Ernie Ball: Getting to Know: East of June, Slaves, and Stellar Circuits

Despite their intended premise, online dating apps aren’t always conduits for meaningful personal connections. But when East of June co-founder Kyle Mortensen came across Emily Rath’s musical portfolio via her profile on the dating app Bumble, he decided to bypass the idea of asking for a date and instead inquired about musical collaboration.

The timing was fortuitous: Mortensen was separately asking his long-time friend Dirk Lance (a founding member of Incubus who co-wrote and performed on the band’s biggest albums, including S.C.I.E.N.C.E., Make Yourself, and Morning View) for feedback on the music he had been working on.