The band Speak Easy, made up of four Troy University students and friends, released its first studio EP, “Hearsay,” on April 8. 

The alternative rock band is made up of Troy students Jack Anderson, Nate Braisted, Tate MacNicol and Cole Brown. Braisted, the guitarist, was born and raised in Troy and was a baseball player at Zion Chapel High School. Brown, the band’s drummer, went to high school with MacNicol, who plays bass, in Chelsea. Speak Easy’s lead singer, Anderson, is a Dothan native and is a high jumper on the Troy University track and field team.

Originally, Braisted and Anderson formed a cover band with another Troy student called Guilty Pleasure in April of 2023, before adding Brown to the lineup later that year. Then, the band parted ways with the other member last year as it decided to go a different route with their music and added MacNicol to the band. 

Along with beginning to write and perform original music, the band needed a new name.

“My dad actually has a speakeasy and he texted me about it one night and I thought that might be cool as a name for our band,” Anderson recalled. “We went through probably 20 different names before we found that one.”

All four bandmates said they were self-taught musicians and all had long wanted to be in a band before coming together. 

“For me, music was a complete and utter obsession,” Anderson said. “I tend to rotate through hobbies every once in a while, but music never left me and I don’t think it ever could. I think any  musician, once you sing into a microphone or pick up a guitar, you want to play in a band. I think there’s a level of camaraderie in it that you really love. You travel together, you eat together, if you put us together anywhere doing anything we’re going to make music.”

Brown said when Speak Easy formed, things clicked almost immediately.

“I had come over here once before, right after they parted ways (with the former bandmate) and played a little with them,” Brown said. “Tate told me they were going to do one last show together and I played drums for them that night and it just clicked. We all said, ‘Wait a minute, maybe we should keep doing this,’ and we have.”

Anderson compared the chemistry of a band that clicks to that of a romantic relationship.

“You always hear that sort of romanticized thing where you meet a girl at a bar and your hands touch and you just know she’s the one,” Anderson continued.. “It’s the same thing the moment you play with someone and they’re in sync with you. We can look at each other at a show and know what the other is thinking and what’s coming up just with a look. You can feel it.” 

While the band was enjoying playing cover songs, they knew they wanted more.

“You can be playing someone else’s song all you want, and it can be a really good cover, but it’s still not you,” Braisted said. “I wanted something that is completely 100 percent me. You can change someone else’s song as much as you want, but you still didn’t write it and it’s still not your song. We wanted something that came from our hands, from our brains and with our sound.”

MacNicol agreed with his bandmate on playing cover songs. 

“I want to be able to say that me and my friends made something of our own and put it out there and people liked it,” MacNicol emphasized. “That’s really all I wanted.” 

The next step for the band was to record their own music in a studio. 

“Coming from an athletic background, and being highly competitive, what do you do in the high jump when you clear the bar? You raise it,” he flatly said. “So, we’re always trying to raise the bar. Can we play together? Next, can we get a gig? Next, can we write our own stuff? Now, will other people listen to it? Can we record it and put it out? I think it’s just a competitive thing, the next step.” 

Speak Easy recorded its first studio EP, “Hearsay,” at Technical Earth Recorders in Montgomery. Owner Roebrt Shimp produced, mixed and mastered the project for the band. Braisted called recording the project a challenge but he loves the end result.

“It was very different and very difficult learning how to play and do things – all the intricacies and layers – of recording in a studio compared to playing live,” said Braisted. “It was a challenge but it was so worth it. I love every second of the EP, it’s exactly what I imagined when we went into it.” 

After recording the EP, the band played it for the first time at AubFest in Auburn and Speak Easy plans to spend the summer in Birmingham playing and working on music. After that, they plan to record and release their first full-length album later this year.
“We’re just going to keep writing and playing and we’re going to have an album out by the end of the year,” Anderson said. “After that, we’ll see where it takes us.” 

Until then, Speak Easy can probably be found playing together – whether it’s just practicing or having a house show – every day from Anderson’s house on the campus of Troy University. 

“Hearsay” is available on Spotify, Amazon, YouTube, Apple Music and more.