Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Been awhile...

Herro, folks. It has indeed been awhile. Not much to say, we have had a great year, toured our asses off, released the record, met some great people. As of right now, we're taking it easy. Working on some new material for future Name releases, as well as some off shoot stuff (i.e. solo material, collabs, etc). Expect to hear a lot more of that soon.

For the next couple months, we will be floating around the interwebs. Come February, we shall be back on the road, so rest your weary head.

As for now, here are a few new pages we have come to aquire:


http://listn.to/name

http://www.soundcloud.com/name

http://nameband.bandcamp.com


enjoy, you sexy bitches...

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Recent interview with Wes for a European publication...

Name: Wes
Instrument: Words and Strings

Congrats on unleashing such a sonic fragmentation bomb that is Internet Killed The Audiostar. How’s the feedback from press and fans coming along? Are you satisfied on how your new album turned out?

Wes: Thank you. The feedback has been better then we originally anticipated. We knew varying groups of people would enjoy the record because we were very confident in what we had accomplished, but we never expected it to be so widely accepted and enjoyed. There is definitely something for everyone on the album, so I guess it had appeal to different groups of music fans. People on opposite sides of the spectrum. That has been ultimate success to us that so many different groups came together on some plain by wanting to understand what we were trying to do. It's incredibly humbeling.

Internet Killed The Audio Star is an obvious reference to Video Killer The Radio Star by Buggles. Can you clarify the connection here and is how does it translate into the lyrical themes on your latest album?

Wes: When "Video Killed The Radio Star" came out, it set the status for new music culture. It's undeniable that the existence of MTV (at the time when they still played music videos) was a defining cultural landmark. With "Internet Killed The Audio Star", we see it as the next evolutionary step. I'm not saying our record is the next step, we're just acknowledging the elephant in the room and saying "we're all aware the times have changed, there's no point living in the past". The title is pretty self explanatory, but the whole theme of the album is just a perspective piece. Throughout the lyrics, I use a lot of dialogue showing connectivity between different kinds of people in different situations. It allows you to adapt as if you we're watching a film, or overhearing others talk. The whole underlining theme is just talking about our disgust with the current sordid state of heavy music and the lack of a work ethic. So many bands rely on the available technologies and its making them lazy. It's one thing to use them as tools, it's another to completely depend on them.

On the Name Myspace there’s statement by Wes (vox/guitars) that the lyrics are just as important as the music. He also says the lyrics represent where he stands for. Where does he stand for and can you give some clear examples in conjuction with the band’s lyrics?

Wes: I just believe in honesty. Even if youre lying, there's a sincerity behind it. Making yourself be very honest that you're capable of these things. My lyrics will always be my number one instrument. I've always wanted people to take the time to read them in conjuction with the music. It's like making a film and this is the dialouge. The power of word is incredibly underestimated. As well as human interaction. In my songs, lyrically, I like to paint the picture of the situation and let you do the rest. I'm not one of those singers that commands you to do things through my lyrics "Fuck shit up!", "Party all night and all day", "Worship Satan", "Worship my shitty haircut.". I'm just a fucked up guy letting you into a vulnerable part of my mind. I've always been really interested in disorder and defiance of the human mind. It's incredible how many terrible things we're all capable of. I find peace in its simplicity. My lyrics are just an introspective social commentary on the ugly side of humans. The honest side. When I die, I'd like to be remembered for my words. It's all that I am and all I really have.

How does the writing process work in Name?

Wes: Well, we're all constantly writing and working with ideas that sometimes start off verbel, then we find the sounds in it. Jeremy and I usually have a riff, or Jeremy has sequences in his head, and I have some personality I want to convey in the skeleton of the songs, and Bobby helps redefine the atmosphere. Its an incredibly collaberative process. In a simple case, i'll write a song, Jeremy comes in with a few riffs he had, I find a way to organize and make them make sense. Then Bobby and I take a full front seat with arranging process. Then we all do what we do best and add those subtle traits here and there, which, at times, as completly reshaped a song. I've gone in with completed songs before and they always come out slightly different and gives a whole new personality to the song. I find that exciting. As an artist, it's the only way i'll grow; by collaberating with other like minded people.

How do you like back on the recording sessions of your latest album? What are your fondest and worst memories?

Wes: The studio is always a unique beast to deal with. You're under the microscope and no matter how big the studio might be, you still get a sense of claustrophobia. That's the case for me anyways. We also always feel like there's never enough time. That, in turn, has helped us because we work well under pressure. It makes us vulnerable; having us be impulsive and honest. It opens all doors for us. Most of the time, we aren't aware of it. We have to take a step back and see what the hell is going on. I, myself, can be a pain in the ass in the studio because the hardest part about recording for me is getting the sound I hear in my head onto the computer. We're all perfectionists in everyone sense of the word, thus why we never feel like we have enough time. Tensions can run high because of that, some bad, some incredibly funny. My fondest memories are the impulsive actions we make which make the song sound thst much better to us. We all start smiling and laughing cause it just worked so well. Those are my favorite moments. Also, talking shit through the talk back mic never gets old to me. Worst memories? Was just the lack of time we had with certain sections of the record. When we get into the studio, its all about our artistic integrity and having fun with our music. But, then the unfortunate realities of finances come into play and seriously threaten our mood. We find a way to make it work, like I said, we work well under pressure. But sometimes, it's just hilarious getting drunk in the vocal booth and laughing at hearing Bobby and our engineer fighting, hahaha.

Your music is a combination of many different influences from Jazz, blues and funk to deathmetal, progrock and grindcore. Is het so important for the band to be ecclectic and how do you manage to make the compositions flow?

Wes: We all listen to so many different styles of music, so we felt why limit ourselves. If we enjoy this music and we're capable of playing it, why the hell not? I feel like we'd be cheating ourselves if we left out those parts in our songs because it would take it away from "sounding metal". We never have had to force it. I know that might sound ridiculous and slightly pretentious, but I'm dead serious. We just started doing it when we were real young and we just thought it sounded good and gave the song a unique face. It didn't alienate the 3 of us because we have such eclectic musical tastes. We've never had to go "Hey! Write a jazz part cause it'll make us look artsy", haha. We just do what we want to and that will always be the basis of this band. We just don't care.

In my review I draw comparisons with bands like Mr Bungle, Cephalic Carnage, Between The Buried And Me, Fantomas and The Dillinger Escape Plan. What do you think of the aforementioned bands and are you by any chance influenced by them?

Wes: All those bands are incredible and we very much are fans of them. We get a lot of BTBAM and Dillinger comparisons. I think it's just cause they find comfort in relation by comparison. I dont think we sound like those bands at all. I think we have incredibly similair traits because we all grew up listening to the same shit when we were young. There's been countles times where Greg (Dillinger) and I have just geeked out on bands. That helped me realize why the sounds, although unique in our own rights, are still very similair. It helped put it in perspective I suppose. Im also very glad you said Mr. Bungle, Fantomas, and Cephalic Carnage. I have always been a huge Cephalic fan, so I've always been into the chaotic side of metal; and Mr. Bungle and Fantomas are definitely major inspirations. I still listen to Mr. Bungles "California" a lot and sometimes see where we might have gotten the inspiration to making things so unpredictable in the music. There's nothing new under the sun anymore. So we take the pieces we've fallen inlove with and find the sound that best describes our personality as music appreciators. We're just channeling our youth into sound. We're evolving.

Can you tell our readers some more about your own influences and musical heroes?

Wes: Shit, that could take all day. I'm already given you a novel with my answers, haha. But, off the top of my head. Soundgarden was a major reason I wanted to be in a band. Chris Cornell has a flawless voice. Ive always been into male vocalists with higher voices. Jeff Buckley is definitely another. Robert Plant from Led Zep, Joe Anderson from Yes, Steve Brodsky from Cave In, Daniel Johns from Silverchair, Steve Perry from Journey. I'm also really into female singers. Ceu, Sade, Ella Fitzgerald, Bjork, Deborah Anderson, etc. I'm very into jazz and french bossa nova. Guys like Jean Carlos Jobim and Stan Getz. Also into a lot of ambient works like Robin Guthrie and Clint Mansell. As far as heroes growing up, I was very into Chris Cornell and Scott Weiland. As well as heavier vocalists like Burton C. Bell from Fear Factory. Growing up I was raised with a lot of 80's metal and synth pop. So Motley Crue, Scorpions, Whitesnake; David Coverdale has one of the best voices in rock and roll, hands down. Depeche Mode, Tears for Fears to Massive Attack, Portishead, Aphex Twin to Cannibal Corpse, Napalm Death, Neurosis to Refused, Candiria, Botch to The Doors, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Genesis, Tom Waits. I listen to so much music it's almost disgusting. I even listen to just ambient noise like Fennesz, Zelionople, Hammock, Christopher Willits, The Holy See. Outside of music, I'm incredibly inspired by film. I've always been a huge film guy, getting involved with small projects here and there, which I would like to get more into. Beautiful films strike up a huge spark in me. I have a condition called Synesthesia, my brother and I both do, so we find inspiration in the weirdest of places in the most unlikely situations. I'm also a very big reader. I love books like "God Is Not Great, How Religion Ruins Everything", "The God Delusion", Blindness", Jim Morrisons poetry books, and especially the philosophy of George Carlin. Even as an artist, I still find myself geeking out over a lot of music, film, art, writing. It's hard to pin point just one area that I draw from. Amidst all the shit this world is offering, there's also inspiration ready to be found.

Name is touring quite a lot lately. When can we expect your guys on a stage in Europe and how “rock n’ roll” is life on the road for the band?

