Class Photo

Interview by Evan Balikos

Former STRFKR Member Patrick Morris Hopes to Leave It All Behind With His Ambitious New Solo Project, Class Photo. 

After playing a significant role in the indie / synthpop band STRFKR, Patrick Morris has decided to take the reign as lead vocalist and writer / producer of his new group, Class Photo. Long-time fans of STRFKR will be pleased to hear the irresistible funkiness of the band reanimated in his newest single, “Hard Conversation”, which features disco guitar riffs, dance-floor drums, and crunchy synth chords a ’la Daft Punk. His first single, “I’ve Been Cleaning Up Your Room”, makes an alternative statement by utilizing a catchy hook, climbing guitar riffs, and buzzing key tones that strike more as power pop than disco. Morris hopes this duality of style will make his upcoming album, Light Years Later, a distinctive “can’t miss” collection for fans of synthpop, electrofunk, and even alternative rock. I sat down to talk with him about the road to Class Photo, the production of the two tracks, and even ask him some questions about the new album.

EB: First off all, I love Class Photo. I love what you’re doing with this group, and I’m super excited for new music. You left STRFKR because you wanted to write music that was personal to you. What did you envision this music sounding like? Did you grow past their sound, and did you feel like your sound was maturing past their typical styles of indie and electro funk?

PM: The main reason I left was that I wanted to have more control. I had started to miss a time before STRFKR, when I had had a larger role in song-writing in other bands. I think STRFKR's sound hinges predominantly on one person's vision, and that is Josh. While working on Miracle Mile, STRFKR was becoming more collaborative, but I could see that it would remain primarily Josh's vision. That's definitely an effective way to work, but I didn't feel like my input was crucial. I felt that in pursuing a solo project, my music would be both the same and different from theirs. Having been in the band, obviously it affects how I think about music. In terms of influences, STRFKR and I have a lot of overlaps in the music we listen to, but we also grew up listening to different stuff for sure. I grew up obsessively listening to Weezer. Josh likes Elliott Smith, and I do not. Some influences remain, and some do not.

EB: Yeah, I feel like everyone in a band, regardless of whether there’s an established front-man, everyone wants to feel like they’re contributing something at one point. So, when someone is like, “we’re going to do this”, everyone is just like, “uh okay” [laughing].

PM: [laughing]

EB: I think a good example is Panic! At The Disco, because they started out with an emo rock and pop punk combo, and then as it went along, the two main songwriters were like, “let’s do this, let’s do this”, and now it’s just Brendon Urie because he’s isolated all the other members. So, I think it was actually a good idea for you to leave the group and focus on your new music. I think the singles came out really well and I’m super excited for the album.

PM: Thanks so much.

EB: Absolutely. So, after leaving the group, you left California and moved to your wife’s home country of Norway. What was it like making music on your own and having complete control of the process?

PM: Well, it wasn’t exactly how I thought it would be. It was a lot more difficult than I thought. I like that you have full control, but that means that you are responsible for all the details: how it’s going to be mixed, what music you are going to reference, and lyrics, and everything else. So, at first it was a really daunting task, and I didn’t know if I could do it. I set out to do it. I left STRFKR because I wanted to do it. For the first, maybe even close to—well, not the first year, but parts of the first year—I really struggled. And I didn’t—like, I went from playing music all throughout the year; being on tour, and rehearsing, and writing new music with the band too. Just going into a space, a very alone space, and trying to write music—it was hard.

EB: And did that affect the music? Did that kind of negative head-space affect the music a lot?

PM: Well, it did for a bit, and I decided to take a break. I’m a painter as well.

EB: Nice! That’s actually funny because the last artist I interviewed was a painter too. Maybe you guys are catching the bug, maybe it’s just something that’s feeding the creative side of the artists?

