INTOTHECROWDMAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER2013
Into The Crowd Mag founder
dania dwikhanza
editor-in-chief winnie surya
assistant editor
abbey toomey-fisk
copy editor lauren lyford
art director winnie surya
photo editors winnie surya tiffany lam
online editor
courtney luzarraga
promotion & communication manager kasey peterson
writers
karmin yu, chloe hoy, tiffany lam, lauren lyford
photographers
kelsey hall, pauline nguyen, abbey toomey-fisk, tiffany lam, winnie surya, gabby mendoza
contributors
shelby kreiger, oscar rodriguez, brian dominic, cara friedman
/IntoTheCrowdMagazine
@IntoTheCrowdMag
site
www.intothecrowdmagazine.com
SEPTEMBER 2013 | INTOTHECROWDMAGAZINE
Message from Editor. Hello there!!!!!!!!!! Sorry that we had to postpone the August issue and turned it into September issue because everyone are busy with summer classes, first year of university, covering festival, etc but we had a great summer because we got to travel to see music festivals all summer like I got to go to Osheaga in Montreal early August and it was amazing because I got to see my favourite bands with our co-photo editor, Tiffany Lam, who happened went to Quebec City for Festival d’Ete de Quebec! Wow, eh? You can see her amazing photos from the festival on this issue for sure along with other interviews that we did. On the other side, I’m really stoked to start school again and I hope everyone going to have fun times on this school year or at work because summer’s over; it means, no more crazy heat but colourful leaves, holiday drinks, knitted sweaters and fall tours! I hope you had a great summer. Enjoy the playlist I made for ya’ll below! -Winnie (@angelawgs)
INTOTHECROWDMAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER 2013
Inside This Month: August 2013 Festival d’Ete de Quebec (6)
Band of Horses (40)
LP (12)
Lindi Ortega (44)
Words & Photos by Tiffany Lam
Warner Bros. Interview & Photos by Tiffany Lam
Paper Lions (16)
Indoor Recess Interview by Karmin Yu Photos by Winnie Surya
Alex Goot (48)
Audio Blood Interview & Photos by Tiffany Lam
Interview & Photos by Karmin Yu
Lenka (20)
The Neighbourhood (52)
Frank Turner (26)
Capital Cities (60)
Groenland (30)
Mother Mother (62)
King The Kid (36)
The Fergies (66)
BB Gun Press Interview by Karmin Yu Photos by Winnie Surya
Universal Music Canada Interview by Karmin Yu Photos by Winnie Surya
Bonsound Interview & Words by Karmin Yu Photos by Winnie Surya
Interview & Photos by Karmin Yu
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Indoor Recess Interview & Words by Karmin Yu Photos by Winnie Surya
Sony Music Interview, Words & Photos by Winnie Surya Edit by Nathania Wreh
Capitol Records Interview by Karmin Yu Photo by Winnie Surya
Indoor Recess Interview by Karmin Yu Photos by Winnie Surya
Interview by Chloe Hoy Photo courtesy of the band
SEPTEMBER 2013 | INTOTHECROWDMAGAZINE
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Festival d’ete de quebec 2013 (QUEBEC CITY SUMMER FESTIVAL 2013)
Canada’s largest outdoor music festival. An 11-day outdoor music festival held at the Plains of Abraham in Quebeq City, Canada with over 140,000 attendees this year. The next Quebec City Summer Festival will take place from July 3 to 13, 2014
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SEPTEMBER 2013 | festivalfever
DAY ONE: JULY 8
FEATURING: DIAMOND RINGS, ELLIE GOULDING AND BRUNO MARS 7
INTOTHECROWDMAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER 2013
DAY Two: JULY 9 FEATURING: PASSION PIT, MGMT AND WEEZER
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SEPTEMBER 2013 | festivalfever
DAY THree: JULY 11 FEATURING: MADEON, MARTIN SOLVEIG, TIESTO
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INTOTHECROWDMAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER 2013
DAY FOUR: JULY 12
FEATURING: PAPER LIONS, AUTOMAT AND CARLY RAE JEPSEN 10
SEPTEMBER 2013 | festivalfever
DAY FIVE: JULY 13 FEATURING: DANKO JONES, FOREIGNER, DEF LEPPARD
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SEPTEMBER 2013 | LP
“I was on a major label writing for myself and I just started writing 60-70 songs a year, and I realized I didn’t mind doing that and I liked it, and then some songs started getting picked up by other artists. Then I started writing on purpose for other artists.” - LP on her songwriting success. *Watch full video interview online on our Youtube channel and at www.intothecrowdmagazine.com now!
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SEPTEMBER 2013 | LP
“Everybody made me feel like it was MY show.”
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SEPTEMBER 2013 | PAPER LIONS
Paper Lions Check out an interview we did last month at the Quebec City Summer Festival with Prince Edward Island quartet Paper Lions. How was it growing up and forming as a band in PEI and still being based there instead of relocating to Toronto like most bands? We’ve been playing together since our early childhood, but officially as Paper Lions about 5 years now. We’re all born and raised in PEI, and for the most part — other than doing a lot of touring and a short stint of living in Toronto — we’ve kept on the island this whole time. It’s been great, I mean it’s a little extra driving anytime you want to go on tour and you have to pay a 40$ bridge fee you get off the island, but it’s kind of worth it in the end just to be close to family and friends, it’s pretty relaxed since its really small and laidback place to grow up — and live subsequently. So tell us about the new album MY FRIENDS coming out in August. Well the big thing that’s different about this record that we really pressed into is the lyrical content. There seems to be a fairly consistent theme throughout the record that developed pretty organically; it really just came about when we were just hanging out a few afternoons when we started writing the record and hashing out old childhood tales. It actually was a really rewarding process because we started remembering a lot of stories that we’d forgotten about for quite a few years, and as we started talking about these stories and sharing each other’s perspectives, we realized that there were some songs in mind in these stories and so quite a few of those shared memories find home on the record. On your Facebook page you guys posted about working on a new music video involving sending
Hometown: Prince Edward Island, CAN
CUrrent albUm: MY Friends
fans postcards to their home addresses. Can you reveal to us a bit more about that? It’s not so much a music video as much as a lyrics video. We’re kind of taking the concept of the basic iMovie made lyrics video where they pop-up and you can sing along and play guitar to the song. We wanted to do something a little more creative, and so we’ve been kind of doing a series of them for different songs and we thought it would be really fitting for the song My Friend to sort of involve our fan base that we sort of, you know, consider our friends connected via the internet. So we kind of wanted to use an older medium to connect with them so we asked them for their mailing addresses, and we got addresses from Singapore to Nova Scotia — some of the postage stamps are going to be a little more expensive than others but yeah we got all kinds of addresses. Over 150 submitted — we only needed about 30, but anyway basically the concept is that we’re going to write these lyrics out on these individual postcards that are from PEI and personalized and mail them out in the video. We don’t want to put the other people out in the cold though, so we’ll probably find something to with the other addresses. What’s the biggest or most rewarding thing that’s happened to Paper Lions so far? Definitely one the most interesting scenarios we’ve found ourselves in touring is the opportunity to go perform at a Environment Canada and Military base in the North Pole — or rather the closest inhabited town to the north pole, Alert, Nunavut — and we were asked to go perform for the people stationed up there, it was only 60 or 70 people, and it was a fairly surreal experience. We had to have our survival suits on and get on this really old fashion military transport plane and we flew up and it just got darker and darker and closer to the north pole. It was 24hrs darkness and minus 40 degrees. They said if you went outside, you always had to hold hands with other people and make this human chain because it was incredibly easy to get lost and snow storms can whip up in 5 minutes. That’s probably one of the most interesting places. That was a couple years ago.
