House Call with Midwest Postal Service
Midwest Postal Service is a name to remember. This dynamic duo delivered us a 15-track album last December and it’s really good. We went on a mission to visit the apartment it was recorded in and talked to the boys about everything from gas station chicken to driving off the edge of the earth.
Who are you?
T: Trey Hopkins, 28. I've lived all over the place, but Louisville is my home.
R: My name is Rosario, I’m 27. I was born in Rhode Island but raised in Louisville.
What do you do?
T: I do a little bit of everything. Musically, guitar is my main instrument. I've been playing guitar since I was like 13, 14. I play the keys, I do a lot of playing and tracking in Ableton. I skate all day, every day if I can. That’s the physical thing that keeps me going.
R: The main thing is singing. I can lightweight produce if I need to, but a lot of times I don't choose to 'cause everybody around me is better [Laughs]. But I can also play guitar, picked it up late, when I was 21. I don't really have any hobbies outside of music, my entire being is just music. All music.
R: Originally it was an album title from when we were on tour. We were going to record it all on tour, until things got hectic.
T: We were on that tour for Rosario. It was me, him, and our drummer, Matt Jaggers.
R: Shout-out Matt.
T: It was a Midwest tour and I don't know where “postal service” came from. Maybe I just saw it somewhere, but it just made sense. You know what I mean? We were out in the middle of nowhere, Wild West cowboy type shit… So, we went to Wichita and then Denver, and getting to that point was smooth. We recorded a couple of songs there in Wichita and then a couple up in Denver and we were like, “We should just make this like a tour project thing.” But that shit went downhill.
R: Literally, that shit’s hilarious. [Laughs] After that we didn’t have hotels, some nights we had to sleep in the car at a fucking rest stop. He [Trey] set up a fucking mini tent, like in the trees and he'd wake up to fuckin’ two feet of snow on top of it. I slept in the car, 'cause I'm little, you feel me? I'm cozy in there. I was looking out the windshield and I just saw the smallest amount of the color of the tent and just snow everywhere else. [Laughs] I was like, “Bro, what the fuck?”
T: I was good though, I was warm. I was in the army for a little bit, I knew the sleeping bag was gonna be straight.
R: The whole rest of the tour was just snow following us everywhere. That shit was crazy.
T: In Wyoming we thought we just drove off the edge of the earth, I'm not gonna lie. It didn't even make sense. Like you could not see anything, it was just white.
So that’s the origin story, how did the album end up actually coming together?
R: We just started making a bunch of songs and we realized we had a lot of songs together, like, “Oh this could be a thing.” And Monotwin, the name of the album, is a pen. We used this one pen to write a majority of the album. I love pens, like I have so many different ones, but this one's crazy.
T: 8-Track. I really liked the way that song came together and like how I just planned it out last minute. I wrote it about some shit I was about to do in New York and just wondering how it was actually gonna go down. And then it actually went down, like exactly like that.
R: Grey Crewneck. That's my favorite song on the album. It's like my closest attempt to being like Frank [Ocean]. I love Frank. I’ve studied that man 'cause he's crazy. Like, I don't even understand. That was as close as I've ever gotten and it's still not 'cause his shit is just ridiculous.
Give me a breakdown of your process and how you recorded the album.
R: Trey starts it all off, starts recording keys, drums, bass. And then he'll get up, and I'll sit in the chair and arrange it and then he'll come back and write to it. So that was one formula, and then there was a whole different one with a lot of the new project, the one that'll come out later this year. We were doing a thing where I wouldn't even be in the room. He'd make something and then he'd leave and then I would come back to the room and just go see what he did and then turn it into something and send it back. That worked for a second.
Why do you like recording here [in your apartment] rather than a studio?
R: The studio feels uncomfortable and I don’t like paying. [Laughs] We both know how to mix, so like, why would we go there and pay?
T: Kinda feels rushed [in the studio], like you gotta force something.
R: You really don’t need much. People don’t even know. You just need a laptop and whatever software that you use, everything else is extra. It's really just those main little pieces right there, it’s not too hard at all for real.
Is there a record you heard growing up that still influences you today?
R: Anything Sade.
T: The first album I ever remember hearing all the way through and thinking, “this was crazy,” was that Justified album. The first Justin Timberlake album. I remember the night that came out, my parents got it. We'd listened to it on the way back to the crib from Walmart. Yeah, they ran that bitch back like three, four times in the crib that night.
First song you’re playing on aux?
T: Definitely for me, Lahai, the Sampha album.
R: I'm not even gonna lie, this might sound conceited, but it really be my demos. [Laughs]
T: Yeah, that’s automatic.
R: But if it's not that, then I'd probably say this song Crystal Hole by Otto.
R: Knick-knacks. Little trinkets and things that I be putting around and shit like that. [Laughs] Those definitely get me excited.
T: A good long day of skating.
Most overrated thing?
