By Kariann Tan
Hailing straight from the sunny state of California, courtship. is a duo comprised of Eli Hirsch and Micah Gordon. As of now, they have six original songs up on Spotify with a handful of remixes. They’ve racked up a relatively large fan base within such a short span of time.
It’s around 10:30pm; blaring outside of the dressing room is one of the anthemic songs being performed by The Wombats. Meanwhile, Eli kindly offers me a bottle of water as I settle into the room. I exchange friendly pleasantries with Micah and talk a little about how things have been for ourselves as of late, and a little bit more about Eli’s past obsession with The Wombats.
HEM: So I just wanted to say how amazingly big Courtship. has become over such a short span of months. A handful of singles out, and you’re opening for bands like The Wombats, Weezer. How has that experience been for you guys?
ELI: I mean we’re just so grateful – like, I think, for us, it’s nuts that anyone listens to our music and cares about it. We love making it and you know, that’s about it!
HEM: Yeah! Have there been any stand out memories worth mentioning over the past year?
MICAH: For sure, everyday is a funny incident. [Opening for The Wombats] is the first real tour that we’ve done ever – like we did a week long thing, kind of like a headline tour – it was super fun and crazy but this is our first big one. We’re playing for tons of people and it’s pretty out of control. It felt like a dream out there and it went by in seconds.
HEM: The audience definitely loved it! Eli, earlier you were talking about being a big fan of The Wombats growing up; how does it feel to finally come full circle and be opening for them?
ELI: Unbelievable. I’m so, so grateful. It’s agh – it’s crazy! It’s genuinely surreal.
HEM: That’s great, I’m really happy for you. And now that you’re opening for these big bands, you’re going to be exposing your music to people who have never heard you before. So if you can describe the music that you’re releasing to these new listeners, what would it be and how would you describe it?
MICAH: I would just say that we just have such a good time making and playing it, so I guess it’s just like, we just want people to have a good time as well – to dance, and kind of forget themselves for a second and just have fun.
HEM: One of the things that I wanted to say was that when I was listening to all your singles, the main takeaway I got from all of them was this sunny & happy disposition. Is this a theme that you will be carrying over to your future releases?
ELI: Yeah. I think in a sense, that’s the type of music that we really love. But I think that it could also end up being anything so we’ll see.
MICAH: It’s kind of from where we make our music so I guess that the environment – being in California – definitely affects that. There’s no boundaries though, like we can make a really sad ballad and you know, cry.
HEM: I’m looking forward to that!
MICAH: It’s possible. It may not happen soon but it’s possible.
HEM: I’m excited. Speaking of which, what bands or artists influence the music that you’re making?
ELI: Great question. There’s some music that Micah and I shared growing up – but I was listening to a lot of pop punk music like Green Day and Blink 182 and then really becoming a huge fan of The Wombats which is actually wild. The Wombats were such a transition band for me, it was them that opened up a whole other world of Passion Pit and MGMT. And honestly even these bands themselves opened me up to other artists like The Smiths and The Cure and all of those 80’s bands.
MICAH: I grew up playing jazz piano and kind of being into funk bands and jam band type of things. I grew up listening to Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Earth, Wind and Fire – you know, fun party dance music. And when [me and Eli] made our first song, it was kind of like a blend of those two musical worlds.
HEM: So how was the process when you started making music together?
ELI: It was instant. It was just one day in Micah’s bedroom at his house and on the first day we wrote “Stop For Nothing” and day two it was finished. It was so crazy.
HEM: That’s insane. Knowing that you guys are relatively new in this music scene, what advice would you offer to aspiring musicians?
MICAH: I would just say do what you love because at the end of the day you should do something that make yourself happy.
ELI: Yeah, fuck trying to do it for other people. Just do what you wanna do.
MICAH: And eventually people will love it.
ELI: I also think that [one] should understand that it’s a life’s work. It’s not about anything happening overnight, you know – we’ve been doing this for a really long time and we’re still so very much at the beginning. And I do think that it’s something that we’re committed to for our lives, and it’s something that we love. It’s important to understand that.
MICAH: We couldn’t do anything else. Like it’s really the only thing that I can do – or we can do, forever.
HEM: Interesting, because the next thing that I was going to ask was whether you guys have any hobbies or things that you enjoy doing apart from making music together?
MICAH: No hobbies!
ELI: Micah does more than me!
MICAH: I mean, I like sports – I play tennis a lot.
ELI: I like bitcoin!
MICAH: Don’t even get him started on bitcoin.
HEM: Really! How do you feel about the recent stuff surrounding bitcoin?
ELI: I feel great actually. It’s great.
MICAH: Yeah he’s actually a trillionaire – he’s the richest man in America right now.
ELI: [laughs] Yeah! Well, we also like yoga.
MICAH: Yeah, we’ve been going to a lot of yoga classes together. Some hot yoga. Getting super sweaty, and kind of getting rid of our inner demons.
We veer off topic for a while, talking about yoga and actually mustering up the effort to take yoga classes. After a few minutes of random chatter about yoga, we manage to get back on track.
HEM: Just to tie back into our previous topic, do you have a favorite song that you guys play live?
ELI: I really like all of them.
MICAH: I would say that I love “Love For Everyone” because it’s our first song [on the setlist] – just coming out and playing it is pretty crazy, with people grooving out to it. Just like, getting out there and showing people what we sound like is super crazy. So I would just say the first one.
HEM: Are there any artists that you have been digging as of late?
ELI: There’s a girl named Phoebe Bridgers who I love.
MICAH: That’s the more current stuff, but we’ve been digging Electric Light Orchestra. I listen to them all the time and I’m kind of just in shock with what they are able to do. Yeah, those two [musicians] are pretty different.
HEM: Yeah, both are definitely at the end of the spectrum with regards to genres! Just to close things off, what can we expect from courtship. this year?
MICAH: A lot of us playing live.
ELI: A lot more music.
MICAH: Some videos, which we’ve had none of. Pretty much just everything, you know? Us running around, jumping like crazy people out there and having a good time. Lots of jazz piano. We could do some lounge sessions – the after-hours!
HEM: We could hear some jazz covers of your own songs – that would be interesting.
ELI: Yeah definitely!
We end with a long discussion over mouth trumpets and one of their touring members’ possible podcast. Micah talks about possibly covering the theme song of the podcast’s theme song and we all just dissolve into lighthearted camaraderie and the such. Overall, it’s a good time – very much like the music and aura that courtship. projects as a whole.
You can catch courtship. on tour with The Wombats in the US or stream them on Spotify & Apple Music now.
Photo credit: Drew Escriva