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INTOTHECROWDMAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER 2013 We opened for Cake on a cross-Canada tour, that was one of my (David) favourite tours for sure. There’s been a lot of little highlights along the way. We also opened for Ludacris in PEI; that was pretty fun. Who are some major influences? I think individually we all listen to different music, but we sort of gravitate towards classic melodies and pop songwriting as a band. The foundation was laid with The Beatles, Beach Boys... but there’s a lot of modern bands we really like — Vampire Weekend and Franz Ferdinand to Beach House and The National. Bands that you would assume who are our influences are that usually our influences. There’s no real surprise ones in the closet; our influences are pretty much worn on our sleeves in the music we play. Seeing as you just had your soundcheck, is there anything particular you do before performing or hopping on stage? We don’t have much of a routine. We did have one ritual that comes and goes, but generally its fairly typical we work on a setlist, talk over the set and we generally have a quick pow-wow right before we go onstage. Other than that, there’s no sort of magical moment behind the scenes. (David) I think, for me personally, I’d love to have more of a ritual, but one of the challenges of being a band of our size where, you know, we’re travelling in a van where often we’ll get there, have our soundcheck,
“other than doing a lot of touring and a short stint of living in toronto, we’ve kept on the island This Whole Time.” 18
“There’s no real surprise ones in the closet; our influences are pretty much worn on our sleeves in the music we play.” twitter.com/paperlions facebooK.com/paperlions and lucky if we get back to the hotel. I love it when we can do our soundcheck, go back to the hotel, have a little nap, get cleaned up, maybe go to the hot tub or something and then feel super refreshed and go to a nice temperature controlled greenroom and then walk out on stage. I find those shows tend to be the ones where we have our A-game. Although sometimes we’ll be at a festival staying on a camp ground, like Hillside; the show was amazing, we were all sunburned and sweaty but the show was amazing. What do you think is next for the band? Any plans after the album release? Tour to promote the album? Touring is definitely the next logical step for us. We’re going on a major US tour after the album’s released, and then we’ll be doing Canada again. It will be with another band called the octopus project, a sort of electro band from the states; and writing kind of just happens along the way. We’ve already started writing a bunch. It’s pretty easy and inspiring to write music at this time of year so I assume we’ll be getting back into the jam space once we get back home and start working on some new tunes. Their new record My Friends is available now. You can get the new album here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/ album/my—friends/id675596508.
SEPTEMBER 2013 | PAPER LIONS
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INTOTHECROWDMAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER 2013
Ar
a k n e
po tS s i t
L
tlight
Hometown: SYdneY, AUS
CUrrent albUm: Shadows
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AUGUST 2013 | ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: Lenka
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INTOTHECROWDMAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER 2013 How has touring been so far? It’s good! The shows have been really beautiful and I’m having a great time. I’m a bit sad because I miss my baby. But other than that, it’s as good as it could possibly be! The last time we saw you, you were pregnant. So how hard is it to go on tour when you’re pregnant? Pregnant touring? Well, it was fine. I was a little bit more tired, but I just accommodated for that: I made sure that I looked after myself and rested a lot. It was actually really fun, but I stopped when I was about five months so it wasn’t that big. What do you usually like to do before going on stage? I usually do a vocal warm-up while I’m doing my makeup in the mirror. How did you come up with your single “Heart to the Party”? The lyrics are just kind of a drink-scape and it doesn’t really make that much sense. If anything, it’s about wanting to have a great night out, but in a dreamy and surreal kind of way. Speaking of singles, which one will be your next? The album is not really a “singles” kind of album. Actually, “Nothing Here but Love” is a single in quite a little bit of places – I guess in Canada it’s not, it’s “Heart to the Party”. But both those songs have got good videos, so they’re the ones I selected to put forth. The next one I’m working on a video for is “After the Winter”. All three of those songs are also getting remixed, so there’s going to be dance versions of those that are coming out soon too. They’ll be on a remix EP of six tracks.
LenKamUsic.com twitter.com/lenKamUsic facebooK.com/lenKa
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“I realized that you could be really quirky and that you don’t have to have a perfect voice as long as you have an interesting one” What influenced you to write your latest album Shadows? The experience of becoming a parent was a big influence and inspiration: not literally how that felt, but what it did to me. It kind of made me feel very reflective. I started to look back at my life and I just feel at the moment like I’m in the middle of my life. I guess I’m not because I’m only 35, but hopefully I do live longer than 70! I just feel like some things changed and now I’m on this different stage of life. So it made me really just look back and look with vain. It made me think about what I’ve gone through to get to this point because right now, there’s another generation beneath me and my perspective on life has changed so much. And the other thing was, I just really wanted to make a lullaby album: meaning a sleepy album that you can just put on and go to sleep to. I love those records and artists that make music that never sparks dynamically. So, that was my main purpose: I wanted to make a really smooth and mellow album. What are your top three records right now? I listen to playlists a lot. So, I got my funky playlist and my jazzy blues playlist. I’m enjoying Ellie Goulding. On the radio, I think my favourite is Macklemore and Ryan Lewis – they’re my favourite kind of big artists at the moment. I’ll also randomly be listening to Gillian Welsh’s Time (The Revelator).
SEPTEMBER 2013 | ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: Lenka
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INTOTHECROWDMAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER 2013
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SEPTEMBER 2013 | ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: Lenka
Who are your idols? It would be Bjork. She was my main inspiration to do music in the first place. I come from a musical family: I was encouraged to do it and my dad really wanted me to do it. I didn’t feel like I had anything to give or any talent particularly, but when I started listening to Bjork, I realized that you could be really quirky and that you don’t have to have a perfect voice as long as you have an interesting one. That opened up everything for me and I started to explore what I might like to do with my own sound. She’s pretty weird now, but she’s continued to push herself and experiment. I also love her connection to nature. So, I continually find her inspiring. What do you enjoy doing most when you’re not doing something music-related? I really like making crafts and I usually throw that into my videos by making some stop motion animation. I also love going to the movies – I went to see a movie
How are shows in Australia different? today actually. That’s usually what I do when I have some spare time. I love nature: I love going to the beach and going the forest. I actually spend most of the day at the park with my baby, trying to get as much nature as possible. What do you have planned for after this tour and the release of the new EP? There’s more on and off touring up until the end of the year where I’ll do a little bit and take a break. So after this East Coast and US tour, I’ll take a break for a few weeks. Then, I’ll tour Europe: I’m going to Russia and Turkey and I’ll take a break after that. Next, I’ll tour Australia and take a break. Then, I’ll do two separate Asian tours and this is taking us up to the end of November. So then, it’ll be Christmas and I’m going to take a big break after that. Later on, I’ll be back in Australia and it’ll be summer!
