There's so much space for good music right now. Music listeners can take in so much more music than ever before.

Clayton: Maggie and Joe, how are you two feeling today?

Maggie & Joe: Feel great after this awesome photo shoot. Good. Ready for the weekend.

How does it feel to get thousands of photos taken of you in a few short minutes?

Much better than taking one or two photos in very long, not short minutes.

Tell me about yourselves a little—what do you like to do for fun? Hobbies? Where are you guys from?

We're both from the suburbs. I'm from the northwest suburbs. Joe is from the western suburbs. Well, we've been drinking a lot of wine lately, so we booked a trip to France. We're going to the south of France, so we're gonna go drink more wine there.

We ride bikes. A lot of bike riding. I bought a new bike, so looking forward to the Chicago summer and biking. I'm not a big TV watcher, but in the lovingness of our relationship, Maggie has taught me to watch TV, so we just pounded out some episodes of The White Lotus. And Joe has instilled a new appreciation of live music for me.

Nice. All right, there's a lot going on there. That sounds exciting. Have you guys been to France before?

Different parts of France, yeah. Never the south. Paris. I've been to—where else? I guess I've only been to Paris, really.

Do you guys have a favorite place you've been in your lives?

Oh man. Mine is probably Lisbon.

A lot of people have been saying Portugal!

Yeah, it's a great place to go

Mine's probably Tokyo.

Tokyo's my favorite. What do you like about Tokyo?

Just how different it was from everything that I'm used to, but how lovely everyone was. There were so many moments in my trip where we could not speak in the same language with the locals, and yet we still found a common way to communicate with everyone there, which was so beautiful.

Nice. Do you guys have any dream destinations you've never been but would love to go?

Mine's Tokyo (laughs), so we'll have to take you back. But yeah, I don't know what else.

Mine feels very achievable, but I've never been to Scotland and I'm dying to go.

Scotland? Oh, I'll take you to Scotland. It's a fun time. I've been to every state in the US but Hawaii for some reason, and I don't know why, so I need to check that off my list.

So you guys like cycling—do you have a favorite trail or where are you going when you go biking?

Besides the Lakefront Trail, I've recently made us venture out to some suburban trails, like down by the Des Plaines River and the canal down there in LaGrange. Willow Springs Woods. There's a pretty awesome trail that goes down the canal called I&M Canal Trail, that goes into the Centennial Trail, which is pretty nice because there's no streets—you can just ride for a good hour or two before you even hit anything. Promontory Point. Yeah, Promontory Point on the lakefront is kind of clutch spot.

Are you guys food people at all? Do you eat out? What are some top favorite restaurants that come to mind?

We've been to Rosemary multiple times and I think that's been a great place. Oh, what's the name of the new Italian one—il Carciofo? Yeah, we just went there. It was really good.

Besides that, I'm a lifelong Handlebar patron that I've turned Maggie into. That's been a lifelong pursuit of mine—good people, good times, good food. Recently we were in Brooklyn and we went to Four Horsemen. Undoubtedly, as far as fine dining goes, it was pretty awesome.

Maggie, you mentioned TV. You got a favorite show or two? Something maybe a little more obscure that not everyone has seen, like White Lotus?

Grey's Anatomy—lifelong fan. Still coming out with new stuff. 

I watch a fair amount of comedy and drama. I'm not a reality TV show person, with one exception—Survivor.

Joe, you work in music. Talk about music briefly—shout out a band or two, or a venue that you love.

Well, I'll shout out the venue I work at—Metro/smartbar. They're great people. I'll shout out my friends at the Numero Group—great Chicago label.

As far as bands I'm really excited about right now, there's a band from England called Maruja. Kind of a talk rock thing that's coming back with the saxophone. It's really, really good. Chicago-based Dehd is having a real moment and it’s been great to see them get to there they are now. The band NOTHING from Philly has brought many generations of shoegaze fans together and they are crushing it. Other than that, there's so much space for good music right now. Music listeners can take in so much more music than ever before, which has led to so many more spotlights on different genres. 

We're going to Primavera in June in Barcelona. After France, we're going to Primavera. We're really excited for that. Me because Charli XCX, Chappell Roan, and Sabrina Carpenter will be there, and Joe because everything else, I guess. But I love those three too. Cap'n Jazz are playing at Primavera, which is great. It's kind of weird to travel to Europe to go see your neighbors, but yeah, gonna see a Jesus Lizard show. Always love that.

Cool. I mean, there's so much dark, crazy shit going on in the world these days. What's something that you guys are excited about or that makes you happy?

Putting us on the spot! I think the prospect of summertime in Chicago—getting out and being with my people. Yeah. I think that's a great lead-on to maybe a thought that I have—that the summertime in Chicago brings people together. And I think ultimately, if you stay inside and watch TV or scroll through social media for so long, it feels so dark. But when you gather people together, it still feels great. I guess that's what live music does—brings people together. I think it's still a really positive experience for people. It's awesome to see that something can still bring people together.

Yeah, awesome. I appreciate it. Thank you guys.

Thank you. Thank you, sir.