Uniflora/Photo: Braeden Long
Guitarist and vocalist Quinn Dugan says that Uniflora’s debut full-length, released in June, “More Gums Than Teeth,” is a marked step forward from their earlier recordings. “I think we’ve gotten much better at talking about what ideas we do and don’t like, that is to say, I think the songs have become more intentional. We have always relied on improvisation heavily, which hasn’t changed, but I think we’re better editors now. The last thing we want to be is more mature, but it’s fair to say the songs are more well thought-out.”
Reached via email, all three of the band members weigh in on where they see their rock trio now, and where they’re headed next. In terms of both present and future, their excitement is clear, even based on the relatively austere exchange of electronic messages. Maturity is definitely a “bad word” in their lexicon, given that Uniflora has bloomed simultaneously with a number of other youthful acts—the three are still high-school seniors, but you wouldn’t know that from the sound they craft.
Bassist-guitarist Theo Williams says that on the one hand, they’re “very lucky to be somewhere that has such a vibrant culture of young musicians and bands playing some of the best music you can hear today, and honored to be mentioned in the same sentence as some legendary bands. That being said,” Williams continues, “some bands rely upon youth as a gimmick and don’t make good music, and that is something that we would like to avoid at all costs.”
Uniflora’s sound is admittedly post-punk, although that’s not a rock pigeonhole they wholeheartedly embrace. Vocalist and drummer (and pedal steel player) Ruby O’Brien mulls over the genre and says that in her opinion, “it feels like post-punk no longer has that classic sound that we all recognize. PIL [Public Image Ltd.], Gang of Four, that kind of thing. Anyone nowadays is ‘post-punk.’” She goes on to say that “I like to think we take significant inspiration from classic post-punk, but… there is so much more to the music at times that it can be hard to put a label on it. Sometimes I tell people it’s experimental—because in a sense it is… we kind of just record whatever feels good in our hearts, not with a particular uniform sound in mind.” When asked, for their “elevator pitch,” or who they say that Uniflora sounds like, she jokes that they sound like Carly Rae Jepsen.
I have to admit I tried to throw the group off a little when I asked if they drew more inspiration from The Weakerthans (formed in 1997 by John K. Samson of Propagandhi and inactive since 2015) or My Dad Is Dead (a project begun by Mark Edwards in 1984, but whose last album was released in 2009), but Williams, for one, says “My Dad Is Dead are great!! I think they’re more inspirational than The Weakerthans.” He says I might be surprised by some of his other inspirations. “I’ve played piano since I was a little kid, and with that has come a great deal of listening/playing classical music and jazz. I don’t know how apparent those influences are, but they’re definitely something that’s been with me for a while.”
The trio’s members aren’t restricted to their primary instruments either—Williams plays guitar and Dugan takes bass on the song “Two or More,” with O’Brien on pedal steel, and she contributes what she calls “ambient guitar” on “Elongated Cat Fist.” “Honestly we are all multi-instrumentalists,” she says. “I think that we are all really just eager to experience playing every instrument at least once on stage. Also we are all consistently individually writing songs on guitar, bass, synth, so it just feels right for us to all come together in common and pitch ideas. It doesn’t really matter what we each end up playing!”
On Sunday, December 7, Uniflora played “Ugly Trash: A Celebration of Community and Independent Music Journalism” with Cusp, Sleeper’s Bell and Answering Machines, a benefit for the OCAD (Organized Communities Against Deportations) Mutual Aid Fund at the Empty Bottle. O’Brien calls Ugly Hug co-founder Shea Roney a “dear friend” and says she and Pat Pilch from Post-Trash “are truly the best” … they “have this relentless drive to promote local music and I respect that so much.” She calls it “a wonderful lineup, put on by amazing people, for a wonderful cause.”
This Friday, December 12, Uniflora will be playing Color Club as part of that venue’s “Green” series, which is neither a celebration of the legendary Chicago band Green nor the environment in general. Rather, “Green” shows celebrate new, young talent, and Jason Balla of Dehd and Accessory curated this show. Dugan says that the curator “gets to pick two bands they’re excited about, and this time it was us and TV Buddha, which is maybe the band we’ve played with the most.” They first met Balla last month when they played with Accessory at the Empty Bottle, and Dugan has already formed an opinion, saying that he is a “great dude.”
What will follow for Uniflora? In an interview with Post-Trash, Williams says they plan on recording a couple of new songs in January and working on a soundtrack for a movie that “our good friend Jack Mascucci is directing,” but before that, he and O’Brien have a side project with Jackie Cywinski from Neptune’s Core and Lottie Malkmus called Leroy the Poet [inspired by the latter’s DJ alter ego at college radio station KSPC Claremont, California, where she is a music director and a student at Pomona College], whose very first live gig will be opening for Welsh duo The Bug Club on December 15 at TV Eye in New York.
What did Williams tell me would follow all of those exciting events for Uniflora?
“World domination.”
Uniflora and TV Buddha play the “Green” series at Color Club, 4146 North Elston on Friday, December 12. Tickets are $15 ($9.99 for students), the show is all ages, with doors opening at 7pm. TV Buddha starts at 8pm and Uniflora takes the stage at 9:30pm. More information here.
