CO-FOUNDERS: DANIA DWIKHANZA ANGELA WINNIE EDITOR: ANGELA WINNIE PHOTOGRAPHERS: ABBEY TOOMEY-FISK ALEXIS POQUETTE AMBER COX ANGELA WINNIE CATHERINE KHOM EMAN EL-SAIED HANNAH BRANIGAN OSCAR RODRIGUEZ
INTERVIEWERS:
ALLYN BERNARDO
ANGELA WINNIE
CHLOE HOY
DANIA DWIKHANZA
MICHELLE JOHNSON
PHOENIX ROBSON
SEANZHA KEMAL
WRITER:
SEANZHA KEMAL
Hey everyone, Happy 1st birthday to Into The Crowd! I canʼt believe if Iʼve been starting this from nothing into a website and into issues now. From interview to interview, covering music festivals until rejection for press pass but I still never want to give up for what I do. Without this, I wonʼt be archiving as much as I do now. I am grateful for all the followers on our site and everyone who would actually read our issues and mostly, for those whoʼve been sticking up with us from when we were still nothing. Without you guys, there wonʼt be us now. I hope everyone still will be sticking out with us and for those new readers, I hope you enjoy this one year anniversary issue. We will try our best to give you the best interviews from your favorite bands! Cheers! -Angela Winnie COVER TAKEN BY: ANGELA WINNIE @ EVERYTHING’S FINE SYMPHONY SOLDIER TOUR, NEW YORK, NY.
//TABLE OF CONTENTS: INTRODUCTION
2
TABLE OF CONTENT
3
NINE SONS OF DAN
4
HE IS WE
6
THE SUMMER SET
8
INTO THE CROWD
10
INTO THE LENS: TOM FALCONE
12
REVIEWS
14
ITC: How did you guys get together and form “Nine Sons Of Dan”?
Wil: “My influences are pretty diverse. I take what I can from all sorts of artists but don't live by them.”
“We all grew up in Coffs Harbour playing in different bands and surfing together. All of our bands kinda came to a end at the same time. Flakie and Pidgey moved in together at a University Village in the Gold Coast and invited me up to record some song ideas I had. We partied, made music, then partied some more and realised we had great chemistry as friends and musicians. Our first show was a band comp and Dan, our lead guitarist, was a judge so he gave us a good score and joined the band. Wil was a friend and fan of our music so when I wanted to stop playing bass and put all my focus on singing he already knew all our songs and fit in perfectly. “
ITC: How did you first get into playing music? Jay: “When I was young my Mom could see that I had an interest in music so she put me in baby music classes and musicals.” Daniel: “My sisters boyfriend at the time played guitar so got one for my 10th birthday.” Alex: “The song Damnit by Blink-182 made everyone want to learn guitar” Flakey: “Hired a set of bongos from school, just for fun, and it went out of control from there.” Wil: “I started on piano when I was 9 and haven't put a musical instrument down since (not that I ever held a piano)”
ITC: Who is the biggest influence in your music? And why?
Jay: “Incubus”
ITC: Do you guys have any other hobby(ies) besides making music?
Daniel: “Personally Eddy Van Halen at the moment. Influence towards my song writing would be You me at six, Anberlin, Paramore and Led Zeppelin.”
Jay: “Dogboarding (getting pulled by your dog while you skateboard)”
Alex: “Daniel Cox – wish I was him”
Flakey: “Aaron Spears at the moment! (drumming for Usher at the moment.) He has the chops and the groove.”
Daniel: “I used to dabble in motor racing back in my home town.” Alex: “Surfing”
Flakey: “Iʼve been designing and selling the merchandise for the band. And surfing!” Will: “If I'm not performing or jamming you'll usually find me at a concert of some sort. I love live music!”
Jay: “I almost got hit by a car crossing a street in West Australia”
Daniel: “Playing in a band and Partying with these four is always crazy!”
ITC: Whatʼs the story behind “Sheʼs So Fine”? “Its about the common high school crush feeling when a person completely takes you attention and heart just by the look of them which then usually makes you feel like you would trip over and make a fool of yourself if you were going to approach them. For me personally the idea of the song came to me (Jay) at a Soundwave festival in Sydney when I was watching one of my favorite bands, Jimmy Eat World perform. As I was standing there I noticed a girl standing side stage who just stole my attention for the 30 minutes I was supposed to be watching Jimmy Eat World. I went home and hugged my pillow pretending it to be her. Then Boom! Light bulb popped up in my head and I wrote the idea down in my phone.“
Daniel: “USA and Japan for sure!”
