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Energetic and synesthetic melodies are what drew us so deeply into the jams of Pomona, California’s Stay Cool Forever, but it’s the sweet attitudes and enthusiasm for fun and community vibes that have kept us hooked. With an elusive internet profile complemented by an active real life presence we thought we’d have a nice conversation with Gus, Nina, Keith, and Nick about the 90s, their place in the Pomona music scene, and when they’re finally dropping their first physical artifact – aptly titled Whatever – for our selfish drooling purposes. Take a peek below and follow the story after the jump!

FMLY: So where are y’all from and how’d you meet?

Nick: I’m from Los Angeles originally (South Central area) but I moved to Pomona around the summer of 1996 or so. I first met Keith in high school around 2003 when he was a freshman and I was a senior… I ended up switching schools halfway through the school year and I didn’t see him around again for maybe a year or more… I think I went to his house one day and we watched a movie or something. i had seen Gus around the same time in high school but I don’t think we ever had a conversation or anything, then a couple years later I had seen him around again cause he would go skating with Keith and his friends, this was around 2005 or so. We met Nina about a year and a half ago at our first show (Keith, Gus, and I) which was a festival called Bobstock at our homie’s house in Diamond Bar, CA.

Gus: I’m from Pomona, i met Keith and Nick in high school, i believe i met Keith skateboarding through some mutual friends. He didn’t like me back then though, i dunno why… I think cause i beat him in a game of skate. Nina came along after we played a show at Bobstock, that’s when we first met her.

Nina: I’m from Pomona. I met Keith through a couple of friends of mine. Keith and I started dating and I became closer with his friends and I’d frequently jam with them so joining the band came naturally.

Keith: I was born and raised here in Pomona. I met Nick and Gus in high school. Nick and I ended up chilling every now and then. To set the record straight, I always thought Gus was chill, but I was kinda intimidated by how chill and popular he was<3 Gus and I were pretty much acquaintances, but we ended up chilling after high school, and being in a different band together, we jammed it fatty, then we ended up Stay Cooling it together later on. Nina I met just last year through some mutual friends, she ended up not only being a super chill person, but super chill on the keys, I lucked out<3

You’ve got a lot of Pomona-based band pals which i think is totally awesome, can you tell me a bit about Wiley’s Own Records?

Nick: Shout out to all of the homie’s bands, there are too many of you to list here! haha Wiley’s Own Records is something that has been in the works for a while now as we would always write a pretend record label for our latest song that we would post on our MySpace to be released on, haha. But now it’s pretty much becoming something that will definitely see releases in the near future! For now its a label that represents our three most current projects… Stay Cool Forever, She Knew (which is Gus’s solo project), and a band called Us which Keith plays drums in! we’ll see which of the bands has the first release!

Keith: Yeah, Wiley’s Own is basically something we wanted to start to unify our group of bands, and put our own releases out on. I’d also like to one day produce stuff with people we really dig, if and when we get more established, and we have the cash. We haven’t put anything out yet, but the first Stay Cool release is on the way, and we have She Knew and Us releases in the works. Our old school homie Sam, who lives in Portland now, does solo stuff as Echo Pearl Varsity, he’s working on an EP that will come out on the label very soon as well. Super psyched for the future.

Most of your songs end up in a radically different landscape from where they begin, it’s really sweet! How does the writing process work for ya?

Keith: I was inspired to make huge recordings after listening to the Microphones, and discovered the magic of looping with Don Caballero. I first started making recordings that would start with something basic, and I would record more and more on top of it, until it became this big crazy thing. Once I got my loop station, it allowed me to build and build, like I did with my recordings. I pretty much jam on the loops I make with everyone individually, and the songs develop gradually.

Gus: Well as for as the basic loop goes Keith would come up with an idea for the solid loop that goes on and Keith I would sit around singing off of each other, Bouncing back and forth and filling in our flows to intertwine with each other. The idea is to play with each other not on top of each other.

Nina: Most songs have the verse-chorus structure, but Keith approached Stay Cool with a different style. What I think happens is that he essentially creates two different songs in the same general key and puts them together using his loop station to make one song. From there, we just jam on the material, which is how Nick learns his parts. Keith usually works with Gus and I to come up with keyboard parts, and organize vocal harmonies by playing off of his lyrics.

Nick: A lot of these songs Keith had written by himself a while ago or we have worked in pairs or the full band to come up with the end result, also jamming and playing the heck out of these songs live for the past year or so has shaped them into what they are now. the way we usually write is, Keith comes up with a basic loop and sometimes rough lyrics and shows it to all of us at practice, then i try to create a drum beat behind it to propel the rhythm of the song a little further… then Keith, Gus and Nina come up with rough key parts that we use to help color and tone the song that much more, more lyrics get created by all three of them and then we just keep tinkering with it and jamming on it and playing it live and well, you’ve heard the rest!

If you could curate the raddest house party that Pomona has ever seen (if you haven’t already), who would you ask to play?

Nina: If you are asking about local bands that we would ask to play, thus far my favorite bands in the area are Us, She Knew, Wild Pack of Canaries, and Halloween Swim Team. Each have a unique sound and thriving role in the local music scene. It would be rad to have them all play a show together.

Nick: Haha! Hmmm that’s a tough one because I love our local scene a lot and I have to admit that we have had some amazing house parties all over town! Anyways, if we could have another one anytime soon besides asking all of our local homie’s bands i would also ask Night Control.

Keith: Wow, I would hit up the Wiley’s Own crew, Halloween Swim Team, Robot Maintenance Radio, Kia Bastilla, Amazing Reverb Engine, Dash Jacket, Creationists, Tan Dollar, Speculator, Wild Pack Of Canaries, Nite Jewel, Ariel Pink, Usher, and Philip Seymour Hoffman<3

Gus: Teen Inc. and Brother Bear from The Berenstain Bears’ solo project.

