There’s a rich history in rock of exes making beautiful music together. But what makes TeamMate’s story particularly compelling is how insurmountable drummer Dani Buncher and singer-keyboardist Scott Simons’ break up seemed. One day they were daydreaming about growing old together, and the next, Dani came out to her boyfriend. The two had been dating for a full decade.
In the four years since that gutting split, an extraordinary connection and a mutual love of music have helped them dismantle, then rebuild their relationship. “If we couldn’t be partners,” explains Scott, “we were still going to be teammates.”
These teammates just released an EP titled, “Love is Love” and are going to be in Atlanta to open for Skylar Grey at Vinyl on Tuesday, July 23. We got the chance to speak with them about their upcoming tour and here is what they had to say…
Tell us a little about the Love is Love single you guys just released.
We are both really passionate about the equality movement for gay rights and it just felt like the right timing and the idea kind of hit us and it just felt really appropriate and a good way to express our feelings about it. The first draft was a little bitterer but we thought it should be more positive and inspirational.
Did you know you were going to release the single on the day of the court hearing?
We kind of had our eye on when the court might come down with a decision, in our personal calendars we had down that we had to watch the news that day. We had been following the news and decided that we should put it out that day regardless of what happened.
How’s your tour with Skylar Grey been going?
The tours been great so far, they’ve been awesome. There’s only been about two nights so far.
What can we expect from a Teammate live show?
A lot of pyrotechnics, just kidding. A lot of energy, there’s two of us and we keep it pretty high energy as far as a live performance goes. Skylar has such a good show that we are just trying to be a good opening and try to get people in the mood for her set as well as introduce people to our music.
What are you guys working on right now?
We are working on trying to get through traffic in Connecticut. Haha. We put out an EP a few months ago so we are just working on promoting the EP and getting out there and working towards a full album.
Do you guys know when you’re going to start recording your full album?
We’ve been recording and all the songs are in various stages and we are getting close to having everything done. We are mixing right now but we’re still always writing Love is Love. For the most part, the record is pretty close to being done.
What is it like working on your music living on separate coasts?
A little more dramatic than I thought it would be, there is a lot of bouncing tracks back and forth connecting via Skype or iChat, whichever we feel like doing that day. Also, recording is so mobile now so if we are in the same place it’s easy to record as much as we can.
Is there anything else you’d like to say?
This is our first time in Atlanta so we are really excited for that as a band to get in front of people down there. It’s a great town and we can’t wait to be there.
Come out Tuesday, July 23rd to check out this awesome duo playing at Vinyl with Skylar Grey!
