You+Me, the acoustic project of Alecia Moore (aka P!nk) and Dallas Green (aka City and Colour), released its debut album, "rose ave.," on Oct. 14. The duo jumped on the phone with The Huffington Post to discuss what drew them together, the inspirations behind the sounds of their album and that one time Moore fell off her bike.
I know you both had been introduced through mutual friends, but what drew you to each other and made you realize that you wanted to create music together?
Alecia Moore: Sarcasm.
Dallas Green: Yeah, we both have the exact same sense of humor. So we thought, “Well, we’re singers, so we might as well do that and that way we can tell each other jokes a lot more often.” I know it sounds sarcastic, but that’s a lot of it. I think it’s the fact that we get along on a personal level and we both sing, so we thought we might as well see if we can do something together.
At the very least you get to enjoy each other’s company.
Moore: That’s what I said! If it doesn’t go well, we get to hang out for a week.
So tell me how this whole process went then. Dallas, you had mentioned previously that you had no idea there was even a studio. But you guys came together with a mindset of seeing how things clicked, and then a few days later, you have a record?
Moore: I think the best thing to do when you’re walking into any situation, is to take the pressure off. So, I did the opposite by booking a studio. But I said, “Let’s just go drop off your guitar and see the spot, see if we even like it. If we don’t we’ll just go to the movies or something.” We both kind of skirted around at the beginning of it, like, “That’s a cool guitar. What does it sound like when you play it?”
Green: I think the reason we came up with a record is because we didn’t plan to make a record. I think if we had decided two years ago that on March 7, 2014, I was gonna fly to the studio ... you know what I mean? If we had planned this whole thing ...
Moore: It would have been very different.
Green: Yeah. After the first song we did together, where we started singing and the harmonies came so effortlessly, we were like, "Well, this might work."
Moore: "That was fun, let’s do it again. "
Green: "I’ve got this other idea, why don’t you sing that, that sounds great." You know?
Yeah, it’s definitely a rare thing, especially that quickly. It can take years for bands and artists to really find that level of comfort. Dallas, the album touches more on the stripped acoustic feeling of your earlier City and Colour albums, like “Sometimes.” Why did the both of you decide to go that route in sound?
Green: Well, if you listen to -- or are a fan of -- Alecia’s P!nk records, and see her shows, you know that aside from her hits, she’s got ballads and she’s got acoustic songs. She has moments in her shows where it’s just her voice and a guitar or a piano. It wasn’t that far of a stretch for us to make a record like this sonically, but I guess it was the first time we started singing and our voices worked so well together, we thought what better way to highlight our voices together than to strip away as much as possible.
Dallas, you were in Alexisonfire, and Alecia, you have P!nk. Obviously, it’s been a while since you were playing hardcore, Dallas, but what kind of a thrill and fulfillment do you get from tapping into different styles, and as two artists from different backgrounds how do you find that common ground?
Moore: For me, it’s like a really relaxing vacation. It doesn’t have a lot of the commitment that our other projects do. When Dallas and I go separately and make records, we’re committing to a lot of time on the road. For me, a lot of make up and hair …
Green: What are you saying, I ...
Moore: I’m saying you don’t have your make up on yet.
Green: All right.
Moore: Again, I think the reason it sounds the way it does is because we’re both smiling in here, kind of doing it for no other reason than joy and the love we have for making music for no one but ourselves. And ... I like all genres. I’ve been threatening to make a death metal record for years. It just didn’t work out this time
Green: There’s stuff we like and there’s stuff we don’t like. I’m not a hardcore fan, I’m not a pop fan, I just like songs. There’s songs I like and there’s songs I don’t like. I think Alecia is kind of the same and we both have listened to tons of different styles of records our whole lives and both made tons of styles of different records. Maybe because we’re older now, and we’ve been through these sounds, now we’re making this quite and elderly record.
What were some of the funniest or best moments from the recording process that you will always remember whenever you think back on that time?
Green: To be honest, without sound too cutesy, the entire thing. There were so many moments where we couldn’t get through the vocal take because we were laughing. You know a gag reel at the end of a comedy, where they get a case of the giggles? It was like that, but we were singing really sad songs about our moms. In between vocal takes staring at each other and crossing our eyes. I’m glad we didn’t film any of it because ... sometimes I want to look back and see those memories in HD, but I also look forward to spending the rest of my life ...
Moore: Trying to remember what happened.
Green: Trying to remember what happened and trying to explain to people how great it was. Like that time you hit my glasses. [Alecia laughs] We came together and you were just so excited that you whacked me in the face.
Moore: The bicycle thing was kind of funny.
Green: You want to tell this?
Moore: I will tell it. [Alecia attempts to tell the story, eventually recognizes that she is incapable of properly explaining it and then summarizes that they had been drinking, she fell off her bike and broke the bike.]
Green: The end of the story is that I threatened an Uber driver with his life if he didn’t drive Alecia home safely. [A few moments of silence.] Is that not hilarious?
Moore: That’s not a good story, no.
Green: But that actually was the funniest night.
It was one of those “had to be there” moments, I’m sure. So while you both have these fun, sarcastic moments, a lot of the content on the record is pretty serious. For example Alecia, "Break the Cycle" was a very personal song for you. What made you want to write that, and for both of you, what other lyrical inspirations did you have in this album?
Moore: I think that people who laugh the most are hiding the most, and I don’t think Dallas and I are any exception to that. When we write, we don’t joke around about our feelings, we joke after the fact about how fucked up they are. The writing process is really easy for both of us -- especially because we’re such good friends -- to go straight for the center-most part of the pain and let it out. It’s like letting air out of a really over-stuffed balloon. And then we get to do it, and we get some courage, and then we get to fucking take a deep breath and go, “I’m exhausted, let’s go get a beer.”
Is there anything planned for the future of You+Me, or are you maybe just hoping some day down the road you will be able to do this again?
Green: Like Alecia said, our whole other lives are so planned, and the reason this thing exists is because we just did it and it turned out really well. Everything’s on the table, you know, we can do as little or as much as we want, but we know it’s always there. People enjoy it and we enjoy it, so we’ll just kind of it leave it at that. That’s the way she goes.