An Interview with Common people

Indie rock is a genre constantly changing and evolving with the times defined by its icons. The tones and trends shift over the decades but icons in the scene rise up over the years and set the standard for bands in the scene to come. Greats like Geese and Arcade Fire, though trendsetters they may be however, had to start somewhere which is why it’s important to monitor the up and coming talent to see what could possibly come next.

Which is why I’m glad I was able recently to speak with Common People, a California indie band based out of Los Angeles. A five man group with Sam, Nicky, Asher, Cormac and Konrad they started out playing local gigs and now are on tour with Rainbow Kitten Surprise on the North American leg of their tour. With their talent, wonderfully crafted lyrics, and support from industry great Brad Shultz as their producer; we got to ask one of indie’s rising artists some questions and got to know the people behind the music.

Myke: First things first, how is everyone? I understand you’re on tour with Rainbow Kitten Surprise – it must be exciting! Playing sold-out venues! How is it going so far? How did you guys prepare for it?

Common People: It’s going great! We have been loving being on the road and playing some legendary venues across the country. It has been amazing opening up for such a legendary band who has been so kind and warm to us. We prepared pretty hard for this run. Started rehearsals five weeks before, but only rehearsed for about two hours each time. It was super fun getting everything up and ready for the tour.

Myke: You guys have been racking up compliments from major outlets like ‘Rolling Stone’ and ‘Alternative Press’ for the singles you’ve been releasing like “Rain” and “Propaganda”. After forming in 2025, it must be exciting to garner so much press so quickly, right?

Common People: It is definitely exciting to hear people say good things about anything we do, but honestly, we try not to pay a ton of attention to it. For every good thing someone says, there’s usually someone else saying the opposite, so we just try to stay focused on making the music and playing the best shows we can.

Myke: I listened to your discography on Spotify and it’s all very impressive work. Familiar tones but with a stand out quality makes me wonder what and who inspired your sound? And, slightly related, what was each of your favorite musicians growing up?

Common People: We have a ton of inspirations that were super impactful for us growing up. Some of the big ones are The Beatles, Talking Heads, Pixies, Radiohead, Arcade Fire, Neil Young, LCD Soundsystem, and many more. We’re also really inspired by a lot of the music being made today. Bands like Wunderhorse, Geese, and Black Country, New Road.

Nicky - Stevie Wonder

Sam - Pink Floyd

Asher - Grateful Dead

Cormac - Tame Impala

Konrad - The Strokes

Myke: I like “Rain” in particular, could you go into detail about what inspired that song?

Common People: Rain took a long time to write, but also a short time. We had the chorus and verse come at different moments which was new to us. The song is one of those where it can be about a lot of different things. To us, it means one thing but probably means something totally different to other people, which is rad. It was one that we were super excited about and really happy with how it came out.

Myke: What can listeners expect from your debut EP, Games?

Common People: We always have such a hard time with this question haha. If anybody gets anything out of it, then that’s a win for us. We hope that people enjoy it, and we are super excited for people to have the ability to listen.

Myke: I understand you guys met each other through kind of a web of mutuals, how was it meeting for the first time and when did you know you wanted to form a band together?

Common People: Honestly, that process was pretty natural. We were all buddies before being in a band together which definitely helped us throughout the whole process. We also never really “formed” the band but rather just started jamming with each other, and then naturally went from there. We played some shows, started working on originals, and then all of a sudden, it felt like we were just in Nashville working with labels and managers. The whole thing was pretty trippy. 

Myke: For Nicky and Sam, I heard you guys aren’t originally from California, so I wanted to ask you two specifically how it was moving to a new city and adjusting, and if that experience played a role in your songwriting?

Common People: The good part about us moving to California was that the other guys moved to Los Angeles around the same time. We all went to school out there, so it never felt like a solo endeavor because everyone on campus was brand new to the experience. Being surrounded by so many different kinds of people who all liked different types of music definitely played a big role in our songwriting.

Also, when you first move out of the house at that age, so much is new and complicated that you’re kind of figuring out what type of person you are, which definitely affects songwriting. We haven’t really thought too deeply about it, but looking back it was probably a pretty big moment for all of us as individuals.