NKD Mag - Issue #14 (August 2012)

NKD

36-47

N A K E D M A G A Z I N E

PUBLISHERS Ariella Mastroianni Catherine Powell

EDITOR Nicola Pring

PHOTOGRAPHY Catherine Powell

WRITERS Olga Khvan Stacy Magallon Nicole Mazza Christine O’Dea Catherine Powell Nicola Pring Tanya Traner Kiki Van Son

DESIGNERS

MEGAN AND LIZ

Ariella Mastroianni Nathen McVittie

COURTESY OF » Motion City Soundtrack

Megan & Liz

Breathe Carolina

Of Mice & Men

Scarlet Ending

Call Me Anything

Senses Fail

Tonight Alive

Owl City

From Indian Lakes

The Dangerous Summer

Pierce The Veil

Stunt Company Media Stunt Company Media Sunshine Sachs MSO Publicity Stunt Company Media Anchor Management 2

Perpetual Media Relations Earshot Media

New Age Media Management Fearless Records Eric Jones

Fearless Records

ALSO FEATURING 4-9

10-15

MOTION CITY SOUNDTRACK 16-17

BREATHE CAROLINA 18-23

SENSES FAIL 24-25

THE DANGEROUS SUMMER 26-27

SCARLET ENDING

28-35

OWL CITY CALL ME ANYTHING TONIGHT ALIVE FROM INDIAN LAKES PIERCE THE VEIL

OF MICE AND MEN 3

MOTION CITY SOUNDTRACK Despite the unrelenting, height-of-summer New York City heat outside, bassist Matt Taylor and drummer Tony Thaxton of Motion City Soundtrack seem calm and peaceful in the basement of the Gramercy Theatre several hours before their show. Having just escaped the heat, the guys casually collapse on the soft couches that line room. Tony drinks from a small Perrier bottle and Matt rolls up the legs of jeans, remarking that he probably should have worn shorts today.

Maybe their source of calm is their surroundings — the red walls decorated with elaborate gold designs

WORDS BY NICOLA PRING » PHOTOS BY CATHERINE POWELL

and the oriental rugs covering the cement floors create a sort of zen calm feeling in the basement. Or maybe it’s the fact that they’ve played hundreds of shows with their band mates, frontman Justin Pierre, guitarist Joshua Cain and keyboardist Jesse Johnson over the past 10 years. No need for pre-show nerves.

As the guys wrap up their summer tour with The Front Bottoms and The Henry Clay People and prepare to embark on a short tour in East Asia, they reflect on touring throughout the past decade, their newest album and what’s to come in the future.

G N I R U O ON T

After 10 years as part of Motion City Soundtrack, (which have been active for 15) Matt and Tony have grown accustomed to life on the road.

The pair met during their freshman year of high school in Virginia and toured with their old band, Submerge, before joining Motion City. “We kind of got a taste of [touring],” Matt says. Tony agrees. “We kind of knew what we were in for,” he says. Now, though they’re committed to the lifestyle completely, as they’ve been on the road for the better part of the last decade, they admit it hasn’t always been easy. “It’s a constant state of being on the move. Sometimes [it’s] unsettling,” Matt says, glancing down at the wedding band on his left ring finger. “It took us years to get used to it. There were some rough patches in the first few years, but you figure it out.”

Aside from learning to be away from friends and family at home, it also took the band years to figure out how to spend so much time together. “I don’t know,” Matt says with a smile and slight sigh when asked how Motion City have managed to stick together and be so successful for so many years. “I think all five of us, right when we became this line up, were completely invested in the lifestyle of just staying on the road. I think it has a lot to do with the way we understand each other,” he says. When the guys have a rare break from touring, they spend time apart. “It’s kind of like your family,” Matt says. “You love them, but sometimes you just want to be away from them. But luckily we get to play every night, so then you don’t care about anything because you’re making music.”

it happens to just about everyone. We were going to stream it anyway a week before, [the release date] so, whatever,” he says, shrugging his shoulders slightly.

Tony attributes his casual attitude at least somewhat to his ineptitude when it comes to online file-sharing.

“I feel like I’m becoming the old guy that doesn’t really understand the Internet,” he says, inciting some laughter from everyone in the room. “I don’t really know how to find leaked records and stuff like that, so I don’t know how other people do it,” he says. “I had someone show me once just so I would know, “Matt replies. “So if you ever want to get our records, I know where to find them,” he says, with a playful smile. Though the guys agree this leak certainly wasn’t as a bad as it was in 2005, they question how harmful the first one really was. “To this day, [‘Commit This to Memory’] is our highest selling record,” Matt says (he’s right — to date the record has sold more than 285,000 copies). “So, did it hurt us? I don’t really know. Doesn’t seem like it did too bad,” he says. “People just want things immediately, and that’s all it is,” Tony adds. “I think that’s okay because the fact that people wanted our music is a good thing.”

Fans were excited to hear “Go” and received the record well, despite some reviews that suggested the pop-rock album failed to deliver the same punch as earlier Motion City records. Still, “Go” represents musical and lyrical precision, and is catchy, thoughtful and haunting in all the right places. What’s more, the record — Motion City’s fifth — signifies growth for the band. “To me, it’s a very human album,” Matt says.

“We’re in our 30s now, so sometimes you just sit and think ‘Oh my god, I’m in my 30s, what am I doing?’ I kind of try to take advantage of the time I have. I think that’s kind of what this album is.”

Matt refers specifically to the track “Everyone Will Die” as a favorite, and as a symbol of the band’s maturity. “There’s a lot going on in that song and it took a lot of work to get it there,” he says. “It was something that came out of nowhere.” The band brought in additional musicians to play strings for the track during recording, which Matt describes as “kind of a dream for us.”

Motion City did a few other things differently during recording than they have in the past. “The writing actually continued in the studio, which I feel like we hadn’t really done much of in the past,” Tony says. “For some songs, we barely knew anything. There was just barely an idea there, and we just decided to see if we [could] make something out of it.” “I think the biggest [difference] was that this time we weren’t really scared to do anything,” Matt says. We didn’t feel like we had to sound a certain way, and we didn’t feel like anyone was

M U B L A W E N R I ON THE Motion City officially released their latest record, “Go,” on June 12, 2012, although it leaked online several weeks early.

The leak was reminiscent of the release of the band’s 2005 record, “Commit This to Memory,” which found its way to file-sharing sites months before the expected release date, and only a day after final mastering was completed. In 2005, when music sharing was still a relatively new phenomenon, the leak spelled disaster.

In 2012, not so much. Though the guys panicked when “Commit This to Memory” leaked, they seem almost unconcerned about the possible effects this time around.

“In this day and age, who knows,” Matt says, rather nonchalantly. Tony echoes his sentiment. “I feel like 6

MOTION CITY SOUNDTRACK @ GRAMERCY THEATER » JNEW YORK » UNE 29, 2012

MOTION CITY SOUNDTRACK

EDITOR’S CHOICE

MOTION CITY SOUNDTRACK’S

TRUE ROMANCE » THE COMA KID » BOXELDER » ALCOHOL EYES

“GO” DOWNLOAD

7

MOTION CITY SOUNDTRACK telling us what to do or how fast we had to work.”

As far as fan reception of “Go” on tour, the guys are pretty satisfied. “It’s been good,” Matt says. “And I feel like it’s getting a little better. With each couple shows we notice that people are singing a little more to songs they weren’t singing at the beginning of this tour.”

E R U T U F E H T N O

In addition to touring and promoting

their new album, (after their short tour in Japan and Korea), the band have plans for a major U.S. tour with Jukebox the Ghost and Now, Now in the fall) Motion City have recently taken on several new projects, including starting their own record label, The Boombox Generation, in 2011. They’ve released a few splits with other bands under the label, but have no definite plans. “We just did it to do it, so that the future’s wide open and whatever we want to do with that, we can do,” Matt says.

The band have also started a program called “Making Moves,” in which they collaborate with music production students at Drexel University in Philadelphia to produce 7-inch singles on vinyl. The band partnered with Drexel’s label, MAD Dragon Records, to select bands to work with and to produce the music and artwork for the singles. “It was a cool way for a band that’s been on the road for 10 years to work with a bunch of students who are studying current trends in the music business to learn from each other,” Matt says.

