Orlando alt rock band Felicity first came across my radar with their energetic cover of Harry Style's iconic Watermelon Sugar. The cover highlighted Felicity's own anthemic pop-punk style as it complemented Style's brilliant songwriting. Watermelon Sugar is an iconic pop track on its own, and Felicity's take on it does it impeccable justice.
After listening to this cover, I eagerly binged the rest of Felicity's discography...and I highly advise any fan of alternative rock to do the same. The band released their debut album, Dear Universe, in July. It encompasses a wide range of styles all beautifully executed by Felicity, just showing how multifaceted this group is.
We sat down with the band to talk about their Dear Universe and their journey to get to its release!
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How did you guys meet, and what inspired you to start creating music together?
FELICITY is a band that met on the wild & wonderful world of Craigslist. All of us are transplants here to the Orlando music scene, so when I (Andrew, Guitar) moved here I was eager to start a new band. I put out a post on the Musicians section of Craigslist looking for other like-minded people who might be brave enough to meet up and jam. I got a response from our singer Damien and we seemed to have some of the same musical interests and influences, so I took the leap and drove out to his parent’s garage, and well, the rest is history!
The anthemic style of your latest string of singles conveys a lot of heavy emotion (especially You Got This). What messages or feelings do you hope your listeners take from these new releases?
We feel like our new album “Dear Universe” is kind of a Buffett of music, there’s a little of something for everybody! There are heavier songs, pop-punk anthems, and straightforward pop songs. While the album transcends multiple genres the meaning and messages within the songs are entirely personal to us. The song “You Got This’ is about perseverance and hard work. When we started this band no one gave us any handouts, we didn’t have any friends in the local music scene in Orlando, we had to bite, claw, and scratch our way into every single opportunity we’ve earned. We wanted to write a song telling our story but also have a song where the lyrical content could be relatable to anyone. We didn’t want the song to be entirely about ourselves, we wanted it to be open enough that anyone could listen and find it applicable to their everyday life. “You Got This, You Got This, as long as you’re breathing, heart beating, and conscious…"
These singles really show an extensive range in your sound. The alt rock/metalcore aspects of Pendulum contrast the more pop-punk style of Lonely Nights, but you pull off both beautifully. Can you speak a bit to how you found that balance in your sound?
We’ve always been a band that wears many hats. We have such a diverse background of musical tastes from metal, rock, funk, pop, and grunge. We don’t really go into songwriting saying “we should write in THIS genre” we kind of just write music that we would want to listen to. As a band that listens to everything from Metallica, to Post Malone, to Red Hot Chili Peppers, to Blink-182 we usually end up writing batches of songs that cross many different genres. However, we really love witting pop-punk, metal, and post-hardcore which is what normally comes out the other end!
What can you tell us about the process of bringing your debut album to life?
In early 2019 we had just come back from the biggest tour we had been on. We felt on top of the world. Within a month we had let go of our manager at the time and our record label at the time had closed its doors. We were left with nothing but each other. While we definitely felt lost and uncertain of the future, we knew what we had to do. We banded together and started to write the songs that would become Dear Universe. We went into the studio in May of 2019 and recorded the songs. At the time we didn’t know if we were recording an LP or an EP or multiple EP’s we were just recording songs. We got the masters to the tracks in January 2020 and we felt ready to conquer the world…. Then we all know what happened in 2020 with the pandemic. Fast forward one year of patiently waiting and planning our moment, and HERE WE ARE! “Dear Universe” came out July 16th, 2021 and we couldn’t be happier with where we are! Signing to Adventure Cat record and Brightly Management, it’s truly a dream come true for us and further proof that timing is everything and everything happens for a reason!
Speaking of exciting new updates...what’s next for Felicity? Do you have any bucket list plans you’re working towards?
Well, we are playing a few local shows and festivals here in Central Florida and are hoping to get out on the road as soon as we can! The music industry is still reeling and recovering from the past couple years of turmoil, but we are 100% ready when the time is right! Oh! And since we recorded ‘Dear Universe’ in 2019 we are ready to record the NEXT album and have already gotten started on it!
Are there any artists you've found yourselves inspired by lately? Or maybe just rising artists you’ve been hooked on?
We’ve been really inspired by Royal Blood, Point North, Trash Boat, Machine Gun Kelly, Four Year Strong, Silverstein, and Senses Fail lately. Also, we’re still listening to “The Silver Scream” by Ice Nine Kills on repeat since 2018 hahaha!
What are some of the biggest challenges you have had to face as a band?
I think the biggest challenge for us is always wanting to do MORE and MORE and MORE. Our biggest hurdle has been ourselves and learning to be patient. You can’t take over the world overnight and we’ve learned that over the last 6 years. At the end of the day if we can make one new fan a day and help one person by cheering them up, inspiring them, or helping them through a difficult time, that’s all that matters at the end of the day.
If your band had a theme song, what would it be?
“Dream on” by Aerosmith
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Interview by Ashtyn Layne