We sat down with the band Illiterate Light at the iconic Asbury Park Convention Hall, a place where history hums in the walls. Even as the buzz of the Sea.Hear.Now music festival was happening nearby, the hall was unusually still, holding the echoes of past performances from legends like Bruce Springsteen, Frank Sinatra and The Rolling Stones. It was in this charged yet quiet setting that Illiterate Light band members Jake Cochran and Jeff Gorman shared their thoughts on intentional living, creativity, and stories of the in-between.
In an era where music and sustainability seldom intersect, Illiterate Light is a rare breed. Before trading their farm tools for musical instruments, this Virginia-born duo spent their days tending crops in the Shenandoah Valley, a grounding experience that now fuels their creative process. Known for their powerful but thoughtful songwriting, energizing shows and playful approach, the band has found creative ways to connect with their audience, not just through their music, but through regenerative energy, such as powering their PA system with solar energy, and by bicycles ridden by audience members.
When we get on stage, the goal is to connect with the audience and have them connect with each other.
Jake Cochran
“We are actively looking for ways to engage our audience in the moment, and that’s a big part of what drives us as a band,” says singer, drummer and percussionist Jake Cochran. โWhen we get on stage, the goal is to connect with the audience and have them connect with each other, and that’s a lot of what the bike-stage is as well. We’re trying to actively bring the audience into our world and say, โYou are part of this thing we’re doing together. If you stop biking, the show stops.โ
Guitarist and vocalist Jeff Gorman elaborates: โThe quick backstory is that when we were working on this farm in Harrisonburg, Virginia, in the Shenandoah Valley, we were in a community with a bunch of people that were essentially trying to use fewer fossil fuels, get off the grid, grow our own food, bike for transportation. We were all playing music and fresh out of college. And so we started doing these music tours on bikes throughout Virginia. We roll up to the show, and we’ve got like a tandem bicycle, and we hook our generator up to that. And people in the crowd would pedal, and that would provide the electricity for the sound system. We did that for four or five years or so. It was like a two- or three-week hippie music festival on wheels. When we formed Illiterate Light, that was part of our story.โ
Weโre not trying to change the world overnight… We just want people to think differently for a few days.
Jeff Gorman
This innovative approach not only defined their early performances, but planted the seeds of their musical future. โWeโre not trying to change the world overnight,โ says Gorman. โWe just want people to think differently for a few days, and to have music be the cornerstone of that.โ
The band is currently touring behind a batch of inspired and hook-laden new material. Newly released singles โPayphoneโ and โNorfolk Southernโ are the first tastes of their upcoming record, Arches. The โPayphoneโ music video offers cheeky visual metaphors, vintage-styled video editing and narrative-driven storytelling. In the video, Gorman and Cochran play โsleazyโ traveling book salesmen. With playful choreography and quirky visual motifs, the video embodies the bandโs lighthearted, freewheeling spirit. โWith our music videos, we try to be a little silly and make sure weโre having fun,โ says Gorman.
But behind that playfulness lies the reality of being modern artists. Over the years, theyโve had to take on new roles- fielding publicity, social media, and the many demands that come with being touring artists. โIt can be overwhelming,โ says Gorman. โSometimes you just want to play the song and not think about everything else.โ
Even as their rising profile brings new challenges, Gorman and Cochran consistently remind themselves to find joy in making music. โWe have this amazing opportunity to enjoy the life weโve created for ourselves, and I hope that comes through in our videos.โ
Patience and love for their craft are defining characteristics of the bandโs ethos, along with a commitment to conscious living. In an age when some artists lean on emerging AI software to simplify their creative process, Illiterate Light believes that the process of making music is as important as the music itself. โSometimes writing music is very painful,โ says Gorman. โBut I donโt want to rush it because I love the process, even when Iโm stuck.โ
The bandโs Sea.Hear.Now appearance brings them back to familiar territory. Gorman and Cochran have always been drawn to cities with a thriving music scene, and Asbury Park is no exception, especially for a pair of Springsteen fans. “Asbury was one of the places where we felt there was an organic music scene,” says Gorman. โWe sort of plugged in right away, and itโs become a home away from home.โ
Arches hits streaming services on November 1st, with vinyl copies currently available for pre-order. Two songs were recorded in LA with acclaimed producer Joe Chiccarelli; the rest were recorded in central Virginia, in Gormanโs backyard studio.
As excitement around the album continues to grow, Illiterate Light seems primed for a new level of acclaim. Through it all, Gorman and Cochran remain committed to the purity of their artistic process. โWe donโt like to hold too tightly to anything,โ says Gorman with a grin. โWe just put it out, keep things moving, and see where it takes us.โ
Illiterate Light’s new album Arches hits music platforms on November 1. Catch them on tour now, with dates scheduled through 2024 and 2025.