The Forum is back with new music after a year-long hiatus.
The indie-rock band hailing from Gainesville will release their new single “Somebody to Rely On” Friday, their first release since January 2020.
After the musicians found each other through a Craigslist ad, the band introduced itself to the Gainesville community and signed with Swamp Records in 2018.
Since then, The Forum grew together as a band, creating music, opening for artists like Colony House, Tessa Violet and Last Dinosaurs and being on festivals lineups with artists such as Kacey Musgraves and Japanese Breakfast.
But plans to put out new music came to a halt about a year ago, the band’s lead singer and guitarist Michael Higgins said.
The 25-year-old UF alumni said the band wanted to take focus on “more pressing issues” during the summer, such as the Black Lives Matter movement.
“We didn't want to take up any kind of space that wasn't a positive reinforcement of that movement,” Higgins said.
When the band decided to work on a new single, their usual routine was disrupted due to the pandemic.
Higgins said that when recording “Somebody to Rely On,” each band member would go to the studio separately and only record their part, which he said was “an interesting challenge.”
“We've never done that before, where nobody else has been in the studio recording with us, which can be kind of scary,” Higgins said. “We had to make sure that all the little, tiny decisions had been made before the first person went in.”
Higgins said the band’s new single captures their journey over the last few years. He said the theme of the song revolves around not being in college anymore and figuring out personal and professional relationships.
“Just being in your mid-20s,” he said, “the dilemma of putting yourself out there and trusting people other than yourself.”
The band’s drummer, Ethan Klohr, 24, said he hopes the new single serves as “a welcome back from the Forum boys.”
“Our last two songs came out at the end of January of 2020, so it's been a bit,” he said. “We want to make a statement of the new year with this song.”
Klohr said this song, which they described as one of their "most contained," made him realize that sometimes less is more.
“Being the drummer that I am, I like to do more than what is necessary because I like to go crazy and play a lot,” he said. “So with this song, I feel like stripping it back and playing the essentials really just added to the impact of the song.”
Bassist Jake Farrell, 24, said he hopes the new song brings people peace and that listeners are excited for the group's first release since the break.
“Everyone's been stressed out for like 10 months straight now, and any bit of good that people can get, I hope this provides a little bit for them,” Farrell said.
Lead guitarist Nick Wheeler, 28, said he is proud of the time the band spent with production and fine-tuning the sound they were looking for.
“Even though we didn't spend a lot of time working on this in person, due to pandemic safety and living in different cities, this still feels like the most accurate representation of where we are as a band,” Wheeler said.
“Somebody to Rely On” will be available on all streaming platforms Friday.
Contact Kristin Bausch at kbausch@alligator.org. Follow her on Twitter @BauschKristin.
Kristin Bausch is a third-year journalism major at the University of Florida and a staff writer with the Avenue. Giving people an opportunity to share their story is one of her favorite things about writing. When not writing, she’s probably dancing.
