The Hangout: Nat and Alex Wolff

We're here with Nat and Alex Wolfe of Nat and Alex Wolfe. How's tour been? The best. Yeah? Honestly, a dream come true. When I was nine, I went to Madison Square Garden with my dad for my first concert, which was Billy Joel. And I said, Dad, one day I'm going to be up there on stage. And then, you know, I got to tell that story on stage with my dad in the audience. I think a hometown show means a lot. Your story is like, yeah, my elementary school teacher is here tonight or whatever. Is there anyone that you... My therapist came. No. My therapist came actually to both the first two shows at MSG and last night. My therapist is coming tonight. Really? Yep. Your family and Billy's family are quite similar in structure. Two siblings. You collab musicians and artists, and then your parents are also musicians and artists. I'm wondering if that was something that you, like, bonded on early on. Growing up in a family of artists is you really value the music and you really value the art. And the stardom is sort of an amazing byproduct of that talent. That was something we bonded over. We just love playing music. You know, after the shows, we do jams together. You know, we want to keep the music going. Music is everything. But it has been pretty... The connections have been pretty psychotic. Like, when I first met Billy, we realized that we both grew up with Tourette syndrome. We all work with our siblings. We all have similar families. We both had encounters with fame. Obviously, hers on such a different level. But with fame at a really young age, that was really strange. You know, it's such an odd life. And we have these weird similarities that I've had conversations with Alex and Billy and Phineas that I realized that I'd only ever had with just Alex. And so to have this other two people that we can all kind of relate to has been one of the great gifts of this whole experience. And honestly, of my life. It's been really, really special to have. Something that I think is really cool about your relationship with Billy is in the To Hero music video, obviously, you get physical. And then I saw you guys just did an interview at Vogue where you're, like, on top of each other. She attacked me. That reminds me of me and my brothers. It's like lightning in a bottle, almost, to get to a place of comfort with a person. To that level. And then also, you're now exposed. I'm sure you have been before, but in a different way. Being on tour to someone's work ethic. And, like, seeing what they're up to and how they do it. I'm wondering if there's any exchange of ideas or habits that you've learned from each other in this experience that you're going to continue and take with you as you move forward. I mean, yeah, and a lot of singing tips. She's given me a lot. We're open to every suggestion. Her stylist got me these sunglasses and said, wear them in an interview. Oh, obsessed. Billy is the hardest working person I know. He's really one of a kind. She really is once in a generation. And she's very, very not influenced by what is going to make her popular or liked. It's all about serving her own soul. That's why she's more than a pop star. I really do believe she's the artist of our generation. It's incredible because, obviously, now having Soft Kissing Hour out, it's like there's a physical manifestation of that kind of, like, almost like sibling love between y'all that's out in the world. And what I love about this song is that it's onomatopoeic in the sense that it sounds like it was made in the soft kissing hour. It's the soft kissing hour. And it's, I know you said it was written at 4 a.m. Talk me through that day and how you got to that point. Well, I wrote the song and I sent it to Alex on, like, a really shitty voice memo. And then I played it for Billy and she was like, that's really beautiful. That's maybe my favorite song that you've written. And she was like, I'd sing backgrounds on it if you wanted. And I was like, oh, would you now? And then Phineas had just set up a little, when I say a home studio in her house, I mean one computer with logic, one microphone, and one input for guitar. And so just as a scratch, I played, like, the guitar part and then I did a scratch vocal take. And she was like, that was good. Let me put on some harmonies just for fun. Then she starts doing harmonies, like, four hours go by and I'm just listening to her, without an instrument, create these incredible harmonies. She grew up in a choir, so she just has this melodic instinct that's insane. And then Alex and I had rehearsal for the tour. And then I was like, Alex, can you come over and just, like, replay the guitar? Because I feel like I sucked playing the guitar. I think you could do it better. Just so we have a scratch of it. Alex comes over, Alex is a musical genius. He starts just being like, hey, maybe we should put, like, a higher part guitar. Yeah, throw that on there. And he's like, let me put a bass. And we're like, OK. And then Billy was just really open