Interview: October Man takes root with ‘Dandelion’

When the guitars start chirping, you know something special crawls into your eardrums. With “Dandelion,” indie band October Man demonstrates a knack for sweltering, clashing guitars that elicit an unapologetic emotional punch, leaving behind purple bruises. “You’re pushing your luck, and you’re just testing me, too,” frontman JD Leidersdorff howls with a thorny edge. Words pierce the skin and draw copious amounts of blood, dousing the listener in spurts of red vitality and sticky musicality.

Initially formed at Lakehouse Music Academy in 2016, October Man underwent a series of lineup changes over the years. The shifts caused rifts and creative recharges in equal measure. Where the departure of Joey Murphy resulted in a “move away from the use of keyboards in our work,” says Leidersdorff, the addition of bassist Ian Neill wrought “consistency and new energy.”

“Our mentor and producer, Winston Roye, who we met about a year ago, has been providing us with advice from songwriting to live performances that has monumentally elevated our band,” he adds.

With the band’s moniker, the group pulled from 1947’s The October Man, a film noir starring John Mills and Joan Greenwood. Choosing the name was “less about the actual content of the movie” and “more of us thinking that the name sounds cool,” notes the lead singer. “We like the idea of our name being named after an old movie rather than being a beach-themed name like many other bands in the Asbury Park area.”

Admittedly, October Man “never [was] able to make it through the whole movie awake,” says Leidersdorff with a cheeky nod.

Other films that have inspired the band include the 2010 comedy Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, which stars Michael Cera. “We are all very inspired by the aesthetics of the movie. We would say that the indie film world is an inspiration as a whole,” the singer remarks.

As “Dandelion” sprouts through a grimy, wet-dirt mix of percussion and guitars, the band primes the listener for the group’s forthcoming EP, the aptly titled All The Parties I Drove You To. In pulling a lyric from “Vessel,” October Man — rounded out with Ethan Bodner (lead guitar), Anthony Abboud (drums), and Ian Neill (bass) — “have begun to incorporate Leidersdorff’s green truck more into the promotional material and EP cover for the band, so we wanted to use that as a jumping-off point for the title,” the group shares. “Ethan came up with the idea to put it in the past tense, which shows the end of the relationship and encapsulates the melancholic tone of the EP.”

October Man’s All the Parties I Drove You To drops everywhere on October 25.

Below, the group walks B-Sides & Badlands through their songwriting process, bonds of family, and live performance.

With “Dandelion,” what got you thinking about Leidersdorff’s younger sister?

Leidersdorff: I’ve always had a complex relationship with my sister, and without a girl in my life that I wanted to write a song about at the time, I turned to my sister. All my feelings about seeing her as a nuisance before loving and appreciating her come from the heart.

When did you realize your relationship with her was changing?

Leidersdorff: No specific time, just growing older, really. Over time, she started to like the music that I liked, play the same sports that I played, and watched the same shows that I watched. I began to understand that she looked up to me as an older sibling and role model. We started bonding over these things, and I started to realize she wasn’t all bad after all. I was disgusted by how I’d acted in the past, but now I work really hard to mend and strengthen our relationship. 

What bonds you two together?

Leidersdorff: Spending so much time together as siblings has bonded us pretty strong. Driving to and from school and family dinners are everyday activities that we spend together, and it has made us tight. Time heals all wounds, so any major disagreement can be handled pretty quickly. 

When you think about your greatest inspirations, are those bands you’re actively trying to emulate (e.g., drawing specific guitar riffs, chords, etc.) or has it been a naturally progression to find yourselves slotting next to them?

A little bit of both. Specific chords and riffs are often jumping off points for progressions and melodies that take on a life of their own. The whole band listens to a similar style of music, so we are all on the same page when it comes to writing together. 

Considering the EP comprises songs you’ve been playing live, are you already setting your sights on what’s next?

Yes, we are setting our sights on what’s next, and what’s next is a full-length album. We already have some new songs that we have played live or will debut live shortly. We have hit a creative streak and we are writing new songs more often than ever before.

How much does the live setting influence how you write?

The live setting influences how we write and, just as importantly, how we decide what songs should make it to be reworked and recorded. We often write with the live setting in mind, preferring rockers to ballads. Depending on how it goes over live, we will either scrap a song or prepare for it to be recorded and released later on. 

As a group, what is generally your songwriting process?

Our songs start out as a few guitar riffs or chord progressions. Most songs get brought in by JD, but Ethan brings in some songs, too. After that, the band just hops on the song and tries different things out, and everyone generally writes their own parts to the songs, with band members throwing each other suggestions for what they think might sound good. Over time, we nail down the structure of the songs, and JD writes the lyrics to all of our songs. Centered around failed relationships and short-term heartbreak, JD tries to connect with teenagers going through similar experiences. 

With “Vessel,” you’re writing about watching a relationship from afar—what happened? How do you think differently now about that relationship?

Leidersdorff: I met a girl before school started, and I was one of her first friends going into the fall. She preferred my buddy to me, so I sat alone at many of our friend group hangouts while the two of them got close. I was constantly made aware of their relationship but felt as far from her as ever. So, I wrote a song about it. 

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