Detroit, Michigan based four piece, Exit Ticket blend aspects of shoegaze and indie rock to create a dreamy world of blissful tones and melodies which is all captured on their debut four song E.P. “Closer To The Grave”.
CMM-What was the first music that really made an impact on you all as kids and what artist or band did the two of you enjoy the most?
A: We should note, Exit Ticket is thankfully a four-piece act at the current moment with Daniel Walleman on Vocals, Ian Hughes on Guitar, Colvin Smith on Bass, and Noah Werner on Drums.
Unanimously, there are some artists we can agree on being an influence, namely the Cure, The Cranberries, The Smiths, and The Beatles.
However, our strength lies in our differences. Every member of Exit Ticket has a completely different taste in music, so the collective sounds we create are an amalgamation of various influences.
For instance:
Daniel really likes: La Dispute, Pierce the Veil, brakence.
Ian really likes: Catherine Wheel, Les Rallizes Denudes, Swans, Suicide.
Colvin really likes: Mike Doughty, Primus, Dave Matthews Band.
Noah really likes: Green Day, Led Zeppelin, The Beach Boys, Rush.
We try to expand each other’s music taste as much and as often as possible.
CMM-How did Exit Ticket get together and start writing songs and developing your own sound?
A:Exit Ticket resulted due to the death of two bands (La Mante Blanche and Easy Enough) and was originally a three-piece until December of 2024, when Daniel took over as lead singer. La Mante Blanche was Ian’s solo project from 2020-2023 with Noah joining him on drums in Fall of 2021. La Mante Blanche is best classified as a no-wave band, and there are a handful of recordings out there on Bandcamp that still exist. La Mante Blanche quietly dissolved in the summer of 2023 and Ian retired the name entirely in February of 2024 to focus on Exit Ticket. Easy Enough was active from 2020 or so until summer of 2023 with Colvin Smith on Bass and Noah Werner on drums. The lead singer had a falling out with Noah and Colvin and thus Easy Enough was no more. Because of this common ground, Noah and Colvin started a new music project and invited Ian to join them after the first practice that summer. The name Exit Ticket didn’t come until later, sometime in February or January of 2024. The name was Ian’s idea and was apparently a working title that he had been holding onto. The name was inspired by the no-wave band Suicide, though it’s meaning goes much further than that.
From the moment we all met we clicked instantly. Following every practice, we’d walk away sounding better and more in tune with each other. Our sharing of music and later the addition of Daniel on vocals only further streamlined this sound we had. The sound was never planned, one day in March of 2024 it just happened and we said “Yes, this is the thing that’s going to save us”
CMM-The band recently released an E.P. called “Closer To The Grave”. What was the writing and recording process like and were there any particular pieces of gear you used to get the sound you were looking for?
A: The writing process was very interesting. Everything started bare bones as a chord progression of sorts and was built from the ground up with overdubbing and some additional experimentation. Everything was recorded in Cubase with the only exceptions being the synthesizers, samplers, and field recordings. Ian programmed the synthesizers using an FM VST in FL Studio and also put together a Mellotron style string arrangement there as well which you can hear on Sheila. There’s a field recording taken by him of some birds in a parking garage present in the transition between Philosophy and Down the Street. Ian also used a Yamaha CS-10 and a ring modulator to create the sitar drone on Down the Street.
Lyrics were split up by song between members. Noah and Ian wrote the lyrics for Philosophy, Daniel wrote the lyrics for Down the Street, Colvin wrote the lyrics for Wild Cherry, and Ian wrote the lyrics for Sheila.
Out of all the songs, Sheila is the oldest and actually predates Exit Ticket’s existence. Ian wrote it in 2022 with Noah in La Mante Blanche and recycled it in Exit Ticket to do it justice. The rest of the songs came gradually from Fall of 2023 to Summer of 2024, Philosophy being the last one to be written.
We recorded DI for almost everything and used stock plugins to create most effects. There are some external effector pedals and units that Ian insisted on using in the DI chain which were instrumental in the recording process.
We’ve listed them below:
1970s Elk EM-4 Tape Echo
Fairfield Circuitry Randy’s Revenge
Electro-Harmonix Oceans 11
Donner Echo Square
BOSS RE-202
BOSS BD-2
MXR Dyna Comp
1977 Thomas Organ Wah Pedal
1978 Electro-Harmonix Small Stone V2
CMM-If the band could do a score for any film director, who would it be and what would the film be about?
A: We’d love to have done a score for David Lynch, god rest his creative soul. What would the film be about? Since it’s a Lynch movie, you know that’s hard to say, but we’d like it to take place in the 2000’s housing market crash. A story of sadness, strife, and undeniable internal grief from the perspective of an angel visiting the earth from heaven. We’re just making this up, but it’s something we would’ve loved to do.
CMM-Anything coming up?
A: In a few weeks, we will be playing a show on December 19th at The New Dodge Lounge in Hamtramck, MI, alongside Wetbody and Future Remedy, both of whom are dear friends of ours. We also plan to sell what’s left of our 2025 merchandise at this show (a limited quantity C10 Cassette and some T-Shirts). Any remaining merch stock from this year will probably go up on our Bandcamp page around New Year’s. We’re also trying to secure a show at The Sanctuary in Hamtramck, MI, in mid-January. It’s currently in talks with the venue, but it’s very likely to happen. Since the EP release is very recent, we have some time to ourselves over the winter months to recuperate and decide what to do next. We may put out a small release before winter concludes, but that depends on the logistics; no promises.
