JOHN RUSSO OF REVERSE ORDER - Interview

I had the chance earlier this week to sit down with John Russo, the lead singer of one of my favorite up-and-coming bands, Reverse Order. The rest of the band had other obligations (probably a good thing; the interview might have been an hour long if they’d all be there), but John filled me in on their upcoming tour, new music, a new video, and even answered a fan’s Twitter question.

Reverse Order came together in 2008 and consists of brothers John (vocals, guitars) and Cruise Russo (vocals and drums), bassist Frank Spangler and guitarist Drew Katsock. They’ve opened for Action Item, Allstar Weekend and others, and through Twitter and Youtube their fan-base is growing nationally.  You may have seen them on AMERICA’S GOT TALENT last season, and that’s where our chat started:

ANTHONY: So the last time I interviewed you, via email, was before you were on America’s Got Talent.

JOHN: Okay, That was a while ago.

ANTHONY: Yeah. What did you guys learn from that experience and how did you apply it moving forward?

JOHN: That’s definitely an interesting question. That’s the first time that’s been asked. I mean, being on America’s Got Talent, you have to be very professional, very punctual, things were a lot more complicated than people think they are; you have be there 9 days beforehand, every single day you’re training with music directors, different vocal coaches, you’ve got b-roll taping, all the different cameras are outlined, they place you along the whole thing, you practice your exact positions you have to move into because there’s like 100 cameras programmed around the stage that you have to hit your marks at the right times because the cameras are programmed to switch. I mean, I guess it was more just learning more professionalism in that kind of environment. So that was definitely a good thing for us.

ANTHONY: And I remember Howard was not as impressed as we hoped he would be.

JOHN: Yeah.

ANTHONY: So how did you respond to the criticisms? There were little snippets of post-interview with you guys, but now that you have some perspective on it?

JOHN: Yeah, I mean the best – the only thing you can really do is take what they say and try to apply it as much as you can. Certain things you just kind of ignore (smiles) because you really don’t connect with what they’re saying, but other things you try to apply to yourself and at least do something to better yourself.

ANTHONY: True. So let’s talk about the new music. When is it coming out?

JOHN: We’re trying a new approach this time. Instead of just releasing one cd at a time … because we’ve found, nowadays at least, when you release a cd, everyone’s really into it for about a month, they’re really excited about it, and then the rest of the year, you don’t have anything to offer them. What we’re doing this time is we have about six songs recorded but we’re going to release them slowly. We’re going to release them maybe once a month. So this month people will be into this song, next month they’ll be looking for something new, we’ll release another song. So that’s kind of how we’re doing it. Three of the songs were recorded with Rob Freeman who did a lot of production on like Warped Tour bands, he was in a band called Hidden In Plain View, he produced Hit The Lights, he on “Stereo Hearts” by Adam Levine and Gym Class Heroes, so he’s doing some songs.  There’s a guy in Staten Island named Armando who’s doing a song for us; a guy named Mike Lisa and a guy named Kevin Kumetz. Kevin is actually the guy who recorded our last cd, so we’re working with him again. The music’s … for the most part it’s still rock, it’s still alternative rock but it’s slightly different from what we’ve done before. Right now, there’s a lot of our stuff that is very pop-punk and then there’s some pop-dance and there’s like keyboard and stuff like that. This is more alternative rock, you know, Fall Out Boy, One Republic, The Fray, so it’s more Top 40 alternative rock than like Top 40 Pop. So it should it be good.

ANTHONY: So you’re doing away with keyboards and stuff like that? Stripping it down to the basic instruments, or..?

JOHN: No, we have the keyboards and synthesizers and stuff, but whereas like Save For … is a dance song, synths in that respect, it’s going to be more synths and keyboards in the respect of like One Republic, big sound arena rock, or like The Killers, kind of like that.

ANTHONY: It’s funny, the other band I talk about a lot, The Dalliance, who are guys I went to high school with, that’s how they released their music. It was almost a year’s worth of “a song a month,” and then they culled from that to release the album they released last year, and rerecorded some stuff. I don’t know if they’re going to do the same thing with this next EP.

JOHN: They put all the same songs together on one EP at the end?

ANTHONY: Yeah, although they did remaster and retrack some stuff.

JOHN: That’s what we’re planning to do, put it all together on cd at the end.

ANTHONY: And that way, people who wanted a physical CD could still get one at their cd release party or later. And yeah, that seems to be the way lots of bands are doing it now. Seems to be the smarter marketing.

