5 Questions With: Onesie

Frontman Ben Haberland stops by to talk about the Brooklyn band's latest record, Liminal Hiss.

Oct 12, 2023

Good morning!

Today we’re talking with NYC-based band Onesie.

Onesie has always left music writers scrambling for their thesaurus. Their latest LP, Liminal Hiss, is no exception.

How best to describe a band that sounds like Pavement, Guided By Voices, and World Party in equal measure? Power Pop? Jangle Pop? Indie? Yes to all of that, but there is also a harder edge to their sound, making it that much harder to categorize.

Even the Bandcamp blurb for the record describes it as a genre-bending catch-all project for timeless, obtuse guitar pop in the tradition of Rundgren, Malkmus, or Pollard; Onesie remains difficult to categorize.

Rosy Overdrive described it as "…dazzling arrangements of jangle pop, power pop, and psychedelic pop...like if the Flying Nun bands had taken influence from Pavement and Guided by Voices, instead of the other way around...a barrage of warped pop hooks that nevertheless comes through loud and clear...top-tier jangle pop..."

So yeah.

Onesie is led by frontman Ben Haberland. Joining him on the band’s third release are guitarist Lori Bingel, drummer Will Whatley, and bassist Chris Bordeaux. Haberland is an adventurous songwriter, and the band does well to keep us all on the tracks through this genre-bending ride.

The songs for the LP came together during the pandemic, with Haberland putting it all together while “wandering through NYC parks, looking for humanity during the pandemic and trying to come to terms with such a catastrophic failure of government and our own inability to work together.”

Opening track “Permaspring” will bring to mind 60s/70s bands like the Kinks, while the guitar hooks and backing vocals on tracks like “Anemone in Lemonade” take all the best parts of sugary pop and 90s indie alternative and combine them into something new -and sure to get stuck in your head.

Hard to describe, not hard to enjoy. What can easily be said is that the band’s latest album is a bouncy, hook-laden outing that will have you scrambling for the repeat button.

I recently had a chance to catch up with Haberland via email. In a wide-ranging chat, we talk about Pitchfork reviews, what he hopes listeners will take away from the record, what band sometimes gets him through his workday…and the music.

Our chat has been lightly edited for clarity/flow.

I started building up my demo back catalog and eventually assembled a group of friends to jam. It's still as uncomplicated as that today, just friends bringing their own unique talents to these wacky power pop songs I make in my room.

~Ben Haberland

Onesie at The Sultan Room, Brooklyn, NY. Photo: Michelle LoBianco

KA: Can you fill in a little bit of your backstory? Walk us through what made you get started playing. Are there any other bands that you are/were involved in?

BH: I was a bit of a late bloomer. My parents exposed me to the usual boomer melange of Beatles and Stones. I was really focused on X-Men comics until the day I saw the Oliver Stone Doors movie and thought - OK, I'd like to create wild art with my friends. I disappeared into my bedroom during the "metal monk" years - playing guitar along with Van Halen and Metallica. Siamese Dream provided a bridge into "alternative" rock, but once I discovered my local DIY punk hardcore scene, my life became centered around that community and discovering others like it out in the world.

For about 10 years I played blisteringly loud, fast music. My main bands were The Disenchanted and Celebrity Roast, and we recorded tons of songs and toured the US and Europe often.

Eventually, I was really craving something that relied more on timeless songwriting than a high-decibel live show. That birthed The Isles, which existed for a few years. We made an EP and an LP (on Melodic out of Manchester) that I'm proud of. Europe dug it but Pitchfork gave it a 4.7! That pretty much stopped our USA ambitions dead in their tracks. I found myself at a crossroads in my mid 30s after years of being a lieutenant in various bands- meaning I was always a main songwriter and arranger but often shared the front-person role or was the lead guitarist. Stephen Malkmus's Face The Truth gave me a blueprint for the breadth of genres one person could tackle under the guitar pop banner, and that inspired me to focus on creating a body of work of my own songs.

KA: Softball Q: How did you get your name?

