Emerging Austin-based five-piece band THE VANITY come fully loaded—with hooks, depth and attitude—on their debut indie EP STRANGERS. Featuring such songs as “River,” “Cowboy Killer” and “Black & Blue,” the EP is “…full of memorable, guitar-driven melodies laced with the frontman’s powerful vocals,” according to DIFFUSER which premiered the EP in early March 2015. The band–Alex Dugan (vocals), Mic Vredenburgh (guitar), Matt Sledge (guitar), Augie Gmitter (bass) and David Grayson (drums)–has a strong year ahead of them including opening for Cold War Kids on a number dates, performing dates during SXSW and hitting festival stages this summer.
THE VANITY were formed in 2014, digging their heels into Austin’s competitive music scene. “STRANGERS is really the culmination of a lot of work, a lot of hours and a lot of destructive behavior,” lead singer Alex Dugan revealed to DIFFUSER. Collectively, THE VANITY’s musical inspirations are drawn from different styles, merged with the band’s indie rock attitude. “You can also hear some faster paced punk rock styles coming through a couple of our songs, and that’s from our earlier days as kids when punk was everything,” explains drummer David Grayson.
STRANGERS was mixed by Kevin Killen (U2, Bon Jovi, Elvis Costello), produced by Bruce Hughes and mastered by Bob Ludwig. Killen says, “They’re full of high energy, youthful exuberance and intense, catchy songs.” The Texas natives introduce the EP with “River,” a guitar-heavy feel-good track that has an infectious chorus. It was inspired by “letting loose and just having fun while writing music with each other,” says guitarist Mic Vredenburgh. “Lyrically, I was inspired by a relatively dark moment in my life,” admits frontman Alex Dugan. “I guess you can credit addiction, narcissism and a girl that doesn’t need to be named for that.”
Next up, “Cowboy Killer,” an edgy, guitar-driving up-tempo track embracing band’s outlaw bravado, “has to do with drug running along the Mexican border,” says Grayson, who adds, “It has a funky driving up-beat tempo that people can dance to.” STRANGERS closes out with “Black & Blue,” which underlines the band’s ability to craft a mood and deliver a memorable melody with layered guitars.
“We’ve been writing and developing this sound for almost a year now, but it’s time people heard us,” Dugan told DIFFUSER. “I think on a subconscious level that’s why we named the EP STRANGERS, because at the end of the day, we’re all a bunch of f—ing strangers, and we’d love for you to hear our music…and no longer be strangers.”
Photo by: Julian Bajsel
1. How did the band choose your name, “The Vanity”?
David: “Our old name used to be ZSU. This name was kind of confusing to people because they would just pronounce the letters out Z-S-U. We pronounce it “Zoo”, and every time we would say it, we would have to say the name and then spell it for them. ZSU, itself, meant nothing. It really just came down to the fact that a week before our very first show we needed to choose a name. Sometimes picking a band name is harder than writing and agreeing on a song. There’s so many bands out there, there’s so many names taken, that you basically think of a name and type it into iTunes to see if the name’s taken. Currently, every thing is pretty much taken. So, we went for ZSU and after a while we felt that name didn’t really fit us, based on who we were and our music. Simultaneously, there was, and still is, a DJ that goes by the same name but spells it ZHU. So, ultimately we decided we had to change our name. Then, Matt, our guitarist, suggested we try ZSU Vanity or The Vanity ZSU. Matt and I were over at my house one weekend just having a couple drinks and we decided to get rid of ZSU. I said, “No, I don’t want to have that anymore.” Then, we moved to concentrate on the word “Vanity.” However, we thought just “vanity” was too bland. “Vanity” is just a thing. I said, “If we put “the” in front of it then it makes it more of a thing.” With the addition of the word “the”, “vanity” becomes an actual thing, not just a word out in the air. So, “The Vanity”, it’s more like a thing and we saw it being a band name. We told it to the other guys and some liked it at first, some had to have it grow on them more. In the end that’s what we are now and we have to stick with it. I think everyone’s happy with it now.”