and, like, coming up with all these ideas. And then Alex went on to the piano. We had to take the vocal mic and just, I had to hold the vocal mic while Alex did the piano part. And Shark, Billy's pit bull, was snoring the entire time. So you could hear him in all the different tracks if you isolate the tracks. That's crazy. And suddenly this song just came out of it and we just did it. We worked on it all night. We went into hyper focus mode. We were just eating vegan chocolate and making it. And honestly, Billy is the best producer we've ever worked with. She's so incredible. We had to call Phineas once for some tech support help. He's IT. Yeah, when you use the two-time Oscar winner and producer of the year, Phineas O'Connell, as your tech support, you know you're in pretty good hands. But he was helping us with different things. But honestly, it was one of the most magical experiences of my life. We listened to it and we sent it to this amazing mixer, Pat, and he turned it into what it was. But he took out a lot of the dog and Alex talking in some of the tracks. And Billy said, this is perfect except can you put that all back in? He said, I'd love to put it back in. I'm used to artists making me take it out. It's really the most proud I think we've ever been of a song. And it's amazing the response it's had and how well it's doing. It's on a playlist called Makeout Jam, which means that people are kissing to the song. Something that I think is really cool, and it's a question I had here, is backup plan. The chords are so unique. And they're so cool. It almost has like a The Who kind of element where it doesn't. Yeah, you don't know where it's going and then it resolves. And that to me is like chef's kiss. The ultimate compliment for me. I really, really appreciate that. If you give Alex a compliment on chords, that's like you're giving him the biggest compliment. That's his favorite thing in the world. So I take it you wrote backup plan. Yeah. Okay. But we help each other with every song. So I like to see them as our songs. But in terms of that song and the chords, that was really, I'm just really happy that you like that. I could cry. Oh, wow. He sent it to me on a voice memo and it was like he was screaming so loud on the voice memo that it was over. You know, the voice memo was like. And I texted back like, I think this is the single. It's just such a good chorus. I want to talk about the line. Yeah. I have my thoughts on rap culture for sure. I mean, I went to school in the city. Were you in a sorority? I was. Delta Gamma. Yeah. I'm just curious to know what your like exposure was to that before signing on. And then also similar to what I've read about your experience in parenterity is like it can get into your brain. So I'm wondering if there was anything that you like took with you from that experience that you had to like shake off. Yeah. I mean, I didn't feel like it. I had to shake it off, but I felt like, you know, it was an interesting process because I'd heard about fraternities through family members and friends who'd been to fraternities. Then I'd seen the comedy depiction of them in Animal House and, and stuff. And then when I'd done all my research, I felt very disconnected from them because it felt kind of like a gross traditions of things that I didn't understand or agree with. But then when I went to visit and live with them, I realized that, you know, those kids have agency and responsibility, but they were also products of, you know, being sold something that they didn't realize they were buying into and kind of protecting a tradition that wasn't protecting them. And I think that there was sort of like a, right when I went there, I noticed that they had, they were baby faces, you know, they were just kind of kids who I think were buying into an idea of masculinity that we've talked about the, like, you're the most masculine if you can endure the most pain. Mostly it's just an antiquated tradition that should, I think we should just be rid of. I want to touch on pavements because I feel, and maybe this is a crazy connection to draw, you kind of like burst out onto the scene in a mockumentary. And now you're in this crazy kooky documentary, but also real life, but also not. Did that occur to you? And also what generally attracted you to the project? I'm a huge Alex Ross Perry fan and we became friends and, uh, Really? Yeah. The movie had no script and I remember him saying, do you want to play a spiral stairs and pavement? I was like, yeah. It's not a real biopic. And I was like, even better. Everybody was just in a really fun way, having no idea what we were doing. Honestly, a couple of times talking to the camera, it reminded me of Naked Brothers. Well, thank you guys so much for chatting with me. Took us a sec to put the wheels on the bus, but we're, I could talk to you guys for hours, for real. You're amazing. Round and round. Wheels on the bus. Go round and round. To live long. Interviews. Thank you so much. We love you. Thank you so much.