After only six months together, the boys of Why Don’t We seem to be enjoying their new venture. Jack Avery, Corbyn Besson, Zach Herron, Jonah Marais, and Daniel Seavey were pursuing solo careers before they joined forces as Why Don’t We. Besson explained his favorite part of being in a group.
“One of the coolest things about being in a group versus being solo is that we get to celebrate each show and make memories every day with each other,” Besson said. “We’ve formed a brotherhood and it’s amazing to be able to experience everything together.”
The group broke onto the scene in the fall and released their debut EP, Only the Beginning, which made it to #15 on Billboard’s Heatseekers Albums Chart. Seavey said that from all songs the band has recorded so far, the most meaningful for them may be their first song, “Taking You.”
“We all have a very special connection to ‘Taking You’ because it is our first song and is one of our most fun songs, in my opinion,” Seavey said. “But even more so, we feel connected to this song because of the message it carries with it of taking our fans on this journey with us through all we do.”
The recording process is just one area that Avery said is very different now that he’s doing it with four other people.
“When we recorded individually, we had to sing through a whole song and sometimes that can get repetitive,” Avery said. “When there are five different voices on a track, though, it’s such a cool mix to hear all of them mash together. We each have unique voices that blend so well in a song which makes it an awesome experience to record as a group.”
While he didn’t mention anyone in particular, Besson said that the group’s love of music has been an influence on them.
“We take inspiration from a lot of different artists,” Besson said. “We really just appreciate music so anyone that’s creating music and loving what they do is an inspiration to us.”
Avery said that making Only the Beginning was “a dream come true,” and that collaboration was what really helped it come together.
“We all shared our creative thoughts and ideas to really make music that we all loved as a group,” Avery said. “Most importantly, we made music that the fans can enjoy and sing along to.”
Speaking of the fans, both Herron and Seavey said that the fans supporting both the EP and the group itself have been great so far.
“The amount of love we are getting for the EP is absolutely insane,” said Herron. “When we ask people what song is their favorite, we always get different answers, which is so cool to us. As we were making the EP, we didn’t really expect to be getting this much love from it, so seeing how much people like it makes us unbelievably happy.”
“The fans blew us all away with the amount of love, support, and high-hopes they had for us,” Seavey said. “Even to this day they go hard for us and we can’t thank them enough.”
The boys had a chance to see the fan response in person, wrapping up their Taking You Tour, which spanned 18 cities in the U.S. Their final date in Anaheim was sold out.
Herron said that touring with the group was a special experience, and he repeated the notion of the members of Why Don’t We being like brothers.
“Touring with my brothers has been the most amazing thing ever,” Herron said. “Knowing that we’ve been a band for five months and we headlined our first tour is so crazy! Throughout the tour we all made memories that we will live with and talk about forever.”
As for the future, Marais held back on revealing what’s up next for Why Don’t We, content to tease that the group should be busy this year.
“We’ve got so much in store,” Marais said. “I wish I could give away more details but I can’t spill anything yet, so just stay tuned.”
He did leave off with a message for the fans. “We love you guys so much and we’re working very hard for you,” Marais said.
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Touring, Music, and More from Why Don’t We. Photographed by Mike Lerner.
