Photo By: Sophie Harris
After a quick chat about cats and shows in North Carolina, frontwoman Maggie Schneider hopped on Zoom with us talk all things Glimmers.
Where did the name Glimmers come from?
It kind of came to me unexpectedly. We were looking through different names and for me personally, I wanted to name the band something that had a positive connotation to it because everyone in the band are very upbeat, fun, positive people. We always see the bright side of any situation.
I was going to bed one night and you know, just kind of falling asleep, thinking about stuff, whatever, and the word glimmers just kind of popped into my head. I got out of my half awake mode and went on my phone and typed in Glimmers on Spotify, Instagram, a bunch of places to see if it was taken. And luckily it wasn’t. And so I just kept it on my list and it was really my first choice ever since thinking of it.
So then I told the guys and we took a few weeks, just kind of let it sink in to see if it was something we wanted to keep or if we wanted to choose something else. And eventually we all agreed that it felt like us. It just feels like our personalities and what we stand for.
What were the other options you guys were looking at?
Oh, man! Let me see if I can find the list. There were some bad ones.
I really wanted a one word band name and it’s so difficult to find. This is funny, we had “Tapes We Play” did not know Games We Play would be a thing. We had “Meet Me There.” We had “Hold Dear” and “Hold Tight.”
Those types of things. So either like one to two word names. But the name Glimmers really stood out to us.
How did you guys come together as a band?
I was a solo artist for a really long time, for like five or six years. I was playing mostly acoustic gigs and things like that, and I loved it, but I always wanted to play with friends and have a band to support me and just have that camaraderie that comes with being in a band. And so I met all of my band mates in various different settings. Mostly at different local shows and events in Atlanta.
Alex Downtain, our lead guitarist, has a recording studio so I went to him to demo some of my own solo music. So that’s how we met. And then the rest of the guys I met playing with their bands. What had happened was I was kind of auditioning people for my backing band, and an opportunity came up to play a Paramore cover show, which was really fun. It was this tribute night that happened every year in New Orleans at this really cool venue. And a friend’s band asked me if I wanted to take over the Paramore set, but I didn’t wanna do that acoustic. Like I wanted to have that, that full band vibe because it would be way more fun. That’s when we played our first show in what is now the Glimmers lineup. And we had such a good time doing it that we said, “Well, let’s just continue playing music together and see how it goes” So, we continued playing just under my name, Maggie Schneider, for a while until the pandemic happened. We decided to rebrand and form Glimmers.
So you formed in 2020? How did you work through that as a band?
For at least the first two months we did not see each other in person, and it was really hard. We’re a band that hangs out with each other constantly. We have dress up themed parties, we go see movies together, go to dinner together, do all of those fun things. And so it was really hard to not get to do that.
For the first couple months we were just on FaceTime, but we talked every day. We would talk every night for an hour, just about random stuff and about our own personal feelings grappling with not seeing anybody. It was just like a really great thing to still communicate with them. So I’m very thankful that we have the technology to do that.
After that, when we wanted to see each other, we would all get tested. We would make those plans to make sure that we would be safe to see each other. It was hard. It helped us focus on how much we wanted to be a band, and it did give us the time to rebrand and really think about the artwork, and the name and, all of the branding in general, on how we wanted to release our music.
What do you think you learned from that experience and how does that impact how you operate as a band now?
First, the power of friendship is everything. That sounds so cheesy, but it’s so true. Yes, the band is a business and we’re a LLC and we do all of those boring business things, but I think what I’m constantly reminded of is the fact that the friendship between all of us is the most important and it’s what makes everything worth it.
Being in a band with people that you don’t click with on a personal level, like I can’t imagine doing that because it takes a lot of work and a lot of effort to, to do this and to tour and, and to do all of the things that we fortunately get to do now that Covid has settled down a bit. I would say friendship is definitely of utmost importance in the band.
And then also for me personally too, being a solo artist and transitioning into the band, it was a scary thing at first because I had only ever known to rely on myself and to not get that help and collaboration that being in a band has given me. I definitely learned the importance of collaboration and talking things out and brainstorming with other people and just the power of working together.
Let’s talk about “Dreaming”. What was the writing and recording process?
