INTERVIEW: The ‘Volume’ EP Series, Triumphant Return To Europe & More With The Plot In You
Ahead of their sold-out show in Poppodium 013, we had the honour to chat with The Plot In You vocalist and frontman Landon Tewers to discuss all things TPIY, including their latest series of EPs, their triumphant return to Europe in a headliner capacity & more. Find our chat below and make sure to stream The Plot In You‘s brand-new single Pretend right at the bottom of this page!
Strife Magazine: Let’s start with the most important question: how are you doing?
Landon: Good. The tour’s been awesome. All the shows have been, I think all but one sold out. That’s cool because anytime we’ve been to the UK or Europe in the past, it’s been pretty hit or miss for us, especially last time. It was actually pretty bad for us. It didn’t seem like many people cared.
It’s been six years since we’ve been here, so it’s cool to come back to crowds that care. Yeah, we’re all stoked for sure. The last time was in 2018 or 19, right before COVID. It was with We Came As Romans and this band Alaska. Do you remember them? I think they were a German band. That was the last time. So, a long time ago.
Strife Magazine: I remember you skipped the Netherlands on that run.
Landon: Yeah, we were supposed to come. Maybe it was 2020, but it was a week or so before COVID happened. That immediately went away. We hadn’t figured out a good chunk of time to come since then, but we figured it out.
Strife Magazine: Originally, you were booked in the smaller room, and now the bigger room is sold out.
Landon: Dude, it blew my mind. I was in complete disbelief. The last time we were here, it felt like people wanted us off stage as quickly as possible.
Strife Magazine: That leads to my next question. Since COVID, has it been tougher for bands to come across the ocean?
Landon: It was for a while, with all the vaccination stuff. That made it rough years ago, but now everything’s back to normal. It’s not too hard to get over. Since our last record came out, we’ve just stayed busy in the States and hit Australia a couple of times. But we couldn’t find a chunk of time that made sense for everyone. Now we’re here, though.
Strife Magazine: Do live shows influence the way you write music? Do you think about how a song will sound live?
Landon: Maybe sometimes, but usually not. I don’t think about that much, but with some of the heavier parts or songs, I do think, “Oh, that’ll be fun live.” I try not to think about stuff like that too much because it could influence the writing in a corny way. It’s cool when it works out though.
Strife Magazine: Have you ever had a song that turned out differently live?
Landon: Yeah, 50 per cent of the time. I’ll think, “This will slay,” and then it’s just…nope, whatever. Lately, we’ve been getting more hits than misses, which is cool. In the past, it’s been a gamble, but our fans are pretty accepting of whatever we do, which is awesome. It lets me experiment and have fun.
Strife Magazine: You’ve mentioned before that you wanted to mix things up, especially when Dispose came out. Since then, with the two records and EPs, have you done something completely new?
Landon: I think so. The longer you do something, it evolves. With the EPs, especially, I’ve had the chance to take time in between, live life, and focus on other things. It’s not about making everything cohesive. Each EP kind of lives in its own world and none of them are tied together. Some people may not like that, but I find it more challenging and exciting to write songs focused on what that song is about, without needing to tie into a bigger story. It’s been fun. Writing when I feel like it, instead of under pressure, has helped my creative flow.
Strife Magazine: Is that why you’re producing all the songs on the EPs yourself?
Landon: Yeah, luckily. I have to give praise to our label. I had to fight for a minute to get them to trust me, but they finally did. We started with three songs—Divide, Left Behind, and Forgotten. I spaced them out, and it worked well. They let me continue, and I don’t know how long they’ll let me keep doing it, but I’m enjoying it.
Strife Magazine: The new songs are all at the top of your Spotify list. The label knew what they were doing, huh?
Landon: Yeah, fingers crossed they keep letting me do it.
Strife Magazine: Are the EPs going to come together as an album?
Landon: We’re still figuring that out. The music videos intertwine, but we’re working on how to package it together while still letting each EP stand on its own. At least a package for anyone who wants to have all those songs in one place. Hopefully, we’ll have it figured out by sometime next year. It’s just so people can have one physical thing to play all the way through. Some might complain, “I’ve already heard all these,” but that was the point, to space things out over years and not make people wait to hear new stuff. Also, it shows the gradual evolution of my songwriting process too, which is kind of fun for me.
Strife Magazine: You’ve been working on the EPs for two and a half years. Have you thought about what’s next?
Landon: There are still two more songs for Volume 3, and there will be a Volume 4. I’ve started a couple of songs for it, but I was supposed to finish them before this tour, and I didn’t. So now I have to figure that out when I get home. There’s at least one more volume coming.
Strife Magazine: Do you ever write on tour?
Landon: I tried once. I wrote Forgotten on tour when we were in a van for the first time in a long time. I was so bored and depressed, that I had to do something productive. It worked out really well, but I haven’t done it again since. It’s hard with people always coming in and out. I like to be alone when I write. But I also think I’m just making excuses. When I’m home, writing is all I do, so when I’m on tour, I treat it more as a vacation. I’ll play video games and eat crappy food all day.
Strife Magazine: What games do you play?
Landon: We’ve been playing a lot of Mario Golf, Mario Kart, and Mario Tennis. Sometimes Fortnite, but we’re obsessed with Mario games and online poker. We’re just travelling children, but it keeps us occupied.
Strife Magazine: You’ve been around for a while now, 14 or 15 years, right?
Landon: Yeah, it’s crazy. I was in a band before this one, so I’ve been doing this for about 16 years now. The first tour I did was in 2008, which is wild to think about.
Strife Magazine: What advice would you give to new artists starting now?
Landon: It’s hard because things are so different now. When I came up, it was about winning over your hometown scene and playing shows. Now you don’t even have to play shows to be established, which is crazy. But the fundamentals are the same. You need to master your craft and have a social media presence. Labels want artists that already have some worth on their own because it’s less of a gamble. There’s just so much competition out there and the only way to get discovered is to just be great. So, you have to put in the work and show you can attract people. It sucks for advice, but that’s the reality of it. Then again, a lot of people are getting discovered through TikTok and YouTube and stuff, those weren’t available to me whenever I was coming up. The whole landscape is different now.
Lightning round:
Strife Magazine: Favorite European city to visit?
Landon: Probably Prague, Berlin, or Bordeaux. One of those three.
Strife Magazine: Favorite gift from a fan?
Landon: A fan got me two cases of tech decks and painted artwork from Plot and my solo stuff on the bottom. It was meticulous and probably took hundreds of hours. Super cool.
Strife Magazine: Favorite song to play live?
Landon: Probably Don’t Look Away or Closure.
Strife Magazine: What bands do you listen to in your spare time?
Landon: I really liked the new Bring Me The Horizon record. I haven’t been listening to a lot of bands lately, though. I’ve been into Noga Erez, a pop singer from Israel. Her stuff is experimental, weird pop. People should check it out.
Strife Magazine: What comes first, the music or the lyrics?
Landon: Music, always. 100%.
Strife Magazine: If you could collaborate with any artist, who would it be?
Landon: I’d love to work with Bring Me The Horizon. I know a few people who’ve written with them, and I like being around ambitious, hard-working people when I’m doing creative stuff. That’d be cool. Noga Erez would be tight too.
Strife Magazine: If not music, what would your occupation be?
Landon: Probably something culinary, something with food.
Strife Magazine: Favorite ice cream flavour?
Landon: Rocky Road or Reese’s Cup Flurries.
Not too long after their show in Tilburg, the band released the second single from ‘Vol. 3’ Pretend. Stream the brand-new single below and get excited for the rest of Volume 3, as well as the Volume 4 which is still in the pipeline!
