WHY NOT

WHY NOT is the Minneapolis trio’s self-titled mission statement. Fueled by the tension and uncertainty of the time and the changes in the band’s personal lives—from graduating high school and moving out of their childhood homes to growing into and out of long term relationships—and colored by the joy of creating with each other and feeling inspiration in dark times.

Henry Breen, Isaac Dell, and Joshua MacGregor met playing in a middle school music class at Great River School in St. Paul, MN. The trio formed WHY NOT in early 2016 as Breen and MacGregor enrolled in high school at nearby St Paul Conservatory of Performing Artists while Dell continued at Great River. Before any band member could drive, they had released their first album and booked their first tour—relying on Isaac’s dad, Irve, for transportation to their shows.

Now based in Minneapolis, the band have pivoted from their math rock and punk beginnings, incorporating more of their wide variety of musical influences and showcasing their burgeoning songcraft. The result is an amalgamation of punching drums, intricate guitars, digital distortion, and whatever experimental recording technique the band uncovers all built around an incredibly memorable suite of songs.

WHY NOT was born on retreats to Dell’s family farm in Viroqua, WI. Holed up with no cell service, the band spent most of their days set up in the living room, demoing songs, reading books, and taking walks around the property. When an idea would hit, they would chase the initial feeling, sometimes going through dozens of evolutions, building the original core demos into the album in its final form over time.

The band enlisted Minneapolis producer and brother of MacGregor, Caleb Hinz (Hippo Campus, Samia, Miloe), to produce WHY NOT, booking their first session at Flowers studio in Minneapolis at the end of summer 2020. The group confesses they didn’t end up recording much during those sessions, instead using their time together to reconnect and get the human connection they were all desperately searching for throughout that summer. After six months had passed, the group reconvened at Hippo Campus’ recording studio and finished the tracking over the course of the next couple of weeks. The result is a virtuosic, genre-fluid statement from a young band just beginning to harness the heights of their craft.