Speak Easy, a band founded by Troy students, discusses their origins
Speak Easy, formerly known as Guilty Pleasure, is a rock band formed by Troy University students who have grown as friends and as a band over the past year.
“We just do what we want to, love what we do, and have fun,” said Jack Anderson, a senior multimedia journalism major from Dothan, Alabama, and lead vocalist of Speak Easy. “We were actually a band before we all met.”
Anderson met Nathan Braisted, a junior multimedia journalism major from Troy and the lead guitarist for Speak Easy in a journalism class last spring. It was then that Anderson asked Braisted if he wanted to get together and play music over spring break.
Braisted and Anderson, accompanied by then-lead drummer Collis Adcock, played for the first time and afterward made themselves official with a group chat and the name Guilty Pleasure.
After Adcock’s departure, the group decided to rebrand to the more distinguishable name Speak Easy.
“We changed the name because we wanted to put out our own music and do our own thing, and there’s quite a bit of Guilty Pleasures,” Anderson said.
Lead bassist Tate MacNicol was the fourth addition to Speak Easy, who then brought on his high school friend Cole Brown to replace Adcock on the drums.
Braisted said from the very first time playing, he knew he had found his people.
“I have never meshed as well musically with anyone else, and we all knew we had something special and just went from there,” Braisted said.
Speak Easy has had success booking several gigs ranging from local bars to a Phi Mu sorority event in Jacksonville, Alabama. The four have had to slow their booking down recently, however, largely due to Anderson’s involvement with the Troy University track and field team.
“We played a lot of classic rock in the beginning, but now we play more songs that college students know by heart with some oldies sprinkled in,” Braisted said.
Speak Easy’s setlists are hard to label with a specific sound, often covering artists ranging from Radiohead to Rage Against the Machine. This can be attributed to each member’s differing musical taste and the fact that each member rotates positions and instruments.
“We all try to play every instrument in the show and rotate, so we play pretty much any genre we want to play for that week,” Anderson said. “We pretty much try to let everyone have their moment.”
The four-man group is currently sitting on original songs that are waiting to be polished for digital release.
“This summer, we’re looking to really push something out,” Anderson said. “We definitely expect some stuff from us this summer.
“We’re definitely trying to put our head down and go as far as we can with it.”
Speak Easy is also currently planning on holding a concert at the Troy Amphitheater on April 20th.
“We want everyone to come out and have a good time,” Braisted said. “There’s going to be plenty of music for everyone to love.
“Our setlist has something for everybody.”
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