Frank’s Corner #13: In Conversation With mildred.
Stage banter, lunch ladies, and the process of forming a vision.
Welcome back, one and all. I want to say thanks to friends old and new for supporting the newsletter for almost 8 months. We’ve got nearly 100 folks who have hit subscribe, and for that I am wildly grateful. In celebration, I’m thrilled to introduce a conversation I had last week with the ever-compelling and wildly talented new group, mildred. I hopped on a call with guitarists and vocalists of the Oakland-based collective Jake Schrott and Henry Easton Koehler, a day before the second half of their two-part “mild” and “red” EP release, and quickly came to understand the loose, synergistic, yet inspired nature of their creative process that makes their work so playful yet addictive.
“It’s never that serious, honestly,” Koehler admits, assuring me the conception of “mild” and “red” was quite literally a collection of spitballed ideas bounced off one another until their words gathered meaning and a track was born. “We like to shoot images, lyrics, and ideas off one another, write them down, or bin them. We’ve all got ideas to bring to the table, image- and lyric-wise, and the music just flows around it.”
Following a tour route with Porridge Radio and set to continue their rounds opening for Naima Bock, there is a sense of momentum and group chemistry that is hard to ignore. The narratives within each track flow seamlessly, sort of like chapters of a page-turning novel, with turns and twists emphasized by a steady, country flair that is easy (but fresh) on the ear. There’s a special something about these guys, and I’m eager to see the boom in the years ahead.
This was such a fun conversation…I hope you tune in!
25F: Mildred is, in your words, “a freckled chainsmoking lunch lady with a beautiful tenor.” How does that guide your creative direction—across Mild and Red, and more broadly?
Jack: That mascot wasn’t part of the original idea when “Mildred” first came to be. It evolved into the mascot later on, as something that kind of embodied the band’s spirit.
Henry: Sadly, she’s not a real person. When we started playing together, before we were even really a band, we were joking around with kind of guttural, old-lady names. “Mildred” popped into our heads and stuck. We even went through phases like “Mildred’s Lisp” for a while. It started as a joke, but when we began playing together seriously, “Mildred” just felt right. The whole “lunch lady” image kind of came after the fact — a retroactive explanation.
What made you go through a list of “old-lady names” in the first place?
Henry: Honestly, just our collective sense of humor. No deep reasoning — just riffing, which is really how we work as a band musically and comedically.
Jack: Yeah, a lot of it was us trying to come up with names that were weird or hard to say. “Mildred” turned out to be pretty easy compared to the early contenders.
I was listening to Trailer Hitch right before this and wrote down “cold vacation, taxidermy, old joy” as a sort of emotional headspace. What was happening in your lives when you wrote that?
Jack: We were in Montana at our drummer Will’s family cabin. His family hunts, so the place is full of elk antlers and mounted animals — it’s a sensory overload of taxidermy. I had a bit of a cold, we were jumping in this pond, and we’d just watched Old Joy for the first time. All of that kind of seeped into the song’s world.
When choosing imagery for lyrics, how do you decide what stays and what’s too cryptic? Or is nothing too cryptic?
Jack: We use our bandmates as a barometer. We’ll throw out nonsense during practice and see if something sticks — if everyone likes the image, it stays.
Henry: Yeah, I realized while writing blurbs for an album we’ll release starting this Spring, that most of our songs start with a single image that feels interesting, and we build from there. It’s less about a grand theme starting with an image and seeing where it leads. At least for a lot of my songs.
When people compare your sound — I’ve seen “Pavement goes Americana” or “country shoegaze” — what do listeners get right or wrong about your music?
Jack: “Pavement goes Americana” is pretty flattering. We’ll take it.
Henry: Yeah, we can’t complain! We’re a baby band, so honestly, any thoughtful engagement with our music means a lot. Nothing we’ve read has given us the ick. We’re just grateful people are paying attention.
Jack: With Mild and Red, we didn’t start with a defined vision. It was just songs we made by showing up and playing. It’s been cool to see how others interpret it, and that’s influenced where we want to go next.
