CHATTING! w/ Sameer Bhattacharya (Flyleaf)

Image via Loudwire.com

I love how you play your guitar with a cello bow during your live shows! How did you come up with that?

I don’t play a cello or violin or anything cool like that, I got the idea from watching the Smashing Pumpkins video for “Stand Inside Your Love”. There’s this shot of James Iha using the bow, and it was just so elegant, you know? Like the camera shot was coming up and it was one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen. In the song he doesn’t actually use a bow, they just did it for the music video, but visually it was so compelling that I had to try it.

That’s a really cool idea, it’s so majestic.

Majestic! That’s a really good word, yeah. (laughs)

Would you ever consider taking up those instruments now?

Yes! Absolutely. I really wanna learn to play violin and cello. There’s something so beautiful about it, there’s so much depth in the notes.

Has your songwriting process changed as the members of the band have shifted? Was it different writing with Lacey [Sturm] vs Kristin [May] and their different vocal styles?

I think something that’s changed is that Lacey is very rhythmic in her melodies and in her parts, and Kristen is so melodic. She uses all the notes in very tasteful ways, which is awesome.

What’s your usual songwriting process?

There isn’t really a set way that we write songs. Pat, Kristen, or I will bring a full song to the band, and sometimes it gets to you. In the case of “So I Thought”, “City Kids”, or “Ship of Fools”, which Pat wrote, we just used the song in its entirety without really changing much. But then there are songs like “Home”, which was like three songs that I’d written, torn apart, and put together, and then Kristen added a verse, and that turned into a song. And then there are songs like “Green Heart”, where Jared just came up with this riff, and the entire song is built around that. So there’s no set way that we write music—when it comes, it comes. You can’t stop it!

Yeah, it’s cool when it’s spontaneous.

Yeah, absolutely. If you force an idea, it’ll sound that way. So its very important that songs come about naturally. Cause if we’re harping on some idea and it’s not really working but we’re really pushing for it, the end product’s gonna sound really forced.

Do you still identify as a “Christian band”?

I don’t think we ever really identified ourselves as a Christian band. Our faith is definitely the most important part of what we do, but for me personally, I really feel like using the label “Christian band” is kind of using the name of Jesus as a marketing tool. That’s weird to me. Even the term “Christian industry” is an oxymoron, you know, people making money on Christianity. They’ve made a business of it, and I don’t think its right.

But your faith has influenced your music.

Absolutely. I think that if we didn’t have that faith as our base, I don’t think our songs would mean as much. I don’t think our songs would impact the lives they have impacted if there wasn’t that message of salvation, you know?

What is your favorite song to play live?

“Head Under Water” is at the top of my list right now for songs to play live. Just the energy of it and the message of it—of being torn down and told you’re something, when you know in your heart that you’re something better.

How has the audience vibe been on this tour so far?

It’s been good, I feel like in some venues they’ve been a little… I don’t know what the word is… I think they’re just really cold! (laughs) Cause like in between songs they’re like “Yeah!” but then during songs they’re just kind of watching it, you know. But everyone’s been very attentive, which is awesome. It’s almost like when we first started and we’d start playing and people would stop what they’re doing to watch. And I feel like it’s that again, which is very very cool.

That’s really cool actually, cause usually I think it’s weird when people don’t dance during shows.

Yeah, cause I’ve noticed that people are dancing less and less. Is that just something that’s happening?

I’m not sure, I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that people are holding up their cellphones, but I think that should definitely be brought back. People should be able to dance at shows. There doesn’t have to be a hardcore mosh pit—

Yeah, like some garage band or something.

Cause I was dancing, but a lot of people were just standing there.

It’s like they’re spectators, like they’re just watching television instead of engaging in the show. I don’t know, I guess times have changed. (laughs)

But that’s a cool way to think about it-- that people are really paying attention to everything.

Yeah, it’s not like they’re just like hanging out and talking to their friends while the show is going on, everyone has been engaged on this tour and it’s really cool.

Do you have any crazy tour stories?

I do have some crazy tour stories. A couple of tours ago, [my tour manager, Katy, and I] were butting heads pretty badly, mostly about scheduling stuff. I was being very rebellious. She’d round us all up and she’d call us all saying, “Where are you... be here... it starts in 10 minutes, blah blah blah." And I’d walk up like seconds before set time. Walk up, grab my guitar, and go onstage-- cause I was always wandering around somewhere, but I’d always make it right in the nick of time. And I would get so mad, I was like, “What, you think I’m gonna miss the show?”And she said, “Okay, fine." And so the next day I’m sitting in the bus and our merch guy calls and he’s like, “Hey man, what are you doing?” And I say, “Hey, I’m just playing guitar and hanging out on the back of the bus, what’s going on?” And he’s like, “We’re two songs in”. (laughs) I missed two songs on the first day!

