The Rey-Tones get psyched

Come with me, now or never, frontman Bryan Koehler beckons, his voice soft and glossy over a thumping bass line and jangling chords. Waste your mind with me as we all come together.

These are the lyrics embedded in “Mind Speak,” the first track off the Rey-Tones’ debut EP, Hits. Other lyrics in the song suggest that Koehler is addressing one person — likely a girlfriend — but this couplet invites everybody else, too. Here, the Rey-Tones welcome fans to go on a trip with them, a hazy, hallucinogenic trip. (Given that the Rey-Tones haven’t yet had any hit songs, the title is instead a nod to the band’s interest in weed.)

Koehler and his four bandmates happily acknowledge the powerful highs they achieve before playing, but they also insist that getting stoned isn’t just natural but necessary, an essential complement to their music. That the six songs on Hits present as sincere homages to Woodstock-era psychedelic rock makes total sense.

The Rey-Tones wear their influences on their sleeves, then: The 13th Floor Elevators, the Doors and the Allah-Las (Koehler’s favorite band) are audible throughout the record. But Hits is not wholly derivative. The twanging guitar lines have a western flavor to them, the percussion achieves an undeniable groove, and the melodies are glittery and pretty. The tracks seep leisurely into one another, delivering a dreamy surf vibe.

The only bummer is that Hits hasn’t yet been released — and probably won’t be for at least two months. The main reason: After the EP was recorded in March of last year, the band’s lineup changed drastically.

“Originally, the band started with me and [guitarist] Johnny Mitchell [formerly of Not a Planet and Soft Reeds],” Koehler tells me. “We started jamming in April 2013 and we jammed for, like, a year, then went and recorded in Nashville. And Johnny and I had no idea what was gonna happen, but we came back with a really strong six-song EP.”

It was at that point, Koehler explains, that he and Mitchell decided to flesh out the band. To focus on his singing, Koehler handed over drumming duties to Drew Little; Austin Turney took over on bass, which Mitchell had also been covering. Cortland Gibson, of the band Organized Crimes, joined on keyboard and guitar. And in June, when Mitchell relocated to New York, the Rey-Tones found a replacement guitarist in their friend David Bennett, who also performs as Akkilles.

“We knew Johnny was going to move,” Koehler says, “which was a big part of wanting to get more members together. But the necessity of it kind of happened overnight, after Johnny and I got back from recording in Nashville. Suddenly, we had a slew of gigs become available. Before, Johnny and I never imagined us having a band and playing live — we were just having fun and jamming.”

Koehler adds that the Rey-Tones is his first band. He didn’t pick up the drums until 2012, when he was 27. He was 28 when he and Mitchell started writing together, and 29 when he performed in front of an audience for the Rey-Tones’ first show, in April 2014. Considering the assured sound on Hits, Koehler’s relative inexperience seems rather remarkable.

“I was nervous as hell for my first show,” Koehler admits, “especially after spending most of my time focusing on drumming and writing for so long. I’d never even performed karaoke before. Luckily, the other musicians that filled out the rest of the band happened to be some of my favorite musicians in town, so it gave me a lot of confidence that the music would be played right, and I just had to focus on owning my role and learning how to perform.”

We are speaking in the sunny living room of Little’s River Market loft. Koehler, in a Hawaiian shirt and a high man bun, looks ready for the beach. Little takes up the center of the couch, maintaining a cheerful silence. Little, a gracious host, has provided us all with a strong, fluorescent-pink cocktail — a boat drink. A bartender by day, he tells me that he hopes to one day incorporate a tiki bar into the band’s live setup. (I hope he’s not joking because the drink is delicious.) Having fun seems not to be a problem for the Rey-Tones.

“This band is definitely a creative outlet,” Little says, “because I’m surrounded by dudes who let me do what I love doing. And this band is the perfect excuse to fuck around and have fun and be like a kid.”

Koehler agrees: “I’ve never been a very motivated person in life, and music is definitely the only thing that I’ve wanted to do nonstop. I feel like I write what I want to listen to, and I think everyone else in the band gets that vibe.”

Little, smiling as one of his cats eyes his cocktail, likens his experience of playing with the Rey-Tones to another favorite pastime. “The first time that you hit that harmony with the dude you’re jamming with, it’s a sort of high that you can’t get any other way,” he says. “It’s a nirvana thing for me.”

Come October, when Hits finally arrives online, the Rey-Tones hope to spread the sensation. But the best way to get a contact high, they joke, is to see them live. And the band’s Riot Room show Thursday is their last for a while, as they prepare in earnest for the EP release. Go get lit.

Correction: This article previously stated that the interview took place at the home of Austin Turney. The interview took place at the home of Drew Little.