Wes: If we had it our way, we'd be on tour constantly. All year, every year. We definitely plan on hitting Europe as soon as we can. It's just a matter of finding the means being that we have no avenues of resources to do that ourselves. I guarantee it will happen though... A Name tour is incredibly "rock n' roll". We're self contained out on the road, we know what needs to get done, so we do it. Yes, our music is serious and what not, but doesn't mean we can't have fun. Actually, even in certain songs like "Killer Whales, Man", "Dave Mustaine", and "Mare" we stray away in showing the listener to not take themselves too seriously. Music is fun, you start writing songs and start a band because you have so much fun playing music with your friends. That's exactly what we're doing. When we're on the road, we just try create the most positive and fun experience for anyone around us, because we're all together for a common purpose. We laugh a lot and drink a lot. Sometimes, I feel our livers picked up, where Motley Crues left off haha. If we're gonna be dirtbags by sleeping in the hot van, driving hours upon hours with little to no money, eating shitty food if any, then might as well accentuate the positive aspects about tour. Like meeting new people, listening to good bands, partying hard with good people. I find myself being what some might call self destructive, but you know what?; I'm having the time of my life.

Do you guys have any touring rituals and can you share some funny touring stories?

Wes: No real rituals. We stretch A LOT. If you've seen a live show, you know that it's much needed. We look like we're in a yoga class but with beers or glasses of whiskey in our hands. I usually have a couple drinks before going up. Loosens me up. As far as tour stories, there are so many that would take up hours of reading time, haha. We post a lot of good stories on our blogspot (http://namefuck.blogspot.com) and a lot of good videos on our youtube (http://www.youtube.com/name). A couple good ones off the top of my head, we played New Orleans while on the road with East Of The Wall earlier this year and met some cool people. Long story short, they got us incredibly drunk. I mean just LIT. Gone, hammered, dead. We all seemed to keep our composure, so I thought, but Jeremy (bass) was so out of his fucking mind that half way through the set he grabs the mic and just loudly starts offering to "suck everyones dick" haha... Lines like "You guys are all so fucking awesome! I love you! Youre such good looking people, I'm gonna suck all your dicks!". Needless to stay it went from a awkward confusing, so just booming laughter. I sat there, walked to the bar, ordered a shot and a beer, and had both DONE before he gave me the mic back, haha. Later that night he asked me "...hey... did we play tonight?". To this day, he does not remember playing that set. He has no memory of New Orleans. Good, good night. Another one would have to be our roadie Donk saying as we roll into New Jersey: "You know what? I wanna face fuck me a Jersey girl". Turns out later that night, he accomplished his goal with a totally "down for the party" girl because they did it in front of us all, hahaha. I know we sound like dirtbags, but why lie about shit like that? Why keep it to ourselves? Its way to goddamn funny and you fucking know it.

As my final question I would like to know what you’re listening to on your I-pod/MP3-player and what bands can you recommend to our readers?

Wes: Right now, I've been listening to a lot of Mew, a lot of Blonde Redhead. We listened to Genesis' entire discography on our last tour and it was amazing. The new Oceanize record is so goddamn good it hurts my heart. I wish I wrote that thing, haha. As far as some new stuff, I'm really inlove with East of the Wall's record "Ressentiment" and Iron Thrones "The Wretched Sun". The new Tony Danza Tapdanca Extravaganza record is insane and heavy as shit. The new Deftones record knocks me on my ass, it's incredible. I always find myself coming back to Cave In atleast once a week. The new The Bled record blew my mind, their song "Breathing Room Barricades" makes me feel like my chest is caving in. Then theres other constant rotations like This Will Destroy You, A Storm of Light, and The Depreciation Guild. I recommend listen to a brazilian singer named Ceu, she has the sexiest voice i've ever heard. I recommend every band I just named, plus some others like: Helms Alee, Trap Them, Dead Weather, Sleepy Sun, Fleet Foxes, and if you want to know more, hit us up on our facebook at http://www.facebook.com/nameband. Guaranteed we will respond and we can geek out on music together. We're always wiling to give you new recomendations.

Thank you for your time and effort. Can you close this interview in style?

Wes: Thank you and those reading this. A good thing brought to my attention was this, I like any reaction I can get with my music. Just anything to get people to think. I mean if you can get a whole room full of drunk, stoned people to actually wake up and think, you're doing something. I love making music and I love sharing it with all of you. Keep in touch, don't be facsists. Hit us up on all our forms of social networking. http://www.facebook.com/nameband, http://www.twitter.com/name, http://www.myspace.com/name. We plan on playing everywhere the world will let us, and even some places that won't let us. Check out our record "Internet Killed The Audio Star" if you're interested in honest music. Read the lyrics, say hi on facebook and let me know your interpretations. I'm always incredibly interested in hearing what you get out of it. We're doing it together. All of it. We're here as a celebration of surviving in a time where true people are a dying breed. Enjoy. Indulge. Cheers.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

name of the game

Sorry for these very non-clever titles of the blogs. But whatever, it's all about substance right?...ya ya...So it's been a little bit since we updated you on current stuffs. So might as well give you a brief update. So last week, we made a trip to Southern California for a few shows and to pick up our new trailer. The shows in San Diego went amazing, especially at the Epicenter, so thank you guys for making that a satisfying show. Also, thank you to Sound Guy extraordinaire Brian Adler, for making us sound totally bad ass for being a 3 piece. (not implying a 3 piece can't be bad ass, for instance, Cream, Nirvana, Muse, Rush, etc, but it sounded as though there was a wall of sound) We will definitely be having him on board with us again, so we can deliver the best live show to you guys not only visually, but sonically as well. The trip was a success until we were driving home and our trailer became detached from the van, almost flipping it, and causing total havoc upon our lives. We managed to get the trailer in order and fixed and home safely. What's a tour without having some sort of van troubles, eh? Now we're home, finding our bearings, planning out more dates to come and see all your pretty faces across the country, we're all still in tour mood, and staying at home has made us feel a bit antsy. So, that's pretty much it. We're just finding our bearings and then heading back out. Van maintenance can be quite costly and weary. Until then, thank you for your support. love ya, mean it.

Monday, August 23, 2010

nice review on The Power Of Metal.com

Remember The Buggles "Video Killed the Radiostar", big hit from the eighties. Be now ready for ”Internet Killed the Audio Star” by New Approach to Martyrs Expressions.

You may sometimes write a review with full analysis for each song. You can also take few songs as the best ones or as an illustration of what you are trying to say about the CD contents.

Here, sorry, nope! I cannot, or should I say, do not want to do it. Am I too lazy? Jeps. But I have mitigating circumstances: think about violent math metal, sludge and atmospheric pop, spiced by many other music styles, breaks, changes during 13 songs and 77 minutes. A happy chaos, for Arioch’s sake!

Because of the many variations and the length of this ”far beyond” music piece, some could fully loose the sense of orientation. NAME’s American trio do not want to ease the listener’s task: it is up to you to follow them. I am actually not sure they care if you do it or not. It is great in a way: art it is.

If you are only into good old heavy metal, NAME is definitely not for you, even a millisecond of their music. If you are more open, take a deep breath, then give a real but worth try for a good trip.

83/100

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Tour 'till they're sore

hello there. It's been quite a while since we updated the blog. We've had such a great experience on this tour. I'd like to first and foremost like to thank East of The Wall for being so fucking amazing, as people, and as a band. It was an honor being able to watch them play every night, and get to know them as people. So Squid, Alf, Brett, Conway and recently met touring buddy Beards, thank you all very much, we had a blast and love you guys. Enough sentimental shit. I'll probably not be able to get all these crazy adventures down in one blog, but i'll give you some tid bits. So we've been out for a month and a half and we're currently in Nebraska heading home. We started this mammoth tour in San Francisco, headed south, played shows in Texas, then cut up through West Virginia, officially started tour with East Of The Wall in Maryland. Made our way BACK through the south, heading to the West, had a day off in SF. Then continued the tour through the Northern states, and then headed east where tour ended in Brooklyn, NY. Now we're making our 2nd loop of the U.S to have this behemoth of a tour come to an end. Pretty crazy right? fuck it, we had fun. We had some pretty amazing shows in SLC, Reno, Fargo, Minneapolis, Davenport, Ithaca, Keyport, and lastly Brooklyn, which was one of the most amazing, crazy, and funnest shows of this band's existince. Thank you to ALLLLLL the amazing bands we played with and all the amazing people who came out the show and liked what we did, or let us envelope you in sonic mishap. Either way, we had a fun. Some of the places we played at had bars which gave bands free if not cheap drinks. So it definitley added to the drunken debauchery. During this 2nd part of the tour, we also acquired long time friend/crew member Donk, and newcomer merch guy extrordinaire, Rob "Danger". With a van full of deranged, stubbled faced guys in tow. The northern states were so great to us. We definitley have marked a lot of these places on the map and we will be back here shortly. We are getting our routes in order to head back out in late September, should be amazing. So look for that, I gotta get back on the road and start driving again, so I will give you the detailed info on some of these stories which include: a rave, facefucking (seriously), being "in the booth", Dirty Jersey Cougars, doughnuts, and lots of puppies. Good times had by all.

Indirectly nobodies

-J

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Amazing review from the UK's "Sound Shock"



Review cliché number 28 gazillion: any review of any vaguely technical metal album will at some point mention jazz interludes. This is a cliché that gets trotted out as often as the joke (or more accurately, fact) about Sarah Jessica Parker looking like an anorexic horse. But for all you chin-stroking beret-wearing clove-cigarette-in-a-poncy-holder-smoking jazz cats, there is some proper jazz influence right here, in 'My Sweetheart, The Whore': a mazy fretless bass run that evokes the spirit of Jaco Pastorius. And it's not the only highlight on a record that practically blinds you with them.

