DJ Rat Talks With Villagerrr at Rest Stop in Texarkana On their Way to Austin TX

Soft ambient sounds of a guitar and the essence of innocence are the sonic tenderness that radiates from Villagerrr, the indie-folk band from Columbus Ohio.

Villagerrr is led by Mark Scott, the creative voice behind the profoundly intimate lyrics and melodies. Ben Malicoat, the guitarist and percussionist, drummer Zayn Dweik, Bassist Cam Garshon, and Guitarist Colton Hamilton make up the rest of the five-piece band. The close friendship and unique connection of the band give the band a familial identity adding to the mythos of their sound.

After their first home-recorded album, "Like Leaves," released in 2022, the band is set to release their sophomore project later this month.

What is your go to appetizer?

Cam Garshon: French onion soup or fried pickles!

Mark Scott: I like cheese curds.

Zyan Dweik: Definitely fried Okra.

Darren: Cheese curds are a big Midwest thing right?

Zyan Dweik: Oh yeah, We're big dippers man we love to dip --

All over each other: Oh not like that like --

Darren: Well okay then what's your go to dip?

Cam Garshon: Well it depends! If you're dipping onion rings or fried pickles obviously ranch...

Zyan Dweik: Barbecue sauce!

Cam Garshon: Honey mustard as well.

Have you been to Austin before? How do you like it here?

Mark Scott: People have been so kind and so welcoming. It's such a small part of it, but they expose you to so much cool stuff every time we're here.

Zyan Dweik: Also that Keep Austin Weird Mantra, it's actually so true. It felt different than any other place in Texas. They're a little different.

Cam Garshon: I've been flashed multiple times. I have never been flashed in my entire life and I was flashed twice just in the course of the few hours we were there to play our show.

River Ain't Safe, is the latest single from Villagerrr off their newest album, "Tear Your Heart Out."

Congratulations on the new album. How are we feeling about that? How has the response been from fans on the tour?

Mark Scott: It's kind of funny because I feel like we don't what a lot of bands do, where they play all the new songs off the newest thing. We kind of play things from all over the place. Sometimes it's stuff that I just recorded a few months ago.

Cam Garshon: Or weeks, or even a week, depending.

Mark Scott: It seems cool though, I think people like the new stuff, they're fun to play and we're trying new things.

Zyan Dweik: I think one cool thing about this album people have been liking is how we've been playing it half live for a while now and I think it's cool that our fans are finally getting to hear songs that we've been playing and see how they live it. We're also always throwing in new ones. I think we get bored kind of easily saying the same stuff so when you come to hear us live you're probably gonna get a couple of tracks off the new thing couple of old ones and a whole lot more. Hopefully, it's exciting for other people to know you're going to hear something new probably every time.

Cam Garshon: And Mark just like cranks-out songs. In between when he started the new album that's about to come out and now he's probably written enough songs for like two more albums. We have to wait for this release obviously but it never ever stops.

Zyan Dweik: Dude is prolific and that feels like an understatement. He keeps us on our toes. There's always l songs in the chamber.

How do you find time to constantly crank out songs then Mark?

Mark Scott: It's honestly pretty random but I usually do have to be alone. I also honestly just try not to think about it too much.

Cam Garshon: They normally come out as periods of isolation, though not to talk for you. He's a big thinker for sure. He spends a lot of time in his own head. So when he has the time to kind of like sit down for a while and actually process it, that's where a lot of his songs come from.

Zyan Dweik: I don't know how Mark writes the songs but I do know every once and a while we'll get off a phone call and I'll see in that span of time he'd have sent me a bunch of songs. He'll hit me up anytime -- could be three am could be three in the afternoon.

How do you stay grounded on tours like these?

Cam Garshon: Something that's really helped us through the different tours is we always leave time for something kind of weird and fun. We saw the Alamo. We went to Waco, Texas, and saw the Branch Davidian cult church. We might go see a 30-foot-tall eyeball or something?

Zyan Dweik: We just saw where Jeff Buckley died.

Cam Garshon: When we were in Muncie, Indiana, we went to the Muncie Indiana town hall and convinced a cop to let us in even though it was closed so we could see a statue of Garfield, dressed like Garth Brooks, and it was called Garf Brooks and we did take pictures with him.

Cam Garshon: Bens also big on meditation

Ben Malicoat: Headphones in world off.

Anything you would want to say to your Texas audience?

Zyan Dweik: We're grateful to be back in Texas. There's so much music going around in Austin. We love this music City and we're glad to be a part of it.

Thank you Villagerrr for talking with us.

Follow Vilagerrr here.

Graphic by Maile Carballo