NKD Mag - Issue #40 (October 2014)

NKD NAKED MAGAZINE FEATURES: 4 - KIRA KOSARIN 8 - SIR SLY 10 - CASSANDRA SCERBO 16 - KENDRICK SAMPSON 20 - DIA FRAMPTON 26 - NOLAN GOULD 30 - FIFTH HARMONY 40 - RAELYNN 42 - HEFFRON DRIVE 48 - KAT MCNAMARA 52 - COLONY HOUSE

DESIGNER: CATHERINE POWEL

WRITERS:

TARA DEVINCENZO ALEX LANE STACY MAGALLON EDITORS: JORDAN MELENDREZ JORDAN MELENDREZ CHRISTINE O’DEA CATHERINE POWELL SHINA PATEL CATHERINE POWELL PHOTOGRAPHER: SAM ROSENTHAL CATHERINE POWELL RILEY STENEHJEM KATELYN THOMPSON JOSEPHINE TSE

kira kosarin Words and Photos by CATHERINE POWELL

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Kira Kosarin grew up watching shows like iCarly and Victorious on Nickelodeon, and she never thought that she’d one day be taking over their time slots.

Kira’s story begins in New Jersey, where she lived until she was 7 years old. She started school a year early and ended up skipping first grade, putting her two years ahead of her peers. When she moved to Florida, she began taking singing, acting and dancing classes. After a few years and multiple teachers suggesting she persue acting further, Kira went to Los Angeles for a two-week acting camp. She met with various managers and agents who encouraged Kira to move there full-time.

She dismissed the idea, but her parents were incredibly supportive and after Kira finished some classes in Florida, they flew back to California for what was supposed to be a three-week stay. It’s been four years.

When Kira first moved to L.A., she was auditioning a lot and getting very close to roles quite often. “I was in the

final two for leads 14 or 15 times,” she says. It always came down to her not having enough experience. “You can’t get a job unless you have experience, and you can’t get experience unless you have a job,” she says. Finally, she booked a guest starring role on Disney Channel’s Shake It Up! and things just went up from there.

It wasn’t long after her Shake It Up! guest spot that Kira booked her first lead role – her current show, Nickelodeon’s The Thundermans. Coming from a theater background, Kira was a perfect fit for the show because it is filmed in front of live audiences. The entire cast feeds off the energy of the audiences, which leads to both “incredibly funny” reactions and “utter failures” when it comes to jokes, according to Kira. “Every once in a while we’ll have a joke that we think will just kill it, and we tell it for the audience and it’s crickets,” she says.

The week Kira auditioned for The Thundermans, she also auditioned for four other shows. She made it pretty far for The Thundermans and one other show, and her agent called her saying she NKDMAG.COM

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got a final call back for “that show she auditioned for.” When Kira asked which show, her agent said to hold on while she checked. “I just remember putting down the phone and saying ‘Please be for The Thundermans!’” she recalls. From the beginning she was attracted to the humor and characters, and she felt like there was something for everyone. “I remember saying to my dad, ‘I really hope I get this, but even if I don’t, remind me to watch it,’” she says.

Kira’s character Phoebe has developed a lot over the course of the show. “When she started out she was very naïve and kind of the good girl,” Kira says, “I feel like throughout the series she’s gotten better at holding her own and standing up against her twin brother.” She feels like Phoebe is pushing the boundaries a bit, and as an actress that’s a lot of fun for Kira. She thinks that Phoebe is becoming more relatable to the audience because “nobody is perfect all the time.” Kira embraces Phoebe’s flaws and enjoys Phoebe’s newfound sarcasm and wit.

In season two, Phoebe gets a huge costume makeover. “That was really fun for me because I’m a teenage girl who loves clothes,” Kira jokes. Phoebe’s style has become more bohemian and Kira feels like their styles have begun to influence each other. “I’ll get into a style and bring it to Phoebe, or wardrobe will give Phoebe something and I’ll be like ‘I want that,’” she says.

It isn’t only Phoebe’s style that Kira is influencing; now that she’s gotten to know the writers, better parts of herself are being put into Phoebe. “There’s something that’s a big part of my life that is going to become a big part of Phoebe’s life this season, but that’s a major spoiler,” she teases. “One of the cool things about the show is the writers really take into account who we are,” she says. She’s excited for fans to see season two because she feels like not only will they get to know Phoebe better, but they’ll get to know Kira better.

The Thundermans started airing on Nickelodeon during an odd, transitional period for the network. The channel 6

had just lost their three core live-action shows: Big Time Rush, iCarly and Victorious, and the network was empty for a while. The Thundermans became part of a new generation, along with The Haunted Hathaways, See Dad Run and Instant Mom. “When we came to Nickelodeon, we were the new kids, and now less than two years later we’re the old show,” she says. Kira says the “big kids” are now showing the upcoming new shows’ stars the ropes, which is something her cast never experienced. “The older shows were already off the air [when we came in] and we didn’t really have anyone saying ‘Hey, this is what it’s going to be like,’” she says.

Now that The Thundermans has been on for a year, Kira feels like they’ve found not only their footing, but also their fan base. “Once people started watching it, it snowballed,” she says, “I love getting to watch fans on social media become more and more active.”

This is the first generation of Nickelodeon shows that is truly feeling the impact of social media. iCarly and Victorious caught the wave in their final seasons, but Kira has been able to monitor people’s reactions to since the first episode aired. “At the end of the day, it can’t really represent the whole audience because we definitely have some fans that are too young for social media,” she says. Her favorite part of it is doing tweet sprees and interacting with fans by doing question-and-answer sessions.

It’s been a whirlwind few years for Kira, and there are no signs of slowing down anytime soon. Season two of The Thundermans just started, and one episode will even feature musical guest MKTO. She’ll be filming the rest of the season for a few more weeks and is already crossing her fingers for season three. But either way, she’s proud of the work she’s done on the second season and couldn’t ask for more in terms of achieving her dreams. “When I first moved out to California someone asked me what my dream job would be and I said I wanted my own show on Nickelodeon,” she smiles, “And here I am.” NKD

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sir sly

Words by TARA DEVINCENZO Photos by CATHERINE POWELL

Sir Sly isn’t just one person, as some listeners occasionally believe, but in a sense, they are one. The way they came to form was the result of the trio’s work and ideals and very little of outside sources. Landon Jacobs, Hayden Coplen and Jason Suwito wanted their band to exist from their pure innovations and a lot less reliance on going through the motions just to get their work heard. Now that they have officially released their first album, You Haunt Me, they proved you can get ahead with just a 8

little help from your friends.

The band got their beginnings at church. When they were 13 years old, Hayden and Landon would perform together. With an active interest and talent for writing and performing music, they started their own project and almost immediately attracted the attention of someone in the industry. They moved toward recording some of their work, which lead to them being introduced to their third man, Jason.

At this point, they were still working on music and going through the motions of daily life. Hayden was starting another semester at college when Jason and Landon tried their hand at working together as a pair. This duo also proved to be a success, and created the first pieces of their band’s identity: the songs “Ghost” and “Found You Out.” There was some minor work with other bands for almost a year before the three songwriters became the synergistic Sir Sly.

In August 2012, “Ghost” made its way into the airwaves and hardly a day later, they got an email from a label that liked what they heard. The very same weekend, Sir Sly skipped the idea of a looking for a manager and got a lawyer they could trust to guide their way to the next step in a career as an actual band.

“Ghost” would become the literal and figurative spirit they needed to get the band off the ground. It was the success of this song that lead them to “bury their heads in

the sand” and start to write everything that would soon become the actual album.

One of these songs, which would go on to have more Internet hits than any of the others on the album, is their song “Gold.” The song, with its staccato piano and dream-chasing, treasurehunting message gained a lot of recognition when it was featured in a trailer of the internationally renowned game Assassin’s Creed IV, released in October 2012.

During the same time of the game’s premier, Sir Sly found their way to the stage and started playing live shows, often unannounced, as a way to practice their stage appearance. Though “Ghost” was the first song they had let out for fans to hear, they didn’t want to consider it a single. They used that as the jump off for the other songs, like “Found You Out” and “Gold,” to get people interested and showing up to the venues. They had gotten their first push into the industry simply by the interest of a listener, and they didn’t want to change their method of promotion. “The people that we were sending music to were friends of ours and we didn’t want them to post it out of obligation,” Landon says. “We wanted them to actually experience the music new for themselves without an preconceived notions.”

