We sat down with DFW band, Model Homes, as they start off their new project with members from all different kinds of music genres
Interview by Kar Mercado & Hannah Fulkerson
Written and Transcribed by Hannah Fulkerson
We got the opportunity to talk to Model Homes after their acoustic set and get to know how this band came to be. The new indie rock project was started by Jade Lorenz, former vocalist from bulletsbetweentounges, in spring of last year. As Bullets was on its way out, Jade brought together those he admired musically and creatively to form Model Homes. This project consists of Michael Giannetti on bass, Joey Craig on drums, Liam McCab on guitar, and Jade Lorenz doing vocals and guitar. This curation of musicians just released their first album True Believer on streaming services February 12th.
Kar: How did you guys start Model Homes, where did the idea start and when?
Jade: Let’s start with when. It was around spring? Spring of last year. I was about to end my other band and I really wanted something going because I have got to keep moving, making stuff and I had a pretty specific line up, being them. It was kind of like, if this combination didn’t work out, I would probably do something else, so I reached out to them and they’re all mad nonchalant, So they were like yes! And we just started really slowly working. I want to say March of 2025. We ended bullets in June and we’ve been doing this for a little bit because we wanted to take a really really long time and just be writing attentively.
Kar: Can I ask why you guys specifically?
Jade: Yeah, it’s like… I’m about to glaze. For Liam, I feel like I’ve just really enjoyed working with you. He was in Bullets with me in my old band. So he was just a very valuable player that I really wanted to continue to work with. I trust him a lot. We’re expanding on something that I’ve reached my artistic limit with as a player, I respect him a lot. Micheal, we’ve been really, really close for a while now. Honestly at this late in my time living here it was goofy that we didn’t have a project together. Just the friendship between us, I was like before whatever life changes, I have to do something with him. While we’re here, while we can. And then Joey, I had known kind of distantly through our friend Ryan and have just always admired his band Jud Frisby. I saw a lot of interesting creativity there that I really wanted to pursue and also. Someone new to work with that I feel like I’ve gotten closer to you as people as well. Which I don’t want to stay too same-y, too comfortable, y’know, I’m really interested in this person creatively and want to see what it looks like if we were to combine our skill sets. It was just pretty clear, there’s a ton of people that play music here, but I know who I can confide emotionally and artistically in and it was them three.
Kar: Bringing you guys (Jade & Liam) from bullets, and then you guys (Michael & Joey) joining this project. What was everyone’s perspective? Leaving a pretty successful project, as you would say, having the ball rolling there. And then what was it like for you guys coming into this new venture with them already having this bigger project, to completely start over?
Micheal: I kind of knew what to expect at first with it because we had worked together a little bit on bullets, as far as artwork and photography, and so we knew how each other thought and worked together well. So doing that in a music context wasn’t a big change for me personally. But it was. cool to definitely get closer with everyone as well. I’ve only briefly played with Liam in A Brief Memoir and Joey when he would fill in that band.
Jade: I guess me too, I forgot
(side note: Shout out A Brief Memoir Shout out all of their bassists)
Micheal: But yeah, it’s getting to be closer to these guys, and I feel like we’ve had a pretty good transition. It’s been pretty weird being like okay they’re completely starting from scratch. But it has ended but it’s pretty cool.
Kar: Joey, did you have any similar experiences?
Joey: Yeah, I feel like it’s cool because I’ve known Liam forever. We’ve been close for a long time and I’ve known Jade on the periphery forever. So in the best way it’s just another band playing with friends, and we’re trying really hard. Just like a bunch of other people here in the community and stuff, but with them specifically its just cool, it’s nice to get to know everyone in a music way
Liam: For me I think everything that’s already been said kind of underscores the fact that this iteration of people hasn’t made music together but we’ve all kind of been intertwined in some way. It makes it easy because I know them as people or I’ve played music with them and it’s a separate thing for them. It just feels comfy
Micheal: That’s a good word for it, comfy.
Kar: This is more specifically for you guys who ended your last project. That transition of finding a new audience. You had a very niche audience with your last project
Hannah: I was going to say, the genre switch. I guess for Jade specifically and I feel like with Brief, that’s a genre switch with this music. And i would say yall play similar, such as Darling Farm and Shubby. How was the genre switch and how do you think your audience is going to be moving forward?