I’m really into your look! It's really contrasting from the stereotypical “rock star in all black” image of a lot of hardcore bands. Do you have any style inspirations?

I don’t know! Let me think. I like Elijah Wood’s style, it’s relaxed but it’s not bummy. Everything fits, you know. I like clothes that fit. I can’t wear anything too baggy or too tight. And its very difficult to find clothes that fit because I’m a really tiny dude and its hard to find men’s clothes in my size. And then I try to shop in the boy’s section, but if it’s the right length, its too wide, and if it’s the right width, its too short!

Well, you look really put together!

Thank you! (laughs)

Any final sentiments?

Just thanks to all the fans for supporting us over the years, supporting us through the crazy transitions. I really hope that “Between the Stars” will speak to them on a very deep level.

PHOTOS: Frank Iero @ The Stone Pony, 12/28/2014

VIDEO: Cause for Cellabration! Frank Iero on Fans and Going Solo

Cause for Cellabration! Frank Iero on Fans and Going Solo

“He’s gonna be here until he’s met every single one of these people.” As I stand behind Frank Iero’s merch table, awkwardly cradling my tripods and trying not to lose my balance amidst piles of tee-shirts and posters, his tour manager breaks the news to me with an apologetic grin: Though the frontman had kindly offered to answer questions between autographs, he can’t grant a sit-down interview until he’s individually greeted each of his fans. I gladly agree to wait—he’s been signing since the venue doors opened, and in the days of expensive VIP meet-and-greets and entitled rock stars, his level of dedication to fans is remarkable.

Similarly remarkable is the speed at which Iero started releasing music again: Following the disintegration of My Chemical Romance in 2013, Frank went solo, writing and recording new material under the moniker “frnkiero andthe cellabration”. The project has been touring nonstop since the release of the full-length “Stomachaches” in August 2014, their brand of no-holds-barred punk rock sprinkled with softer melancholy moments appealing to audiences that may not have been familiar with MCR.

Once he had shaken the hand of his last admirer, Frank sat down with me at The Stone Pony (in his home state of New Jersey) to discuss his relationship with fans, his decision to become a solo artist, and his affinity for pizza bagels.

Can you give me the history of frnkiero andthe cellabration? How did the project come together?

It started as just a couple of songs that I wrote in my basement, and I just did it for myself. Then a friend of mine asked what I’d been up to, and I played him some of the songs, and he convinced me to play with some other people. And before I knew it, I got an offer from a label, from people that I felt like really got it and wanted to put it out, and then I was like, “I gotta put a band together to actually play the songs!” So that’s how it started.

Were you writing solo material whilst still in My Chemical Romance or did it all come after?

No, yeah, it was all after that. There might have been like a melody here or there, like little riff things, but they were never gonna be My Chem songs. They were just stuff that I messed around with. But I think the intro and first chord progression for “[She’s the] Prettiest Girl [at the Party and She Can Prove it with a Solid Right Hook]”—that’s been around for a little while, but I didn’t think it was a song, I just thought it was something that I liked the sound of… it just kind of had that “fifties” vibe that they were looking for. And “Stage Four [Fear of Trying]” existed in a way different state, and I didn’t like it at all. Then I ended up being asked by a friend of mine to do his podcast, and he was like “Oh it’d be really great if you’d play a song” and I was like “I don’t have any songs!” So I wrote it the night before, and it turned into that.

Did any of the guitar parts come from parts that you wrote for My Chemical Romance but were eventually discarded?

Well, I think my role in that band was very different. I liked very much to dance in between the guitar melodies and the vocal melody. I really like playing off of the vocal melody when I’m not singing, so if I wasn’t the singer, that’s how I would play. But since I have to sing in this, I think the guitars end up being a lot different, you know? And also, when I would write with My Chem, if I wrote like rhythmic parts to a song, I would never consider the vocals important—they’d come after. Whereas with this, I had to kind of think about, “Alright, I’m gonna need to put lyrics to this”, or “I’m gonna have to sing and play at the same time”.

Considering that as you write.

Yeah, it’s a lot different from that perspective.