PM: No, yeah, I think that’s really common. I think it’s really like—some of my favorite musicians are artists, because I think that there are a lot of parallels between the two. Just in terms of how much control, and chaos, and having an artist block, and thinking too much, and feeling, and all this stuff; it all goes hand-in-hand. So, I decided to do something entirely different, and for a year I was—for like that first year I was playing music too, but I wasn’t really happy with anything I was writing. And so, I was painting, and I had an exhibition, and I showed some paintings, and I feel like I kind of got that out of my system [laughing]. And that was really nice. After that exhibition, I wrote a song—actually, it was “I’ve Been Cleaning Your Room”, the first single. I wrote that song and I was like, “Okay.” I felt like, “Now, I’m ready to do this. I’ve written a song I like. I like how the lyrics turned out. I can do this.” So, then I got the motivation to pick it up again, and not feel like a total loser for not being able to write a song in an entire year. 

EB: [laughing] As a practicing musician, I can definitely—I can, uh—I respond well to  that! That resonates with me a lot. So, the two singles you’ve dropped ahead of your album, “I’ve Been Cleaning Your Room” and “Hard Conversation”. Oh man, I really love them. I’m more partial to “Hard Conversation” though, because I love that blend of beachy guitar riffs, and those funky Daft Punk synth chords. What I really like though are the lyrics, which are actually about coping with your mother’s death. Can you explain the process of writing that? I know that the song is a little bit of a unique idea because your Mom’s sister is an identical twin, and her voice sounds like her as well. So, when you were talking to her on the phone, it would sound like you were talking to your Mom. Why did you go with a pop angle instead of a darker tone? Did you like the juxtaposition of the lyrics with the music?

PM: No, it’s not really that. It’s more about the music for me. The music has always come first in terms of the way I’m actually making it. So, I will start with the music, and if the lyrics come right away in the beginning, then that’s great, but it very rarely happens. So, that song had a different title when I was working on it, and the melody—so, it was different words and I also have a list of possible song titles, and then also lyrics that I keep with me and add to all the time. So, I drew from that, and I picked some words that went with that, and then the lyrics came after. So, it wasn’t like—it would be really cool if I could be like, “Yeah, it was a really intentional choice”, but it honestly wasn’t. It was more out of—actually, the sentiment of the song was a bit melancholy, for me anyway. It’s a very ‘produced-sounding’, dancey, jangly guitar thing, but the melody of [singing the chorus]. There was a bit of a sad note in there to me. For whatever reason, it wasn’t a difficult—it was a pretty easy transition to change from what I was sort of—just having scratch lyrics to the lyrics I ended up with. Once I built a chorus that I liked, which was “the hard conversation with your aunt, with doctors, with your twin”, then I built the rest of the lyrics around that. But I didn’t have any lyrics and the whole musical part of it was written before I finished one line in the verse.

EB: So, you do the music first and then the lyrics come after?

PM: Not every time, but most of the time. And, with that song, I didn’t know exactly what it was going to be about, even when it was “the hard conversation”, because, uh—

EB: But you knew you wanted to write a song about the event? You knew that you just couldn’t keep that inside you?

PM: Yeah, I was writing a lot of songs about my Mom. Losing her, and going through her possessions after she died, and then also having these conversations with my Aunt. I grew up with my Aunt. Actually, she lived with us. So, even when I was a small child, I would hear her voice, like she would be—I would be sitting on the couch, and she would be behind me, and she’d be talking to me, and I thought it was my Mom. It was uncanny how much she sounded like my Mom. So, when we would talk on the phone after my Mom’s death, it was weird. I actually remember telling her about it, and that’s kind of where the song came from, but like telling her about how much she reminded me of my Mom. Asking her questions like, “How is it to lose your twin?” Y’know, like, “What is like to lose the person who—” Like, there’s not another person like that in the world. Like, you can’t have a closer connection to someone. 

EB: Yeah, there’s a symbolism to that, I think, too. That’s why I’m obsessed with the topic, I think it’s a really niche idea for a song. When I initially heard the song, I thought it was about—because, y’know, “hard conversation”, you can see parallels to a breakup or something like that. But then I delved into it, and I thought, “Ok, wow. Oh, wow.” Like, I had never read something like this before. I’m psyched for Light Years Later. I know there isn’t a release date yet, but I heard it was going to be released late fall this year.

PM: There is a release date now actually. It’s November 29th.

EB: Oh, that’s awesome. Are there any notable producers on the album?