Jade: Dude honestly it was really easy, just because I started writing for Bullets when I was 19, so I was a baby. I’ve always been in the projects and circles I’m in, the youngest, I guess I like to look up to the people around me in ways and learn from. Them. So by the time I ended Bullets, I don’t think I turned 22 yet, I think I was 21. I just. Genuinely wasn’t as angry as I was about the content of those songs as I was when I was 19, 20, when I was a little more immature. Feeling the things that pushed me to start that band. It feels material because of its music, shows, and numbers, but honestly, for me, internally it was really seamless. I’m angry about other things now, and there’s a nuance to writing about them and for me it’s just not through metal music anymore. It’s just not what I listen to really, and it was a really good catalyst for what I needed at the time and it really, really, really improved my life for a few years. But it’s not what I need right now, and it was a pretty easy realization to make so that the transition was… I feel like my life has already transitioned to what we sound like now, long before we actually put out the music for it. So it’ll appear more stark to people because obviously people aren’t in my head and feeling what I’m feeling, and feeling what they’re feeling when they write and perform, but for me… i mean it’s kind of what you said, it’s more music. It’s a different language, but it’s more music, and I think that if people care about the right things in their music will recognize that, and it’s not really going to be a question of genre, more of a question of passion, and i think that’s How we’ll find an audience is people that you know, this is a different kind of vulnerability than Bullets. But as far as intimacy goes, it’s quieter, it’s more with the listener, its. More articulate, and i think that people that are interested in that will find it enjoyable. And hopefully it will aid them the way it aids me. Yeah I mean i dont know thats a super hippie way to look at an audience, but it really is like, I think that an audience is just a bunch of people that are looking for similar things out of their life and art that we are when we make songs about it. This thing that me and him have said in countless conversations, that if the record comes out, and it doesn’t fall into the right ear, we’ll do the. Work to find the right ears
Kar: there’s always an audience
Jade: Right and not that that’s easy, but I don’t know Bullets was like, I was 19 and mad and crazy. I was getting tattooed, I was going ballistic, and people resonating with that was one of the most surprising things. I never thought, I mean, I felt alone, that was why I made those songs. So other people resonating with it just proved to me that it can happen again. I don’t feel like we’re at a ceiling or that there’s no one out there that will connect with these.
Hannah: I think y’all tapped in on a very marketable genre right now too.
Jade: It’s easier to listen to
Hannah: But, not even that, I feel like indie rock is always on the wrap around when it comes to it. Someone has to do it.
Kar: Jade you said something to me once about how you wanted this release to be specifically no build up to it, nothing.
Hannah: you kind of just dropped it
Kar: Just surprising everyone it was like Christmas Day, and then you said you just wanted your music and your art to speak for itself. Why did you guys take that angle with the release?
Jade: the way I feel like I am at 22, the way that we are as young people, the perception of ourselves carries so much weight that I feel like it can attack the art really quickly and really hinder what we’re actually capable of because we’re scared. And that’s what happened to me during Bullets, I was focused so much on perception and fitting a genre and kind of like a mold of myself i had made to market that band that i just wasn’t fitting anymore and so I really just wanted time to only think about what these three people think about the art that i am Putting out because they’re the ones that are adding to it, revising it, and making it. So I really just wanted to. Pure product, something that had nothing but the feelings that made the songs into songs and the opinions of the people that wrote them to carry them to an audience I just don’t know, every song I’ve ever released, I’ve asked. Someone else if they were good, and i dont think that is me being the best artist i can, and i thought that doing it this way would be a much more therapeutic and purified way to do it just as a brand new band. Like, we’ve all played publicly there’s expectations you know? And at least for my money it feels like that, at least so far. It feels more honest, not that we could do that every single time because you’ve got to make money and shows happen somehow, but for the first thing ever i just didn’t want it to be a question of what’s it going to sound like, how long is it, or what’s it about, just doesn’t mean something. And to me it does, so i felt like this way nothing could get in the way of that.
Kar: about the production of it, all of your guys’ opinions being such a heavy thing, could you walk us through the recording of making the release?
Joey: For me, this was the first time I’ve gotten close to writing while we were recording. Because my favorite song off the record, Girls with Guns, we wrote the day before the last session.
