RSU Radio Premieres Pets.’ Debut Single

Last Wednesday, RSU Radio premiered the debut single from local band Pets. Before the premiere, I was joined by frontman Matt to talk about the band’s origin and their debut single “Jungle Room.” You can hear the band’s new single down below and in rotation right here on RSU Radio (and wherever else you get your music).

Maria
Hey everybody, this is Maria and I am with Matt of Tulsa band Pets. You’re the frontman, and one of many guitarists. So I guess just to get started, do you want to introduce yourself?

Matt
Yeah, yeah. As she said, my name is Matt, we’re a band called Pets. We are releasing our first single this Friday, and very grateful to be here with Maria talking about the song and like, getting it debuted and everything.

Maria
I want to ask a little bit about you. So you’ve been around a couple of bands in Tulsa. What bands have you been in and what might the people know you from?

Matt
I’ve been a few over the years. The first kind of local band that I was in that gained some traction was probably The Capital Ys. I played drums in that group and like helped contribute to some of the writing, like lyricism wise. I played in a band called Candy Fly for a few years. And more recently, I played in a group called Men of Action. My good buddy Jordan, who’s also in pets plays guitar, I met through that group. So yeah, honestly, Pets. is kind of the spiderweb of people that I’ve met over the years and just kind of pulled together to do a little project, a little supergroup, if you will, of great players that I know. But yeah, I’ve played in quite a few projects over the years, and I do a lot of studio work around town and whatnot.

Maria
Well, I guess we can dive into your brand new single “Jungle Room,” because that’s going to be the first official, official thing. And this, this song originally debuted back during Chillout late last year, at least the live version did.

Matt
Right. Right.

Maria
And now it’s officially ready to be added to your guys’ summer playlist, which is really exciting.

Matt
Yeah, no, we’re very stoked. It’s the first single off an EP that we’re going to be releasing probably later this year, maybe thinking like, towards the end of summer. We’re really grateful for you guys. Because like we played our first I should say, first live appearances is a live stream with RSU. So that was really like us debuting all those songs, but we’re so stoked to have the single out and to really, like, just get the ball rolling, you know because most of these songs were honestly recorded last year. So it’s been, it’s been fun. You know, we’re all really excited.

Maria
So how long has “Jungle Room” specifically been in the works? Have you been sitting on this song for a while?

Matt
Since last summer, honestly, and I mean, really, like the song was written, I should say, like, early 2020 maybe? Yeah, it’s kind of an older song at this point. But I mean, it’s still very fresh. And like, it’s not one of those songs that I put on now and I don’t like, I still am very connected with the song and really love it. And you know, love it. Just love everything about it honestly. It’s a really strong song for us, so we’re really stoked to have it be like the first official debut from Pets.

Maria
So what is special about “Jungle Room?” Why does this define the debut of Pets.?

Matt
This actually must have been the first– I don’t I don’t want to say it’s the first song we wrote. But I think it was the second song that the band wrote and I remember sitting down with Chay, our guitar player, and working the song out before we even had all the members to Pets. And I just remember a feeling of a project really coming together and us kind of developing our sound. And I don’t know, this song is really special to me because it was kind of like the inception of the band. And really like it’s kind of what got the ball rolling. Like I remember the first time that the group got together and we kind of showed everybody the songs and whatnot. And then we really started developing. The song stood out. It was really a very definitive moment for us. Honestly, I think this song will always be special because of that. It was really like the start of Pets. Honestly, the second song that we probably wrote together so it’s, it’s a special one. It really is.

Maria
And while you guys were putting this song together and really making it happen, what kind of artists or projects or albums were coming through with this? What were you inspired by?

Matt
There’s so much that goes into play when it comes to our music and our band. I think at the time that this song was written, I was listening to a lot of like early Coldplay, The Killers and like Arctic Monkeys, you know, like alt rock bands from like, early 2010s and whatnot. Like stuff I pretty much grew up with. I gotta say, like, just listening to the music and the lyricism, I can hear a lot of that sort of influence at play.

Maria
Yeah, yeah. And I think that definitely comes through with you guys. So now that we have a good idea of the track that’s coming out and we’ve built up some hype, where can people find pets– besides RSU radio of course?

Matt
Yeah, of course, Spotify. We’re also going to be on Apple Music, Bandcamp, and just a plethora of other streaming services like we’ve got the major ones dialed in, but I think we might be on Tidal as well for all I know. It’s being distributed to a number of stores and of course, we’re going to be focusing on getting some physical copies soon for you know, like record store distribution and whatnot. But yeah, you know so really anywhere you stream music and very soon local record stores and you know, the Tulsa and surrounding areas.

We’re very excited and honestly very grateful to be doing this. Thank you for having me on.

Maria
Yeah, of course. It’s been a pleasure. Thank you so much, Matt.

Matt
Absolutely. Cheers.