Occurrence are Ken Urban (electronics), Cat Hollyer (vocals), and Johnny Hager (vocals). Based in New York City’s Washington Heights, the band formed when Ken reached out to his college friend Cat on Facebook after not seeing each other for almost twenty years to see if she would sing on his new tracks. They collaborated remotely on the first release of 2016, The Past Will Last Forever, which featured contributions from Kip Berman of The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart and Alejandro Necochea of Bang Camaro. When they began to perform live, they invited Ken’s partner Johnny Hager to join as a vocalist. As a trio, they began working on Everyone Knows the Disaster Is Coming, released in 2018.
By Kamil Bobin
Discovered via Musosoup
Hi Occurrence. Nice to be able to interview you. How is life in New York for you? Would you recommend the city for people from outside United States?
Ken here. New York is my favorite place in the world. It can also be incredibly frustrating. But that’s part of its charm. Its energy is mine, and so it will always feel like home, even though it’s always changing. And yes, everyone should visit New York. But when you do, please don’t stop in the middle of sidewalks and check your phone.
Are there any musicians who inspire you? What qualities do you admire about them?
We are all pretty huge Radiohead fans. To have a career with so many stellar releases, that's a big goal for us. Beach House and The 1975 are also bands we all love. I am also deeply into Tape Loop Orchestra. I will track down everything TLO releases.
Your latest track is 'Universe Moves So Fast'. Can you share with us the background of its creation and did any unusual things happen during its creation?
I’ll pass the mic to Johnny for this one: There is a saying in Spanish that says “inocente palomita que te dejaste engañar,” which translates to “Naive little pigeon, you’ve let yourself be fooled.” It is usually something you say on April Fool’s Day when you ask to borrow something, when, in reality, you’re taking it. I explained this to Ken once, and then he wrote these lyrics. We had a good laugh. Now the saying has taken on a whole new meaning about loss, and the fear of it.
How can you describe the music you make?
Nostalgic electronic pop. I think that captures the backward futurism that we aim for.
Do you have common hobbies beyond music?
We all love the theater. Ken is a playwright. We enjoy eating pasta. Is that a hobby? Johnny and Cat have music theater backgrounds, and love to belt out show tunes, much to Ken’s dismay.
What got you started in the music industry?
Ken here: I started Occurrence as a project that emerged from my work in the theater. Early productions of my work in NYC couldn’t always afford sound designers so I taught myself music software so I could write stuff for my shows. From there, it became its own thing. Friends suggested I take it more seriously. In 2014, I reached out to Cat to sing on some songs I was working on. It kept growing into a proper band. Then when we started playing live, we invited Johnny to sing and from that moment we became Occurrence.
What is the biggest decision you’ve had to make?
One of the bigger decisions we’ve made as a band is to collaborate more and more with artists of all types. The act of writing and recording music is incredibly fulfilling, and yet, it jumps to the next level when we’re able to join together with others and use our music as a springboard for other media. Our forthcoming album has an accompanying art book with photography, design and writing that takes our music and brings it to life in a new way.
What are your achievements to the moment?
Well, we’ve been making music together since 2014, which feels like a real achievement. Our upcoming release SLOW VIOLENCE feels like our biggest statement to date. It really captures the sound we have been aiming for.
How do you feel the Internet has impacted the music business?
For both good and bad. When we look at our Spotify numbers and realize how many people around the world have heard our songs, it’s humbling. But then so much of the physical relationship people have to music has been erased, replaced by corporate nothingness. That is depressing. Whether it’s a CD, cassette or a vinyl, there is something special about holding music, studying the liner notes, and connecting to the artwork.
What are your plans for the future?
We are in the middle of rehearsals for SLOW VIOLENCE, a dance theater piece devised around our upcoming release. We are playing live during the show, and there are 16 performers involved. Choreographer and director Dan Safer is making this insane and beautiful show set in a haunted memory hotel. There’s a pig demon, that’s all we can say! We are so excited to share it with audiences when it runs at MIT’s new Theater in Cambridge, MA from April 6- 9. We have always wanted to work with dancers and this has been a dream come true. The student performers are insanely talented and incredibly brave to come on this journey with us.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/slow-violence-tickets-537971997727