How was the transition from your roots as a Jersey punk, to a theatrical rock star in My Chemical Romance, and now back to making straight-up punk music?

See, here’s the thing—even before My Chem decided to stop, I had done Leathermouth, and then I was doing Death Spells as the band broke up. I always like starting new bands. So it’s always been something that I’ve found fun to do. It didn’t feel like “Oh no, I’m starting this new thing”—it felt like, this is just what I do, you know? So I guess I felt at home in that respect.

Had you ever considered being a solo artist when you first started making music or is it something you’ve just come to later?

Nooo. No, never. God no. [laughs]

How did you come to that decision?

Reluctantly [laughs]. I came to that decision because I had written all the songs and I played everything myself, and I thought, “Well, I can manufacture a band and pretend that this is a group of people and it’s called… ‘whatever the hell’”, you know, but I felt like that’s kind of a lie, you know what I mean? I’m not a big fan of bands that are like, “Here, we’re this band, but that guy does everything”. It’s like, well, you’re not really a band, you know? You might be friends… [laughs] but I don’t know. I don’t wanna lie about where I came from. And honestly, I thought really long and hard about, “Maybe I could get someone to sing this stuff and then I could start a band”, but it didn’t work out that way.

And you also had that fame from MCR, so fans might have come to your new band’s shows just to see you.

But that’s weird. Sometimes that stuff’s almost like a car accident—people just wanna see the aftermath, and not because they necessarily enjoy your project. But I think now that the record’s been out and we’ve been doing this for a little while, we have actual fans of this project. I never thought about that though, it wasn’t ever like “Oh, this’ll be my solo project so that My Chem kids will come”. That was very… not on my mind [laughs].

Yeah, I feel like that would’ve been inauthentic.

It would’ve been really weird, yeah.

How have the fan interactions been?

Great! I mean, some are really great, some are… incredibly awkward [laughs]. But that’s with anybody. I like when people interact with you on just a human basis. I find a nice interaction, a nice conversation, more enjoyable than just a put-on, or a photo. I’d much rather just talk to you about your day than anything else. But you know, some people like doing that, some people just wanna get a photo and a signature and get the hell out [laughs].

With such an intense fanbase, do you feel like there’s a certain point where you need to draw the line between public and private information that you don’t want to share?

Well, that’s the thing too—you run into these things where… you played on a record that somebody really loves, or you’ve been on TV and they’ve seen you there, and they follow you on social media, so they get this impression that they know you intimately. And, in actuality, it’s really whatever they’ve interpreted you to be—this fantasy of what they think you are, and what you like, what you’re into. And I think when that fantasy becomes so far removed from the human quality, then it’s a bit strange. Like, for instance, I feel like when people try to say the most ridiculous thing to you, or fucked-up thing to you, in order to get a reaction, they don’t really consider you a person. That’s real strange. Then you have the ones, too, that are just way too cool for school, and they want to explain to you, “Hey, I’m sorry, I don’t know who you are!” And it’s like, well, I don’t know who you are either [laughs]. That’s the weird thing, is when people don’t understand that just as people, this is our first impression of each other, so like, right now you’ve blown it [laughs]. As far as just the first impression, as a person. Cause I didn’t know you at all until right now, and now I know that you’re kind of an asshole [laughs].

And now I don’t want to know you.

Yeah! I gotta say though, for the most part, people have been really, really amazing. It’s just like, how many people are on the Earth… six billion? Something like that? Out of six billion, at least 50% of those people suck, right? [laughs] Just like, on the law of averages. So hopefully, you meet more that suck less.

Do you ever feel pressure from those fans to be almost MCR-esque?

No, no. I can only be the person that I am…  I have no desire, no energy to play a part for anybody. I’m way too old to do that. I feel like I’ve lived my life, I’ve lived 33 years, and I’ve learned certain things about myself and about the world, and I know that it’s not beneficial to anyone for me to pretend. So I’m not going to.

There’s an interesting dichotomy on “Stomachaches” between angry, fast songs and softer, slower songs—how do you navigate those two very different vibes during your live performances?

At least as a fan going to see bands, I like that shift between things. I think you kind of want to ride a set, almost like a wave—you wanna start real big and you wanna bring ‘em down and then come back up. For a show like this, we actually were gonna play “[She’s the] Prettiest [Girl at the Party and she Can Prove It with a Solid Right Hook]”, we play it almost every show. But it’s a hard song, especially if you don’t get a sound check, and you’re not familiar with the person doing the sound at a place. In order to do that song, there’s that thin line of “this could be a total disaster” if you can’t hear what’s going on. So we just thought, “Alright, we won’t do that tonight because it could go very wrong”.