2. Now do you feel your band name, The Vanity, contexts with your music?
David: “The music we make, including our style and our sound, I would say does fit with the name. I’m not saying we’re vain guys, however I think the addition of the word “the,” and how it fits together with the writing and the logo, is really working. It fits who we are, it’s much better then ZSU. I think when you see that name you can almost kind of tell the type of music that is going to come with it. I don’t think when you see The Vanity, you’re going to see heavy metal or expect heavy metal music with it. I think it fits well and people who have come to see us play, who knew who we were under our old name, didn’t have a problem with the change. We’ve gotten compliments when asked, “What do you do?” I say, “I’m a drummer in a band.” When they find out our band’s name they say, “Oh, that’s a cool name.” So, it works.”
3. How important do you think a band name is to the success of a band?
David: “You can look at it a couple of ways. I think a name is important, in a way, so you can identify the band by it. If you get popular you are going to have to use that name for the rest of your life. With other bands, there are so many other bands that are so popular and they always say, “God, if I knew we were going to get this big, I would have never picked this band name.” Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters says that all the time. However their drummer, Taylor Hawkins thinks it’s a really cool name. I’ve heard Bono talk about how he doesn’t like the name U2. There are so many crazy names out there so I don’t think it has that much affect on a band’s success. If you are coming out with good music and people can relate to it, they will almost end up thinking the name is cool too.”
“I don’t think it’s crazy important, but I do feel it’s good to put some time and thought into what you want your name to be that represents you. It’s like the equivalent of a first name for a band, it’s your identity, so you want to make it count.”
“We’ve sat in a room and literally have said just words and letters and said, “Ok, everyone pick a word or a thing you like and we will go down the list and put some things together.” Sometimes agreeing on a band name is harder than agreeing on a song, a bridge you are going to write, or even lyrics. It can get tough. However, once you can get past that point and you have a name that everyone likes, or semi likes, you have to own it and not be embarrassed by it.”
4. How did you decided to work Kevin Killen, Bruce Hughes, and Bob Ludwig on the production of your new EP, Strangers?
David: “When we chose to produce with Bruce, it was with the help of our manager, Ken Kushnick, who recommended him. Bruce is also the bass player for Bob Schneider, so automatically we knew he had a strong musical background. He knows what he’s doing. There was such a difference from making our previous material compared to this latest EP. For starters, just knowing we were going to walk into Arlyn Studios, that’s Willie Nelson’s studio, sounded great so we all agreed to it. Bruce was great. He gave great insight on how the music should sound, how he felt a drum beat should go, how to work a guitar lick, all of that stuff. Kevin Killen got involved in mixing our EP because our manager Ken Kushnick reached out to Killen’s camp and asked if he knew any people who would be interested in mixing our stuff. Initially, Ken reached out to ask if Kevin might know someone who would want to mix our EP, not even thinking Kevin, himself, would agree to do it.”
“I believe Kevin heard our old demos, that have our older songs, “Kitty”, Heartbreak”, and “Lockjaw”, which are among some of the songs we don’t even play anymore. He heard those real rough demos from almost a year ago. He liked it. He was intrigued by our sound and thought we had something going. So, he actually agreed to mix our songs without even hearing our three tracks we had put in the mix. Of course, when your managers come and say, “Kevin Killen is willing to mix your stuff, you say yes.” He’s a grammy winner, has worked with U2, Bowie, and of course Shakira, it’s an opportunity you don’t want to miss. Initially we were just looking to see if he knew anybody, but the man himself ended up saying yes to us and it’s history from there. He made our music sound even better then we thought. We really went in there just to record three new songs to replace the ones we were no longer playing. However, we didn’t even expect what was going to come out of this. We got excited about being able to actually do something with these songs from putting them up on iTunes and getting it on the radio. It ended up being a lot better then we thought. It’s crazy that he liked it and he’s actually coming down to Austin to produce us from scratch. We will be in the studio with him from April 12th – 22nd. Turns out, he liked us enough he wanted to actually work with us again, but also starting with the producing from scratch.”
“In regard to Bob Ludwig, I would say the master he did is incredible. From what we recorded in just three days at Willie Nelson’s studio, to what we have now, is just beyond our wildest dreams. Kevin and Bob just took it to a whole different level. You know when you record something, then you hear it back and it’s like, “God, I really wish this sounded professional, like I’m listening to a CD?” That’s like always in my mind, like a little kid, I’m just like, “I want it to sound like a CD, like an actual song.” What these guys did was make it sound like an actual song. I know it’s us playing when I hear it, but it sounds “real”. It sounds professional. It doesn’t sound like, “Oh, this band just recorded a couple of demos.” That is the key word for us, “real.” The previous songs we recorded didn’t seem “real” and these do. Everyone was ecstatic about it. I was really proud to show it to my parents and my friends. My mom is such a stage mom, she loves it.”
