Alternative pop-punk boys (and girl) As We Once Were are on road to becoming the next big band from Illinois. With a tendency to tell jokes on social media and dreaming of Warped Tour, they might just become your next favourite band.
"Success isn’t an overnight sprint, it’s a marathon made up of small accomplishments added up together."
The EP is
out so soon which I cannot wait for. For the people who don't know
you so well, who are you ? There is no other way to ask the question.
“We are
As We Once Were from the south suburbs of Chicago, IL and we are
Vinny Roman, 22, who plays guitar and lead vocals, Max Williamsen,
21, guitar and vocals, Bryan Anderson, 20, bass, and Shannon Conway,
21, drums.”
“Our musical style is alternative pop-punk with hints of hardcore. Musicians similar to ourselves would be Four Year Strong, New Found Glory and Set Your Goals.”
You say your sound is similar to New Found Glory, Set Your Goals, Four Year Strong, which it is. They are big, world renown American alternative pop-punk bands. Are you inspired by these other bands and what bands would you like to play with if given the chance ?
“Our ideal bands to play shows with would be Knuckle Puck, Four Year Strong, and Real Friends. Musically, Four Year Strong has always inspired us and we sort of look up to them as a band. Real Friends and Knuckle Puck are from the same home town as us and it’s been so rad to be fans of theirs and see them grow from the ground up.”
Right now,
not many people in the UK seem to have heard of you. Hopefully that
will something that will be changing pretty soon. In the mean time,
what can we expect from you ?
“We
have a new 7-song EP titled “Such Is Life” scheduled to be
released early spring and we hope to have a single off of that EP
well before then. We have a chunk of time carved out in early July
for a two-week tour but details on that are yet to come.”
Hopefully
the tour will include the UK. Up until now, what has been your best
show as a band ?
“Our
best show we have played thus far would be June 28th 2015 at the
Subterranean in Chicago with locals Flight Plan, Talk to you Never,
and Cupcheck. The Sub-T as a venue is just awesome with such a laid
back atmosphere. It was also our first show on a bigger stage as a
band with a complete line-up.”
What would
be your ideal show/tour ?
“The
ultimate direction we would like to move in is, as cliche as this
sounds, to play shows outside of our hometown. We would love to be
able to tour and write music full time and eventually be able to play
festivals like Warped Tour.”
Everyone
wants to play Warped Tour, I don't blame them but, its an incredible
tour, only made better by the fans and community it has built up over
the years. Fans always are important to bands, as with other bands, I
guess yours are pretty important to you. What would you say to the
people who have supported you for a while and the new people hearing
your music for the first time, the people who will no doubt become
fans after hearing just one track.
“To our
current fans, all we would like to say is thank you. Thanks for
sticking with us so far and giving our music a chance. It’s really
just because of you guys that we have been able to keep going.”
“To
people just coming across our music, we are really dedicating a lot
of time to finding our sound and becoming a better band. We
appreciate you giving our music a chance and we can only hope to
improve over time and hopefully you stick around.”
There's
something I've noticed quiet a lot on your social media, which is
your support for other 'upcoming' bands, which is always great to
see. What advice would you give to other bands like yourselves, or
bands who haven't found such support and success.
“To
other bands who are just starting up, the real key is to just keep
going. It gets really hard at times, especially when you’re just
starting to get your feet wet in the music scene, to keep your
confidence up. Success isn’t an overnight sprint, it’s a marathon
made up of small accomplishments added up together.”
Something
else I've noticed a lot on my news feed is a lot of positivity, nice
comments and stream of jokes courtesy of you guys.
“As a
band, we like to tell jokes on our twitter because sometimes social
media can be filled with drama and negativity and we like to give a
reason to smile, even at a really bad joke, in the midst of all the
negative energy.”
I love the
idea of that. Telling people jokes, whether their good or not, just
so they laugh, or at least smile. Your a great band, you really are.
All bands, regardless of how great, have things they don't tell
everyone. Weird habits or pre-show rituals. To finish off with, what
are things we don't know about As We Once Were ?
Vinny:
Before I go to sleep at night, I have to dampen my hands. I can’t
go to sleep with dry hands.
Max: I
like carbonated pop but I like flat pop more.
Bryan: I
accidentally sync up my iPhone camera roll to the band’s google
drive and now they know everything.
Shannon:
Most people don’t know that I am Japanese and I have to put soy
sauce on everything."
'Here Right
Now' the bands debut EP is available on Bandcamp which is worth a
listen. The bands new EP is released this spring so keep your eyes
peeled for that because it will be worth the wait, I'm sure of it.
Be sure to
check out the bands social media and watch out for a tour this
summer.