Issue #6 - April 2016: The Ready Set

Issue 6 | APR 16

ONLINE MAGAZINE

New Music, New Label, New Shows: A fresh Start for Jordan Witzigreuter

Trophy wives | Jule Vera | So What!? Music Festival

Staff:

Carol Simpson

co-founder/editor-in-chief Karina Cordova

co-founder/Photographer Sam Lesser

photographer Sara Ruben

contributor/writer Alexa Frankovitch

photographer/contributor Mckenzie Holivay

photographer/contributor

Contact Us:

Email: UnderdogPress2012@gmail.com Website: UnderdogPress.net Issues: Issuu.com/Underdogpress

NOTE: no copyright infringement intended All written material is original. All rights for album artwork and promotional photos used go to their respectful owners.

Get Connected UnderdogPress.net Facebook.com/UnderdogPress Twitter.com/Underdog_Press Instagram: UnderdogPress

Underdog press is looking for new contributors with a passion for music! We’re always looking for new wirters and photographers. Get music industry experience while doing something you love. Email us to apply. **experience preferred**

Special thanks to: The Ready Set Alyssa Dempsey at Big Picture Media Jen Appel at The Catalyst Publicity Group So What!? Music Festival Mike Ziemer Trophy Wives and Jesea Lee Jule Vera Sudden Suspension

CONTENTS Album Reviews pg. 6 Jule Vera pg. 10 Sudden Suspension pg. 12 So What!? Music Fest

pg. 16

Cover Story: The Ready Set pg. 24 Trophy Wives

pg. 32

GALLERY

PG. 36

PHOTO BY SAM LESSER

Want to write for Underdog Press? Email us for m

AlbumREVIEWS

Artist: LIGHTS Album: Midnight Machines LIGHTS is back with another acoustic adventure. Her latest release “Midnight Machines” features acoustic versions of the songs from her last full length “Little Machines”. LIGHTS transformed her electro-pop hits into soothing yet exciting acoustic driven tracks.

“Up We Go” was the first single off of “Little Machines” and as an acoustic track it strips and slows down the fast paced single. LIGHTS’ vocals are accompanied by simple guitar and the words are emphasized in the chorus with a slight vocal effect.

“Don’t Go Home Without Me” was a bonus track originally, but on “Midnight Machines” it shines as an acoustic track. This simpler version features a carefully placed violin that acts like a delicate string holding the entire song together. The song has a darker tone, but the lyrics are still filled with love and emotion from LIGHTS. “Running With The Boys” is the most surprising on the record.

As the original it was a fast paced and exciting song that was a highlight of “Little Machines”. On this acoustic record the excitement is still there with the accompaniment of two guitars and very light drumming.

LIGHTS always stuns with her ability to transform her already amazing songs into something that seems almost completely brand new. “Midnight Machines” is available everywhere now!

Underdog Press | 6

review by Carol Simpson

more details - UnderdogPress2012@gmail.com Artist: MAX Album: Hell’s Kitchen Angel

review by Mckenzie Holivay

MAX quite literally went from “rags” to riches in the last year. From having a hit song featuring big names to opening for Fall Out Boy, MAX hasn’t slowed down nor has he disappointed when it comes to his work. His debut album opens with the title track “Hells Kitchens Angel”. MAX is giving off Bruno Mars-esque vocals and layered melodies that will have you bopping around the second verse. MAX gives you a visual with the song, you can picture the abandoned alley where he’s singing and dancing to the unsuspecting girl walking across the street.

“Holla” blossoms with MAX embracing and embodying Justin Timberlake with his soprano runs and powerful choruses paired with the rock influenced electronic breakdowns. The first few tracks have similar beats, melodies and hand claps until you get to “Lights Down Low”. The warmth from the few acoustic chords on the guitar really transforms the mood of the album from fast paced club music to old school R&B about the “perfect girl”.

“Lights Down Low” shows of the effortless, soulful voice Max possesses.