Alex: “California”
Flakey: “The States! And all of itʼs states.”
Jay: “I know to be cool you should say someone dead but I got to say the Foo Fighters.”
ITC: Tell us about your next show and why we should be there
Jay: “Mexico”
ITC: If you could go out on tour with anybody, dead or alive, who would it be? And why?
Wil: “The one band that comes to mind is Foo Figters. Would love to learn from these wise, road hardened rockers. Would mean playing nothing less then stadium crowds and of course, myself being a big coffee fan, Fresh Pots!”
Flakey: “Running into that street sign on the Central Coast sucked pretty hard but I guess that was crazy.”
Wil: “I would love to tour Japan. I find their culture fascinating and feel performing there would be a bizarrely different experience.”
Flakey: “Foo Fighters, because Iʼm sure it would be rad watching them and learning from them.”
ITC: For now, what state or country you are dying to visit?
Alex: “Blink-182 or even just Tom Delonge”
Alex: “Me and Wil got trapped on an old mans bus after a night out and he tried to get creepy on us”
Wil: “Everything I do on tour is crazy!”
Daniel: “Eddie Van Halen and Jimmy Page. Cause they are both such great innovative and ground breaking guitarists in their own ways. And cause of our stage personas i think we'd get along.”
ITC: Whatʼs the craziest experience youʼve ever had while on tour?
“Well its's on the 23rd of FEB on the Gold Coast (Australia) and it is our first show of 2012! It's also at the Uni bar where our band first got together so we are so amped to get back on that stage. Iʼm sorta frighten that one of us may hurt ourselfs from rocking out to much. Weʼre planning a tour of America in August!”
ITC: Finally do you have anything to say to your fans?
“Thank you for all the love and support so far! Hope you guys are ready for some new music and tours in 2012”
INTERVIEW BY: MICHELLE JOHNSON PHOTOS BY: ANGELA WINNIE ITC: Describe the Everything’s Fine Symphony Soldier Tour in FIVE words! Trevor: “Nudity.” Rachel: “Surprising.” Trevor: “Overwhelming. Fast food.” Rachel: “Awesome fans.” ITC: What are your plans after tour? Trevor: “We’re dropping some beats real soon.” Rachel: “It was funny that I want to pursue rap music some day. For real, we’re actually recording a record when we get back just like demoing stuff out and then its headliner at some point and then we’re gonna do it.” ITC: Do you have a set date for the record to be released? Trevor: “No expectation, no nothing. Just going to go write and if its gonna come out this year, that gonna be awesome but if it gonna come out next year, that’d be cool too.” ITC: What is it about music that keeps you motivated? Rachel: “Its all I know, honestly. It literally all I know, the one thing that connects me to other people. Its always music, whether its love or hatred, you know. Song that reminds you of your best friends or somebody. Its my way to connecting with individuals and I can’t imagine doing anything else.” ITC: Did you think the band would be where it is now? Rachel: “No”
ITC: Where you think you’d be? Rachel: (laughed) “Tacoma.” Trevor: “Still doing my part time job.” ITC: Favorite fans experience? Rachel: “Apparently there’s a girl last night bringing me a gluten free cupcakes and its going down.” Trevor: “Any memory that has food in it, that’s a great memory.” Rachel: “Actually, last night this girl gave me a journals. She’s here tonight and I don’t think she’s expecting me to read what she wrote on it cause I called her out loud when I was on stage, I dedicated a song for her cause I guess she got it tattooed on her body and she started crying and I’m one of those girl if I see someone crying, I started crying, so I’m on stage and she started crying so I was like “Okay this is for her..Oh okay.” I got so overwhelmed because this cute little girl is just crying her eyes out and then there is me trying to be all bad.” ITC: What is your worse Valentine’s Day memory? Rachel: “Not having a valentine for 20 years in my life.” Trevor: “I think one year as a kid, my mom didn’t let me get Valentine’s Day card for school, you know when you make little pouches and everyone had cool All Real Monsters one, Power Rangers and my mom didn’t get me any but probably not having a valentine.” Rachel: “I never have a valentine. I think I only have one year with a valentine and it made my life and then I don’t have valentine for 3 more years after that so I guess I got the sweet love valentine’s chocolate and it was taken away.”
