Interview with Canterbury

Tell us about where your from and how it influenced you to start creating music?

We're from around the Hampshire/Surrey area in the South of England. There's some pretty awesome festivals around here like Reading Festival for example which was a big driving force behind wanting to be in a band and make music.

How would you describe your experiences so far being together as a band?

Awesome, testing, exhausting, energizing, depressing, uplifting, tiring and rewarding.

Who is your Idol in the Music industry and if you had a chance to meet that person what would be the first question you would ask them and why?

We've all got different people we look up to, that's a tough one, no answer sorry.

Have you ever played in the US / If not would you ever tour over here? Where would you want to play the most?

We've never played in the US no, but we're making plans at the moment to hopefully get over there in the not too distant future. We don't really know the States all that well so it's hard to say where we'd want to play the most. According to our online statistics most of our American fans are based in California, so around there.

Have you ever had a onstage embarrassing moment? if so what would that be?

Plenty, most famously, Mike passed out once, Luke tripped backwards over a monitor and fell flat on his back and as a result of an end of tour prank when on tour with Billy Talent Scott started playing a show once to find talcum powder pouring out of his hi-hats.

What would you like everyone to know about you guys to make them listen to your music?

It's always tough trying to convince people to listen to your music with your words, it's just good catchy, some times danceable, a lot of the time singalong-able, rock music. We like it a lot and you can currently download our debut album for free from Canterbury so go hear it for yourself!


Canterbury

Interview With Campfire OK

First off How did the name of the group originate?

Brandon: Similar, to the stories behind our songs, this is a bit of an opaque mystery. I suspect Mychal went into the woods on a spirit walk and hallucinated the band name.

Andrew: I think he was in a bar and it came to him.

Mychal: It was a total fluke to be honest with you. I made it up one day long before the record was made and I just couldn't shake it.

With all the members being able to Play a multitude of instruments …. Have any of you made a instrument from scratch just to play something that no one ever heard before?

Mychal: There is some trash can on the album. No joke.

Brandon: When I started recording music as a teen, I didn't own many actual instruments so I improvised percussion using scissors and cutlery.

Andrew: Before I owned an electric guitar, I built one out of plywood and parts of a guitar that we found lying in the grass, getting wet from sprinklers. I also modified a straight mute for a trumpet to include a telephone mic so I could run my horn through a guitar multi-effects pedal. I think Mychal did some of singing into a similar effects pedal on this album.

If you were the serial killers of the Music industry what bands would you dismember first and why?

Mychal: I would not dismember any bands. They are our friends.

Brandon: I don't have a good answer for this because sometimes when a band is truly awful, I might accidentally like them...ironically.

Do you feel that Videos that basically go viral and make a band famous overnight is a good thing or bad and why?

Mychal: I think it can be very very good for a band if they are seasoned musicians. If a band is full of young musicians who have not yet seen the business side along with the creative side, it can destroy them. But if a band is full of hard working, level headed, talented musicians then I think it is an amazing phenomena.

Brandon: There's really two ways something goes viral - one because it's really exciting and connecting with a lot people, quickly. The other way, alas, is when something is catastrophically and horrifically stupid. Let's avoid that shall we?

With so many members in Campfire OK is there a main writer of the songs or are they a collaborated effort?

Brandon: Mychal is the main songwriter, but we all find ways to put our stamp on things. I play guitar, bass & piano too so I clearly can't be made to shut up. We're very supportive of each other though, and we often try every twist and flavor of a song first before figuring out it might have been better "the way we played it first."

Mychal: True, I write the "songs" and we all contribute to the instrumentation of them. We have a very fluid musical collaboration effort. I put songs in bunny ears because most people refer to a song as the basic chord structure and the lyrics.

What can we expect from you guys this year?

Mychal: A lot. Surprises. Tours.

Brandon: More beautiful strange sounds.

Andrew: Yeah, making more videos and new acoustic recordings.

Campfire Ok at Oddfellows from Christian Sorensen Hansen on Vimeo.

Campfire OK

Interview with Vinthoven AKA Vthov

Starting at such a early age learning how to play piano and being exposed to all types of music... what led you more on the path to doing rap music? and if you stopped what direction would you go next?

Well being from the inner city of Orlando, the rap genre has always appealed to me. I think many people underestimate how musical rap can be. If a rap artist properly utilizes cadence, rhyme scheme, and delivery... the music can have a very alluring effect. If I stopped hip hop, I'd probably try my hand at jazz or gospel... or gospel jazz lol.

If I started a verse like this " The center of gravity. Everything revolves around me. " How would finish it?

"My pull is universal and involves about three/ components... live, laugh, love installed around G's/ I called about the (long e sound like thee)/ problems solved without ease/ To the whack emcees/ Evolve your sound please"

If you were hanging out with the president. Where would you take him and what would be the first major question you would want the answer too?

I would take him to the park in my hood so we could shoot some hoops. It would give him a chance to see what it's like out here and we'd converse along with other young men over a friendly game of 21. My first major question would be "What is your strategy in getting the people to overcome the divides in our country such as race, gender, political affiliation, and economic status to bring about a spirit of unity and quell this climate of hate?"

What would be your dream collaboration?

Ludacris. He is one of my favorite rappers and I think he is a lyrical genius with a delivery that hits very hard. He is very musical in how he approaches his craft. I also know that he can make positive music because I've heard it before. It suits him nicely I think.

What is the main message you are trying to get out through your music?

My main theme is that everyone has potential waiting to be unlocked. There are a plethora of factors that get in the way of that potential. The lack of focus due to the shallow materialism that permeates hip hop culture is one example. Others are self-hate, self-doubt, generational curses, lack of faith, lack of hope, glorification of crime/violence, and peer pressure just to name a few. If my music helps anyone over these stumbling blocks then I will consider my music career a success.

Is there anything else you would like to share with everyone?

Yes, if you believe in my music please share it with your friends. Money can't buy the best promotion there is which is word of mouth. My music is a grass roots effort and it's success is contingent upon the endorsement of it's supporters.

Official Vthov Website

Interview with Ivory Drive

What was the first spark that initiated your love of music and led up to creating Ivory Drive?

Ivory Drive basically started because of a local Battle of the Bands show in ‘07. Our singer/main-songwriter Van Wampler had signed up to play the gig and assembled a trio just a couple days before the show. Needless to say, we did not win the battle, but we went on to add a couple more members, record some music, and things progressed from there.

For each band member, the first sparks of music-love occurred before we can remember. It’s just something we’ve always done.

You have a great blend of music genre's going on in your songs...... how would you explain your sound to someone that never heard you before?

Our sound is really hard to categorize, and I don’t think we’ve ever done a great job of it. We’re rock n roll with elements of jazz/blues/folk thrown in. Not really fusion, not really indie rock either, just something in between. Someone once said “acid-folk” which would probably work for some songs. Imagine 5 guys who grew up studying jazz, and now just play rock, but without a guitar.

Do you feel musicians need record labels in this day of age? What are your steps of getting your music out there for people to hear?

A record label is probably not 100% necessary in this day and age. The internet makes it easy to get music out there and sell it. However, labels certainly can help, especially for emerging bands like us. Funding recordings, publicity, tour promotion, etc, would be nice. To become a top act in the pop/rock world, I imagine you would need a label at least at some point.

What drives you to keep performing?

We keep performing, basically because we like doing it. We all love to play, so I don’t foresee us stopping anytime soon. We also want to develop as musicians and take Ivory Drive further.

If you were able to travel through time what era would you want to live in and why?

Approximately 65 million years ago, give or take. Bring rock to the dinosaurs! Maybe we could even add a raptor on guitar.

What would be the missing piece to complete the puzzle for Ivory Drive?

We’re always trying to refine and dial-in our sound, and to create new songs that may be successful and reach a wide audience, but distinctly Ivory Drive and not compromising our uniqueness. The raptor might actually be the missing piece, though.


Ivory Drive Website

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Interview with Nick Charyk from Pariah Beat

Can you give us a quick glimpse inside the minds of the members of Pariah beat and why you choose the instruments that you play?

Tough to speak for other folks... I play guitar, and that's about it. Billy can play almost any instrument he picks up, which is something I occasionally, in my weaker moments, am jealous of. Emily is the really cool one. Girl bass players are cool, as evidenced by the Talking Heads, Devil Makes Three, The Pogues whose original bass player was named Cait but left the band to marry Elvis Costello, and finally, A Perfect Circle, who aren't cool in my book, but had a cool girl bass player.

What styles of music do you mainly draw from when writing your songs?

Speaking purely for myself, the Clash was the first band to really get inside my head, and I followed the influences in their music and got into Reggae, rockabilly, Woody Guthrie, Stax soul, and about a thousand other sounds. The next person that really blew me away was Steve Earle. He seemed to be coming at the American country music tradition with the same intensity as the Clash did with their music. From Earle, I started listening to a lot of outlaw country, Hank Williams and bluegrass. The idea with Pariah Beat was to do what someone like Steve Earle or Joe Strummer did with their influences, work with them in a contemporary way, not trying to reenact past sounds. Another way of putting it, I wanted to do to the American folk and hillbilly music tradition what the Pogues did to Irish music.

If you were a costumed character in a amusement park who would your choice character be and why?

I'd like to be in a Pig Costume selling chicken... I think that would be funny.

How would describe the atmosphere at any given Pariah beat performance?

Raucous, rowdy and lots of fun. Folks have, almost without exception, a good time at our shows - otherwise they wouldn't come. Even when we've played badly, it is usually fun to watch. If we play extra bad, we do the audience the courtesy of ending the show in a big pigpile, or some other type of shenanigans. I think our shows are a positive thing for all involved. It's a pretty disparate set of characters that turn out, and the fact that they are in the same room, dancing together is pretty incredible. It will get sweaty, I will usually tell at least one dirty joke, and we will give it our all. That's the Pariah Beat guarantee, and if you don't like it you can always sneak in the back for free.

What is going on in your video Elvis in Jerusalem and are you going to put out another video soon?

I don't want to give away the game, that's up to you the viewer to decide. My thoughts as a viewer? Perhaps the video is an elaborate metaphor for conflict between East and West, young and old, religion and the secular? Then again, maybe it is an excuse to dance funny, get a man in a gorilla suit and make someone slip on a banana peel. That's not up to me. Tough to say what the next video will be, but I don't doubt there will be one.

What will we be expecting from Pariah Beat within the next few months?

More shows, new songs, and good times. I'm enjoying myself maybe more than ever with the band, and am living in Vermont again. It's a challenge making it happen, but we always have found a way. I'm pretty excited about our new album, and already working on the next one... Now all I have to do is learn a few more dirty jokes.