Do you ever do acoustic performances?

I’ve done a couple of songs here and there. I’m not a huge fan of that—it feels very naked. My brother-in-law Evan [Nestor] and I did an acoustic session overseas at a magazine office, and it was really fun to have him be with me. We got to play off each other a bit, and I felt comfortable in that. But when it’s just me and a guitar, like… I think some songs can translate there, but with others it just doesn’t make sense. Like “Weighted” isn’t a song that I feel like could translate to an acoustic performance because it relies on that “quiet-loud”. They’re not my favorite things in the world, but they can be fun.

If you were a breed of dog, what would you be?

Um… I have no idea. [laughs]

I’m trying to think of my own and I can’t even. There are so many breeds of dogs in the world.

Maybe a pug.

I’d maybe be a labradoodle?

That’s weird!

Kind of fluffy and odd?

Yeah, I would not be a labradoodle. [laughs] Just cause of the name.

Yeah, it’s weird. No one would take you seriously.

I’d be fine with being a rescue dog. Those are the best kind.

They’re so mysterious. It’s like, where’d you come from?

Exactly, they’re exotic!

If you could eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Oh, pizza bagels.

Not even pizza, just the bagels?

Pizza bagels, yeah. When pizza’s on a bagel, you can eat pizza anytime.

That’s true, yeah, it’s very accessible.

You were born on Halloween. Does that put more pressure on you, costume-wise, cause you’re like the Halloween dude?

No, I just like to put a lot of thought into it, and sometimes I don’t have the time to do the things I want to, but… I don’t feel pressure, I just know that they’re gonna be the best [laughs].

What’s your favorite costume you’ve ever done?

Let’s see… This year was pretty good. I was a super-cool eighties Dracula. That was pretty cool, I liked that one. They’re niche.

Speaking of costumes, which was your favorite frnkiero andthe cellabration music video? Cause I know there was one where you were playing jumprope with a kid’s organs, and one where you were covered in blood… and one with your daughters.

That was probably my favorite. That was the hardest to do, as well. Yeah, they tell you, “Don’t ever work with children or animals in film”.

Sorry, we gotta go! Hurry, one more, quick!

If you were an interviewer and this was your last question, what would it be?

[laughs]

Okay, so for a while, MCR said they wanted to save people’s lives. What’s the goal for frnkiero andthe cellabration?

For this project? I guess to turn something detrimental into something beautiful. To be fulfilled as a human being. It’s for nobody else but me. I love when people find something in it that helps them, but… that’s not my intention. And with My Chem too, I think that got blown out of proportion. What we really meant to say was that it saved us, because it meant so much to us. There was a gravity to it, there was something that felt really important. But us as individuals… we weren’t saviors. [The fans] did that. They found inspiration in the band and did it themselves.

CHATTING! w/ Kenny Vasoli (Vacationer)

Kenny Vasoli just wants you to chill. The Vacationer frontman, responsible for songs like "The Wild Life" and "Paradise Waiting", is passionate about his listeners "just relaxing and enjoying life". And he certainly seems to practice what he preaches: lounging on a tattered tweed couch, signature cloud of brown curls hanging loose like his wooden necklace, he is the image of hippie-cool. But Vacationer, his tropical-electronic project, is a lot to get excited about. Since their formation in 2010, the group has signed to Downtown Records, put out two full-length albums, and toured the country with notable acts like Tennis and Hellogoodbye.

In the basement of the Iron Horse, a cozy venue in Northampton, MA, Kenny and I sat down to discuss his musical transformation, the invention of the genre "nu-hula", and the existence of aliens.

Could you give me a brief history of Vacationer?

I’ve been in rock bands pretty much all of my musical career, since I was like 14 years old, and it got to a point where I really wanted to do something that was electronic-based. I’d been a fan of that kind of music for a while… it all kind of started with Radiohead, and then Aphex Twin, and then I started hearing bands like Beach House and Radio Department that were sort of playing indie shoe-gaze music over electronic beats. I wanted to do something like that. But I didn’t really know how to produce that kind of music, so I asked Matt Watts (our current manager now) if he knew anybody in Brooklyn that knew how to produce or do that kind of stuff. He gave me a list of a few of his acquaintances that were in that world, and one of those names was Body Language—they’re this great future-disco, space-age soul band from Brooklyn. I took to their production right away and became a fan, and I ended up linking up and just having a session with them. Within that first session we got a good start, and then they were nice enough to keep inviting me back, and every time we just seemed to finish a track every time I went up there. It just sort of shaped itself into [Vacationer]. We had songs like “Gone” and “Trip” and “No Rules”, and once we had “Trip”, it became clear what kind of sound we had going.

