A Q&A with Exit 18

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Emmett Pearlman: Who am I here with?

Julia Perry: Exit 18

Emmett: How has your festival experience been so far?

Julia: Fantastic! Really really fun to watch and participate in.

Emmett: You guys have been in the Boston music scene for a long time — what are your impressions of the Boston music scene as a whole and how it’s changed over time.

Julia: I think that we have something going really, really special. We've had the opportunity to check out the local scene in a couple of different states and, maybe it's just because we have our roots here, but there is such a great intersection of different kinds of music, different kinds of art, and different kinds of people that all fundamentally agree on this just energy of enthusiasm for other people and what they're doing. The open arms and the enthusiasm that we've been able to experience and then be a part of growing is my favorite part.

Emmett: I know you guys have experience in New York as well. How do you think the two compare?

Julia: Well, I don't know if I'm the guy to make that comparison, but I'm definitely a little biased towards the Boston scene. I think our house show game is unmatched.

Emmett: What kind of music are you guys listening to right now?

Julia: I have been obsessively listening to the newest Holy Water album. It's heavy, but it's mostly pop music disguised as metal. They can make it so heavy but also so catchy at the same time — I feel like I'm kind of eating candy and popcorn.

Dylan Perry: Me and Julia magically have pretty similar music tastes and kind of agree on direction. So, Holy Water, that new Loath album that came out the other day. A lot of metal, pop metal, stuff like that.

Emmett: You guys released the album last year. What was that process like of recording a whole album?

Julia: The process of recording was, I don't know, drums and bass first, take it home, cook a little bit. We had a lot of different places that we would take a microphone to and try to set up to get in the right headspace. It was a total collection of things that we had been playing with and morphing and changing to our tastes over a long time because, like you said before, we've been a band for a minute now. The debut album became a conglomeration of our entire lives up to that point. The recording process was sometimes a bit grueling — trying to capture something that we had emotionally healed from. At some points it was like opening old wounds and then ultimately getting the yuck out and letting everything heal over. I think the way that we've been able to grow from that point since, because it came out in December, is so exciting to me.

Emmett: Are you guys working on anything new?

Julia: Yeah, we played a couple of new tunes last night for the first time. It felt so good. We're really close actually. Dylan and I have been saying we want one more song. We're gonna write one more song, but we’ve got a lot in the back pocket.

Emmett: What do you guys think of local radio?

Julia: Love it. Please vibrate the air with all of your heart. Spotify and streaming has just taken so much soul and excitement out of finding new music. To have people actually using their tastes and their passion to share it. So, thank you so much for having us.

Emmett: How would you guys say the streaming experience is, as artists?

Dylan: I think there's two arguments. It's been a really amazing vessel for people to find us. Unfortunately, algorithms work for you and against you and your numbers. They play into where you're booked and who takes you seriously and whatnot. I'd say the stress of having to ride “popularity metrics” is really stressful and horrible. It’s totally not what the music experience is like. However, people have found us because algorithms have pushed us out.

Julia: It's a double-edged sword. I love physical media. I collect CDs, tapes, and I much prefer to own the thing that I buy. It drives me insane that I have to pay a subscription service to get one month access to everything when I really just want to pay the same amount of money to own one thing forever and hold it and cherish it. There's some ups, but it's mostly an existential horror.

Caden Garza (WRBB Events Director): You guys did a single for Green Line Records, right? I don't know if you guys have any commentary on that experience.

Julia: Green Line was so good to us. We had such a good time coming in and recording. When anybody gives you the opportunity to have a platform to do what we love to do, especially with such open arms and helpful people—and they're not getting paid to be nice to us.