Dive Into The Eclectic World Of Little Stranger’s ‘Sat Around Trippin’

Trying to fit the music of Little Stranger into a single genre is an impossible task. The duo of Kevin Shields and John Shields (best friends but no relation) have steadily built an ever-growing fanbase thanks to their diverse sound, witty sense of humor and incredibly infectious songs.

The next chapter in the Little Stranger story is Sat Around Trippin’, an excellent album due out tomorrow via Ineffable Records. Kevin and John will hit the road with Stick Figure and SOJA this summer before embarking on a headlining tour of their own this fall in support of the nine-track follow-up to 2021’s Trip Around Saturn.

Little Stranger excel both on stage and in the studio. The pair are coming off their Governor’s Ball debut, where they wowed the crowd. One of the main elements in their success is the ability to blend genres. The duo effortlessly moves from calypso to mambo to hip-hop to folk to soul to R&B and that’s just on Sat Around Trippin’ cut “Kama Sumatra.”

Kevin Shields and John Shields spoke about the creation of Sat Around Trippin’ via an email interview with JamBase. The duo also discussed their first set at Gov Ball, the booming music scene in their current hometown of Charleston, South Carolina and more. All answers came from the pair.

How much of a role did you two play in the production of the album?

The album was fully self-produced. We have a home studio here in Charleston where we record pretty much all of our stuff. We did do some tracking at Coast Records – a great studio here in Charleston run by Matt Zutell. Typically, if we want to add any live drums, or have access to some more live instrumentation we’ll spend a few days tracking with him. Our setup is pretty simple over at the hoopoe studio – most of the drums and bass are done in the box. We love the freedom we have here though – no timeline or worry about the studio hours you’re paying for. Lots of our best work happens very late at night.

Your sound is so diverse, how did you go about deciding what elements of your sound to show off on ‘Sat Around Trippin’?

I’m not sure there was a real decision made there. We just kind of start creating and we can usually tell pretty quickly if we like it or not. We’ve always stayed outside the box I guess – however unintentionally – with the genres that go into our music. We like it all! And we usually trust that if we’re having fun making it and listening to it, that our fans will typically feel the same way. Hopefully haha.

Were there many songs you recorded for the album that didn’t wind up making the cut?

Yes! We started writing this album in January 2023. We had rented a cabin in Bat Cave, North Carolina at the top of a little mountain. We were due for a total escape after a year of touring. A lot of that time was just spent getting the creative gears turning again. So, we wrote so many songs, many of which were just ideas, or half a tune. Felt like after a couple weeks of getting back into the flow of writing we really found our stride. That being said we continued to write and produce over the next year and a half. There are a handful of songs that just weren’t quite where we wanted them, or didn’t seem to fit the feel of the album. We have some fun plans lined up to release a ton of our B-Side material in the near future….

How did you decide on the song sequence?

That’s always an interesting thing. We knew we wanted “Busted Brain” to be the opener. In our opinion its just such an odd song and we’re in love with it. Felt like a good opener that people are hopefully like ehh what the fuck? haha. After that we just kinda started throwing together an order that felt like it flowed. Honestly we probably put the order together in like 5 minutes – kinda one of those things that you can trust your gut on and not over analyze.

I always love seeing you perform with Andy Frasco, tell us about your first meeting with him at Summer Camp?

Andy is the best! We had met briefly a couple years before at a small fest in Charleston. But really got to hang at Summercamp for the first time. He and Ryan Stasik – our other bff – of Umphreys came and watched our Campfire Stage set together. After the set we all ate some mushrooms and went to the Frick Frack Casino and just had a blast. He asked us to come on his fall tour that following October, and the rest is history! We love AFUN as a band, and even more so as people. Such a genuinely awesome group of guys. Whenever we’re able to play shows together its like a reunion of grown up children all giddy and getting into trouble.

How did you write “God At A Festival?” Did you sit down with Andy, Damn Skippy and Ross Bogan and come up with the song or was it a lengthy process?

That song came together pretty quickly! Andy was in Charleston for a couple days so he came to the studio to do some writing. We brought Ross Bogan (Doom Flamingo, Wolfmask) in to play keys. Andy wanted to make something gospel-y and upbeat. Ross came up with the keys line and I pretty quickly got a beat made to it. We started throwing around ideas for the hook. Having Andy as the Prince of these music festivals, it felt like a good avenue to pay tribute to the festival scene. Damn Skippy and Kevin wrote their verses in like 10 minutes and within a few hours the layout of the song was complete. After that we got Kanika Moore (Doom Flamingo) to come lay down some stellar backup vocals, and then Ryan Stasik tracked the bass over at Coast Records. It was a big family affair and really showcases the amazing music scene here in Charleston.

