Pierce Turcotte: I remember first getting the text after a show back in 2019 that we had this potential opportunity with the TATB movie. It was all pretty ambiguous at first, nothing really official. Although the people in charge of the soundtrack were obviously interested in us, we still had to undergo somewhat of an audition. Not only did the people with TATB choose our music, they also wanted us to do a cover of the song “Beginning Middle End” for the movie which meant haphazardly jumping into a studio here in Kansas City to compose and record our own version of it. It was a lot of hurry-up-and-wait, even until this last month when the movie was finished being edited and we could FINALLY confirm that we would be on the soundtrack.

YEM: What was your first reaction to finding out it was going to be featured in the film?

Pierce: I thought it was cool! I had never seen the previous movie (there was just the one movie out at the time) and didn’t think a whole lot about it. I didn’t want to build up my excitement too much only to have us get cut from the soundtrack (hahaha).

YEM: How do you feel The Greeting Committee fits the brand of this movie series?

Pierce: It definitely helps that we share a similar demographic to that of the movie. I think there’s a youthfulness to the music that translates well to the brand of movie. Plus, the songs from the album that were chosen for the movie totally fit into the coming-of-age feel that TATB is.

YEM: Will this project influence the way you’ll go about future opportunities?

Pierce: Likely, yes, but I think we’ll have better insight once the movie comes out and we’ll see what sort of impact, if any, our music has as opportunities come in the future. If any, I think this project has opened us up to doing more opportunities with other films. I think we’ve all enjoyed, to some extent, being able to write for a specific purpose (in this case, for the TATB soundtrack). It’s out of our comfort zone, but this project has allowed us to see how we can grow into other music opportunities.

YEM: What were some unexpected difficulties that you ran into with this project and how did you overcome it?

Pierce: I’d say the biggest difficulty was organizing everything last minute and then having to wait so long to hear how the film was progressing. From our end, everything went smoothly. Once we hustled to record and deliver all the tracks, all we had to do was wait!

YEM: What is your biggest take away from this experience?

Pierce: I think we all developed a new interest in doing similar opportunities. Also, being a part of a movie takes a lot of patience, but the result can be incredibly exciting!

YEM: Were you a fan of the film franchise before receiving this opportunity?

Pierce: Before this opportunity, we were all in completely different places. I think Addie was the most excited and Brandon was the most skeptical about playing any sort of role in the soundtrack of this film. I had never seen any of the movies before so I wasn’t sure what to think. However, I have since watched the first two movies to prep myself for the final release and I definitely enjoyed them! I still have a soft spot for some of those coming-of-age movies and books.

YEM: Did you get to see any clips from the film where your songs will be featured? Any spoilers you can share?

Pierce: We weren’t even sure we’d be in the movie officially until this year! I have seen some clips since but no spoilers yet!

YEM: Who are some of your biggest influences (musically or not)?

Pierce: I’ve been jumping around musically a lot this past year. I’ve recently been shuffling through a French Indie Pop Spotify playlist. I spent a lot of time watching movies at the start of the pandemic, so I’ve been diving into more cinematic and storytelling music like that as well. Honestly, having conversations with close friends has been one of the most influential parts of this last year.

YEM: What was unique about this experience?

Pierce: We had never had any opportunities to have our music shown in this capacity before!

YEM: What advice would you give to someone hoping to have their music featured in a film like this?

Pierce: This is a hard question because there are a million ways to go about this. Our connections at our record label helped us with this specific opportunity. However, there are a lot of opportunities for creating music commercially and can be a great way for someone to turn writing music into a career. I’d recommend to someone to learn as much as they can about music licensing and synchronization. No matter what kind of music you write, there’s likely a use for it somewhere in the media arts, whether it’s for television or film. You don’t need to be signed to a record label to still find opportunities. But meeting people in and around that world of media arts can help.

YEM: When did you make the decision to become a band and pursue music professionally?

Pierce: We started playing music and writing together back in high school in 2014 for the purpose of playing in the talent show and we just never really stopped. There was never any conscious decision to be professional musicians. It just happened. I had my own plans outside of music. But as the band gained success, it became more and more a part of our lives.

YEM: How might this whole experience influence the future of The Greeting Committee?

Pierce: Hopefully more opportunities! Maybe we’ll give up music and just pursue acting instead (all jokes).

YEM: Would you be interested in making more music for the film industry?

Pierce: Yes! I love the storytelling nature of movie scores and soundtracks. Also, writing for a film is a lot different than writing for ourselves. I think we tend to overthink our music when we are writing for an album (not always a bad thing!). But writing for a film allows us to put on a new mask and create something we might not have otherwise.

YEM: What’s your all time favorite song from a film?