Motion City’s 15-year tenure is certainly impressive, and the guys don’t see an end in sight. “I think we’ll know when it’s time to hang up,” Matt says. “But for now we’re just going to keep doing it.” NKD

8

BREATHE CAROLINA WORDS BY CHRISTINE O’DEA » PHOTOS BY CATHERINE POWELL

10

H

alf a year ago, David Schmitt and Kyle Even “We just wanted to throw something new to our of Breathe Carolina signed with Columbia fans,” Kyle says. The guys explain that one of their prioriRecords after experiencing successes with ties is constantly releasing new music for their fans. “If the first single of off their record, “Hell Is we could have put out a whole new record, we would What You Make It.” The single, “Blackout,” was have, but we just didn’t have time to record,” he says. certified gold and peaked charts in sevAfter all, the writing process and recording time is eral countries crucial to the music. around the Dave and Kyle compare it world. The to a test. “When we tried unexpected success from to play the radio game, “Blackout” opened doors Bob Becker at Fearless for Breathe Carolina that pushed it, and he said had never been open that it may go, and it before. may not,” Kyle says. “If it Signing to Columbia goes, right on. But if not, from Fearless Records then at least we tried, » DAVE SCHMITT« was a big step for Dave and that’s kind of our and Kyle, one which mentality. We’re so glad proved its worth. The that it went and lived a guys have noticed the lift. Now it’s just fun for difference between us to try and do it again.” smaller labels and being The guys are part of a major label like extremely grateful for Columbia. “There’s a lot more people involved,” Dave the achievements they made with “Blackout” and are says. Their first release on the major label, a deluxe still enjoying the single’s success this summer while studio album called “Reloaded,” is Breathe Carolina’s on Warped Tour. “We’ve gotten on our Warped Tour way of recognizing their fans’ thirst for new music. groove,” Kyle says, laughing, as he sits back, relaxed in

Fan reaction makes it a good or bad set. [I would] rather play like shit but have the fans react and go crazy than play awesome while the fans aren’t feeling it.

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BREATHE CAROLINA the shade mid-afternoon in Uniondale, N.Y. This year marks Breathe Carolina’s third Warped Tour, and the third time seems to be a charm, as their Warped Tour crowds have grown bigger and their comfort levels have risen both on stage and off. “Just knowing everyone around Warped makes it so much easier than it was when we first went on Warped,” Kyle says. There’s no need for reintroductions and figuring out who is who. We just already know, and we’re already friends.”

And just like their fans, Kyle and Dave enjoy watching their tour mates perform. This year’s favorites are Taking Back Sunday, Pierce the Veil, MOD SUN and Sleeping With Sirens.

just wishing I could feel good and play for the kids.”

Breathe Carolina’s fans should know they hold great power during shows. “Fan reaction makes it a good or bad set,” Dave says. He points out that he would rather “play like shit but have the fans react and go crazy than play awesome while the fans aren’t feeling it.” A little reciprocation from the fans fuel Dave and Kyle’s live performances.

Even abroad in Europe where language is not the same, the crowd’s reaction is what will make for a good show. After Warped, Breathe Carolina will tour abroad, an experience they look forward to every time they go.

“I think we’re very curious,” Kyle says. “It’s one of our

With just a few more dates left, Warped Tour is nearing its end, and the guys are feeling somewhat bittersweet about it. “Towards the end there comes a point where we say to ourselves ‘Okay that was enough.’

It’s never a desperate ‘God-get-me-out-of-here,’ but it is tiring,” Dave says. “Kids come to Warped Tour and say they’re tired while I’m thinking, ‘You’ve been here for one day. You didn’t even play,” he says, laughing.

“We do this every day, all summer long,” Dave continues. “It’s tiring. It’s hot every day. We do press, we do signings, we play sets, we sweat all day and get drunk all the time.” Kyle laughs along and points out that he always seems to remember the worst days rather than the better days.

Kyle’s worst Warped memory was the heat in Arizona.

“You can’t even step outside and breathe,” he says, Dave’s was just a few dates ago in Holmdel, N.J. “I had the stomach flu and was getting sick all night long. We had to play and I remember being miserable onstage

first times playing over there, so it’s like starting at phase one again.” The guys explain that the language barrier around the world wasn’t so difficult to overcome. “In Japan it was a lot easier to get around and talk to people than we thought it would be. Everyone was so nice, and they’re curious as well. The kids are so hype.”

In particular, Kyle describes a show in Helsinki as one of his most memorable and craziest. In one day two flights were delayed, a flight attendant was sick, the layover was delayed and all the while, Breathe Carolina’s dedicated fans waited for hours to experience the live show.

Dave and Kyle speak passionately about all of their experiences over the last few years, and they genuinely care for their future music goals. After touring, they have plans to write songs but are unsure of what the next release will be. There is no doubt that they will surpass expectations above and beyond. NKD

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SENSES FAIL V

SENSES FAIL

WORDS & PHOTOS BY CATHERINE POWELL

2002 » The first Senses Fail practice takes place in February.

2003 » “That would be our first tour… Wait!” Buddy

pauses and rethinks before realizing he’s correct — the band does their first tour with Finch.

2004 » The band plays their first Warped Tour with Fall Out Boy, Good Charlotte, From First To Last and more.

2005 » Senses Fail signs to a major label and though their

new album, “Let it Enfold You,” is complete, they have a bit of trouble releasing it.

2006 » Senses Fail’s most popular album, “Still Searching,” is recorded and released.

2007 » The band is on tour for a full year and gets “pretty burnt out,” according to Buddy.

Buddy Nielson, Senses Fail’s idolized lead singer and I grew up in the same town of Ridgewood, N.J. — a suburb of New York City that thrives on lacrosse and football. We both attended Ridgewood High School, where Buddy played lacrosse all four years, though his blue hair at the time may have confused a few spectators. Buddy graduated long before I even entered the halls of RHS and Senses Fail was starting to gain momentum a few months prior to his graduation ceremony in June of 2002.

Now, ten years later, Buddy and the band are on Warped Tour supporting their greatest hits album, “Follow Your Bliss: The Best of Senses Fail,” and celebrating a decade of making music together. Each year of Senses Fail’s career can be defined by one key event or situation, and when I sit down with Buddy after his set at Warped in Long Island, N.Y., he reminisces about the band’s most defining moments.

16

2008 » “We kind of felt like stuff wasn’t going as well as it

used to,” Buddy explains of 2008. The release of “Life Is Not a Waiting Room” doesn’t do as well as expected and the economy “kind of bombed,” according to Buddy.

2009 » The band faces a lawsuit “for a bunch of stuff” from their ex-guitarist.

2010 » The band embarks on the Bayside/Senses Fail tour.

The tour is successful across the country, and is Buddy’s favorite part of the year.

2011 » After years of going non-stop, the band take some time to focus on other things besides Senses Fail. Buddy starts managing other bands, and other members focus on families, jobs and living semi-normal lives.

2012 » The band are quiet for the first six months of the

year, but Buddy says that being back on Warped Tour is what is going to define this year for them. NKD

SENSES FAIL

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THE DANGEROUS SUMMER

WORDS BY TANYA TRANER » PHOTOS BY CATHERINE POWELL

I

f forced to describe The Dangerous Summer in one word, I would have to simply say “misunderstood.”

But we’ll get to that.

Lead singer AJ Perdomo guides me through a dark, narrow stairway at the Highline Ballroom in New York City. We enter a small, blue-gray room filled with people who casually file out as I walk in, leaving only AJ and guitarist Cody Payne behind. I sit between the two on a small leather love seat, mostly because it’s the only seating in this little room. I am not expecting the ride these two are about to take me on, at all. The experiences, hardships and fun the band have had in six short years are almost movie-like.

“We knew nothing about being in a band when we started touring. Just touring with bands we’ve learned countless things,” Cody says. He and AJ tell me one of the most important things they have learned — “Tour Etiquette.”

“Tour Etiquette” is something I have never in my life heard before. The tenets of this idea are simple: Don’t load in before the headlining band. Don’t take the best parking space. The headlining band set merch prices for all supporting bands at the beginning of tour, etc. The guys tell me it’s a respect thing.

“It’s their show, they’re letting you support them,” AJ

says, noting that The Dangerous Summer have been lucky to tour with amazing headliners who were extremely generous to them.

The band have honestly been lucky from the start. The guys say their big break can be attributed to their relationship with All Time Low. The two bands are from the same hometown in Maryland, and after forming in 2006, they ran into ATL’s drummer, Rian Dawson, in a Guitar Center.

“He was like, ‘This is cool, I’m going to get you guys signed to Hopeless [Records],’” Cody says. And that’s exactly what happened. “That was just a huge break to have someone hand you a record deal without touring or anything,” he says. Kind of makes more sense that they knew nothing about being in a band, now doesn’t it?

