Becca Popkin. Becca is a classically trained pianist and a guitarist. In fact, she had never even touched a bass guitar until she joined War Tapes. Billy Mohler was proficient in jazz bass and guitar, but switched to drums after joining War Pipes. Rounding out the band is Hawaii native, Matt Bennet who plays guitar.
War Tapes Release Their New EP Only Time Will Tell Via MAKE Records By Greg Fontaine The Los Angles based band, War Tapes have just released their new EP, Only Time Will Tell. Only Time Will Tell was released just last month on October 16 on the MAKE Records label. Their new 5-song EP, Only Time Will Tell is the first release they have done for the Make Records label. Singer/ guitarist Neil Popkin says, “these songs pull from our post-punk roots, but also dive deeper into our love for bands like the Clash and Talking Heads. I think that we sound like that nostalgic feeling of something you just lost but can’t remember what it was, and yet you miss having it.” Only Time Will Tell is the band’s first new music since 2010. The band tells us that they have taken a new direction for their music. In the past they were known for their dramatic rock songs that were full of anger and anxiety, but yet attention grabbing. Now they say their style is leaning more for a “direct, streamlined sound.” With the new EP, the band has definitely achieved that goal and is producing the most accessible sound they have ever had.
War Tapes has quite a history behind it already. The band was quickly making a name for themselves in California, and it wasn’t long before they found themselves on tour in America and the U.K. with bands like Smashing Pumpkins, The Bravery, Tiger Army, VNV Nation, She Wants Revenge, Chameleons U.K., Shiny Toy Guns, Moving Units and Longwave. They were even getting recognition here in the states on television. Their songs “Dreaming Of You” and “The Night Unfolds” were featured on Last Call with Carson Daly. “Dreaming of You” was played when the Ball dropped 2009 on NBC’s New Year’s Eve. The song “Mind Is Ugly” was featured on a Season Five episode of the MTV series The Hills. The band also performed on the Season Two finale of the ABC Family show Greek.
Other songs were recorded in Billy Mohler’s home studio. Some of them were created by mistake, or by hearing one loop and the next thing you know it’s six hours later and there’s a completed song. We didn’t push things too hard, they just happened.”
“These songs pull from our post-punk roots, but also dive deeper into our love for bands like the Clash and Talking Heads,” Neil says of the EP. “We started making various bedroom demos, sending them back and forth, and slowly but surely developed a new sound that we all were vibing with. We then got into Billy’s home studio and recorded these songs. We believe we’ve all gotten better at our instruments since we first started War Tapes, and so the recording process was very fluid and natural.”
Although the band is still relatively young, Neil Popkin began his writing career at an extremely young age. “I can’t remember a time in my life where I didn’t have a musical outlet,” he says, adding, “Me and my sister Becca grew up playing music together; we would form bands and do shows at family parties in our basement. Billy and Becca started dating shortly after they graduated college after meeting randomly in D.C. After a couple years of a long-distance relationship, they moved to L.A. together. I then moved into Billy’s old apartment in L.A. to escape one particularly cold dreary winter in Boston, and I ended up staying out here.”
Now the band is recording for the MAKE Records label, which is owned by drummer Billy Mohler and his longtime lifelong friend Aaron Smart. Aaron Smart tells us that, “MAKE Records was born of Billy and I being involved in music together in a lot of different situations, and never really getting to have the control and the direction we wanted to give the different projects that we were involved with. The idea of the label is Autonomy, Creativity and Unrestricted Freedom, and to be able to MAKE Records the way we want them made, and the way we want them to be put out and heard.
“When I moved here, I didn’t know anyone in L.A. except Becca and Billy, so we naturally started writing music together,” he continues. “Matt Bennett came along shortly after. I remember seeing him play guitar in his old punk band at this crappy venue in L.A. that was in the back of a sushi restaurant. I went up to him after the show and asked if he wanted to join my band, and I wasn’t going to take no for an answer.”
“War Tapes and MAKE Records is a perfect fit,” Aaron adds. “I have known the band for over ten years and I think of them as family. War Tapes is the next act waiting in the wings for MAKE Records and the world will soon know them well.”
“This EP was the result of us not getting to do what we love for five-plus years,” Popkin asserts. “It just slid out of us, like a birth. Some of the songs came from demos that were made on my crappy laptop, and we ended up keeping a lot of those The band’s bassist is Neil’s sister, scratch tracks and building around them. 64 Rock and Blues International • November 2020
Neil Popkin adds, “We believe these new songs represent the journey that we’ve all taken while on hiatus, but they also tell the story of where we came from and where we are going.”
