Longtime friends make the best bandmates. Case in point: Floatie.
From 2017 into 2019, Floatie operated as a trio. They landed some plum opening slots, including a Subterranean show in October 2018 with Pile and the Spirit of the Beehive. Still, they thought something was missing, and eventually they brought Wisniewski aboard in summer 2019.
Floatie’s finally finished full-length debut, Voyage Out, comes out March 26 through Brooklyn-based indie label Exploding in Sound. Ahead of the release, the band members spoke to the Reader about the adventure novels that inspired the album, how what could’ve been a lost year actually helped them out, and their decision to make complicated rock music that’s congenial rather than confrontational. This Q&A has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Pre-pandemic, is it accurate to say the band was gaining more steam?
Schutz We weren’t really thinking about the album for a while—we just had it. Then the uprising [protests against police brutality and racial injustice] was happening. The release of the album seemed not important at all. We put it on the back burner.
I also knew Seth and Dan had worked together in the past, and I asked Seth, “What do you think about sending our music to Exploding in Sound? Do you think that’s a possibility?” And Seth was like, “Oh yeah, here’s Dan’s personal e-mail.” Seth really paved the way for that to happen.
