Orlando, Fla.’s Coyote Theory is the perfect poster band for the digital age. Friends since childhood, the jazz-tinged, indie-pop quartet released its debut EP, Color, in 2011 to mass indifference. With not much to show for a few years of hard work on the road, the band took an extended break, only to return to writing as a trio just before COVID hit. Following a reissue of Color, the exuberantly percussive “This Side Of Paradise” suddenly took on a life of its own, generating more than half a billion streams on Spotify and reaching platinum status.
Coyote Theory quickly capitalized on that momentum with 2022’s Late Night and Live From The Babcock EPs, the latter recorded at a historic all-purpose movie house in Billings, Mont. Last week saw the release of the band’s long-awaited full-length debut, Still (Dog Assumption/Nettwerk). And yet, weirdly, Coyote Theory still feels like a fresh commodity even after 14 years.
Drummer and founding member Jayson Lynn explains why to MAGNET’s Hobart Rowland.
Give us a quick rundown everything that happened during the long break between the Color EP and your debut LP.
After Color, we spent four years gigging and unsuccessfully trying to record our first full-length release. After having major record labels tell you, “It’s not what audiences want right now,” enough times, we tossed our hands up and went on hiatus. In that time, we grew up. Some of us got married; some had kids; and we all worked on establishing other careers. Lather, rinse and repeat for six years, “This Side Of Paradise” found its way onto TikTok and brought us back together, and we realized the music still had potential. Still is nearly a decade in the making. It’s us trying to suss out if we can still write good songs, still play our instruments and still find people who want to hear the stories we tell.
How did “This Side Of Paradise” find so much traction on social media, and how did it change the prospects for you guys?
We’ve never been able to pinpoint the first use of the song that went viral, but we do have our friend Chelsea Parsell to thank. She’s the one who sat me down and convinced me to make sure our songs were available on TikTok in 2019. She’d seen some initial flashes of attention with her boutique, Georgie Studio, and commented that TikTok was struggling to have enough music options. Loren Gray, Bella Poarch and Tom Felton all used the song, and that really set us on this journey. The funniest part was that “This Side Of Paradise” was always at risk of being cut from our set in 2013, as it just wasn’t one of our more popular songs live. It shows that you should never give up on a song.
Orlando is an utterly unique place for music and culture. How has it influenced Coyote Theory’s sound and approach?
It’s influenced us in a “let’s do the opposite” way. Orlando has had some great acts come out of here, from boy bands to Matchbox 20 in the ’90s. By the late aughts, when we were in high school, bands like Mayday Parade, A Day To Remember and Sleeping With Sirens were moving through Orlando. A lot of it leaned toward heavier post-hardcore and pop/punk. It almost felt more punk for us to rebel and use jazz chords and put a swing on everything. It made us instantly stand out in the scene at the time because we were so different. But it also meant we struggled to find a community of acts to grow up with.
How did Still come together production wise?
We started many of the songs during the pandemic lockdowns. At that point, we’d all moved on from the band and were scattered around the country from Orlando to Montana, so we had to bring the songwriting and production online. Using programs that let us collaborate, we slowly started to bring the songs together. We also wanted Still to honor songs we loved that never got a proper chance to be heard—like “Taking Over The World” and “Maryland”—that were released right as we went on our initial hiatus. Bringing those in to be remixed and remastered was important to us.
What’s next for the band?
We’re so ready to get back out there to play shows again. I think that’s the next most immediate thing for the band. When we gigged before, we were hustling to sell out 150- to 200-person rooms, but never cross-country. We want to meet all the new listeners and bring our niche little tracks to their cities. I’m not sure if anyone but me appreciates this metaphor, but I saw Still as turning on the tap again—we started letting water move through the pipes, and now it’s flowing out of the faucet. Since this album was locked in, we’ve gotten together and started writing for the next album. We’re excited to speed up our work and share it more often with those interested in hearing it all.