Actually, Australia is my least successful market because I left for five years and I didn’t do any touring. I’m still more recognized in Australia as an actress than a musician; I was a teen actress and I was on soap operas, but that’s changing now. I’m starting to get a bit more buzz there and that makes me very happy! Asia is definitely the most popular, followed by Germany and some other European countries. Canada is not bad, but nowhere except for Asia do I get recognized on the streets and photographed. Can you tell us a bit about your fashion style? I like vintage and I love to have fun with clothes; it’s almost like wearing a costume and dressing up. I like to mix up old things with new things. Generally, I’m pretty girly. I like the female physique from the 50’s and 60’s. I also really like wearing high waisted shorts and tank tops.
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INTOTHECROWDMAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER 2013
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SEPTEMBER 2013 | frank turner
Frank Turner Hometown: Winchester, ENG CUrrent albUm: Tape DecK Heart
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INTOTHECROWDMAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER 2013 How excited are you to play Osheaga? Very excited! It’s my second time here, but the first time with my band, The Sleeping Souls. It’s great to be back and it’s a really nice festival in Canada! Speaking of your band, what are the main differences of being a solo artist and being part of a band?
get a bit weird – not bad weird, just different. The hippie in me wants to say that it's kind of cool. In a way, people are kind of the same where they react to music the same – well at least more similarly than differently. Do you remember your first performance?
In a way, sometimes I feel like the differences are bigger for me than other people. I guess when I play solo, I generally ramble a bit more and I kind of change my set list to weird stuff; It feels a bit more like a show. But, I definitely think it's better with a band. I think they're amazing and I'm cool with them as well.
Yeah, I do. Depending on how you define it, but the first time I played in front of a crowd of people was at my older sister's 15th birthday when I was 12. I had some friends and we played a bunch of songs in the basement in the house I grew up in – it was terrible! But the first proper show I played was at this place called the Red Eye and it was in 1997 in London.
What's your post-Osheaga schedule like?
Compare your first shows to your current ones, are they better now?
Immediately after this, we're going to get on a bus and drive to Michigan. We're going to be on tour for the rest of this year and most of next year as well. So, I'm going all year-round with shows, which is fine with me. What do you like about touring? Well, first of all, it's just what I'm used to; I've been touring pretty much nonstop for a good time now (more than ten years). Also, I always feel that touring is like a lifetime in a week because so much goes on. I'm trying to think what I did a month ago today and it always feels like it's been a year and I think that it's kind of a cool feeling! It makes me feel like I'm getting more out of life. Life is short and hopefully, I'm making the most out of mine. How is touring in the UK and the rest of Europe different than North America? You know, there are some differences. People in North America and Canada have better manners. They also travel further for shows: people over here will drive a long way. In the UK, if you don't play within twenty minutes, some people definitely won't come to the show. Generally speaking though, I think that the audiences in Canada, the UK, Europe or whatever have more in common with each other than they do with what separates them. I've done some touring in China, Israel and some places in Europe where things
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Yeah, way better! I was really nervous and I think I sucked in the beginning. I’m not saying that I’m never nervous now, but I’d like to think that it’s better than when I was 20 years old. Can you tell us a bit about your newest album Tape Deck Heart? It's more of a personal kind of record than the ones I’ve done before. It’s about a breakup and that person at heart. I went through a bunch of shit and there was this one person I wanted to talk about. It also seemed kind of entertainingly counterintuitive to me at the moment because this is my first record working for a major label and I knew this was going to be a big record for me. So, I thought it would be interesting to do the opposite of what might be expected of me, which means making a BIG record. But overall, I’m very happy with it and it’s done very well! How do you know a certain song is THE right one to release as a single? Actually, I quite often leave that decision to other people for two reasons. First of all, I don’t really care that much about what the singles are – I care about the whole album. I want people to listen to the whole album. If we’re going to pick one song off of it, it kind of goes with radio stations, TV and whatever. This is
SEPTEMBER 2013 | frank turner twitter.com/franKtUrner
facebooK.com/franKtUrnermUsic
the other thing, I’m historic that I’m very very shit in picking good singles – I just don’t really know how to do it. There are people like my management and my label who are much better at that than me. So, I’m happy for them to pick what songs get to be singles. Say for me, all the songs are kind of equally valid. Are you working on anything for the future right now? I’ve written most of another album already, but I’m not entirely sure about what I’m going to do about that. Part of me wants to go “RAHHHH” and put it out; part of me just wants to sit there, think about it for a bit and make sure it’s good, I guess we’ll see what happens. So you’re ready for a new album? Yeah, I finished writing for this album in September last year. It’s not that far off from a year ago and I write pretty much all the time, so I got all these songs ready.
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Meet our fa vo ur
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a n l d n
September 2013 | groenland
d
Hometown: Montreal, CAN
CUrrent albUm: The Chase
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INTOTHECROWDMAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER 2013 Meeting a local band: Groenland This month, as we attend Montreal’s annual Osheaga festival, we got the opportunity to speak to local pop indie orchestral group, Groenland. Osheaga: a dream come true Being able to play at Osheaga alongside some of the biggest bands like Mumford & Sons and Jimmy Eat World can be – as I can imagine – pretty overwhelming and exciting at the same time. This was exactly how the Montreal natives felt when asked about Osheaga. This is the first they’ll be playing for this summer festival and they compared this upcoming experience to a dream come true. Playing at Osheaga: not TOO far off from their regular shows Even though this annual festival is a pretty big deal, the band says that they don’t think the show is too different from what they’re used to performing. The main difference is that this music fest is located outdoors, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. They add that it’s going to be fun and that the large crowd will raise the energy level. Why name a band after an Arctic country? Before these Quebec artists named themselves “Groenland”, they actually underwent the name of “Les Pieuvres”, which is French for “octopi”. They modified their name for a number of reasons: they were too embarrassed to say it, but most of all, they were searching for something even more inspiring. They were seeking something abstract and nature-related. So, “Groenland” popped into their minds and ever since then, they’ve stuck with it.
A huge band: disadvantageous?
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advantageous
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Sometimes, when a band consists of many members, it may be hard for one’s ideas and opinions to sail smoothly with others. However, this is not the case for the six-piece ensemble. Yes, touring does get a tad bit expensive when you have so many instruments, but more ambience is added to the shows. Not only that, the more people, the merrier! The Chase: YOLO. When asked what the main idea behind their latest album The Chase was, they simply replied with the ever so popular acronym: YOLO. They tell us that the lyrics’ main message is that if people feel passionate about something, they should just go for it and live in the moment, especially since we each only have one life to live. “The Things I’ve Done” If you’re questioning what Groenland’s single “The Things I’ve Done” is about, the band doesn’t really have much of an explanation behind it – other than the fact that it’s just about thinking about what they’ve done up till now in life. The title and the instinctive lyrics of this hit are pretty self-explanatory as they are.
