Philadelphia via New York City group Grocer have a passion for guitar music, our DIY scene, and insist that a deflated basketball is their sound’s tangible counterpart. Following the release of their debut LP, Little Splash, the band reflected on the most Philly thing that ever happened to them, what really went down after the Phillies won the World Series, and who has the most embarrassing guilty pleasure album.

Elevator pitch your band using as few music-related terms as possible.

Cody: We did come up with a good one - it’s like a slam dunk with a deflated basketball.

Bre: We asked Secret Nudist Friends the same thing and one of their pitches was “apply directly to forehead.”

Nick: That sounds right.

Fill in the blank: Grocer is the perfect soundtrack for ____?

Cody: Overthinking something?

Nick: I’ve never thought about that.

Em: Don’t overthink it.

Nick: Emily do you have anything?

Emily: [Disclaimer, there’s an Emily in the band. Weird that we haven’t run into this problem before. She’s going by Emily, Philly Live’s Emily is going by Em.] This is a tough one.

Nick: It’s probably not good for…cooking. Probably not good for reading.

Danielle: What’s the opposite of that, cooking and eating?

Nick: I’d say it’s good for a bike ride.

If you were stuck on an island with two other Philly bands, who would they be and why?

Bre: And think of it in terms of who’s going to keep you alive, who’s going to keep you sane. Don’t think of it as someone whose music you like.

Nick: I think Buddy would be a good one. I’m not sure if you guys know who they are, they’re buddies of ours.

Em: They’re called Buddy?

Bre: What do they bring to the table in terms of desert island survival?

Nick: I think they’d be cool to hang with for all that time.

Cody: I’m pretty sure Dan does something involved with coral reefs?

Danielle: I think all of their real-life jobs are really practical. I don’t think anybody’s a server or a barista in that band, which isn’t the case for most bands.

Nick: I think Rosemeat would be awesome to have around as well.

Danielle: Nick is super handy and could build anything.

Nick: I could be the raft-builder.

Danielle: The woodworker.

Nick: I keep thinking in terms of who we would get along with best. I feel like we’re all in bands because we’re all not that useful in terms of surviving on an island. I’d say our pals would probably be our first choice.

What’s a story that you tell at parties when you first meet someone?

Danielle: I was on Humans of New York once. When we lived in the city, I used to walk my cat on a leash. I was walking it through Tompkin Square Park and we got pictures taken and it happened to be the Humans of New York Guy. Because of that, I got contacted by this Japanese Documentary Series that highlighted cats in different cities around the world, and my cat and I were the New York feature.

Cody: If we’re flexing, the one highlight of my life is that I played in a band that opened for Modest Mouse. We toured with them for two weeks.

Em: What was the band?

Cody: It was Determination Dust, from Minnesota.

Em: Bre, what’s yours?

Bre: I’m a huge Yankees fan, and we went to see them play in New York against the Tampa Bay Rays, and they lost so we were upset. As we were leaving the traffic was terrible, but we saw the Rays bus pull up next to us. My friend looked at me and he goes, “I’m gonna do it.” And he really quick pulls out in front of the bus and cuts off the entire Tampa Bay Rays team. They’re all looking at us so mad because they can’t move and we were so embarrassed, but at least we can say we cut off the Tampa Bay Rays in traffic.

Em: I think mine is when I covered Lenny Kravitz for WXPN this past fall. I got to The Met and they had a press ticket for me, and when I got to my seat, I thought it was way too close to the stage because i was the youngest person there by like, decades. Two songs in, security comes up to me and asks to see my ticket because I definitely looked out of place, and he goes, “This isn’t your seat,” and I was so ready to be led back to the nosebleeds or something But then he moved me even closer, like a row from the stage, and I swear if he wanted to Lenny Kravitz could have spit on me. I had no business being there but it was a sick experience.

Nick: Too bad he didn’t have another pants malfunction.

Danielle: What do you mean, “too bad”?!

What’s a really weird fan interaction you’ve either had or seen while at a show?

Nick: There are definitely some crazy drunk people at shows. We call them “clingers.”

Danielle: Where they’re blackout drunk but also confessing their love to the band. We had a guy who was like, “I’ll drive six hours to your next show!” and then as the night went on we saw he was screaming at other audience members to buy merch, and he had bought none of it.

Bre: My friend calls those people “the punishers.”

Nick: They’re nice people for sure, but they can be a handful.

Bre: My favorite fan story is from when I was shooting this show at The Fillmore, and a girl was so into the singer that she reached under her skirt, pulled her underwear off, and tossed it up to him. Then he sniffed it and put it in his shirt pocket.