The thing is, tour life isn’t always as glamorous as we would like to make it out to be. Take for instance, The Dangerous Summer’s current headlining tour. The band say they are traveling with about nine crew members in a 15 passenger van, taking turns driving around the country from show to show. The guys say they’ve suffered from injuries and illnesses, yet still make it out to 200 shows a year. AJ says he had to have his appendix out immediately after a show in Pittsburgh. He says he’s played shows while suffering from a 24-hour bug as well.

Cody says that he is currently suffering from a broken femur due to a recent skateboarding accident.

“Every step I take pretty much hurts,” he says. “I just have to move less on stage and act like it doesn’t hurt.

And drink enough.”

Drinking seems to be the vice the guys prefer most, and they say they have gained a reputation for being a party band. But they don’t seem to mind.

“We just get as drunk as possible before we go on stage,” AJ says. “For the fans, it’s their party night too.”

Cody mentions that some bands consider them a liability because of this pastime, “But we’ve really toned it down over the years,” he says. “When we were like 18-19, we were out of control.”

Despite their reputation, the band work really hard and are involved in every aspect of their craft. Cody says he is the business man — he designs and handles all merch, finds crew members, books their flights, maintains contact with booking agents and more. The band are also in complete control of their social media. AJ uses Twitter for business as he sings and works on other musical ventures for different people. The guys mention that sometimes it’s hard to keep up with all of their accounts and fans, noting that AJ’s Facebook inbox is sort of like a suicide hotline.

This is a trend I’ve noticed — fans coming to their favorite bands for pseudo-therapy sessions. AJ says he doesn’t quite know the best way to handle situations like this and often chooses to stay out of it. “There’s this weird balance here,” he says.

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These are the unavoidable aspects of this lifestyle. With every positive is a negative, but The Dangerous Summer seem to take it in stride.

“This lifestyle makes you strong, there’s no situation you can’t handle,” Cody says.

“You really know where you want to be in the world after you go out and see everything,” AJ says. He wants to eventually move to Los Angeles. “That’s where music happens you know?”

AJ, surprisingly, wants a simple life. He met his wife, who is originally from South Africa, on tour in London.

She is currently on tour with the band, running merch and working on getting her visa so she can move to the U.S. “You know kids, dog, house. I want that,” AJ says.

In regard to other family members and friends from home, the guys say they just have to work a little harder to stay connected. “You get what you give,” AJ says. Every once in a while their families will make it out to a show, but the guys don’t seem upset if they don’t.

“It’s like if you work at Best Buy,” AJ says. “Would your mom come in and be like ‘Oh you’re selling it! You’re selling it good!’ No, she wouldn’t.” We all laugh, I’ve never heard it put this way before, but it makes complete sense.

So, for a band that seemingly know what they want out of life and have everything together, why would I label them misunderstood?

“We’ve somehow earned this reputation as a band who cancels a lot of their shows, even though we are touring most of the year,” Cody says. And yes, they have had to cancel some shows for illnesses, and have dropped off tours to do other tours that made more sense for them financially.

But here’s the thing, “It’s a business, not a vacation,” Cody says. “I don’t think a lot of people realize that.”

The guys have also earned some negative feedback for their drinking, Twitter posts and other reckless behavior.

I say, you have to consider that this band, or any band for that matter, is under constant scrutiny — their every move is being watched. They’re real people with real lives outside of the band, and they work really hard to bring their craft to you, but they have to be themselves. That’s something to be appreciated.

“I just think people are way too quick to jump to conclusions about people’s personalities and who they are,” Cody says. “I think if a lot of people met me, they would see that I’m not as bad as they say.”

“If you think anything bad about us, just come hang out, let’s get a drink, and then tell me what you think,” AJ says.

You’ve heard them — go to a show, meet the band and have fun. I promise you will. NKD

THE DANGEROUS SUMMER

23

Kayleigh Goldsworthy NAKED IMPRESSIONS //

SCARLET ENDING

Kaayleigh Goldsworthy from The Scarlet Ending tells NAKED her first impressions of her bandmates.

Kaleena Goldsworthy

Aaron Garritillo

I remember our first band. She was playing bass guitar and I was playing guitar, and it didn’t work.

And then she started playing piano, and it wasn’t good, it just wasn’t good at all. But we continued playing through high school and then my sister, in college, studied voice and I studied violin and she was not practicing voice in her practice room because the next practice week we had, we were writing material.

Aaron is a very unique individual, and he has a reputation for being…inappropriate. He would tell me not to embarrass him, so I’m not going to embarrass him, but Aaron has a reputation for being inappropriate, and I essentially met Aaron just randomly, really randomly in a crowd one night and I thought ‘That guy is an absolute asshole.’ And then fast forward two years later, the guy that was drumming for us at the time was like ‘You were that asshole’ and I was like ‘Oh my god that was you?’.

Nicholas Streeter We had a lot of different drummers in the past decade, but Nick kind of came on a couple years back, and my first impression of him was just, he was a fan of the band for a really long time. My first impression of Nick is probably the most sincere out of everybody in the band. My impression of Nick truly hasn’t changed because he’s the newest.

Jon Tedd Jon was just that he was an incredibly talented singer, guitar player, songwriter. His [old band] was awesome, they were really, really great. John is a very serious person and John and I are very, very similar, so a lot of times we have a love-hate relationship.

He would do anything for his friends, anything for his family, and that definitely shows through in his character too. All of the guys, actually. I don’t know how we could still be a band together if they didn’t have that kind of compassion.

Jess Hafner My sister and I used to play at Starbucks all the time and this dude with long, shaggy blond hair ­— who we called Kurt Cobain because we didn’t know what his real name was — would always sit and watch us.

So one day we were like ‘Hey, what’s your deal, how are you?’ and he introduced himself and he was like ‘I moved here from California, I’m looking for some cool music, you guys are awesome. I’m trying to get back into it.’ I was like ‘Hey, you know, if you play cello you’re in the band.’ And he was like ‘I do,’ and I was like ‘Are you serious? You’re in the band.’ So the band formed as the kind of like, rag tag group of people.

NKD

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V

OWL CITY

They say the quietest people have the loudest minds, and Adam Young is no exception. While growing up in his home state of Minnesota, Adam had no idea what he was getting himself into when he first stepped into the world of music. What simply began as a past time, “Owl City” has now successfully recorded three albums, with a fourth one hitting shelves this month. Adam, now 26, is making larger moves than ever, and doesn’t intend on stopping anytime soon.

WORDS BY STACY MAGALLON PHOTOS BY CATHERINE POWELL

OWL CITY Owl City started as a project in your parents’ basement in 2007. Have you written songs the world has never heard?

Would you ever consider them for a future album?

Absolutely. I’ve got albums and albums worth of songs the

ADAM: world has never heard. Whether they’re good or not, is up for

grabs, but I’ve got more beginnings and ideas and demos of new songs than I know what to do with.

While growing up in Minnesota, who or what inspired you to begin experimenting with music?

I didn’t have a lot of friends and I didn’t have a short supply of time so I started experimenting with music out of boredom, without a clue as to what I was doing, and for some reason I just took to it. It grew from a hobby into a passion overnight and now it’s all I can think about.

ADAM:

Your current single, “Good Time” is an upbeat, infectious duet with Canadian recording artist, Carly Rae Jepsen. What made you decide to collaborate with her?

ADAM:

I like her vibe. I like the way she presents herself as an artist, her confidence, etc. She’s so much fun and that shows in her music.

When was the last time you had a ‘good time’? What happened?

ADAM:

I ate a ton of cake and ice cream and fell asleep on the couch with my mouth open.

Your upcoming full-length, “The Midsummer Station”, is scheduled for release at the end of August. How is this album creatively or lyrically different from your previous work?

ADAM:

It’s bigger, it’s deeper, it’s more polished, it’s more dynamic, it’s more powerful. It’s pop music the way I’ve always envisioned it.

On this album, you worked with artists such as Matt Thiessen (Relient K) and Mark Hoppus (Blink-182). What was that experience like for you? with guys like that is a blast because they’re so ADAM: Working unique and witty and fun to be in the studio with. I grew up listening to Relient K and Blink-182 since junior high so it’s a huge deal for me to have both Matt and Mark on my record. I still can’t really believe it.

How do you think you’ve grown as an artist, as well as person, ever since Owl City’s formation?

ADAM:

It’s stretched me, taught me how to be gracious and all smiles even when I’ve had the worst day of my life.

It keeps you on your toes, keeps you reminded that you’re alive and life is fleeting.