I love this song. This is the latest single that we’ve put out thus far. We tracked everything at our lead guitarist, Alex’s home studio, and then we sent it to be mixed to Courtney Ballard. He’s done so many of our favorite records. He did Pink Elephant, that Stand Atlantic record. He’s done Grayscale, done a lot of awesome stuff. We wanted to send it over to him.
So we spent the month of January recording everything that we could possibly think of to send over to him, for him to mix and put his magic on. It was a challenging process because we were on a time crunch, but it was really exciting to see everything be put together in such a short amount of time. Dreaming was a song I wrote the foundation of, music and lyrics, the basic backbone of it, about two years ago. It stemmed from a poem that I wrote for a poetry class. I went to an art school and I loved it very much. I was a writing major. And I decided to turn two of the lines into a song, those like the last two chorus lines.
So, I love this song. It definitely has more of the pop punk element that we’ve all grown up with and have been inspired by, it was a fun process. Super quick to record, but I’m really happy with the product.
You mentioned writing. There’s a [F. Scott] Fitzgerald quote in there. Did you hope people would notice that or was it for yourself?
A little bit of both! My love of literature definitely stems from my mom too because she was an English major and has been a teacher and vice principal of a school and all of these things. She kind of gave me a love and an interest in F. Scott Fitzgerald. That line itself is from “The Crack Up”, which is an essay that he wrote. It’s about his kind of trials and triumphs with fame battling the highs and lows of that. Loss of creativity, his alcoholism, just kind of everything that goes along with being a public person.
That first line has always stood out to me. “Life is a process of breaking down” is the first line in that essay. When I was working on these song lyrics. I had read “The Crack Up” for the second time and I really, really liked that line and I felt like it expressed the feelings that I was trying to say through the song. So I thought, “we’ll just put this in there.” It’s more so for me, because I know it’s a reference, but I always think it’s fun when someone else notices that.
What other writers influence you?
I love a lot of dark writing, which is kind of strange ‘cause I’m a very positive person. I love Edgar Allan Poe— always have been a fan. I love Emily Dickinson. She’s another one that my mom and I bonded over growing up. I just love the way that she concisely expressed how she felt in so little words. I also love Langston Hughes. There’s like so much of a musicality to his poetry as well. I love a bit of everything, but definitely American Literature is my favorite.
You also released “Scared to Lose” this year. How did this process differ from “Dreaming”?
This one we had a little bit more time on. We got to demo this song actually about a year ago. We demoed it like early November of last year and just kind of took a weekend to figure out the structure and figure out what instruments we wanted to have in the forefront.
Usually what happens is I’ll write the foundation of the song, so I’ll just write it on piano or acoustic guitar, and then I’ll bring it to the guys to flesh out and make it more of a full band arrangement. We had the chance to demo it for a weekend in November. We decided we wanted it to have a very, like Michelle Branch, Vanessa Carlton vibe in terms of structure too and how it builds. The bridge is kind of small and grows into the last chorus. We had really the backbone of it ready. So then in January we just kind of added some fun bells and whistles and polished it up a little bit.
I love this song. It has some of my favorite lyrics that I’ve ever written. It kind of plays off of writing and storytelling and those themes too.
You guys just did an acoustic version of it, right?
Yeah, we did! For us, we always wanna make fun content that continues to resonate with people and so we thought, why not just set up in my kitchen and record a fun acoustic version? That was super fun for us. My dog is in it and that made me so happy when I re-watched the footage. I was so excited that he just sat there the whole time. Shout out to Jessie, my chow chow.
I would really love to do more of those. I think it’s a fun way to show a different side of the song or even cover different songs that we like. We just wanted to do it for fun.
If you could do another one of your songs in another style, what song would you pick?
I would love to turn either “Not Good at Goodbyes,” that’s my favorite song that we’ve put out so far, or “Don’t Tell Me” into a full orchestral arrangement. I’m a theater kid as well so that’s how I fell in love with performing. But there’s something about orchestra instruments like cello and violin that I love so much. If I had the opportunity to change one of our songs and turn it into something like that, that would be awesome.
You spoke on it a little bit but how did starting off as a solo singer/songwriter shape where you are as a frontwoman of a band?
