This Saturday at Psi U, the Wesleyan all-sophomore rock band Five Guys had its inaugural performance as the opener for New School and Grand Cousin. Following a dinner at Buddhist House, I had a chance to sit down with four of the five guys: drummer Leo Grossman ’16, vocalist Nick Selden ’16, and guitarists Ethan Hill ’16 and Delaine Winn ’16. Not present was bassist Angus Macdonald ’16.

The group of us sat in a cross-legged circle, and I got to know these zany guys while Grossman fiddled around on a blue ukulele.

 

The Argus: So, just to get it started, how long have you guys been together as a band?

Nick Selden: We met over WesAdmits, and started practicing over Skype.

Leo Grossman: That’s probably how the idea formed, playing online and just realizing how good we were, just on the Internet alone.

Delaine Winn: We’ve probably only actually been playing for a month, it’s just been a lot of talk and a lot of planning.

LG: This was the breakout show, I’m sure everyone’s been talking about it already.

 

A: How would you all describe your sound?

LG: Ecstasy…the inverse of Sky Bars.

NS: Not funky; I think we are marketably not funky.

 

A: Were you guys named after Five Guys, the burger chain?

LG: Five Guys was named after us… actually, I don’t even know what Five Guys is.

DW: Are you talking about our band-chain restaurant?

 

A: Ok, that’s some weird cross-marketing. Don’t you think it’s interesting that the band came after the restaurant?

DW: Is that a fact?

EH: I think it’s pretty disputed.

DW: I think that’s more of an opinion.

NS: Are you a history major?

A: No.

NS: So how would you know?

A: Are you?

NS: Yes, actually I am. COL… It’s intellectual history.

 

A: Ok, so of the set you guys played last night, how much of that was your own original music?

LG: All of it, that was all our music.

DW: Arguably, Wilco may or may not have written one of the songs.

EH: They were highly influenced by us.

DW: Yeah, that’s the thing.

LG: Jeff Tweedy often credits me with co-writing his songs, so I feel like I have certain liberties there.

DW: I will definitely say Wilco was influential in some of our songs, though.

 

A: So, were the songs you played last night your entire catalogue so far, or is there more to come?

LG: There’s way more to come. That was just the taste.

DW: It’s all about supply and demand in today’s Wesleyan music scene.

NS: You know how when you go to a frozen yogurt place you can get the little taste samplers? Ours is like the big cup with a bunch of sour worms in it, and then you get a yogurt flavor that doesn’t necessarily go with that, preferably cookies and cream…That’s what it’s like.

 

A: So what can we expect of Five Guys in the future?

LG: We’re actually going to be on the radio on December 3, WESU Middletown 88.1 FM. I believe the show is called Wild, Wild, Wild, at 5 p.m.

EH: Five Guys at 5.

DW: We’re going to play some songs live on that show, maybe do another interview.

NS: I also think it’s safe to say that we’ll play another live show by the end of our lifetime, maybe even by the end of the semester. Also, if you’re reading this, and you have a house on Fountain, we’d like to break it.

EH: Not necessarily play there, just break it.

NS: Seriously though, if you have a house, contact us.