INTERVIEW: Orlando-based alt-pop trio Mirror Parts talks new music, musical influences, and more.

Interview & iPhone photos by Lily Dixon.

Mirror Parts, a three piece alt-pop band from Orlando, FL, recently took the stage at Conduit in Winter Park, FL. The group brought the dreamy bedroom vibes with their original songs and even a Sabrina Carpenter cover. They are surely ones to watch and one of our contributors Lily was lucky enough to sit down with the band prior to the show. 

Welcome to Chord Clicks. Can you introduce yourself and what you do in the band?  

Ely Colcol: Hi, My name is Ely and I play drums in the band.  

Arian Estellar: I’m Arian and I play lead guitar and sometimes rhythm guitar. Sometimes I also press buttons too.  

Nick Ramsay: Hi, I’m Nick. I sing and sometimes play guitar.  

Can you guys tell us a little about the band and your influences? 

NR: I would say we make alt-pop for queer baddies with mommy issues. We have a super eclectic sound and influences. We put out three playlists that reflect what we have been listening to. Ely’s was like Balance and Composure. 

Lily: I saw that and was like oh my god Movements!

NR: Arian’s was like alt-rock and-

AE: It was a lot of alt-rock and also electronic music. Recently, I have been into house. 

NR: Dude, He’s been so into house. Mine is like pop music like Chappell, Sabrina, Muna, and Charlie Puth; I’ve been doing a thing about. 

EC: Then like combine the three 

NR: Combine the three and that is Mirror Parts.

Lily: That’s pretty iconic actually. I think later I actually had a question about the spotify playlists. 

You guys recently released a single called Can’t Get Enough, How did you guys go about writing that? What was the process like? 

NR: The writing process started because I was kinda in like a rut. We had just played a show and we were unloading the garage Arian had left but Ely was still with me and I was like I can’t write this next song. We have been working on this record for like two years and I was like I don’t know what to write next. 

You (looking at Ely) said something the most profound shit I’ve ever heard in my life. 

AE: You can write about anything 

NR (still looking towards Ely): Maybe you can write about something you wish you’d felt or it was like something crazy and profound like that. She left and I went to my computer and wrote that song.

EC: Just the voice in the background 

NR: And that’s been a source of inspiration for a lot of things I’ve been writing recently like a feeling you wish you’d felt. And we tracked it all in my house and it’s mixed by Steve Vealy and mastered by Alan Douches of West West Side Music. Thank you Alan. 

AE: We love them so much. 

NR: We would still suck if it wasn’t for them. 

Kinda in a similar vein but is there new music in the works? 

NR: Oh always!

EC: There is!

AE: We’ve been working on this EP for god-

EC & NR: Two years? 

AE: Going on two years 

NR: Little more than that actually 

AE: I remember, I think still being in high school when we got the first demo of this other song we have coming out with the whole EP too. Can’t Get Enough, I remember I was on a family trip that summer after I graduated and Nick sent it and I was like this is the best thing we’ve ever done. So, We’ve been on this for a while now. 

Back to the Spotify playlists you posted that reflect your personal tastes, What is anything that you’ve had on repeat lately that’s maybe newer? Like new releases? 

All: Hahaha New???

NR: There is an artist called Maris. I don’t know if you’re familiar but I found her on TikTok and she’s just like my pop queen right now. She put out a lot of good songs this year like singles and she’s my favorite pop artist right now. 

AE: I think for me to be honest maybe a basic answer but the Brat remix album.

Lily: Me too! Love Springbreakers with Kesha!

NR: Crazy Julian Casablancas feature. 

AE: The Julian feature kinda inspired the thought that like music is not even bound by a genre. You can make it any genre you want. I think with Anxious, our release previous to Can’t Get Enough, we got a lot of inspiration from a lot of dance music, electronic music. I think that really sparked an interest in my mind of the direction we wanna go. 