After being a bit relaxed “Mugshot” with a few raps of an old snare drum with a side of bongos for a tropical 60’s beach vibe. The song ascends into a deep bass drop and Max sides that with singing in a dirty, gritty way that gives this song something special. Accompanied by Sirah’s intense flow with a New York accent really gives this song a sensory overload, but in a good way. “Basement Party” isolates Max’s sweet rich vocals showcasing the fervor in his voice. The track builds into a song reminiscent of all these 90’s R&B dance hits like “This Is How We Do It”.

Max entirely did not receive enough credit for his debut album. “Hells Kitchen Angel” is the perfect blend of R&B seasoned with pop beat and blended with rock break downs. Countless inspirations can be heard through each song but Max makes them his own in a way you’d know it was him even If you weren’t a fan. Max can give a lot of current R&B artists a run for their money – he has an aura of ease around him when singing, once you listen to this album you’ll understand. With each song a story is told, a visual is given to you and it all connects at the end. The visuals are vivid and lively, music videos aren’t needed with the work Max put into this piece of art.

Underdog Press | 7

Artist: The Summer Set Album: Stories For Monday The Summer Set have come back into the scene with guns a blazing with their latest April release “Stories for Monday”. The record opens with “Figure Me Out” an unbelievably catchy yet inspiring pop anthem. This track makes you want dance away your inhibitions.

The raw honesty and passion in Brian’s voice is chill inducing. “The Night Is Young” starts out with a very soft piano intro that gives a small homage to Marc Cohn. A track like this will resonate with young fans trying to plan out their lives after high school or college.

“Missin’ You” is introduced with light electric sounds that sound like a kaleidoscope, if they made any sound, accompanied by gentle deep bass notes. Brian’s effortless vocals flow onto this track like fresh honey sliding off the honeycomb. Meanwhile, “Jean Jacket” comes full force like an 80’s pop ballad straight out of “16 Candles”. The Summer Set pull out all the stops transitioning into the last chorus with a smooth, warm saxophone solo to carry the song home. “All My Friends” and its twangy guitar intro put an automatic smile on your face before you even hear Dales’ potent yet buttery voice flow. “All My Friends” screams summer party anthem.

“Change your Mind” feels as if you’ve been transported right to when Bender raises his fist on the football field. The docility of Brian’s voice on this track really catches your ear. This is the song on the album that really shows off what a band can do creatively and musically.

Summer 2016 is quickly approaching and “Stories for Monday” is a perfect fit to be the soundtrack. Being a fan of The Summer Set isn’t really a relevant attribute when it comes to this album. Brian’s airy yet impressively passionate voice revamps these pop rock songs with a dollop of soulful rock. This album has something for everyone no matter the music taste.

You won’t get these songs out of your head, trust me you won’t want to after you listen. To listen to “Stories for Monday’ go to Itunes, Spotify or Apple Music. Catch them on tour this Spring and Summer! review by Mckenzie Holivay Underdog Press | 8

The Ready Set PG. 24

JULE VERA STORY + PHOTOS BY MCKENZIE HOLIVAY

Female fronted alternative rock band Jule Vera have done so much in the past year, they’re coming in hot to the scene so prepare yourselves. Earlier last year Jule Vera put out an EP called “Friendly Enemies” a unique name that really goes along with tracks and the order the band put them in. “The title track is about betrayal, we felt it fit for the title because

Underdog Press | 10

it fit wit the songs and the story that’s being told! It starts out with a first love all the good stuff, then it falls apart and then you overcome it all” guitarist Jake tells us. Listening to “Friendly Enemies” is exactly like a story or an intro to a movie. The first track “1896” is an eerie piano based song that sets the mood for the entire EP. Jule Vera let out all the stops when it came to their EP. They’ve released three music videos that really bring the story of Friendly Enemies to life. The “Light the Night” video really stood out, but the inspiration behind it was really fuzzy. “We were struggling to really come up with anything creative for the video because our budget was basically nothing. We stumbled upon the idea of the infinity mirror and it’s where you have a double sided mirror on one side and a normal mirror on the other, so when you put lights in it

eems like the lights go on forever. We built a room full of mirrors in a dance studio and bought lights on amazon,” “The closet doors are off my house” Jake tells us, which is something that you don’t hear most bands doing.

