Chicago-based indie rock band Ax and the Hatchetmen have ‘So Much to Tell You’ on their dynamic, exhilarating debut LP – a spirited coming-of-age record and love letter to all their defining moments, blending seven years of camaraderie with playful storytelling, big-hearted hooks, and an infectious youthful energy.

‘So Much to Tell You’ – Ax and the Hatchetmen

Chicago’s Ax and the Hatchetmen really do have so much to tell you.

The indie rock band come of age on their long-awaited debut LP, a collection of cherished memories, love, and collaboration. The candid, colorfully titled So Much to Tell You pulls from real experiences and unlikely inspirations – from “Blurry Lights” (with The Strokes’ Albert Hammond Jr.) to “7×9,” a playful reworking of a Rivers Cuomo demo – to deliver a vibrant collection of songs shaped by seven years playing together, swapping stories, and following ideas wherever they led. The result is an album that feels personal and unpretentious, full of real moments, vivid backstories, and a smile-inducing charm. These twelve songs trace where Ax and the Hatchetmen have been, who they’ve become along the way, and the moments that made them – inviting listeners into their intimate, exhilarating journey.

Ax and the Hatchetmen consists of frontman Axel Ellis (vocals/guitar), Sal Defilippis (guitar), and Hunter Olshefke (bass), rounded out by drummer Nick Deputy, trumpeter Phil Pistone, and saxophonist Quinn Dolan. The six first met in music school while studying jazz in Chicago, forming their band in 2018. While they’ve long since moved beyond their jazz beginnings, that shared foundation – along with years spent writing, touring, and growing together – helped shape their energetic, signature sound that fans know and love today.

This past July, the group released Constant Change, an EP that offered an early window into the forthcoming world of So Much to Tell You. Now, the album wastes no time grabbing your attention. Opener “Red Carpet” is short, sweet, and scene-setting, flashing back to high school parties and the early memories that anchor so much of this record

“Flagstaff,” the second track is a familiar favorite that was released in 2024. It channels a feel-good energy that makes you want to hit the road and explore. Alongside “Flagstaff” is another optimistic single from 2024, “Love Songs.”

If you thought math was behind you, you’ve simply been mistaken. “7×9” brings us back to the days of school and simple multiplication tables. No matter what your experience with times tables may be, Ax and the Hatchetmen reimagine numbers in this whimsical tune. They even dressed up in school uniforms in the song’s music video, adding their own twist to the concept.

Seven times nine is sixty-three
She is dressed up so sexily
I don’t know much but I think it’s true
I wanna spend my life making love to you

Next up is “Lucy,” an adorable love song with heartfelt lyrics about falling head over heels for someone.

Lucy, you took a bite out of me
I won’t be leaving, no
Lucy, it’s gonna be you and me
tonight for eternity

“Oasis” follows, with romance at its core. It’s about that person that refreshes you, or as the song says, they’re like a cold drink of water. Nonetheless, the lyrics describe a love that absolutely consumes you, describing a person you simply can’t get enough of. They slowly come to control everything about you: Your thoughts, actions, and happiness.

You’re my only motivation
No hesitation
Are you hearing what I’m saying?
You’re like a cold drink of water
Out in the desert
Oh girl, you’re my oasis

Axel Ellis used one of his personal experiences to write the addictive anthem that is “Blurry Lights.” Not only is the song catchy, but it’s also dear to the band’s heart as they had the opportunity to work with their hero, Albert Hammond Jr. of The Strokes.

A recent Atwood Editor’s Pick, “Hotel Room” is about being in one place, while your heart’s somewhere else. It perfectly captures the restlessness a person can feel while being away from those who matter most.

So much to tell you
Holed up in this hotel room
Can’t do the things I want to
I’ve been climbing the walls
And I just can’t get used to
Not being right next to you
Not wearing half your perfume
While I’m singing your song

“Model Citizen” is full of fun background vocals and unique instrumentation, as Ellis sings from the heart about growth. “Sunscreen” follows the thought process of someone who still clings onto something that once was.

“Stay // Honestly” is another single that begs an answer to the question:

So would you say that you can stay around for me?
‘Cause I’m in pain from all we thought was meant to be

“New Years” is the last song of the album, ending it with a bang. As the project comes to an end, Ellis reminds listeners to “let it kick in” – to soak up our memories, all those moments that made us, and let them guide us forward into our future selves.