Being a solo artist definitely allowed me to learn a lot and also gave me the confidence to continue growing as a front person.
When I was just playing acoustic guitar, it was hard for me to totally step out of my comfort zone and engage more people and just be more of that driving force performing with the band. It gave me that stepping stone to get myself into performing and not doing it in a theatrical sense because before I did solo stuff, I was totally a theater kid. I would play different roles, but I never really played myself.
At first it was kind of a hard transition to think of it that way and to be like “how do I play my own songs? How do I do this without being another person or another character?” Being a solo act helped me grow and find my lane and what I wanted to do with the band. It also showed me the importance of diversity and female empowerment in music. It also showed me that unfortunately a lot of people don’t agree.
As Hayley Williams said at When We Were Young Fest, I love punk music and just rock music in general because it was built on inclusivity. Some people don’t agree, but I think it is. Just being your own person and like standing up for who you are and what you believe in.
Being that solo act, it showed me a lot of the highs and lows of being a woman in music. It showed me that more work needs to be done and that I really wanna be someone who helps the scene become more of an inclusive place.
Just in a few short years, there’s been a change and a lot more diversity. Can you speak on the impact you hope to make?
So for Glimmers, on our end, the majority of our team is made up of women. Our manager, she’s amazing. Our photographer and videographer, they’re both women, they kick ass. Something that I always want to do and hopefully when we continue to grow, I wanna bring bands out that highlight the beautiful diversity of music. And what’s so cool now is that there’s so many awesome bands that are getting those opportunities that they have always deserved.
But now that people are speaking out like “hey, this is important, we need to focus on this,” I just am so happy that that’s all happening. I just wanna continue making that a priority in everything that Glimmers does and everything that I do too. Whether we are inviting people of color who are creatives like photographers, artists, people on our team, or if it’s just supporting bands that I love like Magnolia Park and Meet Me at the Altar. There’s just so many awesome bands right now, they’re killing it and are spreading that really important message of diversity.
I think it’s something that we should all just focus on, just even in everyday listening. Let’s listen to all of these awesome bands. They have so much to offer.
You guys are headlining soon.
Very soon!
What preparations are you doing to get ready for that?
So much. I’m very type A so I try to make sure that all of the boys are well prepared for everyone that we do. I’m the mom of the band. So in terms of set list, we usually practice once a week, but we’re practicing way more to get ready for this one.
We’re adding new songs to our set, a new cover and a new single, coming out shortly, which I’m very excited about. Then in terms of logistics stuff, it’s so much to think about. We have a bus, which is very nice. It’s like a 15 passenger, airport shuttle type bus. Shout out to Jeremy, our drummer. He makes sure that all of that is safe for us to travel in, that everything’s good. Alex Downtain, our lead guitarist, focuses on all of the musical equipment, our instruments, our gear, making sure everything works.
The rest of us work on everything from the marketing of the shows and sharing it with our friends in these different areas to the drive times, making sure that we’re getting places on time, where we’re gonna sleep, if we’re gonna travel through the night. So it is a lot of preparation. But I’m really excited because it’s mostly cities that we haven’t played yet.
How would you say that your growth as a person kind of influences your growth as an artist?
Oh, that’s a good question. We did a pretty long tour this past March. That experience really shaped, even though it wasn’t long ago, the person that I am today. I feel like I have grown a lot more confidence in myself, both as a creative and also as an individual. The more confident that I’ve become and sure of myself in what I wanna do and the type of music that I wanna create, it has only helped the band as well. Because I’ve been able to bring my clearer perspective to the guys, and then we’re able to create something really, really cool together.
Definitely the last two years have been really full of change, but a lot of really positive change. Said goodbye to some more unhealthy relationships in my life, found personal confidence, and it inspires the music and just the whole creative process.
What can we look forward to in the near future?
We are gonna come out with a new single in November, so I’m really excited about that. After this tour, we have a couple of other tours in the works of being planned, which is really exciting, with some bands that I love. I’m very, very stoked about that. I think at the beginning of the year we’re gonna keep releasing music, but also start working on whatever the next project is.
You can listen to “Dreaming” here:
