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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 Erik, Gabe and Chris June 19th, 2004 |
Erik Fidel - Vocals, Bass Gabe Kinzel - Guitar Jason Little - Guitar Chris Little - Drums |
| E: The Turnout is an undeniably great band that has just recently been added to the growing roster at Tinted Amber Records. How much experience would you say the band's had by this point? Erik: Well, we are a very new band, but we have already established a great chemistry together, as both songwriters and performers. Chris: We just click together very well. Things are a little rough sometimes, but... we are getting better every time we take the stage. Gabe: We've worked together enough to get used to the way one another thinks and works musically. But we still have a lot to learn. Erik: Like Gabe said, we have a lot to learn still, and hopefully a lot more to experience. E: And getting signed to Tinted Amber--did this occur at a time when you were expecting to find a label to sign to? Chris: Hell no. *Laughs* Tinted Amber caught us by surprise. Gabe: It came out of nowhere, really. We were trying to finish up our EP, then all of a sudden they contacted us. The timing was perfect, really. Erik: We were just worried about getting the EP recorded, then trying to find a way to release it... then TA kind of just took over. It's rad. Chris: It was a really good offer... and it's something we are very excited about. Gabe: It happened at just the right time. E: How do you think being part of such a small roster--one of three bands currently on TA--is something that will be helpful to the band? Erik: Well, an indie label that focuses more on the attention on less bands, as opposed to less attention on more bands, is a good thing in my opinion. Chris: Very good. It's small, so that means they can show us more love than other labels. Erik: But as they grow in business and staff, so will their roster, and they will still be able to show the same amount of attention to them all. Gabe: The label has just what we really need at this point in the band's career--attention and connections. A way to help us put our name and music out to as many people as possible. E: So with the new label backing, what are your plans for releasing your next album? Erik: We plan on releasing our EP, which is self-titled, in late August. Then we plan on touring. Chris: The EP is going to kick ass. We've been recording it for the last four months, so it's nothing but the best. Also, it's coming from the very bottom of our hearts. *Laughs* Our engineer, Aaron Heckum, is god. And he's making us sound "amazing." E: How extensively do you plan on touring after the EP's release? Gabe: I believe we've had talks of a West Coast and a possible Mid-West tour. They will take place sometime over the next few months. Erik: Yeah. We want to tour as much as possible. Chris: Hopefully we'll tour as much as possible. I know we're going on a tour in early August to promote the CD, and I think we're also going to hook up in late July with Falling For Alba on their tour for a while. Gabe: I'm sure a lot of people on the West Coast will see us coming through a town near them for starters. After that... everyone should just keep their eyes peeled. We will be going as far as we can. Should be one busy tour for us. Erik: Rob and I are looking forward to seeing how Jay, Chris, and Gabe will handle their hair on the road in a van. *Laughs* Chris: We're bringing our flat iron. And Hotel California. *Laughs* Erik: For sure. *Laughs* Chris: It should be a blast--this is something we've been dying to do. Jay and Gabe should have fun... they are the only single ones in the band. Gabe: *Laughs* E: How familiar were you with TA's other bands--Falling For Alba and Races To April--before joining them on the label? Chris: Never heard of them. But they are both great bands. Erik: I had heard FFA's name around quite a bit. It's funny, because I remember seeing that they were playing a leg of the Fall Out Boy tour right before we started talking to the Tinted Amber dudes. Hopefully we get on something like that. *Laughs* Chris: Hopefully... Races To April got a Copeland show, though. I think they win, in my book. Gabe: I had heard Falling For Alba's name around, somewhat like Erik. E: So this band is definitely what you all plan on devoting the next few years of your lives to fully? Erik: F*ck yeah. Chris: Well, we also have this rap project that's going to hit big soon. Erik: It's called "Dance Pantz." Chris: *Laughs* Erik: I'm bumpin' the new Kanye West, actually. This guy is awesome. Chris: We're all very dedicated to the band, and we're all best friends... so I think The Turnout is going to be around for a while. Gabe: Definitely. Music is the biggest passion to all of us. We know we can do something if we really try to... and we all want to more than anything. It's hard, but it's going to be the ride of a lifetime. It's worth the trip. Worth it no matter what. Chris: Well put, Gabe. E: Has the amount of time you've spent working as a band remain the same? What about the time spent just as friends, with no music involved? Chris: Friends? *Laughs* With Jay, there are no friends--just musicians. Erik: Well, actually, this band is the reason we became friends. I knew Jay and Chris because they work at Hollywood Video and always hooked me up. Chris called me up one day asking if I knew any potential singers, and I told them I would jam with them. One of the best decisions I ever made. Gabe: I met Jason and Chris through their job. Then later, I met everyone else after the band got put together. Chris: Jay is my twin and [former bassist] Rob is our roommate. Jay and I used to be in a Christian band called Everyword... it's sad, because that's probably the most exposure Everyword has ever had. And we knew Erik through that. And Erik saying "yes" was one of the best days of my life. We are all very close friends. Erik: True that. Chris: Music is just an excuse to see them every morning. Erik: The start of the band was the start of us being friends. Chris: Yes. Erik: And Friday morning movies. *Laughs* Chris: *Laughs* Gabe: We're like brothers now... we goof on one another all the time, hang out whenever we have time to... whether it's seeing a movie or just hanging out at home. We do some random stuff when we get bored. *Laughs* Chris: Last night was the funniest. Me and Erik and Stu's computer. *Laughs* Erik: Yup. Chris: I wouldn't want to spend the rest of my life with anyone else. E: What are some of the band's long-term plans? Chris: Jay wants Island Records... but he loves TA. We would love to do this as a career. Gabe: Well, we keep playing... grow as a band and as musicians... get our music out to more people... and never stop what we're doing. All we can really do is wait and see what happens. Chris: And if we ever could make enough money to just play music, that would be a dream come true. Gabe: We just want to play music for the rest of our lives, like all bands want to do. It's what we love... it's what we truly want to do. Erik: Honestly, an important long term goal I've always had when it comes to music and my career is to be rocking out the way bands like The Rolling Stones, Phish, or even Ray Charles and George Harrison--RIP both--did until the day they died. And to be insanely rich and still play music. Gabe: *Laughs* Erik: *Laughs* Just joking. Chris: Mine and Jay's long term goal as musicians before we started this band was to go to England and study the musical arts... then open up a cathedral and become the most famous composers ever to walk this earth. Then once we were, Jay would lock himself up in a tower and go mad. And I would write a novel about it. Then we would have statues built for us, and people would come and worship us. It was pretty demented... but we grew out of it. Erik: But yeah, we just want to make good music, release good records, and play music for a living every night. Gabe: We want to continue playing music... because have a passion for it. A lot of bands just go up there and play because it's what they're supposed to do. They don't look happy or like they want to be there. Chris: I love these guys. E: That should about do it. Thanks a lot, guys. Erik: No problem. Thanks for doing this. |
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