Pink Roses is an LA-based dream pop duo, consisting of Dave Fontenot and Nate Tepper. The two launched Pink Roses on Valentine’s Day 2019, and within half a year, reached over 500,000 streams! Pink Roses have been busy working on new tunes for their fans across the globe, and I got to chat with them a while back about what they’re up to!
Hi guys! So first off, tell us a little about yourselves. How did you guys find one another and become a duo?
We met 8 years ago during college. We were both super into startups and tech. Dave had started the largest hackathon in the world (MHacks) in Michigan at University of Michigan where he went to school. I (Nate) went to school at UMass Amherst and I drove 15 hours from Boston to Michigan to attend. That’s when I met this crazy awesome dude named Dave. After college we lived together in a hacker house in San Francisco and would write music everyday for fun after working on our startups. Next thing you know we had 100+ songs written and decided to move to LA to pursue our dream of music. That was when we started Pink Roses in 2019.
The name Pink Roses is so cool! How did that name come about?
The name was actually a happy accident. We are big LANY fans. After we wrote about 70 songs, we were like, dude we need a name, let’s name our band after our favorite LANY song: Pink Roses. We were both stoked on it. 10 minutes later we remember the name of the song by LANY is actually Pink Skies. We both had known that, but must have had a brain fart. Either way, we still loved the name Pink Roses so much that we decided to keep it. I feel very grateful we have the name Pink Roses. I am so proud of it and love it so much,
How would you describe your sound to someone who’s never listened to your music before?
We make emotional dream pop songs, with a relatable youthful nostalgia, that makes you feel like you’re driving down the Pacific Coast Highway in California with the top down, wind in your hair, staring out into the sunset over the ocean horizon.
Your latest single “dreamin’” is super chill and full of great vibes. Can you give us a little insight on the meaning of the song?
I wrote the song “dreamin” while we were living in San Francisco. I was feeling pretty down and not satisfied with my current situation and work in SF. Most of my friends had moved away and I felt really alone. It was a Sunday afternoon and I was walking around San Francisco and just started writing about that feeling of wanting to leave this town and pursue my dream of music in LA. I finished writing the song in 15 minutes. It was super real for me at the time and it just came right out.
You guys are working on a ton of new music right now. What can we all expect to hear next?
Our next song “DTLA” comes out this Friday (4/24) and we have an EP coming out later this year!
As songwriters, have you guys ever experienced writer’s block? If so, how did you combat the feeling and get your creative juices flowing again?
We have a habit of writing music everyday. Even if it’s bad we try to finish 1-2 songs a day. Then we go back and look through the hundreds of songs and pick out the good ones. We usually have a very strong feeling during the writing process when we know if it’s a good song or not. Writer’s block can definitely happen, but we have created such a strong habit of songwriting that we can usually at the least write a bad song in that case. We just keep writing until we get the good stuff!
You guys have been playing to sold out crowds from LA to NYC! What do you guys like the most about performing?
My favorite feeling in the world is hearing our fans at a show sing the words back to us. I literally cried at our first show when that happened. It is so special and beautiful connecting with fans in that way. It’s the reason we do this.
If you weren’t making music right now, what would you be doing?Starting startups 🙂
What advice can you give to any aspiring musicians?
Follow your gut. Follow your heart. Follow your dreams. Pursue your passions. Be authentic. Create a world.
Say hi to Pink Roses on Instagram @pinkroses, and stay tuned for their new single “DTLA”, out this Friday!