INTERVIEW AND PHOTOS BY: ANGELA WINNIE ITC: Whatʼs the meaning behind your second albumʼs title, Everythingʼs Fine? John: “Everythingʼs Fine means break up album, you know. Its kind of look like sounding kind of sadness on the entire record. Seems kind of funny to say everythingʼs fine.” ITC: When can we expect for new music? John: “This new album is kinda went a little bit like really nice production wise, a lot acoustic guitar. The whole album story this next time we wanna not limit ourselves to love or more relationship. I think we want a little bit more rock guitars and a bit acoustic.” ITC: How do you feels about having fans from all over the world and touring overseas? John: “Its so amazing. I wake up every morning with tweets from Japan, Indonesia, and Philippines all the time. I mean to reach anybody is a blessing.” ITC: If music wasnʼt your career choice, what would be your other career choices? John: “I only wanna do music but maybe Iʼd be a teacher or I wanna do something on my own feet, kinda something that involved people.” ITC: You guys toured with The Cab for few times, so how does it feels to tour with your best friends?
John: “Its awesome. Weʼre not just friends on tour, we hang out like when weʼre in L.A together and always hanging out when we have the chance. Its cool to share such a successful work with your friend.” ITC: Whatʼs the embarrassing moment that ever happened to you on tour? John: “Iʼd say going to Japan, navigating myself around with my friends without a translator was actually the dumbest thing I ever done.” ITC: How bout during Valentineʼs Day? John: “One valentineʼs day, I got shut down by a girl I liked.” ITC: If you can ask anyone from your band to be your valentine, who would it be? John: “Josh. Heʼs a sweetheart.” ITC: If youʼre stranded in an island and could only have 3 albums with you, what album that you want to have?” John: “Third Eye Blind – Blue, The Scriptsʼ most recent album, and Iʼd say Sgt. Peppers – The Beatles.” ITC: Whatʼs the meaning of life? John: “Be as happy as possible.”
INTO THE CROWD
BY: SEANZHA KEMAL
ITC: How did you guys get together and form “Into The Crowd” and how did you guys come up with that name?
Bipul: “Yellowcard, 30 Seconds to Mars, The Maine. Because, their lyricism, and stage presence is amazing.”
“We came together through highschool, and intantly became bestfriends. We met later members through mutual friends, and intanty felt the connection. The name came from just show experience and how we as a band want to get “into the Crowd” and truly relate to our audience.”
Tony: “Rise Against, Bayside, You me at six, and because their lyrics are easy to relate to, and are extremely talented musicians.“
ITC: How did you first get into playing music? Garrett: “I did school choir when i was younger, and then moved forward into learning instruments.” Bipul: “My cousin, and Red Hot Chili Peppers.” Tony: “Through my brother, and the bands that i listended to. Friends were also huge inspiration.”
Jerrod: “Hanson, Avenged sevenfold, All Time Low, Because I grew up listening to them, and the lead singer of Hanson has huge nipples.” ITC: What are Into The Crowdʼs future plans? “To record our full length album this spring, and tour nonstop and do the best we can to get to as many fans as possible. “ ITC: About your show with You Me At Six, how do you guys feel about sharing stage with them?
Jerrod: “I grew up in it, and just started to catch on to it and fell in love. “
“It was truly and honor, it was a surreal experience being able to play with one of our inspirations.”
ITC: Who are some of your musical influences? And why?
ITC: How do you promote your band and your shows?
Garrett: “30 Seconds to mars, Boys like girls,182, because all these bands have given me such inspiration through hard times, and then led me to where i am today. “
“We go to a lot of shows in our home scene, and any bands that come to town we reach out to them just like they did when they first started. Also online media is a huge draw for us.”
ITC: Who do you want to go on tour with the most? And why?
Garrett: “Hey, wanna grab coffee? OR vv see @tony.”
Garrett: “Mayday Parade, They are single handedly the hardest working band in our genre, if not all of music.”
Bipul: “Yes, All the asain stereotypes are TRUE.”
Bipul: “30 Seconds to Mars, Playing in front of hundreds of thousands of people each night is surreal.” Tony: “Go radio, they seem like fun dudes, and are also huge inspiration. We could learn a lot from them.” Jerrod: “Good Charlotte, they are sweet guys.” ITC: Tell us about your next show and why we should be there? “Every Avenue, & We are the In Crowd on 2/14/12. Because if you like music, and you have an open mind you wont be disappointed.” ITC: Whatʼs the best thing a fan/fans ever gave to you? Garrett: “I think we all agree that the privilege of playing for them is a big enough gift.“ Bipul: “A basket full of candy and roses, it was sweet and it felt good.”