What is your recording process like? Are all the instrumentals done by yourself? If so, how long does this process usually take?

I generally do everything except for mastering -- writing, engineering, producing, sequencing, arranging, mixing, etc -- I played every instrument on the record with the exception of strings and a few guitars/synths.

ADAM:

While writing, are you motivated by personal experience, or the experiences of others? Do you believe in writing songs based off fiction?

I believe 100% in writing songs based off fiction because that’s what makes my mind wander and my wheels turn. I love writing from the imagination because of how objective the result can be, in a very subjective way.

ADAM:

I’ve read that you consider yourself to be a “social introvert”. In what ways does this aspect of your personality relate to how you deal with life and people on a day-to-day basis?

I prefer to stay off the radar if I can because I know how to be alone and I’m okay with that. I’m an only child so I imagine that’s why. Over the years, I’ve learned how to be in/around groups of people but given the choice, I’d rather lay low.

ADAM:

Has your fame affected you in more of a positive or negative way?

Positive because it’s given be a lot more purpose for writing new music and coming up with new ideas. Knowing more and more people are tuned in to what I’m doing makes me want to strive for excellence and do the absolute best job I can. That’s a healthy thing I think, to be pushed in that way.

ADAM:

Can you tell us something about you that nobody would ever expect?

ADAM:

I’m really picky about the shoes I wear. They have to be almost perfect, in fit/color/style or they just bother me to death.

What was your initial reaction after hearing Taylor Swift’s “Enchanted”? Did you automatically know it was written about you?

I did, and it was an endearing moment because here’s one of the most popular girls in the world singing to me about the night we met for the first time. Made me happy.

ADAM:

What made you choose to record your own rendition of the song in response to hers?

ADAM:

Valentine’s Day was coming up and it felt like the thing to do.

NKD 27

OF MICE A WORDS & PHOTOS

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AND MEN CATHERINE POWELL

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OF MICE AND MEN

THERE’S A LINE. ACTUALLY, THERE ARE TWO. There’s the physical line of kids waiting outside Of Mice & Men’s tour bus for autographs and pictures every morning on Warped Tour, and then there’s the metaphorical line those kids just crossed. It’s not that frontman Austin Carlile and the rest of his band mates don’t love their fans, because they do, but they’re also human beings who need personal space, especially first thing in the morning.

It’s about halfway through the Vans Warped Tour and I’m sitting with Austin and drummer Valentino Arteaga in the upstairs room of the PNC Bank Arts Center green room in Holmdel, N.J. Outside, masses of kids are wandering around the festival watching bands, attending signings or 30

covering their bodies in neon paint. It’s hot and sticky, and the band have been doing their best to stay indoors today. “We were watching Friday After Next in an air-conditioned bus right before this,” Valentino says.

This is the band’s third Warped Tour, second with Austin in the band, so the routines that come along with the strenuous tour were easy to transition back into. Austin is on vocal rest, using his voice only during press and on stage, and sparingly when talking to fans. “Some days I’m good about it, some days I’m really not,” he says, laughing.

A routine the band is not used to is being home. Earlier this year they spent three months

OF MICE AND MEN straight at home. “I went crazy,” Austin says. “I says, recalling a tweet he received from a fan sayreally didn’t know what to do with myself.” At the ing she saw him eating with his friends and didn’t time he was living with his then-girlfriend and want to bother him. Fortunately for OM&M, things driving her up the wall because he didn’t know don’t get crazy to the point that it’s unbearable, “what normal life was.” He wanted to spend time and sometimes fans invading their personal space doing nothing because he doesn’t get an opporbecomes beneficial. “There was one time I was on tunity to otherwise, especially on Warped Tour. “If a date and two girls came up to me and asked for I want to escape I have to go to my coffin, which a picture, and the girl I was on a date with didn’t is what my bunk feels like because I’m a tall guy,” know anything about the band and she thought he explains. When he resorts to walking around it was so cool,” Austin says, laughing and pumping the festival grounds he can’t seem to walk a few his fist. steps without getting asked to take a picture or Prior to Of Mice & Men, both Austin and Valentisign a t-shirt. no understood where the line was and didn’t dare “The first thing I hear when I walk out of my bus cross it for their favorite musicians. “I would never is ‘Can I get a picture with you?’ and it’s like ‘Dude, bang on Third Eye Blind’s bus and try to hang out,” I just woke up, I just walked off my bus. This is my Austin says. To many fans, this is pure common house. I’ll wait for you outside your house before sense, though it goes way over others’ heads. A you go to school,’” tour bus is technically a Austin says. He mobile home, and unstresses that he really less you’re a Girl Scout, does love spending nobody is going to be time with his fans, happy when a stranger but there’s a time and The first thing I hear when I walk out of my bus is ‘Can I is standing outside his place, and first thing her door. Thanks to get a picture with you?’ and it’s like ‘Dude, I just woke up, or in the morning right Facebook and Twitter, outside his front door I just walked off my bus. This is my house. I’ll wait for you fans feel like they know is not it. Especially on a musician personally outside your house before you go to school.

Warped Tour, where because of how virtu»AUSTIN CARLILE« it’s extremely easy to ally accessible they are, get access to bands. but in reality there is Of Mice & Men see much more to a person that first hand. To than what they tweet.

Austin, the “line” is a Over the years Austin 20-foot radius around and Valentino have his bus. A few days prior to our interview he was learned what they should keep private, such as sitting in his trailer in his boxers after a shower girlfriends or family members. By exposing those when a group of fans came up asking for photos. people to fans they’re pulling them into their “I’m not wearing pants!” he exclaims, reenacting lifestyle, which they did not necessarily sign up the scene. for. It’s a challenge, and Austin claims he’s learned The whole band is subjected to an invasion a lot about keeping things to himself from Valof privacy, even when they’re out to eat at entino. “I try to drop the knowledge when I can,” Applebees, or enjoying time with their families.

Valentino jokes.

After a show on Warped, the band went to a sushi As the interview wraps up, Austin stresses how restaurant for dinner and had fans coming up much he truly does love and appreciate all of his to them the entire time. “The last thing we want fans. Later in the day I see him standing in his tent to do at a celebration dinner with our band and taking photos and signing autographs for dozens crew is talk about the next album or the next tour, of fans, and continuing to try and sign as many it’s like an interview,” Austin says. shirts as possible while security escorts him out.

“It’s nice when people can appreciate on a The members of Of Mice & Men are all humans, personal level and on a musician level,” Valentino and good humans at that. NKD 35

Megan and Liz Words by Nicola Pring // Photos by Catherine Powell

megan and liz

L

ate on a cloudy Thursday afternoon, Megan and Liz Mace sit cross-legged on queen-sized beds in their room on the 14th floor of the Westin Hotel. They are both dressed in black yoga pants and oversized t-shirts and they browse the Internet on their MacBooks as they flip channels on the room’s wide screen TV. The 19-year-old twin singers are T-minus 20 hours and two doors down from the B.B. King Blues Club on 42nd Street, the site of their first ever show in New York City. The show, “Band Against Bullying,” will be the first installment in a series of similar shows, which will eventually feature Justin Bieber and other major industry stars. For the up and coming, YouTube-grown duo, it’s a big deal.

Though Megan and Liz are right on the verge of their big break, they’re just your average teenage girls.

I arrive at the hotel in Times Square a few minutes before our scheduled interview time — earlier today Liz had asked for help choosing her and Megan’s outfits for our photo shoot. I knock on the door of the girls’ room, and Liz answers and greets me warmly. I step into the room and introduce myself to Megan, who is sitting on her bed catching up on fan messages on Twitter. I put my backpack on the floor and set my notebook down on a dresser next to a set of wavy, blond hair extensions and a long silver necklace. The girls lay the contents of their suitcases out on their beds and start choosing outfits for the shoot. They explain that they’re exhausted — they landed in New York early this morning after having waited at the airport in their home city of Nashville all day yesterday for a flight that got canceled, and they spent all day today running around New York doing press and preparing for their show.

Though they say they’re tired, their exhaustion isn’t apparent. Both girls seem lively and bubbly as they talk 38

about their excitement and nerves for Band Against Bullying. As they sort through the piles of clothing, jewelry and makeup on their beds, they talk and gossip a bit about their friends, like any normal teenagers would. The only difference is that their friends are big names in the music industry — including the guys from Hot Chelle Rae and Paradise Fears, among others.

Liz picks through black skinny jeans, a pair of tight, leather pants and several studded leather and denim jackets before settling on the leather pants, a turquoise blouse with a studded collar and a pair of impossibly high, sparkly Jeffrey Campbell heels.