Photo by: Roho foto
5. What did you personally take away from the experience of working with these musical engineers, either indirectly or directly?
David: “I would say the biggest thing I learned is patience, especially when you only have three days. Each day you have to complete one song. You want to get it done so quick so you have more time to go back and add things in here and there, like a tambourine or shaker. This response is from me personally as a drummer. I’m kind of like a head case in the studio because I have to be on the click, can’t mess up at all. If I do mess up then everyone has to restart and Bruce’s whole style is about capturing it live. He didn’t want it to sound like, “Ok, those guys recorded everything separately and then we just mixed it together.” He wanted to catch something. For example, if there is a mistake in there, it’s still natural. Rock n’ Roll isn’t supposed to be perfect and unnatural. There are supposed to be mistakes, that’s what makes it rock n’ roll.”
“It’s just patience. If you mess up the first time, don’t worry about it. I went in there, already having my set drumbeats for each song. I’ve been playing those beats for a while. Bruce made great suggestions. For example, on “Black and Blue”, during the bridge, he told me to try different drum fills and see what I wanted to do. He told me to make it more simple. I was trying to make it more intricate. However, I think the simpler the better. I mean no one wants to hear a drummer do a ten minute solo, ever. I was creating simple grooves that still rock and are hard hitting. I want to do what’s best for the song. It’s not my job to overshadow anyone. It’s my job to make the song sound as good as it can. That’s what I really took away from it. Make it simple and have patience. If it doesn’t come right away, there’s going to be more time to fix it.”
“There’s one snare hit on “Black & Blue” that I still hear aside from everything else. It’s the only thing that bugs me in the aftermath of it all. No one else can tell. No one knows. However, I can tell. I’ll always know. That’s just what it is, so.”
The Vanity: “Black & Blue” (Strangers EP)
6. What was the writing process in those three days of making “River,” “Cowboy Killer” and “Black & Blue?”
David: “In general, when the band first started, our sound was completely different. We were trying to be old school and like The Rolling Stones. Alex already had a bunch of ideas he brought to the table, mainly the guitar riffs. We would experiment with those things for a while and that’s how a song would get made. However, as the band grew and everyone was more comfortable with having their own voice in bringing their actual influences, ideas, and styles to the surface, it changed the way we worked. Our sound changed.”
“Currently, how it starts is that we just jam. It can be a simple guitar lick, baseline, or a drumbeat and some one can say they like it. We try and put it together instrumentally and then Alex will hum over it and will think of a chorus. He may not come up with words right away but he will come up with a tune or tone of how it goes. He’s also a very good maestro. He knows what to change around. He may say, “Lets make this part shorter, or maybe try that part differently.” So, it’s not just really we do our part and then he does his part, we all work together. Everyone helps each other out. I mean, I can’t play the guitar to save my life, I don’t even know how that works. I picked up Augie’s bass guitar one time and I was trying to make fun of him by acting like him playing and I broke one of his strings. How do you break a bass string, they are so thick? (sarcasm). I have no business touching that. (Laughs) Sometimes I’ll have a guitar riff in my head and I’ll try to say it to them and they’ll try and mimic it. Or, there are a couple songs where the rest of the guys have given me ideas for the drum beats. They were great. Things I would have never thought of if I was struggling to come up with something.”
“I think in “River” it was just random. I think Augie and I just randomly started playing that beat in rehearsal and it grew from there. It was very organic. “Cowboy Killer” was actually really organic because that riff was made up by Mic the first day he came to try out for the band. He came in and we decided to just jam around. This was after our old guitarist quit. Mic came in and he started playing that and just began to jam around. I started doing the same drum beat I had recorded in the song but made it a little different. That’s why I think “Cowboy Killer’s really cool because that’s how it was written. The first day Mic tried out that’s what we came up with. Right after that I was like, “My vote’s for this guy.”
