sounds like nothing else on the record, but the general emotion of the song seemed to capture the process of making the entire album, so it felt right.
Currently, which track from the album do you relate to the most? Why? I personally still relate to "Ode to the Greyhouse" every day. It’s hard to inspire change in your life and to improve your state of mind. When you’re making baby steps towards where you want to be, it rarely feels like you’re actually getting anywhere until you are able to look back. That is an everlasting endeavor. What is your favorite aspect of touring and performing live? It’s truly hard to say—there are so many. Meeting the people who listen to our music is always surreal and fun. Sometimes it creates friendships, other times it gives you perspective, and at the end of the day, it’s just cool in general. Performing is also my favorite part of this whole deal, and experiencing new venues is always cool, too. Travel in general is something I've always loved, so that part also rocks. It kind of just rocks, in my opinion. If you could perform anywhere, where would it be? Why? Man. I know Aidan would kill to play at the Gorge in Washington—he is a Dave Matthews fanatic and has recently fallen in love with that place. I think I would want to perform at Glastonbury, like late in the day. There have been so many legendary sets there, and the general energy of the crowd is insane. Other than that, oddly enough, I’d love to headline the Ting Pavilion in Charlottesville, VA. I grew up seeing shows there. There are so many great alternative artists currently. Who would be your dream collaboration along the way? In a touring sense, I think we all would freak about touring with any of our favorite artists. Touring with Radiohead would be nuts. We also look up to Pinegrove in practically every way, so whatever way we could operate in the same sphere would be insane. I honestly don’t think we’d want to write or make a song with them. We couldn’t feel good about touching anything they make. As a group, how do you overcome challenges that you encounter? Communication and listening to each other are the most important parts of all of this—we try to hold each other accountable and share our opinions when we feel like they should be heard. Disagreement is necessary when making something that represents all of you, and so are patience and listening. Along with the release of your debut album, what other projects can we look forward to seeing from you this year? I can’t tell you exactly what else we have planned, but we will be touring more than ever, including (ideally) a headline run and some overseas shows. Writing will also be a big part of this year. So, yeah. Always working on something.
