Northeast Ohio band stays true to themselves, their music

April 6, 2024

One thing about People in the Daytime, an “eclectic” Northeast Ohio band, is that they aren’t afraid to be who they are. After a month-long tour, Evan Shonauer, Owen Barba, John Polace and Anthony Liotta sat down to answer pressing questions about their band.

How’d the band start?

Polace: Well it started in a lot of ways me and Evan knew each other through our main high school. And Anthony and Evan knew each other through a vocational school. Then the three of us started hanging out, like as friends and we eventually started making music together.

How did the band survive after graduating high school?

Polace: We all started college and me and Owen were in another band shortly. Our early years in college, we went on a hiatus, but we were sort of figuring ourselves out. And then we kind of reconvened in late like 2019, 2020 and then kind of formed as a real unit.

Why did you choose the name People in the Daytime?

Polace: It’s from the Eric Andre show, it’s a quote. But it’s not even a direct quote, we missed it by one word. He says “People like tottering during the daytime”. But we were like, ‘People in the Daytime?’ That’s so cool.

How would you describe your music?

Shonauer: I think it’s very eclectic and not one specific thing. It’s really hard to say, we just pulled from a lot of different stuff, like everything, the whole spectrum. I think for a while we were really heavily influenced by funk, like Stevie Wonder and Prince.

Tell me about your songwriting process?

Polace: Me and Evan often will start off with ideas for a song. They tend to go through like extensive demo phases where we record them at home, we’ll do different versions and eventually, we’ll bring them to the band and each other. We learn them, they change and morph into full songs

How much music do you have out?

Liotta: So one album, an EP and a remix EP.

What is the most rewarding part of being in the band?

Liotta: The most rewarding part to me is when something works. Like when you’re practicing it as a band and have the four of us connecting, like really deeply while we’re making this experience live- Like replaying and sharing that music with people and they just get it, they really understand what we’re trying to say and what emotions are going through our head.

What is your favorite part of being in a band?

Polace: I really like having a project to work on and doing it for us. Getting into it to the point where we all love it and are happy and proud of it, then finishing it and setting it free. Besides that just playing our songs on stage, essentially the best we could make it and having people actually like it and cheer and sing along. It’s like a dream.