The term “overnight success” has rarely been so accurately used to describe an individual’s ascent to fame as with Nick Pittinger.  When the young producer remixed Justin Bieber’s song “U Smile” by slowing it down 800% the song took the Internet by storm on sites such as Reddit, The Daily What, and Gawker.   Pittinger transformed the bubblegum R&B ballad into a swirling ambient piece reminiscent of post-rock luminaries Sigur Ros and Godspeed! You Black Emperor, catching the ears over one millions listeners.
J. BIEBZ – U SMILE 800% SLOWER by Shamantis

Do you mind sharing some of your IRL info? Name, age, location, etc.?
Of course! Nick Pittsinger, age 20, located in sunny (and deathly hot at the moment) Tampa, Florida.

How did you get involved with music production and how long have you been making tunes?
I have been involved with music production for about a year and a half now, and making tunes almost every day since then. I’m getting better every day, too!

Between getting over one million hits in a week and receiving mentions from NPR , The Washington Post, and Justin Bieber himself, what has been the most surprising response to your remix?
The most surprising? Well, it all has been a huge surprise since it started off as a joke/experiment, but I can definitely say the most rewarding response is how many fans I have listening to my actual music now! Also, the claims that I changed the face of music, or started a new genre, are a bit surprising. I don’t really believe them, though.

Can you provide an overview of the different software and techniques you used to make the remix? How did you come up with that combination of effects?
Honestly, it was all Paulstretch. I know it sounds like there are a bunch of effects in there like pre-delay, reverb, and whatnot, but all of that is part of the beautiful program that is Paulstretch. It takes a song, stretches it anywhere up to 1,000,000x using a complex algorithm and makes a “texture” out of the sound.

Was there anything particularly interesting about “U Smile” that inspired you to remix it or was it more of an arbitrary choice?
It was just a joke/experiment. I wanted to utilize Paulstretch to stretch some audio 800%, and thought it’d be entertainment to throw Justin Bieber in there.  Little did I know…

I saw that you licensed one of your older tunes for a surfing documentary. Have you received any new offers with all of the increased attention stemming from the “U Smile” remix?
Yes, a few! As far as taking them, I don’t know. I’m working with my managers and playing my cards right to maximize this great opportunity of overnight fame!

Do you have any plans to provide a similar “slowdown” treatment to other tracks or do you think this was a one-time affair?
I released a whole EP of slowed down originals, mainly just for meditative/sleeping purposes. Check it out!

Do you have any plans for the future that we should keep our eye out for?
Oh yes, yes yes yes. I have a few releases planned for later this year, including my second Shamantis album, “Blue Skies are Space Oceans” (half the album is available to preview on my Soundcloud!) as well as releases under my dubstep moniker, Halo Nova.

With styles ranging from ambient to down-tempo to dubstep, Nick Pittinger is an artist with a tasteful palette and a diverse set of influences who is truly grateful for having the spotlight focused on him, if only for a few minutes.  Only time will tell where the tremendous attention of the “U Smile” remix will take him, but I am sure he will be able to handle the ride.  For a clearer picture of his work, head over to his Soundcloud account and dive in.

As a native of the Bangor-area of Maine, I know the musical deprivation that my fellow more-North-than-Portland Mainers face. All throughout high school I saw a total of ZERO concerts that were closer than 2.5 hours away from my house. So when I heard KahBang was bringing in some national acts for the poor, deprived people of Downeast Maine I was pretty excited.

This festival not only gave pre-teens the chance to see B.o.B play “Airplanes” live, but also gave local bands a place to showcase their music alongside some of the greats (OK Go), some of the big up-and-comers (Bad Rabbits, Free Energy), and the worst band I’ve ever seen live (Shark Week). One such local band, Sam and Yuri, are about as Maine as you can get. They graduated from Bangor High School in ’07 and have been playing shows in the area ever since.

Sam Chase and Yuri Trusty, the founders, songwriters and vocalists of the 5-person band, released their first album Drip and Bleed to an enthusiastic Bangor audience in April of 2009 and quickly followed up with The Pushaw Lake EP later that year. When I spoke with Sam on the phone he had just finished work and had his bff and sidekick Yuri in the car to interject when necessary. Read below to hear about monkeys driving cars and what it’s like to be from Maine.

Tastemakers Magazine (TMM): So I guess to start off, can you tell us a little but about the history of your band and how you guys got started?

Sam Chase (SC): Yuri and I played music together all throughout high school and we didn’t really consider ourselves a band or anything. We were just doing it for fun and working on music together. That’s sort of how we developed our voices and our songwriting. Eventually we were given the opportunity to record an album and we decided that we weren’t going to be a “band” but just call ourselves “Sam and Yuri”. But after we recorded that album it was relatively successful for us all-in-all so we decided that we were going to make it a full band and we started playing with the other three guys (Jared, Cody and Mike). They all went to Bangor High School with us and they all graduated in the class of ’07 with us, so we knew them pretty well. It was a really easy match-up.

TMM: What do you think some of the benefits of starting out in a relatively small music community like Bangor, Maine?

SC: It probably helped us to… what the fuck?! [Laughs]

TMM: [Laughs] What’s up?

SC: I just saw a stuffed monkey driving a car.

TMM: Seriously!?!

SC: [Laughs] Yeah, I think someone was holding a puppet and then leaning back and making it look like he was driving… Oh they were shooting a commercial I guess.

TMM: Huh, well that’s weird! [Laughs]

SC: Anyways, so yeah, I think being in a small town has helped us develop our strengths more than we would have been able to elsewhere. Having less competition makes us stand out more, which has definitely helped us keep making music. It also kind of just gives us more of a humble background of a sort of simple, hum-drum life that I don’t think you get to experience in a busy city. The calm of Maine has definitely influenced us in all kinds of ways and it definitely shows through in our music. Just being able to get away into the woods, relax and do whatever we want to, and not have the pressure of society always around us is really nice.

