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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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Larry Soliman - Vocals Jeremy Mendez - Guitar Clint Delgado - Guitar Jesse Barrera - Bass, Vocals Steven Oira - Drums |
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| Interview with Jesse and Jeremy May 23rd, 2004 |
| E: My American Heart has been playing great music together for over three years now... what forces do you think drove you to become musicians?
Jesse: Well, I started playing instruments in the 7th grade. Me and Jeremy were both in school band. He played trumpet and I played the saxaphone. Both of us had stepdads that bought us guitars. Steven actually got Clint into playing guitar--they're cousins. Jeremy: After Steven's first band broke up, he decided to play drums. Meanwhile, Clint still played guitar. Jesse: I just thought I had something special in music... it was the only thing I could understand. At least we're trying to make a living out of this. Jeremy: All of us clashed together when we first started playing together. E: What were the early days of the band like compared to now? Jesse: Oh man... this is a good one. When we first started, we were like little kids with dreams to be like New Found Glory. Seriously. We covered Rufio, Saves the Day, and Home Grown. I don't regret it... they're our roots, and it's cool that we started like that because now you can see how much we've grown musically, and how much our musical ears have improved. I'm not saying Rufio and Home Grown are bad. It's just that we've found our true sound... and what we need to sound like. And we sound like My American Heart... our style is set apart from others, much because of our singer, Larry, and what we bring musically. Jeremy: When the band first started, we worked our asses off promoting what we thought could be great if everyone just listened. Jesse: And now everyone is listening. Our style and sound got better... so it all worked perfectly. And the timing couldn't have been any better. E: The band's name was only recently changed from "No Way Out" to the current "My American Heart." What sort of difficulty was there in choosing yet another name for the band? Jesse: Everyone didn't really agree on it at first... because our fans and friends were all used to "No Way Out." But, I mean, we finally got over it and saw that it would do much more for us. Now we don't have to worry about a lot of legal issues that we had to deal with while having the name "No Way Out." I believe there's a signed band in Europe called "No Way Out," and it's a Puff Daddy album. It's also one of those WWF pay-per-views. The hardest task was finding a name that would best suit us, and best replace "No Way Out." And Larry finally came up with the idea "My American Heart." E: In what ways have you witnessed the band progressing toward even greater success? Jesse: After we released our new stuff on the net, we've gotten contacts from a lot of record labels like the Militia Group, Lava, Equal Vision, Columbia, Fearless, and Negative Progression. Fearless Records and Smartpunk.com have given us this neat contract for the distribution of our CD... so I think the ball is rolling. Jeremy: Our sound has been virulent to the scene out right now. Our sound has gained many new listeners, which shows the success taking place. Jesse: We've sold over 100 presold CDs online since May 4th, so that's looking great. E: What sort of connections are formed through being in a band? Jeremy: Our music makes connections to people out there who buy or download our music, which means a lot to us. It's great whenever someone talks to you online or in person just to tell you that they enjoy your music and support what you are doing. Jesse: Most of the fans we have in San Diego are our friends. Not best friends and all... but people we know and are used to seeing all the time. We have a great connection with our fans, because we've conceived many close friendships with people who were our fans to start off with. E: How often do you play each of the songs you write? Obviously there are those songs that are consistently placed in live set lists... but are there songs that were written, recorded, and then never played again? Jesse: Yeah. A lot of the songs we wrote we never play anymore... mainly 'cause they're just not good enough. But a lot of them are fan favorites. Most of the stuff we play is from the new album and from the Certainty Kills EP. Jeremy: There have been a few times where we made a new version of our songs off our first album for fun. But as Jesse said, we mostly stick with our songs from Certainty Kills and our newest album. We'll be playing some of these newer songs for a long time. E: How do emotions and events fuel the way you perform your songs? Jesse: I always get emotions running through my head before a set, just to get me sparked... but usually I feed off the crowd's energy, and just the way our music flows... and the adrenaline of being onstage. Jeremy: We all feel the music for the music itself. We love our sound and we show it onstage every time we perform live. E: What would you say is distinctly different about your band from other bands? Jeremy: Our singer, most definitely. Jesse: If you met us... and could see the people we are... we're not like anyone else. We welcome anyone and everyone. We're never too cool, and we have the funnest time onstage with our fans and friends. Musically... we bring the rock and roll. We shake your bones and rattle your soul like no one else can. Jeremy: Our attitudes about what we do differentiates us from the hoi polloi as well. E: How happy are you with the new album coming out? Jesse: I'm way happy with the way the sound of the CD came out... As far as sales and response we get... we'll just have to see. My hopes are high. Jeremy: This album came out exactly like we've hoped for and we are still obliged about that. E: What do you hope to do with the album once it comes out, in terms of furthering your band? Jesse: Tour and promote the hell out of it. Jeremy: We hope to get this album into everyone's head, so they know what's up. E: To wrap things up... how do you think that listening to a My American Heart song could alter a person's emotions, outlook, or just their overall day? Jesse: When you listen to us, you'll want to do one of these things during your day--One: Laugh. Two: Dance. Three: Punch yourself. Four: Go to sleep. Because that's what regular people do daily, right? Jeremy: Right! Jesse: *Laughs* That was a good one. Jeremy: Some people IM me and tell me that listening to us made their day much better. I hope maybe our music could do that to more people. It means a lot to us, as well. We don't have a specific genre. We have songs for anybody to listen to. E: Well, thanks a lot. Jesse: Thanks for having us. |