Paying as much heed to genres as England do to actually trying to win football matches in an exciting manner, Name are much in the ilk of War From A Harlots Mouth, with a metal take on a hardcore sensibility, but they push the breakdowns into even more sludgy territory, and just as suddenly turn on a sixpence into something that wouldn't be out of place on Mastodon record. The 'Empathic Communicator' suite showcases everything in the progressive metal genre that every right thinking metalhead should value in their music: power, intelligence and confidence. The forth part even has drone influences, for fuck's sake.

And here's the rub: such is the skill of this trio that it's all completely seamless. No joke, you can't spot a single weld line, just a single continuous vision, so when they shift grindcore to doom influences in 'Mare', and then onto jazz-blues on the following 'The Sycophant, The Saint And The Gamefox', you don't notice, neither care. The only clichéd thing about this record you should be hearing is a "one of the albums of the year" plaudit.


Reviewed by Steve Jones
'Internet Killed The Audio Star' is out now on Lifeforce

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

The road more traveled (clever, no?)

So we have been slacking with this update thing. So now that I have some time, I can fill you chitlins in on what has been happening. So obviously you guys know...or those of you who care i should say, we have been on the road for a while. We are currently on tour with East Of The Wall. First of all let me say, not only are those guys an amazing band. But they are one of the nicest group of gentlemen EVER. They have been so incredible to watch and hang out with every day thus far. So, Brett, Squid, Alf, and Conway...we love you...enough sentimental hokey pokey. We started our trek from San Francisco, to Houston, Houston to West Virginia, and then WV to Maryland, where tour officially started. Driving there was a pain in the ass to say the least. The shows have been pretty good thus far. This tour is called the "name of the wall" tour, but it really should be called the "cool people" tour (i think i could have done better on that one, but ive been riding in a van for 8 hours today, so suck it) because we have met some amazing people/bands along this trail. Highlights of shows include: Morgantown, WV, ATL, Hunstville Alabama, Hattiesburg Mississippi, and I really wish I could say New Orleans was a highlight, but I was so hammered when I played that I dont remember a damn thing. Ok, so typically I never drink before shows ever. But again with this whole claim of these "cool people" we have met, they are generous to touring bands, and I couldnt be rude and not accept drinks graciously haha. So NOLA, im very sorry for my debauchery...well not really but i guess its a nice gesture. More highlights: Reno fuckin Nevada...its always amazing to play there, always...Our friends in Otis always make us feel so at home. That brings us to SLC, one of the best shows on the tour, amazing people, amazing everything. It was at the Shred Shed. We also had our set recorded with pro audio/video. So we will have that up shortly. We are currently on our way to Denver to play a house show, it should be interesting. Oh yes I forgot to mention that we have been touring with the talented, young and vibrant Jowie "JAWA" Hernandez. (no one calls him jowie, so lets just keep referring to him by his god given nickname...thanks) he stepped up for us and came along this tour to fill in on drums since Bobby unfortunetly had to sit this one out. He is a powerhouse and I suggest you all come out and see him in action. Also, during the second leg of this tour we acquired our long time friend/crew member Donk, and merch guy extrordinaire Rob Danger (ya im not really sure either why they call him that, they just do and so will we....sometimes I feel like Korn, giving everyone involved some absurd nicknames haha) we have been having a lot of fun lately and have been really excited to meet some of you that have supported us for a while, we have a couple weeks left. So come hang out and lets dance together like were online craigslist lovers.. Until then..

Awkwardly yours,
Jeremy

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Amazing review from "Rock Freaks"

name - Internet Killed The Audiostar
Written by: TL on 14/6-10 at 00:18:09


Hello readers. My name is Tim, and once upon a time I was a writer with this fine site. Nowadays, it's been weeks since my last real contribution, something I aim to change right now, through the production of a review I have long owed the band known merely as name, namely that of their recent début "Internet Killed The Audiostar". Truth be told, with them peddling some very ambitious mathcore, I never seemed the most apt for the task, yet somehow this record managed to force an unusual number of plays through my trusty headphones. Let's see if I can explain why that is:

For the majority of its length, "Internet Killed The Audiostar" displays as uncompromising a will to defy expectations, as a an album by a band so cheekily named could be expected. The core sound is visceral, chaotic mathcore, bringing to mind the music of The Dillinger Escape Plan, appearing purposefully ridiculous in its technicality, and changing in rhythm and structure, so fast that even the most impatient listeners should be left breathless on several occasions.

Fortunately, at least the way I see it, name are not settling for simply melting your face with a relentless barrage of insanity. Oh no, instead, they'd rather go all Between The Buried And Me on you when you least suspect it, introducing lengthy periods of easily accessible bass grooves, clean Mike Patton-esque singing, jazzy experimentation, bright tremolo riffing, majestic chord progressions, or even new rave-ish electronics. These zones of oddity appear as tranquil little oasises, eyes of the proverbial storms that make up the mainstay of name's sonic universe, and in the contrast between the two approaches, the band draws its strength.

It is this contrast that reveals that name are somewhat more ambitious than your regular noise-worshipers and that they are more keen on defying attempts at labeling them. By balancing chaos with calm, each appear all the stronger. However, being this hellbent on defying convention also means that structurally, "Internet Killed The Audiostar" is the nightmare of the sensible listener. I've heard this disc more times than I care to count, and while many individual bits are recognizable by now, the grand idea of it all certainly still eludes me. In the first place it's going to require of you that you're used to listening to bands like TDEP, BTBAM and The Ocean to even consider it music for your ears, and even then, you're looking on dozens of listens ahead of you, if you want to see if there's more to appreciate this for than the immediate aggression and seeming randomness. Still, though I can't quite seem to explain why, the one clear vibe I get from this record is that it is quality stuff, coming from a genre where I usually have trouble finding any. Call it reviewer's instinct or whatever, but I'll recommend this, even without really knowing why. [7½]

Download: Killer Whales, Man; Charmer
For The Fans Of: The Dillinger Escape Plan, Between The Buried And Me, The Ocean
Listen: myspace.com/name

Release Date 19.04.2010
Lifeforce Records



Actual review here: http://www.rockfreaks.net/index.php?page=albumreviews&id=2900

An incredibly kind review from web blog "Home Nucleonics"

Name – Internet Killed The Audio Star
Posted on 16/06/2010 by homenucleonics

Almost a decade ago Lars Ulrich and Metallica started the download age when they dragged Napster to court and managed to get them condemned. In hindsight Lars Ulrich and Co just opened the floodgate, because nowadays there’s torrent sites available everywhere. The whole digital revolution caused of lot of mayhem between the established artists and created new chances for more innovative bands. All these events are sarcastically commented on Internet Killed The Audio Star by Name.

Name is an acronym for New Approach to Martyrs Expressions and they unleash a barrage of Fantomas/The Dillinger Escape Plan/Mr Bungle inspired madness upon the masses. At first Internet Killed The Audio Star comes across as just one big incoherent mess of musical ideas. After a couple of intense listening sessions things really start to sink in and you’ll start to uncover the raw and unpolished gem that this album really is.

Freestyle jazz, breakdowns, death metal, progressive rock, funk and even a bit of blues, simply everything is allowed to make compositions like You’ll Never Die In This Town, The Spark Of Divinity, My Sweetheart The Whore, Mare and the different Empathic Communicator parts float. Transcending musical boundaries is the message here.

The vocals are just as varied as the music and encompass everything between screaming, growling and clean vocals. A special mention should go the rhythm section, because they are the glue holding the musical lunatic asylum that is Internet Killed The Audio Star together. This album has a somewhat raw production, giving it an even harsher edge.

If you’re into Fantomas, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Mr Bungle, Between The Buried And Me and Cephalic Carnage you should give this album a go. You won’t be disappointed.




Actual review here: http://homenucleonics.wordpress.com/2010/06/16/name-internet-killed-the-audio-star/

Awesome review by "Tempelores" from The Netherlands

Releasedate: 19-04-2010; Label: Lifeforce Records
By: Lara Cappelli

NAME (New Approach to Martyrs Expressions) is an American Experimental Metal band formed in 2003 by brothers Wes and Jeremy Fareas.

The experiment carried by Name is to put in their music as many styles as you can imagine, including Metal, Death, Grind and little of Jazz and Electro as well, although I’d definitely put this album into Metal. Right from the screaming start of “Killer Whales, Man” you take a deep breath and get into this chaotic and energetic atmosphere. Something that must be said is that “Internet Killed The Audiostar” atmosphere is far from being any relaxing; on the contrary, through the first couple of songs, NAME immediately demonstrate what they want to deliver: an aggressive but sometimes slightly overwhelming kind of music. The appreciable thing to point out here is the flexibility of the album that hardly gets repetitive, balancing the most brutal parts to some calmer melodies like the ones you find in the beginning of “The Sycophant, The Saint & The Gamefox” and “You’ll Never Die In This Town Again”.

There’s really a lot to find out in this album and even if initially all the elements found in there seem to be hardly linked to each other, afterwards the whole picture starts to get a bit clearer and for this, more appreciable.




Actual review here: http://tempelores.com/?p=2293

Saturday, June 12, 2010

"Name Of The Wall" Tour Dates

Here are the dates.. I brought them to YOU.. So now, pick a date, and mark on your calendars... Lets have some fun. It's been a long while since we've hit some of these areas up, so let have a blast like we did last time we were there!! NO EXCUSES! lets make it happen.




