Mediocre: Anything But
⤏ MEDIOCRE’S PIPER TORRISON AND KEELY MARTIN ON VULNERABILITY, HUMOR, AND THE LUXURY OF WRITING TOGETHER
⤏ IN CONVERSATION WITH GISSELLE PERNETT
⤏ PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARIELY TORRES
⤏ STYLING BY SOPHIE ROBINSON
Mediocre — the dual project of Keely Martin and Piper Torrison — perfectly captures the essence of what it’s like to be in a band with your best friend. The moments between bouncing lyrics off each other and laughing at inside jokes could quickly turn into their next single. Seriously, they’ve hit the best friend band member jackpot.
From writing about the blissful ignorance of running away from your own problems, to singing about a “Tiny Toad,” Mediocre’s latest EP To Know You’re Screwed is a testament to those moments when vulnerability and humor coexist. While sharing more about their band’s early days, Keely and Piper talk the album that made them want to make music, and who would play them in a music video (Tenacious D’s Jack Black and Kyle Glass, obviously).
GISSELLE PERNETT: You opened for a High School Musical double feature so I have to ask, which movie has the better soundtrack HSM1 or HSM2?
PIPER TORRISON: High School Musical 2.
KEELY MARTIN: We don’t even need to think about that one.
PT: We got to meet Coach Bolton.
GP: “Together Together” is an ode to creating new relationships but also to your own friendship. What’s the best part of being in a band with your best friend? How do you seriously sit down and write an EP?
PT: Well, we don't take it very seriously [laughs] because it is fun. It doesn't have to be so serious. It doesn't have to be like, “This is a formal vibe right now.” It's very much like we're just hanging out, and get to just do and say what we want.
KM: I think the best way we collaborate is by spending time together, enjoying each other's company, and then seeing what comes out of it. That's especially how “Together Together” came to be. It was pretty much just us exchanging lyric ideas back and forth and laughing for hours and saying whatever came to mind first. That's kind of how the shape of the song came to be. But being in a band with your bestie is really awesome. I couldn't imagine doing this with anyone else because being in a band, you have to really nurture it. It's a whole different type of relationship, and the only way for that to really withstand the test of time is if you're already really good friends with the people you're [in a band] with.
GP: Why Mediocre? What’s the story behind the name?
PT: The story behind the name is we were 15 and very angsty. But in short, I guess I was very young, or we were very young, and our fear was appearing as if we thought we were the best or cooler than anyone because we decided to make music. So we were like, “Let's humble ourselves so that we're more approachable.” I also feel like maybe there was a hint of fear going into starting a band. You're very much in front of people presenting what you made in a really raw form. I think that was a bit daunting. So we were like, let’s make [the band’s name] a joke. If things don’t turn out exactly the way we wanted and you insult us, too bad. We did it first.
GP: You’ve said that you started writing songs as a joke and that humor is still found in your music now. When did you realize this could be turned into an actual band?
PT: We started mainly just for fun. We were just hanging out and started writing songs. [It was] a fun way to spend our time. I think honestly after our first show we were like, this was so fun. We should actually take this on. People are responding to our songs and we can still have as much fun while directing ourselves more intentionally towards the music.
KM: After that, it was less of, “we're taking [the music] seriously” and more of, “we don't want to stop.” I can’t imagine why we would not keep doing it.
“Let’s make [The BAND’s NAME] a joke. if things don’t turn out exactly the way we wanted and you insult us, too bad. we did it first.”
— Piper Torrison
GP: Do you find it easier to be vulnerable in your songs when there’s that playful, funny element? Or is it more about not taking life too seriously at the end of the day?
PT: Totally. I think both are true. I think humor isn't inherently a deflection of the seriousness. It can be a way to embrace the seriousness of life and the pain and whatever you're experiencing. I think humor obviously makes things a little more fun.
KM: I think it also let’s people feel vulnerable together because humor is [so accessible]. It's embracing that vulnerability with other people. It's nice when the environment is a bit lighter and if [you] resonate with this, let’s all resonate together.
GP: “Mattress Bitch” and “Pop Song Baby” stand out to me because they’re not necessarily sad songs but you get a good mix of humor and deeper meaning.
PT: [“Mattress Bitch”] is about letting yourself be used and just, like, making yourself small. It's funny when people are like “Wait, that's actually sad.” I guess we kind of hid that a little bit somehow.
GP: Where does the inspiration come from?
PT: I feel like songs just kind of spill out when they need to.
KM: I get a lot of inspiration just from listening to other music. Sometimes I go down rabbit holes of watching music videos, or I get really into a band for a really short period of time. I'd take a little bit of influence from all of my musical hyper fixations. I'm inspired by other artists and get really into them.
