[Kai Slater, aka Sharp Pins] was the co-producer on [Happy Birthday] and we struck up a friendship through Caiden. I had visited Caiden and he said, “There’s these kids your age in the Chicago scene.” Knowing all Joe’s friends in Chicago, they’re all older, so I’ve always felt like the younger brother – which is amazing and so fun, but I never really had friends my age in the music scene.

We went to the show together that Kai’s other band Lifeguard was playing, and they were incredible. Kai and I specifically hit it off, and I listened to his solo album that people were talking about. He played it down like they weren’t that great. I had all these songs that ended up becoming the album, but I didn’t know what I was going to do with them and I didn’t know what style I wanted to record them in. Then I heard Turtle Rock and it inspired me so much – I hadn’t been that inspired to make something maybe since hearing Twin Peaks for the first time.

For whatever reason, the album made me feel comfortable and accepted and made me feel warm. I was like, whatever that guy is doing with his recording, I have to learn how he does it. Turtle Rock was recorded on a four track and eight track cassette and very handmade, and I had these songs that were more personal and vulnerable. I heard that album and I just thought, “This is the best way to record these songs, because I want it to feel as intimate as possible.” Through recording on tape and analog and being okay with flaws and the way that analog recording goes, I felt like it really matched the tone of these songs.

Lifeguard’s practice space was also where you recorded Calpurnia’s first record. When you went back into the studio to record Happy Birthday, what was the first memory that hit you?

The smell – it’s not a bad smell! At the time, it was the Twin Peaks space. Now, it’s a few bands’ spaces – Lifeguard, maybe Post Animal as well. They used to have this Target scented candle and it would be in the drum room. I feel like that smell never left, I can smell it now as I’m talking about it. Also, there’s a bunch of practice spaces beside it, so whenever you’re walking in the hallway, you smell their spaces as well, which is really funny. You walk out and you’re smelling the candle, then you’re walking out towards the front door and you’re smelling weed from one of the rooms.