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SEPTEMBER 2013 | groenland
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SEPTEMBER 2013 | groenland Different times, different inspirations. We’ve all had that one favourite song that meant something to us at a certain time, but after having put it on repeat for nearly a thousand times, it does start to get a little boring. So, for this Canadian band, they’re always trying to stay up to date with new music instead of listening to the same thing over and over again. For example, they used to be inspired by many bands. However, they don’t listen to them anymore and are currently inspired by artists such as The Morning Benders. They also credit Arcade Fire’s constant evolution for influencing their sound. What’s next after Osheaga: For those of you who haven’t been able to see them live yet, you won’t have to wait too long since they will be touring in Quebec a little more. After that, they will be heading to France and then returning to West Canada for a couple more shows.
groenlandband.com twitter.com/groenlandmtl facebooK.com/groenlandband
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INTOTHECROWDMAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER 2013
King the Kid
Hometown: Bend, Oregon CUrrent albUm: Start Something
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SEPTEMBER 2013 | King the Kid How did you start getting into music?
Who/what influences your sound?
Ricky: My dad played drums, so my whole life there was always a drum set in my house. When I was twelve and I went to middle school, I became quite the band nerd. All through middle school and high school, I was in the marching band, jazz band and orchestral band. I was a big band nerd and that eventually turned into being in a rock band, so it was kind of unexpected.
David: We’re all over the place and that’s where our sound comes from. Basically, we’re a mash of all those and we like a lot of different styles. We’re not trying to fit into a specific thing. We just sit down and say: “Alright, let’s record a cover or an original. Let’s write a song…” or whatever it is. We let it do its own thing and yeah okay, it’s “rocky” (maybe) because perhaps it was the Blink-182 that Jose saw that inspired him to pick up the guitar. Our musical influences are very wide.
David: I remember when I was pretty young, my dad was reading my sister a book just to fall asleep. Then, he was like: “You know what? I’m going to get you a Fender Stratocaster!” I went downstairs, I told my mom and she said: “Oh no! He is not getting you anything!” And then, it actually happened! Jose: I was watching TV and “All the Small Things” from Blink-182 came on. I was like: “That looks incredibly awesome, I want to do that!” So, I asked my parents for a guitar. They got me a Spanish guitar and not an electric one. I was a little bummed out, but I took lessons, started playing in bands and here we are! Who all started the band? How did you guys meet? Ricky: We’re from all over: Jose’s originating from Peru, I’m originating from Florida and David’s originating from Washington. We all moved to LA because you know, we’re all starting music. So, you’d think LA is the place to be and that’s where the industry’s happening. But the way things are going nowadays, with YouTube and social media in general, you don’t really need to be anywhere. As long as you’re working hard, you could pretty much be based from anywhere. Me and David play with this rapper named DeStorm and we kind of met. David and Jose were friends through other things. So after the three of us were living in LA for about a year, we decided that we wanted to start a band. We moved to Oregon, hid in the mountains for three months, recorded an album and along came King the Kid! Why have “Kind the Kid” as a name? Jose: Well, there was a list of names that were just thrown out… David: Meat Shampoo, Dirty Santa, The Pyjama Llama, Reese Withoutherspoon… Ricky: King the Kid has deeper meaning. You know, something that we strongly believe in is that you need to embrace independence and take your life into your own hands. You don’t need to have anybody control what you’re doing and if you’re strong and you persevere, you can do anything yourself. Hence, King the Kid: like the kid’s in charge.
Jose: Fun fact: we released a song today (July 12th, 2013), “A Song for Brittany.” David: We’re progressing as musicians, as friends and writers. This song was just another example of us not writing something cookie cutter or writing a pop song. This was something that meant more to us. It’s a personal story of a friend of ours that is struggling with issues in life. How do you choose which songs to cover? Ricky: So far, we have our album out and we’ve had two singles out since the album. We’ve only really done four or five covers maybe? As King the Kid, we’ve only done a few. Take “Thrift Shop” for example, we all actually really like Macklemore! His album is so dope and it’s not even just “Thrift Shop”. But you know, every once in a while we do a popular song. Jose: We have to like the song, that’s step one. How do you go about creating a cover? David: I like to work on the computer; it’s a little nontraditional as a band, but I like to have a bird’s eye perspective. So when we were in Oregon, we’d all have the ability to instantly record drums, the guitar and the bass. We were able to get our rough draft into the computer really quickly and base everything off of that rough draft. Then, we would actually record the real stuff. So, it’s sort of first impulse that we’re going to cover Yellowcard for example. We ask ourselves: “How could we do it our own way?” because we never want to copy somebody; we want to show that they inspire us. How is the video recording process like? Jose: It’s hard because most of the time, it’s just us three. Ricky: In our music video for “We Are the Ones”, you’ll see shots where all three of us are in it and the camera is moving. That’s because we actually had someone do our music video. But for all our covers, you’ll notice that we’re never all in the same thing because it’s just the three of us. We do everything: from song productions
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INTOTHECROWDMAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER 2013 to editing the videos and everything in between. If you see Jose and David, I was filming them and then you’ll see a shot of me and Jose next. What is “We Are the Ones” about? David: It’s a love song. Love is sort of hard to put into words, so it’s sort of a different fantastical expression of that, if that makes sense. It’s a way to express love and it’s just sort of out-of-worldy. Jose: We encourage people to read the lyrics and whatever he said will make sense. How do you react to negative comments on your videos? Jose: The flattery is awesome; the negativity, we push aside. There’s always people that will not like your videos and you just have to realize that what you do won’t be liked by everybody. Ricky: Whether it’s good or bad, you shouldn’t really focus on any of it. You should just keep on doing what you love. If people are liking it, that’s awesome. Either way, it’s hard not to be flattered by all these comments like: “Oh man, this is so amazing!” and it’s hard not to be beaten down by comments like: “Oh man, this sucks!” But as long as you keep doing what you love and just go for your dreams, it’ll work out!
Meaning behind your tattoos? What do you like to do when you’re not spending time on music? Ricky: The one on my chest says, “May you always seek the Lord,” and it’s in my mom’s handwriting. It Ricky: When do we not work on music? We have no was around the time we were living in LA and from lives! It was in mid-September when we moved from when we moved to LA to Oregon. It was just a crazy LA to Oregon to make the album and start King the Kid. time in our lives: we were going through a lot of crazy And literally, every single day since mid-September until stuff in LA that led to King the Kid and us starting our now, we have spent together, other than the time when lives over in Oregon. It was just a really big leap of faith Jose and I went home for Christmas and David went leaving everything and your family behind. Everything home for Hanukah. We live in a van together for two was just starting over and moving to Oregon with two months and we lived in a house together for months, guys was kind of like giving all your eggs in one basket. it’s just literally every day. Overall, it’s just putting your faith and when you really Jose: This is the time for us to put in all our works, so feel strongly about something, you just go for it. we gotta keep going! Jose: This is a drawing I made when I turned 18 – I wanted something original. This means “know thyself” in Latin. 27 is my birthday and I put the wing to represent that time flies. Here’s a compass and I KingtheKid.com changed the points: North is love, South is hate, West is doubt and East is faith. I put the anchor because everybody always gets anchors for being “grounded”, twitter.com/KingtheKid but I always saw anchors as “holding you back”. So, I have a broken anchor to show that nothing is holding me back. I also have an hourglass to show that it’s facebooK.com/KingtheKid never too late to go for it.