Releasing uncredited music had its pros and cons for Sir Sly particularly.

The good part was that people were interested in the faceless threesome right away, and the band felt the reward of their work. “It’s good for music fans and people who wanted more new music from people they’d never heard of,” Landon explains. But this also came with the the strange frustration of having some listeners believe it was the work of a well-known band like Foster the People and were eventually somewhat disappointed to find out it was the new kids on the block with the singular name.

By February of 2013, Sir Sly was booking shows and facing more

disbelieving critiques from listeners. Their live shows were so well-liked that it seemed unbelievable. Fans and showgoers would assume the band was actually getting a lot more funding and production than they had, when they were doing it all themselves.

“Only recently has music changed to be this thing where people put out singles and EPs,” Landon explains. “The fact that we’ve been a band for two years with basically just an EP and the album is just coming out now is such a strange thing that never would have existed back in the day.”

They have been comfortable with working on their songs specifically as an EP and getting to the album was the pinnacle of their current efforts. “We’re basically a band that was born on the Internet in a lot of ways,” Jason says. “I think an album really legitimizes your stake in reality.”

In the long run, it was sticking to their guns that got them the gigs. “The labels that were interested in signing us were interested based on the album that we had written by our self,” Landon says. “We know these songs inside out. We’ve been playing them we’ve been listening to them, we’ve been poring over them. For other people to hear them, that’s what it’s all about.”

It wasn’t until the album was handed off to the label in its completed state that the band could stop looking for ways to perfect it. These songs were their focus, and when they weren’t tweaking what they had written, they would dabble in covering other songs. “You don’t want to just keep the hype up or keep people interested just to keep them interested, Landon says. “You want to keep yourself interested in what you’re doing, and in doing so it’s contagious.”

Landon, as the vocalist of the group, admits he’s been working on short clips and a few ideas for a new album, but otherwise they collectively haven’t started working on the next album. Their laid-back demeanor has been their ally since the very beginning, and they continue to allow their inspiration to lead the way.

“More touring. Music videos. Something … ” Landon says of their plans. “We always find a way to stay busy because we love it. We’ll find a way to stay busy.” NKD NKDMAG.COM

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CASSANDRA SCERBO Words by KATELYN THOMPSON Photos by CATHERINE POWELL

New York born Cassandra Scerbo knew from a young age that the entertainment industry was the place for her. “I got my start when I was about 8, I begged my mom to let me go to an acting charm school,” she recalls. “I was there for a bit, and when I was 10 years old we started looking at some agencies in Miami.”

In her early years, Cassandra was based in Southern Florida, working with a variety of talent agencies. “I remember that was the most exciting night of my life, when I got the call that I was going to be an extra in this commercial,” she say. “I was so excited, even though it was probably just anyone in that area

in the correct age group got the job. That was my first job: an extra in a Burger King commercial.” She laughs, adding, “that’s where I got my start I guess.”

At the age of 14, Cassandra knew she needed to get out to Los Angeles. “I begged my parents for years and years, and we finally got to move out here for pilot season,” she states. “We did the whole thing, moved out here and stayed at Oakwood, which is where all new actors stay.”

After a variety of auditions, “I actually did the original screen test for Hannah Montana, before they had even seen Miley,” she says.

“They ended up bringing in some

new writers and everything happens for a reason. She did great, but that didn’t happen for me.” A year later Cassandra joined a girls group called the Slumber Party Girls, which allowed her to tour and perform. “Like a lot of things in L.A. it just didn’t completely unfold,” she explains. “And I went on to the next thing, and that was Bring It On, my first bigger movie.”

“For my Bring It On audition, I had told them I was a cheerleader and I had never really done cheerleading, and I remember they asked us all to go outside and show them a couple of moves,” Cassandra says.

“I said to myself ‘OK, you’re going to do a herkie.’ And I was like ‘Girl, NKDMAG.COM

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I don’t care how many muscles you have to pull. You’re going to do that damn herkie.’” Cassandra giggles.

“There’s this one move where you have to hold your leg up over your head, and I just went for it,” she adds. “I did it, and I was in pain for about three days.”

Thankfully, Cassandra was given gymnastics lessons for Make It Or Break It because she didn’t have much experience prior to the audition — for the exception of her gymnastics classes when she was 8 years old. “I took classes where you bounced on a trampoline and did a cartwheel and you got a sticker for it.”

Cassandra took this opportunity as a learning experience because whenever she was on set, she was always trying to learn. “I got my back handspring down and started to get my back tuck. The line producer wanted to kill me because I was constantly in the corner trying to learn things from these gymnasts.”

After the finale of Make It Or Break It, Cassandra found a new sci-fi project to dip her toes into. “It was kind of the job where I was like ‘I’m not on a show anymore and I need to get back doing something,” she recalls. “And then this offer came through and it was so crazy I just couldn’t say no.” The offer? Sharknado. “So, I was like ‘Hell yeah, I get to live out my inner tom-boy’s dream.

I get to run around and shoot guns and run around in Converse and a bikini.’”

Sharknado was an overnight and unexpected success. “I didn’t think anyone would hear about this silly sci-fi movie I did,” she says. “It was trending for 72 hours, and it was all over everything: the Internet, every news station.

Honestly, so unexpected.” The opinions of Sharknado were not all positive, but Cassandra learned to take everything with a grain of salt.

“They never said anything nega-

tive about me or my acting. They were laughing with us, not at us,” Cassandra states. “The criteria for Sharknado was just insane. I had to make Lauren Taylor [my Make It Or Break It character] going through a breakup as believable as sharks blowing up in the sky and tornados.

It was one of the hardest projects I have worked on.”

Dealing with criticism isn’t easy, and Cassandra used her experiences as a chance to help the people around her. “The reason I chose to become an anti-bullying ambassador is because, well, we’ve all been bullied,” she explains. “Bullying doesn’t discriminate. It wasn’t as much the effects it had on my own life; it was the fact that I played a bully on Make It Or Break It.” “She felt that bringing other people down would make her feel better about herself,” she adds.

From playing a bully to an ambassador against it, Cassandra has used her passion for the arts to change the lives of girls around her.

“I jumped out a plane on Saturday at 18 Thousand feet for charity.”

Cassandra’s passion philanthropic work has brought her to multiple organizations. “I’m also an ambassador for The Creative Coalition Be A Star anti-bullying campaign and Boo2Bullying, which is another organization that fights against bullying using the arts.”

Cassandra is able to use her profession, which she loves, to show girls the potential of all that they can become. “I think that [Make It Or Break It] was extremely positive, and it gives girls an icon and girls to look up to who are striving to something, no matter what goal it is. It shows them how fulfilling it is when you reach for something and you do succeed in whatever it is.”

After dipping her toes into every nook Hollywood had to offer, Cassandra is now taking time to focus on music. “My career path has NKDMAG.COM

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always been confusing to me,” she explains. “I wanted to be Britney Spears and be an entertainer, but I also wanted to be Jennifer Lawrence and be taken seriously as an actress.”

“Who says you can’t be a great actress and a pop singer?” she adds.

This has been an ongoing project for Cassandra. “I’ve done different songs with different producers at different times in my life, and I finally now feel like I’m beginning to know who I am and what I want my sound to be, and how I want to be perceived as an artist,” she says. “I know myself better than I did when I was 18, so I’ll be able to make music that is truer to myself.”

With this newfound sense of self, there is something big on the horizon. “We’re going to get an EP together that will be who I am now,” she says. “I think I have a good idea of who I am and what I want.”

But this is easier said than done, as the transition from acting to becoming a pop star is no simple feat.

“Time is flying by, and I don’t want to miss something I’m passionate about because I was scared of the image,” she says. “It’s hard to balance, but I want to find a way.”

As Cassandra dives into the music world, she continues her talents in acting and taking advantage of opportunities to whet her appetite for various jobs. “I just did a cool little back star on Bad Judge. It’s Will Ferrell-produced and Kate Walsh is in it. I also got to play a prostitute in a lifetime movie,” she laughs.