TMM: I totally know what you mean. Coming from Maine to the city is kind of a big transition. And it’s always nice to go home. So, what was it like playing at KahBang? Whose set did you enjoy the most?

SC: It was really fun! I think we all had a great time. When we got to KahBang we actually thought we were playing on the local stage, which was a little further down the street and outside of the fenced in KahBang area, but when we got there they told us that they had switched us to the main stage, so that was an exciting surprise.

My favorite act… Well OK Go was really good, and I also really enjoyed Free Energy. I didn’t catch every act because we spent a lot of time in the back messing around. Yuri, what was your favorite act?

Yuri Trusty: Oh jeez… well we did miss most of it, but I’d have to say OK Go.

TMM: Yeah, I mean they were awesome. They played a really great show. When Damian [the lead-singer] came into the crowd I was like two inches away from him.

SC: [Talking to Yuri] Oh yeah the Les Mis scene!

TMM: Oh man! That was hilarious. Not what I was expecting at all.

SC: And the song with the bells was really fucking awesome. Can I say “fucking” on this…

TMM: Sure, why not? [Laughs] This is a college music magazine. So, speaking of great shows, if you could pick one band to tour with who would you choose?

SC: [After consulting with Yuri] Probably Coldplay. Are you going to make that happen?

TMM: [Laughs] Umm maybe! If Coldplay ever comes to Tastemakers Magazine and says, “Hey Tastemakers who should we bring on tour with us?” I’ll definitely throw your name in there.

SC: [Laughs] Good.

TMM: Looking towards the future, what are some of your goals as a band?

SC: Well I think we don’t really know for sure. We’re just gonna keep going and see how far this takes us. We’re going to keep making music, try to expand ourselves and get our name out there as much as we can. If we can keep the ‘ball rolling then that would be great, but it’s really hard to say what we’re trying to do. We’re just making music, we don’t really have any huge hopes or fantasies for what might come out of this. We’re trying to make the best of what’s at hand and to hopefully keep making good, real music.

If you’re up around the Maine anytime soon, catch Sam & Yuri play the 2010 American Folk Festival  at The Sea Dog Brewing Company  on the Bangor waterfront on August 28th!

Shout Out Louds are back to work with their new album and a new sound.  Brought together as friends in Stockholm, the band has been rocking the Indie Pop Rock world for years now.  With two releases under their belts, Shout Out Louds took a six-month vacation of sorts before reuniting to create their new release, appropriately titled, Work.

A step away from their previous albums, Work is stripped, with an air of whimsicality.  The album, produced by Indie hit maker Phil Ek (Fleet Foxes, Band of Horses) signals Shout Out Louds acceptance of music as a living.  The overall feel of the album is cheery and reminiscent of summer.  All in all, with their new album, Shout Out Louds have found a way to make work fun again.

Singer and Guitarist Adam Olenius spoke with me about the release and the preparations for the album.

KP: Could you tell me a bit about how the band came to be?

AO: After school, Ted (bass) and I met at different parties and talked about music and starting a band.  He’d never played an instrument but just wanted something to do, so we called up our friends and started—from the very, very beginning.

KP: In addition to your music, you do a lot of work for the band yourselves (i.e. the art, the music videos). How would you describe the creative process?

AO: We often collect things and ideas during tours and breaks and talk about them when we get back to work. Carl and I, who do all the artwork, were inspired by Irving Penn on this album, so we wanted the album cover to have a photo book feel to it.

KP: I read that you all parted ways for six months before the creation of this album. What did you do during that time period before reuniting?

AO: I went down to Melbourne for three months and started writing the album. And I also did a lot of nothing—wining and dining, for the most part.

KP: What was it like working together again after that break?

AO:  It felt really good. We were a little bit rusty, but ideas for songs came really quickly. We also decided not to turn down ideas this time…but then we did.

KP: How would you describe the recording process for Work?

AO: We spent six months in Stockholm working on the album before heading over to Seattle to work with Phil (Ek.) I wrote most of the songs in Melbourne and sent demos to Phil, one by one. He was very precise and exact, so it took us a while to get everything on tape. We also added extra time for him to stay in Stockholm to mix the album. It’s hard to finish an album. I could have worked on it for another six weeks.

KP: A lot of people construe “work” as a negative thing, yet it’s your album title. How do you define work?

AO: For us, “work” is a positive word. It’s about trying really hard to get that certain sound or feeling. It took us a while to realize that this is what we want to do, and to feel comfortable about it.

KP: The feel of the album is very simple and carefree. How would you say it differs from your previous albums? What changed?

AO: This album is much more stripped down, and we focused more on our own instruments this time. We didn’t try to fill every hole. The album has a more old-school sound as well. It’s our Tusk.

KP: What’s next for Shout Out Louds?

AO: Touring, flying, drinking, eating, talking, and a little bit of sleeping.

Holden Lewis and Jeremy Mendicino may be pretty and nice, but most of all, this duo is fun. Pretty & Nice, Lewis and Mendicino’s band, have been Boston’s best-kept secret for years now. Formed in a basement somewhere on the outskirts of the city, the band records their own snappy pop with both grace and childlike abandon, making them the pop band to beat. After completing the band as a foursome with Kevin Walsh and Roger Lussier, the band took to the streets, touring relentlessly.

Pretty & Nice’s latest release, Get Young, is nothing short of wonderful. Warping pop hints around a solid static and noisy aggression, the latest release is modern in sound, but a throwback in emotion- embodying all that Pretty & Nice is. The band’s been on tour essentially since the release (with more energy than most of the bands you could think of) and shows no signs of becoming “too old” or “too young.”