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FunFacts Ricky:
He told us that he can get naked within two seconds. Once you get to know him well, he don’t wear clothes often. He loves being naked, it makes him feel free (that’s what he said!). So, he’s a strong supporter of public nudity. He also loves his mom.
David:
He likes to put French fries in his burger! He also mentioned that he’s no longer sleeping with a pillow on his head; yet he hold the pillow, put ‘em on his leg on it and squeeze it.
Jose:
He’ve been run over by a car, but has no broken bones. He also never lived in one city for more than a year – except for high school.
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INTOTHECROWDMAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER 2013
Past, Present and future with
Band of Horses Hometown: Seattle, Washington CUrrent albUm: Mirage RocK
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AUGUST 2013 | BAND OF HORSES
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INTOTHECROWDMAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER 2013 As Band of Horses gets ready to hit the stage at Toronto’s Edgefest, bassist Bill Reynolds stops by to give us a little insight on the band’s past, present and future. A 10th year anniversary celebration perhaps? Formed in 2004 by lead singer Ben Bridwell, the band has been part of the indie rock scene for nearly ten years now. Out of curiosity, that leads us to ask: “Will they be doing anything special to celebrate their decadelong run?” Reynolds tells us that the group hasn’t really talked about it. They prefer to take things a day at a time, not planning too far ahead of themselves. From simply “Horses” to “Band of Horses” For those of you who aren’t familiar with the South Carolinian quintet’s history, they were originally known as Horses. However, when their first record was about to hit store shelves, they found out that there was already another band of the same name. So, Bridwell decided to base their name off their website and adjust it to Band of Horses. Putting the band together Prior to the incarnation of Band of Horses, Bridwell was already part of another ensemble, Carrisa’s Wierd. When Bridwell’s new band formed, Reynolds says that it only consisted of Bridwell’s entourage, such as the vocalist of the former group. Very early on, different instrumentalists would come in and out, making Bridwell the only one who’s been part of the band since its establishment. However, when the lead singer moved to North Carolina, he decided that he wanted to put together a definitive band. Even though having members come in and out of a band does create instability within the group, Reynolds sees that there is an upside where different things are brought to the table. Mirage Rock: a new sound For each album, the indie rock group has always been trying to do something different to keep their fans on their feet. For their latest record Mirage Rock, they wanted to fabricate something really fast and different. They recorded this album on analog tape to capture their live sound. The bassist also credits their new producer, Glyn Johns, for having brought his own spin to the studio, making Mirage Rock an album that stands out from the band’s previous works.
bandofhorses.com
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twitter.com/bandofhorses facebooK.com/bandofhorses Meaning behind Mirage Rock Some of you may wonder, “What is Mirage Rock supposed to mean?” Don’t worry though, Reynolds has just the answer: “Mirage Rock is just kind of a joke off of ‘garage rock,’” he says with a chuckle. He also lets us know that every record has a riddle behind it or there is a play on words. Take Infinite Arms for example, it’s actually supposed to mean “enfant in arms”! “Knock Knock”: an overall fun song to listen to Having played many festivals over the past years, Bridwell and Reynolds decided to write a song that would be fun for the band to play and for the crowd to sing and dance along to. Hence, the upbeat and summery feel to “Knock Knock”. Reynolds describes this single as something you would most likely hear at a baseball game, where the “tongue-in-cheek” lyrics easily enter one ear and exit the other. Knowing which single to release We’ve all been through this before: we work so hard on something that we forget about everything else. So, when it comes to picking a song to release as a single, the band definitely needs other people’s input. Reynolds explains that sometimes, they’re so into the process of making music that the guys don’t know exactly which songs will react well with people. He also says that people from countries all over the world have different tastes, so different countries will have different singles. A fifth album in the making Mirage Rock was released almost a year ago, making it time for some new music. Fans won’t have to wait for too long since the band already has many songs written out and they’re constantly making music. Also, fans who have gotten bored from playing the group’s previous albums on repeat can rest assured that their next record will be a totally different one once they hit up the studio at the end of the year. Stepping out of the spotlight for a while This is the first year where the quintet will be taking 3 months off. Don’t panic though, they’ll be using this time off to rehearse and write for the next record. If you’re dying to see them in concert, you won’t have to wait too long because they will start touring again once January rolls by!
SEPTEMBER 2013 | BAND OF HORSES
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INTOTHECROWDMAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER 2013
Lindi O r t e g a
Hometown: Toronto, CAN
CUrrent albUm: Cigarettes & TrUcKstops
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AUGUST 2013 | LINDI ORTEGA
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INTOTHECROWDMAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER 2013
twitter.com/lindiortega lindiortega.ca
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SEPTEMBER 2013 | LINDI ORTEGA Hailing from the large Canadian city of Toronto, singersongwriter Lindi Ortega takes the time to speak to us about touring, her latest record and much more. The ups and downs of touring For most artists, touring is indeed very fun since you get to discover many cities, meet new people and play on stage with friends every night. However, touring DOES have its own cons, such as having to wake up really early in the mornings. As we can imagine, a singer’s worst nightmare would probably be getting sick on tour. Imagine how bad it would be to have to cancel shows and disappoint fans or imagine how tiring it would be to have to put on a show with a stuffy nose and a huge headache. Ortega also tells us that getting electrocuted by microphones isn’t the best either! Tour checklist A singer must stay hydrated at all times in order for their voice to be in tip top shape. So, drinking plenty of water is an absolute must before hitting the stage. Not only that, Ortega says that she must always bring her red boots – or else, she doesn’t perform without them! Johnny Cash: a God Before this solo artist gets on stage, she usually prays to Johnny Cash as a pre-show ritual. Cigarettes & Truckstops If some of you haven’t realized, Ortega’s album Cigarettes & Truckstops is named after one of the songs on her record. It’s a song about nostalgia and a relationship she had with somebody when she was on the road. She also chose this title because it reminded her of her life as a touring musician. Experiences as inspirations The genius behind Cigarettes & Truckstops credits her life experiences as the source of inspiration for her record. However, not all songs are true: for a couple of her songs, she took the liberty of being creative and decided to write some fiction instead. Johnny Cash and Dolly Parton as idols On her Facebook page, she’s listed Johnny Cash and Dolly Parton, two of the world’s biggest originals, as her influences. And that got us to wonder, how exactly have they affected her? She lets us know that she’s drawn to them for the fact that they are such large icons. She’s a huge fan of Clash’s written work and she’s in love with his “chick-a-book” style. She also admires Parton for her unique character, thanks to her amazing voice and her outrageous looks!