7/03/2010 Charm City Art Space - Baltimore, MD w/ Questioner, Old Crow
7/04/2010 *TBA/HELP NEEDED - Richmond/DC/Virginia Beach, etc.
7/05/2010 *TBA/HELP NEEDED - Charlotte, Raleigh, Wilmington, etc., NC
7/06/2010 The Muse - Nashville, TN
7/07/2010 Drunken Unicorn - Atlanta, GA w/ Let The Night Roar
7/08/2010 The Tavern - Hattiesburg, MS
7/09/2010 The Bar - Metairie, LA
7/10/2010 *TBA/HELP NEEDED - Dallas, Austin, Amarillo, San Antonio, etc, TX
7/11/2010 *TBA/HELP NEEDED - Santa Fe, Las Cruces, Albuquerque, etc, NM
7/12/2010 Revolver Records - Phoenix, AZ w/ Black Sheep Wall, Hellas Mounds
7/13/2010 Surf City Saloon - Huntington Beach, CA
7/14/2010 Cobalt Cafe - Los Angeles, CA w/ Black Sheep Wall
7/16/2010 The Red House - Walnut Creek, CA w/ Black Sheep Wall, Izeovasis
7/17/2010 The Fire Escape - Sacramento, CA w/ Black Sheep Wall, Journal
7/18/2010 The Zephyr - Reno, NV w/ Otis
7/19/2010 The Outer Rim - Salt Lake City, UT w/ Black Sheep Wall, God's Revolver
7/20/2010 The Old Curtis Street Bar - Denver, CO
7/21/2010 The Slowdown - Omaha, NE w/ Masses
7/22/2010 RME Hall - Davenport, IA w/ Spanish Harlem
7/23/2010 The Aquarium - Fargo, ND
7/24/2010 *TBA/HELP NEEDED - Minneapolis, St. Paul, Madison, Wausau, Milwaukee, etc, MN/WI
7/25/2010 Metal Shaker - Chicago, IL w/ Arbogast
7/26/2010 Level 2 - Lansing, MI w/ Ganon, Endless Aisle
7/27/2010 *TBA/HELP NEEDED - Cleveland, Akron, Columbus, Buffalo, Rochester, Pittsburgh, etc, OH/NY/PA
7/28/2010 The Shop - Ithaca, NY
7/29/2010 The Downtown Quarterback - Endicott, NY w/ This City Needs A Hero, And Then There Was Darkness
7/30/2010 Webster Hall - New York, NY w/ Black Cobra, Howl, Struck By Lightning
7/31/2010 Keyport VFW - Keyport, NJ w/ Abacinate, The Ghost In Black And White, An Aborted Memory, Sydbarret
8/01/2010 Broad St. Ministry - Philadelphia, PA
8/02/2010 The Charleston - Brooklyn, NY w/ Meek Is Murder

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

I heart EMG!

So my new pickups are almost here, probably in a couple hours. Im super pumped. I feel like a goddamn kid the night of christmas eve... which is actually my birthday... no joke.. Anyways, this is pretty rewarding: http://www.emgpickups.com/artists/artist/627












Saturday, June 5, 2010

Review from Denmark publication "Power of Metal"

Remember The Buggles "Video Killed the Radiostar", big hit from the eighties. Be now ready for ”Internet Killed the Audio Star” by New Approach to Martyrs Expressions.

You may sometimes write a review with full analysis for each song. You can also take few songs as the best ones or as an illustration of what you are trying to say about the CD contents.

Here, sorry, nope! I cannot, or should I say, do not want to do it. Am I too lazy? Jeps. But I have mitigating circumstances: think about violent math metal, sludge and atmospheric pop, spiced by many other music styles, breaks, changes during 13 songs and 77 minutes. A happy chaos, for Arioch’s sake!

Because of the many variations and the length of this ”far beyond” music piece, some could fully loose the sense of orientation. NAME’s American trio do not want to ease the listener’s task: it is up to you to follow them. I am actually not sure they care if you do it or not. It is great in a way: art it is.

If you are only into good old heavy metal, NAME is definitely not for you, even a millisecond of their music. If you are more open, take a deep breath, then give a real but worth try for a good trip.


Rating: 83/100


http://powerofmetal.dk/reviews10/name_review.htm

New review from "Dont Count On It Reviews"

Simplicity Just Wasn't An Option Apparently.

Name is a mathcore band from California. The band's name stands for New Approach to Martyrs Expressions. This is their debut record and exhibits everything you might expect from a new band within the genre.
The band site influences that range from metal to jazz to progressive rock, but some of those can be lost in the technicality of some of the songs. Within a lot of these tracks, you get a sound that is quite varied, if not on the verse of Mr. Bungle weirdness, with just the opening track, Killer Whales, Man, sounding like a mix of Dillinger Escape Plan, Converge, and Seemless. This type of extreme genre shifting can be hard to listen to due to the almost disregard for any conventional structure.
The guitars on this album are quite spastic sounding, think Ben Weinman playing with members of Mr. Bungle and The Faceless. These songs move from crazy technicality, My Sweetheart, The Whore, to almost proggy, Empathetic Communicator: Part III: Your Sun Machine, Your Space Embracer (Concious Competence), with a good amount of interplay with the other instruments in the band. The main style could obviously be derived from bands like TDEP, but the influences mentioned above come into play later in the album, and are played well enough to grab you. The almost post-rock influence comes up more often than expected within these songs as well.
The bass is mixed between everything on the album rather well. While the bass isn't heard in every track as well as some; when it does come up, it's used effectively. The bass is very groovy and full of rumbles, so the bass lines on here, listen to Mare, are great sounding.
Vocals on this album are just as diverse sounding as the music. From song to song you'll get an odd mix of hardcore screams, deathcore grunts, melodic singing, and everything in between. Shifts from one style to another go in sync with the music, a lot of rehearsal maybe, and show a lot of overall ability.
Most of the songs on here are about 5 minutes long, but are similar in their spastic nature. When the band goes on a tangent, they really start to shine, like in Mare or The Sycophant, The Saint & The Gamefox, where they reach for over 9 minutes. These tracks explore a lot more territory within the jazz, progressive rock, and even the post-rock areas without being nearly as crazy sounding.
Overall, this is a decent record with some interesting parts. Whether you're into the more spastic elements of metal or hardcore, or the more melodic and experimental, you'll find at least one song on this record that peaks your interest. Maybe a bit too long for it's own good, but if you're a fan, the more, the better.
Overall Score: 7
Highlights: Empathetic Communicator: Part I: Hommage to The Hunter (Unconscious Incompetence), Mare, The Sycophant, The Saint & The Gamefox, Avaler L'océan



http://dontcountonitreviews.blogspot.com/2010/05/name-internet-killed-audiostar.html

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Amazing and incredibly interesting review in form of a short story by "All Shools Network"

It's really rare that I'm overwhelmed when it comes to music and, above all, it's even rarer that I lack the words to be rewritten and what I hear. Well, they do exist but these moments, these plates that I can hear it so often and yet I find no coherent sentence to one. NAME are fucking assholes, because they play with my intellect, because they remove me without warning me. I have admitted it, they can play with me and now I have the salad. I'm sitting here in a white room, the walls are padded with rubber and over again without wishing I could, I jump up and run with start-up against the wall. The rubber prevents that I violated, the strait-jacket, however, prevents it as well that I can support myself on impact on the ground with their hands and therefore always falls on my already battered head, lose consciousness, and again this abstruse obscure and but it must hear so calculated music. I myself am guilty, I did not want it otherwise.

So I lay there on the floor, bound, his arms behind his back and walk through my subconscious. Time and again I feel are ridiculous figures, armed with microphones, instruments and both screaming, and grunting dark and clear singing voices. You want to tell me something. A story that only they speak a language you do not understand. I only know the story is called "Internet Killed The Audio Star" and is among others of "Killer Whales, Man"! This is the info with which they leave me alone, plug in their instruments to the current, short aufhusten and then start bashing me. They seek their prey from the targeted, it can not defend. I am looking for structure, to understand. After a clue. But can not hear myself think. NAME rush around the corner disappear in an ambient nothingness and dip in the technical mess up again. They have masks on. Masks that represent the distorted faces. They provided her with a mess hall, I yell at me for minutes and then open up the art of break downs. This is the second in which I begin to understand. I think at least. Think again. What are the jazz musicians doing there in the other cell? He's still only just getting his medications that were given to me even today. I scream. NAME screams. It's getting dark, I hear the clicking of the door handle and wake up.

Men in white coats enter my cell. There are four. They talk quietly on me. Tell me that everything will be fine. I believe them. Get scared but when two of them fall on me, pressing my legs and my head on the floor. The third grabs his belt bag and pulls out a syringe, it tackles and chases me into the vein. Strange feeling. Liberating and somehow reassuring. But what about the fourth man, who stands legs apart all the time about me and grins at me? With a start he makes a face as if he had pain attacks, on the back, grabs and pulls the skin off his face. Just do the others, except that which suddenly dissolves into air, and what comes to light them, are the faces that seem familiar to me from my subconscious. I panicked eyes to tear and the game starts over. The man who abused me with his voice tells me about his girlfriend, and uses the words "My Sweetheart, The Whore". It is not I who is crazy, it's you my friend, I think to myself, while screaming at me again softly whispers into the ear without. What is wrong not only with you, I think, you're manic depressive, you have an aggression problem? I just want to express my thoughts when I first guitar neck and then a blood taste. This will be my end.

NAME can not but that I escape the chaos because, in my subconscious to become unconscious and go on with other strategy. It would have been "Empathic Communicator" that can also tell a coherent, 20-minute history. Instead, they prefer to divide it into four acts: "Part I: Homage To The Hunter (Unconscious Incompetence)", "Part II: Bee Bee (Conscious Incompetence)", "Part III: Your Sun Machine, Your Space Embracer (Conscious Competence)" and "Part IV: How To Murder The Earth (Unconscious Competence)". I am beginning to understand the intentions of the people that make me stand there and to realize that everything that happens here is cold calculus to me to destroy systematically. But not directly. For first they play me fantastically beautiful melodies, show me that they can do differently. Fast conciliatory one might think. I rely not on it. I close my eyes, I flee to another place, just to escape for a few seconds of torture. I reach for the saving hand. Realize too late that it is the wrong one and I'm back in the cell. Once again, buzzing around comic characters: "The Sycophant, The Saint & The Gamefox", rear sitting in the corner "Dave Mustaine," but I do not know who that is, strangely enough only know his name before and I know not to do as all want here.

