You’d probably never see the heavy riffs coming if you were judging The Globes strictly on appearances, and they’d be the first ones to admit it.
“That’s part of our charm, I think,” guitarist and vocalist Kyle Musselwhite said. “People don’t really know what to expect because we aren’t the most stylish or imposing group of guys, but we can crank it up. We’ve always tried to catch that element of surprise, which is what we do when we write our music as well.”
Disguised in plaid shirts and plastic-rimmed glasses, they are rock stars united in the belief that the best music comes from the unexpected. They even started with the ultimate deep cover: band geeks.
“We all came from high school band,” Musselwhite said, “and were just excited to start playing our own music.”
The Globes started with an orchestral-rock sound reminiscent of those days, albeit a bit cooler, and the Washington-based band shifted to a style reminiscent of art-rock acts like Superchunk and Sebadoh. After puttering around Spokane, the group moved to Seattle to make a more serious go at it.
“It was hard at the beginning.
We played shows frequently, but no one seemed to care too much,” Musselwhite said. “We moved to Seattle and started growing into our own thing, but the shows were still pretty dismal. Then something clicked. We’d come home to Spokane and play sold-out shows, then started getting more recognition in Seattle, too.”
Soon, The Globes attracted the attention of Barsuk Records — home of Death Cab for Cutie and Oklahoma’s own Starlight Mints — which offered to put out the band’s debut record.
“When that started happening, it was a big moment for us. We never had that high of expectations, and it brought things into question ... how far each of us was willing to go,” Musselwhite said. “Then we made the right decision, that this is what we wanted to do: Just keep the band going.”
The Globes released “Future Self” last month to strong reviews and will follow its appearance at Washington’s Sasquatch! Music Festival with dates alongside the likes of ’90s alt-rock heroes Archers of Loaf and emo forefathers The Get Up Kids. The album has caught more than a few by surprise, and the band looks forward to supporting it throughout the summer.
“It seems like people are getting it, what the music is about and what we are trying to do,” Musselwhite said. “That’s all we could hope for.”
