I recently spoke to fellow Dallas-based band, Sky Eats Airplane, last week about how the scene in Texas was dead when they were up-and-coming. How did the sudden electronic pop-rock explosion come about with bands like you and Play Radio Play?
Where we are from the bands you were in were hardcore for the longest time. There was the last big phase of hardcore which lasted for about two years. By that time I think everyone just wanted something different. Tastes were changing and the times were changing. Bands like PlayRadioPlay and The Secret Handshake tried to get away from what everyone else was doing and make their own music and they connected with kids, so now the scene turned to those kinds of bands these days.
The band started getting attention because of Pure Volume, right? Do you think you would have had the same success without it?
I think so. I mean, it would have been the same songs. We are always trying to think of new ways to expose ourselves and get ourselves out there. But it has definitely helped us out quite a bit though.
Do you think sites like MySpace, Facebook, and Pure Volume help or hurt bands more?
I would say both. You can obviously promote yourself to a lot of people at one time and find who gets to listen to your music and give them videos, chats, and other stuff like that. At the same time though, I think it spoils fans because a CD isn’t enough anymore and they can just download your songs off websites anyways. It brings more kids to your concerts, but lowers your CD sales. So that’s the trade-off.
The band skirted away signing with an indie label and went straight for a major. Were you surprised about the bidding war over the band?
Oh yeah. I’m surprised every day when I wake up. For the few weeks on the bus, I always had a smile on my face just because of what we were doing. Every day surprises me with the opportunities that we have and everything like that.
This past few years pop-rock bands have become a dime a dozen. How do you separate yourselves from similar acts like The Maine, All Time Low, and Boys Like Girls, among others?
We try to see what they’re doing and do different things. We just kind of want to do our own thing. We don’t look at someone and say we want to do what they’re doing. We just do what we want with our music that hopefully no one has done yet. We think of new ways online to get our name out there and we go out in person to meet the fans all day.
