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Predestination explains many things: who we are, what we become, but most especially, when you are gifted with amazing rockstar hair, why you join a rock band. What else could one derive from such a heavenly gift than to pair yourself with someone of equal musical ability and fantastic follicles? In the case of the duo, Fly By Midnight, on their latest album. The Fastest Time Of Our Lives, the music actually meters out just as much style and quality as the locks. As the title suggests, it is a propulsing, rhythmically driven record blanked by soaring sing-along choruses. Curious about the origins of this excellent pop record, its handsome authors and more, we caught the friends and collaborators prior to their Fall tour, check it out here:

OnesToWatch: First question always is, why are you guys artists? Which I think is one of the hardest jobs on earth.

Justin: Damn, we're going right for it. I feel like the answer to that's probably changed over the course of our career. Probably in the beginning, it's about paying the bills, which is super cool being able to do that making music. But maybe early on, it was for the acclaim, and the payoff of doing something unorthodox and succeeding. Now, I feel like we've sort of settled into this new normal, where being an artist is just being able to go into work with your best friend and make music and be able to pay for the bills for the roof over your head. For me, that's why I enjoy being an artist, because now we make our own schedule. We get to spend time with our family when we want to. I know that sounds pretty lame and boring. 

Slavo: I grew up having a math brain, so I feel like being an artist and being able to produce and create music and build something in almost a mathematical sense, it’s that's always been very satisfying. Kind of a weird answer. But, I feel like there's something about doing this and having our own control over it too, that’s just very rewarding from all aspects. We have our challenges, like any other job. But we keep it pretty tight knit and we've become super communicative throughout the whole process. So the challenges seem to be less daunting. We get to spend our days being creative, so can’t complain. 

Justin: It is cool to live life through the lens of songwriting. To look at your everyday experiences and be able to pick out lines and concepts, it’s a gift to be able to reflect on our experiences in that way. 

The poet e.e. cummings said, "When you're an artist, you get to steal other people's moments.” You're a thief of moments, you know? 


Justin: I like that a lot. 

Observationally, I have to ask, where would you rank yourselves as having the best hair in new music? 

Slavo: It's funny, when people think of us, they think of our hair almost first, I don't know if it's a blessing or a curse. 

You guys have great hair. 

Slavo: Thank you. We were in an interview yesterday where someone was like, Hall & Oates? We've been getting that a lot more lately. 
I guess we have that curly + flow thing going on. But, our music and our hair have both been on a parallel journey, because when we started off, we had some Sonic-ass hair. It looked pretty brutal. 

Justin: We did. You know, it's funny, Doc. When we first started the band, I was straightening my hair to look like Slavo. We both had these little German pompadour things. So to answer your question, we've come a long fucking way with our hair. I hope our music, too. And it's also so interesting, I feel like people are now wanting to do curly hair, which is crazy because I grew up being bullied for that shit all the time. That's why I straightened it. 
And now I'm the cool kid in town. We put a lot of product in our hair on the road. Actually, funnily enough, our eyes are usually burning from the amount of hairspray we use. 

Got to embrace it. Well, you guys have been on a musical journey, and I think the music you’re making now is the most confident and authentic. You’re also a duo, which there aren’t many of anymore. What makes a duo really work and why is it working so well for you right now? 

Justin: When we first met, Slavo was just producing, and we were set up in a writing session to write for a pseudo solo project that I was working on. Even before that session, I expressed to a team I was working with that I just didn't like the idea of doing it by myself. So, there was always that feeling of wanting to create something bigger than just me. We had one session together and shortly after I proposed the idea of a duo to him. I made it very romantic and very awkward. He has an amazing voice that he very much underplayed. I never really wanted to start a band, but I did want to find one another personality that I got along with as a friend AND could write music with. 

Slavo: When Justin first expressed interest to me when we were collaborating, he actually told me he wanted a female counterpart but… I didn't have long hair at the time, so I would have definitely made more sense for it now. I think being a duo just naturally fell into our laps. We both had brothers growing up, and now living on the West Coast, we have friends, but we don’t see them as much. So that brotherhood is really important to us. It’s like, there’s the people that go to the gym by themselves to do their thing, and then there’s people who need someone there to work out. I'm definitely the type of person who needs someone to work out. That's a personality trait that definitely is comparative to making music. Doing it by yourself sometimes isn't as fun. Having too many people is not so fun either sometimes. 
There are a lot of ways to cut the pizza, you know. And for us, it just worked. 

