Q&A: Wallows returns to Coachella, discusses making of ‘Tell Me That It’s Over’

This post was updated April 25 at 12:28 a.m.

Wallows won’t be doing any wallowing anytime soon.

Consisting of childhood friends Dylan Minnette, Braeden Lemasters and Cole Preston, the indie-rock trio will be performing Saturday at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Following the release of their second album, “Tell Me That It’s Over,” on March 25, the band is looking forward to returning to Southern California and performing at the music festival its members frequented growing up, Preston said.

Minnette, Lemasters and Preston spoke with the Daily Bruin’s Vivian Xu about their sophomore record, Los Angeles roots and returning back to the desert.

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This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Daily Bruin: With “Tell Me That It’s Over” as your second album, did you feel any pressure to top your debut album or did you ever worry about a potential sophomore slump?

Dylan Minnette: We decided to try our best to let go of those notions from the beginning. That’s always what they say, like there’s peer pressure of topping your debut on your sophomore album. We decided to take an opposite approach than we did to our first album. We just decided to just go in and not overthink the final product – just focus on one song at a time, try to make each one as exciting as possible and just (figure) out how to put it together in the end. We ended up making the most eclectic and exciting batch of songs that we made as a whole.

DB: A lot of the lyrical themes on the new album center around romance and relationships. What inspired this particular subject matter?

DM: There wasn’t, during the process, a conscious decision to make the album about any single thing. When we first started writing the first idea for this album to the last, it was a long span of time, a very big chunk of time. All three of us went through certain stages of relationships and love at that time, whether it be falling in love, falling out of love or starting a relationship, any relationship, whatever. These lyrics ended up tapping back into those feelings. It became apparent at a certain point that that’s where all the songs were heading, so we just committed to it at a certain point and ultimately ended up creating an album about relationships in adulthood.

DB: All three of you spent a lot of time in Southern California – you got your start as a band there, and now you’re performing at Coachella this weekend. What do these geographical roots mean to you? Do they have any special significance?

Cole Preston: Naturally, because of where you are, you assume a little bit of that place when you’re creating art, whether you actively are trying to do that or not. Your environment plays a factor, no matter what. As kids, we were never really part of a scene of bands in Los Angeles. There’s plenty of bands with a sound that people associate with California, but I don’t think that we have that sound. Now, if anything, LA is just our home, and it’s nostalgic. For us, having been to Coachella a bunch of times, being able to play that festival again – it’s just like childhood dreams coming true.

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DB: Since this isn’t your first time at Coachella, what can attendees expect to be different this time?

CP: Our 2019 performance was our first show of tour for “Nothing Happens.” It was certainly fun. From the outside looking in, it’s totally a great show. But internally, we certainly felt like it was bumpy – we had all this new gear, we’ve never used in-ear monitors and never worn any of that. But this time around, we’re playing shows all the way going to Coachella. It feels like a bit of a redemption. We’ve gotten older; we’ve been rehearsing way more; we’ve got more music. I just think it’s going to be better.

DB: Looking forward in the future, where do you see the trajectory of the band going?

DM: For us, we just want to jump right into putting out the next album as soon as possible and at a time that makes sense but doesn’t take too long and just keeps the momentum going. Really, most importantly, we’re nearing 30 and wanting to get ourselves to a point where, after a couple more albums, we can afford to take a little break and start our real lives. So whatever gets us to that, we just want to feel comfortable and creatively excited.