Let it kick in
Let it kick in
Always remember
When we were kids

Ax and the Hatchetmen reminisce on their times together and carry it all with them on their debut album.

As they grow together, they continue to collaborate, with three members in separate projects. As Sal Defilippis and Hunter Olshefke groove together in their band The Back Alley, Axel Ellis has found himself rocking out with The Runarounds.

Atwood Magazine recently spoke with Ax and the Hatchetmen’s frontman Axel Ellis about the band’s exciting new milestone, the stories tucked inside their debut, and how seven wild years together shaped So Much to Tell You. Read our interview below, and catch the band on their headline tour this fall as they bring their dynamic indie rock to stages across the US through mid-December!

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:: stream/purchase So Much to Tell You here ::

:: connect with Ax and the Hatchetmen here ::

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‘So Much to Tell You’ – Ax and the Hatchetmen

A CONVERSATION WITH AX AND THE HATCHETMEN

Axel Ellis: We just kind of went with what felt right. Quite a few of them were singles that had come out before, but we just wanted it to feel like it was one thing. We kind of had a few songs that felt like they had a similar function, and so we would only use one of those. We just tried to give a variety of what we had recorded. You know, just the best. We really just went on our gut feeling of what felt right together. We wanted to keep it kind of short and sweet hopefully, so we stuck with like 12 songs.

Axel Ellis: We tried not to rush things to the point where we were stressed about it. It was kind of just when we had everything and it felt like the right time. We have a tour that we’re on right now, just kind of starting up. And so yeah, it was like why not? I was hoping we could get a project out this year. I don’t know why, it was just a mental rule, I guess. So we asked if we could do it this year and everyone was cool with it to support this tour. We’ve been kind of eager to put out a project, so kind of as soon as it felt right and we had the songs we went for it.

Axel Ellis: My dad was actually the one that suggested it to me. We had a running title of ‘Growing Pains’ for a little while, that we wanted to find something to beat it. It was just kind of that thing that’s right in front of your face that you never really noticed until somebody suggests it. And so yeah, I mean So Much To Tell You just feels like a project. It feels like there’s, you know, a tracklist full of songs to get off your chest basically. It was like it wasn’t too specific, it wasn’t too not specific, and it just felt like it did what it needed to do.

Axel Ellis: When we were starting to write that song, we had asked Sal, our guitarist who was in the room writing it, if he had any notes on his phone where he would just write lyrics. And he had like one page that just said: Red carpet on the floor // My boy threw up on it all // Acting like I know the chords // But I don’t know nothing at all. And yeah, so we ran with that ‘cause it was just perfect.

Our friend Kevin, at like a party in high school, quite a few years ago now puked all over Sal’s red carpet in his basement, during the party. Chronologically that just felt like the right first song; it’s kind of about the oldest thing that we’re talking about on the project. It just kind of reminded us all of high school, so we liked it for that.

Axel Ellis: I try to keep a journal and write everything on pen and paper. It’s just easier for me to organize in my brain when it’s like laid out in front of me. Rather than on a screen that keeps going asleep every five minutes or whatever. Sometimes we have a shared note, and people are inflow with it, and if that’s how it goes then that’s okay. But I generally always jot everything down on paper, whether it’s after the fact or whatever. It’s just easier to work on for me. I like that a few people can all just look at one thing and kind of edit it together. As opposed to everyone in their own little world, I guess.

Axel Ellis: Yes to that last question, traveling is definitely becoming the most at home feeling. It’s strange to like, you know, get back home and it’s weirder than being away. You feel like kind of more out of place than you do when you’re in a new place every day, so that’s fun. But Flagstaff is awesome, we love it. I went and my parents took me when I was a little kid for a few days. We did some hiking out there that I really enjoyed, we stayed there a couple times as a band. But the song itself was less about the actual location, and kind of more about the idea of just travel with friends and with loved ones. And just kind of getting out there and seeing new things. It’s very optimistic, kind of fun, let’s go on a road trip song. Flagstaff felt right, we love the desert, we’re in Las Vegas right now. But yeah, it’s not necessarily about Flagstaff, but yes, we also love it out there in Sedona and everything around there, and Moab. Arizona and Utah are dear to our heart.

