Lincoln on “Saint Bernard”, Going Viral, & What’s Next

Ohio-based indie rock artist Lincoln has gained a lot of traction with a viral TikTok sound from his song “Saint Bernard”. The song, originally released in 2017, now has over 22.5 million streams on Spotify and the sound on TikTok has over 127.4k videos. After releasing the Saint Bernard 7” with the original track and two reimagined versions fo the song, Lincoln sat down with us to chat about internet virality, musical growth, and the story behind the trippy music video for the hit song.

Lexi Matuson: How have you been keeping busy during quarantine? Are you hanging in there?

Lincoln: I’m good. It’s not really that much different for me to be honest. I’m a bit of a homebody. When everything hit and everyone started kinda freaking out — I was with them and I knew what was going on — but it didn’t really feel that much different. So, yeah I’m pretty good.

LM: Yeah, I get that. I totally get that. So what was the more surreal part of realizing that your song had gone viral? What did that feel like for you? 

Lincoln: I don’t know if — I guess there was no point really of which I realized that. It came out in the beginning of 2017 and it was doing way less than it’s doing now, but it was way more than what I had ever done before. So I was pretty happy at that time even and just watching it grow was obviously really fun, but you know there was never a moment where I was like, “Oh now I’ve made it.” But, you know, I’m much more comfortable than I used to be. 

LM: Was it weird to scroll through your [TikTok] For You Page and be like, “Oh that’s my voice! That’s my song!”? 

Lincoln: (Laughs) Yeah, it was a little weird when it first started happening. I wasn’t really on TikTok, but my significant other was always on TikTok, so I sorta started getting little uh … You know it didn’t happen all at once it was like a few people used it, and then a bunch of people used it, and then a bunch more people used it. And here we are, now no one [is] really using it. 

LM: (Laughs) So, I know you used to do covers on YouTube. Is it kinda cool now [and] feel like a full circle moment now that people are covering your song? 

Lincoln: Yeah, definitely. I love those, it’s fun to watch because those kids might do something cool someday. 

LM: Totally! So who do you consider your artistic influences? Both for your music and your video style. I remember watching the video for “Saint Bernard”, it was very abstract and really cool.

Lincoln: For the record that’s out, my influences were like Modern Baseball, Joyce Manor, Front Bottoms and stuff like that. The emo revival thing, I still like that stuff — I don’t listen to it so much anymore. As far as the video, it’s like (laughs), “Saint Bernard” just kind of took off and I disappeared sort of and the label — my label [I Surrender Records] — comes back to me and they’re like, “Hey we should do some kind of cash grab for this “Saint Bernard” thing, a once in a lifetime thing. Do you want to make a video?” and I was like, “Yeah!” and they were like, “Cool, we know a guy.” They had this video made and I just basically signed off on it. I liked the druggieness of it I guess. 

LM: That’s awesome. Do you have a favorite lyric from the song? Or from any of the songs that you’ve written?

Lincoln: Probably the last verse of “Saint Bernard” is my favorite. 

LM: What about it is special to you? 

Lincoln: The rest of the record — like literally everything but that lyric actually — was really … I was really pooping it out there. It was like hard to come up with that stuff, but that line just sort of came in and it was the best line on the record in my opinion. I don’t even feel like I wrote it, I feel like it just showed up. 

LM: So you have three different versions of your song “Saint Bernard,” can you walk us through what each different version means to you and why you’ve chosen to release three of them?

Lincoln: Well, I guess I’ll start backwards. Why I’ve chosen to release three of them is again just because the song did well. We thought maybe we could milk it a little more and I had some ideas. But the first [version] was the last song I wrote for the album and I wrote it I was in college. It was like three AM and I was sitting in my car in a parking garage on campus, and it just kind of came to me — I didn’t think it was anything but Rob, the guy who runs the label I’m on, was like, “You have to put this song on [the album].” So we did and the rest is history, as far as that version goes.

LM: Big shoutout to Rob!

Lincoln: Yeah, for real. But the Sam Means version — Sam Means’ band, The Format was like my favorite band when I was in high school and I still love The Format — but I covered a song from Sam Means solo EP and Gabby, the A&R at the label, was friends with Sam and he retweeted it and she found the cover from that and that’s how they found me. I had no following whatsoever, I think Rob and Gabby were my eleventh and twelfth YouTube subscribers. 

LM: (Laughs) 

Lincoln: Gabby knows Sam and thought it would be cool to use it as kind of a way to tell the story of how they found me and how the record came to be. So that’s the Sam Means version — he said yes and he’s amazing! He just said yes and I didn’t have anything to do with it; it’s just his remix. And for “Saint Bernard 2,” which is my new re-recording of it, it’s just — it was another one of [the label’s] ideas, they were like, “You could re-record ‘Saint Bernard’” and I was like, “Eh, okay.” I don’t really feel like how I felt when I made that record anymore, so it’s weird for me to sing those songs, I guess I just tried to do it in a way that made sense to where I am now. And that’s “Saint Benard 2.” 

LM: Sounds like you’ve had a really nice journey– a really powerful one as well with the song. 

Lincoln: Yeah, yeah it’s beautiful.

LM: So, I know we’re all missing live music right now. I think the one thing I would like to do more than anything, is be in a sweating basement with a bunch of people listening to music. 

Lincoln: (Laughs) Yeah. 

LM: So, what’s one artist you’re really excited to see when live music comes back?

Lincoln: (Laughs) Oh man, this answer’s going to like get me in a little hot water, but Father John Misty. I’m obsessed with Father John Misty and I would love to see him. 

LM: What about him is like something that [makes you] like, “I need to experience this live”? 

Lincoln: I think most of the live shows I’ve been to — most of the music I’ve been into throughout my life — is like rock and roll bands. There’s just something about the lushness of his arrangements and the huge band he has and the songs. I just love his songs, I don’t know, I just feel like it may be magic. 

LM: Well I hope you get to experience that. 

Lincoln: Thank you. 

LM: Just one last question: What is next for you? Do you have anything that you’re working on right now? Anything that you’re excited about? 

Lincoln: Yeah, I have an album that I’ve been working on. I’ve been writing it for — since actually before the last EP came out, so it’s like, it’s in there. I’m going in to record it at the same studio where I made the last one in January. 

LM: Alright well I’m looking forward to that album. I’m sure all of our readers are! 

Lincoln: Excellent. 

You can stream “Saint Bernard” below.