And then suddenly everything goes very quickly. The controlled chaos is uncontrolled. NAME over themselves to take no longer me apart, but operate on each other at the open chest. They destroy their melodies, their structure, they break down into its individual parts. Add them together again. Everything is in one sense. The missing puzzle piece is found, but has called for looking his victims. The white cell is mottled red, lifeless bodies lying around me, and I'm suddenly a straitjacket more. I found myself in the room and me dripping down blood. Only it's not mine. The camera pulls back from the Close-Up in the long shot and I myself see as a bloody, grinning diabolically monster with a giant knife in his hand. One of the lifeless figures turns her head to me and with great effort she shares with me spitting blood: "You'll Never Die in This Town Again". Before he spoke the words over, I ram my knife into the neck and sacs on the wet ground, where I breathe my last gasping breath. He was right, but I said yes, NAME are assholes.

Humorous interview with Wes & Jeremy for "All Shools Network"

1. Hey! This is Alex from Allschools Network. Thank you for taking the time to answer to a few of my questions. I hope everything is fine. Could you please at first introduce yourself?

Hi, Alex. My name is Wes and I'm the singer and guitarist of Name. And I'm Jeremy, Wes' brother and bassist of Name.


2. "Internet Killed The Audio Star“ is finally released? What kind of feeling is that and are you content with the result?

Wes: Its an incredible sigh of relief. It took so long to put these pieces together. Over the course of 4 or 5 years, we hit so many obstacles that held us back from finishing this record, that we started to think it wasn't going to happen at all. We wanted to get this out so badly, but we didn't want to rush the process, or else we would've just been unsatisfied and it would've defeated the purpose. But, to make a bad situation good, we managed to use that time spent and make a record that is almost the soundtrack to the trials and tribulations of us together and individually over the course of 5 years.


3. I still ask myself if the title of the album is a tribute to the Buggles „Video Killed The Radio Star“. Am I right and what was the idea behind that title?

W: The title is a play off of the Buggles song, yes. When "Video Killed The Radio Star" came out, it land marked the changing of the tide. The music industry, ethic, and aesthetic all changed practically over night. With the current state of music, we figure we'd just come forth and basically say "hey, we're all aware this is happening, so knock your bullshit off". We're just offering the moniker as a title to a new chapter.


4. I must admit, I was a over challenged by reviewing your album and I am very sorry, that I chose the words: „Name are assholes, because they play with my intellect and dismantle me without a warning.“. I hope you can live with that. Could you please try to explain to the people that have not heard of you yet in a few words how „Internet Killed The Audio Star“ sounds like?

W: haha that's amazing. I haven't actually read your review yet, but I definitely will now. I'd rather get that response from the majority then grotesque confusion without any willingness to open their mind. But, I guess, if I had to say anything about what IKTAS sounds like, I'd say "chaotic easy listening". An amalgam of everything we've enjoyed in live, not just music. So have an open mind when listening, or I guarantee intense bleeding from the eyes and probably an annoying bowel movement.


5. During listening to the album, I saw myself in a white room wearing a straitjacket. You were some kind of, yeah i think monsters, which tried to destroy me with their music and behavior. Do you see yourselves like that, too? (But let me tell you, in the end I was the monster that killed you, you made me do it, I am sorry again).

W: I don't see us so much as monsters, as I see us like obsessive, pussy, pale skinned vampires with massive foreheads that are undeniably uncomfortable for others to look at... Either way, I see us doing damage to various groups of the music scene.


6. Let me ask you a few questions referring to the album. My first one would be: Why did you divide Empathic Communicator into four parts instead of putting a song of like 20 Minutes on the album?



Jeremy: We did that for a few choice reasons; One being that we understand that the attention span of most people here on planet Earth has significantly diminished in the past few years with the development of modern technology at such an exponential rate, that can lead to distractions and what not, so by splicing it up into 4 parts gave the listener the choice of selecting the tracks that pertained to their mood, or gave the option of skipping through the "chapters" of the track. Because the song is a lot to take in at once, and we understood that. Secondly, we wanted to give 4 separate identities to the songs, they all are pretty different and it tells 4 different perspectives of one culminating concept.


7. I guess your inspiration comes from a dozen of different bands, musicians, experiences and so on. Your sound tells me that you do not want to stagnate in one genre and that you try to blast some barriers. But could you please name at least three of your most important inspirations for the music and the lyrics as well?

J: First and foremost we would have to say that one of our biggest inspirations to do anything, musically and lyrically would have to be George Carlin. He came from a place of reasoning, facts, cynicism, brutal honesty, and a way of crafting himself that could command an audience and make sure you knew what it is he was feeling and why he was feeling it. Also he was always shifting in his stand up where he could go on a serious tangent that would be offensive to most, and then offset everything by saying something completely off the wall without any transition or reason why, yet you were already captivated by his words. That kind of feeling is what we're trying to do with our art. Oh yeah, we get inspiration Tom Waits, and Pink Floyd...because they're fucking awesome.

8. Hands down, how many parts of your songs are really planned as they sound and has there been some kind of improvisation during the recording process? I´m not a musician but I can´t imagine, that everything of „Internet Killed The Audio Star“ was written in stone before you entered the studio, it´s just to screwy.

J: We had most of our songs and ideas already worked in before we had entered the studio. Some of the songs we've had for years, but decided to give them a sonic overhaul so it depicted where we are now rather than looking backwards. For example, the song "The Spark Of Divinity" was written 7 years ago, we've been playing it for so long, but we knew it was a good track, so we dismantled it and found this combination that worked and wanted to have it sound the way we do live, after playing it for so long. We're very meticulous with our sound, and sometimes it takes us a month to write 30 seconds worth of material, and other times it took us 1 day to write 2 songs. Your creative mindset can play tricks on you. But to be honest, most of the material was already written. I mean, of course the studio can act like another member of the band and gives you room for even more experimentation and development to put ideas into fruition. We like to mess around with sonic layers and weird recording techniques, but that's about it. The ground work for the album was already solidified going into the studio. It wasn't easy by any means, but somehow...we did it.

9. How long did the recording all in all take and how was the time in the studio? Fun or even hard work?

W: The recording process was an interesting gem. It seemed to span a lifetime because of how overly meticulous we are. Their were definitely fun times because its such an exciting platform for this band to finally give a heartbeat to these songs. We're birthing a new chapter into our lives, so we take it very seriously. But, we can't help but have fun with the energy in the room. It boiled down to 70% work, 30% pure fuckery. As Jeremy mentioned early, we like to take advantage of the resources of the studio, so to showcase our personality as honestly as possible via the music, we knew we needed to take a step back, relax, and re approach the pieces. Over all, the entire process was fun, but if you became a distraction, we'd eat you alive.


10. One user of our webzine said that your album is way better than the new Dillinger Escape Plan album called „Option Paralysis“. I think this is a great honor. But what do think about this statement?

W: That's incredibly flattering. We've never approached what we do with any intention of comparison. We do what we do our way, so to have someone say something like that is just so incredibly flattering. We enjoy that record and respect the DEP guys, but they're DEP. They've paved the road for a lot of bands in our genre. Its incredibly humbling.


11. Last question: What are The Sycophant, The Saint & The Gamefox and what the fuck have they done with Dave Mustaine (do you refer to Megadeth?) in my white cell?

W: They are the 3 stylists that keep his fiery, red, lava hair so shiny. Everyone needs a little suave in their metal.


12. Once again thank you very much for your time and I hope I did not insult you too much. Everything of this should be rated as a big compliment for an absolute incredible album. Thank you for that. Last words are up to you!

W: There's not a single fucking thing you could have said to insult us in any way, shape or form. We've had a blast with the interview and appreciate having a laid back approach. We're incredibly glad you enjoyed the record, but stop sucking our dicks so hard. Just joking.. Or am I? Anyways, spread the joy and majesty of the album to all of your cohorts. Everyone, give the album a chance and listen with an open mind. Also, follow us on all of forms of social networking over at http://www.facebook.com/nameband, http://www.myspace.com/name, and http://www.twitter.com/name. Add us on those pages and talk to us. Give us something to do on these websites other then become sexual predators. Cheers.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Review from French metal magazine, "Metal Federation"

NAME - Internet Killed the audiostar
Released: April 19, 2010
Style: Mathcore, Hardcore epileptic
Label: Lifeforcerecords



Tracklist:

01. Killer Whales, Man
02. My Sweetheart, The Whore
03. The Spark Of Divinity
04. Homage To The Hunter
05. Bee Bee
06. Your Sun Machine, Your Space Embracer
07. How To Murder The Earth
08. Pond
09. The sycophant, The Saint, And The Gamefox
10. Dave Mustaine
11. Swallow The Ocean
12. You'll Never Die In This Town Again
13. Charm

New Approach to Martyrs Expressions, this is what the NAME means, we understand why the group has cut everything. Note that this combo is an American trio recently signed to Lifeforce Records, who released they're new album in Europe two months after released in the United States.

Founded in 2003 by brothers Wes and Jeremy Fareas, NAME is an amalgam of Mathcore, Hardcore, Grindcore, Jazz and Electro, just that you say?? As you can imagine, the music of the combo is absolutely impossible to categorize. However, I will help you so you understand what is driving NAME. You take a bit of Dillinger Escape Plan, you sprinkle Converge, add a touch of Napalm Death, a strand of Between The Buried and Me and you give birth to New Approach to Martyrs Expressions. Let me tell you that this training is unique and distant from all preconceived ideas. The main strength that gives off this album is the incredible power of the compositions, it never stops, and it surprises us, continually changing pace where we do not expect it at all. A tribute to singer / guitarist who is very strong. He managed to evolve in a variety of voices within a song while maintaining incredible vigor.
Attending a live performance of the combo should be a sacred experience that should not be totally free. Also, be aware that the pieces usually last between five and seven minutes which is huge for a group of such intensity. Imagine that same title exceeds ten minutes. Fortunately for musicians, there are long passages almost prog that give them a needed relief. The album in its entirety encompasses thirteen tracks for seventy-seven minutes of music, which is very rare nowadays. But as I said previously, NAME is the opposite of what you can expect.
It must however admit that the cake as it is not apprehended as quickly as a disk Alizée. The effort could probably be hurting you during the first few minutes of listening, but you know, without doubt, you will appreciate this album shortly after.

