By Rob Duguay

“You make it a goal — one day performing on a big stage, such as Boston Calling. To see it come to fruition is a dream, it’s awesome.”

For over a decade, the festival circuit status of the Boston Calling Music Festival has continued to rise because of its ability to attract top-notch headliners. The upcoming 2025 edition — at Harvard University’s Athletic Complex from May 23 – 25  — continues this welcome trend by featuring, at the top of the bill, the likes of Luke Combs, Fall Out Boy, and the Dave Matthews Band. Still, along with this credit, the event deserves props for drawing in local acts  as well. One of the many taking part in this weekend’s festivities is Copilot, an admired band that incorporates elements of pop, folk, and alternative rock. The group will be performing on Boston Calling’s final day on the Orange Stage at 5:15 p.m.

I chatted with band members Ry McDonald, Maggie Hall, and Jake Machell about their most recent recording, their distinctive approach to songwriting, and why playing at Boston Calling is a dream come true.

Copilot. Photo: courtesy of the artist

The Arts Fuse: Back in February, Copilot released the Vroom Vroom, Etc. EP. What was that experience like? Was it DIY or did you work with a producer?

Ry McDonald: It was a combination of a lot of writing for a long time and working with a longtime producer friend of ours, Shaqed Druyan. We took it step by step: wrote the tracks, got them into Pro Tools, and then cut them at a studio in Sturbridge called FarmView. It was a really good experience. We got to cut things live, then we started overdubbing from there, and it was a ton of fun.

AF: A month before the EP’s release you put out a music video for the tune “Let Me Down.”  We see Copilot dramatizing the end of a relationship, performing in the front yard of a house in a residential neighborhood. Who had the idea for this setting for the video and where exactly was it filmed?

Maggie Hall: It was filmed at my house. It was a really cool idea; I set up what looks like a living room in front of a guy’s house as I tell him he stinks. It was a good inspiration and a lot of fun to shoot.

AF: Was it made in the middle of winter? How cold was it when you filmed the video?

Hall: It was painful.

Jake Machell: The temperature was very low that day, and we weren’t dressed for the occasion, that’s for sure.

McDonald: The very next day it was 15 degrees warmer, but it was tough when we did it.

AF: The three of you drive the band’s sound. Each of you takes the lead on vocals. How does this exchange work when it comes to writing the songs for Copilot? Is it pretty much whoever brings an idea does the lead vocals, or is it more complex than that?

MacDonald: It’s usually that simple. Everyone in the group writes, so everyone brings their ideas to the table, including our bass player Bev [Austin Beveridge]. When he contributes ideas, that triggers a creative discussion of whose voice fits the best. There are always occasions where we’ll split it up and it’ll be a duet. Still, whoever brings an idea to the table generally assumes they will be singing it. It usually sounds best that way, so that’s usually how we do it.

AF: When it comes to writing lyrics, do any of you assist each other?

Machell: I know Maggie would agree with this. We both really respect Ry as a wonderful songwriter. I don’t think any song is truly finished as a Copilot track until Ry gets his hands on it, lyrically and musically. He is always asking how we can say things in different ways and posing the right questions to see if we’re saying what we really mean in the situation created by a song. Ry lives songwriting; he listens to a million podcasts, he reads books on the stuff, and when you have somebody who is that vested in it, you turn to them before you put the final stamp on any track. Ry is the straw who stirs the drink lyrically, I would say.

Copilot. Photo: Facebook

AF: What are your thoughts on performing at Boston Calling this weekend?

Hall: This has been a bucket list thing for all of us. To be on the same bill with Remi Wolf and Tom Morello from Rage [Against The Machine] is incredible. What’s even cooler is that we’ve been at this for a while — it’s been a long journey for us.  Enjoying this moment together is going to knock our socks off, so we’re super stoked and we’re super excited.

McDonald: It’s everything you dream of when you start a band with your friends and you’re playing P.A.’s Lounge in Somerville. You make it a goal — one day performing on a big stage, such as Boston Calling. To see it come to fruition is a dream, it’s awesome.

Machell: We set goals at the end of every year. It’s almost like a business meeting where we discuss where we want to be in the following year and beyond. The smaller goals are selling out Brighton Music Hall, getting our first headline gig at The Sinclair, or increasing our social media productivity. But the one agreed-upon large goal every single year has been that we really wanted to play Boston Calling. It’s been on the docket every time we’ve had these discussions, and to be able to check that box off the big list is great. I’m unbelievably stoked.

Rob Duguay is an arts & entertainment journalist based in Providence, who is originally from Shelton, CT. Outside of The Arts Fuse, he has also written for DigBoston, Aquarian Weekly, Providence Journal, Newport Daily News, Worcester Magazine, New Noise Magazine, Manchester Ink Link, and numerous other publications. While covering mostly music, he has also written about film, TV, comedy, theater, visual art, food, drink, sports, and cannabis.