NKD Mag - Issue #11 (May 2012) by NKD Mag

Issue #11

ACTION ITEM 1

CO-CREATORS Ariella Mastroianna Catherine Powell EDITORS Lizy Goold Ariella Mastroianni Nicola Pring PHOTOGRAPHY Catherine Powell WRITERS Isaac Bate Lizy Goold Olga Khvan Stacy Magallon Nicole Mazza Christine O’Dea Catherine Powell Nicola Pring Tanya Traner LAYOUT DESIGN Catherine Powell

s r e n w o e h t from On April 19th, 2010, the idea for Naked Mag was born in a 5th floor apartment in New York City. Now, more than a year later we can’t even begin to explain how much all your support means to us. To be able to work with the people we have has been an incredible experience and it’s been a pleasure taking you all along for the ride with us. For this issue, we chose to bring Action Item back as a thank you to their fans, because they were the ones who really made Naked what it is in the early stages. Every day we’re reminded how blessed we are to have such an incredible fan base supporting us. We seriously cannot thank you enough. To say we have some big things up our sleeves would be an understatement. In the next few months you’ll be seeing a lot more familiar faces and we can’t wait to share all our secrets with you :)

catherine & ariella

in this issue Action Item Courtesy of Jay Michaels

Kenton Duty Courtesy of Shannon Barr PR

Lights Courtesy of Rock Steady LA

Hoodie Allen Courtesy of High Rise PR

Thomas Ian Nicholas Courtesy of Much & House PR

Enter Shikari Courtesy of Reybee Productions

Tiffany Giardina Courtesy of Tiffany Giardina

Car Party Courtesy of Big Picture Media

Holland Roden

Liana Conway

Courtesy of MLC PR

Courtesy of Shore Fire Media

CO-CREATORS Ariella Mastroianna Catherine Powell

s r e n w o e h t from MESSAGE TO FANS

EDITORS Lizy Goold Ariella Mastroianni Nicola Pring PHOTOGRAPHY Catherine Powell WRITERS Whoever Got Their Shit Together On Time Aka No One LAYOUT DESIGN Catherine Powell

catherine & ariella

in this issue Band Name Courtesy of

Band Name Courtesy of

available now at shopjawbreaking.com Band Name Courtesy of

Band Name Courtesy of

Kenton Duty

Enter Shikari

Holland Roden

Action Item

Hoodie Allen

Thomas Ian Nicholas

Tiffany Giardina

Car Party

Issue #11

MAY 2012

Lights

Band Name

Liana Conway

K E N T O N DUTY Words: Olga Khvan Photos: Catherine Powell

Kenton Duty blacked out during the final testing audition for his role as Gunther on Disney Channel’s “Shake It Up.” It was nearly three years ago and the stakes were high. His competitor was an experienced, Tony-nominated dancer who had previously graced a Broadway stage. Having had little dance experience himself, Kenton found himself scrambling for a different way to impress the producers of the dance-oriented show. When asked if he had any “cool skills,” Kenton responded by saying that he could do a handstand, provided that he had wall support. With the producers eagerly watching him, Kenton placed his hands on the studio floor and hoisted himself up in the air, only to collapse after the momentum sent him headfirst into the wall. “My head hit the wall so hard, I blacked out for 10 seconds,” Kenton says, recalling the experience lightheartedly, smiling and acting out the various parts. “They were like, ‘Should we get an ambulance? This has never happened before. No one’s ever passed out.’” The incident, although unplanned, made quite an impression. “They could not [forget me], so it was a good thing in the end,” Kenton says. When I sit down with the young actor at the Marriott Hotel on 49th and Lexington in Manhattan, he not only has an entire season’s worth of episodes as Gunther under his belt, but also enough acquired dance skills to earn himself his own taste of Broadway — he is in town to perform 8

alongside the cast of Disney’s “Newsies” for a special preview of the new musical. With his tall stature, combed up blonde hair and a slight rip on the knee of his jeans, he seems to exude both the boyish charm of a 16-year-old and the eloquence of an experienced actor who is passionate about what he does, two roles that he smoothly interchanges throughout our conversation. Kenton recalls his childhood with fondness, smiling, inserting humorous remarks here and there and chuckling both to himself and along with us. When his family moved from Plano, Texas to Los Angeles six and a half years ago so that he could pursue an acting career, his only acting credits included theater renditions of “A Christmas Carol” and “Ragtime”. His roles were small, but his schedule was demanding — each of the shows put on a total of 36 performances. He auditioned for a number of parts before landing the role on “Shake It Up.” “I was like, ‘Oh cool, we’ve got a Disney audition. Sweet,” he recalls excitedly, his voice raising an octave into an unexpected squeak for a slight second. “And it was probably like that because I was trying to do my puberty [voice],” he adds, jokingly. Swaying back and forth in his seat, Kenton snaps his fingers and awkwardly moves his hands up and down and slightly off-beat to demonstrate the original state of his dancing skills. “I didn’t really know what I was doing,” he says.

Kenton displays a maturity beyond that of a typical 16-year-old as he speaks about a value instilled in him while growing up — a rigorous work ethic, which he applied to learn the basics of dance and catch up to the professionals working on the show. “My parents are big on education. I enjoy learning — the process of figuring stuff out and problem-solving and if you don’t get it, going back and actually figuring out how to get yourself to understand it,” he says. “I give it up to my parents a lot. They’re the ones who have gotten me to this driven, focused mind set.” Boys will be boys, however, and despite his professionalism when it comes to work, 12

