The Krickets are a female Americana group from the Gulf Coast who's music is described as "a truly stunning, one-of-a-kind sound," by Paste magazine. Here's Acoustic Interlude host John Macdonell interviewing the band during their session in March.
John Macdonell: Why don't you introduce everybody?
Lauren Spring: I'll be glad to. We are The Krickets. They spell with the K. And we have Emily Stuckey Sellers. She is from the Fairhope area. My name is Lauren Spring. I'm from Port St. Joe, Florida. And Rachel Grubb is from Lake City.
Macdonell: Oh, wow. So kind of all over.
Spring: Yeah, we stretch out over the Panhandle.
Macdonell: How did you get together then, if you're from all spread out towns?
Spring: Originally, we've been a band since July of 2015. So it's been eight years now. Originally, we got together playing a cancer benefit fundraising event for a girl named Cricket Russell in Port St. Joe, which is where our name comes from. We had no intentions of having a band or it becoming something. We asked her mom if during that event we could call ourselves The Krickets. And it ended up blooming into this. And that benefit fund is pretty amazing. It helps those who are uninsured receive cancer aid, whatever they need. Rides to the hospital or incredible mammograms, that kind of thing. And the fund is alive and well. You can check that out at the thecricketfund.org.
Macdonell: The Cricket Fund. Yeah, I like that. It's a good history for the band. So who does the writing? Do you collaborate or you must?
Spring: We all are singer songwriters. All of us have our own solo projects. We've been involved with different musical groups and bands and variations of some sort of display of music in our lives. But songwriting is hugely important to all of us. And all of us collaborate. When we sit down to write a song, it's together usually, on both the albums — we have two studio albums. Both of those albums have songs on them that were solo rights, or written with outside people and brought into the band. Songwriting and co-writing is a passion and we all love it.
Macdonell: So does one of you bring a song to the others? Or do you just get together and start writing and collaborating and thinking, well, what can we do?
Spring: Sometimes it is that. The song we just played (Redbird) Emily was having a feeling it was a dream about her grandmother, and she had a riff in her head. Sometimes it's that tangible and brought it to us after she'd written most of it. And the band worked on it together after that. But then sometimes it's on the way to our gigs. Last weekend, we wrote a song — a forced one. And it's just to stretch the muscle and exercise it. And sometimes really beautiful things come out of those sessions and sometimes a forced song comes out of it. It's terrible. But that's OK, because you don't have to cut them all. But it's good to continue honing the craft and trying to get it.
Macdonell: That process must get easier the longer that you've been together. Because it seems like you're all really comfortable with each other and you're really good friends, and you've been doing this, like you said, for eight years. It must get a little easier as time goes by.
Spring: It's as close to having a sister as anything I know. I don't have a true one, so this is what I know as having a sister. I mean, we've been in countless very questionable sleeping situations together in very small hotel rooms or having to spend just tons of time in the car together. That's very intimate space. Our studio time, writing time — those are some of the most vulnerable places a human being can be. (To) just put your feelings on a sheet of paper and sing it to people, you got to be a little nuts — and you better trust who you're doing that with. And these girls, for me, are my safe space, are definitely one of my favorite safe spaces to ride in. And we hope that's true for everybody, that everybody feels safe there. But that's what it's like. The relationship is tight because it needs to have to be, but it's wonderful.
Watch: The Krickets play RadioLive
Macdonell: Tell me about your instrument. That is a cool looking thing. It's a hybrid, right? Both of them, actually. I want to hear about both.
Spring: I'll let Rachel tell you about her bass.
Rachel Grubb: So, this is a U-bass, which is like ukulele, is the body shape of course, and it weighs, like, three pounds. But of course, you don't play it acoustically. You plug in and it kind of takes the place of that beautiful upright bass that's so hefty but lovely. And just the rubberized strings make a nice warm tone.
Macdonell: Yeah. When I first saw it, I thought, oh, ukulele, right? Then I saw the strings, and it's like, what is this?
Grubb: Yeah, it has a nice deep sound.
Macdonell: It does. It sounds wonderful. Beautiful instrument. Now, Lauren, you've got an unusual instrument as well.
Spring: How dare you point that out! (laughs) We are playing a bluegrass festival in a couple of days and I'm always apprehensive of playing bluegrass festivals because the real banjo players are there.
Macdonell: Yeah, man.
Spring: And that's tough not to get laughed out of the place, because they're real players who have sat down with a real banjo and learned their instrument. When we started this band, we were all singer songwriters originally. But my first instrument is guitar, so that's what I know the best. This was the quickest fix. This is a six string guitar banjo. So basically, you play it like a guitar, but it sounds like a banjo. And we needed some different elements in the music. That's where fiddles or banjo or different things that we brought into the music, mandolins or anything else, that's where the need is there. And so we ended up deciding to use this. And, man, darn if it didn't stick for eight years and I still have to be laughed out of bluegrass festivals.
Macdonell: Well, it sounds great.
Spring: Thank you so much.
Macdonell: I know real banjo players can be kind of a pain and snobs and everything, but I think it sounds really cool.
Spring: The banjo jokes are always the best, but I am grateful to this instrument because it does give us that different element. But also, I can at least passively get my way around on this instrument. But I'm grateful that Deering makes such a good version of this because I've had a couple and this guitar or this banjitar or ganjo or whatever the name is, the mashup you want to use, this is their version. And I think it sounds good. Thank you, sir.
Follow The Krickets at thekrickets.com.
John Macdonell hosts Acoustic Interlude Sundays from noon – 4 p.m. Listen online at wuwf.org/acoustic
This interview was condensed and edited.
