IndiePulse Interviews: On Better Terms

On Better Terms is a band based out of Dallas, TX. OBT fuses groovy melodies, and jazzy-driven rhythms with harsh yells and spoken word vocals. With influences such as La Dispute, Troubled Coast, and Touche Amore, they look to bring a unique vibe to the DFW scene.

Formed in 2013 when vocalist Andrew Kuehm brought his poems to guitarist Alex Rincon to read one day. They immediately began writing music as much as possible, whilst seeking full time members. OBT has been playing shows consistently in the DFW area and surrounding states since forming, playing with notable bands including Glassjaw, A Lot Like Birds, Belmont, Quicksand, Sianvar, Hotel Books, and more

The band released their self-titled EP in 2015, and followed it up with their second record “Superbloom” in May 2017. OBT also released an acoustic stripped down version of their popular songs, with the in-studio live record “The Attic Suite Sessions”, released in Fall 2017. The band emphasizes subjects such as accepting death, their struggles with religion and spirituality, enjoying youth, depression, and hope. OBT released their first full-length album Waves in January 2019, and aims to consistently tour nationwide.

IndiePulse Music had an opportunity to talk with and get to know this group a bit better, and we wish to share their story with you.

And now, The Interview:

IPM: What inspired you to write music like you do?

Our songs span several topics but depression, existential anxiety, and the desire to break these cycles and experience happiness and personal success are often underlying themes in a lot of our songs. On the flip side we write about our hope for love towards ourselves, others and the planet.

IPM: Tell us about the members of the band, and of your chemistry.

As a band overall we get along great, we’re all laidback, easy to work with, and play as a team. We view the relationship like cogs in a machine. It takes all the pieces working together to make one product. For example, when we wrote our new record Waves, Alex would write some riffs on his own and show it to the rest of the group. We’d jam it and start to build around it, if we dug it then we’d continue to develop the song as well as start writing lyrics for it, if we all don’t enjoy the song we’re creating, then we scratch it and try again.

IPM: What are or were some of the challenges for you in producing or performing while keeping true to your vision of your music?

Deciding what songs to pick for a live set is a challenge. We want the audience to be as engaged as possible, and sometimes the songs you record don’t hit as hard live, and vice-versa.

IPM: Tell us about some of your recent performances.

We like to think that our live show is the best feature of our band. We try to bring as much energy and emotion to our live set as possible. The guitar tones and lyrics seem to hit so much harder in person. We also have a light show rigged up to sync with our music that definitely contributes to our aesthetic.

IPM: Any Albums coming out soon?

We just released our first full length record called ‘Waves’. It’s something we’ve been working on for a long time and are very proud to release. It’s the culmination of all our hard work over the last year, and we feel it’s the best thing we’ve ever put out in terms of writing and production.

IPM: Any “strange tales” or things that may have happened during a show that seemed too weird to be true?

On our first long tour, we played in an abandoned house in the middle of the Ohio valley. There was only one room in the house with power which was run by a gas generator. Next to the stage, there was a makeshift plywood half pipe built into the living room. People were skating right in front of us while we were playing, and those who weren’t were going crazy for our music despite never having heard of us. It’s our favorite show we ever played.

IPM: Where do you see your music going, where would you like to be in the near future, goals, dreams and passions?

We don’t have a specific plan or idea in mind. We’re just making music and want to tour as much as possible, wherever that leads us.

IPM: What would you like our readers to know about you?

We really don’t feel like we try to fit into a specific genre, but rather work towards communicating a specific emotion or feeling in our music. We really want our first time listeners to remember that it made them think about something, enough to where they would want to listen again.

IPM: Where can our readers find your music

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0J6SHkbrcrESxRzEXDrj0s

Bandcamp: http://onbetterterms.bandcamp.com

Facebook: http://facebook.com/onbetterterms

Instagram: http://instagram.com/onbetterterms

Twitter: http://twitter.com/onbetterterms

YouTube Channel: http://youtube.com/onbettertermsmusic

Photos Selected from Band’s Facebook Page