You clearly appreciate the 90s, care to elaborate on some of your favorite pop culture memorabilia?

Nick: Oh man! Well being the oldest member of the band at 24 i have many fond memories of my childhood… Things like the Ninja Turtles, the X-men, and the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers ( their comic books, video games, action figures and cartoon’s) made me want to be a superhero! i used to listen to KROQ 106.7 fm for alternative rock music and i used to listen to Power 105.9 fm for hip hop and rap. I loved to read Goosebumps books by R.L. Stine and watch the tv show later on when it came out. I’d also watch Are You Afraid Of The Dark on Nickelodeon when i would come home from elementary school! very scary at the time! I remember loving happy meal’s from McDonalds and i swear they tasted better when i was a kid! I’m glad to be a 90′s kid!

Gus: Oh man too much to even name, but to name a few things i’d start with The homie McFly from “Back to the Future” some real heavy stuff. Super Nintendo, Super Mario World – Donkey Kong- Contra III, shout out to my Ninja’s the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the homie Kevin Mcallister in Home Alone, Goosebumbs, gotta bring up my fav nickelodeon show’s “My Brother and Me” “Kenan and Kel” “All That” “Afraid of the Dark” “Hey Arnold” and I got mad love for 90′s R&B <3

Nina: I was always a huge Disney Channel Fan. My favorite shows ever were So Weird and Boy Meets World but I’d also watch the Beetlejuice cartoon to freak myself out. I miss hearing Sugar Ray and Mickey Mouse Club stars i.e. old Christina, Britney etc on the radio… I wasn’t as in tune with American 90’s pop culture because before I’d get to watch television/listen to the radio my mom had me watch Russian cartoons and listen to Russian pop music and those definitely helped shape me artistically.

Keith: Airborne, Nickelodeon (Legends Of The Hidden Temple, Are You Afraid Of The Dark?, GUTS, Wild and Crazy Kids, Hey Dude, Clarissa Explains It All, Doug, etc.), Gak, California Dreams, Saved By The Bell, Mondo, Dunkaroos, Hocus Pocus, Pokemon, Yo-Yo's (Pro Yo's Turbo Bumble Bee was my fave), Super Nintendo, Boy Meets World, Disney Channel (Bug Juice, Even Stevens, The Jersey, etc.), Weezer, Green Day, Michael Jackson, Surf Ninjas, Barney, Computer Games (The Secret Of Monkey Island, Sam and Max Hit The Road, Day Of The Tentacle, The Legend OF Kyrandia), Goosebumps, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Creepy Crawlers, Pogs, The Simpsons, Mad TV, Commercials ("McWooorld! Hey, it could happen."), Burger King Kid's Club, Old school MTV, Kevin Smith movies, shows like Elimidate and Blind Date, one of my favorite movie trilogies The Mighty Ducks, and the list goes on forever. I fucking miss the 90's.

This album has been in the works for as long as i’ve been listening to ya. Any hints of a title, how long it’s going to be, when it will drop, etc…? But take your time, please.

Keith: Whenever. We’re putting out the EP on How To Be A Microwave, a label run by our friends Halloween Swim Team. We’ve been working on this for a few months and finished recording it a few weeks ago. I’m finally done mixing the songs. It’s totally finished, and it should be available in a month or two, we haven’t decided just yet. 6 songs. 22 hopefully chill minutes. We’re pretty proud of it, and can’t wait for everyone to hear it!

From the songs I’ve heard, there’s such a gorgeous array of sounds. Which bands have been throbbing your hearts lately?

Nick: Thank you! As far as bands that I’m really into lately, I dig the sounds of : Nite Jewel, Moses Campbell, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, the first album by Thomas Dolby called “The Golden Age Of Wireless”, Bill Nelson, Panda Bear, Toro Y Moi, Gorillaz, and The Buggles! This is the past week!

Nina: Recently I’ve discovered Ariel Pink and rediscovered Weezer’s The Blue Album. I just bought a Sugarcubes tape, and a Prince tape that I’ve been tripping out on. Although The Beatles, Echo & the Bunnymen, Animal Collective, Sinatra, Bob Dylan, The Cure, etc always be throbbin’ my heart.

Gus: I’ve been listening to Boys II Men, Ambitious Lovers, Stereolab, and Michael Jackson.

Keith: Music I’ve been chilling on lately… The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow Soundtrack, The Beatles, Nedelle, Ambitious Lovers, 2pac, OMD, Spellbound Soundtack, Lou Reed, Stereolab, Ariel Pink, Echo and the Bunnymen, Life WIthout Buildings, Moonpools & Caterpillars, She & Him, Prince, Justin Bieber, Usher, Taylor Swift, The Beatles, Christina Aguilera, “JC” and “Sweet Shine” by Sonic Youth, High School Musical Soundtrack, Spice Girls, Talking Heads, MBV, Sinatra, Dylan, Lou Reed, the blonde homie Alex Lambert from the last season of American Idol (he should of won), Colbie Callait, Dirty Projectors, Conor Oberst, Storm and Stress, Nite Jewel, Tears For Fears, George Harrison, dANA…. and Down There by Avey Tare is beautiful.

And the most important question of all, what’s your favorite flavor of Jelly Belly?

Gus: I like the Mango one that’s mixed with something, but i forget…

Keith: Anything blue is bound to be bomb.

Nina: I guess I like them all.

Nick: Either Buttered Popcorn or Chocolate/Cherry combination! This has been so much fun!