Most kids dreamed of being in a band at one point or another in their childhood. Devon Phelps and Tucker Hoppe, two BYU-Idaho students, decided to make that dream a reality with the creation of their band, Coastal City.
“So, we met right after our missions,” Hoppe said. “We were neighbors up here at BYU-Idaho. And I would always be playing guitar, and I guess Devin would hear it. And so, we'd just come over and we'd jam, and we just became friends from that.”
Phelps says most of their music is written off inspiration. The two think up ideas then workshop the logistics with the band until they come up with a song they like.
“A lot of our songs just kind of start with a chord progression and then a melody,” Phelps said. “And then from there, we just, like, spit out words, and then if something sounds good, we'll take it, and then we'll go with that theme or whatever. There’s nothing, like, really specific behind it.”
Coastal City is working on releasing its first original album after releasing its first single, “Don’t Tell Me Otherwise” a little over a year ago.
“We'll be finished with vocals and recording all the instruments and everything and then we'll give it to the producer to mix and master,” Phelps said. “So hopefully within this next month, we'll have it out.”
Coastal City plans to keep moving forward in the music industry, performing shows wherever and whenever they can.
“I feel like what's helped us the most has really just been, you know, writing as much music as we can,” Hoppe said. “I think that just the process of showing someone something that you've worked on really helps solidify what you've written or what you've created. And, it helps inform better, you know, the next things that you'll work on. So I think that's been really beneficial for us, too.”
You can find Coastal City on Instagram to keep up with the latest on their album release.