“Just trying everything out, being a prostitute, shooting sharks, ABC family. I’m just playing around and making Los Angeles my playground,” she adds. “Just doing as much as I can.”

“It’s just my personality to try to get my hands on everything. I’m so ready to dive into music,” she says.

“There’s no boundaries, and I’ll find a way to make it work.” NKD 14

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KENDRICK SAMPSON Words by SHINA PATEL Photos by CATHERINE POWELL

“I was born in another country,” actor Kendrick Sampson jokes after he reveals that he was born and raised in MIssouri City, Texas. His father is a Louisiana native and his mother’s family is from AlsaceLorraine in France. Growing up in Texas was very interesting for Kendrick in the sense that he attended numerous private, church-run schools where students were graded on things such as their handwriting.

He grew up loving books and even admits that when he was younger he would surround himself with books in the same way many children have stuffed animals on their bed. “My mom used to hate it because during the night the books would fall and it would always be clomp, clomp, clomp,” he recalls. He notes that his love of literature is still relevant because he reads before sleeping almost every night.

His mother was a pianist, and even today Kendrick instantly becomes soothed and relaxed when he hears a piano. He only recently dedicated himself to learning how to play.

If not for his mom, Kendrick may never have gotten involved in show business.

His favorite channel was the Food Channel, and he was constantly trying to make new recipes and would send his mom to

the grocery store with extravagant lists in an attempt to recreate what he watched on TV. He dreamed of attending “coolinary” school, not realizing it was pronounced “culinary.” “Then she told me that chefs have no life, so I was like ‘OK, cool, I’m not doing this anymore,’” he says.

Because of his mother’s musical background, Kendrick and his siblings were involved in the arts. As a child he was continully in musicals and plays. He comes from a very musically inclined family — almost everyone aside from a tone-deaf uncle is involved in music in some way.

His father, his brother, his mother and his grandmother are all talented musicians. When he started acting in plays and not musicals, he realized that not all productions necessarily need music. It was refreshing for him to pursue acting because it was something he could do that his family had not done; his piano playing is more of a hobby than a career.

Many actors and actresses have a moment when they realize that acting is their passion, and for most it might be something dramatic like an Oscar-winning performance. But the same cannot be said about Kendrick. He was in the fifth grade, and he saw a commercial for the Gap. The children in the commercial would

jump into the shot and slowly fall down singing “Fall into the Gap,” and all he could think was “Man, I want to do that.”

He told his mom and she handed him a newspaper and told him to find an agent.

He was very fortunate in the sense that his mom encouraged any dreams he had and pushed him to work towards those goals. He found an advertisement for the local agency and left a message to set up a meeting. After confirming with his mom that it was OK that her 11-year-old son called them, the agency set up a meeting.

Soon after that Kendrick began taking acting lessons and continued to do so all throughout his school years, finding time after class and on the weekends to perfect his craft.

Not long after moving to Los Angeles, Kendrick booked his role as Jesse on Season 5 of The Vampire Diaries. He notes that he didn’t really have time to process what was going on because he was offered the part less than 24 hours before he had to leave to start filming. “I was much less nervous about what was going to happen on set and more nervous about if I had enough underwear,” he laughs. He does remember feeling nervous about being the new guy on the set but was reassured as his fellow cast and crew members were NKDMAG.COM

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very welcoming and he was able to quickly become friends with all of them. Although his role on the show was relatively small, he has still been taken aback by the fans’ dedication; they were so invested in his character’s role and still are even though Jesse was killed.

This October, Fox will be premiering its newest 10-episode crime drama called Gracepoint, written by Chris Chibnall.

Gracepoint is a remake of the series in England called Broadchurch. The show stars David Tennant, Anna Gunn and Nick Nolte — to name a few. On the show Kendrick plays Dean Iverson. Gracepoint focuses on detectives who are investigating the Solano family’s loss of their son Danny. Dean is Danny’s sister Chloe Solano’s boyfriend, but their relationship is kept a secret from her parents. Kendrick describes Dean as a bit edgy and someone who likes to keep to himself. He loves that Dean has a rebellious side, but at the same time, Dean can be very kind and nurturing with Chloe. Kendrick was initially attracted to the role because of the writing in the script. Kendrick hasn’t seen the entire season yet, so he is excited to be able to see the finished project. He also hopes that the show does well enough to add another season.

“It just kind of fell in place and I love that,” he says.

With this show, he was able to prepare himself more and he was able to talk to producers Anya Epstein and Dan Futterman and ask them any questions he had about the script or his character. Filming took place in Greater Victoria, located in British Columbia, Canada, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island. Kendrick loved filming in this area because the culture is very vibrant and the food is amazing; a perk is for any foodie like himself.

This show was also a learning experience for Kendrick. He notes that even when he wasn’t scheduled to work, he would still come to set to watch. The most important thing he was able to learn from his co-stars is that everyone has a different process and method for becoming involved in the work they do, but it’s vital that a person be confident in their own process and trust their instincts.

“I would just go sit and watch because the directors and actors of the show are such high caliber,” he says. “I just wanted to soak it all up.” NKD NKDMAG.COM

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DIA FRAMPTON Words by JORDAN MELENDREZ Photos by CATHERINE POWELL Hair & Make-Up by SARAH JOFFE

In 2011, she was known as the runner-up on NBC’s The Voice. Since then, Dia Frampton, 26, has been reevaluating her career and life. Even though it seems as though the composed and poised musician has found the answer, Dia is still navigating through life’s complexities.

“Honestly, I didn’t feel like quite myself, for probably the last three years.

I was trying so hard to please other people,” Dia says with her bright yet calm demeanor. “Not to say I didn’t enjoy so many things that happened after The Voice … It was still a lot of, at the end of the day, ‘Why am I doing this?’ or ‘Why is this [song] on my record?’”

Dia seems accustomed to periods of self-rediscovery and taking risks, qualities she has demonstrated since she was young and living in Draper, Utah.

“I was kind of a screechy, off-key, pitchy, screaming child,” she says about not being a natural singer. “But I just loved it still, so I just worked on it and started my first band with my sister.”

While she was performing in Meg & Dia, the band she and her sister started, the three-time Vans Warped Tour vet20

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eran toured with the likes of Angels & Airwaves, Plain White T’s and Say Anything. After signing with Warner Bros.

Records and releasing Here, Here and Here in 2009, the label dropped them in 2010. Meg & Dia released Cocoon, their independent project, in 2011. “It just tanked,” she says. “We didn’t know what to do.”

So, with nothing to lose, Dia auditioned for The Voice. Despite her success and popularity after the show ended, Dia explains that she never felt as though she was doing anything she really loved. “And that’s where Archis was born,” she says about her new band.

“I just really wanted to do something that I was passionate about and that I cared about again because I realized that music had become more of a job to me than what it was originally: my passion and my dream.”

At that juncture and mindframe, Dia began working with producer Joseph Trapanese, who has worked on movie soundtracks with Daft Punk for Tron: Legacy and M83 for Oblivion. With Joe’s experience with film scores and Dia’s background with songwriting, they discovered the tone of their project: a subgenre Dia calls a “movie soundtrack with vocals over it … a movie composer-meets singer-songwriter.”

“We would work on just the music before we’d put words to it,” Dia says about their songwriting process, which she describes as movie-like, but in short segments that is vastly different from her pop background. “It taught me a lot … it was a lot of unlearning for me to do, unlearning the rules.”

This underlying sentiment of selfconsciousness and rediscovery is evident in Archis’ work. “I’ll sing this line, and I’ll sing this verse,” Dia says. “And then instead of going to a chorus or going into this, let’s go into a really beautiful piano part where the drums fall away.” And you can hear the complexity of Dia’s feelings and the storyline on “Blood”; “the part where the character is falling apart, and this is the part where you left somebody behind,” Dia says about matching the music with a story.

“And now I think that’s why Archis is such a breath of fresh air,” she says.

“Joe’s the type of person where I’m like, ‘I don’t know if this is very, you 22

know, pop-friendly. But what if we did something like this?’ And he’s always like, ‘Something like that? Why don’t we do something like this?’ And it’s always something crazy and wild and beautiful.”

