POSTER BOY, a newly-formed pop-rock duo of University of Minnesota seniors Cole Pivec and Henning Hanson, said they want to write good songs with catchy hooks and cool riffs that people actually want to listen to.
Their debut single, “White Walls,” came out last Friday. Pivec said the song reflects their thoughts and perspectives on this past election and how it affected people.
Fresh off a trip to California where they recorded with Grammy award-winning engineer Patrick Kehrier, the group said they plan to release their debut EP sometime this spring. Both Hanson and Pivec are talented multi-instrumentalists and play several instruments for the project.
Henning and Pivec formed POSTER BOY after their previous band, rock trio Dial Tone, disbanded for creative differences earlier this year. Daisy Forester, the third member of Dial Tone, is currently performing as a solo artist and in bands Yonder and Favourite Girl.
Hanson and Pivec said their focus is on making music in the studio, not on stage.
“With Dial Tone, it was all about the live shows,” Hanson said. “With POSTER BOY, we’re taking the opposite approach.”
Hanson said he and Pivec are classically trained musicians who want to use their technical ability to make catchy pop-rock songs.
“I have never had the privilege of working with someone who is this talented and on the same wavelength as I am,” Hanson said.
Together, the duo works to record catchy, well-written and well-produced songs by recording several short demos at a time and then revisiting them weeks later. If they still like the demo, they turn it into a full song.
“If we don’t believe in it two weeks later, it probably wasn’t worthwhile anyways,” Pivec said.
POSTER BOY said they are focusing on recording music that is genuine to our lives at this moment.
“Our upcoming EP is more of a personal reflection on how our relationships with ourselves have changed throughout the past few years,” Pivec said. “We’ve both been through a lot and have had a hard time finding a way to express it.”
The name POSTER BOY was inspired by an archived Instagram account Pivec started before his freshman year. They settled on the name because of its association with an image of success and technical proficiency.
“It’s sort of an ironic name for a project of two people who just want to make music any way they want to,” Pivec said.
The duo said they are eager to perform in front of a live audience but want to wait until they have enough material to give audience members a good experience.