Drummer Hogarth continues to tell us “We made different light scenes and filmed the video.” Most bands don’t built their own video sets, but that’s something that sets Jule Vera apart.

The band has accomplished so much at such a young age. Lead singer Ansley Newman was featured on State Champs new record, the band toured with Against the Current and were on Warped Tour. “Each tour had totally different experiences” Hogarth explains, “Playing in clubs is totally different than Warped Tour in general, but a lot of things were really great about both tours. Warped Tour was incredible it was as good for us as a band and we had a lot of fun, but it was extremely hard work. We tried to make the most of everyday, we didn’t hang out all day until we played. We tried to sell as many CD’s as we could, we even made a listening station so people could listen to our EP and maybe buy it. There’s a lot more comfort in playing club shows, you know when you’re going to play, where the bathroom is and where good food is! Whereas Warped Tour each day is different, each venues is completely different when you get there you don’t know your set time or where food is or where bathrooms are.”

Whether you’re a band on tour or you’re just traveling in general new cities are exciting, but I’ve always wondered what bands did when they got

to new cities. The whole band all really said they love to walk around or find new places to eat, of course I recommended Melt and Barrio probably the best restaurants in Cleveland. “Just eating in different places you can find subtle differences in culture, even the layout of the restaurant and how you order can differ [between] states. Certain trends and etiquette belong to certain areas.”

The local scene in a lot of states flourishes and even in the most surprising state you see an influx of amazing local talent. Cleveland has a lot of great venues, but not as many local bands.

Dad rock cover bands we have plenty of, but that’s as good as it gets. Jule Vera comes from Alabama and most people will have their own unique image that pops into your head when you think of Alabama, but it’s probably not a popping music scene. “The music scene doesn’t really exist” Ansley and Hogarth explain. “We mainly did shows in Atlanta” Ansley tells us. “It was the closest to us only an hour and a half away, we did do a few local shows and we’ve done better in our hometown now since we’ve gotten more attention, but there aren’t many venues so the people there don’t really know about shows, it’s not really a part of life in Alabama. Atlanta was basically our hometown when it came to playing shows.” Jake says.

In the last few years or so with the rise of women in the music industry, a lot of hate has been uncovered. A lot of sexism that we all knew was there but never really heard about has surfaced and it doesn’t stop at female photographers or tour.

Underdog Press | 11

STORY BY SARAH RUBEN

SUDDEN SUSPENSION

UP: Introduce yourself and tell us your role in the band.

My name is Brandon Stasi and I am in a band called Sudden Suspension. I write, sing and play guitar.

UP: You guys are at the So What?!

Music Festival right now, but you started out playing local festivals.

What is it like being at this huge festival?

There’s a lot more people (laughs). And on top of that, people who are actually into music. Being a young person playing local festivals in the middle of Indiana, were mostly farmer related festivals or just the fair, so this is made for bands which is a nice improvement. On top of the fact that there’s so many incredible bands and a ridiculous amount of people.

UP: You are signed to Bad Timing Records. What is it like being signed to a label with so many up and coming bands?

It’s really cool. It feels like you’re part of family, which is a nice thing to have- a support system and different bands where you can post each others’ stuff and be friends and play shows together. There’s a lot of pressure because when you record new music you have someone who you are giving it to hoping they approve of it. But it’s also nice because they help you with recording expenses and different things like pressing vinyl.

Underdog Press | 12

UP: You put a new record out last year. How was the writing process for There’s A Bigger Picture Here. Was it different from previous EPs? I wrote that after our very first tour. Our very first tour was three tours, all right next to each other. So first tour, gone seven weeks, had just graduated from high school, came home at the very end of summer to all of my friends already gone. Writing that was me being home from my first tour with no friends. I spent a lot of time just driving around and trying to figure stuff out. A big part of writing that EP for me was realizing that I thought growing up and getting out and doing stuff would be super positive on my well-being, but it was actually horrible because being in a new place, new people every day is super overwhelming. A big part of it was fighting that and realizing that it’s more of a “you have to take charge [instead] of waiting for things to get better. You have to work towards that kind of thing.” …It was weird. Two weeks before we went into the studio, I scrapped half of them, rewrote one and wrote two new ones.