When considering a song’s sound, Dia says she usually worries about whether other people will like the sound. Then Joe asks her is she likes the sound, and if she does, he reinforces the idea that if she loves it, then that is the only thing that matters.

“He told me when I was really nervous about the EP ‘It’s way better to fail doing something you love than fail doing something you thought other people would love,’” Dia remembers. “And that really stuck with me.”

The band is planning to release an EP in January of 2015. “Our goal for Archis was to have it kind of sound like a movie soundtrack, but also have there be storytelling involved,” Dia explains about the band’s sound. Which is exactly how Archis’ song “Blood” sounds, and people seem to like it. “Blood” has been on YouTube for about four months and has already almost garnered 25,000 views.

“I think music videos are very important. I mean, especially if you feel you have something to say,” she says. “I think if you are able to do it, I mean, If I’m able to do it, I’d love to do it.”

Even with the steady success of “Blood,” Dia seems unconcerned with building a fanbase. “It’s kind of cool because I feel like I’ve grown up with them,” she states about the loyal Meg & Dia followers. Conversely, though, some fans from The Voice seem to have fallen away, as they were more interested in Dia as a television personality than as a musician. “They’ll buy the cover you did of Mariah Carey, or something,” she says, mentioning how radio plays no longer matter.

With other priorities in mind, Dia keeps looking forward. After finalizing an EP release date and planning to release an LP next summer, Dia says one of the main priorities now is to tour.

This is easier said than done; nine string players, six brass players, two drummers and a harp player do not come cheap.

Most bands also say their first show together is terrible, Dia says. So to her, the prospect of one big show with a full orchestra as a starting point is “terrify-

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ing.”

“It’s kind of like ‘Ok, this is your big show. This is your big moment,’” she says, mentioning how she might try and perform in Los Angeles in January.

The nerves about a big performance also translates to signing with what would be her fourth label. “But also because it is my fourth label, I feel like I actually have a good head on my shoulders now,” Dia explains.

“Because instantly you think ‘major is good,’” she says, snapping her fingers.

“But then I was like, ‘I’ve been on two major labels, nothing happened … I started with a family label like Doghouse when I was a kid, and they’re great. And I want that family vibe with a record label.”

Her focus on vibes and feelings is also an important part of her other goal: to have Archis inspire people with their live performance.

“I want a live show that makes the person that comes to it feel differently about something as they are leaving the venue,” she says. “I just want it to make people feel inspired, like maybe when they leave the show they’ll be like ‘I need to call that girl. She is the one.’”

“I just want them to, hopefully, feel excited about something,” she adds. But Dia also says she doesn’t feel like an inspiring person, at least not a majority of the time. “If somebody comes up to a show and they’re like, ‘You inspired me to do this’ or ‘You’re the one who made me want to sing,’ it’s flattering, but it’s also somewhat surprising to me.”

Dia admits that she is not always as she appears on social media. “The Internet is a grand facade, and I’ll post a picture on Instagram of me eating an ice cream cone when realistically I’m so upset over something or trying to write a song I think is the worst song in the world,” Dia says. “Or maybe, you know, I did something, I wronged somebody, and I’m just having the worst time of my life.”

“It’s just hard to feel inspiring sometimes, and I just feel like half the time I’m failing at something or, you know, even on the last tour people were like ‘You’re doing so well,’” Dia reminisces, laughing nervously. “And I’m like, ‘I’m still searching. I’m still so lost you have no idea.’” NKD NKDMAG.COM

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nolan gould Words by CHRISTINE O’DEA Photos by CATHERINE POWELL

If you type “Nolan Gould” into the Google search bar, the words following his name in the suggested searches are: genius, net worth, Ellen, Twitter and college. Nolan is not your average 15-yearold, but not simply because he stars on the five-time Emmy Award winning ABC sitcom Modern Family. His interests and talents go way beyond pretending to be intellectually challenged on television. The sitar-mandolin-banjo-piano-playing, rockclimbing, mountain-biking, nature-loving college sophomore is living a double life.

And loving it.

When he was growing up, Nolan moved several times as a result of his father being in the military. From upstate New York, to Georgia, to Los Angeles and many cities in between, Nolan became interested in acting. This was partly inspired by his older brother, whose footprints he always tried to follow closely.

“Normal adolescence? Yes and no,” Nolan explains. “I have my normal Nolan, non-actor self … and then there’s my acting self.” When he meets new people, Nolan explains that around three months after meeting him, they discover that he is an NKDMAG.COM

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actor. Aside from demanding why he didn’t tell them, people are pleasantly surprised that Nolan is capable of separating that identity from his own.

At times, this double life catches Nolan by surprise, too. Nolan started booking jobs around the time he was 5 years old.

Most were commercials and modeling campaigns, one of which was for a costume company. Nolan laughs and recalls a time a few years ago where he was walking through a store and saw costumes with pictures of “a little curly-haired kid” who he thought looked like him. “Turns out it was actually me and they’re still using them,” he says.

These days, Nolan says he gets recognized while running errands or while rock climbing, but not on nights he suits up in a tuxedo. “It usually happens to be when I look really haggard, like after I go camping,” he says. Regardless, Nolan is happy to interact with fans. He makes a point to take pictures and thank them for supporting him, but there are days where he wishes he could go to the grocery store in pajamas unrecognized.

The goofiness and fun-loving nature that Nolan exhibits is similar to that of Luke Dunphy, his character on Modern Family.

These qualities are also what attracted Nolan to play the role of Luke in the first place.

“I got to do a lot of strange stuff in the first season,” Nolan says. “He’s so different from me that he was doing things that I would never even think of. Even if I did, I have a conscience, so I would never do it.”

Playing pranks and pushing people’s buttons are some of Luke’s strong suits and why he has grown to be such a lovable character on the show. “He’s kind of like an evil genius and not so much a dumb, sweet kid,” Nolan says.

Throughout the six seasons, Luke has grown and changed in similar ways that Nolan has. “Even though he might not be real, he goes through the same stages as I do and has the same problems and issues that I do. It’s nice to know that someone is in the same boat as you.” Nolan finds similarities even in the dynamics of characters on Modern Family and not just within the relationship with his own character.

Getting girl advice from his on-screen mom, Julie Bowen, or learning about all things manly, like shaving or camping, from his goofy TV dad, Ty Burrell, are benefits that Nolan has discovered on and off set.

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“My TV sisters [Sarah Hyland and Ariel Winter] are just like real sisters — always picking on me and getting on my nerves and ganging up on me — but at the end of the day, we all still love each other. It’s a little cliché but we really are one giant modern family,” Nolan explains.

“I’m really concerned of when people are going to get tired of us,” Nolan says, laughing. His concern seems minor, as Modern Family has won the Emmy for Best Comedy Series for five consecutive years, and was highly anticipated by audiences for the upcoming sixth season that premiered last month. Nolan admits to checking Twitter just before they were awarded the Emmy, only to discover that fans were hoping a different show deserved the title this year.

“Hearing the letter M after ‘The winner is … ’ I just got up and started running for the stage,” Nolan said. “Luckily there were no other shows that started with M otherwise that would have been really embarrassing.”

Nolan’s long-term career goal is simple.

“I like to entertain people. It’s what I’ve been doing my whole life, and I would like to keep doing it.”

While he understands that acting is an industry and that this business might not work out, he would like to remain in a position where he can provide entertainment for others. Nolan is certainly achieving this goal so far, and it wouldn’t be surprising if he continues to do so through other outlets, like music or production.

“I just started going for the most obscure instruments that I could possibly find,” Nolan explains. He has famously discussed his interest in instruments, and was once given a banjo as a gift from Ellen Degeneres during his interview on her talk show. One day, Nolan hopes to write and share music for others to listen to, but for now he admits that he’s “not so good at writing music.”

The expectations that Nolan encounters are not often about his music or acting talents, but his brains. With a 150 IQ, and after accelerating 10 grades, he is a in his second year of college at a young age. “Sometimes people come up to me expecting me to be a super human calculator, and other times they think I’m dumb like Luke,” he says.

From person to person, the expectations vary, but in the end, Nolan understands that this is typical as a result of his fame and popularity.

