One week from today, November 21st, indie retro pop/soul septet Couch will be at our very own Union Transfer as they prepare to play their most monumental gig yet just 24 hours later… but during an October phone chat with Zach Blankstein, the Couch lead guitarist tells me that they’re definitely quite excited for the Union Transfer show, as well: “On November 22nd we’re playing our biggest headlining show ever in our hometown of Boston, and all of our friends and family are gonna be there… And the night before, we’ll be in Philly at Union Transfer, which is, in my opinion, right up there with 9:30 Club in DC and The Independent in San Francisco in terms of the premier venues.”
Blankstein says that he and his six bandmates are actually quite the fans of the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection: “One of our first headlining shows ever was at The Foundry, and then we came back to The Foundry, and then we did New Year’s Eve with St. Paul & the Broken Bones at Brooklyn Bowl, and our most recent show was opening Philadelphia’s legendary Metropolitan Opera House for Cory Wong… We’ve gotten such a great taste of the Philly music community.” In fact, he’s speaking to me from Coatesville, PA, where he’s visiting Studio 4 Vinyl to pick up the vinyl pressings of Big Talk, Couch’s debut LP, which dropped the previous day (10/24).
Big Talk follows 2023’s Sunshower EP (the follow-up to a 2021 self-titled EP), which Zach tells me represents the culmination of the self-produced and self-managed group’s half-decade not just as a band, but as a collection of friends: “It’s six years in the making, of us meeting in late high school and early college, step-by-step up from the singles to the EPs to this.” However, he does admit that that phrasing feels a little funny: “It’s funny that wording, ‘decade,’ because it still feels so fresh and exciting.” He also tells me that Couch’s approach to Big Talk was a little different from previous releases: “We worked out a lot of these songs together in a room with our instruments, which we haven’t always done… It’s by far the most collaborative music we’ve ever made. Everyone has a writing credit on the album, and everyone has a producing credit on the album.”
The November 21st date at Union Transfer is part of an international headlining tour that kicked off last weekend in Detroit and wraps next March in the UK, with many dates already sold-out (including a stop at 9:30 Club tomorrow). I ask what can be expected of Couch’s live show on this run and Zach tells me that fans should definitely be prepared to hear Big Talk, but they can also expect to hear some of the classics in an updated form: “We’re gonna play the whole album every night of this tour and, for people who have seen us before, we’re reimagining a bunch of that stuff that they may have heard before.” He also says that they’ve definitely designed a show fit for these mega-rooms that they’re taking over: “We’re really leveling up the production with a real, proper lighting show.”
Couch hand-picked the support acts for the jaunt, which includes LA alt-rockers Night Talks (who you make have seen at Silk City this September), neo-soul duo Thumber, and Nashville-based singer/songwriter Stephen Day, who we met this February, prior to a sold-out headlining show at MilkBoy, who is opening this first round of dates, including next Friday at Union Transfer. And Zach tells me that he’s actually been a fan of the modern crooner for quite some time now: “We love Stephen Day! He wouldn’t be on this tour if we didn’t. He’s a little bit older than us, so I’ve been listening to him since high school, so it’ll be such an honor to share a stage with him and his band every night.”
In late September, Couch marked a pretty major milestone when they made their national television debut on CBS Saturday Morning’s Saturday Sessions, an opportunity for which Blankstein feels inclined to shout out the band’s publicists, Emily and Romy from Big Hassle (who are also phriends of PHILTHY, who have connected us with PHILTHY phavorites like MisterWives, Mipso, Maggie Rose, and many, many more…) Zach tells me that the experience would seem to represent a combination of all of the greatest things about Couch’s recent history: “I feel like it bridged the gap between the overwhelming pressure of playing to the biggest audience we’ve ever played to and just seven friends from high school and college, playing songs together, where it’s just fun and celebratory.” He goes on to joke, “I really feel like a broken record, but we really are just friends from high school and college who enjoying playing together and hanging out together.”
*Get your tickets here.