JOHN: Plus it gives you more time, while you’re working on other stuff, to still fix some stuff. You know, all the big bands on the radio, they have the luxury of having other people write their stuff so they can tour, release, tour, release, tour, release. Where we don’t have that luxury so you have to time it out.

ANTHONY: Exactly. So, the video you’ve been working on. Let’s talk about that.

JOHN: Yes.  The video we actually recorded in February. A friend of mine who I met years ago in California goes to film school so he decided to film us a video. And it’s just taking long to edit because he lives in California and I live in NJ, so we’re at that point in the communication where he sends me an email and it takes me five days to get back to him, so…  The video is actually for “Go,” so we’re really hoping to get that video out before we release any new songs. It looks weird releasing a new song then releasing a video for an old song, so we’re trying to do that. I’ve seen it, there’s only three small things that need to be edited.

ANTHONY: When it comes out, I’ll come back to this interview and add a link or embed it.

JOHN: Cool.

ANTHONY: Okay, so you’re about to leave on tour.

JOHN: Yep. We are leaving … our first date in June 25th, so we’re leaving June 24th and it’s essentially a full month so we should be coming back home around the end of July. We’re going to the Mid-west and the South. Our route: we start out in New Jersey, obviously; we’re going to hit Pennsylvania, like the Pittsburgh area; then [zig-zagging back and forth through] Ohio, Illinios, Indiana, and Michigan; and then on to Saint Louis, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Delaware, and then once we get back home the regular New Jersey and PA and New York shows again.

We actually have a show in New York though, before we leave, it’s our last local show June 15th at The Vibe Lounge in Long Island. We’re excited to hit the road. We’re going to a lot of places we’ve been to before, venue-wise, and some places we haven’t. We’re playing at a bunch of Six Flags, a bunch of regular venues, “concerts in the parks” that some towns throw where they have like big bands and stuff. A nice mix of shows, doing some nightclubs here and there since we have some nights off.

ANTHONY: And then living room shows.

JOHN: Oh yeah, we always leave time for the living room shows when people are interested. So we’re doing all of that, and the show on Long Island before we leave, and then the Stage-It show on June 2nd.

ANTHONY: Perfect lead-in. Let’s talk about that. How did that come together? I’ve seen a couple of things on Stage-It and they seem to be wildly variable in quality.

JOHN: Yeah. I’m going to try to make ours be quality. I have professional microphones upstairs just because we record our own demos here. So I’m going to see if I can work that into the computer without accidentally muting the volume, because that would be terrible. But a friend of ours … we’re friends with a band called Before You Exit and they had done one and they were telling us about it and we always try to do different things to keep our fans interested and they suggested this. It’s no cost for us to do, why not try it? So we figured we’d do a very small concert, limited to a small amount of people, try it out. It’s kind of a cool way for us to do a show for all those people that – you know, we have fans in Canada and Brazil and other places who can never see us, so it’s a way for them to see us, and I’m hoping it’s good. We’ve never done one before so it’s new for us.

ANTHONY: How do people connect with the Stage-It?

JOHN: They can search for it through the Stage-It site, but there is an actual link, and it’s on our Facebook right now.

ANTHONY: And I’ll post that link right here. So people reading, click here: REVERSE ORDER – LIVE FROM OUR LIVING ROOM and buy a ticket for Reverse Order’s Stage-It. The show starts at 7:30pm, on your computer, at that link.

I have a question for you from Twitter, from a fan in Houston, Texas.

JOHN: Houston!

ANTHONY: Yeah, I think she knows of you guys because she’s a big Before You Exit and Hollywood Ending fan, and she knows you’ve played with both of them. So when I asked on Twitter if anyone had any questions for you, she wanted me to ask you how you went from playing in the garage to the venues you’re playing, and any advice you might have for a singer-songwriter, who is also a teenager, as far as getting into playing the local venues, opening for bigger acts, etc.

JOHN: It’s a lot of work. (laughs) I mean, every local venue now, they want you to sell twenty tickets to play a show.  Our first thing was school talent shows, school Battle of the Bands. You kind of have to just go to a local venue, for us it was Croc Rock in Allentown, that’s where we got our start opening and playing bigger shows, ask the promoter “we’re a local band, do you have any shows coming up that we can get on,” and they’ll start you out with shows that are like five local bands in one night, no big headliners and they build you up from there. They say “sell twenty tickets,” well the first show, you’re going to be selling those to Mom, Dad, aunts, uncles, grandparents. But from that show, maybe you’ll get five fans from another band, and the next show you play maybe fifteen are family and five are fans, and you kind of build that way.  It’s a long building process, and it takes a while but you gotta do it.