To put his fame to good use, Nolan is currently working on a project that

combines all of what he loves and putting it toward a cause he cares about. While he could not give away too many details, he mentioned that he would be a in a producer role, and that episodes will begin shooting in December. Nolan is a youth ambassador for the Sierra Club, a public charity focused on conservation and the environment.

“This project kind of takes all the things I love — acting, nature, animal conservation and outdoor activities — and makes it into a show,” he explains.

Nolan hinted that he is helping produce the show, and with his busy schedule, it only becomes more impressive that at such a young age, he can manage to play so many roles, both on and off camera. This past summer is the first summer he has ever had off from work and school. Usually, Nolan attends school during the summer and simultaneously films Modern Family throughout the year. However, this summer consisted of back-to-back vacations.

The summer months were spent in Canada, Cancun, Virginia, Alaska, Seattle, summer camp, Comic Con and a handful of other places. Nolan does not typically have free time between work and college, but he exhibits a well-balanced and mature outlook on time management. “I took a step back and said that maybe it was time to just have some fun and be a normal kid,” he explains. “I’ve been making sure that I have free time and hobbies and time to hang out with friends and do stupid teenage boy stuff.”

He is an average American teen, at the end of the day. While starring in a hit series is not so average, there are humbling moments that come with Nolan’s job. Relating to people and making sure that he feels connected with the audience is always a driving factor for him. There are moments that serve as reminders to Nolan that the stories he plays a part in are meaningful to people for longer than just each 30-minute episode.

During a screening of the season finale of Modern Family, where Mitch and Cam get married, Nolan recalls a moment that will stay with him forever. “I just remember looking around and there were people literally crying and wiping their eyes,” he says, still astonished at just the thought. “It was a really cool moment to know that the show could have that kind of affect on people; to make them cry, to make them laugh and to take them on this journey with the characters and feel connected with them.” NKD

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FIFTH HARMONY Words by ALEX LANE Photos by CATHERINE POWELL

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Genuine. Family oriented. And young. Like, really young.

The girls of Fifth Harmony — Ally Brooke, Normani Hamilton, Dinah Hansen, Camila Cabello and Lauren Jauregui — range in age from 17 to 21, and they are already world famous.

They didn’t always plan to have this life, though. The girls say only Ally and Normani have been working at this career since childhood.

The other three say they never thought they could achieve this level of stardom.

Probably because they come from humble beginnings, but that’s the point of these talent-based shows: to find America’s next biggest star — or stars, as it were.

Ally was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas. Normani was born in Georgia and spent much of her childhood in New Orleans, but now calls Houston, Texas home. Lauren is from Miami, Florida. Camila was born in Cuba, and had spent time in

Havana and Mexico before she was 5 years old. Dinah is the only California native.

Prior to their time on The X Factor, the girls had never met.

Forming as a group on season two of the show, these ladies quickly caught the attention of the American audience and were one of the most popular acts from week-to-week.

They came in third place and are now signed to Epic Records under the tutelage of the one and only Simon Cowell.

Since the show wrapped up, life has moved pretty quickly for the girls. They didn’t actually know they were signed to any label until the night of the wrap party when Cowell pulled them aside and filled them in.

Since then, they have been moved from their homes, started recording and writing, and were thrust into philanthropic opportunities all over the place. “We are really blessed,” all of the girls say at some point during our conversation.

And they are. The girls are fortunate to be in a group where everyone seems to genuinely like one another.

Meeting one another just two years ago, the girls point to their first meeting as the moment when they felt like they just clicked. Ally is extremely grateful for this. “The pressures of the industry can be really intense. They can actually be detrimental to a relationship. There are so many different stresses coming from so many different people,” she says.

They believe in one another, and they believe in what they are doing, which makes working together that much easier. “I think the one common thread that we do have, is basically, we are all very family oriented. We have the same goals. So even if we have problems, we have to just resolve them. We can’t get there without each other and the five of us,” Lauren says.

The five of them have rocketed to fame in the past few months particularly from the releases of recent EPs NKDMAG.COM

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and singles that promote a message of confidence, self-love and girl power. A message that they really believe in because, well, they see the impacts that self-consciousness, self-hate and unrealistic media messages about body image can have on young and teen girls. Their listenership is largely preteen and adolescent women who are subject to all kinds of societal ideas of what is expected from them. Fifth Harmony hopes that their message helps let these girls know that no one is perfect, that those ideals are unrealistic and that even the rich and famous are imperfect.

“We shouldn’t be putting each other down, we should be building each other up. It should be about feeling beautiful and confident.

That’s a major thing for us is being confident,” Lauren says. “I think its also important to remember that we come from a place where, we are just like the girls that listen to us. We aren’t perfect. Even though we are 34

traveling and in a girl group, we have our bad days and we are definitely not perfect.”

While they may not be perfect, they understand what it means to at least be good role models. Each of these ladies had the right role models in their own lives because they understand that their actions reflect directly on themselves, their group and the ways that their fandom sees them.

A big part of this is because they have little siblings. Camila said that she is super conscious of the things she does because she wants to be a good role model for her little sister.

But they also don’t set unrealistic expectations for themselves. “In terms of role model, I think we aim to be more, real,” Lauren says. “I think Tupac said it once, that he would rather be a real model than a role model. Because a role model has this ideal that they are the perfect mold that is never going to mess up and you can always look up to, and while

we want to be that for people — we want people to look up to us — we also want to leave room for the fact that we are not perfect. At the end of the day, we are still just 17-, 18-, 21-year-old girls who are still trying to figure out their way in this world.”

The girls all say that they have done a lot of growing in the past few years and believe it has been beneficial for them all as individuals.

“Before [Fifth Harmony] I was the opposite of the life that I am living now. I was so introverted. I was kind of living in this bubble. I didn’t have to really deal with anything. I didn’t have any questions that needed to be answered,” Camila says. “But I think for me, just having to interact with people and growing up as a teenager and trying to get answers about yourself and what philosophy you want to live your life by. Like I feel like there are so many questions that I have asked myself, and that I have had to answer really quickly.”

Having the support and guidance

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of the girls to her left and right has been a huge help, Camila says. They hold one another accountable, but also give one another the boosts they need when they’re down. She explains that the music has done a lot in helping her work through some of those questions, too, because they have to remember the message they are trying to send to their audience.

“Like the meaning of confidence,” Camila says. “And what it really means. Especially because we try and talk about it in our music. Like feminism and what it means to be a strong woman. We are learning that.

We are singing about it, but we are learning that. At the end of the day, we are individual people who are trying to know what being yourself even means. It’s so confusing at this age. But we are kind of learning with them.”

Their fandom definitely appreciates their honesty and their commitment to each and every one of them. Which is not easy to pull off, as the ladies now boast 1.5 million Twitter followers and 4 million-plus Facebook likes. But the way that they interact with their fans in person and online would make you think that they are old pals with each of them.

“We’ve never thought of ourselves and our fans as having this big distinction, like one is on a higher level than the other,” Camila says.

“So when we meet them, and the way we treat them on social media, it’s just as if we were friends. We want that family relationship to be in our fanbase as well. That’s the best thing in life, is love, and family and relationships.”

That is also the perspective that the girls take on their careers. It is more about the relationships than on the fame and fortune. That familyoriented, it’s-all-about-love mentality is what pushed them to get so involved with philanthropic endeavors. “We want to make a difference in this world, and we want to give

back in whatever way we can,” Lauren says. “We are being blessed with this incredible opportunity, and we have a platform that we can use to reach so many girls, so many young women. Any chance that we get to do anything of that sort, we jump on it and look forward to it.” With this in mind, they have worked with the Girl Scouts of America, the Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia and Los Angeles, Goodwill Industries and Aeropostale’s Do Something campaign.

They also make relationships a big part of their musical career.

“Something really important to me is honesty in music,” Camila says. “I feel like if the music you are listening to doesn’t reflect the people you see in interviews or in person, if their personality comes off even just a little bit disingenuous, [the music] doesn’t matter. It has to represent who we are.“ With their forthcoming album, all the girls feel like they have really achieved a sound they can all get behind. Each of them comes from a different musical background, with unique tastes and interests, so the fact that they have been able to create a whole album that they all agree on is a huge feat. “This new album is a mix of who we have become over the course of the two years, but also who we want to be,” Camila says.

