By Laura Latzko, April 2017 Web Exclusive.
Spencer Bryant and Haley Gold grew up singing and playing music together in Phoenix.
Today, as the indie pop/power duo formally known as 76th Street, Bryant (guirat, vocals) and Gold (keyboard, vocals) recently released the single and a music video for the song “Hurricane.”
The 76th Street duo will perform on the Phoenix Pride Festival’s Bistro Stage from 5 to 5:45 p.m. April 1. (For Echo's complete Pride weekend coverage, click here.)
Echo Magazine caught up with the duo ahead of the appearance at Pride and here’s what they had to say.
Echo:Did you both grow up in Arizona?
Gold: We are actually both from Phoenix; 76th Street is the band name that we got from where we grew up. We were both on either side of 76th Street.
Bryant: We actually met when we were 10 years old and, right off the bat, we both realized we loved music. We started singing together right away … [and] have been best friends since then – and the music was an add-on.
Echo:When you were 10, what type of music were you playing?
Gold: When we first started, we were doing musicals … After a couple years, we decided that we wanted to form our own duo.
Echo:Did the two of you bring in different influences musically?
Gold: I think that our sound has definitely been influenced by our own personal favorites. Spencer used to listen to a lot of Taylor Swift, and I was listening more to Sara Bareilles …When we brought the music together, we kind of created a whole new sound that we weren’t really expecting, but we think it’s working.
Echo:What has kept the two of you involved in music since age 10?
Bryant: Definitely just our love of music, for both of us. What has really kept us going is that it really is more than just a hobby.
Gold: It’s never felt like work to us. We do have to practice, of course, to perfect our art, but when we’re tired of our school work, tired of side jobs, we just want to come back and play music.
Echo:Has your music had a specific theme or focus?
Gold: We really like to focus our writing on strength and independence, and I feel like that’s based off of where we are in life right now.
Bryant: I think we just want to empower others to chase their dreams. We’re balancing college and life, and it can be hard, from other people’s point of view, how we are chasing this crazy dream … We just want to empower other people to not be afraid to do something crazy that other people aren’t doing.
Echo:Who do you feel is the audience for your music?
Bryant: We’ve heard that our music really appeals from womb to tomb. We have little kids that are dancing around to our music, and we have grandparents or older crowds loving our music as well.
Echo:Do you both have favorite songs that you really connect with every time you perform them?
Gold: Lately, since “Hurricane” is our newest single, we’re always excited to share that song and talk about the story behind it.
Bryant: Our first single we released, “You and I,” I think that’s really special to us. We wrote it in our dorm room freshmen year.
Echo: I have to ask: Are there times when you need a break from each other?
Gold: I honestly don’t know how, but we don’t ever fight. We’re so in sync with each other that it really just works … We played lacrosse together all through high school. We did our plays together. We did volleyball together. Pretty much everything growing up. Of course, I want our careers to be together too.
Echo: Do you have any plans for an album in future?
Gold: We decided that by the time that we graduate, we’d like to have a full EP, which would be six songs. Hopefully, we will be working on that this summer … I think that we really just want our music to tell the story of independence and people going through this coming-of-age time.
For more on 76th Street, like them on Facebook at facebook.com/76thstreet or visit 76thstreet.net.
76th Street
Phoenix Pride Festival’s Bistro Stage
5-5:45 p.m. April 1
