E: Quietdrive has been playing shows in support of an EP you guys just released via major label Epic Records... because your band signed to a major before following the usual steps of gaining a following through indie label releases, do you think you've been given a great opportunity to excel? Or are there downsides?
Kevin: You know, sometimes I feel it's like we're getting robbed of our childhood... but in the normal sense of the band... well, I don't know if we are a normal band. I think we've always approached things a little differently. We spend a lot of time on writing, and not touring like a lot of bands do. And in that sense we're lucky because we were able to stay in the studio and just concentrate on that aspect of our art. But now that we've been signed, we're trying to do that "indie" stuff now. I think we're doing stuff backwards, you know what I'm saying? But I think we've been really lucky with the response that we've gotten, and if we were going to do it again... I can't say for sure what I'd do, but I'm liking the way we're doing things right now, because we're able to get out there and we're able to give our EPs away for free at shows. And if we were an indie band, I'd think it'd be difficult to do that�to spread our word without the backing of a major label paying for a lot of our promotional activity. So we've been really lucky. I think that's helped us tremendously, and I can't wait for the release of the new record.
E: How much personal decision did you get to make when it comes to being a part of tours? Do you have a lot of options?
Kevin: Basically we just go with what we can get at this point. There's been a lot of offers, but a lot of it's routing, too�if we want to play somewhere, we have to have the proper amount of time. There's a few shows coming up where we have to drive from New York to Texas for SXSW, and then we gotta go back to Missouri... but we can do a lot of those things, and we like to be on tours. The Sherwood and Waking Ashland tour was so good for us, because their fans are so passionate about music. And those are the types of tours I want to be on right now, because if we were on a larger tour, I just think we'd be kind of passed up. I want to be on a tour where we can interact with every single fan at the show. I don't want to pass those steps up. And actually, the Myspace thing is a really nice thing for communicating with our fans as well. We're able to talk to every single one of our fans, and that's really important to us right now during these stages.
E: Is your stage presence at shows natural, or something you've had to develop with effort?
Kevin: For me, I try to develop every show. I try to push the envelope more and more... and I think as a frontman, you have to do that. As any member of a band, you have to push the envelope of your stage performance every show. And out of that comes your style, you know what I'm saying? Once you keep pushing that, all of a sudden you develope a style. It becomes kind of fluid. I just love watching great frontmen perform, because they have command of the audience, and they also have their own personal flair. And I just want to develop that flair as much as possible.
E: As the band's singer, do you feel as though the basic definition of "catchy" has changed over the years as popular music has evolved and changed? Or is there a universal definition that will never change?
Kevin: You know what, that's a good question. I wish I knew. But you know how some songs stick around for ages and ages and ages? Simple rhymes that kids use... simple things that people hand on from generation to generation. I think that's catchy, but I don't like using the word "catchy" for that because I think "catchy" gets handed off as such a cliche word, and some people just don't necessarily want a catchy tune. But you know, Mozart and Vivaldi, they have these catchy elements to their pieces, but I think that's a timeless thing. I think that "catchy" isn't necessarily timeless. But for me, catchy is not something we go for... we don't want it to be catchy, we want it to be timeless.
E: When you first released the EP, which is limited to only three songs, were you trying to be strategic and only provide a sample of your music? Or was it simply an attempt to make sure that what you released to get people you was only the very best of what you had to offer at that point?
Kevin: It was difficult for us to pick those, because songs that we picked... there are a lot of tracks on the new album that aren't anything like that. I kind of wanted to create this aesthetic of our music and our band, that when people did hear the full album, they'd be blown away by it. I don't want to give away too much of the album right now�I want to create a thirst for more, but I want it so that when the album comes out, it will open up a different view of our music and our band. So we did pick the songs kind of catering to that very fact.
E: Have you been working hard to make sure that you release both your albums�the EP and the LP�at strategic times to make sure you get the biggest buzz going just in time to deliver your full-length?
Kevin: Well it was definitely done strategically... because of our status, we had to start touring off the EP, because we didn't want to just release the album right away with nobody hearing about us, you know? We didn't want to be a band without a fanbase when we released our album. I know that sounds weird, but we really wanted to build up an awareness before we released our album, and we really wanted to get those baby steps out of the way. Because a lot of that comes with experience, and dealing with things that happen on the road. So it was strategic for us, and it was strategic in our record company's sense, too. I'm sure they had their reasons, as well.
E: Because you signed right away to a major label, do you think it became harder to develop a fanbase?
Kevin: Yeah, I think that has a lot to it. Major labels have a strategy down pretty well. We roll with a lot of the advice that they give us, but we also have a lot of things that we want to do. Like, we're releasing an acoustic and live EP in a couple of weeks, and we're really excited about that. There are two live tracks and two acoustic tracks on it, and we're really excited about that.
E: As a band, do you find yourselves concerned with making music that is "new" or "different"? Or is that not really what's on your mind while you're doing your thing?
Kevin: I don't know, I mean, I could say a lot about that. When I first started playing music and creating with Quietdrive, we tried to create things that nobody had ever created before, and that was the goal. To create something that nobody had ever heard before, and make that our music. But after a while, I started to feel like I was robbing myself of something that was deep within everybody in the band. You have to write what's in your heart, you know what I mean? You have to write what you want to write. You can't write just for the sake of trying to think of something completely new. So once I did that, I felt like I was creating something new, finally. I didn't think like I was regurgitating anything. So that's how I look at it. If write what's in your heart, it's going to be you. It's going to be your personality, and that's gonna be unique. You know what I'm saying? And that's going to come through in the music.
E: Thanks so much for your time, man.
Kevin: Hey, thanks, buddy. |