Lewis and Mendicino got me up to speed on line in the fast line, how they stay so fun and their plans to record.

KP: You guys record in your basement, so it’s safe to say you’re a pretty DIY band. How much do you actually do yourselves?

JM: We rule the world! We operate every machine of our collective existence. And well! And How!

HL: Yeah, we have a studio – It’s called Esthudio. It has pretty pictures and lists: esthudio.com. We started out doing EVERYTHING that you can do on our own. Now, we’re fortunate enough to have some help, but we like to think we’re more self-sufficient than yer average band.

KP: You all tweet, update your Facebook, and blog. In your opinion, how does social networking aid in a band’s success?

HL: Really, we’d just want to be able to tell everyone when we have a show, put out music, or do something interesting. Now we upload mixes and other little gifts for anyone who happens to stumble upon our website. Promotion for shows is now more electronic than physical/real-world, so you do what you gotta do!

KP: Your last album, Get Young, was very well received. What do you think made it so likable?

JM: Well, it’s fun, you know? It’s just fun! Sometimes it’s light, sometimes it’s dark, but it’s always positive and celebratory. I think there’s a receptor in people that turns on when it feels positivity, right? So we’re drugs for your meta-consciousness. Ding!

KP: In addition to the title of the album, a lot of the songs have a nostalgic quality. What do you miss most from your childhood?

HL: Wonder! Living inside your mind! I miss hammering nail after nail into my treehouse. I called that “working on the treehouse.” I also miss wandering through woods. Everything was wonderful, I can’t ever remember being bored or relying on anything/anyone for entertainment. Also, Get Young is often about not forgetting the idea/ideals you had when you were young.

JM: Yeah… I really miss how awesome all the mundane things in my life felt to me back then! Like, I own a LOT of guitars, and if I showed my guitar collection to me at 8 years old, my jaw would have dropped and I would have probably cried… with pure, unfettered joy. Now, they’re one more stack of things I have to dust. (laughs)

KP: How do you keep your sound so fun and playful?

JM: Whipped cream!

HL: We write stuff that’ll be fun to play. If a song approaches anything less than an 8 on the fun scale, we throw it out.

JM: Garbage. Nothin’ but net!

KP: What is an average day on tour like for you?

JM: Get up at some kind concertgoers hip hyper-modern loft, get tea at Starbucks, then some at a little Japanese place, then tea at Tiffany’s…

HL: Touring in the US, there’re a lot of franchises and strip malls of more franchises. Burger King looks good next to a Rally’s or Taco John’s. When we were in Europe last Fall we ate a lot of wonderful food. It’s tough to stay healthy though. We’re trying to get more bananas and apples than fries these days.

KP: We’ll that’s good! You’ve been touring for a long while now. Any plans to record soon?

J&H: As soon as we get home. We swear!! Pledge, criss-crossy, pinky swear, extra juju berries!

Since their breakout success in 2005, OK GO has been one of America’s most creative and memorable bands.  Their DIY videos, most often done in one take, showcase unusual, yet energetic dance moves that make their songs even more irresistible than they already are.  With the release of their new album, Of the Blue Colour of the Sky, OK GO is back for more and ready to get down.  OurStage got the chance to catch up with Damian Kulash, frontman of the band, to chat about recording the album, their upcoming video and expansive world of OK GO.

Katie Price: It’s been almost half a decade since your last album.  What was it like to record again after all that time?  Did you have to dust off your dancing shoes?

Damian Kulash (singer): Wow, half a decade, that makes it sound really dramatic and long.  I can’t tell you how happy we were to get back into the studio and record.  This time around we recorded with Dave Fridmann (Flaming Lips, MGMT, Mercury Rev.) Dave gave us the keys to his wonderfully weird, psychedelic three-dimensional sonic universe.  We went hog wild as they say on The Dukes Of Hazzard and other TV programs that take place in the South.  More so than ever before, we really let the beats and the sounds define the emotions of the songs.  It was great fun, and I’m really happy with the end result.

KP: “Shoot The Moon” was included in the Twilight soundtrack.  A lot of tween girls freak out over the series.  What do you guys geek out over?

DK: I geek out over iPhone applications and gadgetry in general- mid century modern Danish furniture, Pee Wee’s Playhouse, playwriting, Flash Gordon, artwork by Claire Rojas and the band Mew.

KP: For the video for “This Too Shall Pass” you brought in the Notre Dame marching band.  It’s epic.  How did the collaboration come about?  Do you have ties to the Fighting Irish?

DK: My brother did actually go to Notre Dame, but that was in the late 80′s, and not the inspiration for the video.  Last year, we saw a YouTube clip of the Notre Dame marching band doing a halftime performance of our song “Here It Goes Again.”  They were super awesome, so we asked them if they’d want to do a project together.  That bloomed into the “This Too Shall Pass” video.  The challenge was to figure out the best way to utilize a 200 person marching band both visually and sonically.  In the end, we did a one take video that starts with just the four of us (OK GO) playing, and then it slowly reveals all 200 of the marching band members.  It was a great time, and I think we got a really good video out of it.

KP: The band recently posted a letter about your frustration with how fans are no longer allowed to embed your YouTube videos. Have you come up with any other ideas about how people can share their OK Go love?

DK: Yes!  Now that labels aren’t really making money on album sales, they’re trying to get what they can for videos.  The Youtube software made to monetize plays doesn’t account for the plays on embedded videos on other sites (i.e blogs and such.) So labels often make their videos unembeddable to get the most out of their YouTube plays.  This makes it difficult to share and pass on videos from their artists, which seems a little backwards.  But I can understand their point of view.  Fans can share the video through sites like Vimeo for the time being.  We are fans of YouTube, and obviously would love to see a deal made where embedded videos can benefit the band, the label, and of course YouTube.  We’ll see what happens.

