Interview: The Terminally Well Founder Rob Runkle Discusses the Band's New Single/Video "Take It Easy On Me"
/
We connected with Rob Runkle, the founder and lead vocalist of the Philadelphia based indie rock band The Terminally Well, for an exclusive interview to discuss their new single/video “Take It Easy On Me”. We also talked with Rob about his background in the hip-hop group Schoolz of Thought and how developing music for his rock band differs from a creative standpoint, the band’s upcoming full length album, and much more.
After reading our Q&A with Rob, be sure to connect with The Terminally Well on their social media, stream/share “Take It Easy On Me” on Spotify and check some more of the band’s music.
You come from a hip-hop background with your group Schoolz of Thought. How different is it with The Terminally Well, which is a rock band, from a creative perspective when developing new music?
For one, I suppose the most obvious thing is that I'm playing a lot more instruments. I did play a few instruments on the 'Schoolz' projects and on my solo records, but generally they were sampled and looped, etc. - and we had a lot of outside production.
With The Terminally Well I play straight through the song, similar to how it'll be played live. And obviously I'm singing as opposed to rapping, although I did do some singing on the hip-hop projects too - you know, mostly hooks and stuff.
I feel an increased sense of creative freedom now too. Even though the hip-hop stuff I did was on the "underground" sort of alternative side, I feel that what I'm doing now allows for a lot more expression and experimentation. There are really no rules, per se.
You're not just the lead vocalist for The Terminally Well but a multi-instrumentalist as well. What instruments do you play and do you produce all of the band's music?
I've written and played everything on the recordings so far - drums, bass, keys/synth, guitar, etc. I have a few musician friends who have come through recently to prepare for playing the live shows, as it'll need to be a full band - some of them will probably also play on future recordings.
And yes, I've produced, recorded, engineered and mixed everything so far in my own studio - I send it out to be mastered, then distributed. Thank you for this opportunity to be interviewed - it really is much appreciated!
Congratulations on the release of your new song/video "Take It Easy On Me". Tell us what initially inspired you to develop the song and who directed the music video.
Thank you! Well, the song and the video are both heavily inspired by real life events - “Take it Easy on Me” is fundamentally a song about recognizing that we never really know the hidden struggles others are going through, and being mindful of this when dealing with one another - to take it a little easier on each other - told from the perspective of a personal relationship.
The video, I think, really captures that storyline, incorporating representations of the bad situations I'm going through and how they're affecting my personal life and relationship. The video was directed by Andrew Figueroa for SMWAM - the same director as the first video, 'Mighty Empires Fall'. He'll be doing all of the videos for the foreseeable future. He's really great at what he does!
Where did the band's name "The Terminally Well" come from? What does it represent?
"The Terminally Well" is just something that came to me one day while I sat around "thinking too much," as I'm told I'm prone to doing - I enjoy exploring concepts that are paradoxical (which most things seem to be when considered deeply enough), and somewhat ironic and unusual.
The idea is a nod to the fact that life is temporary - everything is temporary - and I like to think, at the same time, it's a reminder to both not take it too seriously, and to make the most of it while we can. Plus, I just thought it was a really cool band name!
What can you tell us about the full length album you are working on?
It'll be a collective of our first 10 - 12ish songs, released as singles, then compiled into a playlist called "Meaningful Nonsense" - that'll be the album.
Will "Mighty Empires Fall", "Take It Easy On Me", and "Get Through Tonight" all be appearing on the project? Yes, they are the first 3 songs - in order.