Were there songs that could’ve ended up on either Mild or Red?
Henry: Yeah, definitely. Laila might’ve gone on Red at one point.
Jack: I actually debated that too. Like maybe Green Car belonged on Red instead of Mild.
Henry: Maybe! But Mild just has that more laid-back, lazy flow, and Green Car fits that.
Do you think you’ll ever look back and wish you’d switched them?
Jack: Nah, I don’t think so.
Henry: Yeah, not something worth losing sleep over. One nice thing (I think) about being in a band with four writers is that it forces you to be less precious and make decisions quickly.
With four songwriters, are there songs that clearly “belong” to one person?
Henry: Usually, yeah. Someone brings a core idea — a melody or progression — and takes the lead, with everyone chiming in.
Jack: For sure. Even if we all add bits, there’s usually a central voice or perspective guiding each song. On the next album, there are more true co-writes, which have been really fun.
Do your jobs or studies influence your songwriting or arrangement process?
Henry: I would say for me, to the extent work finds its way in, it’s reacting to the drudgery of it.
Jack: Same for me — being bogged down by work just fuels the urge to play music. Our bandmate Matt’s an architect, and I think that design mindset bleeds into how he writes, too, even if subtly.
How did your early UK tours influence the making or sequencing of Red?
Henry: We actually wrote and sequenced Mild and Red at the same time — just decided to release one before the other. The names themselves combine into “Mildred,” so there was always that built-in structure.
When opening for Porridge Radio and Naima Bock, was there anything you did to intentionally connect with new audiences?
Jack: The Naima tour was special. Will — our drummer — knew her from London, and we ended up becoming fast friends. We also played as her backing band for a few songs each night, which was amazing. That was our first real tour — it gave us a lot of momentum and confidence.
Henry: Yeah, and the Porridge Radio tour was wild because the shows were packed. We were playing some of our favorite venues on the West Coast — house shows and clubs — and it felt surreal.
Henry: We usually decide on a setlist the day of a show, in the green room. It keeps it loose and spontaneous, and we’re getting better at reading the moment.
Were there any cities that particularly fit your sound, or maybe didn’t?
Henry: Our first show on that Naima tour was in Walla Walla at Brian and Jean’s house — they host this amazing house show series, and pack the place. They take care of artists really well. That show was so warm and personal. We’re actually going back there in February.
On stage, how do you keep that sense of warmth and spontaneity alive instead of slipping into autopilot?
Jack: We don’t plan much, honestly. Our stage banter is chaos — very popcorn energy.
Jack: During the live show that became part of the Trailer Hitch video, we actually had a power outage mid-set. The crowd started singing “What Do You Do With a Drunken Sailor” while we waited for the lights to come back on. It turned into a spontaneous a cappella moment — pure magic.
Are there specific pieces of media — music, film, books — that have influenced recent songs?
Henry: Not directly, but it’s all in there somewhere. Obviously, there’s Old Joy, but we’re always trading things to watch and read. It all seeps into the writing in quiet ways.
If someone watched the Trailer Hitch video for the first time, is there something you’d hope they misunderstand about you — in a way that pulls them deeper in?
Henry: That video definitely has a fever-dream energy. It’s a bit mysterious/moody — with the fireworks and it being kinda nocturnal. If it leaves people curious enough to dig deeper, that’s great.
If a new fan asked for one song that best represents Mildred in its most all-encompassing sense, what would you play them?
Jack: Probably Carry On, which actually drops tomorrow on Red. It balances where we’ve come from with where we’re headed — it feels like the bridge between eras for us.
Once Red is out, what are some things coming up that excite you guys as a band?
Henry: We’re hitting the road in February for a U.S. tour with Naima — kind of a horseshoe route across the country. And in the spring, we’ll start rolling out songs from our next record. We’ve been finishing those up lately and are really proud of them.
Jack: Yeah, we’re also back in writing mode, working on new material for whatever comes next. That’s always the most fun part — writing and recording together.
Listen to “mild” and “red” on Spotify. Follow Mildred on Instagram.
