Exclusive Interview: girlfriends Talk About Over My Dead Body EP, the Tour Life, and More

Travis Mills and Nick Gross are the incomparable duo behind girlfriends. The pop-punk pair has created a timeless sound that’s reminiscent of the bands they grew up listening to while also bringing innovation and a fresh take to the genre. Their mission is to be a destination for listeners through formative times, which they have undoubtedly accomplished. Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to speak with Travis about the group’s latest release Over My Dead Body, life on tour, and more!

PC: Your new EP Over My Dead Body is out now, and you can hear the evolution of your artistry as a band. What’s played the biggest role in your development heading into this project?
Travis: The cool thing about this EP is that we didn’t even know we were making one. We got to go into the studio with [Andrew] Goldstein, who has been at the top of our producer bucket list for a while. In the first session that we had with him, we made “Talk!”, which kicks off the EP. We were like, “This is a great song. We should do another.” Then, we made “Over My Dead Body”. Before we knew it, we had these five songs, and we wanted to put them out.

The difference with this one is that instead of locking ourselves in a room for six months and writing twenty songs, it was very intentional. We didn’t finish anything that we didn’t feel strongly about. We had seven ideas throughout the process and five of them ended up on the project.

The great thing about Goldstein is he turned the mirror back on me as a songwriter, especially with a song like “Life’s a Brittany”, where before I would have thought that I couldn’t write a song like that because it was almost too easy. That was something that came out of a conversation, and I was very much trying to articulate this particular sentiment, but I wasn’t saying it in that way, but I wanted it to mean this. Andrew turned to me and said, “Why can’t you say it like that?” I was like, “Oh sh*t. Maybe I can.” It turned out to be one of my favorite songs on the EP.

With this EP, any time we didn’t have something that felt good or something that was working, we abandoned it and moved on to something else. That’s exactly how we got a song like “Plastic” as well.

PC: Throughout your career, you’ve made it a point to never be put into a box. How have your other creative outlets lent themselves to your work as a musician, singer-songwriter, and artist?
Travis: The beauty of Nick and I having lives outside of the band is that it informs all the music that we make. Everything in my life stems from music and all of the opportunities that I’ve had. I get to talk to artists all day on my Apple Music show. I get to travel around and talk to people about relationships and heartbreaks through my experiences on my MTV show. I get to play shows, meet fans, and tour with incredible bands.

At the end of the day, when you’re locking yourself in a room to write songs, all of that is incredibly useful because you have to write from this perspective. Getting to have a lot of life experiences in a short amount of time can really help, especially when you’re trying to channel that through songs.

PC: You’ve said in the past that your songwriting process is about catching lightning in a bottle. Can you tell us about one of those moments for this EP?
Travis: The crazy thing about making music is you’re walking into a room, and you have maybe six to eight hours to make something. I know for myself, when I walk in, I want to make the best song that I’ve ever written. I want the lyrics to be incredible. I want the music to be amazing. There’s so much pressure that we put on ourselves. At times, it can feel like you’re trying to force inspiration. The magic happens when you abandon all of that and you let go. When something does strike, it’s like, “How do you harness it?” That could happen when you’re not in the studio as well. I know for me I’m always writing on my iPhone notes like it’s my diary. Having that reservoir of ideas, experiences, thoughts, and sentiments to go back to when I’m in the room and to tap back into that state of mind I was in maybe a couple of days or weeks ago is incredibly useful.

I did that a couple of weeks ago when we were in the studio. I had written down this idea for a song while we were in Europe on tour with Avril [Lavigne]. I went through my notes, and I found something that I had written on the bus in Europe. We made a song about it while we were in Calabasas.

I’ve learned to write down things as they come instead of being like, “I’ll remember that later. I’m not in the studio right now, so I don’t need to write it down.” I’ve learned through trials and tribulations of how to best capture it.

PC: In one of your first sessions as a band, you each brought your own influences, listened to a lot of music, and discussed how it made you feel. If someone’s discovering girlfriends for the first time, what emotion do you hope you evoke in the listener?
Travis: I hope people pick up on the nostalgia of our band. It’s very much influenced by the bands that we grew up listening to, while also projecting forward what we hope this scene and genre will be. I talk a lot about my struggles with mental health and relationships. I feel like falling in love and having your heart broken are so similar in terms of the impact emotionally, just on opposite sides of the spectrum. Naturally, these are two really easy topics for me to write about. I hope it brings a connection.

When I was growing up, my favorite bands and records were places that I turned to when I was going through formative experiences in life. The fact that we can be that destination for people now is the whole reason why we created this band.

PC: Often there’s a different vulnerability that you need to tap into when you’re releasing your own music. Has that ever been a scary prospect?
Travis: I think for the first record, for sure. I had taken a hiatus from releasing music. I had a solo project before that. I didn’t get to explore those topics. I don’t think people ever really heard me write about those things. When you’re putting yourself out there for the first time in a new way, it’s extremely vulnerable. I say this on stage all the time, but I feel so grateful and lucky that people have allowed me to be honest and open and have been receptive to the message that comes through in the music. We created this band to let people know that they’re not alone and that this can be the destination that you turn to when you’re going through something.

