Member of wats
Micah, you mentioned to us that you write play and record your music with your brother, Noah. Would you say it’s easier or harder maintaining an artistic and professional relationship with your brother?
“It can definitely be a strain on our relationship, but I would say most days a healthy balance between professional and family life prevails. We’ve spent our whole lives together so there’s a bond between us that disagreement can’t break. At the end of the day he’ll always be my brother and one of my closest friends. And I know he would say the same about me.”
As a Midwest-based literature magazine, Portage takes the idea of the Midwest very seriously. Is there anything about your work that strikes you as distinctly Midwest, either in the piece itself or in your process of writing it?
“This is a great question. There’s definitely a couple things that come to mind. Culver’s is ALWAYS fuel for recording sessions and one of our oldest songs is about the Michigan sand dunes we camped at every year growing up.”
Music is a very popular industry, and artists are subjected to a lot of judgement. What are some tools you use when handling rejection or criticism?
“Hmm. A big part for me is shifting my perspective. Who are we making our music for? Us or them? You can always find someone, somewhere, who doesn’t like what you’ve done but you’re music doesn’t exist to please them. We’re making music to satisfy a longing to create something new, and to connect to others through relatable emotion. To let people know they’re not alone in feeling sad, stupid, or happy. All criticism is opinion. Receiving criticism stings. But I would rather release something unique and take a little heat than stress and obsess over if what we’re doing is going to be well received.”
“We’re the band wats!
Wats is me (Micah) and my brother Noah. We’ve been playing music together since we were kids and we’ve spent the last few years recording and writing together more seriously. We recorded an EP in 2018 and in early 2019, ‘Love – wats’, hit the streets. It mainly focuses on honesty and the weirdness of social norms. We’re proud of that EP, but we’re even more proud of the album we’re working on now. It’s different from anything we’ve done before. Being a duo is really fun because freedom for expression is so high. Currently we do music long distance. Noah lives in Michigan and I live in Wisconsin. It’s difficult but we make it work, the internet is our friend!”
Check out wats’ music with the links below!
Portage Magazine 