Kenton tries his best to lead the life of a typical kid on his days off, unfazed by the hordes of fans that follow him around on occasion. “It’s funny because I’m completely oblivious to it,” he says. My dad’s not. He notices what’s going on. My mom’s oblivious. When it’s just the two of us, we have no idea that a whole herd of people is following us. I’m still a normal guy. I’ve got my friends, we hang out, we go to movies, we play basketball. We sit around and look at the ceiling sometimes if we don’t have anything to talk about.” Kenton regards his celebrity status as a “perk, privilege and responsibility” that gives him the platform to speak about

issues important to him, such as anti-bullying. He works with multiple charities, and as someone who is allergic to chocolate, Kenton relates especially to kids who get bullied because of their food allergies. He laments the policy against carrying EpiPens in schools because they are considered a weapon. “It’s a big deal. Kids could die,” he says. “It can get aggravating, especially for little kids. I’ve met these kids and they’re just heartbroken because their friends don’t care about that, they don’t have to be responsible [about what they eat],” he says. Kenton’s motivation for charity work stems partially from his personal childhood experiences involving bullying. “I got a little picked on because I was one of the tiniest kids in my class, and because of my glasses. I just let it go because I had all these friends that would back me up and be like, ‘Hey, that’s not cool. Tell him you’re sorry,’” he says. “I would do the same thing [for others]. I was the guy who, because I was the tiny dude and my parents raised me right, would go up when I saw the kid who was the loner getting bullied, and I’d walk up and bring everybody with me and we’d get [the bully] to say sorry and then walk away. If we saw him do it again, we’d tell the teacher next time and then we’d have [the kid getting bullied] play with us. We were good kids. I wanted to run with the good crowd.” These days, Kenton is able to use his public figure status to stand up for kids

on a broader scale. “My parents let me know that we need to be nice to everyone. Now that I’ve got kids that are sort of looking up to me, I can show that and preach that and then hopefully they’ll take it upon themselves to also [go up] to that kid who’s sitting in a corner with doleful eyes watching everybody playing and invite him to hang out,” he says. Kenton’s anti-bullying campaign has been well received by fans, who regularly send him letters thanking him for his work, which only adds to his motivation. “It’s great because then I know that people get it and they’re starting to work for it. The whole anti-bullying movement is getting bigger and bigger because kids are deciding, ‘I’m done. I don’t want to deal with this anymore.’ It’s starting to grow and before long, knock on wood, we won’t have bullying anymore, which will be great,” he says, lightly tapping his knuckles against the table. Most kids recognize Kenton on the street as his Disney Channel character, which is fine by him as long as he gets to connect with them and spread a simple, yet powerful message to stay positive. “My fans are my everything,” he says. “We call ourselves dreamers. I write on every autograph, ‘Dream big,’ because that’s sort of what you need to look for. Your dreams are your hopes and your hopes are your dreams and if you don’t have hope, you don’t have anything.” 13

ENTER SHIKARI

Written by Lizy Goold Photos by Catherine Powell

he crowd at Irving Plaza in New York is loudly chanting “Shikari! Shikari! Shikari” in anticipation for the band, Enter Shikari, to go on. The floor is packed from wall to wall with teenagers and young adults, except for a small space purposely formed in the middle. During their energized live set this space will be filled with people dancing. The projection screen lifts exposing singer Rou Reynolds. The crowd erupts with cheers of excitement. Enter Shikari are headling on their current North American tour to promote their most recent album “A Flash Flood of Colour.” This is unlike previous tours where they ’ve been in a support slot opening for larger bands. Now, they have more creative control.

“It makes a massive difference when there’s a room full of people that have come there just to see you,” Rou says. “On those support slots there are pockets that are fans and the rest don’t care or are actively swearing at us or something. 16

[As a headliner] there’s a lot more energy and a much better atmosphere.” Ever y date on this tour has been sold out or close to sold out. These packed shows are far from where they started. In St. Albans, England, Rou started playing the trumpet at the age of 8 and progressed on to the guitar at 11. “Me and Chris [Batten, bassist] used to just write silly tunes, almost verging on boy band stuff when we were like 11,” Rou says. He recalls that they started listening to more alternative music and started their first band when they were 13, performing mostly covers of Oasis and Beatles’ songs. After delving into the local punk and hardcore scene, they started a band at age 17 that became Enter Shikari. Guitarist Ror y Clewlow, wasn’t as keen on the idea of playing music as his band mates were. His mother was desperate for him to do something involving music, but he wasn’t on the same page. “I started taking piano lessons and I hated it,” Ror y says. “I had no interest in music whatsoever. I used to just sit there and pretend that

I was reading music.” After this first failed tr y at music, he took up the classical guitar at 10 or 11, hated that and quit it as well. “I was just like ‘Mum I don’t like music, stop tr ying to make me do it.’” Ror y eventually took up the electric guitar, after seeing a friend play, and he loved it. After playing one show together, Rou asked Ror y to join Enter Shikari, and Ror y jumped at the chance. Enter Shikari’s interaction with their fans at shows is a one-of-a-kind experience. The band interacts with the fans in many ways from spending time in the crowd themselves to having them sing parts of the vocals. When Rou asks the audience to form a circle pit, they oblige and run furiously in circles around the opening in the crowd. “ We always felt uncomfortable being a band and being expected to be one way entertainment, like you sit and watch a TV,” Rou says. “ We always wanted to be a cyclical energy that just happens at a show. People sing the vocals, getting on the mic, doing human pyramids and whatever, it ’s all part of it.”

“ We don’t have passive fans,” Ror y adds. “I think because of the way we sound, people often feel like they need to commit or not. “ The Internet is one thing that the guys of Enter Shikari, have used to their advantage when connecting with fans. The band have been recording and posting video diaries since early on in their career. This serves as both a creative outlet as well as a way for fans to get insight into the guy ’s lives. “Rou tries so hard to make it funny,” Ror y says of the videos. “ We put an honest view of the people that we are out there and people are connected to that and see what kind of people we are, I guess.” The Internet has also been a great source for them, enabling them to release singles like “ Quelle Surprise” and “Destabilise,” which are not on albums. “ We’re not afraid of putting up music for free, or chuck[ing] music out there,” Rou says. “These days, when a tune is out there, it ’s out there,” Ror y adds. “ You don’t have to buy the CD, it ’s all online. You don’t have to put them all together, it ’s already out there.” 17

With three albums and a number of other singles and B-sides, Enter Shikari’s set list is really a sampling of their entire catalogue. “ We certainly find it hard to pick our set. It was hard enough when we had only two [albums],” Rou says. “ We just tr y and pick an eclectic mix. Show all the sides of Shikari in an hour and a bit.” With their eclectic set, they also tr y to impart a message to their fans, as they do with their albums. “We feel like we have a responsibility to be socially conscious, at some level,” Rou says. “ When you’re coming from a punk background or a hardcore band, then you have to sing about things you’re passionate about. You can’t run around like a headless chicken ever y night screaming your head off about something you’re not really bothered about. It has to be something that needs to be said. I guess it comes like second nature to us.” The band also communicate socially conscious messages with their music videos. Videos like “Arguing With Thermometers” appear comical at first, but support an underlying message as well.