KP: We hear you’ve been working with NASA for your next video.  What can we expect?  Jet packs?

DK: We are working with Mindshare Labs who are a group of über-nerds from the M.I.T Media Lab program, NASA, jet propulsion labs, etc…  They are a team of highly motivated scientists and artists who are constantly trying to out do one another with super awesome inventions.  They are building a gigantic machine that will both try to dance with and destroy us.  There just might be some launching going on.  You’ll have to wait and see…

KP: Damien has mentioned that Prince is a huge influence for you guys.  Is that where you get your sick dancing skills?

DK: Prince can dance… We can’t.  He’s definitely a huge influence on us musically.  We strive to make songs as sexy and direct as he does.  There is a lot of Prince influence on our new album.

KP: What can you say about what’s to come in the world of OK GO?

DK: We’re going to be touring and making videos, touring and making videos, touring and making videos.  We’re in Europe now finishing a three-week tour.  We’ll be home in the beginning of February to make the album version of “This Too Shall Pass” with the nerds from NASA.  Then, we go to Australia, China, and Japan for tour.  In March we come home again for our next video.  In April, we will finally tour the states!

KP: Last question- Team Conan or Team Leno?

DK: We’ve played on both shows.  Jay Leno and Conan have been very good to us.  I will say this though- I am going to massively miss watching Conan O’Brien.  He’s got to be one of the funniest men in America.  I don’t doubt he’ll go on to make things that bring smiles to people’s faces.  We were lucky enough to play on his show before it went off air.  My best wishes to Mr. O’Brien.

TMM: You talked a lot about the reason you did these covers: to provide a glimpse into your own sound.

PD: We had just released our new record Trio B.C. and a lot of people were curious as to what our influences are because a lot of the record is really mixed. There’s not just one genre on Trio B.C. One song will be more bluesy and then the next straight up punk. So we thought it would be cool if we released a record of bands that influenced us and helped to shape what we’re doing today.

Plus we thought it would be good for a lot of younger kids to hear these bands that they’re not familiar with; bands like Joy Division or even Selena. We just noticed that nowadays the younger generation is kind of quick. They tend to hear what they hear, see what they see on TV but not really know. For instance Lady Gaga is like huge or whatever but a lot of people don’t know that she got her name from a Queen song. It’s about showing these kids, ‘these are your roots.’ (author’s note: GIAC took their name from Smiths song “Girlfriend in a Coma.”)

TMM: Is it scary taking on a song like “While My Guitar Gently Weeps“?

PD: Yeah it’s kind of scary. You don’t know if you’re going to piss off die-hard Beatles fans or even die-hard Joy Division fans. And the main part people notice in “While My Guitar Gently Weeps“ is Eric Clapton’s guitar playing. But instead of us doing that we kind of let [my sister] Nina’s voice do the guitar. So that could either be a hit or miss with Beatles fans but we just wanted to make it interesting.

TMM: And now you’re going on tour with Wedding Present and then another tour with Sia. Which one are you more excited for?

PD: I’m equally excited. I really like The Wedding Present. They’re kind of like if you enjoy The Smiths you‘d like this band. I really dig their Bizarro album. And we met Sia at the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival. She really dug us and watched our set that evening and then asked if we would be interested in touring with her. Just because she was a cool person we were like ‘sure.’ But we had no idea what kind of music she was. Now we’ve heard her stuff and I think it’s going to be fun.

TMM: What would you say is the best part about being a woman in a rock band?

PD: It’s liberating in a weird way because there are not many women in Rock. I think it’s still good to be an all girl band and be touring and getting attention.  The three of us are Latinas so we’re kind of inspiring this new generation of Latina women who are coming to the shows. Just knowing that we’re doing that for somebody gives me a lot of pride.

TMM: Do you have aspirations of starting your own label and fostering young bands, similar to the way Joan has with you?

PD: I’ve definitely talked about that with [GIAC bassist] Jenn [Alva]. Eventually when we feel comfortable with the level of our own band, I would love to explore starting a label or even booking bands.  Jenn even talked about writing a survival book about being on the road: how to sneak in to motels and taking water when you play at a venue. Little things like that that bands should do to save cash on the starting out road.

TMM: Okay, last question: How is Girl in a Coma not like the Jonas
Brothers?

PD: [profuse laughter] No offense to Jonas brothers fans but I don’t think we suck.

TMM: I’m so glad you just went for the honest direct answer.

PD: That I did. Probably going to piss off the legions of Jonas fans.

TMM: Well congratulations on your new records and best of luck on the two tours.

PD: Thank you.

In a recent interview with the up-and-coming Berklee based band The Tourist, I asked them if they had one word to describe their group.

“Harmoneez.  With a z,” said guitarist Ty Larson.

This one word is a great way to show what The Tourist are: a band that maintains traditional style, but finds an interesting and intricate way to put a spin on the classics.  Larson describes their genre as “progressive pop, with a dash of rock.”

The group consists of, in addition to Larson, Brandon Tuzio on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Andrew Kline on bass and Jesse Trepiak on drums, all of whom are students at Berklee.  In fact, Trepiak, who entered Berklee as a guitar player, picked up the drums for the band and now plans on making it one of his concentrations.

Each member of the band definitely brings their own style and sense of exploration, as singer and guitarist Brandon Tuzio puts it, to their music.

“We’re able to pool all of our influences into a nice mix,” says Tuzio.  And their influences are definitely varied.

For instance, Tuzio himself is heavily influenced performance-wise by Incubus and lyrically by artists such as Wilco, Elvis Costello, and Deerhunter.  Tuzio also (interestingly enough) possesses a voice quite comparable to Incubus’ Brandon Boyd.

