Beach Bunny on the Early 2000s and Quarter Life Crises
I hung out with Beach Bunny’s LiLI Trifilio backstage at History to get the scoop on tour life, their new album, and how to handle the horror of being in your 20s.
Photo by Alec Basse
Eve Bradley: My first question is an easy one. Take me through a day in the life on this tour.
Lili Trifilio: That’s a really fun question. A lot of us on the tour bus love to go sightseeing. We’ve been hitting a lot of Chinatowns in different states. We usually wake up, do some sightseeing, come back around 4 or 5 and do a soundcheck, and then get some good dinner somewhere. We try to eat what the state or country offers. We’re touring with Pool Kids right now, its so awesome to get to hear their set every night, and then typically I’ll get changed into a show outfit and do some vocal warm-ups and hit the stage!
EB: There you go!
LT: It’s a pretty solid day!
EB: It sounds good!
EB: Have you been able to do anything in Toronto while being here?
LT: Yes! Actually, this store Black Market Vintage reached out to us
EB: I love that place!
LT: It’s so good! They were like “we’d love to gift you guys some free items in exchange for a TikTok promoting the space”, and we’re huge thrifters, so it was an immediate yes. We went down there and they shopped my personal style for me, which was so sweet! I got to pick out some stuff, and I’m super stoked for it. And we did hit the Toronto Chinatown.
EB: If you're at Black Market, you're right there!
LT: Got a little peach oolong tea. I feel show ready now.
EB: You needed that.
LT: Absolutely.
Photo by Athena Merry
EB: What’s your favourite tour memory, or a crazy story you have from this tour so far?
LT: Honestly, New York was so amazing because it also synced up with our release show. We haven’t been able to do that since before the pandemic, there’s been different blocks in the way. That was super cool. All my friends who live over there got to come through, and I actually had my friend Hank juggle on stage. We were going to try to sing a song together, but we ran out of time. They're on Broadway right now, so I was like “Quick! Get to the venue and juggle for this last song!” And that’s probably one of the goofiest things we’ve done on stage.
EB: That’s awesome, I love that. I feel like that just adds a whole new level. You're there for music and all of a sudden, there’s someone juggling? It’s disorienting in the best way.
LT: We needed to do something crazy!
EB: Take me back to the roots. How did Beach Bunny start?
LT: For sure! Beach Bunny is about a 10-year-old project now, which feels super weird to say. It started when I was really early into college. I met a lot of people in the music scene, and I’d sung covers before, but they opened my eyes to “maybe I could try to write an original song”. It was just me for a couple of years, and then I met Jon, and some other members who are no longer in Beach Bunny. We got together, and I really wanted to join this battle of the bands that my ex was also competing in. Jon, who plays drums, actually played in both bands.
EB: Wow!
LT: Double agent!
EB: Double agent! Oh my God!
LT: I think I just needed a little ego boost after a breakup. Even though we lost the battle of the bands, I mean, Jon won, we got Beach Bunny full band out of that.
EB: You win some, you lose some!
LT: We were kind of on the fence about if we were going to keep being a band after that or not, but it was just so fun. We were just playing local, and its grown so much it’s crazy.
EB: Well good thing you kept it! It worked out!
Photo by Ashley Armitage
EB: On the topic of influences and your start, if you could make a playlist of influences for your new album, what would be on it?
LT: That’s a really good question. I feel like I've been listening to a lot of things that I don't know if you can hear on the album. I’ve been listening to a lot of my friends’ music, my friend Rafaela and my friend Hank who I mentioned. I feel like last year, I was really bumping their records. Great pop stuff, great songwriting. In general, I feel like we all have a really wide music range. A lot of people have said this new record sounds like the ’90s and early 2000s referenced. I think that just has to do with growing up in the early 2000s and hearing a bunch of sounds. I don't know if there’s a specific one that comes to mind, but I’m sure somewhere on the record, a Jonas Brother is hiding or Gwen Stefani or something.
EB: Which Jonas Brother?
LT: Probably Joe.
EB: That does make sense. If you grow up with something its kind of infused into you. Even if its not a conscious reference. Even if you aren’t spelling out B-A-N-A-N-A-S, there’s still a little Gwen in there.
LT: Absolutely. It’s kind of fun that we all come from different vibes. Anthony, who plays bass and some of the lead guitar, is such a ’90s head. Anything he writes is super influenced by his own personal taste, but I don't know those bands, and he doesn’t know what I listen to. We just come together and make some magic.
EB: Thats beautiful!
Photo by Ashley Armitage
EB: On the media side of things, whats one book/work of art/or film that you return to often.
LT: I mean this is a little basic but I feel like the album has some dystopian themes. The new Severance season was so good, I had to rewatch the whole show. It definitely made me think about the world were living in.
EB: It has some quarter life crisis themes going on.
LT: Absolutely.
EB: I know your new album deals a lot with quarter life crisis themes, do you have any advice for people also having a quarter life crisis? Definitely not referring to myself right now…
LT: In many ways, I think the album helped me work through it. I feel a lot more at peace now. Maybe just talking about it, even though to feels kind of silly to be like “oh I'm in my 20s and I’m freaking out”. Were all freaking out, but I think community is really important, and leaning on that is super helpful.
EB: Definitely.
EB: My last question, I know touring can be taxing. What’s the first thing you want to do when you get home to Chicago?
LT: Cuddle my cat! And maybe go to the beach.
EB: Those are good options.
LT: I’m just excited to see all my loved ones, honestly.
EB: Absolutely.
EB: That’s all my questions!
LT: We killed it!