E: Jay, you sing and play bass in the band John Connor... what characteristics do you think the band brings to the current scene that may not have existed before you?
Jay: Well, I would never claim to have added anything to the scene because it's all been done before... but when we started a little over a year ago, there weren't many keyboards floating around in local bands. People thought it was strange that we had so many, and now every band has a keyboard. I would like to think we had some influence on that. Also, in a time where screaming is huge, we don't scream, we don't play heavy, and we don't really use distortion. We play poppy dancy music with a bunch of 60's influence, and I'd say that's pretty much our own. We also do a lot of electronic stuff which is something you don't hear enough of. We also smile a lot and laugh and have fun. Bands have gotten way too serious. We like to be professional, but we never like to be serious... we are all about having a good time.
E: Do you think that the amount of fun a band has making music will directly correlate with how much fun the listener has hearing it?
Jay: I guess it all depends. You can have a lot of fun making music without it being fun music. I think most bands have fun when they are writing and recording their songs, but that doesn't make the songs fun songs--they could be serious or sad, that sort of thing. Not all of our songs are "fun," but I think we have a good amount of songs that are happy and fun to listen to. They have a happy sound. I can't really explain it, but when I think of fun music I think of the Beach Boys.
E: Does John Connor represent a pretty wide range of vibes and emotions in its music?
Jay: We definitely do. I try to keep our music happy and upbeat as much as possible, even though it's not all like that. But usually when I have a really happy-sounding song musically, I tend to write angry or mean lyrics to go along with it... and some of our more sad or serious-sounding music has really pretty lyrics. It's just a thing that I like.
E: With three members assisting on vocal duties, who is the band's principal lyric writer?
Jay: I write all the lyrics.
E: Have you ever found it difficult to embed your lyrical and vocal melodies into the instrumental compositions? Or does it come naturally?
Jay: Well, usually if it's hard for me to put vocals down on top of music I won't do it. Whenever I go to write words for a song I give it about fifteen minutes tops. If I don't have it done by then I stop and go back to it another time. I hate to force things musically--I think everything comes out best when you nail it on the first time or two. I like to feel like a song has written itself. But yeah, sometimes it's hard and sometimes it's real easy.
E: Do you ever have to sacrifice lyrical meaning and depth for the sake of making the words fit the tune, phonetically?
Jay: Yeah. It happens a lot, I guess. I try not to, but sometimes I'll have something that I think is so good, but it just doesn't fit. I tend to write way too many words into a song, and then I cut it all down so that it fits better. I think I always get my point across, just sometimes with less words or with different words than I would have liked.
E: How successful have your live experiences been so far?
Jay: We are still a pretty small band. We have played to crowds that were like 600 kids multiple times, though. Those were all really amazing. But it's not the amount of kids that gets me Last week we played a show in Hawthorne, NJ to about 50 kids. It was like eleven or so at night and everyone was really bored and tired, but they all stayed to watch us play. And as soon as we started playing the entire crowd started to dance, and they didn't stop until we stopped. It was seriously the most fun I've ever had on stage in any band I've ever been in. We love when people dance for us. It's what we want people to do to our music, and when it happens we are all completely stoked. But that's what does it for me, knowing that we are making the kids that are watching us happy, and that everyone is having a good time.
E: Are live shows something you really have to practice and train yourselves on? Or do they just flow?
Jay: Usually we only work on our live show when we are writing a new set. We usually practice for a week before we play a new set. We definitely try and work out all the bugs and make everything perfect, but in the end you kind of just find your groove and go with it. So yeah, we practice our set a lot, but in the end it kind of just plays itself once we are used to them.
E: How often are new songs incorporated into your live set? Right after they're written, or is there a period of time in between?
Jay: We have a lot of songs that we record that we never play live, 'cause they just aren't right for our live show. But usually when we record a song that would be good in our set, we learn it right away and put it in. We are always excited to play new songs. It keeps things interesting for us.
E: How promising is your most recent material in terms of what will hopefully get you more exposure?
Jay: Well, we just did two new songs with a producer named Carlos Alomar. He is David Bowie's guitarist. He also has played on hundreds of huge records since the mid 60's. Anyway, we did two new songs with him for a comp that's coming out on Castle Point Records. The songs are really good, and definitely more catchy and sing-alongish than any of our other songs. I think people are going to respond to those two songs way better than anything in the past. People that have liked us will love these two songs, and people who haven't heard us before or maybe weren't into us will be way more likely to be into this. It definitely shows growth in the band.
E: Well great, thanks a lot. Is there anything else you have left to tell everyone?
Jay: Well, I want to say thank you to everyone who has read this. I hope that it answered any questions you may have. Check out our sites, and come see when we are playing by you. Also check out our good friends Foster (www.purevolume.com/foster)--we love them. Once again, thank you for taking the time to interview me, and thank you to everyone who has read it... you all rule. Oh yeah, watch zombie movies... they are a good time. |