“From day one it ’s been about unity. There are so many institutions in society that are tr ying to divide people up,” Rou says. “I guess we were tr ying to push people to step out from their normality and get some perspective on our species and big histor y of how we came to be living here on this rock hurtling through space. “ Rou advocates that people ”just kind of ignore or identify all the artificial boundaries that we put up like race, religion and all these things that are making us blow each other up. “ The crowd reacts to ever y word that Rou sings — they are listening, absorbing and understanding. Ever y time they ask the crowd to do something, the crowd works together to do it. The fans climb atop each other forming a giant human pyramid, when Rou asks them to. By the end of the set the crowd has embodied what Rou’s message, they found a sense of unity.

Holland Roden

Words: Stacy Magallon | Photos: Catherine Powell

As I stroll into the outdoor courtyard of The Hudson Hotel, my ears are greeted by the infamous honks of taxicab drivers, distant sirens and the cool Manhattan breeze. I look up into the open sunlight and I begin to take notice of the vine-infested brick walls around me. For a second, I forget I’m in New York City. In the far corner of the courtyard, I spot Holland Roden, giggling and enjoying a drink with an older woman who later introduces herself as Holland’s mother. She’s dressed in a polka-dotted navy blue dress, a cream-colored top and bubble gum pink lipstick. As I shake her hand, I think to myself, Holland Roden is absolutely stunning. It’s not only her rosy cheeks, piercing eyes and long, voluminous caramel-colored hair that make such a statement. It’s also her warm, glowing personality. While her name and pretty face are commonly associated with “Teen Wolf,” a popular show on MTV, the young star has more on her mind than just acting and the free TopShop shoes she received at a photoshoot earlier that afternoon. From hoping to create a successful production company with her best friend and aiming for a master’s degree in television and film, Holland Roden is a star that shines. The 24-year-old Texas native did not have much of an acting background as a child. Instead, she played soccer and tennis. As a student at The Hockaday

School for Girls in Dallas, Holland spent many years in a single-gendered environment decked out in a forest green and white uniform. After her father decided he wanted to stop paying her high school tuition, she left her Hockaday sisters at the end of her junior year and finished up her senior year at a nearby public school. Holland refers to this public school as her “hell on earth,” but she chose a theater course as an elective to keep herself busy. The elective inspired her to engage in various student films, and she eventually found herself in the hands of an acting agent. “From there, I would star in little commercials to earn extra money in high school,” she says. After finishing her senior year of high school, Holland went to the University of California in Los Angeles and began to land more serious television roles as a sophomore. Throughout college, she managed to keep her acting career on it’s feet by starring in HBO pilots and various guest spots on primetime television. It was only a short period of time before she booked a major role on MTV. Three weeks after her graduation from UCLA, she began work on the first season of “Teen Wolf.” “Teen Wolf premiered” in June 2011. The show follows Scott McCall, a student at Beacon Hills High School who was bitten by a werewolf while roaming through the woods. The drama revolves around Scott’s attempt to live the life of a typical teenager, despite his secret life as a werewolf. 25

Holland stars as the bratty Lydia Martin, a fashionable, popular and seemingly delusional teenager at Beacon Hills. Holland shares similarities with her character — but not many. “I can be kind of bratty because I like things to be done a certain way in my professional life,” she says. “As for my personal life, I’m a lot more easy going. But I’m a very expressive person, so I love playing this role.” Holland acts alongside Tyler Posey, Dylan O’Brien, and her on-screen boyfriend, Colton Haynes. While spending six months out of the year filming in Atlanta, Ga., the clan of actors became a family. “We hate each other so much,” she says, with her best poker face. “We’re actually really good friends. That’s the best part about ‘Teen Wolf.’” Although Holland and her cast mates are very close, she cites co-star Colton Haynes as one of her best friends. She and her cast mates are fervent on-set pranksters, and her close relationship with Haynes makes for good laughs. “We were going to play a joke on [producer] Jeff Davis on April Fool’s Day. Our boss from MTV was going to call him and tell him Colton and I were having a baby,” she says, smiling. “We didn’t end up going through with it because Jeff was under a lot of stress, but we wanted to lead it on for three days.” With a couple weeks left in filming for “Teen Wolf’s” second season, Holland lets me in on what fans can expect. Besides new characters and bigger stunts, the 26

storyline will develop further. “The audience will grow with our world,” Holland says. “It’s starting to become more realistic rather than just a main focus on six teenagers. For being a supernatural teen show, I didn’t think we could compete with season one because we were so proud of it, but we did.” Holland lives her professional life around a thoroughly organized itinerary. Her rare moments of free time are spent at concerts, in front of her television and attempting to play the guitar. As for her private life, Holland confesses that she and bad luck often coincide, but she believes that the luck she has had with her career balances out her frequent misfortune. “I’m at the wrong place at the wrong time, all the time,” she says, chuckling. “I get the ticket, I chip the nail, I almost get hit by the car. I’m just that person. But when it comes to the bigger things in my life, everything just seems to work out. I think it’s a pretty fair trade-off.” Between award shows, fittings, continuous camera flashes and the limelight, Holland doesn’t show any trace of corrosion by this Hollywood lifestyle. “There are some days where I’m like, ‘Wow. This is my life.’” she says, then pauses for a second. “But overall, my life really hasn’t changed at all.”

HOODIE ALLEN Written by Christine Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Dea Photographed by Catherine Powell

Long Island bred hip-hop artist who goes by the stage name “Hoodie Allen,” Steven Markowitz is steadily gaining a strong following in the music community. He doesn’t have a label responsible for his already successful music career, but he does have an incredible drive for everything he does, musical and otherwise. Hoodie graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a business background and concentrations in finance and marketing two years ago. Following graduation, Hoodie was hired by Google, and he moved to California for work. Juggling his passion for music and his career became a full time job in itself, and eventually he answered his true calling. He quit his job at Google and dedicated himself to his music. In the last three years, Hoodie has released three mixed tapes, two EPs and an album called “All-American” which was released on April 10 of this year. The album debuted at #1 on the iTunes charts and #10 on Billboard’s Top Albums. “All American” is a compilation of songs with geographical meaning but more importantly, it’s a showcase of Hoodie’s identity.

