Songwriter’s Monthly Presents:
Riley McDonough
Before You Exit’s
Riley McDonough “You Gotta Have Fun!”
Before You Exit is only halfway through the year and it’s already been a brain-bogglingly, stellar adventure! It started with a tour in January/ February followed by the making of the band’s first official video, “I Like That,” featuring none other than Stefanie Scott! (That would be Webster High’s reigning “it” girl, Lexi Reed from Disney’s A.N.T. Farm — in case you were suffering from an awkward bout of “Wait, don’t tell me, I know that name!”) In April and May the McDonough brothers teamed up with Olly Murs (The X-Factor stunner, as if you didn’t know) for another musical jaunt. And now, just when you’d think it’s time for BYE to kick back and enjoy a relaxing, well-deserved summer vacation, the guys have hit the road with Cody Simpson. Yup, things are definitely heating up for this talented trio of teenagers! In fact, during a recent water balloon battle that took place on the tour, rumor has it that after the balloons popped, the water just sizzled when it hit the brothers! JK. But seriously, Songwriter’s Monthly was lucky enough to have a chance to chat with the band’s energetic, young and passionate vocalist, Riley McDonough. Songwriter’s Monthly: Hey, Riley, how’s it going? What part of the country are you guys in now? Riley McDonough: Good. We’re in Phoenix, just hanging out. SM: You’ve been on the go since January, yet in every single clip on YouTube, in every photo, you are smiling, having a blast, and just seem to have endless amounts of energy. Very impressive! Do you guys ever run out of fuel?!
RM: Well, thank you! We definitely are young so that helps, but we are always trying to do fun stuff. Yesterday, we went to a movie and then we went bowling just for a day off. We’re 17, 19 and 15, you know, so you gotta have fun! SM: All three of you are excellent musicians, what kind of training did you have? RM: Really not that much. We all learned by ear. We tried doing lessons, but we found out that we learn better by watching YouTube videos, looking up the tabs, and teaching ourselves. We all play a little bit of everything, but it’s all self-taught.
“Each of us has our own strength and we trust each other in that.”
SM: Did playing with each other help hone your musical skills? RM: Definitely! You can play by yourself forever, but it’s such a big thing when your brothers come in and you can do it together. It just makes it so much more fun. Instead of you being the only one playing the song, you can have three people playing different parts and messing around with the music. That definitely adds a whole other element to it. SM: Your bio says, each of you has your own role in the band. Do you find that’s really true, do you stick to your roles? RM: To a big extent, yeah. An example would be that I do video editing and Connor does audio while Toby comes in with the filming. We each have our own role, it’s not like I’m editing a video one day and then Connor’s going to do it the next day and say, “Hey, I think
the way I did it is better!” The same goes for songwriting, Connor really loves melodies, I love doing lyrics and Toby’s really good at switching in between the two. Each of us has our own strength and we trust each other in that. SM: What makes you the best guy for writing the lyrics? RM: I’ve always just liked writing, whether it’s lyrics, concepts, or things that have happened to us. It’s really cool because we’re the same age as most of our fans, so they can really relate to us and the things we sing about. When I’m singing about a girl, a girl can still get it because she can relate it to a guy. It’s a similar situation. SM: Who inspires you? RM: John Mayer. His lyrics are all very moving and very descriptive. I’ve always wanted to write like that. SM: Are there any writing tips or tricks you’ve picked up along the way? RM: A long time ago, we worked with these guys in Maryland and they told us the best way to come up with an idea is to start a list of song titles, so whenever I have a concept or something I want to write about, I just put it down as a song title. SM: I recently read that you have a connection to A Rocket To The Moon. How did that happen? RM: We did a tour with them a long time ago. They actually just announced that they are breaking up, SM: No! RM: Yeah, I know! They are all really good dudes and we definitely wish them the best. We actually saw Nick [Santino] a couple of weeks
ago at one of our shows. We’ve always just stayed in touch, they are all really down-to-earth, genuine guys. We wrote a song with Justin [Richards], too! SM: Some of what you’re saying about lyrics, reminds me of things Nick said when I interviewed him. [Note: If you missed that interview, don’t fret, you can still read it at http://www.scribd.com/doc/ 30567251/Songwriter-s-Monthly-May-10-124-Issue] RM: It’s funny, we’re really good friends with Nick and I don’t feel like it’s a regular session when we go in and write with him. We’ve kind of just been hanging out and then thought, “Hey, let’s write a song.” He’s really good with lyrics. SM: How much input did the band have on this new I Like That EP? RM: That’s what was so cool about this EP, we had so much input! In the past, we would go in with these really big producers and they’d make it the way that they thought was best and we really didn’t have much of a say. We’d be, “Uhm, can we change this?” and they’d be “No, this is what’s going to
work for you” and we’d be, “Okay, I guess we can’t change it.” So this time, we went in with two guys, Ryan Daly and Anthony Improgo, and we weren’t expecting anything to click, but it ended up turning into this great friendship. We had a chance to kind of collaborate with them. Connor basically got to co-produce the whole thing. We have writing credits on all the songs and then we handpicked them, the best ones, the ones we thought were great for this project. We knew we weren’t going to be able to do a full length at the time so we just wanted something short, sweet, and simple. We picked our favorite 6 songs, the ones we really thought would be the best example of who we are. SM: Which song is your first choice of who you are? RM: Aw, man, that’s hard. We’re still developing our sound, so it’s hard to pick just one song that says who we are . . . I think “Soldier” is a really good representation. It’s a strong example of us doing everything because we did that one all by ourselves. We even recorded the vocals in our bedroom, so that’s probably the best representation of who we are. SM: It’s got depth and passion. RM: Yes, the lyrics are very heartfelt. SM: So, you can follow up your big pop single with this heartfelt ballad? RM: Exactly! But we definitely love those big pop singles, too! They are fun to write and the best to play live, they get the whole crowd moving! SM: Just like the video for “I Like That.” It’s fun and full of energy. RM: Oh, thank you.
“I Like That”
SM: Even after a 12 hour day! RM: Yeah, it was definitely a long day, but it was nice because everything was right there. It wasn’t like we had to go from location to location, it was all filmed on the Santa Monica Pier. While Stefanie [Scott] was doing her shots, we could run real fast to get food on the pier, it wasn’t like we had to drive all around the city or anything. And the weather was amazing. It was definitely such a fun experience and our first official music video shoot! SM: While I was doing some online research, prepping for this interview, I realized something: people only have amazing things to say about you. You must have the most incredible fans! RM: Yeah! A lot of them have been with us for a year or two years and they are all so very dedicated, they all put “BYE” [Before You Exit] in their Twitter names. We do have the best fans, they are awesome! SM: Before I let you go, I wanted to know if you could offer a little insight on what goes on at a Before You Exit Bus Party? RM: Sure. Basically the Bus Parties are just as fun, if not more fun than the actual show. I mean for us, the show is amazing, but on the bus, it’s almost like a one on one experience. The fans get to come on and we take them to the back lounge and they hang out. It’s very packed, you make best friends with everyone! We play six or seven
songs [acoustic]. They can request whatever song they want, even a song that’s not ours — we’ll do our best to cover it. We take pictures. We say it will take about 45 minutes, but we always end up making it like an hour or an hour and a half just because it’s so much fun for us, it’s what we’ve always loved to do: just play for the fun of it! Those parties have very limited seats and the tickets sell out fast! For more information on the parties, the current tour, the new EP or the band in general, visit: www.beforeyouexit.com. From there you can click to follow them on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, or even see what they are up to on Flickr!