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| ::Interviews:: |
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| review & interview content, as well as web site graphics & design, copywrite 2003-2004 Euphonia Online. use of materials granted only with reasonable purposes. |
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| interviewed by robby sumner |
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| Interview with Whit and Dan February 23rd, 2005 |
Whit Maull - Guitar Dan Perea - Bass, Vocals Patrick Jolkovski - Drums |
| E: So guys, how deliberately was For Felix started? Were you planning on going all the way with it at the very first notion of the band?
Dan: Yeah, we were pretty much all about doing music at the very beginning of the band. A year earlier I had moved to CA from NJ to go to school, and I ended up dropping out and moving back to the east coast just for the band. Whit: I also was going to school for a bit in Delaware, and also dropped that to come back to NJ to play music. Dan: Yeah, so we were definitely ready to take it seriously. E: Has the New York/New Jersey area proved to be a good place to start out as a band? Whit: It has its advantages and disadvantages. There are a lot of people in the area, a lot of cities nearby, and a lot of opportunities... but there are also a ton of bands competing for the same shows and opportunities. Dan: New Jersey has definitely become a huge melting pot of all different types of bands. For such a small state it seems like an endless amount of music is put out here, a lot of it being amazing and a lot of it being not so good... With that in mind it can be hard to get noticed, just because there is so much competition and not enough kids going to shows that have a thousand bands playing. But once you become semi established it's a great scene. E: What have you done to gain a firm footing with the East Coast scene fans? Whit: We play as much as possible in NJ and the surrounding states when were home, we've toured the east cost several times, and played some big festivals. We've been gradually building a fanbase that way. Dan: We also try to do a lot of self-promotion in our area. We've gone around to malls with a portable CD player just talking to people and letting them hear our stuff. We also sell a lot of our own tickets for shows... but that's more because of the venue system in Jersey. E: And what success have you been seeing lately? Whit: Seeing people singing along at shows is amazing, especially in cities that we were in for the first time. We've been getting better shows, more people have been coming to see us, and the response to our new CD has been outstanding. Dan: To have someone singing along to a song that we put together is just unreal to me. E: How exciting was it to be featured on the new DTR/Purevolume comp? Whit: Very exciting. There was a lot of hype surrounding the release of the CD, so hopefully a lot of people will go out there and pick it up, hear our song, and try to find out more about our band. Dan: It was also cool how they changed the name of the song for us. *Laughs* But yeah, it was a great opportunity. I think it's awesome how both Drive-Thru and Purevolume try to help bands out so much. We were also given the opportunity to play the CD release show, which actually happened last night with Adelphi and Socratic which was a blast. Whit: Yeah the packaging lists "Too Sad For Hollywood" as our song, when "A Simple Message" actually appears on the comp. E: When fans hear that song on the comp, do you think they'll get a good idea of what they'll hear if they buy a full For Felix record? Dan: It's definitely a taste. I like to think that the new album has a lot of diversity, especially for just an EP, but "A Simple Message"--the song on the comp--definitely represents the kind of songs we like to write. It's got a lot of energy and is fun to sing. Whit: I agree with Dan, I think our EP is very diverse. But if you like the song on the comp, you probably will like the rest of our EP. E: Do you expect your style to change much over the next year or so? Dan: Well, if you listen to our first album, Rise Above, has definitely represented a huge change in our style. More because of just maturity and overall experience. The next album will probably go in the same direction just more so. We're still really young, and these years will probably bring a lot of change in all of us. So I imagine our music will change with it. I think we will still retain the overall sound we've developed though. Fans will still hear it as For Felix. Whit: We definitely have changed a lot since the start, and I think it�s a good thing to progress as a band and not release the same album twice. I think we've all improved as musicians and songwriters and we've started to find our own sound with the last EP and the new stuff we're working on. E: That should do it. Thanks, guys. Whit: Thank you. Dan: No problem at all, thanks a lot. |