For a true first album, Internet Killed the Audiostar wins the challenge with flying colors. Extravagant, stamped, but especially passionate and unpredictable, NAME deserves interest in them!

A stream priority: "The Sycophant, The Saint, And The Gamefox"

My rating: 18/20


http://metal-federation.com/readarticle.php?article_id=491

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Live Videos

So recently, we have been getting tons of footage from shows these past few months. So figured id share them with ya:











name - "Empathic Communicator" Chapterts I - IV (Full Song) Live from name on Vimeo.

Saturday, May 1, 2010

An interesting read for musicians/bands...


"Does Your Band Have What it Takes?"

By David Lowry
http://lowryagency.wordpress.com/2010/02/24/does-your-band-have-what-it-takes/


So many times I have a meeting with bands after a call from one individual in the band that is carrying the load. While this can work and has happened in the past with certain groups, it is certainly an attempt at swimming up stream for the band and not fair to the individual doing all the work. Unless the band is at a point in their career where they can afford a team of management, PR, Booking, legal, graphic design, web design and photography, they need to be able to handle the bulk of this on their own, with the exception of legal of course.

A band is team of individuals that hopefully are all on the same page as to what the bands vision and goals are. It is up to each individual to carry his or her own weight and not pile all the responsibility upon one person. There is usually one person who is the "leader" but hopefully the band works on an equal basis unless ownership dictates otherwise. Each person needs to have defined roles and responsibilities and do their best to live up to them. If any individual is not pulling their weight they are slowing the band down or putting them at a stand still in the career path the band has chosen. This is not fair to the band.

I recommend that the band have a meeting or two on just business and have everyone pick the jobs they can do best or have time for. Not everyone may be able to put in the same amount of time or money, but that isn't the point. It's about taking some of the responsibility and sharing it so it isn't overwhelming one person and falling through the cracks. Things that need to be done are booking, social media, growing the fan base, email campaigns, business plans, marketing plans, tour management, press releases, endorsements etc… There are so many things that need to happen for a band to have maximum impact and everyone needs to help out and do their share. If the band is not able to handle a certain portion such as writing a marketing plan, then they should seek out professional help with this particular item to help them get to the next level.

Band agreements are a great way to get everyone on the same page, explain the expectations, pay structure, touring expectations, per diem, royalties, band ownership and so on. It should be drawn up by a lawyer and signed by everyone. If any member of the band can't sign it or is unwilling, they are probably not the right person for the band. Everyone needs to be willing to put in as much as they can both time and money wise. It should not be the responsibility of just one person unless it's just their name on the band.

Friday, April 30, 2010

Wes' Interview with "Burn Your Ears"

Hi. My name is Kai and im writing for the german webzine www.burnyourears.de

1. Please introduce yourself and your band to our readers.

Wes: My names Wes Fareas. I’m the singer and guitar player of the band. The others are Bobby Gibbs on drums and Jeremy Fareas on bass.


2. Whats the story behind NAME? How did you guys meet and did you know from the start, what kind of Music you wanted to play?

Wes: Our bass player, Jeremy, and I are brothers, so we’ve been playing music together for as long as we can both remember. I met Bobby freshmen year of high school. He was literally the first person I met at the school and in the town. From there, we go to talking about music, found a lot of share influences, decided to jam one day. I brought up my brother played bass, brought him out, and the rest is, as they say, history.


3. Whats the story behind your bandname? Getting tired of being asked that question?

Wes: With that band name comes the acceptance that we’re going to have to explain its origin more times then we could possibly imagine, haha… Anyways, I had the name for a long time. I was sitting on it with plans to use it at some point. After our high school bands dissipated, we formed with the original members, being us 3. We had toyed with names that would’ve made sense to our state of mind. It took a lot of trial and error, but when the name “name” was thrown into the mix, it just made to much sense to not have that be our moniker.


4. Did you ever feel the need that maybe more band members would be needed? You guys do such crazy shit as a three-piece…

Wes: We have mostly been a 4 piece throughout the bands career up until the record was recorded. We liked the aesthetic of it being a bare bones approach. But after going through more guitar players then we’d like to admit, I just took the responsibility into my own hands. I had a lot to do with the writing and arranging anyways, so it wasn’t that big of a change for me. The live aesthetic is definitely a different feel, but I enjoy it.


5. How come, you guys mix hardcore and Metal with Blues or Jazz? Does that happen organically or do you try to mix different styles on purpose?

Wes: It happens very organically. We never set out to make anything “out there”. It was never an intention to re invent the wheel, by any, means. We were very young when we started this band, mind you, so we weren’t aware of what was happening outside our realm. We just enjoyed different styles of music and thought ‘why not incorporate everything we’ve enjoyed listening to?’. Even the more straight forward bands we enjoyed always had a very wide sound. Heavy to soft and what not. It was just incredibly natural. As times went on, we kind of toned that experimentation into what you hear today.


6. You guys are on a german label and as far as myspace goes you seem to like war from a harlots mouth and the oceon. Ever been on tour here?

Wes: Not yet, we definitely plan to. We haven’t had the fortune of playing with WFAHM yet, but we did do some dates with The Ocean and they blew me away. A refreshing aggressive band for this day and age of stagnant heavy music.


7. There are some parts on the record, where its sounds, as if you guys had little problem, screaming the vocals. Did you ever think about getting a vocalist for live-gigs, that’s doesn’t have to play instruments at the same time?

Wes: I honestly don’t know which parts you’re referring to. To be honest, the screaming parts on the record were incredibly easy to track in the studio. The difficult parts were the clean vocals. We had spent a lot of time recording an organic record musically, that it slightly cut into my vocal tracking time. I felt slightly rushed in that process and definitely wish I had a bit more time. Next time we record, we’re making it a point to have sufficient amount of time to track all forms of vocals. Live though, I have managed to pull off guitars and vocals at the same time without problem.


8. Lets Play with your lyrics: Taken from “Dave Mustaine” : with Songs would you kill the world?

Wes: The central meaning behind that line is that music as an unrelenting power that people often underestimate. It truly has capabilities of destroying the world if it felt fit to. It’s just a line to show my appreciation for the art form, the language, the almost “other worldly” entity that is music.


9. Taken from “Avaler LÓcean”: In which city do you wanna die or be buried?

Wes: I don’t know what you’re talking about actually, haha. I literally don’t even use the word “city”. So, to answer your question… I don’t know, haha… The song is about someone falling in love with the ocean and eventually finding ruin in it instead of comfort. So, I guess I’d like to be swallowed by the ocean.


10. Taken from “Charmer”: What are your most “glorious failures”?

Wes: The line isn’t referring to my personal failures. Its referring to the sordid state of music and bands that have been popping up everywhere. When I say “you young cowards… you glorious failures” I’m directly and openly saying most bands are flat out fucking cowards. So many bands nowadays are afraid to do what they want musically. They fear criticism and adaptation and rely on what is “in” at the moment. It’s definitely the angriest song I’ve ever written and by far one of my favorites on the album. The lyrics are way more direct then most of the lyrics on the record. But, it’s also nothing to unique. I’m just another writer projection his disgust.


11. Can you explain the Cover to me?

Wes: The album in itself is basically a funeral for music. A tounge-in-cheek reference to the current state of the music industry. The cover just reinforces that concept. We wanted to show a somewhat obsolete instrument outside of orchestral/classical music. By adding the spine to it, we shows a more organic reference to music and it’s decay. We chose a light color scheme because we’re personally getting tired of metal records always having to be “dark and brooding”. It also shows another somewhat sarcastic trait in our personalities by showing there is a way to make an aggressive record with a dark, in nature, theme without it being straight black with fire on the cover.



12. Famous Last Words?

Wes: Thank you for taking the time to talk to me about the record. Hopefully you enjoy it and hopefully so do the readers. If you haven’t purchased “Internet Killed The Audio Star” today, give something new a chance and pick it up off Itunes, Amazon or your local record store. It’s released in both North America and Europe, so there isn’t any reason as to why you can’t find it. It’s an honest record written and recorded by 3 guys who are head over heels in love with music. A record made for true music appreciators and supporters. Also, keep in touch with us through all our forms of networking. Myspace.com/name, Facebook.com/nameband, Twitter.com/name. Check back with us and find a date near you. Cheers.


Thank you for your time and your answers
Best of luck with the record

Wes: Thank you


Kai / www.burnyourears.de

Friday, April 23, 2010

Bobbys Interview with "Metal Team UK"

Name Interview questions for www.metalteamuk.net

Hey guys, cheers for the interview! First of all, introduce yourselves, and answer this burning question: why did you name yourselves Name?

What's up man, this is Bobby the drummer. You know my favourite thing about the fact that our name is simply "Name" is that it doesn't confine us to any musical limitations whatsoever. When you read it it's not gonna remind you of gore metal or pop-punk or anything. That's sort of its main purpose, to keep things less about gimmicks and more about art.

How would you describe your music, and how would you say it fits into the current metal scene?

