Go into detail on why you decide to choose music as a career.
Nick (Lead Guitar): I’m 15 and a sophomore in high school and I liked playing guitar and I was like shit I can make money doing this so it’s pretty self-explanatory.
Macky (Drums): It’s the only thing I’m good at and it’s fun!
Kendall (Bass): I really made my decision about having a career in music when I started doing paid gigs. The first time I got paid for playing music was a crazy feeling. All I could think to myself was how could I make a living off of doing something that I enjoy so much? Since I was 16 at the time, receiving money for playing music was baffling. I’ve also been able to recognize the incredible feeling I get from performing and how exciting of a lifestyle it is. Even though a career in music can be hard at times, it’ll always be interesting because it’s an ever changing business. Within the past few years I’ve worked on many projects that are polar opposites of each other and it’s always refreshing to start a project with new people perhaps in a different style of music. I am confident music will always keep me interested and I’ll experience incredible things.
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Brief us the feedback you are getting from fans concerning your music.
Sam (Vocals/Guitar): So far they love it! They say it’s raw, full of energy and reminds them of early punk days in the 70’s. And it gives them hope. 🙂
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Discuss the relevance of social networking to music.
Nick (Lead Guitar): I think because of how the world has changed with social media and promotions on websites it has become pivotal to developing a career through music. I personally believe that this is great for the world. It helps to spread ideas and connect each other whether it’s music or not.
Kendall (Bass): Social networking is perhaps the most important platform that a musician can utilize. It’s not only how you inform people about your music, it’s how you build your following. Musicians need to create a fan base which will open doors to greater opportunities. And one of the easiest ways to tell how popular and in-demand an artist is; is by how many people are actively following them on social media.
Sam (Vocals/Guitar): I’m really not into it- I get the up side and I think it’s incredible that people all over the world can connect and share music etc. but it feels more like a brain-washing vanity service. But apparently we need it to grow our band.
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Brief us about the recording of this song.
Sam (Vocals/Guitar): We recorded in one live room- everyone playing at once, and recorded to 24 track tape. We wanted it to sound like a live show- authentic and not perfect. We didn’t re-record vocals or anything; we just used whatever we got during the take.
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Tell us the story behind the song.
Sam (Vocals/Guitar): A few years ago, I had a mental breakdown and started hallucinating/thinking I was possessed by different people. One of them I named Bobby Lee. The song got written in a minute- it was just 2 chords and lyrics that kind of wrote themselves, and the rest of the band helped turn it into a real song.
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State your area of specialization in music.
Nick (Lead Guitar): melting faces, scaring people, oozing sexuality, and giving people a comfortable ringing in their ears after shows.
Sam (Vocals/Guitar): Making people feel alive, at least that’s the goal.
Macky (Drums): Hitting things.
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Tell us how long it takes to finish a song from the start.
Kendall (Bass): Writing a song can take anywhere from 20 minutes to 2 hours. It’s a process that doesn’t always work when you want it to, and sometimes we feel more inspired than other times. We usually work the basics out in one rehearsal and more details will come to us later on. Sometimes a song will have been finished for months and then we find there’s something else we want to add to it. But for the most part we work pretty quickly.
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Go into detail on how you develop your lyrics and melody.
Kendall (Bass): When I write a melody it’s not something that I work on for a while. I like to just sit with a guitar and play all different types of music in different keys and usually I’ll play something that sounds really awesome to me. That’s when I’ll record it and keep it for a later time. I’ll rarely edit a melody; the best ones just come to me in the moment ready to go.
Sam (Vocals/Guitar): Usually anything I try to write sounds like shit, the only songs I like are ones that write themselves, and I’m like- where did that come from? If I spend too much time on lyrics, they go in a pretty cheesy direction. I try to keep it simple and use the Iggy pop 25 words or less rule- that seems to work if you’re stuck.
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Discuss music generally in full details.