GP: How were the lyrics, “To know you’re screwed is to know a lot, and I’m a mother fucking genius,” born? I’m obsessed with those lyrics being the opening lines to the EP.
PT: That is a reference to something one of my philosophy professors said in class. I'm kind of screwed now that I’m out of school because I used to just write lyrics in class instead of paying attention. But we were talking about free will and talking about time, and going to work and being stuck in this endless loop. She’s was like, “If free will is having the choice of when you can set your alarm clock, then I guess that's all you can get. If you're screwed and you know you're screwed, then you're good, you’re okay.”
KM: Then we were like, you know what would be hilarious? If we said, “I'm a mother fucking genius” after this. I was in a Tenacious D phase [laughs]. I want Jack Black to hear those lyrics.
GP: It seems like distance has always played a part in your songwriting process. You went from passing a notebook back and forth in high school to moving away from each other for college. What did your songwriting process look like? Were there any difficulties?
PT: It changes every time, but the general structure is the same. One of us starts and has some sort of framework and then brings it to the other person and then we work on it together. That was primarily our only way of writing when we were living across the country from each other. We would send each other voice memos until we could get together in person. I think my favorite songs are a result of just sitting in a room and fucking around. For “To Know You’re Screwed is to Know a Lot,” I think [Keely] was just messing with one of my pedals and then she found the chords and we pieced together the lyrics.
KM: We're trying to incorporate more of that songwriting approach into how we write songs now. We haven't had a chance to really do that for so long. It's almost like a luxury that we want to engage in as much as possible now.
“I feel like songs just kind of spill out when they need to.”
— Piper Torrison
GP: What was the first song, music video, or album that made you want to make music?
PT: In freshman year of high school I found The Districts and their album A Flourish and a Spoil. I was just blown away [that] music could be this big and feely. I think I had just gotten a guitar right before I found that album and I was like, “Ok, I need to do this and make things.”
KM: When I was little, my dad had this CD in his car that I used to listen to all the time. It's a Hives album called Tyrannosaurus Hives. That one really sparked something in me because it was fast rock music that I thought was the coolest thing ever. So I was like, “Yeah dad, one day I will be that level of cool.” I don't know if I'll ever attain that, but at least I'm in a band.
GP: Are there ever moments where being in a band gets to be a lot? You make it seem so chill.
KM: It's constantly that.
PT: It is always that [laughs].
KM: Our friendship comes first before any stress, so maintaining a good support system and trying to have a good attitude together is the only way we can manage it. It really picks up sometimes and especially when we’re making music videos too. For this EP release we had a lot on our plate in terms of content that we needed to create. So that was a lot, but you know, one day at a time.
GP: I feel like “Pop Song Baby” is your Sara Bareilles “Love Song.” When you were writing and releasing music, did you already feel like you were expected to write about certain subjects or sound a certain way?
PT: My aunt said that to me [laughs].
KM: When we were trying to write “Pop Song Baby,” we knew in our heads that the EP would really benefit from a straight up pop song. We're really big fans of pop music. We thought that the genre of power pop would translate well to our feelings. We weren’t trying to put too much pressure on how “pop” it could be. We just wanted to see what we could do.
GP: I like how you create mood boards for some of your songs. How do you decide which songs have music videos? Are you always planning a visual element?
PT: I feel like we just want to make as many music videos for as many songs as possible. So, it's usually like, “Let's make a music video when the time and the budget is there.”
KM: Or even when they aren't there [laughs].
PT: Keely is the mastermind visually and I'm always just like, “Let's do it. I'll help however I can.” I'd say the visual component is pretty consistently there from beginning to end.
KM: Yeah, I think with the last three videos for the EP, we thought that all three songs really showed a range of what we can do musically. So that kind of gave us a direction as to which ones we want to do videos for. I feel like “Together Together” has a strong presence and we were trying to capture a very clear feeling with that song. It almost felt like a cool challenge to see what we can do with that feeling, visually.
GP: I was going to save this for my last question but since we’re on the topic of music videos If you had to cast yourselves in a music video, who would you want to play you?
KM: Paul Dano. I think that would be great [laughs].
PT: I think Jack Black should play me.
KM: Actually, Jack Black and Kyle Glass. Tenacious D should just play us. Or Bret [McKenzie] and Jermaine [Clement] from Flight of the Conchords. Jermaine Clement is my answer.
GP: What’s going on now that the EP is out?
PT: Now we’re just trying to play shows and having fun doing that. We just played a bar in Austin and that was really fun. We’re going to Bennington, Vermont in a couple weeks for their college’s [Sun Fest]. It’s just really exciting to play these songs live and have a full band again and actively participate in the music we create. For so much of this process, we weren’t together to play these songs. I think that grew to be very frustrating.
KM: Nowt feels like a luxury that we’re trying to appreciate and continue as much as possible.