Every now and again, we will meet an artist who feels like a long-lost friend only five minutes into the conversation.  Such was the case with Bino & Chelsea Peck, whose stage moniker is Mr. & Mrs. Something. We have a hunch this is common experience when folks get to know this infectious married couple.  Their smiles, warmth, joy, and kindness radiates wherever they go.  They just released a new full-length album in August called Turn The Page (available on iTunes), and this week we were able to catch up with them.

INTERVIEW WITH MR. & MRS. SOMETHING

UTR: How did you guys meet each other?
Chelsea: Well, it’s kind of funny because we didn’t meet in any way related to music. We were just acquaintances throughout college, but weren’t really friends until Bino’s senior year when we were resident advisors on the same staff. During that whole year, we were both interested in other people and just became really good friends.
Bino: That was probably good because then we didn’t have any co-worker dating drama. Then finally, we sort of woke up to the fact that we liked and valued each other quite a bit, and started going on some dates until we gradually became an “item.”

UTR:  When did you discover that you had this musical chemistry as a duo?
Bino: After college, we dated long-distance for a year with Chelsea in Seattle and me in L.A. I had a performance booked during a weekend that Chelsea decided to visit. Since she was going to be around, I asked her if she wanted to perform with me. I’d played in several bands with a lot of people I love and enjoy, but performing with Chelsea was by far the most fun I’d ever had performing. It was a total blast!
Chelsea: Because we had so much fun, and the music was so well-received, we decided to keep playing together—mainly just jamming and writing songs together on and off. Later, when Bino moved to Seattle, away from his music friends and bandmates, I told him that I’d be his bandmate if he wanted. He loved that idea.

UTR:   Your new album is now out – what are the main themes you want to communicate on this project?
Chelsea:
Turn the Page is about change—both dealing with the changes that are inevitable and courageously creating positive change. In dealing with our own changes, we couldn’t help but notice the similarities between life and books. So Turn the Page really has a book theme.
Bino: With that in mind, we emphasized themes of being bound, being torn, and choosing to turn. Like books, we are bound—to each other, to our humanness, to our circumstances, and to our choices. We’re also liable to be broken and torn like the pages of a book. Our brokenness can be binding, but we don’t have to stay there. What we’re bound to, doesn’t have to be what we’re bound toward. We can move forward in hope, and turn the page.

UTR:  How did the making of Turn The Page differ from your previous albums?
Bino: Production-wise, we basically combined approaches from our previous albums for Turn the Page. Everything we did before Setting Sail was completely homemade—we engineered and produced everything at home and just hired skilled friends to mix and master. Then for Setting Sail, we had an incredible professional studio experience in Nashville with Mitch Dane. For Turn the Page, we basically combined the best of both worlds by co-producing with Mitch, recording in more of a jam space than a studio, and keeping the arrangements fairly simple and pretty close to the way we perform live.
Chelsea: This is also the first time we’d ever written a whole album with one cohesive theme in mind. Rather than just using whatever our best songs were at the time, we wrote and selected songs that felt like they fit well with the big picture of Turn the Page. In that way, it’s really our first concept album.

UTR:  What do you hope that the listener of your music experiences?
Chelsea: Hope. Encouragement. The realization that they’re not alone in their struggles. Inspiration to move forward in humility and love.
Bino: And some good music.
Chelsea: (Laughing) Yeah, that, too! We basically want our listeners to experience a big musical hug.

UTR:  Besides music and performing, what are some of the things that give you joy?
Bino: Oh, we’re all about life’s simple pleasures! As you might suspect with a book-themed album, we really love to read and discuss things. Other than that, we enjoy sports, friends, beaches, mountains, a good meal … a lot of things.
Chelsea: I grew up sailing, so that’s one of my favorite pastimes. I enjoy working on sewing crafts. Bino loves chess. We’re super easily entertained.