Yr 2nd Fav Boy Band: From Como to Orlando, Post Sex Nachos dance-rock across the map

Courtesy of Post Sex Nachos

Formerly of Columbia, and now based out of Nashville, Post Sex Nachos are, per the title of their 2022 album of the same name, your second favorite boy band. Based on the fun and joie de vivre one hears in the music made by this danceable alt-rock five-piece, one can only assume that your number one is probably Brockhampton. Since 2018, Post Sex Nachos have been cranking out song after song designed to get you singing along, and having as much fun on the dance floor as they do at each of their gigs.

Prima/Vera, released in February, sees Post Sex Nachos moving from groovy indie pop, into synth-heavy dance rock. It’s as if they heard the way acts like Phoenix, Daft Punk, and Justice, took ‘70s and ‘80s American funk, and repurposed it for European ears, taking those acts’ reinterpretations and reclaiming them.

That’s probably too complicated a way to listen to tracks like the Greeting Committee collaboration “Talk About It” or how the bassline in “Four Leaf Clover” hits harder than a six-foot-five, 220-pounder’s sucker-punch. That’s why we hopped on the phone with the band’s guitarist Mitch Broddon, lead vocalist/guitarist Sammy Elfy, keyboardist Kevin Jerez, bassist Chase Mueller, and drummer Hunter Pendleton—along with engineer Drew Brodsky—while the band’s van trucked through the desert Southwest, making their way to play the Paramount in Los Angeles. We started by asking how every album ends up being a jump from the next one in terms of genre.

“We definitely try to grow as much as possible, both in production quality and then also just in songwriting,” Broddon says. “I think it’s that we like each other and like the music we make.”

Courtesy of Post Sex Nachos

Prima/Vera was recorded at the Bomb Shelter in Nashville and produced by Hembree’s Isaac Flynn.

“He was in town with us and living at our place when we were doing that,” Elfy says. “ It was just great.”

“Just a bunch of dudes surviving off of Trader Joe’s,” Mueller jokes.

“We recorded all the drums, bass, and a lot of the synthesizers that they had out there was one of the reasons we went there,” Elfy says. “That was two full days and then we took everything home, basically, and then did guitars and vocals and other synth stuff, and a lot of pre-mixing at home.”

Jerez went ham on a slew of vintage equipment, making those synths the hallmark of this new project. One of the key highlights is the clavinet breakdown on “Talk About It.” The clavinet that was in the studio was Stevie Wonder’s touring keyboardist’s clavinet, and one of the prophets was also used by Michael Jackson’s touring keyboardist.

“It was sick,” Jerez says. “If one of them is Greg Phillinganes, I’m gonna shit a brick. But yeah, I mean, they were amazing. I feel like they were the exact sounds that I wanted to put down on the album. They were like a wonderland, for sure.”

Courtesy of Post Sex Nachos

A big part of why Post Sex Nachos took the approach of making a synth-heavy record is simply due to the fact that the band had access to hard synths this go-around. Previously, everything had been done via MIDI emulation, Elfy says, continuing on to say, “Also, just as a group, we’ve grown a lot together since Kevin joined, and I think we’ve been able to identify a lot of the strengths in songwriting, and a lot of that does come from a synth-forward track.”

In dissecting just what influenced Prima/Vera, Post Sex Nachos nod to Strfkr, Starwolf, a decent amount of MGMT, and Passion Pit for “Talk About It,” along with admitting that there are a few cuts influenced by their producer’s band, Hembree, as well as, yes, Phoenix.
“For ‘Mushroom Cloud,’ it was a direct result of me listening to Phoenix’s 2009 album front-to-back,” Elfy says. “That’s where that guitar part came from.”

One of the big singles off the new album is the aforementioned “Talk About It,” featuring the Greeting Committee and it came about through a festival appearance. When the Greeting Committee played the Innovation Festival at Crown Center in 2022, Broddon met Addie Sartino, the band’s frontperson, and the two became quick friends.

“When Addie moved to Nashville, she didn’t know a lot of people there,” Broddon says. “So, she reached out, we started hanging out, and then when it came time when we were making our record, I asked if she wanted to come hang out while we were recording.”

Prima/Vera Cover

Post Sex Nachos was working on what became “Talk About It,” and then Sartino asked to do a feature.

“She offered,” Broddon continues. “She really liked the song. We cut her vocals the next day. She wrote a verse and Pierce Turcotte added some tasteful saxophone to the track, and the rest is history.”

As the band says, the work of Sartino and Turcotte really brought the song to life. Not bad for the band’s first time collaborating with another band like that.

“To be able to do it with people as talented as them is really an honor,” Broddon says.

The tour that the band is on is going great guns, with Post Sex Nachos having played Houston for the first time a week prior to the interview, which they describe as “a pleasant surprise,” if not an outright ripper.

“Part of the cool thing about this tour, I think, is that we get to obviously play a bunch of markets that we’ve already played before, we know we have solid fan bases in, but part of the fun, too, is showing up to cities we’ve never played before, and just being like, ‘Well, alright, we’ll see who shows up in Orlando, or New Orleans, or Houston,’ for example,” Broddon says. “Thus far in this tour, and I’m not sure what it is, but we’ve had just, you know, a load of success in new markets and meeting new people.”

With a new album that offers Post Sex Nachos collaborating with friends and colleagues, such as the Greeting Committee and Hembree, and a tour of new cities for the band to gain recognition supporting it, one wonders just what the band can do to top it. But playing the main stage at this year’s Boulevardia Festival seems like a pretty solid accomplishment. After Post Sex Nachos’ barn-burning closing set at the Park Stage in 2023, it only seems natural for the band to move on over to the big time for 2024.

“We had so much more support in Kansas City than I think any of us could have imagined,” Mueller says. “It was crazy the amount of people that were enveloping that little, tiny stage. Made us feel really connected to the city and I think the Boulevardia people felt that, and so they want us to play on the big stage, and we humbly accept.”