How does it feel to have created such a successful music career without a label? What does it mean to you to know that your fans love you for you who are to the most sincere degree? That has basically been my goal since the beginning, to try to build life long fans. To have this support independently right now makes me feel like we’re doing it right. What kind of reaction did the people in your life have when you announced that you would be pursuing a music career rather than continuing your work at Google? Most were probably nervous for me. Cautiously optimistic, maybe. I pretty quickly showed them they shouldn’t be worried What is your main message to your fans and the world? My main message is don’t be afraid to take a chance on yourself. If you don’t believe in yourself, why should anyone else? What was it like to balance a professional business career with your passion for music? For me it was and continues to be very fun. I really like both aspects of it and expect long after I can be a regular performer I will still be very involved in the business side of things for somebody else.

When did you realize that music could be your career? I don’t know if I’ve ever really thought of it like that. Right now, people continue to support my passion so I just take it as me being very fortunate. How was it transitioning from working with others music and creating your own? A huge learning process and really liberating. Never had more fun writing a record than this one. Did you need a different sort of inspiration? Yeah, we started everything with a blank slate instead of borrowing someone else’s material so it allowed me to be more creative and flex my songwriting more. What were you like in high school and college? Kind of shy and reserved. At least in high school, I was in a lot of classes with older kids so I never really had my place. Not to mention I was rapping and it was a lot less cool back then. What are the meanings behind some of the tracks on “All American”? A lot of the inspiration for the project just came from the traveling I’ve been doing and being able to see the country and leave home. No Faith In Brooklyn was definitely inspired by me trying to balance a long distance relationship complicated by my musical pursuits. 32

What is the meaning of the EP’s title? It’s an homage to the All American burger spot on Long Island. It’s a very classic-style burger joint that everyone on Long Island knows about and I think Long Island is a big part of my identity. It just also represented where I wanted to take this record which was for it to be the best representation of who I am. The EP went to #10 on the Billboard charts. Were you expecting anything like that? I had very high hopes for it. I’m not sure I could have ever put a number to what I was expecting but I’m very happy. Is it hard to keep your DIY mentality when you’re getting so much attention? How do you keep it DIY? It’s difficult in one sense because doing things independently is a very hard grind but its almost very fulfilling because I can look back on this and say that I only have my fans and my team to thank for how well All American has been received. What is your ultimate goal for your music? To make other people happy--that’s my own self-fulfillment

ACTION I T E M Words & Photos by Catherine Powell

“What hasn’t happened this year?” Action Item keyboardist Mark Shami, jokes as we find a seat at a picnic table outside a bowling alley in Fairlawn, NJ where we just finished our shoot. A few feet away, a baseball team is practicing in the perfect 75-degree weather and sound of balls hitting metal echoes through the clear skies. Though Mark may be joking, the sarcastic remark holds a lot of truth. Action Item spent this past summer on tour with Honor Society, We The Kings and Hot Chelle Rae among other bands. Following their busy summer the band took their first trip to the United Kingdom, which was also their first bus tour. The guys then spent about two minutes at home before piling back into their van for their first headlining tour. There was radio play, a single produced by Nick Jonas, shows with Nickelodeon stars, a Christmas song, a tour with Andy Grammer, a few weeks in Nashville recording, another new single and a direct support slot on a major pop tour, and still they’ve remained grounded. I’m impressed. It’s easy for a band to lose themselves and the connection they have with their fans as they scale upward in popularity, but with Action Item it’s the opposite. “As our fan base began to grow we decided it was a really big deal to us to make sure we stayed really close with our fans,” guitarist Anthony Li says. For their headlining tour they held pre-show hang out sessions with fans, as well 36

as post-show meet and greets to thank each and every person who came to support them. When the band crossed the pond to the United Kingdom this past fall they experienced complete culture shock. In America, the boys had become accustomed to seeing the same faces at every show and getting to know their fans on a more personal level. Overseas, kids who had never heard of Action Item before came to their shows just because there was a show going on. “I feel like kids came to the shows and didn’t even know who was playing,” Mark says. The UK tour was not Action Item’s only tread in new water this year — their tour with Top 40 sensation, Andy Grammer, was a huge leap from the Disney-esque tours they were opening in 2010 and 2011. Despite the different atmosphere of the tour, the way the band approached it was exactly the same as any other tour — they played their hearts out and met everyone possible before and after the show. The guys took a lot away from the UK tour, including a great deal of knowledge from Andy Grammer’s backing band. “Being around them was just incredible,” Anthony says. “They’re so talented.” Following the tour, the band flew down to Nashville to write and record some new songs after spending quite some time touring off of their 2010 album “The Stronger The Love.” It had been quite

a while since they were in the studio, but working with a producer they had previously collaborated with, the band fell right back into their comfort zone when putting together new tracks. The loose idea they had for their new songs was to base the drums off actual marching band pieces. As a result, their new single, “Marching Band,” was born. However, Action Item fans shouldn’t set their hopes too high for new music in the near future. “Marching Band” will be the only song to come out of their session in Nashville, but that doesn’t mean they’re not itching for some new tunes themselves. “It’s a weird thing for us,” Brian

says. “We’re always so centered and focused about putting the music first, but then we get these awesome tour offers and we can’t pass them up.” They consider their recent tours “happy accidents,” because as much as they love touring, it requires cancelling their recording plans time after time. The band originally planned on hopping into to the studio right after the headlining tour, but more offers began pouring in, and saying no was not an option. “There’s still a ton of people who haven’t heard our record yet,” Anthony says, justifying their lack of new material.

Once the Hot Chelle Rae tour comes to a close in a few weeks, Action Item will be playing The Bamboozle Festival in New Jersey. Following Bamboozle, they plan to really lock down and record a new album. “We’re not going out this summer without at least having a new EP recorded,” Anthony says. They know the offers will be there, but they plan to stand their ground and hit the studio before they hit the road again. “We feel bad,” Mark says. Not that they should, because the band definitely give their fans a lot more than most, but two years is a long time to wait for new music, especially for an unsigned band. One positive thing Action Item has been able to take away from their constant touring streak is a newfound appreciation for respect between people in the music industry. “Some musicians just don’t appreciate what they have,” Mark says. “It takes some bands years, and it takes some bands overnight to [become successful], but they should still appreciate it.” Having not been an overnight success, Action Item have gradually learned to appreciate the little things along the way. “If you see someone getting 60 million hits on YouTube and then having people come out to see them, you kind of ask yourself ‘is that the way to go?’” drummer Dan Brozek, says. “That’s the biggest misconception. Everyone has their own path, and no matter how long it takes or how hard you work, everyone

