Growing up, moving out and keepin’ on.

“We love coming to Milwaukee because we just always get such, there’s so much excitement; so much is coming back to us from the crowd. It just feels really good to be here.”

That’s how Ty Greenstein, one third of the increasingly well-known band Girlyman, ends our interview. I’ve been sitting around Shank Hall with them for about half an hour chatting and it’s time for their sound check. I thank them for taking the time to talk to me, and they thank me back warmly. Let me just repeat that part – they thank me!

I drive home with a smile on face, thinking about the things they said to me. I had been a little nervous about the interview earlier. I mean, I’ve been writing for VITAL Source for years, but as the Slightly Crunchy Parent. In the office I’m referred to as the Crunchy P (Crunchy Pea? Crunchy Pee?), not as a music reviewer or even as a reporter. I worried as I drove over to Shank Hall that I would come off exactly as I am, a moderately dowdy woman who spends most of her time with her kids and rarely does anything as grown up and metropolitan as interviewing a band.

When Girlyman came into meet me, they were short one member of the trio. Doris Muramatsu wasn’t well and needed to rest before the show, and so the interview would be with Ty Greenstein and Nate Borofsky. Seeing the two of them without Doris was a little startling, as the three have been together almost without break since the band’s inception six year ago. Not only do they work and perform together, but until recently – when Ty and Nate moved to Atlanta — they shared a small apartment in Brooklyn.

The band has continued writing, practicing and performing together; the move has done nothing but good things for their creative process.

“We spent almost seven years living together in the same small apartment in Brooklyn,” explains Nate, “and after a certain point, it started to feel a little…”

“Small.” Ty finishes.

“Yes, small,” laughs Nate. “It started to feel smaller and smaller. Genevieve, our manager, was also living with us at the end, and then we got a dog and so really, it just got really small.”

Ty adds, “In the beginning it really gave us a creative push. We were all in one space and it really easy to just write songs and do all this creative work. That got us through the first three or four years. We just didn’t have much else besides each other.”

But after so much closeness, it was time for a change. Nate and Ty both moved to Atlanta while Doris stayed in New York. Nate tells me, “We’re still working out ways to meet for practice, but when we are together on stage, and even just seeing each other, it feels more vibrant. We’re more invigorated about playing together now.”

Ty elaborates. “Something changed and that’s giving us a lot of energy right now. We’re kind of uncomfortable [with the limits imposed by the distance between the band members]. I think whenever you’re uncomfortable, at least for me, you’re more creative.”

I’m not surprised when Nate jumps in to expand further. They flow in and out of each others answers easily, the way you can only do with someone you’ve been with for a very long time. All three of them do this onstage, too. Pick up each other’s thoughts, complete each other’s ideas. “It was really sad for us to move apart. Doris and I had been in a relationship for a long time and we ended that about a year before we all moved apart, so there was that change thrown into the mix, too. And there was the sadness of leaving our apartment, where we’d been living. There was this real fear. But going out and doing it and making that change is a very empowering thing. In ‘Joyful Sign’ [the title track of the new CD] we sing about the little saying ‘this little light of mine / I’m gonna let it shine.’ It’s finding something new inside of yourself that you can get behind and be proud of. It can come out of a situation that seems like it would be a sad one at first.”

Girlyman’s first two records were released by Daemon Records (though their 2003 debut, remember who i am, was self-released first), but Joyful Sign was put out by the band itself. “We were really excited about the thought of doing it on our own,” says Nate. “There are fewer and fewer reasons for an independent artist to have a label these days. The internet has allowed us to distribute it and promote it. We were able to hire a publicist and someone to do the radio side of things and just put it out on our own.”

Illustrating again that relationships are really what drives this band, Ty says, “We picked someone who was popular with our group of peers. We met with her and had coffee. Everything just clicked. I never had a moment when it felt like it wasn’t going to work. She was excited about the project and excited about the band. It’s generally how we’ve made all of our business decisions. A gut feeling. That’s also a plus of being independent. You get to do that, you get ask yourself, ‘Does this feel good to me? Is this going to be a positive thing?’ And then you get to do it.”

We chat for a while about who listens to Girlyman and the trials of being on the road. Finally, it’s time for the “big” question.

“Since the three of you have moved apart, and because so much of the music on the new album is about letting go,” I ask, “there has been some speculation among your fans that this might be your last album.” I stop and wait.

“I certainly hope that’s not the case!” says Ty, and Nate jumps in.

“That’s not in our five-year plan, not at all. Yes, we’re still trying to work out the details for getting together to work, but I certainly feel more excited about being in the band since the move than I did for the year and a half before.”

That’s good news for all of us. VS