Interviews
Interview: A Lifelike Story
Recently, we had the opportunity to talk with up-and-coming Jersey based pop/rock band A Lifelike Story. We talked about their recent signing to JMD Records, their debut EP Never Have I Ever, and their future plans.
LitS: First off, for the people who haven’t heard of your band before, tell us a brief history of A Lifelike Story.
A Lifelike Story: We are a three piece pop/rock band from central New Jersey consisting of Bryan Welsh (Vocals/Guitar), Garrett Hoffman (Bass/Vocals) and Chris Mueller (Drums). After going to the same high school and being in other projects, we got together and started writing and performing in the fall of 2009.
LitS: This past November you released your debut EP titled Never Have I Ever. So far, how has this EP been received by the public?
ALLS: The EP has already received a lot of positive attention from the public as well as representatives within the industry. We’ve been overwhelmed with the feedback that has been associated with the release.
LitS: Explain to us what A Lifelike Story’s writing process is like.
ALLS: Usually one of us will bring a basic idea to the group and then we will expand on it together. As far as the music goes, the process is a collective effort; the three of us bring our own different elements to the songs. Bryan writes a lot of the lyrics and melodies, while Chris and Garrett help to bring a lot of musical aspects to the music. (more…)
Interview: Ace Enders
We had the chance to talk with Ace Enders (The Early November, Ace Enders and a Million Different People, I Can Make A Mess Like Nobody’s Business) about his Kickstarter project. We also discussed his future goals, his new album, touring possibilities, and thoughts on the music industry. He was clearly very passionate about his new projects and his goals. You can support his Kickstarter project here.
Ace: I guess just the separation between the supporters and musicians. I remember starting at a young age sort of seeing how the community was and what not, how the music scene has sort of changed. I think it’s the idea that came from all that, and making it more of a community-type thing. Now with the Kickstarter funding, it’s going to be our new thing that we’re pushing and I’m really excited about the whole new program that we’re about to start, that we’re going to unveil this week. It’s going to be pretty interesting, I think.
LitS: So you’ve already reached $20,000. Did you expect this project to be this successful?
Ace: No, I certainly did not. I thought we were going to come right down to the end trying to reach our goal, but I definitely didn’t expect it. I’m really, really just blown away. Every time I see it my breath is taken away a little bit. I’m like wow; I can’t believe we’re actually going to have a good shot at making this work. (more…)
Interview: Otenki
I recently got to speak with the Houston based rock band, Otenki. Otenki’s new EP titled Kinetic is scheduled for release on May 3, 2011. Their single, “Ghosts”, will be released on February 7, 2011. We had to opportunity to talk to Otenki about their experience working in and out of the studio for Kinetic.
Otenki is Japanese for the word weather. We picked the name because it allowed us to always have the freedom to change virtually everything about our look and sound.
Why did you guys choose “Ghosts” to be the first single?
“Ghosts” was chosen as the first single because when we were in the demoing process and sending songs to James, that song stuck out the most. James immediately took a shine to it and said that it was the song that is going to set the standard for all of our other songs. All the songs are amazing but there’s something about “Ghosts” that really shines through.
What were the main sources of inspiration for Kinetic?
In reference to the song “Kinetic”, the inspiration came from all the years we have been a band. After so many years into being an unsigned band you struggle to find a reason to keep going because you’re not always making money, people dismiss you because you don’t have a label, labels dismiss you because you don’t have agents…it can wear you down. The music business can seem like a battlefield, there’s no mercy to be shown…However, the one thing that’s kept this going is our families, friends and fans. They’ve traveled hundreds of miles to see us, given us places to stay, fed us, inspired us to do great things. We do what we do for them. The song and the record are dedicated to those who matter the most to us. (more…)
Interview: The Dangerous Summer
I had the opportunity to speak to Cody Payne of The Dangerous Summer today, recapping the band’s experiences in 2010 and discussing their plans for a busy 2011. He was kind enough to answer some questions about their past and upcoming tours, their upcoming album, and an acoustic version of Reach For The Sun.
It was such an amazing tour for us, for the first time we really got to see what we were worth to our fans and it was great to see so many people coming out to the shows. Three of the shows actually sold out, one being in Canada. It really just blew us away. It was probably the best tour we have ever done.
In February, you will be heading to the UK with Francesqa. How did this tour come together?
We had just been in touch with their manager and their booking agent over the last year and they hit us up recently asking if we wanted to do direct support for the tour. We had to take it, we love it in the UK and it has been a good while since we have been there.
Not too long ago, you guys released a live EP. Can we expect an acoustic record as well or is that out of the question?
