ChannelChanger Interview
ChannelChanger is the type of Math Rock/Noise Rock band that one would listen to while driving on the back roads of Oklahoma at night.
Math rock is very similar to post-rock and has roots in the bands King Crimson and Rush. Noise Rock is an experimental rock that has ties to Punk Rock.
Mike, Sam, and Jacob the band members of ChannelChanger, met through a mutual friend “back in the college days”. Mike and Sam have been playing in their other band Monte since 2019.
ChannelChanger came about because “we decided that we wanted to do something else that was a little different,” said Sam. Jacob was eventually pulled into ChannelChanger, and the rest is history.
Sam plays guitar, Jacob plays bass and saxophone, and Mike is the “drum lord’. Math rock and Noise rock were the two genres that the band could put themselves into “without getting too pretentious”.
These subgenres were chosen to be played by ChannelChanger because it’s “fun”. Sam listens to a lot of Noise and Math rock and it kind of clicked with him because he knew it was the kind of music that he could write and play well. Mike also enjoyed playing more difficult music according to Sam.
“I wanted to do something that was challenging, I feel like every time I play I get better at bass,” said Jacob.
ChannelChanger creates at Sam’s house. Their songwriting process goes like this, “Sam will come up with a riff or something, and me and Jacob will do a couple of repetitions, trying different rhythms to accompany it,” said Mike.
Sam has given up on writing a linear song because there are no lyrics. “We really just piece stuff together”. Sam also logs riffs that he comes up with.
“With Sams’s brilliant mind, you can really work on it.”
Chickentruck+3 is ChannelChanger’s most recent EP release. It was released in October of 2023 and has a total of 6 songs. The process of writing this album was “kinda funky”.
The songs on the EP the band had for a while. Jacob spent the most time on it because “he has the best ear when it comes to mixing”.
“We don’t record while we write, I was trying to get it to how I think it sounds,” said Jacob.
We put three of the songs out on Bandcamp first, which was the original Chickentruck. “Jacob and Mike inspire me which is where a lot of the inspiration for the EP came,” said Sam.
The band’s favorite song to perform together is “Livertwist”. You can check out “Livertwist” and Chickentruck+3 on Spotify @ChannelChanger and give them a follow on Instagram @channelchangerok.