How long have you known that you wanted to be a musician?

Pretty much as long as I can remember. I never had a backup plan. I started playing bass at nine because I had the mentality that I wouldn’t be able to find another bass player that was nine years old if I wanted to start a band—I figured I could find someone in my age range that played guitar or drums but I didn’t think I would be able to find someone that played bass. And it seemed simpler because it only has four strings, but it was a rude awakening that it’s a pretty tough instrument to master.

Did you ever form a band of nine year olds?

Kind of, yeah! At that point in my life, it was more just like, “Oh, Phil, you play guitar? Oh yeah, Chris will play drums!” It was just a fantasy band; we’d hang out at recess and talk about what we wanted to do. But then when I was like 10 or 11 I started jamming with this kid, and it was funny, we did a 2-piece record that was just instrumental drum and bass. So looking back it was kind of before the curve.

Were you raised in a really musical family?

My parents were really supportive of it, and they really loved music. They had a great record and CD collection that I was always digging through and stealing. My brother played piano and guitar a before I started bass so there was probably a little bit of a competitive thing there. My parents were really nurturing when it came to music.

Were you inspired by any local bands or did you feel like you had to cultivate the music scene in your town?

There was a ska band from my high school that was really cool at the time, and it was just cool because they had fans, and ska was the closest thing I could find to punk that was happening. But it was more just digging through the tapes at Sam Goodie and finding [punk bands]: I would read the liner notes and look at the bands that they were thanking and listen to all of those bands and go down a rabbit hole. It was like the dawn of the internet too, so I just sort of scratched the surface of what was out there. I was just always interested in digging through music.

What is your usual songwriting process like?

It usually comes from some piece of music. So, you know, there’s the traditional way of sitting down with an acoustic guitar and just moving my hands around until something sounds cool. But with Vacationer, it’s nice because Matt [Young] and Grant [Wheeler], my counterparts in Body Language, are such prolific dudes that they’re constantly making tracks, for Body Language or just for fun. And sometimes it lands within the field of being a Vacationer song, so they’ll send me these instrumental loops, sometimes just keys and drums. Then I put them in my little studio upstairs and play bass and guitar and sing along to it, and then I’ll loop it how I hear it. It’s a great way for me to write because I have a starting point—I don’t have to stare at a blank page.

Do you write on a guitar or piano and then add in the electronic, synth-y elements later, or do you directly come up with the electronic parts originally?

Yeah, it usually starts out on something weird like a synth. Well it depends… Sometimes it’s a finishing touch, but a lot of times [those elements] come in when we’re first just sort of messing around with something and just have this weird loop—then the more cohesive stuff starts getting stacked on top of there. Also if you double pretty much anything with a vibraphone, it just gives it this cool Twilight Zone exotica kind of sound.

How do you translate all the different elements on the records into your performances? How much of it is being played on live instruments vs computer loops/drum machines?

We try not to rely too much on just hitting the space bar, you know? We do have a back beat that’s constantly happening, cause we don’t play to a click [drum track] so we sort of do it hip hop style—we just like having the actual beat in there. We call it an “effects bus”, so there’s a bunch of stuff that’ll be going through the same effect, and that sort of gels a bunch of instruments together and gives it just a nice through-line. We’ll take that “bus” of all the sound of the effects, and we’ll keep that in the track with the beat, and basically everything else we play live. And if there’s stuff that we can’t bring with us, then we’ll add it to our “trigger finger”, which is connected to the computer, and that’s some like hardcore hip hop stuff of like, live triggering things. And we have a vibraphone too, so like onstage, that’s the cherry on the sundae.

You often have projectors set up onstage to display colorful, rippling patterns behind you. How do visuals play into your live show? How did you make the decision to do this?

That was something that Matt [Young] from Body Language suggested that we do cause they did it a lot when they were first starting to play shows, and it’s a great way to have a light show without having to set up too much. As long as we can keystone it and have a good throw on it, then we pretty much just let it do what it does. We have the capability to launch a video with the song, but our computer’s sort of towards the end of its life right now, so we just have it running as a constant video. But even that kind of has some magic in it because it’s all just very flowy—you’ll notice that a lot of it’s water at this point, like videos of light reflecting off of water—we try to make that the theme, and when its not exactly consistent it’s kind of cool because then there are these certain parts where it locks in and there are these little magic moments.

