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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 Daniel and Josh September 2nd, 2004 |
Daniel Long - Vocals Jason Sowers - Guitar James Henderson - Guitar Josh Thomas - Bass Chris Brown - Drums |
| E: Race The Sun is an inspiring contributor to the recent wave of feel-good rock bands... how would you describe the music you make and the feelings it invokes?
Daniel: The best way I can describe it would be "breeze music"; songs you can sing along to in your car, for all kinds of weather. We really go for listeners getting those chill bumps throughout the songs, because that's what I look for. Josh: With us... we write for the sake of having a good time while playing our songs. Every song we have, we enjoy playing live because the music is just so fun for us. On top of the "feel good" music, Daniel writes a lot of his lyrics in a positive-influence direction because while writing the songs for this album, we were trying to get our music heard by the industry. So a lot of his feelings were about trying hard at what you want, living in the now, and how anxious we were to make it to the next step on our ladder. I feel like overall, our music makes people wanna smile... it's just happy music with happy-sounding vocals. *Laughs* Daniel: We have a really high energy live show that, without intentions, has a happy, positive influence on our crowd. Josh: If by "positive" he means our live show will kill you with intensity... then yes, positive influence. *Laughs* Daniel: So many times we've been told we look so happy on stage, and that it seems like we have the best time just being up there. We aren't a band that "puts on a show"... we just go up there and have fun playing our music; we're just glad it makes other people happy to watch and participate. Josh: Yeah, totally. E: Is right now a time more important to the band than before? Daniel: I would say yes. There is so much going on and so much to get done that our social lives are nonexistent. Before, we had different goals. I would say through progression we've grown up over the year. Josh: And I would say, yeah, it's more important; with all that we've been through together as a band, our motivation and work put towards the band has grown. Daniel: When we signed to Fidelity, we knew new doors were opening and that we would only have to work harder to take this as far as it will go. Josh: We were a serious band from the get-go, but we've gotten harder-working. Daniel: We know more now about how the industry works than we did a year ago. E: What sort of goals have you been setting to push yourselves further? Josh: Main goal has always been to get the music to as many people as we can every day. Daniel: And grow new friendships. Josh: You should see Daniel�he will get out of the car at a gas station to talk to people about our band, hand out flyers for our CD to people listening to rap ... he doesn't care. But that's always been a main goal. Daniel: We are very outgoing; it's very rare that you will ever see us tending to ourselves and looking anti-social. Josh: Jon from Fidelity, who has been awesome to us, sees a lot of potential in us so he has a tendency to push us harder... but it's only because he knows we can do more. Daniel: Jon's a good guy. Josh: But Jon sets a lot of goals that he wants to see happen. Daniel: He and Kevin make Fidelity feel like home. Josh: And we always tend to try to make our goal a step further. Daniel: Yes... we are never satisfied with just standing still. We are content where we are today, but tomorrow we really want to take another step forwar d. E: In what other ways has Fidelity been a help? Josh: Oh man, I don't know if we can even name them all. We ran into a lot of problems with the album. They ended up having to put more money out than they originally thought... ended up with us sleeping on their floors. The cool thing was that they supported us no matter what, so without hesitation they helped us out more than any other label probably would've for those two months of recording. Daniel: I'd say the massive connections they have... and we couldn't have gotten this album done with Jesse Cannon without them. Josh: They pretty much have been filling in as a manager, since we don't have one. Daniel: *Laughs* Josh: First time I talked to Jon Fidelity on the phone, I said right away, "We don't know shit about the industry�I'm not even gonna lie." Daniel: I even tried to read books on the industry and all I read was gibberish. Josh: They've helped us not to make poor choices, and they put in work wherever need be... they've done our merch table for us before while we play. They don't care... they put themselves at a level right next to us in working at making our band successful. Daniel: The best part about Fidelity helping us is that they believe in us. They've always been a huge