“I didn’t bring anything that goes with your clothes,” Megan says, surveying Liz’s dark, edgy clothing and turning to her own collection of denim, neon mini skirts and lacy shirts. She eventually chooses a short, lace-covered Urban Outfitters dress and pairs it with one of Liz’s leather jackets and chunky, white wedges.

Though Megan and Liz are twins, the differences between them don’t stop at their clothing styles. For one thing, they’re fraternal twins, and they don’t really look at all alike. Megan is a brunette and Liz is blonde, (though her hair is naturally brown) and while both girls are thin and stand at 5-footone, their faces bear few similarities.

For another, their personalities are different. Both girls seem equally friendly, enthusiastic and fun, but Megan explains she’s shy and reserved compared to her sister. “Our personalities kind of reversed after high school.

[Now] Liz is always the one planning stuff and meeting new people and I went into this bubble. I’m stepping out of it again, but I’m still working on it,” she says.

Despite their differences, the girls are pretty much inseparable, and always have been. They have to be, for their music, but they wouldn’t want it any other way. “We do everything together,” Liz says. “It’s ridiculous, actually, how much we’re together.

We spend all day, every day together.

NAKED RECOMMENDS

“THE ONE THAT GOT A

megan and liz

THE BEST OF

Megan and Liz

AWAY” BY KATY PERRY » “BAD FOR ME” [NEW SINGLE]

YOUTUBE

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megan and liz

It’s like we’re married.” It’s a sort of running joke between them — during our photo shoot in the hotel’s lounge, Liz grabs a big silver ring on Megan’s left hand and poses. “It’s our engagement picture,” she says, laughing.

We return to the room after the shoot, and the girls immediately shed their heels and jewelry and get comfortable. “Can I throw on my pajamas?” Liz asks as she pulls on a pair of pale pink pajama pants with Scottie dogs on them. Megan follows suit and quickly runs into the bathroom to swap her dress for black leggings and t-shirt. The girls suggest we have a “pow wow,” and we all claim spots on the floor between the two beds. Liz reaches up to the nightstand and grabs a melting Starbucks iced venti-something that has been sitting in the room since before I got there.

She begins to stir it slowly with her straw while Megan pulls a few chestnut brown hair extensions out of her already long hair. She picks up a slim, 40

green bottle of hairspray from the nightstand, examines it for a moment, then sprays it in Liz’s direction. “Oh my god,” Liz says, in response to the attack. “You’re so weird.”

M

egan and Liz have always been singing together.

The twins were born in Michigan, and their family relocated first to Arizona, then to California before settling in Michigan again, where they moved houses at least every two years. But wherever they lived, the girls were always singing. “We were always singing, and my mom was very encouraging of that,” Megan says. “It was always very comfortable to sing around the house and sing in the shower and not get criticized for it. It was just very normal.”

The girls say the 1960s R&B song, “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” was always their “go to” song, which they

often sang together for their friends and family, and for talent competitions around Michigan. “[We] always [sang] together, except for that brief stint in fifth grade when you wanted to do the talent show by yourself,” Liz says, glancing over at her sister. “That hurt, I remember being insulted that you didn’t want to sing with me,” Liz says, with an air of mock resentment in her voice. “I wanted to sing ‘A Moment Like This’ by myself,” Megan replies, playfully defending herself.

“I wanted my moment, it wasn’t our moment.” But ever since, it seems almost every moment has been “their moment.” The girls won first place singing duets in several talent shows, and formed their first band, Hope 3, together with a childhood friend. “We wrote our first song when we were 10 years old,” Megan says, remembering the band. “It was awful,” Liz adds. “We’d walk around the playground and we’d be like ‘Hey, can we sing the song we wrote for you?’ We were so proud of it,”

megan and liz

Megan says.

More serious songwriting began when Megan learned to play guitar at age 13. Liz had received a “First Act” children’s guitar that Christmas, but never picked it up. “In January of that year she wasn’t playing it,” Megan says, “and it was winter in Michigan and there’s nothing to do, and I was just so bored so I picked it up one day. I was so bad, I’m sure you remember,” she says to Liz, who responds with a broad smile. Inspired by pop-rock singer/ songwriter/sister duo Aly & AJ, (now 78violet) Megan kept practicing and continued singing and writing with Liz. The girls leaned heavily on pop music because it was the genre they listened to most. “I had Britney Spears posters all over my walls, she was a big Christina Aguilera fan,” Megan explains, gesturing to her sister. “Pop music is amazing and incredible, and we love it.”

In 2007, at age 14, Megan and Liz discovered YouTube as an outlet for

their love of singing and songwriting.

On July 23 of that year they created their YouTube channel, “MeganandLiz,” and uploaded their first original song to the site. The song, “This Note,” was shot on Megan and Liz’s webcam.

few additional videos of cover songs, they stopped posting for almost a year because of a lack of high-speed Internet in the rural area where they lived, which Liz affectionately calls “the boondocks.”

“YouTube is a great place to grow up, but it’s not a great place to live.”

Megan & Liz

The video features both girls dressed in black turtlenecks standing behind a keyboard as Megan plays chords.

“I thought I could play piano,” Megan says, remembering the video. “I couldn’t.”“We both didn’t know [the song],” Liz says, slightly embarrassed by the memory. “I know,” Megan replies. “I watch it back, and I’m like ‘Why did we think that was good?’”

After posting “This Note,” along with a

By the following year, Megan and Liz got a better Internet connection and began posting videos of themselves covering songs by Demi Lovato, Aly & AJ and Taylor Swift, among others, about once a week.

Their videos began to get attention from the YouTube community, and they quickly gained a following.

“Honestly, I think it was timing, and the fact that there’s two of us,” Megan 41

megan and liz says, of the reason for their success (to date, their YouTube channel has over 700,000 subscribers and nearly 165 million views). “[We started] right before everybody started figuring out that you could post videos on YouTube and get attention for it,” she says. “I feel like if we did it now, nothing would happen,” Liz adds. “It’s so saturated now. But we didn’t have to do anything unusual to stand out.

We got in on the ground level.”

By the time the girls were seniors in high school in Edwardsburg, Mich., their careers were beginning to take off. They took some time away from school and finished classes

doing.”

Just before their friends packed up and went off to school, Megan and Liz left Michigan and moved to Nashville, Tenn. with their mother to pursue music, leaving their father, grandmother and most other members of their family behind. The frequent change they experienced as children prepared them for the move, and they both say they were excited, rather than scared. “Our real family is pretty much our mom, so it wasn’t as hard as everybody thought it would be,” Liz recalls. The girls love living in Nashville, and agree they never want to live in Los Angeles. “[L.A.’s] so

We asked Megan and Liz five questions about themselves, then quizzed them on each other’s answers.

Here’s how they did:

Megan on Megan SONG ON REPEAT

“Be Your Everything” by Boys Like Girls

GREATEST FEAR Bees!

ALL-TIME FAVORITE MOVIE Twister

“I wish I could literally write all of [our fans] a letter because they do so much for us. I hope they realize it, but I don’t think they realize how much they’ve changed our lives and how thankful I am.”

FAVORITE CLASS IN HIGH SCHOOL Math

MUSICAL HERO Taylor Swift

Megan

online while they worked. And while their friends busied themselves with the SATs and writing essays for college applications, Megan and Liz continued to work on their music.

“It was actually surprisingly easy,” Megan says, of their decision not to go to college. “Everybody else was applying to colleges and Liz and I just weren’t because we were so dead set on [music]. We just knew we didn’t want to go.” Both girls liked school and graduated with impressive GPAs, but knew college was not for them. “[College] wasn’t where my heart was,” Megan says. “When it came down to choosing what was going to make me happy in the long run, it was going to be music.” Liz agrees. “Some people put their all into college and it works out because they do well in college and then they get an awesome job,” Liz says. “We wouldn’t put our all into college. We put our all into this, and we’re really happy with what we’re 44

intimidating. Everybody moves out there to be a movie star or a singer.

In Nashville it’s very homegrown and a lot of people who just love music,” Megan says. “You can feel it.”“L.A. is a lot of pressure and a lot of stress, and Nashville’s just easygoing, it lets you be who you want to be,” Liz says.

