Golden Mixtape

No one’s life is easy, but some get dealt a whole lot worse than others. The four that makeup Philly’s own Resilient know this all too well. Erin Fox may spend her time singing and playing guitar in Resilient, but it’s been quite the ride to get here today. A health scare that may’ve grounded most pushed her, and the rest of the band forward. We talked about their resilience and what’s going on with them today.

Kendra: Over the years the world has seen some pretty interesting band names, but you guys are standing strong with one that presents power. Were there any personal struggles that were overcome that resulted in Resilient?

Erin Fox: Absolutely. The band didn’t even really mean to become a band. It just happened. We came together at a chaotic time for everyone and music was meant to be a distraction or more of a Band-Aid for the circumstances in our lives.

Oddly enough, it ended up becoming our saving grace in a strange, roundabout way. In 2013, I had been asked to record some tracks randomly to promote a friend’s studio grand-opening. I was on a little hiatus from creating or performing music at all…but I agreed with one caveat and that was that I had been allowed to pick the session musicians for the demos.

So I started by recruiting my sister, Katie, on drums. We had played in bands together since we were young, but it had been a while since we made music together. Katie recommended her friend and former bassist, Kat, from another project…and then I chose one of my trusted friends on guitar; Buckminster Kellorgg.

Months into rehearsals for the recording sessions, Bucky’s other band had a show in South Philly that needed another band to fill the bill last minute. Since we were pretty well-rehearsed for the studio project, we jumped on and after that…just never stopped. The funny thing is that the studio project ended up never really coming to fruition and we just kept being a band.

Our name, itself, wasn’t really decided upon until we processed what else was going on in our lives. Every one of us was dealing with some type of personal problem all at once (whether it was financial, mental health-related, family troubles, living situations, relationships, personal injuries, etc).

Each situation was nothing unheard of — it just seemed like we couldn’t catch a damned break.
Then about a month into the band’s existence, I found out that I had a rare brain tumor growing in my head and was instructed to stop everything I was doing to undergo very invasive surgery.
When I got that news, I thought for sure that this wouldn’t end up being anything and assumed that I probably wouldn’t even play my instrument the same…but the surgery worked out and we carried on and I’m still in remission today.

So long story long…it seemed like the aptest title for us and our circumstances…and through all the changes since our initial formation, it still is.

Kendra: Did any of that resilience has come into play when it came time to recording How to Peach?

Erin: I would say so. Leading up to recording, everyone seemed to have their own black cloud hanging over their heads in one way or another, but we were managing to keep it together. Aside from that and the constant struggle of being your friendly neighborhood broke independent band… right before we were scheduled to record, Bucky had just dropped the news that he was leaving the band indefinitely to hike the Appalachian Trail and to do some soul-searching after the tragic loss of a family member. We were totally supportive and happy for him. We just had to improvise going forward as a three piece for a little while. Luckily, the cards seemed to fall magically for us just in time once again in that we found Lennon (thanks to Alicia joining his project: Burned Out, Still Glowing) right before it was time to figure out lead guitar for the record.

Kendra: I have to say, the line in “Slack” that asks “What do you think you’d see without a history” absolutely floored me. It was one of the most thought-provoking lines I’ve heard in a long time. So now, you’ve got to answer your own question…who would you see today in the mirror without the history you’ve had thus far?

Erin: I think it was just one of those super-personal thoughts that could be construed however you want. For me, I think I was trying to say that if I didn’t have half the experiences life threw at me…I’d see the world much differently and that I’d probably have much less trouble feeling at ease in every day (specifically social) settings and situations; which is ultimately what “Slack” ended up being about.

Kendra: You guys are ending the year playing a lot on the east coast. Will 2018 see Resilient out west?

Erin: It’s on the agenda. It’s just a matter of funding it, at this point. We are doing our best to, hopefully, make it happen this coming Summer.

Kendra: Going off your own “Medication,” if you had to make a mixtape that someone could consider music medication to ease the soul what five songs would have to be on it?

Resilient: This part took forever because it was hard to just choose five songs. We’re all into different stuff haha.

“Fuckin Up Young” – The Dirty Nil
“Man on the Moon” – R.E.M
“Stop Making Yourself Miserable” – Vasudeva
“Be Here Now” – George Harrison
“I Wish I Knew How it Would Feel to Be Free” – Nina Simone