Hannah: wow
Jade: I was pissed off
Joey: scheduling honestly, is crazy, so that’s a reason for it. But also same thing with Jade talked about on the last question, which is just that protection a little bit of that boundary. The only expectations are the ones we set for ourselves, it’s freeing and challenging in its own ways, but nothing should be easy, nothing good.
Micheal: To kind of expand on that, a lot of the initial writing was just us getting in a room once a week just throughout the entirety of last year.
Joey: New song everyday
Liam: There was a bunch of stuff.
Micheal: Can I say the number?
Jade: Yeah
Micheal: We ended up with 11, right? 11 songs total.
Jade: I wanted an album.
Micheal: He did, and it got cut down. Because we were being so particular on what we really think about what we’re putting out, are these truly the best we can do? Or does this need more time? Because we kind of did have a deadline in mind for it coming out around this time. Us going, hey we have a good product right here we can work with this. It was pretty cool, it felt like us hanging out just being like, Jade comes in I got a new song! I got something for you. And us. Going okay cool let’s see what we can make of it. It was a good process.
Liam: To piggyback on that a little bit, I know you said March, was when the band was being created. You had told me on tour, which was in April or May, that you wanted me to play in a new project. I was like heck yeah, but I don’t think I got in the room with everyone until July or August.
Jade: I forgot about that.
Liam: as soon as I got in there I learned all of this stuff, yall were like ahh this doesn’t fit anymore. That’s a cool thing because we’re all together now. Like, why would we spend our time and energy. So as I say, basically, long story short, I feel like the direction of the band changed a lot throughout last year, even up to recording. We wrote a song as we were recording and then recorded it. I haven’t been in a band that started out in a long time, most of the projects I play in are like, Hey you want to play guitar for us? They’ve already been around for a second, I’m like oh cool yeah , but this is cool because i dont even know what’s going to happen which is cool, it feels freeing in a way.
Hannah: For the longest time y’all didn’t have a name. I wanted to touch on what made y’all decide on model homes? I know it felt right, is how you described it to me Jade but every time we went out I asked “do yall have a name yet” “Nope”.
Joey: It’s a Pedro song.
Jade: The truth is, it’s the name of a song from this band called Pedro the Lion that I care about a lot. If we were to dissect it, I did like… I don’t know, for some reason this band, I just wanted something that had to do with appearance. I don’t know, a lot of the ideas in my head were about physical appearance, beauty standards, just things that I feel as an adult, not even what I’m writing about, just something that I struggle with. If there were to be anything it means, it has something to do with that. Because it was present when we were trying to find a name, and they’re all so chill, and I, you know, cracked out. So I liked the name and they’re like yeah that sounds good. And im like fuck.
Joey: I don’t even remember there were a few before that
Hannah: I was gonna say, can we know?
Jade: Nah
Hannah Damnit.
Jade: We got the one that works
Liam: There were a few that sounded like metal. Bands, it didn’t. Feel right.
Joey: He’s got a pretty good idea of what things should be called and the parameters of the spectrum were created and stuff like that. When he says we’re chill, it’s because we trust him
Jade: thanks dude
Micheal: I want to second that, it’s been quite nice, it doesn’t sound like it would be, I’ve been in a lot of bands that are very we are a democracy where everyone has a say in everything, but in this jade has such a cohesive vision on what he’s looking for that it’s pretty easy to plug in, but still feel like this is our band. It’s not just Jade’s band he’s just driving the boat
Hannah: Y’all just gave him the keys
Micheal: pretty much
Kar: where did you find your most inspiration in this curation of your band?
Jade: its so weird because I really only listen to rap music
Hannah: I was wondering how many times Jade would mention playboy carti.
Jade: I spend probably 90% of my time listening to rap music, genuinely, I feel like I’ve been playing for so long I’ve internalized a lot of my favorite guitar music players style and with how much music I’ve heard, sets I’ve watched, what really gets me sat down at my guitar and working is anything that as an artist makes me want to make something because what they made is so good. It’s weird because Pedro the Lion is the one band I’ve listened to over half of my life now, they’re who I would say I pull sonic inspiration from. But what’s really making me sit down and write is when I see anyone that I like, I really want to be that good. What he has mentioned earlier, about the standards we set for ourselves, that’s like the Frank Ocean paradox for me. I hold his music at such a high bar that my goal and my time making music is to make something that I think is to that level. And I haven’t, don’t get me wrong, I haven’t done that yet. But that’s the thing that motivates me, I don’t really go fishing for other things in this vein. I just get a spark from something like Frank or Playboi Carti, I did, I went to that show and then I wrote for three hours. It’s literally the performance at that level, even like things I don’t like, I’ll see a band I don’t like and it’s just performing at that quality. That’s where I’m like, I want to be that so bad, whatever genre is the catalyst for that will be what I make. I think this band is just a lot of internalized Green Day, old melodic rock that I’m just spewing out.
