Thunder bolts of lightning weren’t enough to stop a good time for a good cause last Thursday. Eager fans gathered as Scoot Inn hosted Up Next ATX, a multimedia event benefitting the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians (HAAM). Flavors Creative Group and Whitney of Gold Dust Vinyls showed off their creations while Jade Vine, The Irons and The Bishops graced the stage with their musical gifts.

We caught up with the Irons after the four fellas from Lufkin played a rousing set in the Scoot Inn backyard. Their cascading guitar riffs and ambient keys kept the crowd moving through the night, so we looked into the guys behind the groove. Nathan (drums), Caleb (guitar), Hayden (keys, lead vocals), and Cole (bass), talked everything from Future Police and imaginary friends, to new cities and Beauty and the Beast.

CC: How’d y’all get started?

Hayden: So this guy’s (gestures to Nathan) lived in Austin a good year before me and Caleb. We used to live in an Apartment in Lufkin. We moved down just to get into the music scene and we met up with him. I met this guy (gestures to Caleb) in Waco. We used to go to spin connection. He lives in San Marcos now but he comes up to Austin for shows. We’ve been making music for about 2 years now. Cole just joined us in January.

CC: Talk to be about y’all’s most recent project, Peter Clear Boy.

Hayden: That was right when we moved from Lufkin to Austin. The second song is called new to the city. Just like being afraid of it and being worried you dont know what you’re gonna do.

Caleb: It’s a big culture shock going from 30,000 or less people in Lufkin to Austin where everywhere you go you see all these people you don’t know. I know the first couple months I was overwhelmed. I used to go to Walmart and I remember it being a hangout. Now it’s like I don’t know anybody.

Hayden: IT’s only 4 hours away but the sheer amount of people here. And just being away from your family. The first song of the album, and the theme, is about leaving things you know. Peter Clear Boy was my imaginary friend when I was little. It’s kind of like me saying goodbye to my imaginary friend and my imaginary friend is like my hometown and my friends and family. All personified by this character, Peter Clear Boy.

CC: Nathan, you pretty much brought these guys here.

Nathan: I met HAyden when I was in 5th grade, 4th grade, somewhere in there. We were in a play together.

Hayden: Beauty and the Beast.

Nathan: I was lumiere.

Hayden: I was LeFou, Gaston’s chubby assistant.

Nathan: Me and Hayden started playing a little music together. Just acoustic stuff. We’d play in coffee shops sometimes. Then we played with Caleb in a band called Rise Above. We were a Christian Rock band basically. We played some One Republic, Coldplay, Mumford and Sons..whatever was popular in 2011. Bad Music. Not that Coldplay is bad.

Caleb: Some of the Coldplay we did was pretty good.

CC: Strawberry Swing?

Nathan: We never played that but that’s a good song.

Caleb: The Frank Ocean version was better.

Recap: The Irons at Up Next ATX

CULTURE CAPITAL