When they moved to Nashville, Megan and Liz began working with a management company that signed them to their small, indie label, upgraded them from a webcam to an HD camera and coached them to be more comfortable on film. “I’m really glad that they helped us step up our game because if we went right into the next level without any on-camera experience, it would have failed because we wouldn’t have been ready for it,” Megan says. “It was kind of like video boot camp for a year.” The experience paid off — the production value of the girls’ videos has skyrocketed, and the Megan and Liz YouTube

Megan on Liz SONG ON REPEAT

“Be Your Everything” by Boys Like Girls

GREATEST FEAR Worms (which is weird)

ALL-TIME FAVORITE MOVIE Ferris Beuller’s Day Off

FAVORITE CLASS IN HIGH SCHOOL English

MUSICAL HERO Christina Aguilera

megan and liz

Liz on Liz SONG ON REPEAT

“Want U Back” by Cher Lloyd

GREATEST FEAR Worms

ALL-TIME FAVORITE MOVIE Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

FAVORITE CLASS IN HIGH SCHOOL English

MUSICAL HERO Katy Perry <3

arsenal now contains beauty and style and advice videos along with music. They’ve also released dozens of original songs and several high quality, professional music videos.

Now, Megan and Liz and their team are working to transition the twins from YouTube stars into mainstream musicians. “YouTube is a great place to grow up,” Megan says, “but it’s not a great place to live,” she and Liz say in unison, as if it’s an old adage they’ve heard and repeated a million times before. The girls feel as if their YouTube career has run its course — as thankful as they are that the site helped them to get them to where they are today, they’re bored. “We’re ready to step up the game,” Megan says. “[We want] to go to a whole ‘nother level,” Liz says, in agreement.

“It’s scary, but we’re ready for it.”

Their trip to New York for Band Against Bullying is just the beginning.

Liz on Megan SONG ON REPEAT

“Be Your Everything” by Boys Like Girls

GREATEST FEAR Bees

ALL-TIME FAVORITE MOVIE Twister

FAVORITE CLASS IN HIGH SCHOOL Math

MUSICAL HERO Taylor Swift

O

n July 31, the girls’ newest single, “Bad For Me,” debuted on iTunes. At the time of our interview, Megan and Liz are both gushing with excitement for its release. The song, which, according to the girls, is about “that guy that’s a jerk but you love him anyway,” is a step in a new direction.

“Bad For Me” marks a move away from the sweet, Disney-like songs the girls have written in the past, which generally appeal to an audience of pre-teen and young teenage girls.

Megan and Liz co-wrote “Bad For Me” with Martin Johnson of Boys Like Girls, who forced them to work on an older sound. “[Martin] was very honest,” Megan says. “I suggested a song title and he was like ‘No, that sounds like a 14-year-old would sing it.’ Throughout the whole thing he made us keep it like 19-year-olds, and I cannot thank him enough for doing that. I never realized that that was something Liz and I had a problem doing.”

According to Megan and Liz, “Bad For Me” will appeal to girls who are 18 and older. “This is the first song [we’ve written] where we were forced to not play it safe. The song is definitely a game changer for us,” Liz says. That’s not to say the song won’t appeal to a younger crowd as well — since writing “Bad For Me,” Megan and Liz are striving to find balance on the fine line between campy, teen pop and a more mature sound in all of their songs.

“This is the song that we base all the other songs we write on,” Liz explains, talking about the writing process for the full-length album they’ve been working on since they moved to Nashville, which they hope to release in the coming months. “It’s like ‘How does this relate to ‘Bad For Me?’ How does this relate to the quality and the content of ‘Bad For Me?’” The girls are making sure their image strikes a similar balance between teen and young adult. “We want to keep our image clean because we want 15-year-olds and their moms to listen to our music, but [we] also want to sing songs that are relatable to 18 plus,” Liz says. “It’s about finding that line in between that’s really hard to stay on and to not go above or below.

That’s what the challenge is now. It’s to be classy,” she says. “But to be edgy, too,” Megan adds.

The girls agree walking that fine line is difficult, and as their spotlight begins to brighten, it’s likely to become even more challenging. They certainly don’t behave like typical, young pop stars, and it doesn’t seem as if they will in the future. Both girls love Miley Cyrus, but it’s unlikely that either will get caught on video smoking from a bong, pole dance on stage or doing anything else extreme any time soon — earlier, as we rode the hotel elevator down to the lounge for our photo shoot, Liz mentioned that in order to stay in shape, Cyrus exercises for at least two hours a day, to which Megan replied, “Honestly, I’d rather be fat.” Neither girl drinks, smokes or parties, but both admit 45

megan and liz

cursing is their crutch. “We kind of have potty mouths. There are so many situations where I’m like, ‘Man, I wish I could drop a swear in that tweet,’ but that’s not classy,” Liz says. “We’re human beings, we’re 19-year-old girls, we drop swears. We’re not angels, you know? But no one is.”

Megan and Liz behave this way, not just for the sake of their own images, but out of respect for their fans, who they genuinely love. The sheer volume of kind, encouraging messages both girls receive on YouTube, Twitter, 46

Facebook and Tumblr is astounding.

They do get a few negative messages and responses — a few hours before our interview Megan tweeted “i’m so tired my brain isn’t computing anything anymroe,” with the last word intentionally misspelled, and was slightly annoyed when a few followers corrected her — but the positive messages outweigh the negatives by far. “Our fans are so funny and so nice,” Liz says. “I honestly sit there and laugh at their Twitter replies. They’re so creative.”“They are,” Megan says, in

agreement. “They always put me in a good mood.” The girls both attribute a great deal of their success to their fans. “I feel like I never say ‘thank you’ enough,” Megan continues. “I wish I could literally write all of them a letter because they do so much for us. I hope they realize it, but I don’t think they realize how much they’ve changed our lives and how thankful I am.”

It’s the power of Megan and Liz’s fans that’s propelling them to the next level. At the end of September they’re

megan and liz

set to perform at the iHeartRadio Festival in Las Vegas, where they’ll open for Taylor Swift, Lil Wayne, Green Day and Rihanna among other major acts. Megan and Liz won a spot to perform at the Festival through the Macy’s iHeartRadio Rising Star competition, in which they beat out 25 other acts for the coveted opening spot. The winner was determined by fan votes, and Megan and Liz’s fans worked hard to make sure they won.

The girls are “beyond stoked” for the Festival, especially to open for

Taylor Swift, who has been their inspiration since before they started their YouTube channel. They met the country star in 2009 at her concert in Chicago after being introduced to her by Oprah Winfrey via Skype on The Oprah Winfrey Show. A fan had submitted Megan and Liz’s cover of Swift’s song “White Horse,” and Oprah liked it so much that she surprised the girls by introducing them to Swift on live television. Though Megan and Liz are in a different place professionally than they were three years ago, and they now call the video footage of themselves screaming and jumping up and down in their seats on Oprah “pretty embarrassing,” they’re still just as excited to meet her again at the iHeartRadio Festival, as any 19-yearold fans would be. “We’re hoping we get to meet her again because we want to be like ‘Hey, remember us?

Look where we are now. We didn’t go away. You helped us get here,’” Liz says.

The iHeartRadio Festival is also a big opportunity for Megan and Liz to make a name for themselves in mainstream music. Everything they are working on now revolves around the Festival. “It’s our chance to really make a career,” Liz says. “Right now, we’re not complaining at all. We have an awesome fan base and we have so many songs, but this is the chance to take it to a whole new level.”“We’re ready for it,” Megan adds. “It feels right.”

As we begin to wrap our interview, talk to turns back to the Band Against Bullying show tomorrow. “I’ve honestly never been more nervous for a show,” Liz says, rising from her seat on the floor. “Not for the performance part, but for the turn out.” Even with a huge, adoring fan base and great prospects for the future in a difficult industry, Megan and Liz still fear that no one will show up to hear them sing. Before I leave the room, I hug both girls, wish them luck for tomorrow and tell them not to worry.

They’re on their way. NKD

47

Call Me Anything » I

think I might be melting. I’m running around Chelsea in downtown Manhattan in 96-degree heat, searching for some kind of air-conditioned salvation. I’m headed for The Standard Hotel by the Hudson River, but I can’t seem to focus on my directions under the scorching sun.

After making a left on Washington Street, as my iPhone advises me to, I exhale a long sigh of relief. I’m finally here.

I spot two young men who look a little out of place, enjoying fizzy orange beverages on the hotel’s swanky patio, which is filled with marble tables and red and white seating. Going with my gut, I hesitantly walk up to them, hoping these are the guys from Call Me Anything I watched on YouTube last night. I extend my hand to greet one of them, a blonde boy in a pair of dark sunglasses, who turns out to be Will Tenney, the band’s frontman. Will grasps my hand and shakes it firmly. He invites me to sit with them and orders me a drink. Dressed in jeans and casual tees, these guys look cool and collected even in this heat.