That’s so cool, so it sort of cultivates the vibe?

Yeah totally, and in the beginning when I did it, I took a lot of archive footage and cut scenes together to make almost music videos. But now I’m trying to make it more of a background atmosphere.

You came up with the term “nu hula”, right?

Yep, we coined it!

How would you describe the genre?

To somebody who’s never heard our band before, I’d say that it’s like a modern take on the Beach Boys. Especially if it’s someone maybe my parent’s age that doesn’t have the context of a lot of the modern bands that we’re influenced by, so that’s a good basis for what I want it to sound like, is just sort of modern Beach Boys.

You’ve played bass for pop-punk and hardcore bands, most notably The Starting Line, but also bands like Say Anything, Hit the Lights, and Valencia—what inspired you to make the drastic switch in genres for this project?

I just didn’t want to have to sing loud anymore, and I also didn’t want to have to listen to loud bashing cymbals and distorted guitar volumes for the rest of my life. I wanted to sort of segue into doing more relaxed stuff, because this is just me acting my age. It’s just a much more pleasant experience for me to be out on the road playing this kind of stuff every night, rather than tearing my voice apart like hitting the roof of my range.

Do you think this genre will catch on and produce a new wave of nu hula artists?

You know, I can’t take responsibility for it, but I have noticed that there’s much more of a tropical-influenced sub-genre of indie music that’s happening right now. I’m not gonna say that we’re in any way responsible for that, cause I don’t think we are, I think it’s maybe just the way things have gone. But there were a lot of people doing it before we came to it. That’s what was so cool about stumbling upon some of these bands, it’s just like tropical music on top of hip hop; I’ve never heard this before. I was really excited that I was doing something that was completely fresh in my mind.

What is your biggest goal as a band?

I just wanna be able to fill rooms, no matter what size they are. Like if I could fill a room this size and just keep filling it, and have hardcore fans that wanna come and dance, and just sort of keep my wheels moving that way, then I can live very comfortably. I’m not looking for a yacht or anything like that, I just wanna keep playing music and not have to get a real job.

Any advice for young aspiring musicians?

Just keep your head down and do your thing. Don’t try to read minds of what you think other people want to hear, because I think you start being an illegitimate artist is when you try to write for other people. There’s nothing wrong with taking influence and keeping your finger on the pulse of what’s happening, cause I think that that’s a good part of it, but you should stay true to what you want to hear—you should be the band that you want to hear that doesn’t exist yet.

If you could eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?

That’s easy—breakfast tacos. All day, every day, no problem.

Any certain kind?

I make ‘em with just like scrambled eggs, and then just like whatever vegetables I have. Actually, I usually do scrambled eggs, avocado, broccoli slaw, and then some Sriracha mayo on top of that, and I’m good to go.

Do you believe in aliens?

Yeah, totally. I don’t know that they’re flying around in like, saucers in our atmosphere, but I think it’s conceited to think that there couldn’t be any other life besides us.

As of right now, who’s your favorite artist/band?

I’m constantly switching who I love. Historically, it’s been Radiohead—that’s a band that’s been able to keep putting out records that always blow me away. But as far as new bands that really impress me, there’s this band called Sego that I’m really into. They put out an EP that’s just smokin’. It’s so hard to describe, it’s like rough-around-the-edges punk disco.

Favorite and least favorite vacation you’ve ever been on?

I got to spend a week in Amsterdam, and I think that was a key time for me to cleanse my spirit and really get into the energy of what I wanted this band to be. But I don’t think I’ve ever really had a bad one. Oftentimes now it’s music that’s taking me somewhere, so if I do make a point to go somewhere, I’m pretty good at enjoying myself. There aren’t a lot of disasters happening on my vacations.

Any final sentiments?

Thanks a lot for anyone who’s listening to our band, and is reading or listening to this right now, because there’s a lot of stuff out there that you could be listening to and I’m glad that you find this unique and special. It means a great deal to me because I honestly feel like we have something to say. The message of this band is that life is worth relaxing about and it’s easy to get stressed out, but I want to be the reminder that you should just let go of that stress, cause it’s useless. Unless you like have a tiger chasing you, it’s pretty useless. So everybody just relax and enjoy this.