Kline, however, gets his influence from artists like Incubus bassist Ben Kenney, who originally played for the Roots, allowing for a little bit of hip-hop influence in the mix, as well to add a solid foundation to their tracks.

Finally, think of Larson’s influence a little of the indie band Grizzly Bear and a lot of the legendary shredder Joe Satriani, which helps him bring an intricate variety to the band’s sound.

But, as Kline points out, it is not just the musical sense of the word harmony that allows the group to work well together.  “We are all in harmony with each other,” he states.

“There are so many musicians at Berklee that I’ve known before I met these guys, and you can just tell when you’re collaborating well…it’s like a sixth sense.”

Kline brings an important aspect to the band in an engineering sense.  He has been studying sound engineering at Berklee, from where he will graduate next year.  He hopes to open his own recording studio soon in order to truly tap in to his skills as a musical engineer and to contribute these skills to help the band succeed.
“Andy is our secret weapon,” says Tuzio.

The group hopes to release their first album by the end of 2010.  But the band is definitely in no rush, still being students at Berklee.  Time is definitely one of the band’s greatest resources, in addition to their commitment and focus as a group.

As Larson puts it: “We have nothing but time.”

TMM: Who would you say your man crush is?

Ben (B): Well my answer is going only to my favorite cartoon crush, which is a female, but the girl from The Goofy Movie?

Tommy (T):  That’s a girl.

B: I know I’m gonna figure out the other one, but I’m thinking about…I’m sorry it’s the only answer I can think of.

Jesse (J): I’m oddly prepared to answer this.  Morrisey, Scott Avit, of the Avit brothers, who’s a fine looking man, and Ben Bridwell, who’s the singer of Band of Horses.  I met him and I was blushing for an hour.  I’m straight I have a girlfriend, I swear.

B: That doesn’t actually mean anything.

TMM: It doesn’t mean you can’t have a good man crush.

J:  I just felt I should jump in and say that I have 3 man crushes.  You may not know them, but that’s who they are.

T: Frank Zappa is sort of a man crush.  I’ve been watching a lot of interviews with him on Youtube, and Yoni Wolf from Why?

B: I can’t do it, I’m gonna keep thinking about it. My answer right now is Kevin Spacey.

T: Really?  Did you see Superman Returns?

TMM: It’s ok we’ll come back to it.  You’ve pretty much toured consistently since your last record release in the beginning of 2008.  How’s that gone overall?

B: Good, but it’s exhausting.  Last year we did like 150 160 shows and this year we did 80 and we stopped in June.  Yeah touring’s great.

T: It’s kind of nice to have an extended period of time when we’re not touring. But after the winter it’s going to be nice to get back on the road in February or March.

TMM:  So what were some of the highlights of the long tour?

T: Well the Ben Folds tour was pretty insane because we’d go on tour and there’d already be 3000 people like waiting because it wasn’t like normal rock shows where they’d have assigned seating and stuff so people would get there like two hours early and then be really excited that someone was going to play music in front of them which is very different from your usual bar atmosphere.

B: And as far as that, that whole collection of tours, it was Ben Folds for three and a half weeks, and then immediately in the UK for two weeks with dear friends of ours Nightmare of You, which was, everything from being in London in this huge theater which was beautiful, then all the other shows were much smaller like the JaRock club.  We did like the supporting Ben Folds, supporting our friends, and then co-heading the six weeks through the whole country where its our fans in support of our deal, and those were alongside Jenny Owens Young who is a good friend.  So we really ran the gambit of the types of tours that we do.

T: We saw the whole array of like really crappy bars in Indianapolis to the most beautiful theater you’ve ever seen in Indianapolis.

B:  To a stadium in Boston, to a shit hole in Glassgow.

J: That place may have even been called The Shithole.

TMM: I know you mentioned your second CD.  How’s that been overall?  Are there big changes in sound or your music from the first CD?

B: I think the changes are inherent in us just getting older and the songs on the first record are songs that we wrote 3 or 4 years ago.  It’s a lot more mature; it’s a lot stronger.  The songs on the whole one are fantastic but this is a bigger record.

T: We weren’t consciously writing bigger or anything like that, but I think a lot of the differences people will perceive might be caused by just working with a different producer. By nature of the producer it may be a little darker from what we’d normally produce.

B: But on the same end the songs are a little darker, but not necessarily in topic but in sound.  Everything on the first record was totally spazzy and all over the place, which is great you know we’re having fun everyone’s having a great time. This one has moments like that.  Like afternoons were we had tea instead of coffee type thing.  Cause Jesse drinks a lot of tea, and I drink a lot of coffee, and Tommy drinks…

T:  A lot of coffee.

B: Yeah a lot of coffee.  It’ll sound like a record that’s slightly older, but in a good way.  Like compared to your usual band we will still sound very juvenile and excited.

TMM: You guys do have a lot of energy overall and just look like you’re having a great time.  Is that just natural?

B: It’s really part of the songs.  If we were doing really sad, depressing songs we’d probably be really sad and depressed.  I think a lot of bands get up and they’re really serious with a stoic face and don’t have a lot of fun.

T: I think we’re all just pretty psyched to be on stage.

B: We’re doing something that’s really fun so why wouldn’t you be happy and having a good time?

T: And even when I’m having a shitty day on tour, the show is the only good part of the day.  Those 45 minutes that are songs.

B: People are there to see you and you want them to have fun.  And if they are going to have fun you should be having fun.

TMM: In creating your second album have you come across and huge difficulties?

B:  The only major problem has been having too many songs to go onto the record and having to figure out what would be on the record by navigating the opinions of everyone of what should go on the record.  Other than that though, not much.