encouragement to go the extra mile. E: Has the band been seeing a lot of its fans in action lately? Daniel: I'm glad you asked that. Josh: *Laughs* Daniel: Fans are what makes Race the Sun. Today we had over two thousand plays on PureVolume because of them. Josh: Which isn't big for a lot of bands... Daniel: But for us it is. *Laughs* Josh: *Laughs* We are so small right now we don't take anything for granted. Daniel: Fans post us in their profiles, tell everyone to preorder the album, and even post flyers voluntarily. It's a privilege when I see they want to help build this. Josh: "In action" show-wise... we've started to draw an even bigger crowd in Richmond, and on tour we have had a few kids singing along to demo songs at most shows... most of our fans have a good time when we play. It's just too easy to move to and too hard not to have a good time to. Daniel: Even though we name songs with grammatical errors like "Casted Shadow." Josh: Well that's where I come in... I proofread your writing errors. *Laughs* Daniel: "Casted" isn't a word. Josh: *Laughs* Daniel: We make sure that when we play in front of a crowd that they feel comfortable with us. We break the wall down. E: Has the band been taking any risks lately in hopes of stepping forward? Daniel: Oh man... here we go. Josh: Yeah, plenty! I sold my car just so we could finish our recording. *Laughs* We all had full-time jobs while trying to make this work, and we quit them to pursue this... it wasn't a hard decision, but still a big risk. Daniel: I was brought up in a family business that had to do with HVAC, which is a "trade job" for heating and air conditioning. I was so used to it, I ended up making a good living working at this one company. And along with that, going to college. Josh has the same story. Josh: Yeah, we both ended up dropping out in the middle of school to make things happen for the band. Daniel: My parents told me that I could live under the roof if I was attending classes and working a trade. Well, when signing to Fidelity I decided that it was best that I quit school to pursue the band full-time. Josh: They loved that. *Laughs* Daniel: Yes. They loved it so much that they decided that it was best for me to live somewhere else. So I moved in with Josh. Josh: To be available to do more shows, I started working a second job to afford it on top of practice, writing, and doing weekends last fall. Daniel: My job wasn't about flexibility while we were recording in NJ, so I knew I would have to turn my two weeks notice. Josh: But we manage�I don't think there has ever been a time where one of us has gotten caught between a rock and a hard place and someone else in the band hasn't helped out. I can say without hesitation that everyone in the band can tell their own story about big sacrifices that they've made... we have all done risky things, but it was for the better of the band, you know? Daniel: But at the same time, we've taken precautions, so it's not like we are running out there like chickens with our heads chopped off. E: Do you think you've been pretty lucky so far? Or has it been all through merit and work? Josh: Mixed. We work hard, just like a lot of other bands do I'm sure. It's weird, because some really bad things have happened where we thought, "We are totally screwed," and then the solution ends up being better than the original intentions. For instance, after we finished tracking our drums, the recording wasn't on tempo and it was like.. "You gotta redo it." And with our luck, our drummer got hurt. But with our time constraint we had to do drums ASAP. Our good friend Rich from the band Madison was willing to fill in and help us out, no questions asked... who is a sick drummer, might I add. But it gave us another week of pre-production where we made the songs even better. Daniel: There have been times where we've said to ourselves that we are really lucky. I mean, being able to be on a good label that makes you feel at home and that you know you can trust without a doubt... yeah, there have been downs, too. Josh: But way more ups, that's for sure... every down is followed by a huge up, so we are pretty fortunate. Daniel: Yeah, as Josh said�there ends up being a balance. That's life, though... ups and downs Josh: Nah, definitely more ups than downs�otherwise we wouldn't love this so much. *Laughs* Daniel: You're never going to get away from problems. You can always get a new set of them, but never get rid of them all. E: Well good luck, and thanks for doing the interview�anything left you want to say? Daniel: Just to tell everyone who reads this... when you find what you are strongly passionate about, never let that go�always push to keep it in your life... the possibilities are endless. That's what the album is all about. Josh: Come to our shows, buy our CD. You won't regret either one. The word "fun" is all I can say. |