is different. Having an ego is the worst thing that can ever happen to you.” Before Dan can finish his though, Mark jumps in. “I don’t think [any musician] deserves what they have. You’re lucky not to have a 9 to 5 desk job and you’re lucky to do what you love every day, and that’s the biggest accomplishment you can get from being a musician full time. People need to be grateful of that,” Mark says. It’s refreshing to hear that the guys haven’t lost their level-headedness because of their recent success. “If you’re not being gracious, everyone sees that and it sucks,” Mark says. When their headlining tour concluded in November, Action Item were surer than ever that the path they chose was the right one for them. “I think when we played in New York City, and we sold it out, that was a big moment in our career. We couldn’t even believe it,” Mark says, grinning widely. But the success can’t be credited to just the band. “Our fans, they’re just amazing. They’re there. They’re always, always there. We don’t put out music for two years and they’re still coming back,” Mark says. Though they feel like they’ve stayed on the right path, the guys still wonder if they’re making the right decisions. “It’s a battle,” Anthony says. “But you make your own decisions and you have to live with them and be happy with what you did.” As expected, the band are happy

with where they are right now, and they don’t have any regrets. They’re still not in a rush to sign a record deal, and the waiting game has nothing to do with money. The boys have no plans on inking a deal until a label understands what they’re doing and what their fans and friends mean in all this. Where they’ve gotten so far has been because of a team of seven — the band, their manager and their booking agent. “I can call our manager or booking agent 42

at any time of the day with an idea,” Anthony says. “I want to sign to a label where I’m able to call our A&R guy at 3 a.m. because we had a new idea.” The sun starts to set as our conversation winds down I can’t help but feel proud of the five boys sitting in front of me. I remember my first Action Item show — Mark was still in high school, their first EP, “The World And I,” had barely been out for five months, and the 550 capacity

room they played had about 90 people in it. And now, three and a half years later, they’re on tour with one of the biggest bands in the world, have had some radio success, and through all of it haven’t lost themselves. It’s a tricky industry to be apart of, and despite the ups and downs Action Item wouldn’t change a thing. “If I didn’t know what I’d done in the last three years and I got the opportunity to do it again, I’d do it again,” Mark says, smiling. “Every time.”

New single “Marching Band” available on iTunes now!

LIGHTS Written by Olga Khvan | Photographed by Catherine Powell

Lights finds wedding planning quite relaxing — even while she picks out cakes and flowers before a headlining show. Currently on tour in support of her new album “Siberia,” she has been arranging her upcoming nuptials to Blessthefall frontman Beau Bokan on the road. “You can’t be like Weddingzilla or whatever that show is,” she says, laughing. “You have to just go with it a lot and it’s actually not too stressful. It’s very relaxing because it’s not like putting a show together or going on tour. This is for you and you can do anything you want.” So what does Lights want for her wedding? A candy buffet and a K-Pop wedding cake. “It’s just an eclectic mix of stuff that reflects you, so there should be nothing too stressful about that,” she says. Outside, clouds cast a shadow over New York City and a line of people waiting to enter Irving Plaza has already formed, even though show time is still a few hours away. Inside, the 25-year-old Canadian singer sits in the green room wearing combat boots, a long feather earring and a pink flannel over a short black dress that tightly hugs her petite frame. She speaks warmly about the positive reception that she has received from American fans. “It’s really special,” she says. 45

Canadian singers are given “an edge” in Canada, Lights says, because of content laws that require one-third of everything on air to be Canadian. While Canadians are frequently exposed to her songs through radio stations and MuchMusic, an MTV-like television channel, it takes a little more effort for Americans to discover her music. “They’re at your show because they’ve heard about you from someone else or they found you on the Internet and invested that much more time in finding you,” she says. “It all feels like a brewing secret, kind of. I like it.” 46

Lights’ tour has her going back and forth among U.S., Canada and the U.K., but she’s no stranger to traveling. Growing up with parents who were missionaries, she spent time in various parts of the world, including Jamaica and the Philippines. “It’s a great way to be raised because you get to see what the world is like and not just spend your time growing up in a suburban neighborhood,” she says. “I think it was really good for me.” Spending a part of her childhood on the go has prepared Lights to maintain relationships with people at a distance.

For her, not being able to see loved ones all the time only strengthens her relationships with them. “It’s tough, it really is, but it makes things more intense and you actually end up learning a lot about each other because you’re forced to just have conversations,” she says of her relationship with her fiancé. “It’s definitely developing a relationship in a different kind of way. If you trust each other a lot, that’s the key. It works out.” Developing strong relationships with others is important to Lights not only in her personal life, but also in her career. As she speaks about her musical journey, she generously credits the people who have helped her along the way. She met her manager Jian Ghomeshi ten years ago, when she was 15, and he remains a crucial member of her team to this day. “Nothing was really happening for the first few years, but he saw something in me and believed in me,” she says. Lights spent her childhood singing, but picked up the guitar and wrote her first song when she was 11. “From the minute I learned a few chords, I was like, ‘I’ve got to put these to use.’ What’s the point of knowing how to play something if you don’t know how to write something? So I wrote my first song and never stopped,” she says. At 16, Lights was signed as a songwriter for Sony/ATV Music Publishing and although she faced initial rejection, sheeventually found a job writing songs for

“Instant Star,” a television series that chronicled the life of a fictional singer. It was a unique experience for Lights, who had to disregard her own emotions and put herself into the mind of lead character Jude Harrison, a role that she herself tried out for, but was given to fellow singer-songwriter Alexz Johnson. When it came to her career as a singer, Lights took things into her own hands. In 2006 she uploaded her songs to MySpace. They caught the attention of Old Navy and were featured in an ad campaign two years later. That same year she was signed by Underground Operations, a small indie label in Canada, and she released an EP which was popularized by radio stations and placed high up on the charts. In 2009 Lights was nominated for the Juno Awards, the Canadian equivalent of the Grammys, and took home the trophy for Best New Artist. “That was when it was kind of established, ‘You’re an artist now, prove us right’ and thusly the trajectory continues. There’s no one make-or-break moment, but one thing leads to the other,” she says. “My career’s been a series of little triumphs, I think. Little moments of discovery along the way.” Lights’ songwriting process has no distinct, singular pathway, either — versatility is key. “It’s different all the time,” she says. “It also depends on who you’re collaborating with and the scenario. If I’m writing about myself, I’ll be on piano and guitar and just writing. It’s very personal.” 47

Other songs, however, have stemmed from simple beats or jam sessions with other musicians. “The more comfortable you get with your own craft, the easier it gets to chameleon into different situations and different collaborations,” she says.

