When pinpointing an exact music genre I’ve always listened to, it’s always fallen somewhere between alternative and indie. So, as I was going through my Spotify “Discover Weekly,” I came across a few suggested songs by The Score.
The Score – Eddie Anthony and Edan Dover – are a New York-born, Los Angeles-based indie and primarily alternative duo. They are known for songs like “Oh My Love,” “Legend” and “Higher.” For the past three years since they began, The Score has released two EPs – ”Unstoppable” and “Myths & Legends” – along with a full length album, ATLAS, which came out in 2017. They’ve had over 600 million streams and their music has appeared in campaigns for Jeep, the NBA and has even been used in shows and movies such as “Riverdale” and “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip.” As of 2018, the Score unveiled their new single “Stronger” and, on Oct. 26, they released a single called “The Fear”.
The Score are currently on tour with New Politics and will be performing at the Warehouse at FTC on Nov. 14. Luckily, I’ve had the privilege of interviewing The Score before they make their Fairfield Debut:
“[A song] usually starts with a verse or poem, it’s really stripped out bare bones on the guitar or the piano,” said band member Eddie Anthony, as he discussed how it has been creating a lot of The Score’s new music. “For these records we really wanted to push the sounds production wise and we really wanted to show an evolution from our previous works for this one. We wanted to go off more hip hop influence with the drums and wanted to use more synth and kind of get away from the usual heavy guitar stuff and sounding flat. Kind of get more towards the 808 drums and analog synths.”
When talking about what their music is primarily about, the band members agree it’s mostly about their own experiences. “We’re writing about a lot of the same stuff we’ve always had,” said band member Edan Dover. “We like to write about our own experiences, about our career in music and what we go through trying to make this music thing work. Eddie and I have put a lot on the line to make this possible to pursue this dream.”
Dover proceeded to dive in to how both have given up so much to be where they are now. Dover had left his entire life behind in New York to move out to L.A, while Anthony quit his job working at a hospital and left the possibility of being a doctor behind. “We kind of just put it all on the line to pursue this dream in music and the new music continues to be about that,” said Dover. “I think “The Fear” specifically– we wrote that shortly after our album [ATLAS], and there’s a lot of uncertainty when you write music and you put it out there, you don’t really know how people are going to react. If it’s going to connect, if the industry is going to take to it. The “Fear” was kind of an anthem to ourselves to remind ourselves to not give into that fear and to push through. I think a lot of the new music is about that.”
The music that inspired both guys to leave everything behind is alternative, but as of now The Score is exploring at the possibility of a different sound. “For this new slew of music we’re doing, we kind of wanted to bend and blend genres togethers,” said Anthony. “We didn’t want to get pigeonholed into the hard rock department category. A lot of these songs are motivational and they do have these hooks that are ingrained from like pop music. We didn’t want to be afraid of that either. It’s a blend of a bunch of different genres– a lot of hip hop influence.”
Since The Score began in 2015, their music has greatly evolved from the original content they had been producing. Dover mentions how they spent years trying to figure out what their sound was and how they experimented with all different kinds of genres and variations. “[In the beginning] we kind of had a retro, funky soulful kind of sound. Then we tried this whole folk thing,” said Dover. “We did a lot of soul searching and I think we really hit it with our last EP, “Myths and Legends” and that became the Atlas Album. We finally found something that we both felt good about, something we both could say ‘This sounds like us. This is who we are.’ It’s been a lot of evolution. So, with this new music, Eddie [Anthony] described it great, kind of getting away from the heavy guitar riff, bass music and bringing those hip hop sounds and analog drums.”
The band members also discussed how it has been touring. Prior to their tour with New Politics, they had just finished their longest headline tour. “It was amazing because it was places we’ve never played before,” said Anthony. “We were selling out shows. We were able to sell over five hundred tickets in Salt Lake City and we played there once. Just the response to the album put out and the singles we did has been amazing. Meeting the New Politics guys was rad. It’s a cool, live fun energetic band and we’re excited to learn from them, and to be on tour with them and go to market we’ve never been to before.”
For The Score, getting to where they are has been a challenge. Besides leaving everything they once knew behind, Anthony talks about how it was also a big challenge trying to figure out who they were as artists and who they wanted the world to see them as. “I think when we got signed, we got signed off of a big song from a commercial and we are kind of chasing that. The songs were not popping off in the United States as we thought they would,” said Anthony. “It really gave Edan and I a couple of years to really own our songwriting and production and find who we wanted to be. I think it’s going through all the ups and downs added to the music, and it was stuff we could totally related to. We’re going through what tons of people, other fans are going through their own lives whether it’s about jobs, school, or relationship and being able to write these universial songs have really shaped what the Score is right now and we’re where going.”
Since then, The Score has come along way and are happy at the fact that they get to play music for a living. “There’s a couple of cool things that music has let us do,” said Anthony. “But even just on the last tour, on our first headline evolution tour, just playing in Salt Lake City and selling out in a 500 packed room. Everyone was screaming and knew all the words to the music. I think that was the first time it really validated what Edan and I were doing is working and it really just gave us a lot of confidence in what the direction the Score is going and what it could actually be if everything pans the way out.”
“I think it’s one thing to be home in L.A at the studio. You see all the numbers going up, you see all the metrics, all the listener accounts going up, and everything,” said Dover. “And you’re like ‘Okay cool. Like this is reacting, something is happening. We’re doing something right.’ But, it’s hard to actually truly believe it until you’re standing on a stage in front of 500 people like we were in Salt Lake and they’re all screaming every lyric and it really shows you up close and personal what you’re doing is working. It’s nice to get that confidence and not doubt yourself for a minute, and feel good about what you’re doing.”
The Score are currently working on even more music, but as of now can’t talk a great deal about it. “There is another song [coming out after the Fear] that Eddie and I are especially excited about,” said Dover. “I think our whole team is excited for that new song. I can’t say much about it, but it has a lot of that genre bending and we love it. We think it’s one of the strongest songs we’ve written so far.
The Score are also very excited to come to Fairfield, being that it’s geographically the closest to where Dover’s grew up and where Anthony went to school. “Edan’s parents are coming,” Anthony commented jokingly.
“Yeah, my mom’s going to be there,” said Dover. “We haven’t played a show in Fairfield County yet, so it’ll be our first.”
Overall, The Score are a band with upbeat, motivational and unique music. If you’re really curious, definitely check out The Score’s upcoming show here at FTC on Nov. 14.
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