ANTHONY: If Cruise had been here tonight, I was going to end the interview with a “dueling super-heroes” thing. You know, “who would win…” Since like me you’re both big comic book fans.

JOHN: Marvel, clearly.  We actually have a thing we’re doing with a guy who just graduated from the Kubert School. Right now he’s submitting to DC and Marvel, we met him at Free Comic Book Day and he did like four of the covers I have upstairs. Probably the best artist I’ve ever met. But he’s actually drawn us individual trading cards, like Pokemon cards but in super-hero uniforms. He’s going to do a card for each of us but then blend the background so they merge into one big card. So he’s drawing that for us and since it’s like Pokemon we’ll have like cheesy power moves and stuff, how much Damage we do, etc. And we’ll have them at the shows, the only way to be able to get them will be from us.

ANTHONY: Pretty soon we’ll be able to play the Reverse Order Game. You’ll need arch-enemies, though, so you’ll have to work on that.

One more time: the link for REVERSE ORDER: LIVE FROM OUR LIVING ROOM, the band’s online concert on Stage-It Sunday June 2nd at 7:30pm. Tickets are still available.

You can find the specific dates for their Midwest-and-South June Tour right HERE.

You can buy their most recent EP, RIGHT NOW, from iTunes.

You can also join the band’s Facebook page, and follow them on Twitter: @ReverseOrder @ReverseJohn @CruiseRusso@FrankSpangla and @ReverseDrew.  They also have a Youtube channel, and of course I have to end the interview with one of their older videos, until the new video for “Go” comes out:

The Role Call - Guest Post

I’m spending December catching up on my own writing, attempting to meet end-of-year deadlines for open calls for various anthologies. Several of the folks I’ve been meaning to interview have offered up guest posts instead. This week, I’m happy to welcome the band THE ROLE CALL to talk about the Kickstarter for their new EP.

The Role Call

Hey guys!

We are The Role Call, a newly-formed Minneapolis-based Pop/Rock band. Back in February of 2012, local musicians Max Young, Zach Hesemann, and Joey Russ found singer Steven Zerwas and bassist Kristoff Druva through a mutual friend.  After writing and recording with producers Pat Brown (Sing It Loud) and Jordan Schmidt (All Time Low, Sing It Loud), we released our Debut Self-Titled EP on May 28th, 2012.  Writing this EP was a great time because all of us have such a wide variety of influences such as All Time Low, Coldplay, The Summer Set, and many others. Over the summer we were fortunate enough to tour and promote our album across the Midwest.  We like to pride ourselves on the high-energy live show that we put on.

We will be playing a holiday show in Minneapolis on December 27th with our friends in the band Quietdrive.  This show is at The Varsity Theater and starts at 5PM!

Recently we have been doing a lot of writing and are happy to announce that we will be recording a brand new EP in February down in Nashville, TN.  We have started a Kickstarter page for fans/friends/family to donate to in order to help raise money for the EP and to allow us to tour next summer.  Those who donate can get certain rewards such as signed CDs, Acoustic Skype Shows, and can even hang out with us in the studio! If you want to donate, you can do so by going to this link:  http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/therolecallmn/the-role-call-new-cd

For those of you who have never heard of us before, check out our single from our first EP, titled “Won’t Get Down (feat. Pat Brown)”!

ALMOST HERO, Boy Band - Interview

I met Chris Beloud, Brandon Mion, Andrew Rogers and Daniel Aguirre, also known as Almost Hero, when they joined Hollywood Ending and The After Party for the “Boys of Summer” Tour, and I’ve now had the pleasure of seeing them play three times (tour dates in Nutley NJ, Poughkeepsie NY and Las Vegas NV). Not only are they tight as a band, they are four genuinely nice guys.  I brought my niece Renee to the Poughkeepsie show, her first concert, and Brandon (who had no clue who I was at that point) immediately introduced himself to Renee, gave her an Almost Hero bracelet and a postcard, had the rest of the band sign it, and even gave her a drumstick after the show. The band didn’t have to be nice, they just were.  So of course, I had to arrange an interview, which the guys completed after the second leg of the BOTS Tour.

ANTHONY: Hi guys! Thanks for taking the time to chat. How’s everyone doing?