T: We have so many songs that we tried to get opinions from everyone involved, from all our Jukebox mates and it just ended up getting really complicated because everyone had different ideas, kind of what they like and what they don’t like, because that’s how people are.  Some people like songs more than other people.  It got a little complicated.

J: They’re around 21 songs so the odds of everyone around agreeing on 12 on one record, well someone’s going to be pissed.

B: And we practiced 5 or 6 weeks straight for the record to get it ready and worked our asses off on it, and every song we had on the table we thought went towards the record.

TMM:  What are you plans after coming out with this second album?

B: The hope is finish the record, find a label or someway to put it out, and tour our faces off.  The old record just came out in Japan and will be coming out in England, so we’d like to tour in Japan and England.  We’ll definitely be touring in England again soon, but I don’t know about Japan.  Yeah just touring, playing as much as we can, and building on what we’ve already built.

TMM: Great.  And have you thought of an answer to the man crush?

B:  Oh shoot I wasn’t thinking about it.

T:  Just say Bono.

B: That’s NOT true.  I know I used to have one.

T: How about Brandon from Nightmare of You?

B:  Brandon from Nightmare of You.  He’s got a thing for me.  He’s the only many I’ve ever kissed on the lips.

TMM:  So you guys have a mutual man crush.

B: That was one of the first bands we’ve ever toured with and he went out of his way to make me exceedingly uncomfortable.  Cause when you’re on tour you become like ‘Road Gay,’ and you just break down the barriers of who you are as a human.  When you spend eight hours a day in a car with anybody for weeks at a time, it doesn’t matter.  You’re all pissing in bottles you’re all sleeping in the same bed.  You all wake up to each others urine and it’s fine.  And he was used to it because they were touring 8 9 years and we were only a year in, and he was comfortable and it was just awful.  But he taught me a lot about myself.

T: What about the term ‘Road Gay?’

B: ‘Road Gay?’  I think it’s widely used and recognized.

TMM:  This is the first time I’ve heard ‘Road Gay.’

J:  I think Kerouac coined it.

B: Yeah that’s good Kerouac or Ginsberg.  One of the guys in a band at the Bowery used the term ‘Road Gay’ so I know it’s been used.

TMM:  Alright well thanks guys.

TM: The new album, Smoke and Mirrors is finally out. How do you feel about it?

RW: Man we’ve put a lot of work in to this record. Normally we make records in four months [but] we’ve spent a year and a half to make [this record]. There’s been a lot of build up to actually get it out to the public so people can hear it. We’re all really excited.

TM: It got pushed back a bunch of times?

RW: It did, and a few times it was kind of our doing. We really wanted to make sure the single had enough time to saturate for a bit before we released the record. We needed to make sure all the ducks were in line and, sure enough, it worked out in our favor to wait a minute.

TM: So it wasn’t a matter of not being happy with the record?

RW: No. To be honest, we had the record done. It was one of those things where we had our little baby that we spent a year and a half making. The single came out and the original idea was to put it out right away, but you know what? Our little baby needed a little more time to learn how to swim.

TM: I’m glad to see some responsible parenting. Your more recent releases have been a little heavier than what the public image of Lifehouse may be. Is that in response to anything?

RW: It’s kind of funny. We’ve heard that a couple times but the real answer to that is we have always been a true rock band. It’s four guys: two guitars, bass, and drums. We’ve always taken a lot of pride in being a band that plays live and can rock. I think a lot of people that came out to shows even in the beginning were kind of shocked like ‘whoa they’re more of a harder-edged rock band than we thought.’ This record was the perfect kind of merge between the pop radio side and what we can do live, especially [in the song] “Halfway Gone.” It was one of the last tracks that we cut for the record. We had half the record kind of like our radio side and then we had the organic live recording side and at the end we almost needed something that was a merge between the two, so that’s where “Half-way Gone” came in.

TM: The success of your first single, “Hanging by a Moment,” definitely burned that radio image of Lifehouse in to people’s minds. It’s been almost 10 years since the release of that single. Do you feel like you’ve had to fight against the success of that one specific song?

RW: Not necessarily. I mean, like any band that comes out of the chute with a big hit, we were really young and that single came out and popped and we toured the world for almost three years on that record. When we went in to make our second record [Stanley Climbfall], we were almost expecting to have a hit right out of the box. We were over in Europe touring extensively to set up the record worldwide but when we got back in the States the songs hadn’t stuck to the wall as much as we planned. We ate humble pie right out of the chute. That taught us that you can have a really big hit but, to stay in the game, it takes hard work.

TM: So your second record was kind of a learning experience?

RW: Yeah I would say so. If you listen to that record it was one of our more hard-edge records. We still are proud about that but I guess it just didn’t hook up on the radio. It’s one of those records that for a lot of people they love it because it’s kind of indie. For a lot of people that’s their favorite record. So whatever the kids like, it’s all good.  I think over the past ten years it’s just been an experience-building deal for us. Now we’re at the crossroads. Smoke and Mirrors just came out and we’re really excited about the material on it.

TM: Are you excited to be on the road with Daughtry?

RW: We’re very excited. He’s a great guy. We met him maybe two years ago. We did a show with him and someone knocked on our door and [when we opened it,] we were like whoa it’s Chris Daughtry. Sure enough he came on tour and was super down to earth. We ended up becoming friends with him. Jason [Wade] our singer co-wrote a song for his record and Chris, Jason and [singer-songwriter] Richard Marx co-wrote a song for our record. It was almost like a perfect thing that this tour was going to happen and be a bunch of buddies on the road together. It’s going to be a great opportunity for us to display the new album. We’re pretty much playing the record front to back and a few other… jams, if you will.

TM: Well don’t be stingy with the old songs. The fans like those too.

