“For the most part, one can be free to explore any aspect of life they want. A lack of judgment towards one’s aspirations, seems to be the status quo here, and it truly is encouraging”
Portland-based band Tenants are making waves with their debut album, Nighttime Sunshine, a record that balances light and dark themes with a nod to their favorite ‘80s influences.
Formed by members from across the globe—Portland, Sacramento, and Seville—the trio credits the creative freedom of their home city for shaping their sound.
Lead single “Only Right” and the synth-heavy “Lost Without” reflect the group’s love of vintage tones and modern songwriting.
Produced by Cameron Spies, the album represents a collaborative effort that pushed the band’s music into new, exciting territory.
Known for their energetic live shows, Tenants bring a raw intensity to the stage, offering fresh takes on their recorded tracks.
With upcoming performances and a second album already in progress, Tenants are embracing the momentum and exploring what’s next.
We caught up with them to talk process, influences, and life in Portland.
HAPPY: What are you up to today?
TENANTS: We’ve been enjoying performing the new music live for the most part.
We also are working on our next album at the same time.
It’s lots of work, but we couldn’t be happier to be doing so.
HAPPY: Tell us a little about where you’re from. What do you love about it?
TENANTS: Each of us come from different parts of the world.
Nate and Ryan are native to the west coast of the U.S. (Portland, Oregon and Sacramento, CA, respectively), while Michi is from Seville, Spain.
We love to call Portland our home because this city truly values one’s ability to be creatively free, not only in a musical sense, but in any way that you see fit.
For the most part, one can be free to explore any aspect of life they want. A lack of judgment towards one’s aspirations, seems to be the status quo here, and it truly is encouraging.
HAPPY: How has living in Portland influenced the music you make? Do you feel like the city’s vibe feeds into your sound?
TENANTS: Portland is a bit of a haven for the arts, sometimes it seems like everyone here has their own creative endeavour.
This makes for quite the melting pot – with a lot of wonderful bands, artists, and people – through living here we were truly able to come into our own as a band.
We’ve been exposed to so many different styles, perspectives, and experiences that you kind of learn to find your own voice as an artist and are encouraged to think outside of the box in your own terms.
We love Portland and the friends/fans we have made here so far.
HAPPY: What was the process behind writing your album opener, ‘Only Right’? Did you know from the start that it was going to set the tone?
TENANTS: Not necessarily from the start, but definitely by the end of the first week of recording sessions.
‘Only Right’ was the last song selected for recording during the pre-production phase about a week prior to the actual recording sessions.
The groove was initially written by Nate about a year and a half prior and lingered in our demos folder as an instrumental for that time.
We all loved the vibe of the demo and it was up for consideration, but it wasn’t until Ryan found some inspiration on a lunch break and wrote the melody and lyrics all within 30 minutes and sent it to the rest of the band that we knew it would be included on ‘Nighttime Sunshine’.
After a few days of tinkering with it in the studio with Cam we all unanimously agreed that it would become the lead single off of ‘Nighttime Sunshine’.
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HAPPY: What was it like working with producer Cameron Spies? How did he help shape the final sound of ‘Nighttime Sunshine’?
TENANTS: It was the best experience any of us have had working with a producer.
He’s such a kind and creative person and has an incredible ability to make us feel at ease while challenging us and our ideas while working with him in the studio.
The sound of ‘Nighttime Sunshine’ really stems from the four of us working together in the studio (Trash Treasury) – There is a very healthy overlap and contrast of musical tastes between the band and Cam that pushed our music into fun, new, and sometimes uncomfortable realms, all without being hindered by anyone’s ego.
The environment Cam helped to create as a producer felt inclusive and inviting; every one of us knew that we could openly share our ideas, experiment and (most importantly) make mistakes without being made to feel insecure while doing so.
Cam aided in encouraging exploration and unity within the band, and not only did that bring out the best in each individual, but it solidified our understanding and respect for one another as a band.
The moment where we all really felt like we had stumbled into the sonic blend we were after was while recording “Killing Time” a few days into the sessions.
We’re currently working with him on our sophomore record and are already diving deeper into our exploratory journey with Cam – We’re thrilled to be working with him again!
There’s a lot of ’80s influence in your sound, especially on tracks like ‘Lost Without.’ What is it about that decade’s music that resonates with you?
We all share a love for 80’s music due to its standalone nature. Music was forever changed during this time period due to many technological advances (mainly with the use of sampling, new synthesizers, and the drum machine being widely used).
Specific artists like Peter Gabriel and his work with producer Daniel Lanois on ‘So’, Quincy Jones’ work with Michael Jackson, Tears For Fears, and Hall and Oates have been very influential for us and remain constant sources of inspiration.
‘Lost Without’ was reworked and almost entirely rewritten prior to the recording process – the initial change happened when Michi programmed a drum beat into his Oberhiem DMX drum machine (from the 80’s) and Ryan added the synth bass on a Juno 60 (also from the 80s) – at this point we really just committed to the 80s vibe of the track and used a lot of gear from the era that we have or the studio had.
Michi really guided this track into some really fun 80s synth-pop and we’re happy to tip our hat to our idols on this track as much as we can.
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HAPPY: Your live shows are known for being super energetic. How do you take the energy of your album and bring it to the stage?
TENANTS: We like to view our live performances as an opportunity to let our songs adapt and grow as needed.
Sometimes this means making a song more intense in a live setting where it is more subdued in the recording.
For this reason, we’ve learned to approach performing with some level of reckless abandon, and try to let the music lead us to where it wants to be.
We have found that allowing for a “super energetic” take on our music works best for us live and allows us to connect with the audience in a deeper way.
The album title, ‘Nighttime Sunshine,’ has an intriguing contrast. What does it represent for the band and the music on the album?
Nate came up with it – he likes to find those contrasting sorta lines – at first we all though it just sounded interesting and fitting for the song.
Now we find it representing the comfort within embracing our own individual darkness with acceptance and maintaining some light-heartedness in dark moments.
The album itself has a balance between a lot of light and dark sounds, emotions, and narratives so we found that contrast to be fitting for the final title.
HAPPY: Looking ahead, what’s coming up?
TENANTS: We have a some live shows here in Portland on 11/29 at Polaris Hall and 12/14 at The Sixx that we’re prepping for – They will be the first show where we play every song off of ‘Nighttime Sunshine’ live and we couldn’t be more excited!
In addition we begin recording sessions for our sophomore album in early December and are busy polishing the tunes we’ve focused on for the first batch of sessions.
HAPPY: What makes you happy?
TENANTS: Creating music with our best friends and having the ability to share it with the world!