New record, different material This music veteran has already released many full albums and EPs. Every new record that is released is an evolution of the previous one and has a different sound and a different concept. She says that she is always learning and tries to bring her music to a higher maturity level. Also, working with a different producer has an effect on the new sounds of her latest record. Hobbies other than music Although many musicians like to work on music all day every day, it’s important for one to give oneself enough space to not get sick of their passion. So, on Ortega’s free time, she enjoys painting, watching films and refinishing old furniture. Tough early years Like we all know, being able to make it into the music industry is quite challenging. Many artists don’t become successful in just one day; instead they spend many years working their rears off to stand out. But now that Ortega has finally become a known musician, she works even harder to stay where she is. Ortega’s collaboration wish list One day, she would love to work with Leonard Cohen. Why is that? Simply because he is a genius! Hopefully her fingers are crossed!
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INTOTHECROWDMAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER 2013
ALEX GOOT Hometown: PoUghKeepsie, NY
CUrrent albUm: In YoUr atmosphere
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SEPTEMBER 2013 | ALEX GOOT How was it like at the beginning when you first started to put videos up? I was kind of making them just for me and I had really no idea that anybody would want to watch them. I’ve always recorded songs as like: drums, guitar, bass, vocals – separate tracks like that. I decided to film it (to show what it would be like) and people really enjoyed that. So, it caught on and I really didn’t expect for people to like it as much as they did. Did you see yourself touring in a couple years? I definitely wanted to – I didn’t see the path there and it wasn’t clear, but I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I always feel like I know what I want to do, but the path there is unclear and it’s about carving that out, I suppose. When did you first start getting into music? I think when I was like five. I was probably born and decided I wanted to hear music, play it and try to make it myself. Between beating on pots and pans and playing our little family piano, I was always trying to do something musical. Where do your song inspirations come from? Anything that I do, really. I’ll randomly be writing melodies on the piano and coming up with random ideas, then I’ll say a couple random words like, “can’t catch lightning,” and then I’ll be like: “Oh yeah, that sounds like it’s probably about my ex-girlfriend. That works perfectly!” So, it definitely starts with melodies and then I’ll start saying random words that sound like something and that make sense to me. How do you go about making your covers? I would say I’m bad at reproducing a song the way it was originally produced. When I first started, I would try my best to recreate the song, but I’m bad at recreating it verbatim. So, I’d recreate it my way and it just kind of happens naturally by doing it. I’d end up using different instruments and changing things around. Which one of your original songs is your favourite? I think I like “Lightning,” it just feels good. I don’t know where it came from, but I was up at five in the morning one night and I was like: “Huh, that sounds cool. I’ll go with that.” It just feels like a genuine movement of creativity, I suppose.
twitter.com/alexgoot facebooK.com/gootmUsic Which song did you have most fun covering? “Good Time” with Chrissy Costanza. That was when I first started collaborating heavily with a lot of other artists. It changes everything when you have someone else’s input on a song. I started with multi-track videos: I would record myself doing this and that, drums and piano, etc. But having someone in a song changes everything because you get all their flavour in it and it’s neater that way. Which YouTube artist did you have most fun collaborating with? I think that me and Luke Conard always have a lot of fun together. That’s not saying that everyone else isn’t fun because everyone is fun, but we have a lot of fun. That’s my unofficial official answer. What do you like to do when you’re not doing something music related? I just enjoy doing whatever, relaxing and anything normal that you can think of: watching some Netflix, going out for a fine meal, taking a drive that goes nowhere… But music is my full-time job/situation at this point. Any word of advice for aspiring YouTube artists? “Be yourself,” is the strongest word of advice that I could give. No one really had any advice for me when I started, but I think that if someone told me that, it would have been really nice to hear and it would have made sense to me. If you be yourself as hard as you can, then I’m me – show the world me. Then, somebody will get it and it’ll be honest. Any thoughts on the music industry today? I think that it’s changed a lot. Technically, I’m not even in the music industry; I’m a completely independent artist. Through my music sales, my YouTube streaming and just the amount of fans that I’ve come through that, it’s been crazy! And now I’m on a tour bus touring all through Canada and the US! There’s a lot of money to come in to pay for that stuff and the budgets get higher. The thing is, it’s all outside the music business. We have nothing to do with the traditional music business and there are no labels or anything like that; I’m totally independent. So, it’s interesting to see two industries growing together.
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FunFacts He have to get his Star Wars Rebels tattoo redone because he said that he took really bad care of it and didn’t know how to have a tattoo. You’re supposed to use this stuff called “Aquaphor” and he was like, “Yeah, I don’t need that,” but you DO need it. He mentioned that he just left it alone and then there was a big scar. He said that he need to get it redone and it’ll look nice when he get it redone!
The tattoo that says “You get what you give” is a lyrics from New Radicals song.
The shoes that he’s wearing, he bought three pairs of them in a row because he really likes them. He said that these shows keep getting worn out and he thinks that he found his final shoes!
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SEPTEMBER 2013 | ALEX GOOT
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INTOTHECROWDMAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER 2013
The Neighb Hometown: NewbUrY parK, California
CUrrent albUm: I LoVe YoU
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AUGUST 2013 | tHE NEIGHBOURHOOD
bourhood
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INTOTHECROWDMAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER 2013
Sweater Weather in Montreal
H
igh school, parents and success, The Neighbourhood spills it all in our quick interview with frontman Jesse Rutherford and drummer Bryan Sammis before their first performance at Osheaga in Montreal.
There was supposed to be a thunderstorm that day. I arrived on-site a few hours after doors. It looked very fine out, so I went to the Osheaga wi-fi area to rewrite my questions for my interview with The Neighbourhood because I left my notes back at my friend’s house, who happened to live off the island. People stood up from their chairs and ran to the nearest tent when the rain started to pour down. I grabbed my beanie and put it on my head and tried to finish my food as quick as possible so I could run to the media tent behind the two main stages. My cardigan started to get soaked, so I tried to dry myself before the interview.
“I wanted those three titles to be the first three titles of something we did because I think they’re powerful statements. People abuse them and they don’t mean as much as they should anymore.” 54
After a quick promo shoot with the band, we left to find a quieter place for the interview, and ended up at this Oakley trailer. I grabbed my phone immediately, hit the record button and started chatting with the band. “Yeah, we’re excited [to play]! We’ve never been in Montreal before,” explained Sammis. When asked about Canadian shows, the band mentioned they’ve only been to Vancouver and Toronto, yet Sammis and Rutherford say that it has been really good so far. From what I’ve seen from their performances with Imagine Dragons last month at Echo Beach and at The Edgefest, the band’s Toronto fans welcomed them warmly with a big crowd, and the fans seemed really into it. Ever wonder how the band met in the first place? Half of them actually met in high school while Sammis and Rutherford met through music. “We all naturally started hanging out and writing music.” These young Californians who got so successful in such a short amount of time explained the reason behind their band name’s British spelling: “we decided to do the British spelling because the American one was taken,” said Rutherford. Who suggested this then? Their manager. The Neighbourhood hoped to get in the industry in a short amount of time. They never expected a year ago to have a number one alternative single in America for eight weeks straight, but they always wanted to be a band that a lot of people could hear. Thinking positive, Rutherford continued, “We just came to the stars, as you could say”.