“I recall “Black & Blue” was written the same way. We were just kind of jamming around. “Black & Blue” took a lot longer because the bridge took us forever to figure out. We had the song but we were like, “Ok, where do we go from here? Do we go back into another chorus? Do we just lead out with a guitar solo?” We couldn’t figure it out forever. Sometimes when you force it, “Like ok lets come up with a new song right now. Or, lets finish the song right now” If you do that you are going to come up with shit. It’s has to just come out of thin air. Sometimes a song just happens. When you see interviews with other artists, it’s true when they mention the most popular songs sometimes only take the band thirty minutes to write the whole thing and it’s done. It comes out of nowhere. We are getting a lot better at how we come up with our songs. It’s usually us just jamming musically. Then, Alex is great with coming in on where he thinks the verse should come in, where the chorus should come in, where there bridge should be, so he’s a great conductor in that sense. Then, everyone else is great at coming in with their parts and helping out. We’re all great at helping out each other.”
The Vanity: “Cowboy Killer” (Strangers EP)
7. How does the band choose which songs to ultimately include on an EP or an album? How do you decide which ones to eliminate?
David: “With this EP, what we really talked about before we went in, was deciding to use the songs that really represented who we are as a band, currently. I feel these three songs (“River”, “Cowboy Killer”, and “Black & Blue”) really represented our style as a band. They really represent “The Vanity.” We do have some older songs we still play, but these songs are where we are now. They represent the musical direction we want to go for the future. We are recognizing them as pretty much our style. However, our style does shift around. We wrote a song the other day that seems so crazy “out there,” and not really like us. It’s a lot more poppy but it’s still great.”
“It wasn’t really too hard to decide to pick “River,” “Black & Blue,” and “Cowboy” because they are probably the band’s most favorite ones out of all the songs we had. Those three songs are what represent us most, based on where we are now with our style. So, it wasn’t that hard to choose.”
The Vanity: “The River” (Strangers EP)
8. What three individual words would you use to describe The Vanity’s music?
David: “I would say the music is punk, rock, and it’s also pop. Or, rock, punk, pop (laughs). We just played a show, where we opened up for Cold War Kids, in Houston, and one of the guys said we sounded like Rick Springfield was playing with Sunny Day Real Estate. So, who knows? I could be totally wrong. We have so many other weird comparisons. Someone said it sounds like James Dean opening up for a punk band. Someone else said we sounded like the Kings Of Leon. So, how people interpret our music is kind of all over the place.”
9. What are the most important things you want listeners to take away from your music? What ideas does The Vanity want to make resonate?
David: “The thing that seems to already be on peoples minds after hearing our music is that we are on a serious level. My family and friends say, “Oh, we are going to see one of David’s shows.” They probably think we just play in one of the band mates garages and we’re just going to come jam there. When they do come to the show they are in shock, “You guys are actually good.”
“I would like for fans to take away that we actually know what we’re doing and that we put a lot of time and effort into each note. We pay attention to each verse, each chorus, where the song goes, and how we want people to feel. For example, with “Black & Blue” we don’t expect fans to be jumping up and down and going crazy. It’s more of a touching song and similar to a ballad. With “Cowboy Killer” the main focus is that fact that it’s a fun song for people to dance to. When we came up with “River,” right when we played that, we knew it would be a great opening song for the record or playing live shows. We open up with “River” all the time, playing live, because I just think the drums and bass come in hard. I can also see this song being more of like a stadium anthem that people can sing along to. The crowd can hum the chorus to it. I can see that. So, I just want fans to take away that we truly care about our music. We’re serious when we write it but we also love what we do, we love to have fun, and we want people to see this in our shows and in our sound. We love high energy. “Black & Blue” is probably the slowest song we have. We’re not against playing slow songs. We jam slow all the time. However, we want our fans to come away and feel like, “Shit, that was a great show and the songs were actually really good.” I want people to enjoy themselves and have fun. Even if they think a song is crazy. For example, my step dad thinks “Cowboy Killer” is ridiculous. Funny enough he said to my mom the other day, “God, I can’t get that song out of my head!” He’s singing it. So, even if people are annoyed by a song, but their still singing it, I guess we did our job. We want people to enjoy themselves, have fun, and connect with the music. It can happen. I think it has happened for the amount of fans we have now. I think our music can go somewhere and connect with a wide variety of people. We have a pretty wide variety of styles of music we play.”