“I write not necessarily with an intention, but with a kind of mind state that has a purpose to it. Every song has a resolve or a reason,” she says. “I’m not like, ‘Oh yeah, I’m going to write about the club.’ I mean, that’s awesome. It’s great to have that escapism in music, but my music’s not necessarily like that.” Lights finds inspiration in video games. “I’m inspired by the graphics and the fantasy storyline,” she says, her big brown eyes lighting up as she discusses her love for games like “World of Warcraft.” “It’s a total escape.” Lights found a way to incorporate her love for video games into her music by inviting Clyde Caldwell, a designer for the game “Magic: the Gathering,” to create album art for “Siberia.” As with songwriting, she remains involved in the creation of cover art, but openly 50

welcomes collaboration. “There’s a point where you have to draw the line and be like, ‘This isn’t my expertise and I know there’s somebody who can do it better,’ but at the same time you do have to have a vision for it in order to not be thrown around,” she says. “It’s really important that you know what’s going on. If you don’t understand, you just hit a wall and the worst thing you can be in this industry is naive.” Lights also stresses the importance of doing things for personal enjoyment, outside of the industry. She not only enjoys the artwork of video game designers, but is also a visual artist herself — she’s released 400 limited edition, signed prints of her paintings to date, hopes to someday put on an art show, and has been learning to tattoo in her spare time. “Don’t let the only thing that you do be music because then it becomes not fun,” she says. Much like her stress-free attitude toward wedding planning, Lights recommends an easy-going approach in all aspects of life. “Just do the things that you like,” she says. “Whatever you’re into, just follow it and do it.”

Thomas Ian Nicholas Words: Tanya Traner | Photos: Catherine Powell

I’m nervously riding up 40 flights with “American Pie’s” Thomas Ian Nicholas to his friend’s Manhattan apartment. I mention that I’m absolutely petrified of elevators, so this begins our conversation, and we laugh because I then mention that I also work for an elevator company in the City. As we enter the apartment we’re greeted by Bailey, his friend’s black and white dog. Thomas showers her with attention, sitting on the floor and cooing at her. Seeing him playing so lovingly with this dog eases some of my tensions, but it’s the bottle of Maker’s Mark Kentucky Bourbon Whisky he pulls from his bag with a quick “Don’t judge me” and a laugh that lets me know this meeting will go well. As we begin to talk about his early life, he sits on a large brown couch across from me. I’m on the smaller love seat, and I can’t help but look out the windows lining the apartment. The view is breathtaking, despite it being a rather dreary afternoon. But Thomas brings me back to the conversation. He tells me he hated school growing up. He describes his young self as a “smart ass.” “I was the kid who would always point out when the teachers made a mistake on the board,” he says. Thomas wanted to get out of school, so he combined his junior and senior years to graduate early. He says he knew he would have to make the choice between college and his career, so he chose his work after landing the roll as Kevin Myers in “American Pie” in 1998. He says he is lucky to have made it in the industry for 25 years. “I just feel blessed,” he says. “I think that success is in the journey, yes, but achieving something like that is preparation meeting

opportunity.” If his career hadn’t panned out as planned, Thomas says that he would still hope to work in the field in sound engineering or editing. “It’s a little late in the game to go wait tables,” he says, chuckling. “It would be really weird to sign an autograph and deliver someone’s burger. If I did it now it would be funny because “American Reunion” is out, but without that, people would be like, ‘Are you still acting? Oh, sorry it didn’t work out for you.’” Before the release of “American Reunion” this year, Thomas has been keeping busy. In the last four or five years he has done about a dozen independent films, including “Please Give” which won the Independent Spirit Award. He is also a musician, working completely DIY. Thomas first became interested in music in junior high school. There was one school band in his grade and when Nirvana front man Curt Cobain died, a kid in that band went on a week of silence. 53

“I saw this kid standing for something that was sort of beyond his years, beyond what anyone else was doing at school,” he says. Thomas then picked up an old guitar sitting in his mother’s apartment, and from that point on played three hours a day every day for two years. He says his music in the Thomas Nicholas Band is heavily influenced by the Foo Fighters, even stating that in the studio, when stuck on a song, the band has one question — “What Would Grohl Do?” Of record labels, he says that while he enjoys the “Do It Yourself” style, he knows that a label would give him the opportunity to reach more people. “In my mind, entertainment is the safest form of escape,” he says, leaning into the conversation, brow furrowed. “If you are addicted to entertainment, it’s OK. You don’t have to go to rehab for it, there’s no hangover. So if I can provide that, if it was something that people were into, then of course I want to reach people, and I would be willing to sign my life away, as it were, to achieve that.” We move again to his most recent endeavor, “American Reunion.” He says this is the first time the entire “American Pie” cast had been together in years.

I ask him how he feels knowing that young kids see these films. He chuckles again and tells me that when his 10-year-old nephew saw the movie at a friend’s house he asked Thomas’ sister “Why did Uncle Thomas pee in the beer?” “It’s not just crazy people doing crazy things,” he says. “At the end of the day we all have good intentions and we’re all trying to do the right things. Some of us are misguided or some of us make mistakes and that’s more of what the film represents.” But more important than his music and acting, Thomas is now the father of a six-month-old boy, Nolan. He pauses, takes out his iPhone, and shows us a picture of Nolan. He smiles and tells us how his son is currently in L.A. with his wife, Colette, who is a touring house DJ. “Like all others that are in, you know, decent positions in their careers I work insanely hard,” he says. “And it’s one of those things where a lot of people don’t realize that that’s what it takes to succeed in any facet of life. We look at someone else’s story and we go, oh it’s so easy for them. But that’s not the case. I work just as hard, and try to work a little bit harder.”