Justin: We say this often on tour because I think it's really important nowadays to let your fans know when you're in a band or when you're in a duo or something, that we are best friends. We’re talking about Hall & Oates, and obviously, everyone knows they don't like each other and there's a lot of beef there. But we make a point to say on stage that we are the healthiest we've ever been in our friendship, which of course, reflects in us as collaborators. We've gotten so good at trusting each other's opinions on certain aspects. I can't picture making all of these decisions by myself. 

How does your music taste compare? 

Slavo: We have a lot of the same interests, but our backgrounds are very black and white. Justin came up in theater, putting on the tight pants and singing. And I was in dingy bars playing screamo music. Somewhere along the way, they blended into where we're at now. 

Justin: Even as people, we have so many different interests. We spend so much time together as friends, but I notice our differences, especially on tour, when we’re wanting to do our own things. 

Let's dive into the music. After working together for some time now, do you have a set music-creation process? 

Justin: It's become a well oiled machine over time. On this record, we've tried to challenge ourselves more, not only for the fans, but also to keep things interesting for us. However we could throw a wrench into the creative process, we wanted to try it. A lot of the time, there's a concept or a word that gets brought to the room before any melodies. We'll talk about what that concept may mean to both of us, because it really has to be both of our stories for it to come out as Fly by Midnight. 

Slavo: Yeah, something specific about the making of this album was that we really focused on hooks. Sessions often lead to songs that will sit on a harddrive, and we just really didn’t want to waste time, so we went straight to the most important part. We would literally go in and just write hooks. That's how we kicked off this album. It was more important for us to get to the meat and potatoes of it before we write all the extra stuff to fluff it up.

Justin: Slavo presented that idea because when we first started writing for this record, we just wanted to do so much better than our last. I can take accountability for coming in a bit too heady with some of the concepts we were chasing in the beginning. By taking that month of writing hooks and doing what felt good, we were able to inject our personality and have a little less pressure there. 

You kind of hinted at the origins of the record, but were there any conceptual intentions when starting the album? 

Justin: The idea of the Fastest Time of our Lives and how we were packaging the album, that was a conversation that happened pretty early on. Before we had the album title, Slavo and I went out for lunch and we decided that we wanted to package the album in different EPs, but to make it a cohesive brand. We decided to brand them as Lap one, two, and three. So there was already some element of a race. Then, we were at our publisher’s holiday party, and an executive that works at the company asked us how we were. We’d just finished our US tour, about to leave for our Asia tour, and in the midst of writing this album. I remember her saying, “This feels like the fastest time of your lives.” And at the same time, on a personal note, we're both married, Slavo is going to be a first time dad. I just bought a house, five minutes away from him, so he can't get away from me if he wanted to. 


Sounds like babysitter on call right there. 

Justin: I'm about to be the best uncle. Ultimately, it really felt more and more while making this album that the title rang true. Once we liked that idea, it did slowly start to reflect itself in some songs, like “Heart Race” or “Running,” where we were like, okay, there is a finish line, thematic feel to some of these songs and so let’s lean into it. 

Slavo: There's a good balance of songs that just happened to fall into the narrative, too. Like, “Weather,” we wrote as a nostalgia piece, reflecting on your life, friends and relationships, and that just happened to fit into the idea of keeping up with yourself. 

How many songs are on some hard drive right now that didn't make the cut for the album? 

Slavo: We've been working on this for two years, so you can imagine there's a lot that was put back on the shelf. 

Justin: I’d say 50 songs. 

Slavo: It was tough at the end there, it came down to like timelines, so there are a few extra songs we’re excited about that might make it onto another version of the record… There’s definitely more to be heard from this wave of music. 

How did you choose which songs would make it onto the album? Was it a conceptual thing? 

Slavo: Our intuition is just at a new peak, we’re feeling confident on our decision-making. And every song is either something both of us believe in, or one of us feels extremely passionate about, enough to make the other trust their instinct. 

Pivoting to some fun questions. Is there any song that you listen to as individuals where you go, man, I wish we wrote that song? 


Slavo: I go back to my favorite song of all time. “Scenes from Italian Restaurant,” Billy Joel. He is the king of narrative writing and that song is a masterpiece. It's so beautiful. 

