Des Moines music fans know the Envy Corps as an alt-pop band from Ames that has over time become a festival staple. This summer is no exception. In the recent lineup announcement, 80/35 festival revealed that the Envy Corps will take the stage there for the fifth time. I talked with the founder of the group, Luke Pettipoole, about what the band’s been up to and what Iowans can expect from their mainstage set.
How long has the Envy Corps been recording and making music together? And where does the name come from?
Good questions. We’ve been around almost 21 years now. So 2001. Yeah, a long time. Mostly the same people. So this lineup is from about 2009 or so. And then the name, this was like my first band. So I had a high school’s worth of band names, you know, I’d doodle and stuff like that. Envy Corps was just one of them. The guys in the band at the time were like, “hey, let’s do that!” So, this was one of those high school things that somehow ended up being the name of our band.
Your latest releases were in 2019, you released a couple singles. Do you have any releases in store for this coming year?
Yes, actually! So we’re putting out a record. We wanted to do it a lot earlier, but of course, you know, the world kind of turned upside down. But yeah, May 27. Like six weeks before 80/35. It’s called “Born In Fog.”
Can you tell me about your writing and recording process?
Sure. Good question. So as far as the band makeup goes, everyone kind of has their own little recording situation. So I’ll talk about this latest record at least, how we wrote it, which was, I have kind of a setup here in my attic and then everybody else has their own set up. I would just plunk out demos on a guitar or maybe, you know, get into the computer and do something with synths. And we share those around a lot. So the genesis of the song usually comes from some kind of demo or idea that I’ve had, and then it takes like, so much shaping, and everybody gets their chance to add stuff they like. And then we democratically compile everybody’s recordings.
So I’d play bass on a track, and then send it to the guys because I’m in Omaha and everyone else is in Des Moines. And it was dicey anyway with the pandemic and stuff so we weren’t getting together at all. So the recording process for this was a little bit different. We had a lot of it recorded before the pandemic hit. And then after that, it was like all the finishing overdubs. There’s one guy in the band that does our mixing. So it’s a little bit different than maybe some other bands because we don’t really have to prepare everything and take it to a studio or send it to a mixer. We’re constantly just kind of finishing them as we go.
Because you guys have played 80/35 so many times, do you have any favorite memories from a past performance at the festival?
Probably the first time we played. It was the first year I think, because Flaming Lips played the first year. We played the first year on a free stage. They put those stages off on a side street, there’s just kind of like this tunnel of people, and we were playing like right before the main headliner or something as far as timewise. So there was just kind of a lot of people hanging out that first time and it was just crazy to see — like, “Wow, there’s a lot of music fans in Des Moines.” And you know, we’re really fortunate to be able to play this time of this day and to get to catch everybody. So that was probably one of the biggest shows for us at that time. Yeah, I was excited.
As a person who has lived and worked in the Iowa music scene, and the Des Moines music scene specifically, what would you say about it to people who maybe don’t even know it’s there?
I think, and living in Omaha, it’s a very similar situation to Des Moines where not everybody stops in town. But a lot of new venues are opening up in both cities which I think will help that. I think Iowa can sometimes be defined by the metal to people who don’t know anything about Iowa, which is a lot of folks. So I think it’s important to say just that Iowa is so eclectic in the music that it offers up. There’s good rap going, obviously indie music. There’s a lot of indie happening always in the Midwest.
And yeah, it’s just surprising how good these acts are. And they just, maybe just because of where we’re at, they maybe don’t get the recognition nationally that they maybe should. But I think it’s also kinda cool that perhaps there’s a hidden gem here in the Midwest. So that’s kind of exciting that we have our own thing. And nobody here from what I can see is in it for the money because there is no money [laughs] So it has to be this labor of love. So the people that are out doing it, it’s because they are passionate about it, and because they want to do it, not because they’re opportunists. And that’s exciting.
Purchase tickets for this year’s 80/35 Music Festival on the festival’s website.