R: The trend where musicians put their lyrics up on the screen [on TikTok]. They just do like a bunch of different ones, in different places, to the same song, over and over and over again. I hate that shit.
T: I was gonna say In-N-Out.
R: It's foul for real. I'm not even gonna lie to you, McDonald's is better.
Most underrated thing?
T: 18th century history.
R: [Laughs]
T: Shit’s hard if you really get into it.
R: Songs that are not all the way mixed and mastered perfectly. A lot of the music I like to listen to might be a little bit raw, like it's not mixed to a perfect quality. I think it's underrated as hell 'cause it's a little bit more human.
T: Rick Rubin said something like that in his book. Something like, “you just gotta release it when it's done to you.”
R: Rick’s a smart ass dude. A lot of our album was mixed to our standards, but it's definitely not mixed to like the mainstream standard. But that was the beauty of the album, it's supposed to sound like that, you feel me?
Gas station pick-ups?
R: Propel, Lucky Strike cigarettes and Chex Mix.
T: The super hydration Body Armor, Broaster chicken wings…
R: And Krispy Krunchy sometimes.
T: Krispy Krunchy is pretty hard.
R: I went to the one by the Shell, by the Indi’s on Broadway and I was like, “This is some of the best chicken I’ve ever had.”
What are they doing back there, bro? It's a gas station.
What keeps you going?
T: The thought that success is just right around the corner at all times. Could happen today, could happen tomorrow, but if you keep chasing it, it's gonna happen.
R: I feel like I just am always excited to an extent. Like when I'm listening to music, I'm like, I can do all of this in due time. So it's like we got something to look forward to. There's a million sounds that we want to make with Midwest Postal Service. There'll be an album that's all live rock, like just a whole live band or we’ll work with another producer and have him produce the whole thing. There’s just a bunch of sounds that we can go for.
What is Schmuck Records?
R: Originally, like years ago, right when I started dropping on streaming I wanted to have my own little imprint for myself, you feel me? And I was watching a Lou Reed interview and he called the dude a schmuck. I don't know why, but in that moment I just really loved that word. Even though it's not a full fledged anything yet, I'm able to help my homies push their stuff further. I got a homie, Imran, who I put on the label and he just dropped his first song and I was able to like, facilitate that and help put it all together. It's just baby steps of what I want to eventually do with it.
via @schmuck.records
What makes Louisville special to you?
T: Louisville is just unique in a way, I don't know how to explain it. It's like, people here are so different from each other, but still the same in some way.
R: We could compete with a lot of the big cities if we had that light shined here a little bit more. I was living in LA for two and a half years and I have more fun making music here than I did there.
T: Yeah. I think people here are more focused on just what sounds good, rather than trying to push something to a mainstream level. 'Cause that’s just not the kind of city that this is.
R: There's great musicians out there that I got to meet and hang out with, but I definitely think our city really can go neck and neck. It's 'cause in a sense we don't have a sound here except for maybe rock or country. When you have nothing to look at as the example, it turns into a bunch of random things that get made. When you’re talking about a musician from LA you could be like, “Oh, this guy sounds hella West coast,” but you don't say, “This dude sounds like he's from Louisville.”
What does success mean to you?
T: When you have all your time, you know what I mean? When all your time is yours and you're free from intense obligations and all that. Time is the most valuable thing, more than money for sure.
R: I don't need a lot, but if I'm able to pay the bills with music, I'm happy. I mean, I'm happy regardless, but that just seems like a fire feeling. I haven't even got to that feeling all at all yet. To be able to support yourself with the art that you're creating is crazy.
A couple of Trey’s tools.
Dream scenario in five years?
T: Definitely to be sustained on music.
R: Grammy nominated, I’m not gonna lie. I just know it’s not that far out of reach.
How are you going to get there?
R: I don't know. I feel like I wing it every day. [Laughs]
T: That's how we've operated since the beginning of it, just winging it. I mean, there was a song [City Dwellers] that we made and put on the album just a couple days before it released.
What are you most proud of?
T: Daughter’s an easy bet. I'm most proud of her, six years old and she's doing back flips and going crazy with cheer right now.
R: My music last year, I’ve just leveled up in every different way. Like, this was the best year I've ever had music wise.
What’s next for y’all?
T: We got other projects coming out…
R: Yeah, we’re damn near almost done recording what’s next, we gotta do all the little nitpicky shit but we have another project under Midwest Postal Service.
T: And we’ll both be doing a lot of solo projects too.
Sentence of advice for the youth?
T: Try not to be cliche, be original.
R: Facts, that’s really what it is. And learn an instrument.
T: Learn an instrument, get a physical hobby. It's all a big circle, you know what I mean, you gotta sweat sometimes.
@midwestpostalservice
@rosario.schmuck
@treyhpks
Normally, we only let the interviewee pick 10 songs. But, since there’s two of them, we cut them some slack. Go listen.
January 2024
Louisville, KY.
Photography & Interview by Isaac Barnett
@iebcam