As a city with a large music scene, Portland has an abundance of local bands, with genres ranging from folk to indie to hard metal. Growing Pains, an indie rock band, performs two to five shows each month, usually with other artists and bands, at venues all around the city, making them very popular amongst Portlanders.
The band consists of four members — Kalia Storer, who does the main vocals and bass; Jack Havrilla and Carl Talyor, the guitarists; and Kyle Kraft, the drummer. They created the band in 2018 after meeting in the School of Rock program — a program in which people learn music and learn to perform it live. Taylor states that they “bonded over power pop and midwest emo bands at the time.” He adds that they all wanted to perform different kinds of songs and genres. Harvilla calls the sound they settled on “90’s alternative [mixed with] shoegaze” or “heavy pop.” Taylor describes the band as “what if Elliott Smith got really into pop rock?” A fan of Growing Pains, Jayda Glover, claims, “their sound has a way of grounding me when everything else feels overwhelming, and it’s helped me through moments when I didn’t know what else to turn to.” Havrilla says that “every member has different influences in their writing or playing style and it has evolved over time.” Taylor adds that Growing Pains tries not to “limit ourselves to specific genres or aesthetics, and just tries to make what feels natural to us.” The band members know each other well outside of work and music, and try to spend time together. “Touring is the most fun way to vacation since we’re with all our best friends,” says Taylor.
Growing Pains has an extensive song writing process; Taylor describes it as a “kind of domino effect, where every part of the song has to justify what comes next.” Havrilla explains it as different every time, with individual band members coming in with song ideas, and the band working together to incorporate their own parts into the original idea and make changes. Taylor notes that their most recent EP, “Thought I Heard Your Car,” was “a really fun and chaotic project to make.”
Growing Pains has opened for many other bands and artists throughout their career, including Rocket, Been Stellar, and even beabadoobee. Havrilla says the Paramount Theatre in Seattle, where the band opened for beabadoobee, was his favorite performance venue because he “never imagined [he] would ever play at such a nice historic venue,” adding, “The crowd was incredibly stoked and engaging.” Kraft’s favorite venue to perform at was the 252, when Growing Pains had their first concert, and performed their single “What Are the Odds?” in Eugene, Oregon. Kraft says it was his favorite because seeing “so many people come out and support our new release was such a great feeling,” and adds, “People were jumping so hard, the floor was shaking.”
Growing Pains has been working hard on their new music, and the members are looking forward to it. Havrilla exclaims he’s excited to “get this [music] out and hopefully get out on the road playing with some cool bands.” Kraft also says he’s excited for people to hear these songs. “We have been off the radar, just recording and fine tuning these songs for over a year now, so I’m really eager for people to finally hear them.” Their goal is to create music that feels like their emotions and experiences, and put their feelings into words. Kraft notes that the band is “hyped for everyone to hear the new songs, and our goal is to play them everywhere.”
Growing Pains plans to keep growing for years to come, creating music they’re excited about making and getting the opportunity to tour and see new places. They have an abundance of fans and supporters, with 34,000 monthly listeners on Spotify as of Dec. 8. Glover states, “They’re one of the most talented bands I’ve ever come across, and their work deserves to be heard by a much wider audience.” Havrilla claims he’s “most proud of the band we have today and building our name locally,” and wants people to know: “Anyone can play music with their friends if you don’t give up and push yourself and others to grow and improve. Music is an incredible outlet to have, whether it’s listening or playing. The amount of good music out there is absolutely endless.”