Their single “Bo$$” was a marked maturation from their 2013 EP, Better Together. The ladies showed off their empowered, we-mean-business attitude. “The rest of the album content is definitely girl power, but we are also really vulnerable in the songs as well,” Ally says. “As we are growing, our music is growing as well.” Which the girls hope will attract an audience of both older and younger listeners.

But it’s not all about the listeners.

The girls want to be authentic, and that trait of genuineness that they carry through everything they do has

gained them industry recognition that goes beyond their label connections. Fifth Harmony recently won the Artist to Watch award at the 2014 VMAs, an experience that each of the girls said was both amazing, and a blessing.

Being recognized and seeing the positive feedback has helped Fifth Harmony reconcile with the hard parts of being on tour and being away from their beloved family members. Ally says that the challenges of being on the road mostly just center on missing out on family holidays, watching cousins and siblings grow up and being with their parents. “Knowing that they are proud, knowing that they are happy, and that they completely support what you’re doing is amazing. And that time that you do get to spend with them is cherished so much more than the everyday thing,” she says.

While the girls are more than happy with their moon man, the love of their fan base – dubbed “Harmonizers” – and the industry connections they have already made in their short career, they also recognize that they need to keep pushing and working towards a bigger objective. “I think it’s a blessing that we won a VMA, but I think we want to keep working even harder to win a Grammy,” Dinah says. “I think its great that we are all working towards one goal.”

Over the next few months, the girls are anticipating the release of their forthcoming album Reflection, tour dates in Brazil and plans of catching up with family.

When it comes down to it, the girls are really just looking to create an experience for themselves.

“I think as a group we just — when we are done with this experience, because realistically at some point its going to be done — we want to get out of there and be like ‘we had the best times of our lives. And we didn’t take it for granted,’” Camila says. NKD NKDMAG.COM

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raelynn Racheal Lynn Woodward, better known by her stage name RaeLynn, was once a contestant on season two of NBC’s The Voice. Ever since then, her life has took a drastic turn for the better, and it looks like more doors are opening for this Texas native.

Growing up in the city of Baytown, Texas, only half an hour away from the populous and bustling city of Houston, 40

RaeLynn recalls her childhood as “musical.” Her aunt and uncle are pastors of a church in Baytown, and everyone in her family is a talented singer. “I grew up being around music and church. We’d sing every Sunday together as a family.

At the age of 15, I became very interested in country music,” she says. “I told my mom and she was very supportive. When I turned 17, we started going out to Nash-

Words by JOSEPHINE TSE Photos by CATHERINE POWELL

ville to explore my options and later, that’s when I got on The Voice.”

Initially, RaeLynn chose to try out for The Voice because of country singer Miranda Lambert, who is married to The Voice judge Blake Shelton. “I’ve always loved Miranda and wanted to meet Miranda. What better way than being on Blake’s team?” she laughs as she reminisces. “I knew I wanted to be an artist,

but that fire truly didn’t spark in me until I was on The Voice. When I felt the roar of the crowd, and how much fun it was, I knew that’s what I wanted to do for a living and that was what I was passionate about.”

RaeLynn’s relationship with everyone she met during The Voice taught her many lessons about the music industry. She treasured those life lessons, as they helped her grow as a person and not just as a musician. After The Voice, she moved to Nashville and has been living there ever since. She was 18 when she moved out, and looking back at it, she still doesn’t believe all the craziness that happened to her.

“Nashville is a great place. Picture a big

family. That’s the community of Nashville.

Everyone knows each other and treats one another with respect,” RaeLynn says.

In Nashville, she says that everyone roots for everyone. When someone achieves something and comes out on top, they all praise that person, and it’s that person’s moment to shine. When someone else gets it, it’s that person’s moment to shine.

“There’s a lot of sharing of moments, and just so much love involved. I’m glad to be embraced by such a positive community.

I can’t believe I have the opportunity to create art with people who love to do this for a living,” she says.

In the past two years, RaeLynn has been quite busy. Her new single and music video for “God Made Girls” recently hit the music market. Co-written with Nashville writing gurus Liz Rose, Lori McKenna and Nicolle Galyon, the song is “easily relatable by all ages,” as RaeLynn describes it.

“You know when you’re with your girlfriends, and you start talking about boy stuff, and then you move on to ranting about all the stuff boys can’t do without girls? That’s how we got the idea and title for ‘God Made Girls.’” RaeLynn explains.

“We wrote the song so quickly, and it instantly became my first single.”

With Liz being in her 50s, Lori in her 40s, Nicolle in her 30s and RaeLynn in her 20s, the coverage of age ranges is why RaeLynn believes so many different women love this song. The inclusion of all these ages and different perspectives of being a woman in this world all came together in “God Made Girls.” “It didn’t take us long to figure it out,” she says. “For instance, something that Liz figured out because she’s been here longer than me and has been through much more would be something I wouldn’t have put in a song. But because she did, it has made my song relatable to more people.”

Currently, RaeLynn is working on a studio album. Every song on her debut album is original and something she has personally been through. It is also written in a way the general audience can find relatable. She has recorded a few songs already but has plans to finish it up with Joey Moi, who also produces for today’s big names such as Florida Georgia Line and Jake Owen. RaeLynn is also one of the first females he’s produced for, which she says is really cool. “Joey told me he feels

like he makes girls cry,” she says, chuckling. “I told him, ‘Well, I’m tough as a nail, so you don’t have to worry about that.’”

So far, RaeLynn says she thinks she is working with the right producer. “When I listened to his works with Florida Georgia Line and other artists, I loved the sounds he brought in with the percussions, and I knew it would be a good fit,” she says.

“He’s got so much energy in his productions. I have a lot of energy, and I knew it would go well together.”

She also said that she’s having fun on being an emerging, young, female, country artist in today’s male-dominated country music market. “We really do need some girl power in this industry. I think that’s another reason why so many people are embracing ‘God Made Girls.’ There is just so much ‘bro-country’ out there.

We’re in need of some gals.”

Aside from Joey and her other mentors, RaeLynn is currently working with different top-notch writers in Nashville, including (but not limited to) Jimmy Robbins, Shane McAnally and Natalie Hemby.

“There are many big writers in Nashville who have been really welcoming, and I think it’s going to be a cool record.”

During one of her writing sessions, someone told RaeLynn that “writing a song isn’t the whole movie. It’s just a moment in time.” “I couldn’t believe it. That advice changed the way I thought about writing,” RaeLynn says. “When I first started writing songs, I felt like I had to tell a whole story in three minutes. But that’s not the case. The song is just the moment.”

“I’m guessing that my album will be released early next year. A truly wild guess, yes. But definitely sometime next year,” she says. In the few months remaining in 2014, RaeLynn will be focusing on doing radio shows and polishing up her record. “I hope to go on tour next year and achieve a number one single, too.

That would definitely be the dream!” she exclaims.

But one question still lingers: Did she meet Miranda?

“I did meet her. And I have to say, she’s just awesome,” she laughs. “You know what she told me? She said, ‘You never want to be a lukewarm artist. You want to be polarizing. Be true to yourself and don’t ever let anybody change you because you’re unique and real. You need to keep that artistry.’” NKD NKDMAG.COM

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HEFFRON DRIVE Words by STACY MAGALLON Photos by CATHERINE POWELL

“I think a fan gave me this,” Kendall Schmidt says, holding up a ceramic forest green mug.

The members of Heffron Drive are overlooking the progress of their upcoming album artwork in Kendall’s kitchen in Los Angeles. It’s 1 a.m., the early morning after their show at Universal CityWalk in August, but the night is far from over. We might be up for hours.

“How do you like your coffee?” Kendall asks me, looking through his refrigerator. Milk and sugar, please.

I’m sitting at the kitchen counter with guitarist Dustin Belt.

We’re designing the back case of their album packaging. “Can you make one letter of every track title a different color?” he suggests. I do as he asks, picking a vowel from every song name and making it fuchsia. “Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about,” he says,

smiling at my computer screen.

Kendall pours a heavy helping of hot coffee into the cup. Then he pauses. “Never mind, I think I bought the mug at Walmart.”

