One of the most important things Yoda ever taught us was “do or do not, there is no try”. Actually, Yoda isn’t credited often enough for his long-standing, valuable life lessons. But that’s beside the point. Although he’s not short, furry or green (as far as we’re aware), Thatcher May of Sports Coach relays a similar message on his newest album–try & try & try & try. 

Allston Pudding had the chance to chat with Sports Coach about dealing with personal defeat, stepping outside the urban bubble, space clouds, and horror movies.

Allston Pudding: This will be your third album- very rad! Has the process for putting this album together been any different from the first two? If so, has it been in a good way or a bad way? 

Thatcher May: The process for this album has been a little tougher than the earlier ones. Sports Coach kind of started as a joke project. I was just doing it for laughs and to kind of explore making a more indie kind of music as opposed to the instrumental beats and ambient stuff I was doing for a while before. With each release, Sports Coach gets a tiny bit more attention and a tiny amount of new [listeners], so I suppose it’s a natural progression to want to make every release better than the last. This release had just a little bit more doubt in it at first but in the end I did what I always do, which is to write and record 15 songs in two weeks and then put it out ASAP without thinking.

AP: It’ll be coming out on cassette. Why cassette and not CD or vinyl?

TM: It’s coming out with a really rad label from Richmond, VA, who are great pals of mine called Citrus City Records. The dudes who run it, Manny and Rene, are too broke to put me on vinyl and for some reason everyone thinks CDs are lame, so cassette it will be; which is cool because I love cassettes and I don’t have a record player in the first place.

AP: Name 5 cassettes you’re proud to (or would be proud to) own.

TM: Cassettes I have right now that I love:

• Hardest Worker by Loafer
• My, My by SHVS
• Coffee Cake Beat Tapes 1 & 2 by Bronze Thesaurus

Cassettes I want:

• Nothing Buttrock by Colin Thibodeauxx
• Jen by Plums
• Gawk by Vundabar

AP: Is the album’s title indicative of anything- for instance, were there multiple attempts at choosing a title? Did you, dare I say, “try & try & try & try”?

TM: When I got off tour in May I was trying to get something out by June, so I made one more album in the style of my last album from April, I don’t know how to do it good, which was 12 tracks. It didn’t quite feel right though, so I ditched it. Then I made a more mellow album like my album The Ballads of Coach Lazy Eye, which ended up being 21 tracks. In the end, it also wasn’t right so I forgot about it. Then I reverted back and started working with synths and electronics again and it kind of clicked. It felt really good. So I wrote try in a week or two. The title just refers to dealing with the frustration of working hella hard on something and putting hundreds of hours into it, and being like, “alright, this isn’t good enough right now, try again.” try & try & try & try was like that for months.

AP: The two singles currently available on your Bandcamp are similarly titled. What’s with the dream motif?

TM: The dream titles actually have nothing to do with the songs, they’re just working titles for when I started writing them. I also would always get confused as to which track was which when I started changing song titles. The synths and chords have a very dream-like quality to them, at least to me. A lot of the songs are like the color purple- purple and black, like those big gas clouds in space you know?

AP: You’ve posted quite a few beautiful scenic shots [on your Instagram]. Were those trips for pleasure or were they in conjunction with touring? What did you enjoy most about those breathtaking places?

TM: Most of those places are from touring. My Instagram tends to die down when I’m off tour because nothing is new, it’s the same sights and sounds every day so it’s not really inspiring to take pictures. I enjoy the vibe I get when I find a really beautiful place, that feeling of, “Wow this is so beautiful, it’s crazy that this exists”. I think that most of us, myself included, living in generally crowded places like cities and suburban areas, forget that the world is really beautiful outside of the bubble we stay in. There are plenty of places where the world hasn’t been touched as much and when we find those places it gives us a certain peace and quiet. I think everyone feels that. Some people just don’t look for it, but I try to find it often.

AP: Does nature find its way into your music?

TM: I’m not sure what nature’s impact is. I can’t really write songs about wind or trees or anything, but I think it’s there. When I listen to music sometimes I can picture the ideal weather for the song. I try to make that sunny day stuff, with a few clouds in the sky. The clouds aren’t in the way though, they’re just making everything more interesting.

AP: Do you think the phrase “try & try & try & try” can be applied to sports and sports coaching? How would you implement it in your coaching, particularly of youth ball? 

TM: Honestly, I would say no, because on my teams, especially my youth ball squad, you don’t try. You do it or you don’t and if you don’t you’re fucking worthless and you’re gonna get physically removed from the rink, and the whole squad will end you. Trying is for idiots who can’t do it. Coach T-Bone doesn’t try, he just does.

AP: What’s one thing you’ve always been afraid to try?

TM: I’ve always been afraid to try and watch horror movies, because they used to scare me as a kid and I couldn’t sleep for weeks. Even to this day people try to get me to watch them and I always say no because life is scary enough as it is.

AP: What’s one thing you’re really glad you decided to try?

TM: This is really hard. If I’ve met you and we’re good pals, I’m glad that I tried talking to you or you tried talking to me, because now we’re homies and we’re all gonna watch each other grow with whatever we do.

Sports Coach will be playing Great Scott with other Boston rockers St. Nothing and Skinny Bones, on August 20th. Tickets are available here. try & try & try & try is available digitally now via Citrus City Records, with a limited cassette pressing available late August.