Cody Simpson has been putting out music since his days on YouTube in 2009. Now, almost a decade later, he's developed his skill, and after years of going it solo with albums like 2013's Surfer's Paradise and the independent 2015 record, Free, Cody's switching gears with The Tide, a group that'll take fans to a world with a more rock-heavy edge.

PopCrush recently had the chance to talk to Cody about the new band, the new sound and the ensemble's latest EP, Wave One, which is out now via Entertainment One. Find out what Cody has been up to in California below.

You've evolved tremendously over the years. What inspired the forming of The Tide?

I went through a period of pretty intense self-discovery or revelation or whatever you want to call it. It was an intense period of growth. It was all during a majority of the year I spent in Venice Beach, and just as I was meeting the drummer and bass player in the group now, we were living in a house with a couple buddies there. Every Friday, we would all get together and jam, and we would get people off the street. We would send invites to friends and play music. [The band] kind of came about pretty naturally in that way. The songs started to develop slowly, and we were playing a lot of blues and just kind of jamming. In the last year or two, it's something that reignited my fire in a sense. It was really good for me as a musician and a guitar player. It's been incredible so far. I've been overwhelmed by the reaction from people.

Yeah, Wave One shows that you've grown up. It has that rock yet beachy vibe.

Yeah, I wanted to stay true to myself, and I wanted to stay true to what my fans enjoy. But I also wanted to share what inspires us musically and show the things we like and our influences. There's a push and pull between musician and audience, and I think we learned it pretty well with a nice blend of sound.

What's the most memorable song you worked on off of Wave One?

The one that was the easiest to put together was 'Ramona' because it only required the majority of it being live instrumental production. We actually all played that together once, and that's the recording that you hear. It's us playing that song once together with no stops, and the I went into the studio with the vocal.

That's kind of the part of the joke. I was writing randomly on my rooftop and playing acoustically. I started changing some of the lyrics because it started out as a comical thing, and then it turned out to be one of the funnest rock tracks we have.

So what would you say makes Wave One different from your past work?

The maturity in my voice. [Laughs.] My vocals have dropped an octave almost in range. So I'm able to sing in kind of a baritone now. So that allows me the freedom to create this kind of sound. I think it just came naturally. The music people know from my past, I recorded it when I was 16 years old, which about five years ago now. It's kind of natural that you kind of develop your influences, but I've always had similar influences like Elvis Presley to Jack Johnson to Bob Marley. But I think what makes the difference now is liking the '60s psychedelia -- from [Jimi] Hendrix to The Doors. I think that will influence the full-length album for The Tide. So that's the main difference with the new music now.

You've been in music for nearly a decade, and you're only 20. How have you improved?

Honestly, I feel as though I'm scratching the surface. And as a musician, especially a guitarist, I've definitely improved over the last few years, just through a lot of diligent practice and listening to a lot of guitar players and things like that. I think [guitar playing] is becoming the main thing now. Now, I'm never without a guitar in my hands. So it's one of things that helped me as a musician. That's one of the things that will hopefully solidify me as a musician.

Will there be a full-length project coming out soon?

Yes, for sure. We're actually already in production with it, too. We're looking to release a couple more waves of songs. Then we'll have a full-length album early next year. That's the plan. I think there's more to come for sure. We chose these for because it's the best representation all around of where we're at as musicians and a band. But our best stuff is in the arsenal; so we're looking forward to to that.

Check out their tour dates, below:

October 17 — Anaheim, CA @ Parish Room at HOB
October 18 — Santa Barbara, CA @ Velvet Jones
October 19 — San Diego, CA @ Irenic
October 22 — San Luis Obispo, CA @ SLO Brew
October 23 — Santa Cruz, CA @ Atrium at Catalyst
October 24 — San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop
October 27 — Los Angeles, CA @ Peppermint Club

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