UP: Have you learned to love the idea of seeing new people everyday and have you gotten used to it?

I’m better at dealing with it, but its definitely stressful. It’s only stressful in the sense that I have

anxiety and when that happens, the only real place that is the same everyday and consistent, and I can feel at home, is in our van. And most of the time there’s other dudes in that van so you can’t really be alone. That’s the hard part is just not having something consistent that you can always go to to feel comfortable.

UP: Do you have a favorite song to perform?

We’ve only played it twice, but my favorite of the songs we have released is “We’ll Always Have Each Other.” Music for me is a very cathartic thing with songs being something to help me through the stuff I’m getting through and that song was me going “well, I want songs about going through this, but I can’t find one so I’m going to make this one” so playing that is really nice because I get to sing about all the things that I couldn’t find in other songs.

UP: In a few days you start a tour with Major league and Forever Came Calling. Are there any cities you want to to go back to or that you haven’t been to yet that you are especially excited for?

Baltimore is always really fun. Excited to go back to Baltimore. Chicago, of course, is always cool for us and its our last day in Chicago this time so it’ll be nice cause we can play Chicago and then just go straight home.

UP: Do you have any post tour plans?

I am writing a lot right now. Hopefully after this tour we can start putting it together as a band, but we definitely

want to do a full-length in the future so currently I have probably written over 20 songs since we got back from our last tour but I have ten that are locked in that I really am into right now. We feel like we have been a band long enoguh that we feel like its okay to do that many songs now.

UP: Do you write when you are on the road or at home, or both.

It depends. More so when I’m at home. On the road is more of a spontaneous, me going to the van sitting down with my guitar because something was bothering me and cranking out a song, but at home it’s more taking more time and building up songs throughout a week. Of course sometimes, there’s the ones that spring to life all of a sudden but at home I can put more time into it while on tour I only have between our set and when we have to load out at the end of the night.

UP: Several months ago you guys were on tour you got in an accident and flipped the van. As touring musicians who are on the road all the time that’s extremely scary. What was that experience like?

It rolled a few times, the center console was out of the vehicle after the accident was over as well as the top of the vehicle being ripped off. Though luckily, all five of us even the two who were laying in the back without seatbelts on because they were sleeping, , all of us came out mostly okay. Blake had his shoulder pop out, but he just put it back in and we were totally fine the rest of the tour so everything workUnderdog Press | 13

ed out I guess. We made a GoFundMe and the Internet came through like a champ. We raised $3,000 in two days, got a rental and finished the tour. So, that was beautiful.

UP: Who are some of your biggest influences in music that inspired you to start playing music?

There’s so many places you can go with that: you can got to three-yearold Brandon who would listen to my dad’s old cassette tapes of Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath and jump on my bed and pretend I was a rock star. Or you could go to 12-year-old Brandon who really liked Nirvana and just played really loud dissonant notes on his guitar. Or you can go to me now. I really enjoy Motion City Soundtrack. Justin Pierre, such an incredible songwriter. I like Say Anything a lot.

looks like a lumberjack and lumberjacks are tough so I feel like he could take an ax and start cleaving at some zombies so definitely Blake. I would be the first gone. I just can’t stand the thought of being not me in me. That makes me so uncomfortable to think about.

UP: We saw you posted on Facebook about Safer Scene, which is an organization that spreads awareness and provides education about assault in the music scene. How are you guys involved and why is it important to you?

We’re not super hands-on involved with them we just share their posts to promote the full concept that they’re trying to push because we think it is important for everyone to feel comfortable and for everyone to feel loved.

That’s the whole point of music, for me at least is to be an outlet for anything and if you’re not letting someUP: We always ask a question about one have that outlet, then what’s the zombies as a staple of Underdog Press. point.

If you were in zombie apocalypse, who would be most likely to survive?