It is looking like we are going to be releasing an acoustic version of Reach For The Sun sometime in the early new year. I haven’t heard much info about when it’s coming out, but it is recorded. (more…)
Interview: Heinali and Matt Finney
Spoken word artist and poet Matt Finney and Ukrainian composer Heinali are two like-minded musicians who have never met, but have already released their third collaborative EP in just a year’s time. The atmospheric post-rock and ambience backing tracks of Heinali fuses with the anguished and tormented poetry of Finney, resulting in a world of musical melancholy that is definitely worth experiencing. We caught up with Heinali and Matt Finney and talked about their formation, musical process, and their future.
How exactly did you guys meet and decide to make music together?
We met through a mutual friend. He recommended me Heinali’s music. I was blown away. I got in touch with him through Myspace. It turns out that he was a fan of my old band Finneyerkes. I asked if he would be interested in maybe working on some songs together. That turned into our first EP Town Line and we’ve been doing this since.
It’s quite interesting that you guys live on opposite sides of the world. How does this distance impact your writing process?
I don’t think it impacts us as much as people think. Neither of us has ever worked with other musicians in person so long distance collaborating is all we know.
What has been your favorite lyric that you have written?
“I never stopped to think that you might choose something better for yourself. This is how fucking stupid I was.” (From our song “Conjoined”) (more…)
Interview: louellen
louellen (RIYL: The National, Elliott Smith, Interpol) are an indie rock band hailing from South-East England comprised of Christian Corless (Vocals, Guitars), Richard Picot (Guitars, Vocals), Harry Thomas (Bass) and Joss Pennington (Drums). louellen layers intricate guitar melodies with dark, driving vocals and drums to create a broody, yet beautiful sound. The band is currently busy recording their debut EP at The Dairy in Brixton, London.
We had a chance to talk to Christian and Richard, the founding members of the band.
Could you please state your names and what you do in the band?
Christian, I play guitar and sing.
I’m Richard, I also play guitar.
How did you guys meet and form the band? Did you know each other before forming?
Christian: I’ve known Harry and Richard for years. I met Joss (Drums) a couple of years ago through Richard in Huddersfield, where he was going to university, but only really got to know him when he joined the band. It’s kind of a weird situation as far the formation of the band; Richard and I have been writing songs and playing around with ideas for a 2 years or so. At first, for lack of any other choice, we performed the songs using a laptop for the drum track etc. We wanted Joss to join the band for a while, so when he finally offered up his services we were more than happy to get him on board, that’s when the band was properly formed, I guess.
Richard: Christian and I met a few years back who also introduced me to Harry (Bass). At that point we were all kind of doing different things, I was doing a singer/songwriter thing and playing some local shows with that. I had some extra guitar parts I needed playing, so Christian helped me out with that occasionally. We always shared the same tastes and ideas in music and what I was doing wasn’t really cutting it for me. So we made a band and got friends to help out with drums but it never really came into it’s own. I went away to university where I met Joss, and that was it, we asked if he would be interested in joining the band and thankfully, he agreed. (more…)
Interview: Looking For Alaska
Last week, we introduced you to Looking For Alaska, an indie rock band from Memphis, Tennessee. If you haven’t already checked out their debut EP Everything We All Wish We Could Be, download it for free here or purchase the EP from iTunes. We got a chance to talk to the members of Looking For Alaska (Chad, Calvin, Joshua, Garrett, and Chris) and here is our interview.
For our readers, could you please state your names and what you do in the band?
Chad Turner: I sing and yell.
Calvin Lauber: Lead Guitar
Joshua Cannon: Rhythm Guitar
Garrett Galtelli: Bass
Chris Chamoun, pronounced, Shamoon: Drums/Percussion
How did Looking For Alaska come to be?
Garrett: Well, we had all grown up listening to local bands. We all pretty much spent most of our youth at a now-extinct venue here at home called The Skatepark of Memphis. Life was fun. We were all casual acquaintances in the beginning and watched each other’s bands play, and over the years we grew fond of one another’s different styles and spawned a small family of diverse musical preferences. That pretty much began with a local record label here in Memphis called Smith Seven Records. We called ourselves “The Underground Revolution” and that’s exactly what we were. After several years, bands would come and go and tour and what-not, but they always came back to visit from time to time. Looking For Alaska consists of 5 members of this family. I call us a family because that’s what these guys mean to me. They are my family, they are my brothers. I joined this band because I feel that music is by far, the most inspirational styles of media out there, and I think I speak for everybody in the band when I say, if you can make music, you can inspire. (more…)
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