Did you give Andy any feedback about the “speech” he provides in the song?

Haha man, maybe? He just sat down and did it all off the top of his head in one take. We may have changed a line or two that he didn’t feel great about. But yea that was super quick and just freestyled.

Who provides the beautiful gospel-like singing on “God At A Festival?”

Kanika Moore!!! The Queen. She lives here in Charleston and has become a great friend of ours over the last few years. She came over for a couple hours and laid down all her vocals. Always a treat to record someone at her caliber.

There’s a few references to “exes” in the lyrics on the album. Was it recorded after one or both of you went through a tough breakup?

We’ve both had our share of breakups over the years. And it’s funny, listening through the album I’m like huh am I dwelling on shit? But really, most of the time we write those kinds of songs, its not about any one person in particular. “Sofia” was written as a burn to all the exes out there. We’ve all got em. Hopefully the sentiment is somewhat relatable for people. But yea, we typically don’t write songs directed specifically at any one person. Typically.

Speaking of festivals, how was your experience at Governor’s Ball both in terms of your set and whether you caught any other performances?

Gov Ball was dope! Definitely felt like an honor to be on a lineup like that. It’s very different from the festivals we usually play in the jam scene, or in the reggae scene. We were kinda like little kids out there, like “whoa there goes Sexyy Redd!!” haha. The press and the sponsors and all that’s involved in a festival of that scale was a new experience for us, and hopefully one we’ll continue to experience.

What’s your bucket list venue and festival in the U.S.?

Hmmm. Would be very cool to get the Bonnaroo look. Definitely a bucket list I think for any artist. But I will say I’d really like to play Shang-ri-La fest in Minnesota again. We’ve played it twice and it’s just the best ever. It’s super intimate. The people are amazing. So bucket list is to go play there again and maybe forever haha. We get to play the Greek Theater in LA this summer on tour with Stick Figure! That’s a bucket list venue for sure.

It’s been amazing to watch the Charleston music scene get its flowers between your success and that of Kanika/Doom Flamingo. Did you realize pretty quickly after moving from Philly to Charleston that it was the right city for you?

Charleston is an incredibly special place. The music scene here is on fire in my opinion. There’s so many talented people in such a small city. And the camaraderie between all the musicians is amazing. Everyone is constantly collaborating and helping one another up their craft. I’ve been here for almost 15 years now. And while it’s always felt special, I think this is the best it’s ever been.

What other acts from Charleston should be on our readers’ radar?

Oh baby let’s see… Starting off with our fellow MC’s… Damn Skippy. Loser Chris. Appollo Valdez. Mike Live. Slim Soul.

And there are so many good bands, I’m afraid ill leave people out here… Little Bird. Stoplight Observations. Human Resources. Wolfmask. Psycodelics are just an unreal act that is a must see right now.

You’ve been embraced by fans of multiple genres including reggae and the jam scene. Were you surprised by the love shown by jam fans at such festivals as Jam Cruise? Do you like jam music?

I actually have always been a big fan of jam music and the scene. Phish are easily my favorite band, and the one I’ve seen far and away the most. It’s been really amazing to see how we have been embraced by the jam scene. Meeting people like Andy Frasco, and Big Something, and the Umphrey’s guys..we’ve just felt welcomed into an amazing group of people. There are a lot of similarities between the jam scene fans and the reggae scene fans. They go all out for the bands they support. There’s so much love and support in both scenes, and we feel incredibly lucky to be able to embraced by both.

Do you adapt your setlist when touring with acts like Stick Figure and SOJA to appeal to their audiences?

Maybe a little bit? We may throw one or two of our more reggae-leaning songs into the rotation. But largely it has felt like that audience enjoys what we do. So we’re confident that if we do our material outside of the reggae genre it should go over well. We think. We hope. We believe!

Have you started playing all the songs from ‘Sat Around Trippin’ live?

We’ve added a few into the setlist over the last couple months! It’s always fun and a little nerve-wracking to introduce the new stuff and get comfortable playing it. Luckily we have some time off before this Stick Figure tour to get some rehearsals in – which is kind of a rarity for us. So we’ll definitely be introducing more of the new material live!