Interviews (252)

• March 28, 2025
• Colleen Johnson
• 171
• 0

Happy Friday! As the city slowly but surely starts to warm up as much as it can a few days before April hits (I’m ready for a Fenway Frank, I don’t know about you!), The desire to go to as many shows as possible is surely setting in. And lucky for you, Bishop Briggs, no stranger to Boston, will be hitting the Paradise Rock Club for the final show of her current North American tour. I chatted with Bishop recently just before she dove into the tour, and in speaking to her, I know Boston has been a city she has been looking forward to for a minute. Be it in her four a.m. planning sessions for the tour or curating the setlist for her current run. Fresh off the deluxe release of her most recent record, Tell My Therapist I’m Fine, the set is sure to be a therapeutic dance party for all parties involved and one we strongly suggest you don’t miss.

Limited tickets can still be found here, but I’d definitely jump on them quickly! For now, you can find my chat with Bishop below, where she touched on some of the inspiration behind the record, her experience working with Travis Barker, and much more!

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New England Sounds: The tour is right around the corner. You probably can’t share too much, but you’re about to release the deluxe version of the album (released 3.7.25). Maybe preparations you’ve started making or emotions right now? It’s a bit of a busy time for you. 

Bishop Briggs: Oh my gosh, I’m so excited. I definitely have been waking up at four in the morning, thinking about the setlist and the lights. Bringing the potty on tour for the baby. Like weird check-list things. But it’s all good, positive energy, and that’s what I tell myself. And that’s the story that I’m giving. But it really is. I can’t wait, and I can’t wait for the show (in Boston). That will actually be the final night of the tour.

NES: I know, that’s crazy! It’s going to be so great. Then I’m sure you’re balancing being a mother now, balancing being on tour, balancing your mental health. Maybe having this tour be a two-week tour, was that something intentional for you? Maybe things are changing with you being back on the road, in the current touring climate. 

Bishop: Well, I’m really fortunate that my baby is on the road with me and my husband. I’ve done this one other time, and my baby learned how to walk while on tour. And I feel very grateful that I’ve done it before, because there are sort of built-in rules of what backstage is like, the pick of people. Sorry, I went on a bit of a tangent on there. What did you ask there? 

NES: Just like how the touring climate has resurged, I know your last show in Boston was at Roadrunner in September. Maybe as touring has fully come back, maybe things that you’re glad have changed about the touring climate or things that you’ve changed when it comes to your touring? 

Bishop: Well, I’m sure you’ve heard people talk about this, but I feel that touring now is more specific and intentional. The way I used to tour was that I would be gone the whole year and home for about two weeks. And that was just horrible. That was just how touring was, and there were huge benefits from that. I think since COVID, the culture surrounding touring has changed. A lot of venues shut down, and now I think people want to go to shows to be connected to others and be connected to music again. And so I think it has changed, in just the magnitude of what touring looks like. And financially, what people can afford to do now versus then. But I think the thing that has always remained the same is that connection with the people in front of us, hopefully, in both ways. In that love of music. I feel like that’s still really my goal when I perform, and hopefully, the people in front feel that way, too. 

NES: Yeah, I’ve definitely heard that too from other musicians who are balancing being parents and having lots of kids at home and trying to balance all of that. 

Bishop: Oh my gosh! I didn’t even think of it from a parent’s perspective. I definitely think that as my baby gets older and has his own little world, I may have to navigate that in a different way. But right now, with the length of this tour, it will just be like a little family adventure with him. 

NES: Then speaking of the tour, I know you’ve played the album release show, but this will be the first time that fans will hear these songs live, and the first time that this album is being taken on tour. How have you been curating these sets? This isn’t your first record. You’ve been coming to Boston for years. How have you been planning these sets? I’m sure you can’t share much yet. 

Bishop: Yeah, no, I always try to think of how I feel when I go to shows, as a fan. I really take that into consideration. Although I’m so excited about this new album, for me, it can be painful personally if an artist only plays that new album. No matter how much I like it or how proud I am of that artist, I love a good throwback moment. I love to hear the songs that introduced me to them. Even if it’s in some sort of medley. So I always try to have that as part of my show because it’s so much fun to sing together. And to know all the same parts together. So I’m definitely going to blend the worlds, and yeah, that is part of my four am thought process of just making sure that I have a blending of the worlds. 