Nick (Lead Guitar): Music has no boundaries beside what we differentiate between noise sound and music. When we hear something we like that has a melodic pattern and can make something click in your head we call it music. A sound can be good or bad like if you hear something crash it’s typically bad or you hear a ding signifying that your food is done cooking which is usually good. While we classify noise as a terrible thing that no one wants to hear yet I find that the best music comes from the best noise. The boundaries of what we hear is making music, this over produced shit covered madness and taking away the glorious noise that makes music.
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State your five favorite genres of music with reasons.
Sam (Vocals/Guitar): Anything that makes you move or feel something.
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Discuss your rehearsal.
Kendall (Bass): In rehearsals we usually go over our live material and (unless we’re preparing for an upcoming show) we try to write a new song every time we meet. Sometimes we bang a song out in 30 minutes, and sometimes we can’t think of anything; it goes back and forth. We have pretty low-pressure rehearsals. I think we tend to go with the flow. So if we find that we don’t want to play a lot in one day, maybe we’ll use more time to talk about future plans. We also don’t schedule incredibly long rehearsals. They usually last no more than 2 hours because we can breeze through all the material quickly.
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State your favorite musical instruments.
Kendall (Bass): Bass Guitar and Electric Guitar.
Sam: Saxophone, although we don’t have one in the band.
Macky: Drums.
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Describe the chemistry between you and your fans during a live performance.
Nick (Lead Guitar): When I play a guitar solo I can stand there and rip an absolute gorgeous solo and if I stand still with no energy no one will like it. Then I could play a solo where I pluck 3 different notes in different pattern and play a boring solo but I go wild on stage jumping around and getting the audience hyped; they’ll love it. I guess what I’m trying to say is that the audience feeds on the performers energy and vice versa. If a show has no energy no one wants to be there. That’s why there’s only a select group of people that would rather see Itzhak Perlman play Antonio Vivaldi’s Four Seasons rather than seeing Travis Scott at Coachella.
Kendall (Bass): When I’m performing I am always delighted to look out into the audience and see every person locked in with the band. I think we make our audiences feel a sense of excitement that leaves them wanting more at the end of every song.
Sam (Vocals/Guitar): We are new and slowly building “fans”. For now, If I see anyone in the crowd that feels free enough to jump around and lose themselves, I feel connected to them and like we did our jobs.
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Discuss your personality in full details.
Raw, fun, authentic, alive, free.
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Tell us about your musical background.
Kendall (Bass): I started playing classical piano when I was 5 and in 5th grade I moved to the bass guitar. Learning piano and basic music theory at a young age gave me a huge advantage when it was time to switch over to more rock oriented music. When I was 13 I joined an after school music program that put on seasonal shows and national and international tours. I had the chance to play with many esteemed musicians such as Jon Anderson of YES and Scott Ian of Anthrax. All of these experiences over the past 12 years have given me a very strong starting off point to get myself into the music industry and know what to expect in the years to come.
Sam (Vocals/Guitar): Don’t have much, was always really scared to try because I was scared I would suck. I started playing guitar a couple years ago for a film I was in and started using it to help me write songs, 2/3 chords is all you need, as long as you have a band of people that can actually play.
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List your musical work.
Our first record “Beauty Pageant”.
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Give us the links to purchase your music and contact you.
Tell us the good and bad side of mankind you know.
Sam (Vocals/Guitar):
Good side- people that love and care for their fellow man, and want to be of service to each other/make the world a better place. The things people create while in human form: Music. Books. Movies. Food. Art.
Bad Side: Advertising/brainwashing. The fact that corporations will literally kill people to make more money. Social media and judging anything based on an image. Western culture and its obsession with beauty/vanity/youth, to the point where people inject poison into their face and feel that people who have aged are less valuable to society. The inability of some people to see that we are all one and the need to help a fellow man/animal.
I am a poet , writer, beat maker, chef, songwriter, web designer, music promoter,digital marketer, blogger and director.
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