When Emilio Hernandez and Patrick Lawrence started Occults, they had no intention of building a fanbase. The two best friends of nearly 25 years had a very simple goal: — create music that they’ve loved since they were teens. Their artistic collaboration began during the global lockdowns at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. They were living in two different cities and time zones sharing lyrics and music arrangements. These eventually turned into a feature length album, “Rituals.”
Now, they are hitting the road and touring across the country with a stop in St. Louis — their hometown and where their friendship began.
“Patrick and I love certain styles of 80s music. We’ve always been ‘80s music fans. Around 2020 I just wanted to start writing some music on my own… I wanted to write something different,” Hernandez told St. Louis on the Air. “When I decided to write a song I immediately sent it over to Patrick because I’m going to share anything musical I make with him. And he loved it.”
Lawrence lives in Los Angeles and works as a film editor. Hernandez moved to Denver from St. Louis two years ago. Despite the physical distance between them, they’ve satisfied their teenage dreams to create music while building a fanbase across the U.S. and the world.
“We never expected to play live at all. This music was born out of quarantine and we just thought, ‘We’re going to put this out there. If anybody listens to it, whatever,” Lawrence said. “We wanted to make music that we loved. That every song we put out has our stamp of approval on it, that we believe in it and that we’re happy with. Then people started asking us to [tour].”
Occults’ single “Hot Crucible” combines several of their personal and shared interests and showcases “heightened versions” of themselves yearning for love.
“The song itself is just silly lyrically. It’s a heightened version of ourself singing a song about falling in love with the prototypical goth girl that you met at Hot Topic in 2002,” Lawrence said. “It’s a conversation between two people on their first date [as teenagers].”
“Hot Crucible” also features a Spanish language bridge written by Hernandez.
“I’m half Mexican and I wanted to have some sort of Spanish element into our songs. [The bridge] is love eternal and in that sort of vein I really wanted a spoken word bridge,” Hernandez said.
Along with their shared love of bands like Depeche Mode, the Cure, and the Smiths, Hernandez and Lawrence draw inspiration from their spouses. Their song “Strawberry Moon” melds interests from Lawrence’s wife and her fascination with moon phases.
“[‘Strawberry Moon’] wanted to be something energetic. I loved writing this song. I love playing this song. It has a certain power to it that I was happy to be able to sit back and go, ‘Yes, this is exactly what I wanted out of this,’ to pull that energy into a goth song,” Lawrence said
Hernandez’s and Lawrence’s religious upbringing also comes across in “Baptizm.” The song is filled with Catholic references and imagery. It was written as Lawrence preparing for his wedding.
“I was getting married and had a lot of feelings about it. The lyrics just sort of came out influenced by this idea of ‘I’m a person that may have done bad things in life, but I’m ready to give it all up to be with you and be a better person,” Lawrence said. “That’s sort of the theme of the song — being re-baptized into the world and devoting your life to another person.”
Occults will take the stage at Hot Java in the Grove Saturday, April 26. Hernandez said he’s thrilled to perform in his hometown.
“I have not been back to St. Louis since I moved and I’m really excited. I have people that have started reaching out saying ‘I’m so happy you’re coming back. We can’t wait to see you guys live.’ They are snatching up tickets,” he said. “It’s really cool to see that the support is still there after these years.”
For more about Occults, their full length album “Rituals” and their upcoming show at Hot Java, listen to St. Louis on the Air on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or click the play button below.
Related Event
What: Occults with Natalie Huggins, Two Hands | One Engine, Cazadores and DJ Skeletal
When: April 26, 2025 8:30 pm
Where: Hot Java (4193 Manchester Ave., St. Louis, MO 63110)
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Jada Jones is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.
