Opposites attract, riiiight? Patrick, who came from a punk/noise/”terrible” musical background and Alaina who took the church choir route, come together to make up TENNIS! Riley describes it as a “middle-ground between the two of [their] styles”.
The two met junior year of college, both of them being philosophy majors, and I must say they seem (oh my god- cooties warning) so happily married and in love! Patrick gushes, “honestly, it’s the only way we could do it. I don’t know if i could be in a band right now and not have Alaina. After being on the boat together, we are so co-dependent, it’s kind of sickening! Alaina and I are the exact same person [...] more like best friends than anything. Like touring with your best friend.”
Just like the sailboat trip that inspired all of the songs they have written together, their music is easy breezy. The 10 songs tell their favourite of their 8 month adventure on a boat. Together they have grown so attached to sailing because in Patrick’s words “I don’t think you can ever conquer it [...] It’s an end you can strive towards but never attain. There is so much freedom with it, in every aspect.”
After eventually running out of funds, they were forced to come back to land. Patrick explains that “very shortly we found ourselves in the same old routine and we couldn’t really communicate our nostalgia for the sailing trip anymore, so pretty much every night when we would get home from work we’d just write songs, and we just kept working on them, and working on them until yeah! We just considered ourselves a band i guess.”
The two don’t listen to “too much new music” because it has become “a comfort item, rather than an investigative pursuit.”. So their favourites remain the likes of Brenda Lee, and the Zombies. Although, they do recommend we check out bands: Flight, and Dead Gaze, both of which are from Mississippi.
The Riley’s admit “it’s so hard to make a living in a band and we are barely, barely, barely getting by right now so if we take it too seriously [..] then we’ll be really depressed if we don’t make it work.”. So to cope, they take it seriously on “a different level” while not focusing too much on the money making and more on the having fun! I mean, things are looking good considering Pitchfork is clearly a mega-fan, why wouldn’t they be?
Tennis is currently on tour, and will be in Montreal on February the 26th (Il Motore). Patrick informed me that he and Alaina get real waify while busy on the road.. but “Alaina loves poutine”, so I’ll have to bring her a little surprise when they stop by! You can also check them out at SXSW- “I hear its crazy, we’re so excited!”. From here on, New Years resolutions will hopefully bring them weight GAIN as well as more music and sailing forever!
Tennis – Marathon (mp3)