Tony: “Get in the van?” Jerrod: “if you were a booger, id pick you first ” ITC: Whatʼs the story behind “Fine Wine and Lines”? “Bipul, wrote this about my ex- girlfriend and my relationship with her. Its just about the usual long distance relationship and the troubles behind it. “ ITC: What was the first thing that came into your head when you knew that our webzine has the same name as your band? Garrett: “The best webzine name in the world...” Bipul: “I was just like...Woah..” Tony: “How awesome would be if Into The Crowd was on Into The Crowd...” Jerrod: “I donʼt know honestly, its a pretty rad name.”
Tony: “The opportunity to play for them.”
ITC: For now, what state or country you want to visit?
Jerrod: “I second that.”
Garrett: “Arizona, and UK”
ITC: Whatʼs the craziest experience youʼve ever done while on tour?
Bipul: “Montana, and France”
Garrett: “Driving all night long, and then recording a 16 hour day in the studio. Longest day of my life.”
Jerrod: “Cali, and Germany”
Bipul: “Slept through half of the tour...” Tony: “Played in front of 1000 people in Atlanta, Georgia.” Jerrod: “Iʼve actually never been on tour, I was the latest member to this band and Iʼm so stoked to get on the road.” ITC: What is your best pickup line?
Tony: “Arizona, and Australia”
ITC: Finally, do you have anything to say to your fans? Garrett: “Thank You! We love and wouldnʼt be here without you guys.” Bipul: “^^ second that.” Tony: “See you on the road!” Jerrod: “Come hangout at a show and say hello!”
ITC: When did you start doing photography? What did you expect at the first place?
Tom: “I started doing photography when I was just turning 15 taking photos of my moms flowers garden and shooting local bands. I thought and hated the fact I did it because I played a lot of sports when I was younger and my friends thought it was totally weird. I had no idea id make it into a career? Haha”
ITC: What was your first tour like?
Tom: “9th grade winter break, 1 one week Anarbor on the Take Action tour. I had no idea what to expect but a lot of fun, photos, memories and people who I never thought Iʼd be meeting/staying in touch with still to this day..”
ITC: What was the hardest part being in music photography industry? Tom: “Knowing peoples names and staying in touch haha. Iʼm terrible at remembering peoples names haha. Also, staying in touch...Iʼm okay at networking but following up...whoops :)” ITC: Is there any photographers that inspired you? Who? Tom: “When I was younger I used to look at Evan Hunts website almost everyday... He is now a wedding photographer most of the time.” ITC: Do you have any favorite techniques to use? Tom: “Shoot what I see.” ITC: What are some key essentials you when you shoot at shows? Like, what is in your camera bag? Tom: “Flash, batteries, extra memory cards, gray card, my camera, lens, sometimes pocket wizards depending what I feel like shooting.”
ITC: What has been the best experience so far? Tom: “The best has yet to come is always my motto...but everything so far has been quite the journey it's unreal how much Iʼve been through for being this young. I love every moment, every picture taken, etc.” ITC: Who are some bands you'd like to work with in the future? Tom: “It's more of artists Iʼd love to work with...Drake, Andrew WK. Bands: You Me At Six, Lydia, etc. I have a lot of goals” ITC: Do you have any advice for young photographers who want to break into this industry? Tom: “network. network. network.”
You can check Tomʼs photos on: www.tomfalconephoto.com
//REVIEWS: fun. – Some Nights BY: SEANZHA KEMAL fun. is an indie pop band from New York formed in 2008 by Nate Ruess (formerly of The Format). He formed the band with Andrew Dost and Jack Antonoff. Their debut album, Aim and Ignite, was released August 25, 2009. And now theyʼre back with a new album called Some Nights. The first single “We Are Young” is a perfect song. The beat is powerful and the verses make listeners want to dance to this song, especially when TV show Glee covered this song, the tv show made this song popular and gained more fans all over the world The next song “It Gets Better” starts with a good and enjoyable beat, this track uses autotune and some vocal effects which is cool for me, BUT... this does not sound like fun. at all. The album continues with “Why Am I The One” theyʼre totally different from the other songs, this song sounds like a 90ʼs song, and is it just me or the song contains a part of The Lion Kingʼs “Can You Feel The Love Tonight”? In “All Alone” fun. continues to not sounding like Funʼs debut album, this song sounds like a hip-hop song with elegant and enjoyable beats. But still... it sounds totally different from they way we used These songs arenʼt bad, they just sound different from “Aim and Ignite.” Letʼs just admit that the songs are nicely written,,enjoyable and fun, some fans may be disappointed, but “Some Nights” was clearly crafted to appeal to a broader audience. Score: 7/10 Go listen: We Are Young & All Alone