SEPTEMBER 2013 | tHE NEIGHBOURHOOD
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AUGUST 2013 | the neighboUrhood
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SEPTEMBER 2013 | tHE NEIGHBOURHOOD
“It feels really good. It’s really cool. It’s really humbling,” are three short sentences that Rutherford said about having a top hit at such young age (they’re all in their late teens and early twenties). Sammis replied that they always push for more “You don’t want to reach a point in your career and be like, “Cool!! We did it.” When you reach for bigger and better things, always push yourselves to do it even more than what you’ve done,” continued Sammis. Sammis was in college when the band started, while guitarists Jeremy Freedman and Zach Abels, and bassist Mikey Margott was fresh out of high school. This band that just released a debut album totally had a talk with their parents when they decided to pick their next path to go on the road and follow their musical dreams instead of heading to college like everyone else. “We had a talk and it was definitely a sensitive subject. I think everybody’s (their parents) better now that things are working out, but obviously it’s tough,” explains Sammis before he asked Abels how his dad reacted, to which he replied it was a little easier for him. “Nobody had that big of an issue, nothing too crazy.” Other than their debut album I Love You that was released last spring, the band also has two other EPs called Thank You and I’m Sorry, which left me curious because when you combine all of their discographies, it sort of connects and reminds me of an apology. Rutherford explained that it actually interlocked because of the first theme and a vision that the band had. “When I was titling everything, I wanted those three titles to be the first three titles of something we did because I think they’re powerful statements. People abuse them and they don’t mean as much as they should anymore,” continued Rutherford.
twitter.com/thenbhd facebooK.com/theneighboUrhood
The band had lots of demos going for their debut album, and mentioned that they will do a little more different ones in the future. Rutherford also mentioned that they were stuck at home before they started touring and that’s why the band got the chance to write so many songs. He continued, “When we went in to record the album, we had a lot of ideas that we knew we wanted to pursue. We went in there, worked with our two producers and made the album.” I looked down over my question sheet and out of curiosity asked them about their specific black and white theme. Rutherford answered that they got it figured out early on and that it felt right. The whole black and white stuff kind of stuck with them, which is why he said it won’t be going anywhere and they’re going to stick with it forever. Sammis on the other hand told me that the black and white theme fitted them so well, especially with their music. “It’s who we are at this point.” After summer’s over, while most teens will go back to school, The Neighbourhood are going to continue hitting the road with Imagine Dragons in September, followed by another headlining tour in the fall with Ghost Loft. As I wrapped up our interview, I asked if they had any message they want to give their fans. Rutherford immediately said thank you for listening to their music and to keep it black and white.
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INTOTHECROWDMAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER 2013
cAPITAL cITIES
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SEPTEMBER 2013 | CAPITAL CITIES You guys recently performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live! How was that experience? Sebu: Performing on Jimmy Kimmel was a great experience because the Jimmy Kimmel show has a really cool live band setup. They actually set up outside in this big parking lot with a huge stage and an amazing sound system. So, it’s a full-on concert. The crowd that shows up is nice and big and it’s not a studio audience. So, it was a really fun concert for us. Obviously, being on TV is kind of nerve-racking and exciting at the same time. So, it was a good experience. How did you first build up your interest for music? Ryan: For me, it developed when I was five years old. I heard Michael Jackson and watched the music video for “Thriller”. That’s when I first remember thinking about music and wanting to actually perform. Sebu: My first memory of music was Stevie Wonder’s “I Just Called to Say I Love You”. I remember asking my babysitter to play it over and over again on the tape player when I was three or four years old. Ever since then, I’ve had inclinations to write songs. Your latest album In a Tidal Wave of Mystery just came out, how has that been? Sebu: It was such a cathartic feeling to finally see our debut album released into the wild. We had been working on it for almost three years and the twelve songs that are on there are pretty much our favorite songs that we’ve written together over the course of those three years. Being able to present it in a nice complete package to the world is a great feeling for any artist.
twitter.com/capitalcities facebooK.com/capitalcities
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
CUrrent albUm: In A Tidal waVe of mYsterY
How were the “behind the scenes” of the album? Sebu: The production of the album is basically me and Ryan holing ourselves up in our little dungeon in Burbank, California and just coming up with musical and lyrical ideas: throwing it back and forth – it’s pretty much a 50/50 collaboration. We both like to do everything: we live and sing, write words, play keyboards, play guitars, program drumbeats… Every song has its own story – some songs take forever to complete and some songs come together really quickly. Tell us about your tour that you will be embarking on with Fitz & the Tantrums? Sebu: Fitz & the Tantrums are a great band and we met them a few times at some festivals that we’ve played together. They’re so much fun as people and their live shows are also fun. So, I think it’s a great match: our fans and their fans are going to enjoy each other’s shows. When we start the shows in October, we go through the end of November and we’re hoping to have a blast! What do you guys have planned after your tours? Sebu: Our tour with Fitz & the Tantrums is going to be our main focus for fall. Before that, we’re going to go to Europe. And before that, we’re actually going to go to Asia, with a couple shows in Japan and one show in Korea!
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Mother Mother
INTOTHECROWDMAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER 2013
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SEPTEMBER 2013 | MOTHER MOTHER
How are you feeling about playing Edgefest? Are there any bands you’re hoping to see? Jasmin: Extremely excited! I just caught a glimpse of July Talk and the girl in July Talk is currently wearing a wedding dress. I was really intrigued and I’ll catch the end of their set. Obviously, a big band I’m excited to see is The Lumineers. Unfortunately, we’re taking off close to the end of our set. So, we’re not going to be able to watch everyone, but everyone before that is going to be lots of fun. How did the band come together? Jasmin: It’s a long convoluted story! I guess the short story is that we went to the same music school in Vancouver and we ended up meeting in different years and different times. Ryan and Molly are siblings, so that’s kind of where it started. Then, we all ended up joining forces! Your latest album, The Sticks has been out for nearly a year, do you feel the same as you did when it was released back in September?
Jasmin: It’s interesting because a year is not that long, but it feels like a really long time because we finished the record so much longer before it was actually released. Even by the time it was released to the world, we felt like it was old news in a way – even though it’s totally not because it’s new and exciting. So, yeah it does feel a little different. I love it and I’m really glad I do love it still, but I’m ready to move on and make a new record. How was the recording process for The Sticks?
Hometown: VancoUVer, CAN
CUrrent albUm: The SticKs
Jasmin: Ryan, the singer, produced it along with Ben Kaplan. I was just along with the ride and I told him: “Tell me when to be there, when and where to sing and I’ll be there.” That’s kind of my role as far as production goes. I’m just really along for the ride and it was a really fun record to make. It was very chill for me and I can’t really speak about the process of that because I wasn’t a huge part of it.