UP: Why should people come out to a Not me. Zombies are my biggest fear. show? What can they expect?

As messed up and dark as I am about I am going to yell very loudly about my to get, I am telling you my situation. problems and it will make me feel less I do not have the strength to live horrible about my problems and if you through a zombie apocalypse. So I am want to learn the words and maybe offing my self and lighting the room you can relate to that maybe you’ll I’m in on fire before I do it so my body feel less horrible about your problems burns, zombies never eat me, I never and then we’ll all feel better. It’ll be become a zombie, we don’t have to great. worry about it. So I’m not making it, that’s already crossed off. So then you have Griffin and you have Brandon Blakeley. Griffin is a little squirrely. I feel like Blake is a little sturdier. He kind of Underdog Press | 14

OS T O PH

ROL A C BY

ON S P SIM

on y a d for X iss T , M e f i r o i ra os t P o d h nd n a p a , e r s v p G i am lus hit c h ? x !

C t e e a tat ore Wh S m , o s t S d ou By en i k r h c t F e l u h ea So R h! C , t k 9 c 1 u re! h P c o r e l a m k M nuc K , I May

KNUCKLE PUCK

SORORITY NOISE

Blessthefall

Major League

Underdog Press | 6

Miss May I

State Champs

Real Friends

PHOTOS BY SAM LESSER STORY BY CAROL SIMPSON

“The most vague way to put it is without

fans I can’t do anything. I can’t be anything.

I wouldn’t be anything. I wouldn’t even be able to make music if it wasn’t for them.”

The

Ready Set is back and better than ever with a brand new record and label. Since announcing his new single “Good Enough”, his signing to Hopeless Records, and a multitude of tour dates across the US, Jordan Witzigreuter has been revamping TRS with a fresh attitude and fresh sound. An important step in this process has been hitting the road again and reconnecting with his audience.

Jordan told us how great it felt to be back on the road, which he considers to be home. “It feels very good. I had the longest time off that I’ve had from touring in 6 or 7 years I think. I chilled for a minute started a new side project thing, started writing a bunch for random other things, came back to this last summer worked on a record and all of a sudden this kind of just came together last minute. It’s great because I was just sitting in LA writing all the time. Being on tour feels more comfortable that being at home honestly.”

Jordan’s latest album “I Will Be Nothing Without Your Love” has only been out a short time and it has already been making waves in the alternative scene. The electro-pop influenced record provides the perfect blend that has allowed TRS to maintain its versatility across the spectrum on Underdog Press | 26

genres. This new record shows maturity and progress since Jordan’s last release “The Bad & The Better”. Being a pop act on a label that is heavily involved with pop-punk/alternative music has worked in Jordan’s favor.

“It’s cool because they’re all stoked about it [being a pop act] because they have a lot more pop punk stuff going on and things like that. Everyone I talk to is really stoked because I’m like their pop thing going on at Hopeless. I don’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing yet, but hopefully it’s a good thing. It’s cool because there are a lot of people that are there that were at Warner when I was there and people that I have known for a long time. I think everyone kind of gets it more. They get what I wanna do. They aren’t trying to guide it they are just trying to take my lead.”

Along with the benefits of a new label, personal touches and fewer outside influences drastically helped aid the creation of this record. “I think if nothing else just the fact that I produced the whole thing from scratch just in my house it’s very much my own curated sounds that I wanted to be.

Everything is exactly as I want it to be.

There are no outside hands in it really.

If nothing else it’s going to sound more like me personally than anything I hav-

e ever done before which is really exciting because in the past I have always made my instrumental stuff and my tracks, but it has always ends up me collaborating with another producer to get it like to a certain point. I spent a lot of last year honing my skills production wise. I just [thought] I can do this myself. Just that alone makes it feel more personal. Lyric wise and content wise it’s just more honest feeling to me. I think I was able to write more openly than I have been able to in the past.” Jordan explained. Hopeless Records has been known to nurture their artists and respect their creative processes. Once they came in to back the release everything began to fall into place. “Hopeless came in after it was already done. They were like ‘We like this. Let’s do an album.’ I was like ‘sweet!’”