RW: [laughs] No, we’re not going to. What’s tricky is now we’ve got such a big catalogue and it’s almost like the one song you don’t play is the one song everyone wants to hear. Our mainstay tracks aren’t going to leave the set. There’s a reason why they were hits in the first place and we’re never going to be one of those bands that doesn’t want to play the single.

TM: … And absolutely never play a medley of singles

RW: [more laughter] Yeah without a doubt.

TM: Alright, so I have one last question for you: How do you feel about the Now That’s What I Call Music series?

RW: Well, I mean, we’re down with it because whoever wants to put our music out for more ears, if it’s tapping in to a new demographic or different ages or whatever, we’re kind of ‘like go for it.’ However the music can get to the ears, we’re pro that.

TM: So you’re comfortable with the fact that Lifehouse appears on the same album as Drowning Pool or Dem Franchize boys?

RW: [laughs] Why not? It’s like a good gumbo. It’s got a bunch of different flavors in it and I love gumbo!

TM: And there’s the quote! Well thanks so much for taking the time to call. I can hear the luggage rolling behind you.

RW: Oh you can hear that? [laughs]

TM: So you have a new tour going on, tell me a little about that.

JI: Yeah it’s a pretty little tour. We’re just going for 12 days or so up the East Coast and then back down. Pretty much the entire past year we have just been opening for people playing short sets, like 30-40 minutes. So it’s our first time in a really long time to go out and headline our own shows and play longer sets.

TM: And your opener is Sleeperstar. How do you know them?

JI: They’ve actually been friends of ours for a really long time. They’re another band from Dallas, TX. They used to be in another band called Bare Foot that was on Geffen Records for a while, probably like 5 or 6 years ago. They toured with Ashlee Simpson, Jessica Simpson and stuff like that. They formed this band about two years ago. They’re kind of a new band but up and coming and just really good dudes. So it’s going to be fun just hanging out with some our friends. Their music’s great, I think our fans will really like them and I’m just looking forward to hanging out with them for a couple of weeks.

TM: It’s like a little road trip. Have you played Boston before?

JI: Yeah! We played Boston a few times. It’s actually probably one of our favorite places to play. Let’s see, we’ve played at the Paradise twice. Those two shows were amazing. I think they were both sold out. They really take care of you there and it’s in a cool part of town. We played a show at T.T. the Bears once, a long time ago. The past few times we’ve been to Boston it’s been really good to us. The local radio stations there have been really supportive and we’re excited to go back.

TM: Well we’re glad to have you. Now you’ve had a bit of a long journey to get to the point you are now. Were there a lot of speed bumps along the way?

JI: Ahh you know there are definitely always speed bumps, but it’s been a really cool journey. It definitely didn’t happen over night. And still to most people we’re a new band; we’re a baby band even though we’ve been playing together for 10 years. We met in high school and played together in college. We started touring a lot in college when grades started going down. So we dropped out, convinced our parents it was a good idea and bought a van and trailer. Our parents said, “We’ll give you one year, tour the country and if you don’t have a record deal at the end of the year you have to go back to school.” Low and behold we toured the country and ended up signing with Virgin and released an album about a year ago. I never thought our song would be on the radio. Our video has been on VH1 a whole lot. You know, it’s friggin crazy!

TM: Well that’s pretty amazing that you met your parents’ deadline. It sounds like you grew up in a very supportive environment.

JI: All of our parents are fairly musical. My dad plays harmonica and he always had two or three bands he played with. My parents would always take us to concerts. I think my first concert was to see Eric Clapton in 6^th grade. And then the next year my parents took me to see ZZ top and Lynard Skynard, and then Aerosmith, even a bunch of local bands like the Old 97’s, Flickerstick and Toadies.  Josh, our singer, his dad was a country singer and his brother is a country singer. Josh Wilkerson, our other guitar player, his dad is a drummer in a pretty big cover band around Fort Worth. They played my prom. He was in a rock and roll band when he was in college and they toured with the Beach Boys and Cheaptrick. We all had this family home structure that was very musical and we definitely couldn’t do what we have done without our parents’ support.

TM: And how about your hometown? How important was your friends support when you first started?

JI: [Laughs] You know at the time when we were in high school we came from three or four different schools and [more laughter] initially our music really wasn’t that good, but we were pretty popular in high school. So we would play a concert and like 500, 600 high school kids would show up. We were kind of like the only high school band at the time. Now it’s like being in a band is the new football; everybody’s in a band.  But so we would play a show and everybody knew. All the other high schools would be there and it would be a big party. That definitely opened up a lot of doors for us when we were younger.

TM: Well you’ve certainly come a long way. What are your hopes for the future of the band?

JI: You know when people ask that there are always two sides to that. There’s a personal side where I think we’re called to be content with where we’re at. So many people live in the future and miss today. At the end of tomorrow I have enough stories to be able to tell my kids and grandkids one day. I’ve gotten to live and do so much that I’ve only dreamed about.

Then there’s the business side of things where you always want more. I think GRO as a business and as a name, there’s a whole lot more we want to accomplish. We’re definitely not a household name by any means but we’re working at it. We want to have one of those songs that become a classic 10 years from now. We want to be a household name like the Fray, Maroon 5, and Matchbox 20.  There’s a lot more on that and a lot more touring in the future. Hopefully we’ll release another single to radio and just keep whittling away at that. We’ll see where it takes us.

TM: Hey great answer man.

JI: [laughs]

TM: And those household names you listed are those some of the band’s influences?

JI: Yeah those are definitely some of the influences. If you listen to some of our music we’re definitely children of the 90s. We grew up listening to stuff like Vertical horizon, Tonic, and Third Eye Blind. One thing we’ve always tried to accomplish is write songs, that have melodies that people can sing along to, kind of in the vein of the 90s with a modern twist making it our own. We’re also from the South, so I think there’s a little bit of that kind of sing along, Texas, southern rock feel.