Justin: Embarrassingly, it’s only entered my life the last couple of years, but the song “Both Sides Now” by Joni Mitchell. It reminds me how impactful music could be. Sometimes, what we’re doing, it may not feel as special some days. That song reminds me that if I feel this way listening to music, then our music could do the same to others. 

If this album fulfills your wildest dreams, where does it take you?

Justin: I think the dream is to release an album that really lives on as a classic, and has longevity. That's all we're ever chasing with this, is to keep being able to do this.
That feels humble, so maybe throw some yachts in there. 

Slavo: We’ve always classified ourselves as middle class musicians, so the ability to do things at our own pace and rely on this project to live our life, to do that comfortably and keep doing it, that's really the goal. A lot of artists really burn themselves out on tour, like our friend Teddy Swms, he’s on the road nonstop. I don't know if we could ever do that. If we could do this at our own pace and live our lives and be happy and comfortable, I think we're doing it 100%. 


Okay, last couple of questions. If all of these dreams come true, the album does amazingly, what do you do to celebrate? 

Justin: Dinner. Two martinis, extra dirty. 

Slavo: I’m more of a six kinda guy. 

Justin: Just taking a really deep breath, being able to take it in. Because we never take anything in. And some good food. 

Slavo: All our family and friends are on the other coast, so to be able to afford to bring them on a big vacation, that would be a dream. 

Well, I got to ask because I'm a martini man myself, also extra dirty, olives on the side. Do you have a best martini in LA recommendation?

Slavo: We don't go out enough to answer that kind of question, unfortunately.
I am a midnight TikTok scroller, though, so take this with a grain of salt. But, I saw someone recently take Grillo pickles, gunpowder gin, and a little splash of pickle juice, so maybe that’s my rec. 

I’m very curious to try that. Final two questions. First, do you have a recommendation – book, movie, place to visit, etc.? 

Justin: I've really fallen in love with books in the last few years more than ever. It's pretty wild. I am almost done with a “Year in War and Peace,” which is a study where you read a chapter a day. In 365 days, you finish War in Peace. And I think it's been an amazing journey, and I highly recommend it for anyone who reads, it feels like you're watching 10 seasons of Game of Thrones on a historical landscape.
And I think it's a cool palate cleanser for me. 

Slavo: I watch so many different TV shows and movies. I just finished The Studio, the Apple TV show. Honestly, it was one of the funniest, most creative things Seth Rogen has ever done. It was really fun, especially if you appreciate that aspect of how the industry works and how they're making fun of it all. They also use music in a really interesting way. There's a jazz theme throughout all of it, that gets choppy when things get hectic. 

Justin: Last quick plug before we talk about our favorite artists. Anything Superman for me as well. Those stories are so reflective of real life. 

Finally, I would love to know your OnesToWatch. Who are some artists you’re listening to, that we should be listening to? 

Slavo: I love listening to a song’s radio on Spotify. There’s this band called June, I think they do something similar to Gorillaz where it's all animated characters.
But the songwriting is really good. Her voice is incredible. 

Justin: We love Holly Humberstone. Her moment, if it hasn’t come, it’s impending. I'm really excited for Dijon to come out with another album. There's just so many cool artists right now that are being given the autonomous space to do what they want, which is what we do. We'll always support people like that.

Anything you want to sign off with, advice, anecdotes, plugs, shoutouts, happy birthdays, whatever you want. 


Justin: We're just so grateful to be independent artists making a living doing this, and we don't plan on stopping anytime soon. The North American Tour kicks off September 14th, 22 cities and that's just one circuit of what may be more circuits of this race. 

Slavo: We love everyone who's listened and we're excited to meet everyone who hasn't. 

Justin: And shout out to our moms.

THE NORTH AMERICAN CIRCUIT

9.12 San Diego, CA

9.13 Phoenix, AZ

9.15 Dallas, TX 

9.16 Austin, TX

9.18 Atlanta, GA

9.19 Orlando, FL

9.21 Nashville, TN

9.24 Washington, D.C. 

9.25 Philadelphia, PA

9.26 New York City, NY.

9.27 Boston, MA

9.29 Toronto, ON

10.1 Columbus, OH

10.3 Chicago, IL

10.4 Minneapolis, MN

10.7 Denver, CO

10.8 Salt Lake City, UT

10.10 Portland, OR

10.11 Vancouver, B.C. 

10.12 Seattle, WA

10.15 San Francisco, CA

10.16 Los Angeles, CA