After watching Heffron Drive perform for a crowd of hundreds earlier tonight, I’m glad to see they’re on their next endeavor -- preparing for the release of their first full-length. Right now, I’m concentrating on the proper placement of text, falling asleep every few minutes.

Below me, the Schmidt family’s pet pig Yuma is sniffing a piece of popcorn I dropped. Kendall hands me the green mug, but coffee might not help my case.

I’m exhausted. And after all this time, I still don’t know what the album sounds like.

“You haven’t heard the album yet?” Kendall’s older brother, Kevin, asks me from across the kitchen counter. “Play it!”

I turn to Kendall’s laptop beside me and double click the file labeled Track 1. Soon enough, the kitchen is engulfed by the guitar riff that would soon introduce Heffron Drive’s album to the rest of the world.

A month later at the Theater of Living Arts in Philadelphia, Kendall sits in his dressing room anxiously. Three stories below us stands a queue of fans (mostly girls) waiting for doors to open at noon — some of them have been in line since 5 a.m. “My throat hurts and I’m tired,” Kendall says to me, stretching his limbs across the leather couch we’re sitting on. “I’ve just got to get through it.” He’s not nervous about the meet and greet coming up soon. But perhaps his debut album, Happy Mistakes, hitting shelves in two days, is more nerve-wracking.

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tions,” Kendall says about the long-awaited release of Heffron Drive’s freshman record. “I realized that once I started this project up again. I can’t have any expectations.” He’s been taking the experience for face value so far.

While recording the album, Kendall worked with a producer or on his own. There were songs that took an hour to produce and songs that took multiple sessions to perfect. Then a couple months before Happy Mistakes was released, the tracks pieced themselves together.

One particular song off the album, “That’s What Makes You Mine,” was co-written with Nick Hexum from alternative rock band 311. Kendall takes extreme pride in the production of that song. “Nick and I thought it was weird and really quirky,” he says.

It might have been the eccentric structure of the song, but after taking a quick shot at the vocals, he became confident in sharing his work with others. “I played it for a couple producers and asked if they wanted to help reproduce the track,” Kendall says before bowing his head down slightly.

“They kinda laughed at me.”

The criticism stung, but it didn’t hold Kendall back. “I was like, ‘You know what? Fuck it.

I’m going to do this at home,’” he says, grinning. And so he did.

Kendall reproduced the track in the studio space above his garage in Los Angeles. “That’s What Makes You Mine” is now a featured track on Happy Mistakes, and it’s one of Kendall’s favorites.

The album, an eclectic mix of the indie, electro and pop-rock genres, leaves you with no idea of what sound comes next. “I knew that I couldn’t just write pop songs,” Kendall says. “And I 44

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wouldn’t want to.” He did, after all, dedicate four years of his life to a successful pop group.

When Big Time Rush ended abruptly, fans dispersed — feeling abandoned and betrayed without an explanation. Nickelodeon no longer wanted to produce the hit television series.

Sony barely wanted Big Time Rush to create another record.

And that left the members, Kendall included, fending for their individual careers. “The faucet just turned off,” Kendall explains.

A Big Time Rush fan didn’t pay to watch Columbia Records.

They paid to see Big Time Rush.

But the funds that could’ve been used to produce their music weren’t going toward the proper cause. “I’m bummed out that the fans are upset,” Kendall says.

“But it’s not my place to explain the situation in depth.” The situation was not as “cut and dry” as ‘Rushers’ interpreted it to be.

Kendall didn’t stop Big Time Rush, and it seems as though the members had no say in the matter either. “I want to be a musician,” he says, staring straight at me. “And I’m not going to have a project I’m a part of hold me back for the rest of my life.”

At 23, Kendall’s driving force is no longer a major label, and I’m sure there are Columbia executives who probably think he’s mad. He very well could be, but he’s too stubborn to settle.

“That’s why I’m doing this independently,” Kendall says. “I can’t deal with people telling me what is and what isn’t anymore.” And with the launch of his own independent record label, TOLbooth Records, this past March, Kendall got exactly what he wanted: control of his career. But that comes with a price. The pres46

sure’s on Kendall — and everyone’s watching.

It’s additional stress to crave success in the way you hope.

Now I see why Kendall’s trying to keep his expectations low. “Of course I want the record to go No. 1,” he says in a silly, sarcastic tone. “But I don’t have a huge engine behind me. I need to start from the bottom and build up.”

And while members of the boy band’s fan base are still heartbroken, there have been a few sour hands crossing their fingers for Heffron Drive’s failure. Could Kendall retire off of what Nickelodeon paid him? In theory, sure.

But he doesn’t want to. “I want to be a musician, I have to do this, I have to keep going,” Kendall says, his raspy voice rising louder. “They can root for me to fail all they want, but I’m not going to.”

And he’s hoping to accomplish way more. There’s no limit to the audience of an adult contemporary band. That was an issue when Kendall was performing as one-fourth of Big Time Rush.

“Sure, parents enjoyed watching the show,” he says. “But a parent wouldn’t necessarily go to the show by themselves; they’d go with their kids.”

Heffron Drive’s security guard pops his head into the room. It’s time for their meet and greet.

While he is adamant on keeping his expectations low, Kendall still dreams of success. Since we last spoke in Philadelphia, Happy Mistakes made its way onto the iTunes Pop Charts. It reached the Top 10 in it’s first week. “I hope the fans will support an indie act as much as they supported a big-box act because my ass is on the line,” I remember Kendall saying. I hope they do, too. NKD

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KAT MCNAMARA Words by SAM ROSENTHAL Photos by CATHERINE POWELL

From Disney Channel star to MTV’s leading lady, Kat McNamara is ready to take her career to the next level. On this rollercoaster of life she is heading upwards to her newest theme park-based project Happyland. The anticipated Happyland, is set to air Sept. 30, on MTV. Kat describes the show as a smart show with a “soapy, dramatic plot.” She spills that there is a lot of craziness behind the scenes of a theme park that seems to be running perfectly.

She describes it as “utter chaos” that’s filled with teenage heartbreak and drama. Growing up and finding out who you are is hard enough, but doing so while working at a crazy theme park makes this ride a little bit bumpier. Kat shares that there is plenty of drama happening on the show: dealing with college, jobs and everyday family problems comes along in the show.

Kat’s character, Harper Monroe is a “super fun, flamboyant girl” but also very boy crazy, which stirs up some drama at the park. Although Harper gets in trouble because of her infatuation with boys, she has a love interest and long-term boyfriend named Will.

“I love, absolutely love Cameron Moulène, who plays Will,” she says. “We get along so well.” As the show moves forward things get a little sticky with her on screen love interest when Monroe’s family is promoted to corporate at the park.

Harper starts “moving up in the Happyland hierarchy” and gets a taste of the glitz and glam that comes with it.

Filming was in one word, “crazy.” Dealing with forest fires and 40 mph winds was not the easiest work environment, and it added a day of production to the cast and crew’s already busy schedules. Kat sheds light on what it’s like work at a theme park.

“Every episode we have just crazy

things happening,” she says. “Some scenes that take place actually on a moving rollercoaster, that are really fun. I wasn’t in that scene but they just had a blast shooting it.”

Whether it takes place while people are trying to enjoy their day trip to the park or when the park is shut down for just employees. When shooting part of the pilot episode at Six Flags, part of the park was closed to the public. Kat admitted that the park was strange and almost eerie because it is typically full of life. She was excited when another theme parks sign was switched out for the Happyland sign, which “made it real” for her.

Not only was the setting crazy, but the characters were as well. Kat says that there will be characters dressed in “pirate costumes and a life-size damnation.”

“It’s a theme park, anything is possible,” Kat says. “It really does transport you into another world and that’s, I think, what makes our show so unique and so different.”

Kat states that every episode is busy and a lot of things are happening throughout each scene. She expains that before each scene they would have to have a little meeting to discuss what was happening and who each person liked. Kat says the last week of filming was fun but got a bit hectic at times. Kat emphasizes how every episode is crazy but she is looking forward to first season finale. Until recently, she didn’t even know the ending of the show because they shot two different endings.

“It can completely change how the second season goes about,” Kat says, adding that it will “blow the viewers’ minds.”