TM: And how about your personal influences? Is there something that maybe you bring that the rest of the guys don’t?

JI: We all kind of stretch it in different ways. Two of my favorite bands would be like U2 and Tom Petty and a whole lot of my guitar playing is very U2/The Edge. All the delay guitar playing kind of stuff. I love that but then I also love the sing-along, short simple sweet melodies of Tom Petty. He has a saying that’s “don’t bore us get to the chorus” and I’ve always been a big proponent of that. Write something that is short, easy and people can sing a long to. But we all come with different things. My brother listens to a lot more indie music. Our drummer grew up playing jazz. So we all bring our different elements.

TM: The band has a really great chemistry. Were there conscious things you had to do to bring all those elements together?

JI: I think just by default, playing with the same guys for almost 10 years that’s bound to happen. When I come home and I’m in town I’ll play with different people or I’ll sit in and jam with some friends, play a church or random stuff like that. It’s fun for me but I also hate doing it. With the guys it’s like we all know how each other work.

TM: Your brother plays bass in GRO. Have the two of you been playing together even before the band?

JI: Yes yes yes, in middle school when I was in 8^th grade and he was in 6^th we played Sweet Home Alabama in a middle school talent show. We’ve been playing together for a long time.

TM: So are you the next greenwood brothers.

JI: Hahaham I don’t know about that. I think there is something to brothers in bands. There are so many cool bands that have brothers in them. We toured a lot with Collective Soul; they have two brothers in the band. Another band we just toured with was Need to Breathe and they have two brothers. AC/DC, Kings of Leon. There’s so many.

TM: Well excellent you definitely have a lot to be proud of. Anything else you would like to add?

JI: I think one of the things that make us different from most bands is we don’t take ourselves too seriously. You meet so many bands and artists that just try to be so cool. For us we’re just 5 normal guys who play music. That doesn’t define who we are. We like to have fun.

TMM: So, let’s get the first question out of the way.  Why “Fun.”?

Nate (vocals): We were sitting around with a friend one night and everyone was just naming off random things and someone said “ice cream.”  I was like “ice cream is not happening but I like the concept– what does ice cream conjure up?”  And Jack (drums) said, “Fun” and we were like that’s a really good band name. It was the only one we didn’t officially veto really hard.  So we were like well ‘Fun’ it will be and ‘Fun’ it was.

TMM: What were some of the vetoed ones?

N: Well there was one that we all really liked but it was ‘The Spirit Alive.’

Andrew (piano): Our management thought it was too Christian-y sounding.  I made a Myspace and an email address for that.  We thought ‘Spirit Alive’ was going to happen.  You win some, you lose some and something happens and you end up as ‘Fun.’  And then you add a period six months later.

TMM: Nate, I know you called Jack and Andrew.  Out of everyone you know, all the musical talent, why’d you pick those two?

N: I toured with them for such a long time and it just seemed very right.  I always wanted to work with those guys. I just didn’t know when I’d find the time and suddenly I found the time and I called both of them up.

TMM: Andrew, were you automatically on board?

A: Yeah.  Whenever I’ve done anything in the past it’s been something I needed to take time to think about and this is really the only major decision that required no time. We both just booked one-way tickets to New York and didn’t leave until the job was done.  We left two months later after writing a thousand songs.  It was a case of where you almost don’t know what you’re going to do and then the universe gives you a path.

TMM: Coming from three different bands what would you say the biggest challenge was?

N: It was tough at first because we put a lot of pressure on ourselves.  With the first song I brought to the guys to start working on I think we didn’t do as great as a job because we never worked together. Then we all kind of stepped away from each other for each of our parts and just let the person do what they did best, and from that point on we knew what worked and didn’t work and went from there.

TMM: Would you say your other bands have an influence on what you do as Fun.?

A: I think the old bands don’t necessarily have an influence on us but I think we’re all proud of our past work. We don’t want to ignore what we’ve done in other bands and there are things that can be pulled out that are important.  We view Fun. as a place where we can write whatever we want.  That’s the freedom in starting a new band.  For the three of us we didn’t have to sound like any of our past bands we just had to make a record together.  The slate is sort of clean.  If we end up sounding like one of those things it’s probably because it’s us still.

TMM: Your show at Great Scott a few weeks ago was sold out and After Hours reached maximum capacity tonight.  Did you expect this kind of reaction?

N: It’s weird.  I have expectations but I’m surprised when anybody shows up.  I have crazy expectations that I’ve always held and I think that they might help get me to where I am as far as goals I set for myself but I expect nothing.  I was in the car on the way up and I was like, “I’m depressed there’s not going to be anyone here tonight.”  I like to be pleasantly surprised.  It’s cool.  It’s awesome.

TMM: The tour has been going on for a few weeks now.  What’s the craziest thing that has happened so far?

A: Some girl hopped up on stage and started grinding her butt against Nate while he was singing a song …

N: I didn’t know what was going on.  It was crazy. I don’t do well with stuff like that.  She said, “You love it.  You love it.”  And I said, “If I was a different man,” because I’m a family man first.

TMM: If you guys weren’t family men or musicians what would you want to be doing?

A: I went to school for advertising. I probably would be doing something involving advertising.  I also am really profoundly fascinated with medicine and the human body in general.  Even during Anathallo, I was considering med school.

N: I’d probably end up going to school.  I’d probably be really successful with living in my parents’ house.

A: I’m pretty successful at that now.

N: I’m really good at living at my girlfriend’s place.

TMM: You two have a lot in common.

N: And that’s why we created a band.