We generally describe our music as simply "heavy music." And music doesn't have to be metal to be heavy. Obviously we incorporate a great deal of screaming and hi-gain, but that's really just one side to us. Everything we do, we do for the most part with extreme intensity, even if it's ambient or a jazz piece. That's more what we mean by "heavy". In regard to how we fit into the current metal scene, I don't really think we've even been looking at things in terms of particular "scenes." We've had the privilege of sharing the stage with a lot of awesome bands, and not all of them were metal bands. Because of the variety on our record, we've been able to adjust our set list as necessary for the type of tour it is. Now that I'm thinking about it, perhaps the metal scene may be the most welcoming of our music because they are of course more tolerant of things like screaming and more elaborate time signatures. So to answer your question, I suppose it, well, fits nicely??................?.............8=è

How did you arrive at where you are now - what sort of bands did you play in before Name, and how did they lay the ground work for Name?

The 3 of us have actually been playing music together on and off for 10 years. Jeremy and I spent a huge portion of our teenage years studying jazz and really focusing on trying to soak in as many styles as possible on our respective instruments. We've also all been in so many different types of bands growing up, including grunge, acid rock, fusion, etc. Kinda hard to take all of that and make something boring haha

What have been your biggest inspirations for what you do? The review I did picked out everything from Dillinger Escape Plan to Jaco Pastorius...

Just really everyone and everything we've ever seen and heard in our lives. DEP and Jaco were definitely big for some of us. But it's hard to list people because of course you listen to so much music in your life that it's difficult to determine which artist inspired what particular action for you. So I guess I'll just say "life" is our biggest inspiration..too cliché? Fuck...

How much of a challenge is it to write your songs? You really do seem to push yourselves as musicians and songwriters...is that something you keep in your consciousness for when you write?

I actually wasn't even in the band when many of those songs were beginning to take shape. But once we have the basic skeleton to work with (usually consisting of guitar riffs and lyrics), the 3 of us get together and really just do whatever the hell we want with it. Of course we push ourselves, but not awkwardly. We don't tell ourselves that we need to keep the bar up, because if you're a real musician, you're ALWAYS growing. You stop growing when you die. I'll probably be writing my best stuff when I'm in my 90's. You're damn right I just said that. BOOSH.

Onto to your album... There are some very interesting song titles there, but the album title "Internet Killed the Audio Star" suggests an overarching theme on the changing nature of the music business. What is your take on how the internet is changing the way bands operate?

I think the internet has made it so much easier for an artist to be heard. Many bands have been discovered and experienced great success from just internet promotion. But it's of course forcing the bigwigs to change their tactics as well. The days of signing that golden record contract and going platinum are coming to an end. This is of course due to illegal downloading, which is sorta the tounge-n-cheek meaning behind the album title. People aren't buying records anymore. It's more about the live show now than it ever has been, which is awesome for us because that's always been our bread and butter. Nowadays if you want to make music your career, you HAVE to tour. A LOT. The albums that you make are now simply promotion for your live show. But hey, just don't suck live and it won't be a problem ;)

Was it a difficult process recording "Internet Killed the Audio Star"? You had a relatively long gestation period of 4 years - was it difficult to keep focus during this time, or was it necessary for the music?

I think a little of both. One major reason it took so long was that Name went through so many members over the past 4 years, myself included. I've been in and out of this band 4 times for various reasons. In fact the musical chemistry between the 3 of us may have been a major reason for the delay of this record, because I kept leaving, ironically after each recording session I did with them. The record would've sounded awkward if it was me on a few tracks and some other drummer on some other tracks and so on. But that's just from my perspective. I can't speak for them but I know that some of the tracks were written recently, which means that they wouldn't have been on the record if it weren't for the delay, whatever the cause was.

How do you find the reaction from audiences when you're playing live?

The feedback we've been getting has been incredibly positive. People are far more open to the variety on the record than we could've ever hoped.

This'll be the last question, so thank you for your time. Now the album's out almost everywhere - and hopefully being bought by everyone - what's next for Name?

We intend to tour behind this record for a long time. We may release an EP later this year or early next year. But we wanna put the majority of our effort into promoting the hell out of this record, so see ya on the road!

http://www.myspace.com/name

Steve Jones

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Jeremy breaks down 'Empathic Communicator', 'Dave Mustaine', 'My Sweetheart, The Whore' & MORE w/ "Neckbreaker" webzine

-Hey Guys, how are you doing? I am writing for the german webzine called "Neckbreaker". So, at first: Please introduce this three-piece called "NAME".

Jeremy: We're a band from San Francisco, California. Consisting of myself (Jeremy Fareas) as the bassist. My brother Wes Fareas on guitar and vocals, and Bobby Gibbs on drums. Us 3 have been playing music for 10 years together and put together "name" since 2003. We're a band that is trying to revive integrity in music and show as much conviction as 3 guys in a band could.


-I rated your CD "Internet Killed The Audio Star" with 8 of 10 Points. I was quite stunned of all the musical influences you assimilate in your music. I guess you listen to all this different music styles also in private? What are your favorite artists of Jazz, Blues and the other extraordinary styles?

Jeremy: Aw..this question, I could literally post 7+ pages full of noteworthy artists/bands, but I can pull out a select few that we put in constant rotation, we're very much into artists such amazing jazz guys like Dizzy Gillespie, Dave Brubeck, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Count Basie, Jaco Pastorius, and outside of that a lot of Wes Montgomery, Pat Metheny, and Stu Hamm. We listen to A LOT of Tom Waits, for he gives us so much inspiration every time we listen to him. Wes frequents a lot of female vocalists like Sade, and Scarlett Johansson, also Massive Attack, Telepopmusik, Portishead and Ceú. Then we have our abstract listens like Zu, Squarepusher, Aphex Twin, Sigur Ros, Zombi, and The Bird and the Bee. Right now I'm really into The Dead Weather, Atoms For Peace, Jay-Z and Old Crow Medicine Show. I had a chance to see them at the Coachella festival, and all of it was brilliant. Most of the time we really don't listen to heavy music. We like to gather our inspiration from the oddest of places.


-How long took the songwriting process for "IKTAS"?

J: We took the span of 4 years to write this record. But not all the songs took that long. We're so incredibly meticulous with our sound that sometimes it'll take months to write 15 seconds worth of material, and other times it'll take a day to write 2 songs. Everything we do has to be felt and not forced. For example we had our song "Spark of Divinity" written for 7 years, but we re-worked the song to make it have more life than ever. And the last 3 songs on our album we wrote in a matter of 2 days, and worked out beautifully. We took a chunk of time to gather a lot of material we had and the songs that have been completed to make sure that they were up to our satisfaction. Like I aforementioned, we are our worst critics, so we needed make sure we were 110% happy with what we had.


-Coming to the title of the CD. This reminds me of the BUGGLES-Classic "Video Killed The Radio Star" and I think this is not casually. On the one hand you're right because a lot of music listeners don't have the original CDs (or even Vinyl) of the interpreters on their rack but use digital media on iPod, Handy etc. But on the other hand, the distribution of music is much faster via internet and a band may reach more people. What's your opinion about this matter?

J: Well the title is a play off of the Buggles song. But for us, the title of the cd marks the end of a generation, and the start of a new, ambitious, and uncertain future. That song "Video Killed The Radio Star" at the time was describing how times were changing and how different forms of media were coming into fruition, and it left people wondering what was going to happen with their music. Well, fast forward a couple of decades and its history
repeating itself. The way we hear and receive new music is completely different now then it ever has been. Everything in media is so accessible, and so fast. Everyone is connected at once, and its both positive and negative. Positive being that some independent artists are receiving credit where they rightfully should and is helping people find new music or discover genres they wouldn't normally listen to. At the same time, especially with bands, is that they rely too much on their myspaces, or digital downloads and forget how essential it is to tour and make your art come alive.


-What's the story behind "Empathic Communicator" which is parted in four tracks?

J: I researched the concept of "The Empathic Communicator" and discovered some amazing information pertaining to the mind and how it processes its own ideas. The mind is apparently split into 4 states of consciousness and I thought it would be an incredible way to play on this theme. So I gave the idea to Wes, he loved it. I really wanted to write a 4 part song, giving 4 individual identities to one centralized theme. I had some general ideas sonically where I wanted to go. Wes helped gather a lot of transitions into play to have it make more sense. He also really ran with the concept lyrically and created this whole story, all nepotism aside, I thoroughly enjoy his lyrics and really loved what he did with this song. It definitely gave the songs more life. We split up the tracks into 4 parts because collectively its almost 23 minutes, so for the sake of the listener's attention span, it was easier to make 4 separate tracks to have the listener go to the song pertaining to the mood they were feeling at the time. It was definitely one of the most exciting and challenging pieces we've ever worked on.


-One track is entitled "My Sweetheart, The Whore". Did one of the bandmembers have bad experiences with women?

J: No. Haha, but good question. Wes's lyrics are very cryptic and never usually to be taken for face value, which is why they make for interesting and thought provoking reads. The title of the song basically shows duality, not necessarily love, or passion in any regard.


-What can you tell about the song "Dave Mustaine": Is it a homage or a malapropism for the legendary MEGADETH-Frontman?

J: I'll give the rundown on that title, it seems to create a lot of confusion. Everytime we put a song into motion, giving it a basic structure and what not, we give the songs working titles of Sigourney Weaver movies (this is no joke by the way), we do this because its easier trying to come up with a working title, and also because Sigourney Weaver is fucking brilliant. So that song had the working title "Dave"...after the song was completed and we had written this very serious metal song with this completely almost inappropriate dance part at the end of the song that made it seem a bit silly. We enjoy that kind of feeling haha. But I believe we watched the "No More Mr. Nice Guy" video from Megadeth and what we saw seemed to make sense for the song. That video is incredibly corny and seems wildly out of context and doesn't make sense for Dave Mustaine, because he's supposed to be this serious metal musician, but had this very un-serious video and you couldn't help but laugh at it. So it just stuck. We like it, and its neither an homage nor insult to him.


