Interview With The Michigan Rattlers

Was happy to get on a call with Graham Young, the frontman for the Michigan Rattlers, for an interview recently. The band has released their third album, Waving from a Sea, and are mounting a large North American tour in 2025 (full tour dates below). They will be stoping at Denver’s Meow Wolf Perplexiplex on February 20th and I hope you can make it out to see them. You can also order the album on vinyl from their store directly!

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Michigan Rattlers Interview with Graham Young

Aimee:
I’m going to start off with the typical question if you don’t mind. Just tell me about the Michigan Rattlers if you don’t mind, the history, a little bit about you guys.

Graham:
Yeah, sure, we all grew up together in Petoskey, Michigan, which is kind of the tip of the mitt right there in Lake Michigan, and just that classic thing of being kids. I played guitar and Tony got a drum set and Adam got a bass. We played in Battle of the Bands.

Aimee:
I mean you guys were really young, right? I thought-

Graham:
Yeah, I mean Tony and I, I think we played a talent show in seventh grade maybe and all through middle school and high school and then kind of went our separate ways for college. Then, the different journeys were coming to an end. I did not finish college, but I waited for the guys to be ready I guess to do it for real and-

Aimee:
To figure out they wanted to do music?

Graham:
Yeah, they did, but Tony went for music education and I think Christian was in music business. It’s still in the music world.

Aimee:
What year did the band become a band officially?

Graham:
As the Michigan Rattlers, I want to say 2015 and it started with just me and Adam Reed on the bass. It was just the two of us for maybe two years and then Christian. Christian is a couple of years younger. When he graduated he joined the band and it was a trio. Then, when Tony decided he didn’t want to teach and that was not what he wanted to do we convinced him to join full-time. That was probably 2018 I think.

Aimee:
Now the album that’s out, Waving From A Sea, that’s your third album?

Graham:
Yeah, third full length.

Aimee:
Tell me about the new album. I’d love to hear about that.

Graham:
It was kind of a long process. I mean we kind of recorded it in a lot of different points throughout the last few years kind of in between playing shows and being on the road and just finding time. We recorded a majority of it down in Nashville with Dominic Davis as a producer and then Josh Smith as the engineer. It was just kind of, I don’t know, a bunch of songs.

Aimee:
I mean what was the reason for doing it in between other things? Just because you were busy?

Graham:
Yeah, just busy and it was all self-funded. Everything we’ve done has been independent. We had to make some money to pay for it, go out and play some shows, make some money, and then make a pit stop in Nashville for a week and a half or so and do some recording.

Aimee:
That’s amazing. What is the songwriting process? Are you the main songwriter?

Graham:
Yeah, and really this album was kind of the first album where we really utilized a real demo process. I think in the past it had been really it was just because I didn’t really have anything. It’s like I didn’t really have a computer that worked all that well. It was just kind of making voice memos and then bringing the songs to the guys and saying, “I’m playing on acoustic guitar,” and going from there.
This time we actually had some utilities to work with and used a lot of full-fledged demos to work from and just emailing it to the guys or whatever. “I like this. I don’t like this.” Then, we got together. We had a week where we got together in northern Michigan and kind of redid the demos more or less.

Aimee:
Are you still based in Michigan? Or do you all live elsewhere now?

Graham:
I’m in Los Angeles. The rest of the guys are back in Michigan. That was kind of the process, just the demos and then kind of going down to Nashville.

Aimee:
Right, so, I hear that you guys are a complete powerhouse live. I’ve never seen you. But I know that you’re playing here in February at Meow Wolf, which is a really crazy venue. Just tell me a little bit what your live shows are like and is that your favorite part or is the songwriting?

Graham:
Yeah, I think, like I was saying earlier, I mean we all grew up together playing. That was kind of how we started and wanting to play a show. It wasn’t wanting to record an album. It was wanting to play a show and I think that’s just always kind of been the big focus for us largely. It’s putting on a good show and it’s definitely the most fun, way more fun, way more fun than songwriting and recording. I mean that’s rewarding when it happens and when it works and when you’re done, but the process is pure torture most of the time for me anyway. A live show, it’s finally like it’s done and now we get to have fun with it now.

Aimee:
Have you played in Denver before? Do you remember?

Graham:
Yeah, we’ve played in Denver a bunch. We’ve never played Meow Wolf. We’ve played Globe Hall a fair amount, four times maybe.

Aimee:
Hi-Dive? Lost Lake?

Graham:
We played Lost Lake once. Then, there’s one other that I’m blanking on.

Aimee:
Larimer Lounge?

Graham:
Yep, that’s it. We play those three and Meow Wolf will be our fourth place in Denver.

Aimee:
Meow Wolf is really fun. It’s a separate room from the exhibit, but they’re broadcasting stuff all around. It looks like a church if you haven’t seen the inside.

Graham:
No, I don’t know anything about it. Looking forward to it.

Aimee:
I mean it’s like funky. Then, along those lines, what’s the weirdest venue or live place or do you have any stories about that?

