The new album, “But Do We Ever Ask Ourselves” serves as a culmination of the last three years for the band
There are a lot of dividing events occurring in the world right now. But instead of placing the blame on others, one local band is instead inciting others to begin to take a look at what they can do to benefit the world.
Local pop/rock band, “The Millenium” released their debut album, “But Do We Ever Ask Ourselves?” today, a project long in the making.
Since forming in early 2014, the band has endured a plethora of life changing events. They have been on a large number of national tours, dealt with lineup changes, released two EP’s and now their debut album is finally hitting listeners today.
Lead singer of The Millenium, Matthew Hasenmueller, says the band’s time together has been both challenging and rewarding up to this point.
“It has been a roller coaster,” Hasenmueller said. “Very tumultuous at times, the highs have been higher than I have experienced in the past and the lows have been lower. We’ve all been growing so much as people that sometimes you grow closer in some areas and apart in others, because that is what humans do. Everything has been great, because sometimes great can be bad and sometimes great can be good.”
Two of the singles from the new album were released upwards of six months ago, and have become live staples for the quartet. “Interstates” is an anthemic power pop track and “Stay” has lyrical melodies reminiscent of mid 2000’s era pop/rock outfits such as Death Cab for Cutie and Jimmy Eat World among others.
The band’s most recent release, serving as the lead single for the record, is the catchy pop track, “Midnight Bones.” The song has received heavy rotation on Blugold Radio and has generated a lot of interest in the new record. It’s lyrics revolving around love and wanting to have a memorable night have captivated many listeners and generated a lot of interest in the full-length project.
Of the 11 songs on the record, Hasenmueller says the band is specifically excited about the audience’s reaction to one particular track.
“I think we are all excited about the last track on the album, “Of All Things,” Hasenmueller said. “We wrote it to be a culmination for the record. The whole record builds to it (especially the last 25 seconds). It’s a great way of describing what the last three years have been like for us.”
The album’s title also has generated a lot of questions about the meaning behind it. Hasenmueller says the title is a thinker that was generated by a now departed founding member of the group.
““It was actually Kyle Culver (former acoustic guitarist in The Millenium) that came up with it,” Hasenmueller said. “He texted me one night and said that he had the title for the record. He said that I probably wouldn’t like it at first but I just had to think about it. For the last couple of years we had talked about how culturally our society is changing so much into this internet and smartphone era, and reacting online to others instead of asking what they can do to change themselves. I think that a large aspect of human growth is the ability to change yourself from the inside out. So, overall the title just stems from asking people to take a look at themselves before they start to attack others.”
The record is now out and people can consume it. But now that this goal has been accomplished, what is The Millenium’s next move?
“We are working on becoming a band that is producing content all of the time in all aspects of multimedia,” Hasenmueller said. “Art, imagery, more songs, because these days you can’t just be a musician anymore, you have to be an artist on all levels. So, we are looking forward to making videos for the songs, gallery photos, journal entries, and quicker releases (rather than waiting another three years for a record to come out). Of course all of that comes on top of playing as many shows as we can.”
The Millenium has become one of the most popular groups in the Eau Claire area due to their hard work on perfecting their live show, producing songs that listeners can connect to and staying true to themselves even when dealing with diversity. This new album is a culmination of all that they’ve been through so far, and it will be exciting to see where they go from here.
If you’d like to hear The Millenium’s new album, “But Do We Ever Ask Ourselves” you can visit their Spotify page, their YouTube account, or head over to their Facebook page for more information.
Also, today on Blugold Radio one track from the debut album will be airing on Blugold Radio 99.9FM at 3pm, 5pm and 7pm. A selection of tracks from the release will also be added to regular Blugold Radio programming.
***article by Blugold Radio’s Parker Reed***