EC: For me, I’ve been listening to Billie Ellish a lot like Hit Me Hard and Soft. I really like that album. As for newer stuff it’s hard to stay because I listen to a lot of older stuff pretty often. I listened to Chromakopia the other day and it was pretty good. I enjoyed it but mostly like Billie Ellish right now. I am having a moment with her. 

Lily: I felt that. We start getting into fall and I start listening to emo albums that came out in like 2012.

AE: Me too, Isn’t like once the weather starts getting colder you put on Bags by Clario. 

Lily: You put on Peripheral Vision by Turnover like that’s the vibe. 

Continuing on from that, Are there any artists/bands that would be a dream tour? 

NR: MUNA! I’ll say it again, Muna!

AE: If we could open for Coin

(Constant Headache by Joyce Manor starts playing in the background) 

NR: Ok, Joyce Manor. Also, Joyce Manor. 

EC: Joyce Manor! 

NR: If we could open for Joyce Manor

AE: I think Coin, god dream tour.

EC: I’m gonna say Balance and Composure. I know they came back but I need to play with them one day. 

AE: This is so hard I can’t think of it right now, maybe I’ll come back to it.

Lily: I got so distracted by the Constant Headache. 

As a Florida band and we are a partially based Florida blog, Do you have any favorite Florida bands? Could be big or small.

NR: Can I name two? 

Lily: Yeah for sure!

NR: My two favorite Florida bands are Driveaway and Mirror Parts. 

AE: I love Driveaway. I recently played a show with a band called The Forum. They are really great friends of ours too. I think the direction we really want to go in for Florida, I think that there isn’t too many alt-pop acts and I feel like being in this circle of friends that we have  and this alt-pop community is inspiring to not only make new music but to go to other shows too. 

EC: Buko Boys. I like Buko Boys. They are pretty dope and Deux Visages they are doing their thing. Also, Different genre but Not Enough Space is doing their thing right now. Moancore is absolutely insane. 

NR: We played a crazy show with them like a year or two ago. It was us, them, and Crimson Apple, an internet musician supergroup. Not Enough Space did this awesome Pierce the Veil cover and Crimson Apple were so good and so nice; I think they are from Hawaii and also on hiatus right now. 

Lily: That’s crazy that you guys played with Not Enough Space. 

NR: Insane lineup 

A thought I had while driving here, What do you think about the indie sleaze revival? 

Lily: You guys kinda fall into that a little bit 

NR: Do we?

Lily: A little bit, I would say so. 

AE: I think honestly I love it because there is something about it that reminds you of your youth like I said once the weather starts getting colder you instantly want to put on Immunity by Clario and just listen to the whole album, top down. There’s some of it that oh this has aged clearly but some of it that’s really timeless. It just depends on what it is. I think there is a way to do it well and there is a way to do it you kinda miss. 

NR: Can we define indie-sleaze? 

Lily: I was thinking like The Dare and Brat. 

NR: We were on The Dare early dude. 

Lily: The aesthetic that comes with like electro-pop music. There has been a recent explosion of Maps by Yeah Yeah Yeahs on TikTok

NR: We are here for it. 

AE: Definitely, I would say once you look at it from that perspective it is so much more interesting. I remember when Girls by The Dare came out. I was like this song is really good. I hope this guy blows up and just to see him where he is right now is amazing. 

Lily: That is pretty much all I had and we appreciate you spending time with us. You know we love our Florida bands. 

Anything you want to plug? 

NR: So we have a new EP coming out called Do I Ever Cross Your Mind? and that’ll be combined with a single called Cross Your Mind. We are hoping to get it out by the end of the year and this is like our baby right now. It is the beginning of a lot of other stuff. So we are super excited!

AE: This is the first drop in the bucket sorta speak. To think that this era has been going on for over two years now so we are super excited for people to hear it and see what they think. 

EC: You can follow us on our socials @mirrorparts on everything, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and then Mirror Parts on Spotify and Apple Music if you wanna listen to any of our music.