Em: I’m - that’s so gross

Danielle: That’s some classic rock stuff right there

Em: I saw Trash Boy at Everybody Hits last summer, and my friends were so stoked to see them because it was their release show. I’m not kidding, within ten seconds of their set starting, my friend got punched right in the face while he was in the pit. We all thought he broke his nose, there was so much blood.

Danielle: I feel like we need to revise - Trash Boy would definitely be on our desert island. Dan is like, the mover, he’s physically capable.

What’s the most “Philly thing” that’s ever happened to you?

Danielle: Cody has only lived in Philly for a year, and Emily is also kind of new to the city. We all moved here the last few years, but Nick and I went to college here..

Cody: We did get cut off by an ATV on the sidewalk today.

Danielle: Do you guys remember flash mobs? The bad kind? It used to happen during the summers on South Street, and they’d plan a meet up on Myspace and just fuck everything up. They’d drive cars into poles and stuff, it was crazy. We were walking once and got surrounded by a flash mob and my friend got punched in the face.

Bre: I’ve never heard of this.

Nick: It’s a Philly thing for sure.

Danielle: They used to have curfews, you couldn’t go out past 9pm or something if you were under 18.

Em: I went to Saint Joe’s for college, and during the Super Bowl we walked all the way from West Philly to Broad Street for all of the riots, and it was probably the coolest thing I’ve ever been a part of. But one of our friends got so sick of the whole thing that they walked all the way home because Septa had stopped running. We didn’t see him til like 5 am.

Danielle: We were in Philly when the Phillies won and when Obama won his first term, and I think police had a better idea of what to expect for the Superbowl. People went crazy. There were fireworks ricochetting off buildings, insane crowds. It was huge. People died. Definitely.

Cody: Go Phillies…

What’s your favorite album when you want to seem cool, and what’s your guilty pleasure favorite?

Nick: I have one that I think is personally cool, but also a favorite. Bitte Orca by Dirty Projectors.

Cody: I think the second Big Thief album can fit both. It’s cool but also an all-time favorite.

Nick: Yeah, we all think we’re pretty cool.

Danielle: I always have trouble answering these because I feel like my favorite album changes with periods of my life. It used to be Coldplay, Viva la Vida. And Nick always tells people my favorite band is Coldplay, even though I’m so not a fan. I just liked them at one point. But my favorite right now is probably Sufjan Stevens, Age of Adz.

Emily: I’m a big Sonic Youth fan, so probably Sister would be my cool favorite. My embarrassing album - I don’t know. I have a soft spot for Queens of the Stone Age.

Em: Bre is a big Styx fan.

Bre: Whenever I go into record stores I always look for Frank Sinatra and Styx, and people always question my knowledge. Guys always quiz me on Styx and I’m like, “I don’t know? I just like their music?”

Cody: I’d add that I’m a lifelong Paramore fan. That’s probably embarrassing.

Em: I keep saying I love the new Districts album, or I’ll flex an old album. But also Taylor Swift, Fearless is always on repeat.

What’s more important for a venue to supply for a band, snacks or alcohol?

Nick: If we’re on tour, snacks. But in town, alcohol. More importantly than anything is that they have a green room or even a bathroom.

Danielle: A mirror in the green room, as someone who wears makeup, is so clutch. Also if they have bottled water, that’s exciting.

Nick: Just the venue putting in the effort is important.

Cody: It’s funny because all it takes is for a venue to bring us a 24-pack for me to be like, “Sick, this place is really taking care of us.”

Bre: What are some of your favorite Philly green rooms?

Nick: Johnny Brenda’s is great. Everybody Hits had a green room. Ortlieb’s just has an equipment room. KFN has a nice downstairs area, but I’ve never seen them really do anything with it.

Em: We love Underground Arts’ green room. It’s the sickest green room I’ve ever seen. You could probably fit fifty people in there.

Danielle: Every once in a while a venue will have an apartment attached to it. I think The Fire has this. When we were a New York band we used to find venues that would let us stay.

Cody: It’s nice when you can check two boxes, you can play a show and then crash after.

If you could describe the philly music scene in 10 words or less, what would you say?

Nick: Community definitely comes to mind. It’s such a tight-knit city.

Cody: Friendlier than I thought it would be.

Danielle: With us coming from New York, it’s so different for us. We came from a cut throat scene where everyone steps on each other to get ahead, and then when we moved here we immediately made friends.

Nick: Everybody comes to each other’s shows. It’s so supportive.

Cody: Are we over 10?

Nick: Positivity? Friendship?

Danielle: DIY.

Nick: I think the scene is pretty diverse as well. There are all kinds of genres. There are more good bands in Philly than in any other town that I’ve been to. Philly is tied with Minneapolis and Atlanta.

The Date Where Grocer Reflects On Flash Mobs