PC: You’ve had so much success so early on in your journey as a band. When you look back, is there a moment that stands out?
Travis: We’ve had a ton of those this year, which is a beautiful thing. Getting to go on tour with Avril in Europe was definitely a bucket list moment for us. Waking up in a new country every day, getting to go on stage with her during her set, playing a Blink-182 cover, and performing our songs in front of 15,000 people every night—it was surreal. We came back to the States and played our headline shows on the East Coast and had places like Brooklyn sell out as a new band. It feels good to plant our flag in these markets. Then, we went to the UK to play our first festival. We didn’t know if there were going to be 300 or 3,000 people, and the reception over there in a place that we’d never been was heartwarming and affirming. Now, we’re back on tour in the U.S. with Pierce the Veil. It’s been a whirlwind year. We’re feeling the momentum and we want to keep it going.

PC: If you had to pick a song off of Over My Dead Body that best encompasses who you are as a band, which would it be and why?
Travis: I think it would be “Plastic”. That song is one of my favorites in terms of the writing aspect. It came from a place of us not really making anything good for the first few hours. When we abandoned this idea of what it is to make the perfect song, that hook came to me. It started as a joke. I love how visual the chorus is. I love how real it is. The musicality in a song like that feels big. It’s poppy in the sense that it’s an earworm. Once you listen to it, you already know it; it feels like something you already know on that first listen. It’s oddly kind of warm in that way. Nick plays a guitar solo on that song that I absolutely love. It’s really fun to play live, so “Plastic”, for sure.

PC: Your band thrives on that live stage. How much does that environment inspire the songwriting experience and future projects?
Travis: So much. The live stage is where you get all of your information from. You can sit in a room all day with a few people in there and think it’s going to be the best song ever to perform. Then, you go on stage and the crowd will tell you that really fast. Being on the road informs what works and what doesn’t. I think taking that back into the studio when you’re writing is priceless. A lot of our music is geared toward a live show. We’re both musicians at heart. We both grew up touring. We can visualize us being on stage and performing while we’re writing, which is really fun.

Touring is the most rewarding part. You spend so much time in a room trying to make stuff—that’s the hard part for me. The most rewarding part is being on the road, playing shows, meeting the people who are listening to our music, forming friendships with the bands that we grew up listening to, and getting to see places that we’ve never been to before.

PC: Like you were saying earlier, this has been a banner year for the band. As we look ahead to the rest of 2023, what’s in store for girlfriends?
Travis: We have an exciting partnership that I don’t know when we’ll be able to announce, but probably within the next three months. That’s also a bucket list thing for us. It’s like crossing something off the bucket list that’s a dream come true. I was telling someone earlier that we’re assembling the emo Avengers. That’s how it feels for Nick and me. I can’t wait until we’re able to talk about it. We’ve been lucky to tour so much this year. We’re definitely going to go back into the studio and focus on album three.

Pop Culturalist Speed Round

PC: A band or artist that fans would be surprised to learn is on your playlist?
Travis: Maybe Rufus du Sol because it’s more electronic and EDM. We warm up to Rufus every night in the green room, which I know doesn’t make sense.

PC: First album you bought?
Travis: It was three albums. It was Blink-182’s Dude Ranch, NOFX’s Heavy Petting Zoo, and Linkin Park’s Hybrid Theory.

PC: First concert you attended?
Travis: It was Britney Spears because my little sister was a huge Britney fan. My dad got the family tickets. She threw out her pink cowboy hat and I caught it. Then, this 55-year-old dad punched me in the face and took the hat from me. I had to spend the rest of the concert in the medical tent because of my nose. I essentially opened up the mosh pit at the Britney show without realizing it.

PC: An album that changed your life and why?
Travis: Blink-182’s Enema of the State. That’s the band that made me want to become a musician. Those were the songs that I put on a pedestal above every other band, from the songwriting to the guitar playing to the musicality and Travis Barker’s drumming. They were able to balance heavy topics like the passing of their friends with songs like “What’s My Name Again” and “All the Small Things”. They didn’t take themselves too seriously, but they knew they were great musicians. It spoke to me, being a kid that grew up in Southern California. They were the destination of where I wanted to be and who I wanted to be.

PC: A venue on your bucket list to perform at?
Travis: Red Rocks. I have a funny story: we were supposed to play Red Rocks with MGK and Nick got COVID. But I want to headline Red Rocks one day.

PC: A must-have on the road?
Travis: Baby wipes. When you get off the stage, you’re really sweaty. I just want to wipe my face and the sweat off me.

To keep up with girlfriends, follow them on Twitter, Instagram, Spotify, and Apple Music. Get tickets to their tour here.

Photo Credit: Nathan James