Frankly, Bostonians Matt McNulty and Will Tenney don’t believe in expressing themselves any other way. These 48

WORDS BY STACY MAGALLON PHOTOS BY CATHERINE POWELL two music industry students met on their first day of class at Northeastern University when Will took an empty seat next to Matt. Coincidentally, the two were dressed similarly, and many of their classmates mistook them for twins.

Though they aren’t genetic relatives, they are similar in at least one sense. “We both wake up every day and wonder how we’re going to be better musicians,” Will says with a smile. “We’re constantly thinking of our next career moves and songs we’d like to write.”

What’s it like for two rising juniors to maintain a rock star image and still get to class on time? It’s easier said than done. At this point in their career, Call Me Anything are hoping to find a balance, and are determined to enjoy the ride along the way.

Matt and Will are cool. That’s all there is to it. It’s no surprise that Northeastern students intentionally dress themselves up to hang out with them — if they’re lucky enough, that is. But whether the guys are on campus or on the road, their lives don’t pause for anything. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to step out of a test to take a call from our management office,” Will says, laughing. “But

this is really a 24 hour, seven day a week kind of job.”

“Trying to be a rock star is awesome, but school really is important,” Matt says. “It really, really is.”

How important? Important enough for the dynamic pop duo to turn down multiple tour offers for the sake of their educations. They’ve given up numerous opportunities for books and exams, and that kind of commitment to schoolwork deserves major admiration. They’ve got their priorities in check. But when they’re not at school, they’re hardly at home, and that takes a huge toll on their loved ones.

“We’ve only been home for a week and a half this summer,” Matt says, softly. “I’m currently on poor terms with my parents because of it.”

“Shit, today’s my dad’s birthday. No lie,” Will says, suddenly. He pulls out his phone and types out a text message. He tries to make the awkward moment comical, but he knows it isn’t something to laugh about. “That was just a prime example of a huge negative to being on the road,” he says.

Matt and Will’s time at home is inconsistent. They’ll travel down the East Coast for days at a time, spend one night in Boston for the necessities: unpack, shower, repack, then leave for another three or four days. That irregularity isn’t their intention, but the guys understand why their parents are disappointed by their missing

company.

“Sometimes [our parents] tell us we’re being a little selfish,” Will says. “But at the end of the day, I think they know how much we really care about being home.”

I sit in front of Matt and Will, feeling a little confused.

As Will sends out his text message, I begin to wonder how they’re both still smiling, after experiencing all the negative aspects of being in the industry.

“On the other hand, we do get to see awesome places, stay in awesome hotels, chill and drink expensive beverages like these,” Matt says, gesturing to the carbonated drink in front of him.

Their lifestyle isn’t easy, but a career in music isn’t supposed to be. All that matters is Matt and Will are willing to work around it. Maybe the positives outweigh the negatives for this these two. Maybe they don’t. But as I continue to figure out their story, I realize that they’re still trying to figure it out as well. For two musicians hoping to make it in the industry — without giving up school — I think their hard work and persistence will pay off.

“We’ve got a couple more years at it so we’re going to give it a good whack,” Will says, grinning. They’re young, talented and have killer smiles to boot. If I could call them anything, I’d call them dedicated. “If it doesn’t work out, then it just doesn’t work out,” Will says. “We had a great time.” NKD 49

Tonigh 50

htAlive Words by Nicole Mazza Photos by Catherine Powell 51

TONIGHT ALIVE

52

TONIGHT ALIVE onight Alive are fighters, but you won’t find them in a boxing ring. The only stage you’ll find them on is one surrounded by screaming concert-goers singing back the lyrics of their favorite songs and moshing in the pit of people.

Even though the band have been on the scene since 2008 and have toured with the likes of Simple Plan, Anberlin and a roster of pop-rockers throughout their home country of Australia and around the world, it wasn’t always an easy journey, and it still isn’t.

This summer they’ve jumped on one of the most notoriously tough tours there is in the States, Vans Warped Tour. “It’s such a unique tour. I think it’s way more than we expected it to be,” says lead guitarist Whakaio Taahi. “It also feels like this rite of passage.

It feels like this is the circle of life in the music scene,” adds lead singer Jenna McDougall. “It’s like New Found Glory headlining and The Used, and the bands we looked up to when we were in high school. It’s like now we’re at the bottom of the food chain but we’re at least a part of the food chain. It’s this mass circle that’s awesome to be a part of. You hear a lot of negative stuff about how hot it is and dirty and tiring, but we’re just making the best of this.”

America hasn’t always given the Aussie band the warmest of welcomes. After putting in so much hard work to gain the success they achieved in Australia, starting over to build up a fan base in the states was a challenge. “I guess the past couple of tours we didn’t have the best time in America,” Whakaio explains.

“I just feel like because we have worked so hard in Australia trying to get over here, we get over here and it was hard to start from scratch again.” But this time around, their first Warped Tour, Whakaio is happy with the reception from the crowds. “This is worth traveling for,” he says before Jenna adds, “And giving everything you have.”

With only a few hours of downtime per day between signings, press, their set and necessities such as eating and sleeping, one of the biggest challenges is finding the time to focus on what the band is all about: the music. “Your whole day is just filled with things,” Whakaio says. “The day goes really quickly. I would like some more time to try and record demos for our new album. It is difficult but I really want to do it. It’s something that I look forward to doing so I try to

T

make time for that.”

But Tonight Alive aren’t new to the challenges of the music industry. One of their first battles to overcome as a band was dealing with faulty management issues. “We always knew we were going to fight through it,” Jenna says. “But we were like ‘Is this going to crush our band before we get a chance to get on top of the problems that we were in the middle of’?’

It was something completely outside of the band. It’s not to do with the five of us. It’s not to do with our music. It’s like, ‘Can somebody else come in here and totally mess this up for us and ruin our chances or take away opportunities?’”

Things are slowly looking up for the group — they have a busy year ahead of them involving touring Asia and the U.K., returning to the U.S. and then heading back into the studio. “We’re under good management, good labels, good booking,” Jenna says. “It’s like we’ve gone through a lot of humps in the past year or two and it’s like we’re finally at a stage where we can see the progress. Finally everything we’ve pushed so hard for is unfolding slightly but surely.” According to Jenna, these struggles and being prepared to fight is nothing new to being in the cut-throat music industry.

“If you can see a storm coming and you don’t try to stop it, it kind of fucks you over. You really, really have to stand up for what you believe in and work hard for what you want because if you don’t, someone else is going to get there before you do,” Jenna says. “Everyone’s working toward that same goal so it’s friendly competition but they will stomp on you if you let them.”

Both Jenna and Whakaio make it clear they’ve never been ones to back down. “I’ve always been like, ‘This is what I want and I’m going to work as hard as I can,’” Whakaio says. “Maybe I’m just an overachiever but everything I want to do, I want to be the best at it. I want to do the best that I can do because what’s the point of doing something if you aren’t going to try your best and be the best at it?”

No matter what storms head their way next, Tonight Alive will forever be that — alive and not willing to back down without a fight. “It was never an option for this band to fail. We believe in this so much,” Jenna says. “I’m going to leave school. [My bandmates are] going to quit their jobs and we’re going to fucking do this. It was never an option, no matter what anyone said, no matter what they tried to bring us down with, whatever complications we came across it’s like, this isn’t going to stop us. We’ve just got to figure this out.”

“We’re 100 percent fighters,” Whakaio says. “I don’t think you can be in this and not be.” NKD 53

FROM INDIAN LAKE

ES

WORDS BY OLGA KHVAN PHOTOS BY CATHERINE POWELL

FROM INDIAN LAKES

L

og onto From Indian Lakes’ website and you’ll find a tour diary of sorts, assembled from Instagram photos. You’ll mostly find documentation of the band taking the stage at various venues throughout the country, but once in a while you’ll also stumble upon a snapshot devoid of any instruments — guitarist and vocalist Joey Vannucchi eating waffle tacos at a carnival, keyboardist Rick Gutierrez enjoying a Mister Softee cone, guitarist Justin Stanphill lounging around in the tour van, bassist Chris Kellogg posing with a pug, the entire gang strolling through Chicago, hanging out at the beach and taking in Niagara Falls.

My conversation with the band takes on a structure similar to their website — while we mostly talk about music, we engage in brief asides about “Game of Thrones,” NPR and the art of consuming root beer floats.

“He likes to eat them,” Justin says, pointing at Chris.