“I thought that I was so mature now, married, kid on the way,” he says. “I must be so different. I wonder how everyone is different. We were all exactly the same.” 57

Tiffany Giardina Written by Isaac Bate | Photographed by Catherine Powell

Tiffany Giardina has known she wanted to perform since she was about five years old. “Once I decided this was what I wanted to do, I stuck with it,” she says. “I never veered away or gave up on it. I loved it. It’s all I did, all I do. It’s all I want to do.” Just a couple of years ago, Tiffany was flirting with fulfilling that ambition and becoming a big time star in the teen-pop world. The title track from her 2008 album, “No Average Angel” along with another single, “Hurry Up and Save Me,” were used in the soundtrack of the Selena Gomez film, “Another Cinderella Story.” In 2010 she performed with Justin Bieber for a crowd of 18,000 at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y.. 60

It’s now 2012, and there hasn’t been much activity from Tiffany for some time. I’m talking to her on a bench on a beautiful section of the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway next to Carl Schurz Park. Aside from the occasional passing pack of strollers or cyclists, there is a strong feeling of solitude, that the island of Manhattan is there behind the park, but incredibly far away. “The past two years, I’ve not taken a break, but stepped back and just focused on my song writing,” Tiffany says. The setting of our discussion becomes increasingly apt each time Tiffany has to reference her history in teen-pop. Her arms cross, and she seems to retreat into herself, almost physically distancing

herself from the questions and that particular era. “I never really wanted to make it, per se, as a teen artist,” Tiffany says. “ I went to Disney and I could have done the TV show. I could have gone that route but I just didn’t want to do that at all, because I knew I wanted to be a legitimate artist.” To some it might seem strange to have mixed feelings about such superficially amazing experiences, but it’s understandable. Even then Tiffany had her eye on the long-term goal of being a serious musician. “It’s so much harder when you are known as one thing and you try to change to something else,” Tiffany says. “I mean even for me it’s not easy. It’s a slow transition.” So what exactly has Tiffany transitioned toward? As she prepares to play a selection of the songs that she is now working on, she introduces them excitedly, proudly even, but with a hint of trepidation in her voice, as if expecting bemusement or worse still, amusement. “I don’t think anyone is going to see it coming,” she says. “It’s different, more mature.” She isn’t wrong. The songs could best be described as a kind of electro-pop dubstep. You can understand her concerns — would the world take Miley Cyrus seriously singing the kind of songs that Tiffany wants to sing? The answer is probably not, but fortunately the name Tiffany Giardina carries no such baggage with most people. And it shouldn’t, because her new sound is, in short, fantastic. I’m looking right at her

while I listen to the music and I still find it hard to believe that quite such a petite 18-year-old has produced the full, adult sound that is coming through her headphones. Tiffany knows that she isn’t done yet, though. “This whole year I’m going to focus on songwriting,” she says. “Whether it’s writing for myself, or other people, I just want to gain experience.” It isn’t only songwriting that Tiffany has focused her work ethic on. She also designed her own website and is learning how to use Pro-Tools as well.

“I enjoy it because everything that I’m thinking in my head I’m getting down and I’m actually doing it myself,” Tiffany says. “With the dubstep sounds we start from scratch and literally make our own sounds.”

There is something enormously refreshing and appealing about her willingness to work hard and acknowledge challenges. When asked if she would consider returning to the theater, where as a child she first fell in love with performing, Tiffany is effusive in her love of the medium. “Definitely,” she says. “If that comes up I would do it in 61

a heartbeat.” But she is just as quick to qualify her remarks. “Acting is something that’s very challenging, and I keep going and practicing at it. It’s something that seems like it’s so easy but its not,” she says. “I don’t think I’m amazing or a prodigy. I just enjoy doing it.” It’s apparent that Tiffany has none of the feelings of entitlement that might manifest themselves in someone who was successful at such a young age. “It definitely doesn’t happen over night, that’s for sure. I have faith,” Tiffany says, asked about her feelings on her proximity to serious success. She seems remarkably calm in the face of a potentially life-changing musical second act, and remarkably well 62

balanced, perhaps in part because of her behind-the-scenes experience with big time musical fame. She has been good friends with Nick Jonas since they were young. “I’ve seen it happen to Nick Jonas. I’ve seen them go from performing in a small venue with ten people, to Madison Square Garden,” she says. “So I know how it goes down.”

Words: Nicole Mazza | Photos: Catherine Powell

It’s just after 5 p.m. when Car Party pull up in their van, trailer in tow, at Van Saun Park in Paramus, N.J. It’s an overcast afternoon, unusually warm for mid-April and within five minutes of standing outside with the band, I can feel how high the pollen level is. This doesn’t faze the four members of Car Party in the least — besides lead vocalist Micheal Natzke, who’s battling his allergies and losing, rubbing at his watery eyes and sneezing. The guys are excited about both the prospect of being so close to horses and their plans to toss a ball around in a field. Besides the soccer team at practice across the grass and the birds chirping in the trees above us, it’s quiet and serene. From their initial introductions there is a sense of humor, and they buzz around, excited to be outdoors. We’re their first human interaction all day, aside from with one another. It’s their second day off since their kick-off show in Baltimore on their Car Party Winter 2012 Tour in the beginning of April, and they have no shame admitting to watching “The Price Is Right” and “Judge Judy” all day. The pop-rock group just played Webster Hall in New York City the night before and with a summer and fall tour in the works and more studio time in the near future, it’s the beginning of a long and busy year. They bring us back to the beginning, when they were first brought together by the mystical realm of Craiglist. Mike and drummer Taylor Hughes were the first to cross one anothers’ paths, however,

that wasn’t before Taylor encountered a series of unfortunate. “I had a bunch of creeps answer first. You always have to meet them at a place really far away from your home. I’ll have my mom sitting like five seats away in a Starbucks and she’ll be like, ‘Okay, they’re not weird,’” Taylor says. “The people I found were like 40 and playing Van Halen riffs faster and slower and bringing their kids. That was weird.” Soon after, Taylor came across Mike’s ad and when he mentioned Say Anything and Motion City Soundtrack, Taylor recognized their similar taste in music and knew they had to meet. Before, however, she did what anyone else would do — she looked him up Facebook. “She thought I was about 5’7”, maybe a hundred pounds and I showed up and I’m almost 6 feet tall and I’m not a small guy. I had this beard at the time,” Mike says. “She was creeped out. She thought I was the Craiglist killer.” Bassist Chris Martin was the only member who wasn’t found on Craiglist. Mike and Taylor stole him from a band they had been on tour with. It wasn’t until last year that they came across guitarist Jim Luparello’s ad on Craiglist, and rounded out line-up. “I just needed a place to stay,” Jim says, nonchalantly. It’s hard not to find his dry humor endearing. “I was checking missed connections and I found a band. Fair trade off,” Jim says. “It didn’t take him long to get on Taylor’s good side when he picked up a pair of Steve Madden boots for her while he was out shopping. 65