The album title “I Will Be Nothing Without Your Love” can be interpreted multiple ways, but relating it back to his fans was something The Ready Set was very fond of. He had a hard time finding the best way to describe his relationship with his fans. “It’s kind of one of those things like after a while I realized that no matter where you end up with your heart, or any sort of career you can get from that realistically, it’s all in the hands of the people that accept that and take that in. It’s a realization of that and almost feels – it’s really hard to describe, but it’s pretty much just like…I had this whole thing actually a couple of days ago to describe what exactly I meant by the title and the most vague way to put it is without fans I can’t do anything. I can’t be anything. I wouldn’t

be anything. I wouldn’t even be able to make music if it wasn’t for them, but there is something more to it I just haven’t found a way to say it.”

Jordan has an incredible relationship with his loyal fans that relates back to use of social media and the way he expresses his quirky personality via Instagram posts, clever tweets, and entertaining snapchats. Contrary to popular belief, he actually finds his Instagram to be “boring”. Despite this his social media pages have definitely helped maintain a solid foundation for his fanbase during the gaps between releases and touring. “I think I’m just getting lucky at this point. I’ve had so many stupid gaps and it has never been something I wanted to happen.

For the first few years of my career it was very much like we did the “Love Like Woe” thing on the first album and it was going really well and there was this gap, all this red tape stuff with the label. It was all disjointed feeling.

I didn’t want that at all. So when I came back to “The Bad and The Better” it felt this new fresh start, but there was still a remanence of that previous thing. I think at the end of that last tour that I did before this one I just got so burned out and stressed out about the whole thing. I just felt like I didn’t know what to do. This last year was definitely my own thing. I was like I just have to chill for a minute and regroup a little bit. I think throughout that whole thing I tried to maintain something of a relationship with everyone. I know there’s a lot of really dedicated fans and stuff.

I am definitely aware of the dips and everything. On social media and stuff I’ll see the amount of talked about Underdog Press | 27

things goes down when I’m away.”

Maintaining that relationship includes getting back out there and meeting fans after every single show which is something Jordan has always held considered to be of great importance. “It’s just one of those things that like I feel like especially if I’m doing a headlining tour I want to meet Underdog Press | 28

people just because it kind of goes hand in hand with the album title. If it wasn’t for them being there I wouldn’t be able to do anything. I wouldn’t be able to do this as a job. That’s really what it is, but also on a tour like this I am well aware that this isn’t my tour.

This is like Set It Off and Tonight Alive’s.

For that reason I kind of stay a little bit

one, make everyone know that I appreciate them.”

Of course, these gaps aren’t to go away on an extended vacation.

Jordan has been working on his mental health during this time. This revival has helped strengthen his confidence with this release. “I think it’s really exciting for me to see people come back whenever I do start doing stuff again.

I’m always saying I won’t take those breaks again. I just get weird. I get freaked out sometimes and sometimes I just have to disappear, but I’m going to try and be busy for a few years. This time I’m more confident about where I am at musically and mentally. Hopefully everyone who has been with me for a while will stick around.”

So far his loyal fans have shown that they have stuck around and will continue to do so. With that he wasn’t too nervous about the reaction that he would receive to his new releases.

“I only see the people that are talking to me on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, but I don’t look at anything beyond that because it freaks me out too much. I try not to think about it too much. I used to stress about it so much. I’m just more passive about it now. I think people like it…I hope. I mean if they don’t there’s lots of other songs on the album maybe they’ll more than I usually do, but we are like something.” This new attitude doing some stuff in the summer where and positive outlook is just one of the it’s all meeting everyone oriented. It’s many things that show Jordan has definitely always going to be really progressed as an artist since his debut important to me. If by some random full length “I’m Alive, I’m Dreaming”, turn of events I end up not being able which was released back in 2010. to do that I still can try to find a way to When asked if there was something meet as many people as possible. That he knows now that he wishes he knew has always been my thing since day then Jordan says, “I wish I knew how to Underdog Press | 29