Axel Ellis: Yeah, in a way! We just have more of a story to tell, I guess. That kind of hopefully feels like one thing. We never really thought about doing an album up until recently. Just because everything we had written was, I don’t know, it felt pretty different from one another. Even though I’m probably just gaslighting myself into thinking that. But yeah, it just never felt like a body of work. There’s just like a bunch of different attempts of how we could make a song. And so, with this one it kind of feels like things are a little homed in and aimed at kind of one sound. It feels a little bit more like a show, in a way.

Axel Ellis: It was a mixture of people that I had known, and then people our agent recommended and then we checked out and loved. But everyone on it we’re really stoked to be playing with. Kids That Fly that with us right now are incredible. And I had known a couple of their songs, but it wasn’t until our agent recommended them. We didn’t know each other, but I’m so glad it worked out, they’re great.

Foxtide is gonna be with us for quite a while, they’re some friends. I’ve played with them in Santa Monica, like three maybe years ago now with another band I play with called The Runarounds and met them there. And then since both groups I play with have done shows with them and hung with them, they’re just great guys. Love their sound, and so yeah they’re just friends, that one was a no brainer. They were available, and yeah we were super down.

A dude named John-Robert I’m really excited about. I have seen just his videos online and I think he’s just an incredible songwriter. I’m not sure his setup, if he’s bringing a band or going solo. Either way, I’m really excited to see it and to just meet the dude. I’ve never met, just have been a fan.

And then Good Boy Daisy we’re gonna be with for a few days. I’m really stoked, I checked out their music. And yeah, so it’s just like a bunch of different ways of finding people. Some of them we already know, and some we don’t. And that’s the great thing about this is that the people you don’t know yet you’re gonna, you know, hopefully come to love and then do it again with. I try to get out of our circle of who we know a little bit every time if we can.

Axel Ellis: The only reason I didn’t mention Edgehill was because it was only one show we did with them. But they were incredible, they were so good. It was in Urbana, Illinois like a week and a half ago. Yeah, they were great, they were great dudes. They were even driving to New York like right after the show from Illinois, which was insane. But yeah, their set was awesome, and I’m glad they were able to do it. We had to reschedule that show and they were super accommodating, but yeah they rock.

Axel Ellis: That’s so funny, I always wondered if anyone would catch that. I’ve never heard it up until right now, but no it wasn’t like trying to drop an Easter egg. But every time that lyric came up it made me smile and laugh, and I was like oh this is kinda silly I’m gonna stick with it. So it’s like no, this song just called for the term run around if it’s in there. But I definitely noticed while it was happening and chose to go with it, just because I think it’s funny. But it was not like a let’s put this in because then people are gonna know, it’s just silly.

Axel Ellis: That’s a great question. The best answer is I don’t know, we’re all winging it as much as possible. I’ve never tried to, you know, be in two projects kind of full time before. And so it’s been a really fun experience trying to figure out how to balance things. And like the right balance of things to not go crazy or whatever. It’s kind of worked out pretty well, when I’m out doing something with Runarounds, Sal and Hunter will go on tour with The Back Alley. I don’t know, it’s kind of worked out. Even right now while we’re on tour with Sal and Hunter, the rest of the band, The Back Alley guys are doing like kind of a pseudo acoustic tour. We kind of just scheduled things whenever another band isn’t in town. It’s like okay well, is there anything I got to do with this group? Yeah, it hasn’t all hit the fan and exploded yet so we’re doing good for now.

Axel Ellis: I’m afraid I do kind of like always being busy. In a way that, yeah I just like being around friends. And then when I get home, I pretty much have two days of not doing anything before I start to lose my mind. But yeah, it’s been good. How long can we all keep it up? Who knows? But we’re in our early 20’s so if there is a time to do it, I suppose it’s right now.

Axel Ellis: It was like headed into summer, and we had a few songs that we had put out and wanted to put out one called “7×9.” It felt right, I see that happening a lot where somebody will release a few songs and then put them on an EP with one of two new ones. It’s weird, it’s not like with albums or physical music or anything. It’s just like well, what’s the way that is gonna help the other songs we’ve put out back out there. And so it’s a way to kind of like reintroduce songs that you have put out, while also having some new stuff. It felt right, the songs felt right together. I think that’s just kind of what a lot of people are doing nowadays with the whole streaming service, gotta play the game a little bit.