Graham:
Yeah, we played on a boat once like the front of a yacht. That was kind of interesting. That was actually not as Michigan Rattlers, but pre-Michigan Rattlers. We might’ve been in college at that point and home for the summer or something and there was-

Aimee:
Was the boat moving?

Graham:
Yeah, on one of the little lakes, one of the bigger kind of inland lakes, they had some boat parade thing. It might’ve been around the 4th of July. I can’t remember, but we fully set up on the bow of this boat.

Aimee:
I would drop my stuff in the water. Were you going past people and they were listening to you? I’m trying to get my head around this!

Graham:
They had this big trailer float thing for parades that we’d be in.

Aimee:
That’s a good story.

Graham:
A weird one.

Aimee:
It sounds like music seems to be obviously a big thing, but do you have anything other in your life that you enjoy doing or that’s your hobbies outside of music?

Graham:
Yeah, I mean I like going to movies a lot. I think that’s pretty important. Being in Los Angeles, I mean there’s tons of great theaters.

Aimee:
I’m sorry, I should have asked earlier. Is everything okay with the fires?

Graham:
Yeah. It was pretty crazy here for a couple of weeks obviously. I’m in Santa Monica, which was close to Palisades. We were kind of right on the edge of evacuation zones, but Santa Monica is kind of away from the hills and everything. We weren’t really in immediate danger, but it was pretty nuts… Anyway, cinema, we have a bunch of great theaters, I don’t know.

Aimee:
It’s hard. I feel that way too since I’m a concert photographer. People are like, “What do you do for fun?” I’m like, “I don’t really have time to do anything else.” I listen to music. I go to shows and then I sleep. So, what’s kind of next? You got this tour and then what do you think?

Graham:
I mean nothing serious planned right now, but it is just kind of like rinse, repeat. There’s a few songs kicking around, but I think really the main focus right now and not looking too far forward is just really this tour and kind of still living in the world of this album and kind of taking these songs out and seeing how they’re going to evolve and change in the live set. We really haven’t played these songs live too many times. They’re still really, really new in that kind setting.

Aimee:
I mean do you have a fan base that’s going to come? I am hoping to make your show. I’m not sure if I can yet, but am I going to hear people singing these songs?

Graham:
Yeah, I think so. It’s been out enough where they’ve definitely had enough time to digest it and I think we have fans that like singing along.

Aimee:
I love when the crowd is having the best time at a show. And great album, I really love it.

Graham:
Thanks so much.

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The Michigan Rattlers
Waving From A Sea North American Tour Dates

2/12 – Columbus, OH – A&R Bar

2/13 – Indianapolis, IN – Turntable

2/14 – Chicago, IL – Lincoln Hall

2/15 – Minneapolis, MN – 7th St. Entry

2/18 – Omaha, NE – Slowdown

2/20 – Denver, CO – Meow Wolf

2/21 – Salt Lake City, UT – Urban Lounge

2/22 – Boise, ID – Neurolux

2/24 – Seattle, WA – Madame Lous

2/25 – Vancouver, BC – Fox Cabaret

2/26 – Portland, OR – The Showdown

2/28 – San Francisco, CA – Brick + Mortar

3/1 – Los Angeles, CA – The Peppermint Club

3/2 – San Diego, CA – Casbah

3/4 – Phoenix, AZ – Last Exit Live

3/7 – Austin, TX – 3Ten at ACL Live

3/8 – Dallas, TX – Club Dada

3/9 – Houston, TX – Bronze Peacock at HOB

3/12 – Kansas City, MO – Encore at Uptown Theatre

3/13 – St Louis, MO – Old Rock House

3/27 – Lexington, KY – The Burl

3/28 – Grand Rapids, MI – Pyramid Scheme

3/29 – Ann Arbor, MI – Blind Pig

4/8 – Hamden, CT – Space Ballroom

4/10 – New York, NY – DROM

4/11 – Philadelphia, PA – Milkboy

4/12 – Washington DC – Pearl Street

4/13 – Raleigh, NC – Kings

4/15 – Greenville, SC – Radio Room

4/17 – Atlanta, GA – Center Stage – Vinyl Room

4/18 – Orlando, FL – Tuffy’s Music Box

4/19 – Tampa, FL – Skipper’s Smokehouse

4/21 – New Orleans, LA – Chickie Wah Wah

4/24 – Memphis, TN – Minglewood Hall – 1884 Lounge

4/25 – Birmingham, AL – Saturn

4/26 – Nashville, TN – Cannery Hall

4/27 – Louisville, KY – Zanzabar

4/29 – Pittsburgh, PA – The Crafthouse

4/30 – Cleveland, OH – Grog Shop

5/1 – Buffalo, NY – Rec Room

5/2 – Syracuse, NY – Funk N Waffles

5/4 – Boston, MA – The Sinclair

5/6 – Portland, ME – Portland House of Music

5/7 – Burlington, VT – Higher Ground

5/8 – Montreal, QC – Le Belmont

5/9 – Toronto, ON – Horseshoe Tavern

5/16 – Detroit, MI – Saint Andrews Hall

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See our other interviews!