“Well, do you eat them or do you drink them?” asks Joey.

“It’s a mixture. You drink it and at the end you eat it with a spoon,” Chris explains.

“It’s hard to drink it right off the bat because stuff can fall out,” Rick says.

“I have a process,” Chris says, with a hint of mystery.

“It’s hard to do it, too, with such a big mustache,” Rick says, prompting laughter from the whole group.

We’re huddled in a round booth in a seating area to the right of the stage — Rick, Joey and Justin to my right, Chris to my left. Joey and Rick, the more talkative members of the group, are wearing long-sleeve crew necks, while Justin and Chris, the bearded and more reserved two, are wearing plaid flannels — at one point, though, all four joke about wearing pin-striped suits on stage. There are few other people inside, save for a crew setting up equipment.

Outside, it’s pouring rain and there are still hours before doors open for the band’s show with The Dangerous Summer and New Empire, but a group of teenagers have already claimed their places in line outside the Highline Ballroom in downtown Manhattan. Today the guys find themselves in a city of skyscrapers, but originally 56

they hail from the mountains. They tell me about their native Yosemite Valley, Calif., a place where people’s properties sprawl for 40 acres and fishing and hiking are favorite pastimes.

“It’s a pretty spread out. We’re all from different parts of the mountain area, but it’s all the same community,” Rick tells me. “The air’s a lot easier to breathe than anywhere else.”

Joey, Rick and Justin met in the halls of Yosemite High School, but From Indian Lakes didn’t form until a year or so after graduation. “We graduated and while we were doing college, I was writing and demoing and doing different stuff,” Joey says. “Then these guys came in when I needed a band and from there, it just turned into a rock band situation.”

Having traded in college textbooks for instruments, the guys took part-time jobs at places like Starbucks and Jamba Juice and devoted their weekends to playing

FROM INDIAN LAKES shows, slowly driving farther and farther away from their hometown.

“It took more of a serious direction with playing shows and trying to get out of where we were playing in the mountain area. Every weekend we started driving to either a coastal town or up north or down south before we started touring with other bands,” Rick says.

Sometimes all it takes is a little push and in the case of From Indian Lakes, the push came from Sean O’Sullivan of Dance Gavin Dance and Consider the Thief fame, whom the band regard as not just a close friend, but a big brother figure. “We played with Consider the Thief and Sean asked what we were doing. He said we should record a full studio record, so we saved up some money and went for it and then after that we started getting invited on tours because we had some quality stuff out there,” Joey says.

“It was a lot more casual in the beginning, but it got to a point, after we talked to Sean, when we were like, ‘Okay,

let’s just do it full force, jump in with full feet,’” Rick adds.

With the help of Sean and his fellow Consider the Thief member Dryw Owens, the band released their debut album, “The Man With Wooden Legs,” in 2009. Now, they’re getting ready to release a second full-length album in early 2013.

When it comes to songwriting, Joey takes the lead.

“Everybody has their role and I just focus on writing. I write a lot and when it comes to the preproduction part of things, the other guys come in and write their own parts or change whatever they want to change,” he says. “For the most part, it usually starts out with me and just one instrument, just bare bones.”

For Joey, there is no set writing process. “I’ve read interviews and seen the way other people write and I understand that everybody wants to have that kind of individualism that everybody’s obsessing over right now, which is cool, but I feel like you limit yourself if you’re not open to any way that a piece of art can come to you. You need to just let your brain work the way it works,” he says. “Instead of being like, ‘I have to go in this room and drink tea and write,’ all that kind of stuff, I’d write songs in my head while working at Starbucks. For eight hours I’d work on a song and write lyrics on a napkin if I thought of them,” he says.

The guys have come a long way from working their part-time jobs, but even now, when they’re signed with a label and in the middle of a tour, they keep up the same high level of involvement in all aspects of their music as in the early days.

“Just because we’ve been working by ourselves for so long, we got used to doing everything independently. Most of the time we just go ahead and do things and just wait for approval from other people involved. We don’t really wait for anybody to do anything for us because most of the time it takes everybody so long and this is what we do, so we’re pretty much involved with everything,” Joey says.

The guys take a DIY approach to everything, from their website, the content of which is generated mostly by Instagram on Joey’s phone, to their merchandise, which is designed by Chris and Rick. “We try to do all of it,” Joey says. “I think it’s just that whole new wave DIY thing. Even if you’re involved with a label and big companies, you still have to be DIY to a certain extent if you want to actually have a career.”

“A lot of our momentum would’ve been halted if we waited to do stuff. Our attitude is, ‘We’ve got to get this done, so let’s just do it,’” Rick says. “We just keep things happening.” NKD 57

PIERCE THE VEIL

WORDS BY KIKI VAN SON // PHOTOS BY CATHERINE POWELL

W

hen you consider where a band started, you can appreciate the value of where they are now.

“When we started [on Warped Tour] in 2008,” says Pierce the Veil bassist Jamie Preciado, “it was just us and a merchandise guy.”

Piece the Veil consider themselves lucky to have been on Warped Tour every other year beginning in 2008, and this year they admit their hard work has paid off. “We’ve done every little drop there is,” continues lead vocalist Vic Fuentes, recalling the dirty work involved for any band serious about establishing themselves.

“We’d be unloading the trucks and when we’d find out what time we play, the other two would go around with posters.”

It’s their first time on the main stage at Warped, and they’re playing alongside bands like The Used and Taking Back Sunday who were merely motivating forces for the band not long ago.

“The Used has been an inspiration to me for a long time,” Vic declares, remembering when the prospect of touring with the group was no more than a dream growing up that he’d spoken of with his best friend. Jaime’s tone is just as reverent when he’s talking about playing on the same ground as Taking Back Sunday. It was quick to see that these guys are as affable in conversation as they are soul-bearing in their music.

Vic affirms that Warped Tour has been a huge reason for the band’s success since 2008. This summer’s showcasing in particular is an opportunity to get new material out from their third album, “Collide with the Sky,” which was released last month.

Whereas their first album, “A Flair for the Dramatic,” released in 2006, rose up in the aftermath of the Fuentes’ previous group’s disbandment, the second, titled “Selfish Machines,” released in 2010, signified a unification for Pierce the Veil that was bound to challenge people’s perceptions of the band. But this new album is their most

sophisticated work to date.

While maintaining the post-hardcore strength of their sound, “Collide with the Sky” has improvised with a lyrical lucidity that will carry the band to the top of their league for the added degree of accessibility it will allow fans.

They get down to brass tacks with their words and track list — as the prior two albums did, this one reads like a screaming epic of preservation and will.

The album cover art illustrates a figure suspended in air, hovering above a crumbling house, in a state that could either be discerned as freeing or falling. Then the opening track begins with a muffled yell that sounds like the beginning of a dark tale rising up out of Sleepy Hollow. The song, appropriately titled “May These Noises Startle You In Your Sleep Tonight,” sets the stage while proposing a paradox for an album equipped with energetic riffs and power hooks. The set closes with a song titled “Hold On Till May,” ending on a steady upward note reflecting the album’s theme of releasing yourself from what is breaking beneath you.

The group is a committed bunch, whether they are compiling an album, jamming live or catering, evidently. “We stayed up catering last night,” Vic says. “We served the whole Warped Tour dinner all wearing cello outfits, with button-ups and like mustaches and sunglasses. It was funny.”

Everyone’s got something to keep themselves going, and these guys obviously understand that costumes make any situation better.

Vic and Jaime mention how they like to plan parties for after-hour entertainment, so we chronicle what Pierce the Veil has been drinking throughout their time at Warped Tour. “We drink, a-alcohol?” Vic starts firmly but ends in question. Apparently ‘08 featured Bud Taps, though Jaime claims not to like beer, and Vic seems to be in agreement when he recalls some “random brand of the worst beer ever” that was served in 2010. Now, they’re keeping it cool with “standard light beers. Maybe a bottle of Jameson here and there.”

Like costumes, a case of beer on the house per day, provided by the festival as Vic reveals, can also make any situation better. Unless it’s dark beer on a hot summer’s day, that is. “Who wants to drink hot, dark beer?” he asks, pressing an excellent point. They hydrate themselves according to plan — plans which will extend far beyond Warped Tour. NKD

While maintaining the post-hardcore strength of their sound, “Collide with the Sky” has improvised with a lyrical lucidity that will carry the band to the top of their league for the added degree of accessibility it will allow fans.

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PIERCE THE VEIL

PIERCE THE VEIL @ WARPED TOUR » HOLMDEL, NJ » JULY 13, 2012

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