Fantasy Guys go for a ‘Chill Walk’

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I spotted Fantasy Guys from a block away. Inyo Galatea (guitar, flute, voice), Maddy Davis (vibraphone, synth, keyboards), and Mitchell “Hibiscus Chad” Hardage (bass, drum loops) sauntered along Pryor Street dressed in vibrant hues of red, green, and blue — shining like beacons amid the sea of beige, brown, grey, and black business attire adorning everyone else on the streets of Downtown Atlanta. The reason for today’s visit: Fantasy Guys has a new record in the works and the group is rolling out a new flute-laden single, called “Chill Walk.” Like the song’s namesake, we took a stroll around Woodruff Park to talk about the blend of tropical pop the group has crafted in the heart of the South.

Tell me about the new Fantasy Guys record.

Mitchell: It’s our first full-length. I produced and engineered an EP before this, but we’re doing this one with Damon Moon, and with Ryan James from Dot.s recording and mixing. 

Maddy: Our first EP was called Surfin’ On A Wave of Juice, and that came out last May. Then we had an instrumental EP called Dreaming of the Sea. That one came out in January. The full-length will be more like the first EP; it’ more pop and tropical and R&B inspired.

Inyo: The new release will be our first proper full-length album. We’re still deciding what to call it, but it’s kind of unofficially called Aloha bbgyrl.

Maddy: It’s also unofficially called Believe in the Chill. Or Cruising Around, Respecting Babes. Or Best Summer Since Last Year. We’re still trying to decide.

Mitchell: It’s still up in the air. This is sort of how we picked our band name, too. It took a really long time, and there were a lot of really good options.

And you went with Fantasy Guys.

Inyo: Yeah, sometimes you just have to pick something. Before we chose Fantasy Guys the other contender was Rainbow Yoga Blast.

Mitchell: There’s a song on the album called “Aloha bbgyrl.” It’s more chilled out, and we’re thinking an eponymous track might not be too bad.

Inyo: It’s one of my favorite songs on the album. And really, it’s kind of what we’re all about.

Maddy: We also want to keep having songs on each new album that are also the title of the previous album. There’s a song on the album called “Surfin’ On A Wave of Juice.” Which was the original song that we just couldn’t get together in time for the EP.

But ”Aloha bbgyrl” is a song that capture what Fantasy Guys are all about?

Mitchell: Yeah. It’s very chill. Very tropical. It has a modern text message vernacular, and that’s what we’re all about. If we could put an emoji in an album title, we would.

What’s stopping you?

Inyo: Can our album be called Sunglasses Emoji?

Maddy: Sunglasses, Palm Tree, Hibiscus Flower, Surfin’.

Mitchell: You just gave us some ideas, so now we have to rethink our album title.

And that’s what you’re all about.

Mitchell: The good stuff. That’s what we’re all about!

Maddy: We played a show at Ponce City Market. The group that played before us had a really long, three-paragraph bio that was used when they promoted the show. For us they just pulled a thing from our Facebook page that says “We’re all about the good stuff.”

Mitchell: We like to take any opportunity to play in non-traditional places, too. And we love playing outside. We’re gonna play at the King of Pops Yoga in 4th Ward Park, I don’t know if there’s a date for it yet. Sometime after the album release, which is happening on the roof of the Secret Spot in East Atlanta. That’s gonna happen the second week in May. That’s what we’re shooting for. I think we should aim for the second Saturday in May — May 14 is what we’re aiming for.

Why do you like playing outside so much?

Inyo: It’s not dark and smoky, and it’s a better fit for our sound. We like to bring the tropical vibes of summer time. And there’s something about being outside in the sun and listening to some groovy tunes that’s just what we’re all about.

Mitchell: For some reason we just play better when we’re outside.

Mitchell: We’re going to the beach in May and we’re thinking about doing some beach busking. Our sound just lends itself to being in that kind of environment.

Maddy: Although we’re not opposed to playing at a Joe’s Crab Shack.

Are you guys Beach Boys fans?

Inyo: Oh yeah!

Maddy: We’re maybe considering playing a Beach Boys cover.

Mitchell: We can’t tell if that’s too cliché or not.

Maddy: We have a list of partially developed covers in the works: “Always Be My Baby” by Mariah Carey, “Love You Inside and Out” by the Bee Gees, “Don’t Worry Baby” by the Beach Boys.

Mitchell: We’ll put our twist on it, of course. It’s difficult to do a direct cover of these songs.

Maddy: It’s a slippery slope when start getting into covers. After you get one down you start talking about, “Why don’t we do this one? And this one would be so good with your range! And this one would be cool!”

That’s how you get the Joe’s Crab Shack gigs, though.

Maddy: If we could just do “California Dreaming,” that would do it. We could just jam on that one song for an entire set and that would about do it.

Inyo: And then we could get unlimited crab legs.

Maddy: I meant to say “Hotel California,” but I really don’t like that song, so I said “California Dreaming” as a natural defense. I just repressed that song in my mind.

Who’s releasing the new record?

Inyo: We’re doing it with Skeleton Realm. We put out our first EP with them. We really like those guys. They’re doing really cool stuff.

How would you describe the Skeleton Realm aesthetic?

Mitchell: It’s like how in 1995 you would get free CDs of AOL and stuff like that? That’s how I would describe their aesthetic. Like a Windows 95 free trial version of a shitty Internet browser. Not that they’re shitty, though. That’s just the aesthetic the label goes for. They embrace those kitschy Internet experiences.

It’s weird that nostalgia has gone there.

Mitchell: I know. It’s like Inyo saying “Dude, we have to play on ’90s Casios.” I remember being in the ’90s and having a Casio synthesizer and thinking it sounded terrible. But Now it has entered the realm of nostalgia, and become attractive to people.

Maddy: I can still play all the demos from my fist Yamaha mini keyboard.

Inyo:  That Casio that we play, I’ve had since I was like 14. I remember playing it and thinking these are the dumbest sounds! When would you ever use this? And now we use them more than anything.

Maddy: I grew up playing classical piano and I saved up all of my money to get a really lame Yamaha keyboard when I was 14. It was expensive back then, but it would be nothing now. I remember being so excited that it didn’t just make piano sounds. I would play on the flute and it would be like “Hey, if you weren’t looking it would sound like I was playing a flute, right?” Of course it didn’t. But I’ve never lost that fascination for those sounds.

Mitchell: There’s something about embracing that aesthetic, but also bringing in modern sensibilities, like recording, mixing, and mastering techniques. When you pair that tastefully with the cheesy, ’90s Casio sounds it does something really interesting. It can sound really good, and really groovy, and it does hit that nostalgia bone for a lot of people.

Fantasy Guys hit that nostalgia bone at 529 on Sat., April 16. With TV Girl and Dot.s. $10. 9 p.m. 529 Flat Shoals Ave. 404-228-6769. www.529atlanta.com.