Concerts

The Boston-bred Ballroom Thieves talk surviving a 140-car pile up, and crushing on Harry Styles

The Boston Music Awards Folk Artist of the Year nominees come to the Sinclair Dec. 10.

Calin Peters and Martin Earley, a.k.a. the Ballroom Thieves. Handout / Shervin Lainez

4 minutes to read

The Ballroom Thieves have seen clouds from both sides now.

Yes, the Boston-born band — which formed at Stonehill College in 2010 — has crushed it at Newport Folk, hit 50 million streams on Spotify (“Bees”) and are nominated for Folk Artist of the Year in the 2022 Boston Music Awards.

But, as their website states, their fourth album “Clouds” was born of “difficulties, e.g., insomnia … After a major car accident and the departure of a band member, the duo has taken the duality of all these experiences and translated them into song.”

(And yes, I asked about all of that in our recent phone interview.)

They had to navigate the loss of member Devin Mauch, who left the band in 2020. But Peters and Earley tied the knot in September. (#BothSidesNow.)

When they play the Sinclair in Cambridge Dec. 10, they’ll have John Nolan on guitar and synth, and Kevin O’Connell on drums and keys.

I caught up with the newlyweds, both 35, who now live in midcoast Maine, to talk “Clouds,” mental health, a 140-car pile-up — and Harry Styles.

Some responses have been edited for length or clarity.

Boston.com: Your new album is called “Clouds” — is that title inspired by Joni Mitchell?

Peters: Pretty much everything, musically, for us is a little inspired by Joni Mitchell. But mostly, we missed touring over the pandemic. I draw inspiration from looking out the window, seeing clouds, different sunsets, different light. We named the album out of missing that.

BDC: Your website says you laughed reading an article about the music industry needing more happy songs.

Earley: It was just a ridiculous statement. Of course, that’s what people wanted when everyone’s stuck at home and there’s a pandemic — but it misses the whole idea that actual people are writing, and have to be happy to write a happy song. Everyone was affected by the pandemic, but musicians had it pretty bad. It became really difficult to make ends meet.

Peters: The music industry, I think, has changed for the worse. I don’t think it’s settled into what it’s eventually going to become. So we’re in this in-between. We got through it by having some streaming success, applying for grants.

Earley: It was difficult. Now touring expenses have shot way up, from gas prices to hotel rooms.

BDC: You went through a major car accident, too. What happened there?

Earley: To compound things, that’s how we went into the pandemic. We were on tour for the previous album, “Unlovely.”

Peters: Three days in, we were in 140-car pile-up in Rawlins, Wyoming.

BDC: Oh my God.

Earley: There wasn’t any bad weather on the forecast. But all of a sudden we got 65 mph winds, a big snow squall, before we knew it, there was snow, the roads were icing over. Because of the low visibility, [drivers] weren’t able to stop in time, and everyone just crashed. It was a harrowing experience. We had to get out of the car and go into the median in three feet of snow and wait while cars were crashing into each other. One of the trucks was carrying livestock, so to add to the weird horror vibe of it, there were cows walking around in the snowstorm. It was out of a weird nightmare.

BDC: That’s unreal. Did you write anything about that?

Early: No, but it definitely has affected us. We’re still dealing with that trauma driving now. But it didn’t make its way into our songwriting. Because we have to write happy songs, right? [laughs]

BDC: So what did go into writing these songs? I know you wanted to talk about mental health.

Peters: Both of us like to write about mental health and our own depression and anxiety.

Earley: “Shadow” talks about coming to terms with your own depression, realizing that it’s something you have to live with rather than fight against. “Borderline” is similar.

BDC: “Shine” is about insomnia.

Peters: Yeah, I have insomnia. Touring’s really difficult. There’s no routine. It becomes difficult to wind down at night, or fall asleep at all. My days were barely hanging on, saving it all for a show.

BDC: On another note, you have a song called “Harry Styles.” From your website, it sounds like you both have a crush on him.

Peters: Oh yeah.

BDC: [laughs] What do you like about him?

Earley: He’s a good role model, especially for young men. He embodies non-toxic masculinity. His persona is overwhelmingly positive. And he’s hot.

BDC: [laughs] Right.

Earley: Our lives aren’t just sad and depressing. So it’s important to have this more fun, goofy aspect on the record — we don’t just sit around and mope all day long.

Peters: Only 23 hours a day.

Earley: The other hour we’re just thinking about Harry Styles.

Lauren Daley can be reached at [email protected]. She tweets @laurendaley1.

Lauren Daley

Lauren Daley is a longtime culture journalist. As a regular contributor to Boston.com, she interviews A-list musicians, actors, authors and other major artists.