Sorry's Asha Lorenz on Weirdness in the Pandemic, Avril Lavigne, and Irony

Sorry courtesy of Domino Records

I love Sorry, you know this. I got a chance to hop on the phone last month with Asha Lorenz about the band’s new Twixustwain EP as well as some other topics, and now you get to read it.

I was supposed to see your show in Brooklyn right before the pandemic, but I skipped out because I had a bad feeling about how things were going.

A few hours before, we were scared it was going to be cancelled. But it was a nice show, I felt good about it. But we had to go back the next day, because we were scared they were gonna close the borders.

Tell me about returning to the UK at the beginning of the pandemic.

The day after we came back, everything was shut down. It was quite a big experience.

You’re one of a few musicians who put out a career-changing album and then weren’t able to tour behind it because of the pandemic. What was that like?

It was just such a crazy time that it was hard to focus on the album release. It felt insincere when there was so much shit going on, so it felt a bit funny to put an album out. But we wanted people to listen to it. It was just hard to get into that zone. We just thought, “Maybe things would go back to normal soon.” We did a few acoustic livestream shows, but I don’t really like doing those that much, so we just thought we’d buckle down and write during this period. We posted about the album and stuff, but it was hard to know what the right thing to do was.

Tell me about some of your own musical influences.

When I started to listen to music, it was stuff like Avril Lavigne until I started listening to Elliott Smith and Radiohead. I found out about that stuff from my sister’s iPod because she’s a bit older than me. I’d get to use it once a week. During school, me and Louis got into a lot of old hip-hop as well as Pro Era. Capital STEEZ was our favorite when we were 16. We also liked Alex G.

I always wrote on guitar when I was younger, but then I started doing stuff on Logic. Me and Louis would do lots of beats and put them on Soundcloud because we’d want our friends to hear them. Soundcloud used to be a big thing—we used to listen to beats on there all the time. Then we just started playing music.

How old are you?

23.

You mentioned Avril Lavigne before, and there’s lots of artists in your age group that have cited her as an influence.

I feel like she was just cool. All of the choruses from that era of pop were really catchy and riff-like. I still rate her now. The songs were good.

When I listen to Sorry’s music, I hear a sense of humor amidst the seriousness. What’s the lyric writing process like?

I usually take snippets from something someone said—a catchphrase, or something I’ve read in a book. Some of the songs I write in one go, like “Rosie,” but other times Louis and I will have a lyrical idea that sparks the song. We still want the music to be deep and emotional, but we can also get quite cheeky. We like a good balance, because I don’t like it when things are too ironic.

What was childhood like for you?

I was quite an emotional kid. I got sick a lot as well. Whenever I met someone, I’d try and impress them.

Tell me about meeting Louis and what your creative partnership is like.

We went to school together and shared a group of friends for a long time. We always really liked each others’ beats and then we started playing together. Me and Louis, we just have something that I don’t know what it is. The first song we wrote together was “Perfect,” which was five or six years ago. We have ups and downs and we don’t agree on things, but that’s natural.

Tell me about putting the Twixtustwain EP together during the pandemic.

It was kind of hard to write much in the beginning. We just wanted something to put out in the interim that shows the other production styles that we do. It wasn’t as collaborative as before because we were at home. But we did videos for all of them as well. It’s less song-y than the album, more ideas and textures.

I’ve talked to a few artists who have said they’ve found strength in creating during the pandemic. Beyond that, what has life been like for you?

It’s been weird. I found it quite hard to knuckle down and concentrate. I haven’t been able to write as much as I want to.

What do you think about when you think about the future?

I feel like there’s gotta be some major changes in order for us to survive or exist. It’s gonna be weird when things get back to normal, because certain things have never been normal, you know what I mean? There needs to be more understanding about what everyone’s been like. I don’t like the new internet world. I don’t know. I think people will come together and change, otherwise…let’s hope.