BH: The band name came from the folder I made for the first song I recorded for the project, "Pillow Sail"” I called the folder "One," and that seemed too indistinct, so I made it "Onesie" so I could locate it quickly on my desktop. It's a pretty silly origin for a silly band name. I like that the name doesn't steer your expectations in one direction or another, so maybe you're forced to reckon with the music itself rather than a familiar narrative or branding.

KA: I can hear quite a few different influences on the record. Everyone from Pavement to World Party. Who would you include here?

BH: Thanks! I'd agree with both of those. I love Pavement, but TBH, I'm actually more of a Malkmus solo/Jicks fan. Liminal Hiss leans a little peppy, and it has a kind of "personal is political" social commentary thing connecting most of the songs together - like those great mid-90s Brit pop records (Suede, Blur, Pulp, Oasis) except the version of "Parklife" or "Common People" here would be wandering through NYC parks, looking for humanity during the pandemic and trying to come to terms with such a catastrophic failure of government and our own inability to work together.

There's also a good dose of 70s radio rock- like Thin Lizzy or Steely Dan, then add some saturated 80s guitar pop. Oh, and maybe a pinch of DC post-hardcore or 90s San Diego noise rock, and voilà!

KA: For anyone coming to your music for the first time, what do you want them to take away from it? For fans of the first two records, what should they expect?

BH: Well, there's a lot of range in how people interpret Onesie songs/records. I'm really just dreaming up the kind of semi-wacky psych pop I'd like to hear more of, and I appreciate it when a record demands I return to it multiple times, but in a pleasurable way- it shouldn't be work. Hopefully, the hooks are the initial draw, but as you sink into the layers of guitars or try to discern some meaning from the lyrics, there's always something fresh to focus on.

Also, I'm hoping there's enough raw energy and bounce in there that it has a use in someone's life- getting them going in the morning or being an immersive experience in their headphones or car. Compared to the first two albums, this one might be a little more blatantly "up"- probably because it was crafted in isolation, and I was maybe doing a little fake it till you make it therapy. Really, though, I'm writing pretty constantly, and this is just the highlights from 2018-2021 or so.

KA: What's next for the band? What does the rest of 2023 look like for you?

BH: We're looking to play around the northeast and maybe even the East Coast in the next few months. Would love to fly out and do the West Coast and maybe Europe eventually. We're always playing NYC around once a month at least. There are so many venues you can almost tour within the city. I'm a Dad and run my own business, and all the other peeps in the band have other projects, so it's just a matter of making the scheduling work. Hopefully, as the record spreads, there might be a desire to see Onesie that we can fulfill.

KA: Anything else we didn’t cover that you’d like to add?

BH: Thanks for the great questions and I hope people get a chance to check out the record and maybe even order an LP from our Bandcamp. As a DIY band we really appreciate the support and interest.

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Onesie | Limnal Hiss, 2023

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1. Describe your music style in one sentence.

Weirdo heavy power pop is what we've been going with.

2. What music played in your house(s) growing up?

The Beatles, Tom Petty, Talking Heads, Rolling Stones, The Roches, Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac.

3. What are you listening to these days?

I'm certainly guilty of favoring old stuff in my listening diet- I've been prone to let Steely Dan's 70s output guide me through an entire workday. My teen self would be repulsed! Regarding newer stuff, I’ve been enjoying The Beths, Office Culture, Sheer Mag, Mark Fredson, & The Lemon Twigs.

4. What are your 5 Desert Island Discs?

Lordy! That's tough, but I like the exercise. I feel like this could be a list 1000 records long. Without too much introspection I'm going to go with... ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
Big Star - #1 Record / Radio City
Liz Phair - Exile In Guyville
Stephen Malkmus - Face The Truth
Rush- Moving Pictures

5. If you could collaborate with any artist/band, who would it be?

Maybe Fionna Apple. I've really started to gravitate towards these piano-heavy artists in the last ten or twenty years, and I just find so many of her writing and performance choices to be so gripping. She's just operating on some other level - it's as pop as it is avant-grade, and it's seemingly arranged without any template at all. The rawness and desperation in her lyrics are very inspiring. Not sure what I could bring to the table but it would be really cool to see her move a song from an idea to something more three-dimensional.

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