Courtesy of Logan Daughtery
By George
From performing at Blue Door to opening for COIN two years ago at Wolfstock, By George is no stranger to the NC State live music scene.
Originally a four-man band, By George now consists of Tyler Ford, vocalist and guitarist, and Chaandmon Croft, drummer.
“I like to think it took all that time to find a dynamic, like a creative dynamic, that’s sustainable,” Croft said.
That’s why, for both Ford and Croft, the band started in July 2023.
“For us when we say that By George started in July, not the brand and the frog and who we have been as a live performer,” Croft said. “We still sound kind of bluesy, kind of rocky live on purpose, but we’re making the music we want to now on Spotify.”
Ford said there’s a difference between being a live music act and being a creative act, and when the band started with covers, By George was the former.
“When we all got to Raleigh, we started playing around State a lot more often,” Ford said. “I would say that’s really the birth of By George as a live music act.”
However, a big part of their metamorphosis into a creative act was starting to make their own music despite their love — and their fans’ love — for performing covers.
“Despite how much we loved playing covers, we didn’t feel like we were in a position to have music that’s uniquely ours,” Ford said. “We needed to take some time away and figure out what we actually sound like because again, we had just been covering like, you know, ‘Kilby Girl.’”
Now, they have two songs on Spotify, “love in a machine” and “feelbadtodogood,” which are part of their EP called “Backroom Memories.”
Throughout the year, they plan to continue releasing singles, their upcoming one being “vampire social” on Jan. 12, which is both Ford’s and Croft’s favorite song to play.
“[‘vampire social’] is a song we’re releasing on January 12, like a few hours after we get off stage at Lincoln, so that show’s gonna kind of represent the release of that song,” Croft said. “I love playing that song. It’s really, really fun to play on the drums.”
Back in November, they wrapped up their “Liminal Love Tour.”
“This is the first tour we’ve been on where it feels like all of the stressful moments just became funny, we would all joke about them,” Croft said. “Everybody’s having a good time in the car together; we’re eating together. I mean, it just felt like one big family on the road.”
Croft said that even through tough moments, their time on the road was memorable.
“Being on the road, … there are incredible moments and then there were extremely tough moments, and … when you can take that as a team, it makes it easier on everybody else.” Croft said. “Everyone was so dedicated and participated so much that there’s just a lot of camaraderie.”
On tour, they’ve had the opportunity to play in cities like Washington, D.C. and New York City, and while they loved it, they said it doesn’t compare to playing in the City of Oaks. When asked about a city or venue that’s particularly memorable for them to perform in, Ford did not hesitate to say Raleigh.
“Raleigh, Lincoln Theatre, for sure,” Ford said. “I mean, we always love playing in Raleigh. I mean, even as things continue to grow, I’m sure Raleigh is always going to be our favorite place to play because the memories are just too good. And I mean, this is where we came up, this is our hometown crowd.”
On Thursday, Jan. 11, they will return to Lincoln Theatre for a second time, playing alongside The Layaways and Bell Tower Blues Band.