SUNFLOWER BEAN - IN CONVERSATION
Interview & foreword by Beau Croxton
Sunflower Bean by Lulu Syracuse
Here at Occult, we celebrate independent artists and the spirit of DIY. For our cover story and second installment of our interview series, Occult: In Conversation, we have a real NYC DIY success-story- Sunflower Bean, who still channel their indie roots to this day.
Sunflower Bean came up in NYC’s DIY scene back in the early 2010’s to much acclaim and they went on to grace the stages of festivals like Glastonbury and Lollapalooza. They released their fantastic debut LP before the age of 21; success ramped up very quickly for the band due to their highly dedicated DIY ethos. The band has toured with the artists such as Beck, Interpol, and The Pixies and sold-out international headline shows.
Despite the band members slightly drifting apart after releasing 2022’s Headful of Sugar, the band came back together to make a breakthrough on their first self-produced album, Mortal Primetime. The new album manages to touch on all the most successful sounds of the band's fruitful discography since their early days; “Champagne Taste” continues the ripping revival of their DIY roots from last year’s fantastic “Shake” EP. The single “Nothing Romantic” could be beamed back to 1970’s radio and it would dominate with its brilliantly catchy pop-rock songwriting. “Waiting For The Rain”, led by guitarist Nick Kivlen, is a great slice of british-invasion style psychedelia that is highlighted by twinkling piano and gorgeous harmonies from bassist/singer Julia Cumming. “There’s a Part I Can’t Get Back” is some of their most vulnerable and bold work yet, and its choruses carry a Fleetwood Mac aura that recalls their sophomore album Twentytwo in Blue.
The band will be celebrating the release of Mortal Primetime at their NYC release show this Thursday, May 22nd here in Brooklyn at Warsaw . We caught up with Julia and Nick ahead of the big show.
BEAU: Congrats on your fantastic new record Mortal Primetime, how does it feel to have this album out in the world?
NICK: Great! It’s the fastest turnaround time from recording to release we've ever had so it still feels really fresh.
JULIA: It feels like the nuances we really wanted to be heard on the record are coming through, and that’s a really great thing.
BEAU: I would love to hear about your experience coming up in the NYC DIY scene, as Sunflower Bean is such a great success story to represent that time. How does it feel looking back on that time from your current perspective?
NICK: The DIY scene when we were teenagers was extremely diverse and independent. On Kent Ave, there were a handful of amazing spaces that would host a huge range of underground and independent artists. As soon as the noise/nowave show would end, the experimental electronic rave would start. It was a formative time of exposure for us.
BEAU: What are some of your fondest memories or takeaways from that time?
NICK: I'm very grateful for all the older musicians who nurtured us and treated us as equals within the scene. We were so happy to be able to participate and treated with respect even though we were 16/17 years old. A lot of the local bands were very encouraging to us and we idolize them. I couldn’t believe that the cool older kids let us hang out all night in their afterhours and house parties.
JULIA: It was the beginning of instagram, where it all felt less serious and more fun. Honestly, there were just more venues and more space to make noise. That is really the killer of DIY…Neighbors who can’t handle sound.
Sunflower Bean by Lulu Syracuse
BEAU: Speaking of which, I would love to hear about the band coming together to channel its DIY roots on 2024’s Shake EP. How did you decide on the more heavy and fuzzy sound? Did the Shake EP influence how you moved forward with your new record Mortal Primetime?
NICK: “The Champagne Taste” was a moniker we used when we wanted to play smaller shows and venues within the DIY community. Those shows were always insanely sweaty and fun, we wanted to take on that alter ego for an entire project. That's where the immediacy and energy of SHAKE was born from. When you're playing rock shows like that you just want to keep the party going.
BEAU: Mortal Primetime has such a great flow- I really love how it starts rocking where the Shake EP left off and kind of morphs into its own beautiful thing. How did the songwriting and the flow of the record come together on this one?
NICK: We wanted to embrace the chemistry we have together as live musicians. We realized that's what really made us special, the fact that we've been playing together as a three piece for over a decade. The idea was to capture as much of the live magic as possible with full performances with no copy-pasting-editing. We tried to make the record in a way that was closer to 1969 than 2025.
JULIA: The beginning of the record starts out in conversation with SHAKE, and then blossoms forward into more sweetness. The songs that made it on were the ones that we really knew HAD to be on there, and we weren’t willing to give them up.
BEAU: What are some of your personal favorite moments or songs on Mortal Primetime?
NICK: A lot of my favorite songs from the album recording sessions didn't make it onto the album, right now they are only available in the special deluxe version of the record. All the songs that were a bit too crazy or did not fit in were all regulated to the bonus disc. I'm really excited for people to hear them when they hit streaming later.
Mortal Primetime album artwork with photography by Lulu Syracuse. Out Now
BEAU: There are so many cool and varied sonic details on Mortal Primetime, from Julia’s great vocal layers to Nick’s elaborate guitar solos. I would love to hear about some of the studio work and gear used to achieve the sounds on the album. What in particular stands out to you?
NICK: We used all the same gear on every song, we recorded 15 songs in 15 days. A Lot of pre-production and planning went into that. Once we were in the studio it was just about executing all the ideas. We had a really clear vision going in and it made the process smooth and easy. Our music was never about subtly and we wanted to have big performances with little focus on manipulation or studio trickery.
JULIA: We made sure we knew what we wanted out of the performances before going into the studio so that we could spend our time making sure the execution was what the song needed. One of my favorite aspects is the use of cello, which I think really accentuates the melancholy of the record.
BEAU: What were some of your influences on Mortal Primetime and how did they differ from previous releases?
NICK: The major influence was capturing a live vibe and sound that would stand out from the way most music is recorded right now. On Headful of Sugar, we experimented with a lot of modern production techniques- but for this record we wanted to get back to being a live band in a room together, it seemed like the more radical and interesting thing to do. We wanted to create something outside of the hegemony of perfectly tuned and edited playlist music.
BEAU: Who are some artists out there who you are admiring these days?
JULIA: I really admire my friends in the band Hello Mary, because they know exactly who they are and they aren’t afraid to protect that.
Sunflower Bean by Lulu Syracuse
BEAU: What are some of the most memorable Sunflower Bean shows over the years?
NICK: My favorite recent show was an acoustic benefit show that Julia and I performed at in Los Angeles at Makeout Music, a DIY space run by amazing people. It felt really amazing to be a part of the music community in LA and raise money for people affected by the fires. Also performing acoustically is out of our comfort zone and gave me a good dose of adrenaline and nerves that i don't usually get. We also debuted a few of the new songs that ended up being on Mortal Primetime, re-arranged in a more folksy way that I really enjoyed.
BEAU: What’s next for Sunflower Bean?
NICK: More touring, festival performances, and hopefully more records for years to come!
BEAU: How excited are we for the NYC album release show at Warsaw in Brooklyn ?
NICK: Really excited, it's going to be a special night with a few guest appearances.
JULIA: We always put something special into our New York shows, and this one will be no different. We also love playing New York so much as it’s our hometown, and we don’t get to play it often. It’s going to be a night to remember.
Mortal Primetime is out NOW.
Sunflower Bean’s NYC Release Show is Thursday May 22nd
..and you can get your tickets here.
You can watch the music video for “Nothing Romantic” here.
You watch the music video for “Champagne Taste” here.
You can watch the music video for “There’s A Part I Can’t Get Back” here.
You can purchase Mortal Primetime on bandcamp here.
You can also catch Sunflower Bean on tour in a city near you here.