10. What have some of the lowest and highest points been on the band’s musical journey?
David: “I guess I’ll go in chronological order of how we started. I would say a “high” was when I ran old bass player and he asked if I wanted to try out to be a drummer for The Vanity, when he was in the original lineup. I’d say the biggest “high” point, for me, was trying out that day. When I went to the rehearsal the first thing I did was set up my kit and they said, “Lets just jam a song.” They chose to do “Molly’s Cambers” by Kings Of Leon, and I was like, “No problem, I got this, I’ll count us off.” I know every King’s of Leon song by heart. They’re one of my favorite bands. So, I knew right then this was going to be a good match. One night Alex was at a bar and just stood up and said, “Does anybody in Austin, Texas know someone that plays the bass.” Two guys mentioned they had a friend that played, who happened to be Augie. Then Augie came in and tried out. He had a Grateful Dead t-shirt on and he was great. So, that was a “high” for us, when Alex joined the band. Another “high” was when we played our first show. I think it was at four o’clock in the afternoon on a Monday in a place called Pflugerville, TX. It was at this venue called The Roost, which is a great venue where a bunch of great bands have played. I think it was my roommates, the other bands’ roommates, and my parents, who drove from Dallas to come watch us at four in the afternoon. People were shocked, they were actually like, “Oh wow, you’re really good.” Up until that set we had been itching to play our first show and that was great. Then, another “high” is when we got to open up for the Los Lonely Boys at The Roost. We opened up in front of five hundred people and that was the biggest crowed we had ever played to at that point. Los Lonely Boys fans are crazy. They get really drunk, so it was really funny. They were hammered by the time we already went on. They loved it. So, that was fun too.
“Another “high” was when Mic came and joined the band. Augie knew him though school because they both studied at The Music School at The University of Texas. I remember all of us sitting on the balcony and watching Mic walking up. Based on how he was dressed like a rock star, he already earned a point in my book early on. When he tried out, he came up with the “Cowboy Killer” riff and that was another real “high.” Mic’s first show with us was great too. We played Houston Beer Festival this past summer and were were in the slot to play right before Slightly Stoopid. So, that was really fun. We go through “lows” sometimes where we would have two or three shows in the span of a month or two months, we’re really riding high, and then we don’t have anything for two months. When those lulls happen we say, “Ok, well then lets write music.” It’s kind of hard when you force the writing process like, “Ok, lets write a song TODAY.” You can’t just say that, it has to come naturally. So, there are lows. We also have our arguments. It’s five guys that didn’t really know each other and we’re doing this together. We are still a young band, we’re probably a year and a half in to this project. We’re still trying to get to know everyone’s quirks and their personalities. So, we have “lows” where we argue. However, eventually, at the end of the day everyone is still on the same page. Everybody grew up wanting to be musicians and we all know that this band, this opportunity, doesn’t come around very often. So, at the end of the day everyone is like, “This is what we want to do.” It’s just five guys being guys. People give each other shit, and they talk shit, but then we all go and laugh and have a great time. We all have become really good friends and at the end of the day if someone was talking shit to me, my band would have my back. It’s like having four brothers. We say the nastiest things because we know we have to forgive each other. We can say the most terrible things and then thirty minutes later it’s like, “Alright, what are we getting for dinner? Lets go.”
“I would say a down for us is also having a really shitty show. I remember we played a show where we were supposed to come on at 11pm and we didn’t go on until 1am. I remember when we were playing no one was there. I could actually hear the garbage bags being thrown in the garbage. I could hear the bottles breaking. I could hear the squeegee the bar tender was using to clean the tables after spraying them off, as we’re trying to play a rock n’ roll song. In my head I’m saying, “Oh my God, what a waste of time. I wish I was back home watching Netflix. I don’t think you can be a band without having those experiences. We’ve gotten lucky where we haven’t had a ton of those experiences. We have had those times where we played in front of ten people, then we’ve had those time where we played in front of two hundred people. So, we have the typical “highs” and “lows” that every band has.”
11. What kind of promotions, if any, are you putting together for the new EP, Strangers? How did you link up with DIFFUSER FM?
David: “We have people in charge of that. We aren’t doing the calling personally. We are trying to hit smaller markets on commercial radio. We teamed up with some really new, cutting edge, technologies where they can really reach out to fans and pinpoint the fans that would like us. For example, if a group of people usually like the Rolling Stones or Arctic Monkeys, we think that would be a fan base that would like us. So, we’re trying to tap in to circles of listeners that way. Anything that comes up our managers bring it to our attention, “Hey we got this going on.” We’re like, “Cool, let’s do that.” However, as far as doing stuff for fans, I would have no problem doing whatever with the fans. Without the fans you are nobody.”