NES: Perfect. Then, while you are releasing the deluxe version on March 7th, with “Woman Is King,” I’m sure there will be another track or two in there. This album is only a few months old for you, but I know you went through a lot of good times but also some things in your personal life. Maybe when did you start writing this record? Was it songs that you had been putting together every few months, was it something where you kind of intentionally sat down? 

Bishop: Well, the first ever song that was written was “Isolated Love (feat. Travis Barker)”, which is so crazy to say. And that was actually right before lockdown, during the COVID timeframe. After that session, I played the song for my sister, and I got to see her reaction. Unfortunately, my sister passed away, and so I think that, whether consciously or subconsciously, I was chasing that reaction because she was the one who introduced me to Good Charlotte. She introduced me to Paramore, all these bands you would have heard at Warped Tour. Blink 182, and so it felt like this particular album scratched that itch of nostalgia and music that my sister had introduced to me. 

NES: Then, I know you just mentioned a few names, but who were some people that you loved, or maybe you and she loved together? 

Bishop: It was definitely a very specific time frame of those artists you would have seen at Warped Tour. And if you can imagine this, during that time though, I was still so passionate, still am, about happy music. So, in her room, those songs would be playing, like “Lying Is the Most Fun A Girl Can Have without Taking Her Clothes Off,” by Panic at the Disco. And mine would be at “At Last,” by Etta James. It would be Aretha Franklin, and then as I got older, and had increased anger, I found myself being more drawn to Janis Joplin, more alternative artists like My Chemical Romance, and going into even more. 

NES: And then, how was the experience working with Travis Barker? I’m sure that must have been wild to think about. I know he’s done like Yungblud songs, produced with people, worked with Machine Gun Kelly, etc. How was that experience for you? How did that come about, working together? 

Bishop: Okay, I truly have no idea how it panned out. I think the only way to describe it is because it was so surreal and just the coolest thing ever. At the time, because Good Charlotte was managing me, it gave Travis the sense that I was potentially normal, which is false. And so, that is the connecting factor that brought me into that world. He asked if I wanted to come in for a session, and I said, “I’m going to check my schedule. Just kidding.” I was like, I’ll clear everything. I won’t even shower, and he was like, “Please don’t. Please don’t do whatever you’re doing right now.”  And yeah, it was everything you hoped it would be. I think something that I do want to really point out is that it’s really rare to meet a man in music who’s in a position of power that is respectful, kind, and professional, and he was all those things. So I really do want to note that. And I acted like a normal person,  for the majority of the session, writing the songs, I was normal, normal, normal, and then he played the drums. And I did cry. I had a tear go down, and I was like I have to tell you I’m such a fan, this is such an honor. And thankfully, that was at the end of the session. I realize half of this will be in writing, but I promise, I’m making terrible jokes. It truly was the most surreal experience. 

NES: That’s great to hear, considering he’s gone through so much in his life too, that’s no secret. 

Bishop: I know, and for him to be such a lovely person consistently is really special. 

NES: I’m so glad. Then, like you said in the beginning, you’re about to have this tour. The album’s deluxe version is about to come out, but maybe hopes or goals for you in these next few months? As you take on this tour, you get back on the road, for you personally? 

Bishop: That’s a great question. There’s this thing that musicians like to discuss, that I’m sure you’ve heard of, that truly the perfect show is the show where you are so present that it’s almost like an out-of-body experience. You’re actually so present in your body that the only thing you are thinking about is the emotions of the song, and maybe in between songs, like laughing with the audience, and maybe moments of crying together. And I just hope that for those shows. Shows that are something that I would be excited to tell my baby about, when I return to the bus. I think that would be my biggest hope and goal.

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Bishop Briggs/Ellise/Paradise Rock Club/Doors at 7 pm, Music at 8 pm