E: So Brian, No Avail has continued to display its growing success through both its energetic fanbase and its impressive history of shows. You've played with some pretty noteworthy bands--how much do you think sharing the stage with "big-time" bands says for a group of musicians?
Brian: That all depends on who you're talking to. Kids see that on our site and could be pretty impressed by who we've been lucky enough to play with. Industry people know that it's just luck of the draw, though. We were fortunate to have landed some good opening slots along the way, but it's only because local promoters have been good to us. I think when a national band comes through and has a local band open for them, they can probably barely remember their name after they get in the car and leave Sacramento. We've tried to make an impression on some of the bands we've opened for, but we're still in Sacramento opening for the big bands, so I guess we haven't made a good enough impression yet.
E: Would you rather play as the opening band in front of seven hundred kids who are there to see the headliner, or in front of twenty kids there specifically to see you?
Brian: Hmm... well, just because we've played in front of the same twenty kids that have wanted to see us for the past two years, I'll say we'd like to play in front of seven hundred kids who are there to see the headliner. We're always up to the challenge of putting on a better show than the headliner. Hopefully after the night, we'll have six hundred and eighty kids that like us now.
E: What are some of the greater challenges the band has faced so far?
Brian: About a year and a half ago, our former singer/songwriter left the band to go to college. So Andrew and I had to sack up and make some key changes so that the band could go on. That was when I moved from drums to guitar/vocals and Andrew took over the "songwriter" position for the most part. Other than that, things have gone pretty smoothly for the band, other than some minor creative differences and some shows that have gotten cancelled on us last minute. At the end of the day, I'd say we've been pretty lucky as far as challenges go.
E: Would you say that the band's style is easily described?
Brian: Yeah, up until now we've been a pleasant blend of pop and punk. But that genre is so wide that you can say "pop-punk" and mean anything from MxPx, who write pop lyrically, to Simple Plan, who eat "pop" for breakfast. We've tried to stay as much towards the MxPx side of pop-punk as possible, but I think we're starting to venture more into the Simple Plan side of the genre. I like to enjoy what I'm playing/writing, so when it comes down to it, everyone can listen to a good pop song over and over again, then still be singing the hook after the music is off. I think that's really what we go for.
E: Did the band ever have certain expectations it hoped to meet starting out?
Brian: Starting out, we were all just kids in elementary school who wanted to play music. We had our parents buy us instruments so we could have a band. But as the years went by, we've set the bar higher and higher as far as what we hope to achieve out of this band. As of right now, we're just trying to recoup the money from making our EP. But after that, we'll probably just keep recording and recouping. Maybe someday we'll get signed--that would be totally rad. But until then, we've gotta just keep writing and playing... hopefully the kids won't get tired of us any time soon.
E: Years from now, if someone were to write a biography on the band, what do you think it might be titled?
Brian: Wow... that's tough. That would be one boring ass biography, though. I really don't know.
E: Do you think that No Avail breaks away from other bands in its genre? Or does it keep up with the wave?
Brian: We try to mix it up and add elements that other pop-punk bands don't do very often--like Peter's butt rock 80s riffs--but pop-punk has been around for so long that there's really nothing that someone hasn't already done somewhere, so you're always going to be compared to someone in this genre.
E: Is No Avail the only musical concern of its members? Or are there any side projects?
Brian: I've got an acoustic side project that I'm working on with a couple of the guys from Self Against City, but it's moving really slowly because we're all so busy with our main bands. Other than that, it's pretty much just the band for us all.
E: How far into the future are your plans for the band?
Brian: We try not to plan too far ahead. As of right now, we're going to try and make it through the summer playing shows as much as we can. After that, I couldn't tell you. We're going to retool some things with the band, and then head out on tour late this summer, hopefully. We can't wait to get out of Sacramento and play shows for a new set of kids every night. That should be fun.
E: And what do you hope to accomplish with the band within the next month?
Brian: Well, like I said before, we're going to "retool" some things, so to speak. I can't really go too far into that right now, but we're going to "pop" ourselves out a little more. Make our music a little more listener-friendly. Hopefully we won't be marked as "sellouts," but I don't think you can sellout if you're in debt because of the band. No Avail will be an unstoppable force by the end of this summer. I guarantee you that.
E: Thanks a lot for doing the interview--anyone you thank think of left to thank?
Brian: I'd like to thank the guy who created Myspace. I can't remember life pre-Myspace. Myspace for life! Wow... and all the kids who go to our website, listen to our music, buy our t-shirts, and keep coming out to shows. Thanks a lot to all of you. |
