American indie rock band Momma became a member of Fender’s Next Class. The band consists of Allegra Weingarten, Etta Friedman, and bassist/producer Aron Kobayashi. Within the program, they developed their new album “Household Name.’ They hope to progress the band’s sound. The band is part of Fender’s fifth cohort.
In 2019, Fender created the program to support emerging musicians. During the pandemic, musicians interacted with fans on social media. The 2023 cohort became the first to gain traction on TikTok. Together, they have gained 6.5 million followers. Momma saw early success within their discography.
The band has 377,138 monthly listeners on Spotify. In 2016, they released the album “thanks come again.” This EP fell under the indie rock genre. “Interloper” (2018) and “Two of Me” (2020) received similar classifications. With the release of “Household Name” (2022), Momma progresses their sound beyond grunge.
To learn more about Fender Next Class and Momma’s music, read the interview transcript below.
The Knockturnal: What new skills have you acquired from the Fender Next Class program? What is the vision behind your band?
Allegra: Etta and I have been writing together since high school. I think the vision when we were starting out was to write songs that really highlighted the fact that we are two very close people, sharing stories and creative ideas together. As we’ve evolved, we just want to make really accessible and fun music that people want to listen to over and over again.
The Knockturnal: What were you most excited about when it came to hearing you’d be in the next group of Fender Next talent?
Etta: As someone who has primarily only played Fender guitars, it definitely felt really surreal to get the opportunity to be a part of the upcoming group of Fender Next talent. Candidly, getting gifted certain guitars that I have wanted for a while has been the most exciting part. It feels really great to start building out Momma’s arsenal of guitars between me, Allegra, and Aron.
The Knockturnal: Do other artists inspire your music? If so, who?
Etta: Yeah, of course! I think it’s silly to say otherwise. Our band gets a little pigeonholed into being a grungy nostalgia band, however, Allegra and I draw inspiration for Momma from all different types of genres and artists. While we do listen to influential ‘90s bands like The Breeders, Pavement, and Liz Phair, we have also been inspired by the likes of Stereolab, and Frou Frou, as well as some more modern acts like Alex G, Speedy Ortiz, Soccer Mommy, etc.
The Knockturnal: Within the program, how do the songwriting and music production processes work?
Allegra: The beginning of the songwriting process starts with one seed of an idea. Whether it’s a chord progression, melody, hook, or even a lyric. Then we’ll all (me, Etta, and our producer Aron) try to flesh out a fully formed song from one person’s idea. We’re lucky that our producer Aron is also involved in our live band and in the songwriting process – it makes things feel very seamless.
The Knockturnal: What types of benefits do Fender Next artists receive from the brand?
Etta: The biggest benefit in my opinion is getting access to new gear. Whether that’s guitars, amps, or cases, Fender has definitely been super integral in helping supply the correct sounds for us on our recent tours.
The Knockturnal: What inspired you to create your new album, ‘Household Name?’
Allegra: Household Name is a collection of songs that we’d been working on for a while. The real catalyst for writing the record was that it was the first time we’d all lived in the same place since college. We were really eager to get all of our ideas out and made something that showcased who we were as a band. Even though it’s our third record, we knew that in a lot of ways it would be considered our ‘debut,’ since it would be the first time a lot of people heard of us. We just wanted to write massive, hooky songs, while also staying true to our style of guitar playing and lyricism.
The Knockturnal: What do you hope viewers will get from the new album?
Etta: Although we are in the very early days of writing the new record, I hope that listeners will recognize a progression in terms of the “next stage” of Momma. As I mentioned previously, I don’t want to keep getting labeled as a new band bringing back grunge – I want someone to listen to the next record and think Momma.