Kat states that transitioning, as a guest star on Disney to a leading role on MTV was “a whole different level when you’re working on your own set.” She says that

filming for Happyland felt more like a feature film rather than a series because of the 16-to 17-hour workday in a timeframe of six weeks. “It was very intense,” Kat admits. But she adds that it was “a neat journey to go on together” that helped her get to know her co-stars and create a solid unit. “It’s very different but in the best way possible,” she says. “I really love it.”

“MTV is such a great network to work for,” Kat stresses, adding that acting in the next generation of MTV is a dream come true for her. She is a huge fan of other MTV shows such as Awkward. and Teen Wolf, and she has met the cast of both shows. She remembers that everyone was very welcoming, and she thinks MTV is going in a new, great direction. With her anticipation for the premiere building, Kat says that Happyland is “going to have a reaction” and that some people are going to love it and some may hate it. But she hopes that that viewers will be able to relate to the show.

“It’s such a smart show and something that, you know people, MTV’s audience will really relate to,” she says. “Even, not only the younger audiences but the older mid-20s audience, I think is really going to like the show because it’s really smart and very intelligent.”

Before Happyland, though Kat worked on several other projects. While she has many Disney Channel attributions, more recently she took part in a Disney DCOM called Girl vs. Monster. She plays Becky Thatcher in the indie film Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry Finn, and she stars in Contest, a film about bullying. After Contest screened on Cartoon Network, Kat says that they “got a lot of feedback on that from kids.” She shares that the perspective of the film was realistic, so kids could NKDMAG.COM

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relate to it. She was very passionate about the film and the message it spread. She also starred as Tiffany in Little Savages, a fun, family summer film. “It’s kind of, I guess, Goonies and National Treasure put together,” she says.

Although Kat has been focused on acting and filming, she is also passionate about singing. But she loves both arts.

“They’re equal for me,” she says. “They’re both passions of mine and have been for a long time.”

“I don’t think I can ever put one over the other,” she adds, relating the question to whether someone can have a favorite child. “You can’t ever pick a favorite child.

I can’t pick a favorite part of my art.” Her songs are featured on the soundtracks for Contest and Little Savages. The song from Contest, “Chatter,” is on Vevo and has already almost garnered 83,000 views. For Little Savages, her character was originally supposed to sing a cover of a song, but instead, Kat wrote “My Heart Can Fly.” Kat will also be featured on the soundtrack of A Sort Of Homecoming, another indie film that is scheduled to be released this year.

Kat says she would love to sign with a label, record an EP and tour. She says that an album and EP is “without a doubt” something she is definitely trying to accomplish and share at some point. She stresses how much she loves meeting fans and traveling, which is why a tour is a priority for her.

It’s stimulating to think that some of Kat’s past goals were to star in a film or become a lead in a TV show, and she’s already accomplished those. She says that her new goals are to get her music going because it has been on the backburner for a while now. But she still has aspirations for film. She says she would love to work on “a really gritty drama film, something else that’s really dark” because she loves to play broken people. She says that she believes they’re the most real and interesting characters that have more depth — and are more challenging.

“When I really push myself and really challenge myself to do things, that I didn’t even know if I can do, my favorite scripts are the ones I read and I say, ‘oh wow, I don’t know if I can do that. I hope I can pull that off.’” she says. “And if I end up doing the film, then I have to.”

“That’s when I grow,” she adds. “And that’s when I learn, and that’s what I love about what I do.” NKD NKDMAG.COM

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Words by RILEY STENEHJEM

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For Colony House, music really is all in the family. The indie-rock threepiece, hailing from Franklin, Tennessee, was founded by brothers Caleb Chapman (vocals/guitar) and Will Chapman (drums), who have both been playing music for as long as they can remember. Their third member, guitarist Scott Mills, met Caleb and Will at their sister’s birthday party. “Pretty much that day, the day we met Scott, we started to play as more of a band,” Caleb explains.

“It really is a family affair, even though Scott isn’t part of our family by blood.”

Their inspiration for music is also drawn from experiences with their closest friends and family. “So much of what we write about are the things that we think about with the people we love,” Caleb says. “[It’s] the celebrations that come with being in a family or being in a community that you love.”

In fact, the band’s name is derived from a community that they have all lived in. The name was borrowed from an apartment complex in downtown Franklin called Colony House; they have all been able to call the building home at some point in their lives, and now pay homage to it with their band’s name.

Colony House have just released their first full length album When We Were Younger, which is available for purchase on iTunes. The process of creating the record was a long one: two years. Pre-production began in September of 2012 then the record was completely recorded, mixed and mastered last August. For the past year, the band has been “trying to get the word out about it, and [building] a team to try to make [the] first release successful,” as Caleb describes.

The writing process that brought all of the songs together on the record was a “little bit of a group effort,” Caleb explains. He says that he usually begins by creating some music on his acoustic guitar and writing the lyrics. Then he takes the song to his bandmates. “We flush it out a bit, and then it becomes a Colony House song,” Caleb describes.

“I don’t think any of us really felt ready to record a full-length when we did,” he continues. But thanks to some helpful nudging from their producers, the trio decided to record anyway.

“We talked to our producers, and they … really challenged us [to record a full-length]. Maybe it’s the best place to be starting something when you feel you don’t have all the answers, and you don’t have the final pieces to the puzzle,” he says. “You’re kind of just exploring that while you’re making it, and finding out what these things are.”

This sentiment is explored in the album, and can be recognized in the LP’s title. Caleb considers the experience to be something that aided in their growth as a band. He says that “there’s this underlying theme of growing up”.

Colony House has embarked on a 26-state, two-month tour across the United States. It began on Sept. 2 in Colorado Springs and ends Oct. 30 in Columbus, Ohio. The tour is being coheadlined by Knox Hamilton, a fellow indie-rock band hailing from the South.

“It’s definitely the busiest tour so far,” Caleb says. “We’ve played a lot of shows, but as far as one tour for that many consecutive days, it’s the biggest on that we’ve done.”

While being on the road is entertaining, it’s also one of the biggest challenges of being in a band. “Just imagine yourself in an 8x8 box with five other people that you really like. But for 45 days in a row, it can get challenging,” Caleb explains.

The usual wear and tear of travel definitely weighs down on the band when they’re on tour for extended periods of time, but there are other factors that make it difficult. “If you’re not careful, you start to change who you are, a little bit,” Caleb continues. “You have to have a different guard up when you’re on the road … and I don’t like that, I like being the same person all the time.”

As for other challenges associated with being musicians, Caleb quips, “Well, my brother’s in the band.” On a more serious note, he finds it chal-

lenging to maintain who you are when working in the music industry.

“It’s easy to get caught up and forget that we’re dealing with human beings here,” he remarks, “Something that’s really important to us as a band is to make legitimate friends, and be really personal throughout our careers. We just know that that goes a long way, and … I’d much rather have a reputation for treating people well, and maybe not getting as far as being someone who hasn’t been a person of integrity.”

Maintaining integrity throughout their careers is one of the band’s goals; Caleb hopes to continue “shaking the hands of the people that are becoming fans of [their] music.” Of course, their primary goal is to make music their full-time careers. To do so, they’re working on promoting their record.

“The only way a band like us gets to the next step is by putting in the work themselves … and just saying yes to all of the opportunities that come,” Caleb says, “Say yes, be wise and make smart decisions. The fruit of your labor is evident after you’ve put in the hours.”

When trying to find success in the industry, Caleb explains, “The most important thing is to just do it. There’s a lot of people that think about it too much. They have all these great ideas and they sit on them. They think and they think. I definitely am guilty of the ‘paralysis of analysis.’ It’s just sitting on ideas for so long, and months and months pass while nothing happens to these great ideas.”

Music is more than just a career for Caleb and his bandmates.

“There’s something magical about music that can either lift your spirits, or it can, in a wonderful way, make you contemplate a lot,” Caleb muses. “If we all just took a five-minute breathing break to ponder and think about things, I feel like we’d all live a little bit longer.

In this culture everything moves so fast ... that we forget how wonderful it is to sit down and not feel anything. I think music has the power to take you to that place.” NKD NKDMAG.COM

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