You can accomplish a lot in the span of four minutes. A second-half comeback to win a championship. A grilled cheese sandwich. A hit song. Just ask mysterious pop-rock duo 4 Minutes Later, who released a self-titled debut EP in 2019. A couple singles later, the band has already gained a steadily rising fanbase – and now the band is back with a new song, “In My Head”. As you could’ve guessed from the lengthy introduction, we’re bringing it to you a day early.
In addition to the new song, we also brought the band in to answer some questions about the new single, what they’re listening to, and lots more. Check it out below.
Why did you opt to cloak your identities early on, instead of rolling with the traditional route of a new project?
In hindsight our reasoning was as much circumstance as it was that we just wanted to focus on the music. The first thing we did was start a Twitter account and tweet “music coming soon”. Just to put the idea into the universe and hold ourselves accountable. What happened next we did not anticipate in our wildest dreams. The hashtag #whois4ML was trending around the world and we decided to roll with the anonymous factor for two reasons: 1) it was a hell of a lot of fun. 2) it allowed us to really focus on putting out music that we are passionate about without any distractions. As a band or an artist nowadays you have to wear all these different hats, so to simplify things and focus on the basics – writing good music – was a huge appeal. We are so excited with where we are musically and feel like we are growing everytime we step into the studio. With the cat now out of the bag, we cannot wait to take the stage that we’ve missed so much.
How did the pandemic change things for a band like you?
It delayed our plans to start playing shows! We have played in bands together in the past but have never taken the stage as 4ML (4 Minutes Later). Performing is our favourite part of being a band so to get back on a stage is what we are looking forward to the most! We pride ourselves in being a live band meaning we push to put on the most entertaining show possible. Besides that, the pandemic has given us time to keep growing as musicians, songwriters and artists, and we have become more proficient writing songs via online video chats too.
What music is on your playlist right now?
Olivia Rodrigo … She is on everyone’s playlist now, isn’t she?! Good 4 U is probably our favourite
24kGoldn (feat. iann dior) – Mood
Monowhales – RWLYD
Laur Elle – July
Hey Violet – Dear Love
Jessia – I’m Not Pretty
elijah woods – lights
Billie Eilish – You Should See Me In A Crown (still my fav)
Escape The Fate – This War is Ours
Julia Michaels- Literally anything
One Republic – Run (anything Ryan Tedder does is magic)
…and of course some classics – Motley Crue, Alice Cooper, Aerosmith, Fleetwood Mac, Strawberryfields by the Beatles still stands the test of time.
We actually have a playlist that we regularly update with some of our current favs here:
“Record Store day is actually coming up this weekend. I will always pop in and grab some records by artists that I have never heard of, which is always fun!” – JUNYOR
Tell us about the writing process behind the new single “In My Head”.
This song we wrote with the talented production team Brandon Unis and Brad Simons at Velveteen Audio back in October of 2020. It was actually the same week Eddie Van Halen had passed away so the solo is really an homage to him! Here in Ontario we were in a lockdown so all our writing and recording sessions were done via video call. Of course vocals required us to be present in the studio so we brought in Paul Gigliotti (Wave) to track vocals. When writing a song we like to start with a vibe and feel for the song and go from there. We believe opposites attract – not with people (who knows, that could be true) but with music. This song felt very upbeat so we tried to go the opposite way with lyrics – perhaps sad/more serious. We were struggling with lyrics – constantly writing and re-writing and feeling that they were “not good enough” even though every version of the lyrics got the green light. This led to the lyric “I know I’m better than all the scary monsters in my head”. The monsters being your own negative thoughts and doubts. The song came together pretty quick after that and honestly we owe a lot of that to the team. They are all incredibly talented and we find ourselves in constant learning mode when we are with them which elevates us.
