Interview w/ Somewhere In Between

We sit down with Austin and Deena of Somewhere in Between to explore the stories behind their music. From personal challenges to unexpected beginnings, their journey shows how adversity can spark creativity. They share insights into their new single, songwriting process, and the heartfelt mission driving their music.

Thank you for sitting down and talking to FLEX, can you tell us a bit about how you got into music?

We kind of both, in very different ways came to music because of adversity. Austin broke his leg in basketball camp when he was 9, so his mom signed him up for song writing camp and Austin fell hard for music. Deena was diagnosed with a cancer that threatened her ability to ever speak…or sing again. It was the later that ended up being the roots that grew Somewhere in Between.

Who would you say are your biggest musical influences?

This is going to sound strange, but for me (Deena) it was my parents. Music was my mom’s soulmate. she once said she was a professional audience member. She takes her job seriously.  She showed me music was meant to be felt vs than listened to.  She would cry, laugh, ponder and dance, dance, dance.  That was all within one show.  For Austin the magic came by being influenced by a stew of random flavors. From typical pop, to hip hop, to folk to street performers on the sidewalk Austin absorbed and was fascinated by it all.

Congratulations on your brand-new single ‘Lay Your Head On Me’ —what inspired this particular release?

The true dream that we don’t really tell people is that we hope it becomes an anthem for kindness. Haha. No pressure. We hope people hear it and know it is okay to ask for help and to know to try and find the people, places, experiences that they can lay their head on.  It’s a call to find safe places for all. Also, it just feels so damn good to sing. 

How do you channel personal experiences into your songwriting, and what do you hope listeners gain from connecting with your music?

We write all our music not for an audience but more of an open diary entry. We question, we dream, a music gives us a safe place to fall and to fly. The fact that people are being moved in so many different ways is the greatest honor ever.  

Each aspect of music—writing, recording, practicing, and playing live—offers something different. Can you share a particularly meaningful moment from each?  

Ohh…so many special moments. With writing, it often starts by Austin picking up the guitar, Deena lying on the floor and starting to sing. Recently we were reading Martha Beck’s Beyond anxiety and it was describing how anxiety and creativity can’t exist at the same time. So, to break anxiety the right sound of your brain needs to fire. That was a lightbulb moment for us in realizing that’s exactly what happens for us. We feel something, a guitar comes out and then a song flows out and we feel better. The music become our raft that saves out at sea. We recorded this album in the barn we were married in Canada so the layers of memories in there is beyond an answer to a question. It’s a book in itself. Praciting…okay, we’re not so good at doing that. We just end up playing whatever comes.  We always want to protect music from feeling like a job. Heart first, brain second.

Is there a song in your repertoire that holds a particularly deep personal meaning for you? Can you share the story or inspiration behind it?

Every song is deeply person. We still joke we’ve never written a song together. We have never sad down to write, it just flows out of us in different times in different ways. Generally when we take a break from the to do’s it’s like our muse’s cues to come out and play.

What are your goals for the future with your music? 

Kindness and connection. Our dream would be to bring people together shared good as so often we come together for the shared bad.

What message or feeling do you hope listeners take away from your music?

Truth of what is going on in their life. One of the things that we find so fascinating about music is how you can ask 100 people what a particular song meant to them and it will be a 100 different answers.  

To wrap things up, is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?

Just thank you for listening. Music comes alive when it is felt and shared. Never in a million years did we think a cancer diagnosis would end leading us down such a different path. I guess the other thing is hold onto hope because somethings there are hidden gifts in the most challenging of times.