“He came with the right boots. I was like, ‘I like you,’” Taylor says with a laugh. Jim only smirks in response with a nod. “We can tear up some Macy’s,” he says. One of the biggest challenges the four faced was their first show together, an outdoor concert sponsored by the Hard Rock Cafe in downtown Baltimore. It wasn’t because they played badly but because it was the evening of Jim’s father’s funeral. “It was awkward as hell for me. One of our songs ‘Forever Family,’ was written before I was in the band, but it’s about a family member passing away and it was my first show with these guys and it was the second or third song in to the set and it wasn’t, it just wasn’t good,” Jim says. To make matters worse, the area was also under a tornado watch and the group was in the middle of packing up their equipment when a thunderstorm ripped through the city. Jim was on his way back to Ohio, while Mike and Chris packed up in the downpour. “I still feel bad,” Taylor says after telling us how she hid in the car. “I was like my hair is gonna get soaked! Black girl problems.” Bad omen or not, since then, things have been looking up. With two prior EP’s, they just released their latest single “Dollar Sign” — the first song that all four of them wrote as a group. “This

is the first song where all of our influences came in to one song.

You can mute the tracks and hear everybody’s influences and when you put it together, it [actually works]. That kind of united us as a band,” Taylor says. It’s toward the end of our chat when a horse trailer catches Mike’s eye. He’s been talking about his love for horses throughout our hour together and eyeing the red barn in front of us. Before we know it, we’re being allowed in to the stable to pet and coo at the six ponies during their feeding time. Before we leave, the band make sure to show off their ASP batons — police baton weapons — which they keep in the van. The batons are a new safety precaution after the van was broken into — two GPS’s and an iPod stolen on their last tour. The guys head off to a field to toss a ball around the park while Taylor insists on getting some sleep in the van. As unusual as their journey together has been thus far — from the sketchy world of Craigslist to a rocky first show — Car Party are just doing what they love. “I knew this is the only thing that I can do,” Taylor says, with confidence. “It’s the only thing that I’m driven to do so, it’s all I can do.”

Liana Conway Written by Isaac Bate Photos by Catherine Powell

New York in April shouldn’t be this hot. I’m in Bryant Park to meet Liana Conway, but the park is packed with lightly sweating office workers on their lunch breaks, enjoying the unseasonable weather that’s reaching into the 80s. As it turns out, I couldn’t have picked a better spot. Reason one, Liana moved from Boston to Nashville, so it’s a safe bet that she doesn’t mind the heat. Reason two, Liana loves music, she says, because it’s a little like New York City. When she’s surrounded by it, she never feels alone. Well, it’s tough to feel alone in Bryant Park, hemmed in by 5th Avenue on one side and 6th on the other, but unfortunately the only music is the endless city dirge of exhaustnoise, tire rumbling and passing conversations. It doesn’t seem to bother Liana, though. It seems almost absurd to say, but from the moment she opens her mouth it’s hard to imagine her as anything other than a singer. Her voice is clear, she enunciates perfectly, and later, listening to the audio of our interview I’ll notice that she never uses ‘like’ as a filler. Although her 75,000 “likes” on Facebook demonstrate that I am not the only one to come to this conclusion, her now burgeoning career as a musician very nearly didn’t come to pass. Although she started writing songs when she was 16 years old, Liana never showed her songs to anyone. “I went and got a guitar, just kind of on a whim, and taught myself how to play. I watched all the YouTube video tutorials,” Liana tells me. In high school

Liana did a little singing, in an A cappella group and in chorus, but never “put herself out there,” as she describes it. “I never performed by myself, or anything, or played my songs for anyone,” she says, After high school, Liana, now 22, went to Boston College to study business, a decision she now regrets. “I just wasn’t really happy there,” she says. “It’s a great city, but I just knew it wasn’t where I was supposed to be, and it wasn’t the school for me.” Fortunately for her, there was a place where she would find herself completely at home. “I would recommend living in Nashville to anyone,” she says. “It’s just so rich in inspiration and warmth.” Liana seems to light up at the topic of her newfound hometown. “People there have something about them that is just very welcoming. There’s such a community,” she says. And indeed, a quick glance under the table reveals that, although her music is avowedly pop and not country, Liana is wearing a much loved and clearly often worn pair of cowboy boots. They are a classically styled pair, and the leather is scuffed and faded from the sun. “The thing about real cowboy boots,” Liana says, looking down at her own and reminiscing. “Is that they are so uncomfortable when you first get them. I had to walk around with cardboard in the back of them so they didn’t cut into the back of my feet. It was awful, but now they’re like slippers, so they’re my favorite.” Making a metaphor out of the

boots for Liana’s own musical development would be almost too easy. Liana originally moved to Nashville to intern at the Nashville Songwriters Association, which she did, for two years. “I planned on staying for a couple of months, but I ended up falling in love with the city,” Liana says. She knew only one person in the city, but she knew she needed to do it. “My whole family is in Boston,” she says. “I just needed a change of pace. I grew up spending my summers on Cape Cod, which was kind of a small town feel and I just needed to get out of there, so I took the plunge and moved down to Nashville.” Although Nashville is famed for its country music and Liana is not, and has no desire to be within that genre, music is music. “Most people in Nashville are music lovers or write music or play music or something or another,” Liana says. “So I’m definitely in my element down there.” One summer a friend of Liana’s heard a song she had recorded and put on her iPod, and encouraged her to show it to people. People, in Liana’s case, meant only her parents. Fortunately for her, her father was a little more effusive in his salesmanship, and mentioned Liana’s songwriting abilities to a producer friend. That initial contact became a request for Liana to go to L.A. and record a demo. They loved Liana’s voice and her songs, and her demo soon progressed into her first album. Liana is remarkably forthright about the process. “It wasn’t

planned, or expected, it wasn’t even something that I attempted to do. It just kind of fell into my lap,” she says. This is not to say that Liana is not immensely appreciative of what has been, so far, rather good fortune. On the contrary, her outlook on life is remarkably mature and well balanced for someone on the cusp of success in an area that many would kill for. “I’ve been blessed so far, and I’m having a great time,” she says, and she appears to really mean it. “With every experience I have been through with the music, from writing and collaborating with my producer, to being in the studio to shooting the video, to sitting here and doing an interview like this, I meet the most incredible people and I have so much fun,” Liana says. I can’t speak for everyone who has encountered Liana on her journey thus far, but for my part, the feeling is absolutely mutual.