Chicago’s premier indie band, Varsity – Stef Smith (vocals/keyboard), Dylan Weschler (guitar), Patrick Stanton (guitar) and Paul Stolz (bass), and Jake Stolz (drums) – has just released their latest album, Souvenirs. Wanting to change things up, last year Varsity decided that they would forgo the traditional release cycle and release one song a month, every month. Souvenirs is the collection of those singles they released in 2023 and gives them a proper home. The Souvenirs title emphasizes how a song can capture and crystallize a moment in time. Guitarist and songwriter Pat Stanton said, "Each song represents a moment in time from the year past. Not only what music we were listening to and were inspired by, but where each one of us was at emotionally."

Each song off of Souvenirs was written, recorded, mixed, mastered, and released each month of 2023. The process started over at the beginning of each month, meaning that Varsity had no idea what that month’s song was going to look like or sound like by the end. Pulling inspiration from Crumb, Paul McCartney, Blur, and more, this change in pace allowed the band to experiment with their songwriting and sound. Initially, the group brought in some longtime collaborators like Ben Lumsdaine and Michael MacDonald to help them with mixing; however, as time went on their own Dylan Weschler took over this task. Making this switch paved the way for Varsity’s DIY and home-recording, opening the door to more homemade (literally) music. 

In the process of embracing their indie-pop tradition, while reframing the genre in their own image, Varsity has build an impressive catalog over the past decade, They have quickly become Chicago’s lead indie-pop band, but after doing things “the right way”, they knew they needed a change – enter Souvenirs. Souvenirs releases on February 16, 2024, and will be celebrated with a local show at Chicago’s own Schuba’s on February 17, 2024.

Pitchfork described Varsity as “a sun-drenched daydream” and NPR explained their songwriting as “a catchy slice of indie-pop”. Thirteen Magazine is happy to add ourselves to the ever-growing list of Varsity’s #1 fans. We had the opportunity to chat with the band about Souvenirs, the wacky process behind its creation, and what they hope to achieve in 2024. Read all about it below!

THIRTEEN: Hello Varsity! Thank you so much for your time! Could you please share a little bit more about who Varsity is and what you’re all about?

VARSITY: Hello Thirteen. We’re a band from Chicago, IL and we’ve been playing music together since 2013. People like to call us an indie pop band, which I guess makes sense. I think we lean more into alternative rock these days.

THIRTEEN: Your upcoming album, Souvenirs, brings together a tracklist of twelve singles that have already been released. Why did you choose to promote an album with pre-released songs rather than have fans wait for the LP’s release?

VARSITY: It’s kind of a strange thing to release an album of songs that have all already been released, isn’t it? This is “technically” our 4th record, but it feels completely different than any of our other records.
After the pandemic, we were all eager to write, play and record together. We thought back to some of our favorite experiences releasing music, and agreed that our period of releasing double singles was the most fun and rewarding. We decided to completely forgo the traditional album release cycle, and challenge ourselves to write one song a month for the entire year. Releasing the songs each month felt like a fun project for fans to follow along with, and now we’re releasing the whole project as a complete album for anyone who wasn’t following along all year or who appreciates a complete album over singles.

THIRTEEN: You released a single every single month of 2023 and that is what came together to become the Souvenirs album. Why did you rearrange the tracklist of songs (i.e. out of chronological order)?

VARSITY: Sequencing an album is something we care a lot about. I think we’re still of the mindset that an album should ebb and flow in a natural and engaging way. We discussed keeping the track order on the finished album the same as the single release order, but ultimately decided to compile it with some sort of flow between moods and song style. We’re also suckers for a long outro type song at the end of our albums, and we just so happened to write that song (“Cowboy Killer”) in February! 

THIRTEEN: What was the process like of having to write, record, produce, mix, master, and release a song every month? Did it ever seem like too big of a task or did you enjoy the process?

VARSITY: It was incredibly rewarding but also challenging. I don’t really think we knew what we were getting ourselves into back in January! We would get together at the beginning of the month and throw around some ideas and usually all gravitate toward one. We’d spend a couple days fleshing it out and talking about how we imagined it to sound, then we’d start recording! We had a ton of help from our friends Michael MacDonald at BimBom Studios & Greg Obis at Chicago Mastering Service who were both so prompt in their mixing and mastering. They were immediately on board with the idea when we approached them at the beginning of the year. It never felt like too big of a task, but there were a couple months where we felt like we weren’t going to release it by our self imposed deadline. 

THIRTEEN: Did this process ever feel limiting? Are there things you could have done differently if you had more than a month to complete them?

VARSITY: Whenever you complete a record there’s always things you wish you could’ve gone back and changed or done differently, so that’s not super unique. I wouldn’t say it felt limiting, but there’s sort of an urgency to take your best idea at the time and run with it. We didn’t really have a ton of time to labor over specifics, which led to certain experiments and ideas making it onto the songs. 

THIRTEEN: Would you attempt to forgo the traditional album cycle for future projects?

VARSITY: Even though we’re big “album fans”, we don’t love the traditional album cycle. But I understand why it works that way. We’re always open to new methods of releasing music, especially these days. I will say I don’t think we’ll attempt to write a song a month any time soon! 

THIRTEEN: Which song do you each resonate with the most and why?

VARSITY: I think “Souvenirs” is a stand out. This was the last song we recorded for the project, and to me it feels like a giant exhale. We knew we wanted to reflect on the project and the year past, and we brought all the themes together for the big bridge at the end. The idea of souvenirs, memories, all jumbled and chaotic in your head. “I have a piece of your life in a pocket of mine”. Luckily we have the songs on this album to memorialize all the months of this past year, like little souvenirs.

THIRTEEN: Do any of the songs hold specific memories? Since they were released monthly, are there certain moments from 2023 that they instantly transport you to?

VARSITY: Absolutely, and I think that’s a very important aspect of this record to us, and it was something we wanted fans to feel too each month. 

“Cowboy Killer”, our second song of the year, we still had big ambitions and less awareness of our self imposed deadlines. This resulted in the almost 7 minute “Cowboy Killer”. We really like writing these long moody songs that take time to set a scene and a vibe. We worked with Michael MacDonald at Bim Bom studios to weave together the lines at the end – sort of like a braid. 

“Devil’s Tangerine” transports me back to May, a crazy dream I (Stef) had and woke up thinking what the hell was that about? I wrote a song loosely based on that dream and when I played a bit of my idea for everyone else in the band it came together very quickly! That process of going from the inception of the song to writing it almost instantly was magic. 

“Souvenirs” also takes me back to recording our final song, breathing a huge sigh of relief and accomplishment. 

THIRTEEN: Are there more songs outside of these twelve that you possibly were working on and either scraped or haven’t finished? Anything we might hear in the future?

VARSITY: Ha, I think we exhausted our back catalog of songs for this album!

THIRTEEN: It sounds like there is a heavy emphasis on classic rock and 70s music behind these tracks. Why did you choose this as the point of inspiration for Souvenirs?

VARSITY: That’s always a period we end up going back to and referencing. I think we’re all just big fans of that era and it’s music we all listen to. It’s sort of a joke, but not really because we can all agree on Steely Dan, Eagles, ELO. Certain elements of their music, the harmonies, percussion, inspired us. We particularly love ELO’s disco phase, it’s great to hear established bands switch it up and try something different. 

THIRTEEN: With the release of Souvenirs bringing together all of your singles from 2023, what can we expect to see from you in 2024?

VARSITY: Just like our album, we’re taking it one month at a time. For now our release show is the biggest event on the horizon and we’re really looking forward to it!