E: Greg, you play in the band Amber Pacific, whose album The Possibility And The Promise will be released in the very near future on Hopeless Records. Do you as a band feel that this album is your ultimate moment to really expose your sound to the greater audience?
Greg: Definitely--it's kind of a now-or-never mentality. We put everything we had into the recording of this CD; it really captures certain moments in our lives. And regardless of whether people think it's not good, for whatever reason, it's us at a certain point. Sure, maybe we could have a bigger CD in the future--which would be crazy--but this CD is us just trying to show everyone what we are.
E: Is it difficult for the band to decide when to declare the album "finished" and ready for the areas of release outside of your hands? Or do you feel fully confident that what was sent to be pressed is exactly what you'd wanted to record?
Greg: Yes, we spent so much time on it, but we also had a deadline, so we knew what we needed and wanted to put on it. The songs were all mostly ready to go for the studio, so there isn't much that we would want to go back and change.
E: Do you think the success of the album will rest concretely in direct correlation with the number of sales marked for it?
Greg: No, definitely not. With all the downloading and burning of CDs these days, there are tons of kids that don't actually buy the CD. In some ways that's good, in some ways that's bad. I won't get into that whole downloading thing right now, though. *Laughs* At a show there will be kids singing along to your songs that haven't bought a CD, consequently not making a "marked sale," but the kid is still singing along and having fun. If that's not success, then I don't know what it is--even though money for food and gas is nice! *Laughs*
E: Does the band ever have to specifically work out how to play a song live to its fullest potential? Or does it just come naturally to be on stage playing what you'd written?
Greg: In some aspects, yeah. We practice almost every day just to make sure everything always hits right. Not playing songs for a while, then being on stage can result in some bad-sounding music sometimes. But live also adds another element to the song... a bit more energy, a different feel to it than it does practicing in someone's basement. There's always a bit of improv live, and its adds a bit of fun, I think.
E: Do you prefer playing shows closer to your Seattle hometown, or do you prefer the thrill of playing somewhere new?
Greg: Somewhere new is always fun. Though as long as there are kids there, I'm happy. Going back to cities on the other side of the country and seeing and talking to kids you met last time you were there is always awesome. Hometown shows are fun though, too. Seattle is kind of a hard scene, but we always look forward to playing with friends and seeing friends, basically we love all our friends and fans everywhere!
E: Being the bassist for the band, do you feel you have just as much of an artistic contribution to a song's development as any other member?
Greg: Definitely. Without the bass the sound is empty. I play guitar and drums, too, but bass is my favorite and I love thinking of different things to throw in, or if it should just be left to a root note. There are so many possibilities. All music is that way, though.
E: Do you think more exciting things will be happening to the band around the time of this new release than have ever happened before?
Greg: It's very likely. We have no idea what's going to happen. We are excited to see how everything plays out. It's very nerve-wracking, too. *Laughs* We want it to do so well because we'd like to be able to do this for a while, and we just hope kids like it. Just us being able to put out a CD at all is exciting, so we are very thankful for that.
E: That should do it--thanks a lot man.
Greg: Thanks a lot. |