PM: Yeah, I’m really happy with the collaboration—the input that Rian O’Connell Lewis had on the album. He mixed it, and I think it for sure wouldn’t sound the way it does without him. He’s a friend of mine going way, way back, and he plays—he’s an amazing musician, but he also has, in recent years, become an engineer, a producer, and a mixer living in L.A. He’s had his name on tracks by Chromeo and some really big artists; some people I really like, and some stuff out there that’s really, really respectable and cool. So, I’m really glad that he got to work on it, not only because he’s amazing, but also he really understood it because we’ve known each other for a long time. 

EB: Cool. I also wanted to ask—I noticed you posted a playlist on your Spotify page called Conversation Starter, which is filled with songs by artists like Blood Orange, Breakbot, Orange Juice, and Electric Light Orchestra. Were the sounds of these artists influential to the album? Are we going to hear some similarities?

PM: Yeah, to some of them. That playlist, I kind of shaped it more around “Hard Conversation” than “I’ve Been Cleaning Your Room”: the first single. So, I was mindful of that. Light Years Later swings between having more of an alternative rock “I’ve Been Cleaning Your Room” side, and having a more “dance” side, like Daft Punk, and also more like STRFKR-y kind of stuff. So, that playlist is more towards one side of the album. But when I was building that playlist, I definitely tried to put songs on there that would remind me of “Hard Conversation”, and a few of the other songs that are like dancey, and electro funk, and have that guitar like Orange Juice, you mentioned? 

EB: Yes.

PM: Like, that kind of guitar, I really, really like. For the longest time, I really modeled my guitar styling after, um, like Blondie. So, kind of like the disco Blondie stuff. “Heart of Glass.” And I love Orange Juice, Edwyn Collins, and all that stuff. So, those kind of vibes. 

EB: I think with all this funk coming back, we’re getting closer to a disco revival [laughing]. 

PM: [laughing] Yeah.

EB: You said that the music does sound a little bit like STRFKR. Do you think STRFKR fans are mostly going to enjoy this album, or do you think it might be divisive to that sound? 

PM: Well, I mean, I don’t know [laughing].

EB: [laughing].

PM: But I am getting some feedback from people who know me from STRFKR and have said they really like it. And that’s really cool, I hope that I can continue to share it with people who know me from STRFKR, because, yeah, so far, so good. People have been saying they really like it. There’s people who know me from a band before STRFKR too. I was in a band that you wouldn’t know because we didn’t tour very much, and we weren’t that successful. But, there’s people who have seen the progression, and they know me. Those people are really into it.   

EB: I feel like coming out as a solo artist after being in a band that’s been talked about for so long, it’s a bit of a crossroads position. You’re either pretty successful and you continue on your way, or you’re not well-received and you have to think of another plan. But, I think the singles are great. I think what you’re doing is great. I love your influences, and I think you have some great ideas, especially with your topic for “Hard Conversation”. I hope that there are also more interesting topics and songs like that one as well. I wanted to ask a fun question, so we don’t leave on like a “business” note. What’s the strangest thing that’s ever happened while you were performing? 

PM: There’s a couple that come to mind. One of them that I always come back to is a moment that something really unexpected and undesirable happened to the whole band.

EB: Oh no [laughing]. 

PM: This was not in STRFKR though, this was in another band I was in: STRENGTH. We  were playing in this little club in Spokane, Washington, which is like a tiny city—er, it’s not tiny, it’s like a—” 

EB: It’s not big. [laughing].

PM: [laughing] We were playing at a tiny club in this city, and the PA system just cut out. So, the only thing that was coming through the speakers anymore was our vocals. 

EB: So, it just became like the strangest acapella group of all time [laughing].

PM: [laughing] Yeah, and it’s like dance music, and we were in the middle of a “four-on-the-floor” dance song, and this happens. It was kind of scary and kind of like a train-wreck, but we kept singing, and the whole crowd kept singing, and knew the lyrics of the song. So, we finished out the entire last chorus and did a full repetition of it. It was like—it was like it was intentional. It just like gave me really good feelings.

EB: It was beauty from tragedy.

PM: Exactly. Totally from tragedy. We were just like, “Uh, ok, so it doesn’t really matter, and  people are going to catch you when you fall.”

EB: The power of a good crowd.

PM: Yeah.

EB: Shout-out to Spokane, Washington for that.