-Will there be a chance to see you in Europe on stage?

J: Well our album was just released in Europe on April 19th, and this year we hope to be out there very very soon. We thank all of you for the amazing responses and support and we can't wait to see all of your wonderful faces, just so we can blowtorch them off with our music. Until then, thank you for this interview and thank you to all the readers.


-Thank you very much for answering these questions, the last words are yours:

J: Anyone who has taken the time to listen to our music or to try and understand where we come from musically, we appreciate all of you. Your support means everything to us. Please help support independent artists all over the world, and go to shows, discover new music on your own. Gather inspiration from odd places, you'll never know what you'll find or how they will affect you. I'll get off my soap box now, thank you all.


-Take care, Brix

Wes sits down w/ "Rock Tribune Magazine" about the social networking sites, art, the comparison game w/ DEP & BTBAM, and a Korn referance

xINTERVIEW for Rock Tribune magazine - NAME


Off course it's a cliché, but it is also the most logical question for a band that is new to our ears:

Can you give us a short description of what this band stands for, the history and so on? What do we need to know about the band Name?

Wes: We're a band based out of San Francisco, CA consisting of myself on vocals and guitar, Bobby Gibbs on drums and my brother Jeremy Fareas on bass. The 3 of us have been playing music together for over 10 years and have remained steadfast in our music regarding always creating the music we enjoy hearing. The heartbeat of this band is that we are artists and truely care about what we're doing. Our music is an amalgam of everything we've ever enjoyed and respected involving music, film, literature, etc. We are trying to restore honesty in music and so far, we feel we've succeeded.


Apparently, NAME is not just the band name but also an acronym. What does it stand for and what does it mean to you?

Wes: It stands for "the new approach to
martyrs expressions". The name is self explanatory in a way, but it was meant as a statement that we believe in what we're doing and the moment that changes, we'll be dead. It seems like integrity has been replaced by a nervousness to cross boundries like bands used to. We're trying to revive that approach to music as much as possible.


Is there also a statement with the fact that you go for such a vague 'name'? Did you take inspiration from the punk rock band No Use For A Name who also seemed to kind of mock band names (or disguise a lack of inspiration)?

Wes: Actually, none of us listen to them, we're familiar with them, but in no way did our name derive from them. To be honest, we enjoy fucking with people. As serious as we take our music, there isn't much else we take too seriously, so calling ourselves "name" is kind of tounge-in-cheek. Like it or hate it, you don't forget it.


Sometimes you know what to expect musically just from a band name, but you obviously can't with your band. Was that also an aspect you considered?

Wes: Definitely. Going by "name" showcases our personality, I suppose. It sort of forces you into a position to listen for yourself, rather then assume what we sound like. Its not hard nowadays to premptively pin point a bands sound based off the name, almost as if they're trying to make that happen. Thats just incredibly dissappointing.


On to the most important thing: the music! If I have to describe the sound of 'Internet Killed The Audio Star', I can't get around the term 'math core' and I would point out The Dillinger Escape Plan and Between The Buried And Me as references. Could you agree with that, are those bands you like or are inspired by? I can imagine it being a boring question to you, but I always like to get a feel for the influences of a band.

Wes: Its not a boring question at all, it allows us to speak out about the comparison game. Both The Dillinger Escape Plan and Between The Buried and Me are amazing bands and incredible people. All of us in the band are fans of both groups, and similair groups within the "mathcore" genre. But, we are not directly influenced by them. We know some of them personally and what we've gathered is we are all influenced by the same bands, which would make sense to the similair styles. The artists of the past have created a slew of musicians these past 15 some odd years within a relating realm, including DEP and BTBAM. Actually, they do inspire in a way. They help us feel confident in the fact that honest, aggressive music can find a home. As a new band, we can only offer ourselves as the next generation.


Off course, there is more to your album than that - and I definitely consider the comparisons to those bands as a compliment because I love the fact that they always evolve and incorporate so many musical styles in their sound. Where do the diverse influences in Name come from: do you all listen to music ranging from metal and hardcore to jazz and blues and post rock and so on?

Wes: I could take up hours of every readers time going into all the bands we're inspired by. But, what I can say is that as long as any of us can remember, we have been fans of some many different styles of music it almost seems unrealistic. We never saw it as odd that we could listen to Dave Brubeck, Cannibal Corpse, Depeche Mode, Sade, Soundgarden, Tom Waits, Jean Carlos Jobim, Napalm Death, Failure, The Allman Brothers, Refused, Sinatra and Bjork all in one sitting. There are others who don't see that as weird either and we find those are the ones who appreciate what we're trying to do.


One of the tracks that surprised me most, is the second one on the album 'My Sweetheart, The Whore' because for some reason I hear some Korn and System Of A Down like elements - which evokes some nostalgic feelings J. I am especially impressed by the part where there's just some cymbals and whispering: there are not many 'heavy' bands who have the guts to go 'quiet'. Did you even think about that or does that come very naturally for Name?

Wes: That song actually came really naturally for me to write musically and lyrically. Not at all influenced by Korn and S.O.A.D though, haha. Although Korns first 2 records fucking destroyed. As far as the cymbal part, that seriously was just Bobby and I throwing out the idea and making it happen. We just felt it added to the unique personality of the song. There are parts like that throughout our album, but it all came naturally. We don't set any boundries for ourselves whatsoever, so we never look at it as crossing a line, thats just who we are.


The latest album of The Dillinger Escape Plan is a true masterpiece in my humble opinion. It shows a band that has evolved immensely and matured into a very accomplished band, the album ebbs and flows naturally. I really do LOVE 'Internet Killed The Audiostar' but it is not on the same level YET, because while the songs are good they are also very different and they do not necessarily form one cohesive unit (some songs sound like they could be from different bands). Could you agree?

Wes: I understand what you're saying. We are aware of the fact that our album has tracks that differ from each other entirely, but we wanted to portray the record almost as a soundtrack. We wanted to showcase different styles, but authentically. That's a major underlining standpoint with us: authenticity. If we're going to do something, we're going to do it right and with complete conviction.


I assume 'Internet Killed The Audiostar' is an obvious pun on 'Video Killed The Radio star' and if that is the case, I understand what you're saying. On the other hand, I do not completely agree because I don't think internet killed audio stars at all - on the contrary, some have thrived. However, if you would have said something like 'Internet killed the music industry / album star / major labels' . What's your opinion on this? Do you want to expand on this?

Wes: We always like to shed light on this. First off, the title in itself is very tounge-in-cheek. Since 'Video Killer The Radio Star' was the beginning of a new musical era, we offer 'Internet Killed The Audio Star' as a title to the new era, which is something we're all aware of as an unevitability. True, the internet as helped an overwhelming amount of artists, more specifically new artists, but we feel you should use the resources as a tool, not a dependancy. Use the tools given to spread the word and make yourself more accessible to those who wouldn't otherwise have access to your band, but don't base all actions off how many Myspace friends you have. It seems as though integrity is a lost art.


Art in general seems to be very important to Name. Do you express yourselves in different ways than music? Are you for example very involved in things like artwork and layout for the cd, merchandising, website or profiles on social networking sites?

Wes: Of course. On top of Name, we keep ourselves incredibly busy musically. Always writting and exchanging ideas, even without a definite intent with the songs. I tend to write a lot of short stories, free writes, etc. The written word is incredibly facinating to me. As far as being involved with other aspect of the band, yes, we are incredibly involved. We worked very closely with our good friend Mike Stitches on the artwork for the album. We have worked with him in the past for many years, so it just seemed natural, being that we knew we worked well together. Every bit of merchandise or website design we have had has stemmed from a concept or scheme we already had in our heads. As a band, we are aware that anything and everything involved with us reflects on another, so we make sure we are projecting our ideals and personalities in ways other then just music.


A couple of years ago the main topic for discussion was about the whole downloading thing. These days phenomena such as Myspace, Facebook, Twitter and the likes are omnipresent. I guess you can't deny the fact that these are really helpful tools for any band, but what is your personal stance? I have always refused to make any profile because it all feels very artificial to me and I would feel like I'm not making genuine connections with others but a lot of people say it's exactly the opposite.

Wes: They have been incredible tools for us, but like I said before, they are tools. It allows our fans to stay connected with us. So they can stay updated with shows, new merch, new songs, or just having an open forum on whatever we found funny that day. We enjoy being able to share ourselves with our fans other then them listening to our record. We're fun guys and enjoy meeting fun people. Myspace, Facebook, and Twitter and all helped push that ideal to a bigger platform. Touring, getting out there, is the way to make it really happen, not just comments or a friend count. This just allows us to stay connected to those who truely care about what we're doing. It is incredibly upsetting to see those who base their lives off of these social networking sites. Theres an overwhelming illusion that these websites dictate real life and thats where we say things are going terribly wrong. I feel these are just good outlets for artists on any platform.


Feel free to add anything you want to get across if you feel like the questions did not cover everything you would want to talk about.

Wes: I think if anyone wants to know more, take a chance with an open mind and listen for yourself. Come to a show and strike up a conversation. It's the only way you'll know for sure. We're incredibly honest guys just trying to show this stagnant state of music that their are options in life. Check out our new record "Internet Killed The Audio Star" and there will be something for everybody on that compact disc. Stay in touch with us on your favorite social networking websites such as Facebook.com/nameband, Myspace.com/name, and Twitter.com/name. Come hang out with us at an upcoming show in your area. Pick up the album at your favorite record store or digital web store. Support honest music.


Thank you for taking time to do this!

Wes: Thank you so much for your time. I had a lot of fun and I hope I answered all your questions.


Your album is very impressive and I am very curious to where all this could lead in the future.

Wes: Sincerely, thank you so much and you'll definitely be hearing a lot more from us, I guaruntee it.

Joris Smeets