Kar: Can I ask you guys what inspiration you guys pulled into this band as well? Anything that y’all are bringing to the table? You’re like, I saw this and I think we could use some of this.
Liam: I was listening, and I still am listening to a ton of Idaho. I don’t know if anyone knows that band. The cool thing about them was, or I guess they’re still a band, but they play tenor guitars. Like four strings, whatever, and it’s very limited on what they can play so I was just like their music sounds kind of like it too. So i was like how can I kind of tap into that less is more kind of thing? Because I feel like for a while now I was like, oh I need to do this cool stuff all the time and it’s just like, when you’re doing it all the time, im like ahhh how can I do the one thing per song that sounds like different and cool and grabs your attention still? I don’t know.
Hannah: sometimes less is more
Micheal: Yeah. I don’t know about any inspirations I directly thought like, oh this would that’s a lie. Call It Luck was very much, my baseline on that is very much a listening to a metric shit ton of Green Day. Not Green Day. Why did I say Green Day? Because you said it.
Jade: I love Green Day.
Micheal: You do love Green Day. A metric fuck ton of Radiohead. I love Colin Greenwood. Growing up, I kind of robbed myself of the experience of learning other people’s music. I kind of just had a bass in my hands and went, okay I know the notes. Cool. I’m good. So going back and like learning a bunch of the stuff that I really love has helped with developing a lot of the ideas here.
Joey: I like a lot of different kinds of music.Early on in this project I think Jimmy Eat World came up. It’s changed a lot. But like Bloc Party that was kind of just trying to have good dancey stuff.
Kar: I know we also spoke about you know, with music it’s like, you get to that point where it’s looking like I want to make money off of this, but then people are going to be like, oh you’re selling out. How do you guys plan to take that into mind where it’s like, I want to make music that people can dance to but I still want to keep my voice and I don’t know, are you guys worried about that aspect of it?
Joey: I think I’ll worry about it when we start making money.
Jade: Yeah. I mean I just feel like I don’t know the reason that money even matters for this is because this like if you were to look at this as a career, which I do, like it’s what I want it to be because I’m like definitely I’m in an all eggs in one basket situation but this is like the only combination where my life feels like it works, is like doing this chasing this, trying to do this I’ve never been happy doing anything else, trying anything else I didn’t want to go to college, I didn’t want to chase any career, so I feel like that like, as long as I’m giving out like just a relentless passion and work ethic I’m not really afraid of being slighted because I know that for me it’s just like it sounds more like the dream, it’s just like what I’ve been chasing since I was like 11, so like, obviously there is there are things we need to be careful with and it’s very nuanced spending money and making money through art but it is like if I ever get scared that I wasn’t meant to do anything in my life, this is the one thing I hope im meant to do and i need money to do it, so it comes down to it, i dont know how long you guys have been playing but i would assume a decade or at least close to it.
Liam: Yeah
Micheal: Yeah
Joey: Yeah, I’ve been playing the piano since I was 5.
Jade: With that level of work, I don’t know, I’m not afraid of criticism because this has been our lives forever. My whole cognitive memory has been with a guitar, so I hope we make money because. As we get older it gets harder to be away from our homes, our partners, our families. If anything im excited for this platform, I think music is selfless, but as selfish as it can get, As long as its equally for us and the people who care, we won’t sell out
Kar: Just to close out, what can we expect from model homes in this new chapter?
Jade: dude that’s a great question, we haven’t really talked about it, but like I said I’m pretty crazy so I will probably be pretty active, because I have to keep moving.
Joey: Live shows coming up
Liam: you already talked about writing new stuff
Hannah: yeah when’s the next album
Jade: I see us taking a while for the next body of work, the goal now is to make sure it is heard and to play all the time for it to fall into the right ears.
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