By: Alexander Wheeler
Contributing Writer
The last time I spoke with X Ambassadors it was in the dead of winter at Upstate Concert Hall in Clifton Park, NY. That was a time when their debut album VHS was merely a slight mention in the interview.
Concerning their debut album, vocalist Sam Harris said, “It will be coming out this year.”
In response to this as well, guitarist Noah Feldshuh said, “It’s actually top secret, even to us.”
It only feels appropriate that at the time of that interview in late January one of my favorite bands felt almost like a top secret band. With only two EPs released at the time and one single that experienced significant exposure, summer 2014’s “Jungle”, being a fan of X Ambassadors felt like an outright privilege.
In the very few months since, six to be exact, the band from Ithaca, NY can be heard almost anywhere. Recently, the group has been featured prominently in Jeep’s advertising campaign for their new vehicle, the Jeep Renegade. The tune in question is the ultra-catchy folk jam “Renegades.”
More recently the band has been hard at work releasing their debut album VHS while also touring extensively to reach as many listeners as possible.
VHS, which is in stores now, is a unique musical experience in that the album contains twenty tracks, thirteen being actual songs and seven being interludes comprised of old home video footage of the band throughout the years. As a concept album, VHS greatly benefits from these interludes as it contextualizes the lyrical content of the songs as well as personalizes the band’s story.
Where some albums live or die based on their radio appeal and their catchiness, VHS rises above the competition by offering more than music – it offers a story.
Now, I’m not a music major, but I know that it is hard to turn away a good story and that it is even harder to turn away a catchy tune, which VHS contains in excess. Aside from the previously mentioned “Renegades” and “Jungle”, the album offers suave and gritty tracks such as: “Gorgeous”, “Naked” and “B.I.G.”
On top of VHS’ release and the bands extensive touring, they have recently made their late night television debut on Saint Rose alum Jimmy Fallon’s The Tonight Show as well as being featured on NBC’s The Today Show.
During one of the hottest weeks of the summer to date, The Chronicle was able to score a phone interview with the band. Guitarist for the group, Noah Feldshuh, represented the group in the phone interview.
Q: What came first: Renegades the song or Renegades the ad?
Noah: Our producer, Alex da Kid approached us about the song. He came to us with a song called ‘Renegades.’ We came up with a bunch of different iterations of a few different songs and one of them is the one that you hear in the commercial. I don’t know if he had something in the works or if he had something with Jeep already, but it was the perfect partnership and it worked out for us very well.
Q: Last time we spoke, you guys weren’t too excited about ‘Jungle’s’ success because you believed more people knew the song than they knew the band. Are you more satisfied with ‘Renegades’’ success?
Noah: ‘Renegades’ does [have more success]. With Jeep, the ad was as much as an ad for the vehicle as it was for the band. By including the song on the album as well as the interludes throughout, we get into telling our story more while also humanizing the band. You really get our personalities from it.
Q: Speaking of success, how do you feel about VHS’ debut?
Noah: We have noticed more fans at our shows. We don’t really care about success measured in numbers; numbers don’t mean anything to us. It has just been exciting seeing the crowds and energy grow.
Q: I know as a fan and having seen you guys three times before, it has been exciting to see the enthusiasm for your music grow. It makes it a lot more fun at a show when the audience knows the lyrics to the songs. As one of the songs on VHS proclaims, you feel ‘Bigger than ever before,’ – is this true?
Noah: Big? Yes and no. We’re still riding around in a small van. We feel blessed to be at this point and we’re excited about things to come.
Q: Jimmy Fallon is an alumnus of Saint Rose – the paper that I’m writing for. How was the experience of making your television debut with Jimmy? How was The Today Show?
Noah: It was a blast! It was really great to be a part of it. We got to meet Jimmy on stage before and he was a really nice guy. The Today Show was more run and gun, really. It went a lot faster than The Tonight Show. Today has their concert series and with the news it is harder to get music on there. It was great to have our families all there with us for that one.
Q: You guys are headlining the VHS tour in the fall. How does it look so far?
Noah: We have the two days we’re doing in NYC sold out and we just found out today that we have our show in Sacramento sold out. We’re all really excited because we get to play all of these iconic venues we’ve all dreamed about playing since we were kids.
Q: VHS was primarily recorded on the road – not in the studio. How was this process?
Noah: We’re actually working in the back of the venue we’re playing tonight. It was a very natural thing. We would all record our parts separately and then share them with the band through email. Recording the record was really a remote process.
Q: You did a song with Imagine Dragons on VHS. Was it recorded in the studio or in the same way as the rest of the record?
Noah: ‘Fear’ is one of my favorites on the album. It was all done the same way [as VHS] – on laptops and by sending stuff back and forth. It was done remote. Imagine Dragons were on tour as well during the time so we all just sent each other what we had. No one has the time anymore to go and record in a studio. I really can’t wait to perform it live with them.
Q: Will you be meeting up with Imagine Dragons to do perform ‘Fear’?
Noah: I hope we will.
Q: Last time we spoke, you guys described your sound as unpolished. VHS very much fits that description – in a very good way. Do you plan on recording your next record in the same fashion? Will you keep your sound intact?
Noah: Our music is true to who we are. We are all unpolished as people. We just go in and create and try to get our feelings across.
Q: What can fans expect from the band in the next couple months?
Noah: We’re constantly working. Fans can expect a lot of content. We made about forty to fifty songs for VHS and only thirteen made it on the record. We’re sitting on a lot of songs and acoustic songs; just a lot of content.
A few days after the interview, I found myself in Boston, MA for the first of a two night gig X Ambassadors were performing alongside Milky Chance at the House of Blues.
The doors opened at 7 p.m. and by the time I showed up to get in line an hour earlier, the line went all the way around the corner of the block across from Fenway Park. The line had to have been longer than a lot of shows that have come through the House of Blues because many local Red Sox fans came up to the line and asked us who we were waiting to see.
By the time the show was about to start, the House of Blues was jam packed and as a fan from the beginning, it was quite humbling to see how much X Ambassadors’ fan base has grown.
With their first album under their belt and a headlining tour in the fall, X Ambassadors still have a lot of work ahead of them, but for now, the work seems to be paying off in spades.