“It’s all about social media now. The music industry’s totally changed. Now, all you have to do is stay relevant. People will hear what you are putting out and they will forget about you fast. They’ll put it away and they will go on to something else. I say you just have to stay relevant, which is why we just released this EP after doing those runs with Cold War Kids. Now, we’re going to be recording another EP to release in late May, early June, just to stay on top and just to stay relevant. We want to consistently have material out there, rather than having this EP, Strangers, people saying, “Oh, it’s great,” and then we disappear for five months. I think promotion these days is just all about staying relevant, technology wise and on social media. In the 80’s, U2 weren’t wondering, “How does this selfie look to post on Instagram.” It’s all different now. We’re still getting used to that. We played a show with Cold War Kids, and afterwords there were a lot of teenage girls waiting for autographs. It was the first time where we were involved with taking pictures and signing autographs after a show. When someone asks for your autograph your like, “Really? You want mine?” Afterwords you see all these selfie photos of you with fans posted on Instagram and twenty new people start following you. So, we’re just getting used to that stuff. We love it. For as much as the younger girls and guys are nervous to come up and talk to you. They will literally just sit at your merchandise booth and stare at you until you go, “Hey, how you doing? What’s up?” For as nervous as they feel, we still feel that too. However, on our end, it’s more surreal and happy then nervous. We are more than happy to do that with fans. We love where it’s going. I couldn’t even imagine we’d be here right now. We’re so excited for the future. Anything we can do promotional wise or for the fans, we’re game. We’re so serious and we are so ready to get this off the ground and go national or go international. We’re up for it.”
12. Why is music important?
David: “That’s a great question. I think it’s important because music has been around since man was around. There were cavemen beating on drums and all that stuff. The way I see it is that music is like a diary. People can write in a diary and it’s their own, personal private thought that they don’t want anyone else to read or see. I feel music is a way of having a diary for the masses. People can connect to it, but their not afraid to express it and show it to other people. They can publicly connect to the emotion the music gives them.”
“I’m sure every person’s said this, but it’s literally true, music can put you in a different mood and it can also put you in the mood you want to be in. If you are feeling depressed and you don’t want to be happy at that moment, you can stay in the mood you are in by playing a song that matches that mood. You can go play a depressing song. On the flip side, if you’re on the beach and you’re drinking, you don’t want to listen to emo songs, so you play “Margaritaville,” by Jimmy Buffett. It’s so crazy how music’s so important because it’s like every single person listens to music. I’ve never met a person that doesn’t listen to music at all, that just says, “Oh, I don’t like music.” That’d be a really weird person. That would be like the weirdest guy.”
“There’s so many different types of music. It’s universal. It brings people together. It holds personal meaning as well as on a broader scale. It’s in all forms of life. I mean even birds sing music! There are videos on YouTube about this. I watched a video on YouTube the other day of this pit bull that was singing along with Whitney Houston’s, “I will Always Love You.” It was the dog’s favorite song and every time that song was on the dog starts howling, it’s weird. It’s like prohibition… what if music was just outlawed? The world would shut down and people would go crazy. It’s a double edged sward. Music can keep people sane, but it can also make people go insane. In my mind, my one wish, is that every single person could play an instrument. Even if they are not very good at it, playing an instrument is like the best feeling ever. It’s like therapy. It’s literally the best feeling ever. I wish every single person on the world could play and instrument and have that feeling. It’s even better when you listen to a song you really like and you are able to play your favorite band’s song. That’s the coolest thing ever.”
Dog sings “I Will Always Love You”, by: Whitney Houston
13. What would you ask your favorite musician or band if you were interviewing them?
David: “First, I would have to tell myself not to say something stupid (laughs). Don’t let them know you are a huge, super fan. Of course, since I’m a drummer, I would go up the drummer and ask him personally what made him think of what he wrote. I think the biggest question I would ask my favorite band is, “How do you keep it going when times get tough and you have all this fame? How do you keep yourself grounded?” I would ask them, “How do you keep those juices flowing when you’re on the road for two years? How do you not get burned out?” I’m sure their answer would be, “For the love of music.” I would ask my favorite music or band, “What their advice would be for a band that’s trying to make it? What’s your best advice for keeping your sanity when on a long tour?” I’d ask that question, then I’d pull out my selfie stick and I’d totally post our pic on Instagram and giggle like a little girl. Then I’d walk away (laughs).”
Introduction: Band’s bio
Interview by: Laura DeSantis-Olsson