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INTOTHECROWDMAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER 2013 The video for “Let’s Fall in Love” is pretty intense, how did you come up with the concept behind it? Jasmin: It was actually Ryan’s idea. He wrote the song, so he had this strong vision of what this song should look like in the video form. I think the idea behind the song is about long term love and the perils of what that brings with long term relationships. The whole “let’s fall in love thing” is great at the beginning and often can be promised really ugly things. I think that’s what his idea was and then we worked with a director, which was super fun and she was really open to the idea. The whole boxing thing came up and it just felt right because that’s how it can feel sometimes in a marriage/union. Obviously, it wasn’t meant to be taken literally, but it was like a dream – like an imaginary situation where couples are hurting each other and themselves. How do you go about picking a song to release it as a single? Jasmin: It’s hard and you don’t know. You kind of have a sense of where the writing goes and what might be the most radio-friendly song or what might be the coolest song to put out there as a second or third single. You DO have an idea and obviously a million different people are all weighing in as well, between management, labels and everybody saying: “That’s a single! That’s a single! That’s a single!” Ultimately, you just have to go with your gut and your team. It becomes relatively obvious, but you never really know. Sometimes, you want the weirdest song in the record to be the single and that’s probably not the best idea! It won’t have the most mass appeal, that’s for sure! You also have to think of it like: “What’s the most fun song? What’s the song that when people hear on the radio, they’re going to be like, ‘Whoa! What am I listening to?’” Weird could be a good thing as well because something a little out of the ordinary can stand out on the radio. But it’s really a gut thing: from the reaction of friends, you see what song has the most reaction.
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twitter.com/mothermother facebooK.com/mothermotherbooK What do you have in mind for the rest of 2013?
Jasmin: Well, it’s all kind of a secret! But we have a bunch of really exciting things on the rise: we’re writing and Ryan’s writing a lot; we’re talking about maybe making a new record – we’ll see! We’ll be playing summer festivals and hopefully, we’ll work towards a new project. How is playing a festival different than playing a regular show?
Jasmin: They’re really different! They’re both super cool in their own ways. Festivals generally aren’t “your” shows: it’s not all just your fans. You get to play to your fans and a bunch of other people’s fans as well, which is great! You also get to be amongst the other artists and playing with other bands. It’s really fun at a festival because it’s nice outside and there’s catering. There’s the social aspect that’s really cool and fun. Your own show is also really cool because it’s a unique experience that you get to create for and with just your fans. So, that’s its own beautiful experience and it’s totally different from a festival. I can’t say which one I like more because they’re so different. I wouldn’t say there would be any cons. A festival can sometimes be more challenging because you have to throw your stuff on the stage and go because there are so many bands and there’s so much happening. That’s just a test of where you’re at and how good you could do in any situation, so that’s a good challenge as well. I love playing live, so to me, I don’t discriminate.
SEPTEMBER 2013 | Mother Mother
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INTOTHECROWDMAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER 2013
The Fergies
Hometown: AUstralia
CUrrent Jam: clUmsY
Australian pop band, The Fergies, are gaining international popularity with the help of social media websites such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. Comprised of siblings Kahlia, Daniel, Joel, Nathan, and Shani, these talented young musicians have been performing together for over four years; while continuing to win over fans across the globe with their spot-on harmonies. Before you were ‘The Fergies,’ you went by the name ‘Freak Morice.’ What prompted the name change? We all loved the quirkiness of Freak Morice. But for a long while, we felt like it just didn’t align with who we are. So Joel came up with The Fergies - which is short
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for our last name Ferguson - and we all totally feel like it’s the best decision we could have made. Your parents were both musicians, so you grew up very exposed to music. When did you all know that playing together was something you wanted to take more seriously? Yeah, we come from a really, really musical family! Our Dad is like Jack Black meets John Mayer and our Mum is a classical music teacher at a private school. So all five of us basically have the word “music” imprinted on our DNA haha! In late 2007, Kahlia found a newspaper flyer for a Battle of the Bands Competition and was really keen to enter! The rest of us loved the idea of playing to a crowd too so we gave the competition a go
SEPTEMBER 2013 | INTOTHECROWDMAGAZINE just for a bit of fun and ended up coming second on our first performance ever! And it’s been full steam ahead ever since.
If all five of you competed against each other on the game show Survivor, who would come out on top?
What are the pros and cons of being in a band together?
That’s hilarious! Um, probably Nathan because out of all of us he’s the most into like wildlife and animals and stuff. So while he’d be making his own fire and eating all of the right plants - Katniss Everdeen-style - Joel would be crying due to lack of real food, Shani would be out looking for a mall, Dan would be lost and confused without his guitar and Kahlia would be screaming every time she saw an ant hahaha. True story!!
We live together in the same home so that’s for sure a pro! There’s no need to have to organise a time for band practice each week that works for everyone because we’re around each other 24/7. If someone randomly has an idea for a groove at 2pm in the afternoon, we can just jump into our music room and have a jam. It’s awesome! Also the fact that we’ve known each other our entire lives means we’re not afraid to let each other know when something isn’t working musically. I guess a con at the moment is that we’re all under-18, so there aren’t many venues available to us here in Australia. You performed at the Redcliffe KiteFest and Grassy Knoll Festival earlier this year. Describe performing live in one word. Inspiring. Every time we hit a stage it’s like full adrenaline and excitement! Performing to a crowd is without a doubt the best part of being an artist and it’s something we’re totally pumped to do more of in the near future. Aside from the covers you post on YouTube, you also write and post a fair amount of original music. Where do you draw your inspiration from? Our original music is definitely where our heart is and our fans are for sure going to be getting more of it in the super near future - yay! We draw our inspiration from real life experiences such as breakups, awesome dates, difficulties we experience in our career, body image issues… we want our fans to connect with us in a really personal way through our music, so we try to make every song as honest as possible. You released “Clumsy,” in late June. Were you overwhelmed by the positive response the song has received? Overwhelmed is the word! We received so many messages from fans that had experienced abuse and/or self-harm in their lives and had been touched by “Clumsy”. Music can be really powerful so it really meant a lot to us that a song that we worked so hard on had had that kind of positive effect on so many people. We want our music to make people smile and cry and laugh and just, feel. It also makes us super excited for the songs we have coming up! This really is only the beginning.
I know you all are Lord of the Rings fans. Who are each of your favourite characters from the series? Oh my gosh best question ever. We’re all literally the most obsessive LOTR fangirls haha. Kahlia’s favourite character is Bilbo, Joel’s would have to be Legolas, Dan’s is Gandalf, Nathan loves Gollum and Shani’s is Arwen. Are there any plans to go on an international tour? Yes, absolutely! We’d love to hit the road really soon. You never know what the future will bring so right now it’s all about just building our Fergster Family, which is so much fun! We have huge dreams and we’re not going to give up until we reach them. What do you love most about the Fergster Family? They are literally just the nicest, most supportive and hilarious group of people ever! And not just to us! Sometimes we’ll log on and check out some of our fans Twitter pages and they’re always so encouraging and loving to one another. Like a month ago, a couple of Fergsters made a video where the whole fan base wrote and recorded messages of love and support to a couple of our fans who were going through a difficult time. That was just amazing! We couldn’t ask for a more incredible fan base, we really couldn’t! *On a side note, The Fergies removed all of their covers off of YouTube, to eliminate the risk of their channel being deleted due to copyright laws. The band’s newest singles, Clumsy and Teleport To You, can be found on their YouTube channel. Clumsy is also available for purchase on iTunes.
twitter.com/thefergies_band facebooK.com/thefergies
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