I took a trip to the Strawberry Patch with Strawberry Launch

Audiences are growing tired of media-trained, squeaky-clean artists— they want to get to know their favourite artists on a personal level, they’re craving honesty. Enter Strawberry Launch, a New York based band that’s shaking up the scene. Few bands can capture the essence of authenticity that Strawberry Launch naturally radiates. Formed through serendipitous connections and driven by a shared passion for music, this band has rapidly grown from humble beginnings to performing at major festivals like North by Northeast (NXNE), which is where we met.

The night was young, I was leaning against the concrete wall at the Collective Arts Taproom, earbuds in (protect your hearing kids!!!) as I watched Strawberry Launch take the stage. I immediately piped up and joined the small crowd in the middle of the room, swaying and bobbing to the beat. By the end of their set, the room was full, the people were dancing, and the crowd seemed enchanted by the band.

While the next band (shoutout Under High Street) set up I grabbed another beer and scurried over to their merch table to talk to the band’s pianist Taylor, and lead singer, Riiza. Turns out it’s a small world and Taylor is good friends with some of the band members of The Dutch Kills, whose music stayyys blasting in my AirPods. The band only had one more day left in Toronto so I suggested that we meet up the next day at Trinity Bellwoods.

Despite the recent bad weather, Mother Nature granted us a warm and sunny day. Trinity was packed as usual but we managed to grab an empty picnic table and got to chatting.

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Strawberry Launch is a testament to the power of chance encounters and the power of mutuals. The band's formation started with their lead singer Riiza, who was looking to form a girl band. Her friend Miss Grit, who politely declined the invitation to join her as she was setting out in the music industry on her own, recommended a list of guitarists. Riiza cold-called the first name on the list, who just so happened to be Matrianna, the band’s current guitarist.

"We met at her dorm at NYU and I was blown away by her shred skills” Riiza shares as the six of us sit in the park, doing our best to avoid the heat.

“I think I remember her calling and leaving me a voicemail. We met up and once we started adding more instruments— I knew Abby, our bass player: we were in the same grade at NYU and we both studied music technology. Then keys, Taylor, came a year later to New York but I knew her from Chicago. We've known each other since like, I was like 13 or something— we played together in Chicago at School of Rock. So that's how I knew her and I knew she was coming to New York, and I thought, ‘Oh, we should add keys to our band’. So we did” explains Matrianna.

From there the band expanded to include all its present members: Riiza (lead singer), Matrianna Gahol (guitarist), Abby Flicker (bass), Taylor Hurt (keys), and Benjy Berkowitz (drums).

Strawberry Launch originally started with a more Rock-centric sound, but the addition of keys marked a significant shift in their musical direction, transitioning to incorporate more Indie Pop elements. The shift was driven by their growing confidence in songwriting and a natural inclination to experiment.

”When keys were added, that pushed us into Pop a little more. I also think as we've gotten more confident in our songwriting and experimenting, that's really changed our sound. We haven't really sat down and committed to a genre, though. It's just what we enjoy making, I guess, and it happens to fall into the Indie Pop-Rock realm” says Matrianna.

The band was in town for Toronto’s NXNE festival (which SYNT had the pleasure of covering) and it was most of the member’s first time in Canada. Don’t worry, Taylor gave us a gold star, “Everyone's so nice— I keep forgetting that it's a different country just because there are a lot of similarities. But so far, Canada is really nice.”

Getting to travel across the border together only strengthened their bond as a band, as they enjoyed the city and its vibrant music scene more leisurely. “A lot of the times when we travel together, we're on a tour. Being able to do [just one] show and have time to experience a city has been nice!” says Riiza.

The band has recently been getting some traction on social media, especially TikTok, and in today's digital age, social media is an indispensable tool for musicians. I wanted to know what their thoughts on the whole thing were, and despite the occasional frustration of creating content, the band recognized the importance of maintaining an online presence.

“TikTok, unfortunately, or fortunately, is kind of something that you have to do, especially in the Indie Pop realm. It's helped so many artists gain traction,” Riiza explains.

“I think when I view it [creating content] as just part of my job, because Strawberry Launch is my life, then it's just easier to post those things and get through the day,” Riiza adds, “something that’s really beautiful about Strawberry Launch is it’s really just a combination of all of our personalities.”

I’m always curious about a band’s songwriting process and from our brief hangout I could tell that each member brought their unique flair to the group, so I wondered how that translated into their musical processes. They told me that it’s a collaborative effort,

“A lot of the times, either one of us will come up with an instrumental idea and bring it to rehearsal, or Riiza will come in with lyrics. Riiza writes all the lyrics, and then as a band, we'll kind of put together what makes sense,” Taylor shares.

They often draw inspiration from various sources, including mood boards and Spotify playlists, “we also have a Spotify playlist, capturing different sounds that we like in certain songs,” Riiza says, before exploring her relationship with lyric writing. “I come from a top-lining background, and I don't play anything the way these guys can play. So even if I come up with some kind of some words or some kind of structure, that morphs into whatever they're doing. It's very much a group effort. We sound the way we sound because of everybody's strengths here. And we're very privvy to kind of like compromising and, you know, finding what works best for everybody. I try not to take any structure too personally because it's what's best for the song and best for the band, which is what I care about most.”

What caught my eye the night before was the band’s stage presence and how carefree they were on stage. It was the type of comfort that only came from years of practice and strong bonds. Though certain parts were definitely rehearsed, like the little synchronized dance movements they all did during Sweet Basil, most of the energy seemed to just come naturally, influenced by the infectious enthusiasm of the crowd.

“I think what we're really trying to do is like, when we start shows, we want people to have like a full embodiment of the Strawberry Launch experience. We want people to feel like they're in our universe for however long our set is. Some of the things that we've added have not only coloured in those lines but now there's a comfortability on stage that we have that I don't think that we had, you know, until like the maybe the last year, year and a half.” Riiza emphasizes, highlighting the band’s goal of creating an immersive experience for their audience.

The band has released a few singles this year off their upcoming EP "Bad Luck": "Videos" and "Ready Yet" are two of the singles, which have quickly become fan favourites. They gushed about how much they loved each and every song on the EP but the general consensus was that their favourites to play live were “Ready Yet”, “Emily”, and “Videos”.

“I think ‘Ready Yet’ is probably our highest production value on a song, it’s really crispy and clean and lush— I love the production,” Abby shares, “Jackson Hoffman did the production on that one and he slayed it. ‘Video’ is also really fun, it’s our most experimental song. We’ve been chatting a little bit about taking a more experimental turn for our next project and Video was a good sort of entry-point, like ‘oh yeah, we can do weird dissonant chords and screaming and all this fun stuff’.”

Before I departed and let them go explore the rest of the city, I had to know — if they could only listen to one album on repeat for the rest of their lives, which would it be?

RIIZA: Preacher’s Daughter (2022) - Ethel Cain

TAYLOR: Titanic Rising (2019) - Weyes Blood

MATRIANNA: The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess (2023) - Chappell Roan

ABBY: Aja (1977) - Steely Dan

BENJY: The Front Bottoms (2011) - The Front Bottoms

BUT! The Strawberry Launch’s group summer bop is obviously BRAT: “Every time we get in a vehicle, it’s been on repeat all week".”

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