“This time I’m more confident about where I am at musically and mentally. Hopefully everyone who has been with me for a while will stick around.”

express the way that I felt about things at the time. I think there came a point back then where things started to go well with the first cycle of the album and the songs and stuff I started to like not trust my instincts. I wrote “Love Like Woe” all myself and I made it in my house. It was kind of me at the beginning and what ended up happening was that it started to do well and all of these people at my first label were like ‘yeah this is going really sick you should do this and this and this because this will happen and this will happen’ and I was just trusting too much I think. I should have been a little more doubtful of everything. Now

I have just learned to say no and just be more if I don’t feel like something is cool or I don’t feel like something is right I’m just not going to do it. I could just never say no back then and I say no to like everything now. It feels good. It’s liberating now almost.”

With new material and many plans ahead for the coming year The Ready Set is ready to take on the success that “I Will Be Nothing Without Your Love” is going to bring him. Stay tuned for summer tour dates and more exciting things. “I Will Be Nothing Without Your Love” is available now on multiple platforms via Hopeless Records.

Underdog Press | 31

TROPHY W RHODE ISLAND POP-PUNK

WIVES

Hailing from Providence, RI Tro-

paths and how to get about writing phy Wives are a five piece pop-punk our sound.” Vocalist Sam added “we band with tons of energy and perhave learned a lot about songwriting sonality. Even though it may seem like in particular over the past year and a Rhode Island isn’t exactly an ideal lohalf. We have kind of branched out cation for a thriving local scene these and write things that don’t necessarily guys owe a lot to their scene. Referring sound like us and things that do sound to it as “dope”, vocalist Chris says, like us. We’re kind of just all of over the “Travelling makes us realize how lucky place. We have a ton of songs that we are to have such a scene because we’re re-finding and we’re focusing not everyone has it. Bands complain on and we’re just about at the point about not having bands to play with where we’re ready to put something or venues to play at and we have tons out.” The band was pleased to hear of it.” the word “relevant” when I referred to them staying present in the music With such a close knit scene breaking scene. They attribute this to the great out of that mold and standing out may string of shows they have been playing be difficult. The oversaturation of pop- over the past few months. punk bands has helped Trophy Wives use their varied influences to their ben- With summer just around the corner efit when creating a sound that isn’t staying relevant is more important simply pop-punk. “It’s odd for us to be than ever. Chris says the band will be such a pop-punk band because we focusing on the new music during this don’t particularly listen to pop-punk time. “Getting that new music out or anything. We have a wide variety everywhere” he says. When they’re of taste. If you sit in our van for half an not focusing on their band the guys hour you get a pretty funny group of described how they spend their free musicians and sounds. Not to be clitime. Chris told us, “We read books ché, but I think there’s a little bit of a and drink very fine wine.” Whether or lot of different things in us. Hopefully not that is true the band all agreed we blend it somehow.” Chris told us. that their drummer, Matt, would be These varied influences may or may the one to survive the zombie apocanot have contributed to the gaps lypse because “zombies can’t reach between releases, but the band says him”. Trophy Wives have talent and they’re working on “tons of stuff”. a strong sense of humor that will help them stand out in the pop-punk scene During this time the band has been for a long time. really fine tuning their sound and working on their songwriting skills. Everyone STORY + PHOTOS BY CAROL SIMPSON can be sure to expect a bigger and better Trophy Wives with this new music. Chris told us, “We experimented with a couple of different sounds and Underdog Press | 34

GALL

LERY

PHOTO BY SAM LESSER

SAYWEC

CANFLY

PHOTO BY MCKENZIE HOLIVAY

HOODIE

E ALLEN

THE WOND

DER YEARS

PHOTO BY SAM LESSER

PHOTO BY CAROL SIMPSON

SORORIT

TY NOISE

KNUCKLE PUCK

PHOTO BY CAROL SIMPSON

PHOTO BY CAROL SIMPSON

STATE CHAMPS

PHOTO BY SAM LESSER PHOTO BY SAM LESSER

FSOURDE D VER N CS A U

A I NNG UM S PE ECNASL ILO