Axel Ellis: That was absolutely taken from that song, the EP title. And that one was just a little bit of like foreshadowing that only we would have known. Which I guess makes it somewhat pointless, but yeah I don’t know, I just thought it was fun. It worked for that EP I thought, because the songs were all like pretty different from one another. There’s 7×9 which is a silly love song about math, and then there’s one called Victim that’s about if you were hypothetically dating a serial killer. It’s just like across the board kind of different topics. So Constant Change felt like it enveloped that idea a little bit and made it make sense in my head.

Axel Ellis: Well, the idea started from Rivers Cuomo’s demo, that dude who sings in Weezer. Our producer Jake is friends with him and has done a bunch of Weezer stuff. He has an app called River Tunes that he keeps just like a rolodex of demos in. And so he was kind enough to share that with us, and it was all just little tidbits of ideas. 7×9 was one that we were all immediately hooked on, and so we got in a room and finished the rest of the song. I remember kind of trying to rewrite it. It was me, Sal and our producer Jake and we’re trying to rewrite the chorus. Like oh, this is a nice melody let’s you know, mess with it. And then like 30 minutes to an hour in we were like, no it’s perfect why would we change the math? And so we just kind of leaned in and put all the like can I get your number, one of these numbers might be it. Kind of kept it around math, but also phone numbers bringing it back into kind of a love song. But yeah, that one was really fun and we were beyond stoked to work on something that Rivers had shared with us.

Axel Ellis: I cannot call myself a math person. I enjoyed Algebra. Yeah, certain parts definitely was not very good at. Calculus was a no for me, but simple multiplication tables I think everyone can enjoy it together. Especially, if there’s some fun and love sprinkled in. Yeah I like math, fuck yeah why not?

Axel Ellis: Okay so that was the other one, there’s two kind of Rivers demos that we had used on that and “Lucy” was the other one. That was just like a really cute love song that we all were hooked on the bit that he had sent us. And so that one we finished up as well and kind of did our own spin on it. But yeah there were some funny lyrics in there that we went over and changed ‘cause it’s just kind of like off the cuff things that were in his demo. Like whatever was in his head, whether it made sense or not. And so we kind of tried to ground that in a real place. It was very cute, it reminds me of like, I don’t know why, it’s very Linus and Lucy like Charlie Brown to me in some way. But it’s very like high school crush kind of feeling. I don’t know, I loved it, I thought it was cute. There’s not that much else on the album that’s just a very playful love song like that. It’s kind of an oh no, I’m in deep situation, that whole song. And I can definitely relate to that, and I think people hopefully can. It was fun to play into the cuteness of it and try and just make it go with my own heartstrings while writing it.

Axel Ellis: It’s funny that totally works as that, and I had that thought while singing it that night. I was like, that works as a vampire, you took a bite out of me. But no, there was no thought behind that. I’ve been a vampire for Halloween for like five years now. I always have dark clothes, so it’s just the most go to, no brainer. And so it just worked out like that. It felt good to like realize that it made sense during the song.

Axel Ellis: “Blurry Lights” is pretty told, but that was about the Van Gogh exhibit in Chicago while on mushrooms. And it was like, I lasted probably 20 minutes with my girlfriend at the time before we called it quits and went back to her place. It was just so dizzying and we started to forget where the ceiling was, I didn’t like that feeling.

“Sunscreen” was fun – we kind of tried to tell it from the lens of a ghost. Like you had died and you’re watching the person you used to be in a relationship with live on and wanting to connect with them. It was kind of a break up song, but we portrayed it that way ‘cause I don’t know that’s how it feels sometimes. Like you’re not quite around and you’re still fully invested in something else and thinking about that. But that was fun giving it like a cool, spooky kind of twist that I liked.

“New Years” was kind of fun. That was about a few years ago, I was in Kansas City on New Year’s Eve, having a party with someone I was dating. And she like fell asleep pretty immediately into this party. And it was like a place I had never really been to and all these people I had never met. And so it was trying to just navigate a party and find fun when you don’t know anyone there and everyone knows the person you’re dating who’s asleep. It’s kind of silly, but it’s also like I look back fondly on the occasion. It’s just appreciating the good, weird times.

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:: stream/purchase So Much to Tell You here ::

:: connect with Ax and the Hatchetmen here ::

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So Much to Tell You

an album by Ax and the Hatchetmen