ALMOST HERO: Everything is going better than planned! We are all very pleased by the outcome of touring.

ANTHONY: I only recently started listening to your music, thanks to meeting you on the Boys of Summer Tour. So tell me a little about the band’s history — how long have you been together and how did the group get started?

ALMOST HERO: We have been a 4 piece band for 3 years, but the name Almost Hero has been around for 4 years, Chris started Almost Hero as a solo project when he was 15, but decided he wanted a full band to play his originally written songs. Andrew and him have been friends since the ages of (Chris) 7 and (Andrew) 4, and started producing demos together. Chris transferred high schools for his junior and senior year where he met Brandon and Daniel on the soccer team. Brandon was a talented drummer with 12 years of experience, and Danny became the Merch guy due lack of instrumental ability. A few months pass by and the band is still without a bassist and Danny mentions he wants to learn bass. Chris jumped on the opportunity and sat down and started teaching him the roots. He learned super quick and was practicing with the band within 2 weeks. Danny was the final member completing the four piece band.

ANTHONY: What was the inspiration for the band’s name?

ALMOST HERO: The idea that anyone average person can be a hero without having your name in lights. Ambition and courage comes natural to human beings it is just up to the individual to find it within them.

ANTHONY: What’s your songwriting process like? Who brings what to the table creatively?

ALMOST HERO: Chris writes the Base of the lyrics and musical melodies, then sits down with Andrew to come up with hooks and structure. Brandon and Daniel edit the song, whether lyrics should be changed or parts should be changed. In the end it is a very efficient system.

Almost Hero

ANTHONY: “Still Young” is out now, available on itunes, and the lyric video is on Youtube. How much fun was it filming the video?

ALMOST HERO: Filming the Video was 100% fun and easy, it was done in Andrew’s living room and we had a lot of time to finish it so we we’re enjoying the non-stressful environment.

ANTHONY: You’ve written more than one song. How soon until you release an album?

ALMOST HERO: You can expect at least 2-3 more singles before we decide to do an Album or EP, It is really up to where we are at when it comes that time.

ANTHONY: Are you working with any other songwriters or producers?

ALMOST HERO: We have worked with one “Songwriter/Producer” by the name of Linus Dotson. He recorded and co-wrote Still Young with Almost Hero.

ANTHONY: How did you get involved with the Boys of Summer tour, and what’s been everyone’s favorite part of touring?

ALMOST HERO: We became friends with Hollywood Ending’s manager, Richard Reines, and he invited us to the Allstar Weekend “Life as We Know It” Music video shoot where we met Hollywood Ending and immediately hit it off as friends. Within 2 days Richard emailed us regarding interest in bringing us on tour with them. We jumped on the opportunity and within 3 months we were playing in Pittsburgh with Hollywood ending and The After Party.

ANTHONY: The keytar is not an instrument usually associated with performers your age. Andrew, how long have you been playing it and what does it give you (either in the studio or live) that a regular keyboard doesn’t?

ALMOST HERO: Andrew has been playing the keytar for almost 2 years and it gives a keyboardist the physical freedom to walk around on stage. It looks really cool and gets a lot of compliments. Studio wise it’s just an ordinary midi controller, there are no actual sounds built into the key tar, but with the right Midi Transmitter you can make the keytar trigger the sounds of any instrument!

ANTHONY: Now that the second leg of the Boys of Summer Tour is over, what’s next for Almost Hero?

ALMOST HERO: Expect more California shows and touring, more photo shoots and cover videos, and new singles to be released in the future!

ANTHONY: And my usual closing question, for each of you: What is your favorite book, and what would you say to someone who hasn’t read it to convince them that they should?

ALMOST HERO: We all would have to agree with any of the Dr. Seuss books, because they are very entertaining and educational. We would tell someone who hasn’t read it, that wait.. who hasn’t read Dr. Seuss?? haha

ANTHONY: That’s funny – when I interviewed Hollywood Ending, Dan’s answer to this question was “Hop On Pop.” Clearly, you all were destined to be tour mates! Thanks again, guys!

ALMOST HERO will be guests on the Beyond The Spotlight radio show on Global Voice Radio on Saturday November 3rd, at 3pm Pacific / 6pm Eastern. BTS is hosted by frequent Rambling On guest Sam Lant and singer/actress Lauren Dair Owens. Tune in on the 3rd, watch the Twitcam Livestream from the studio, and call in with your questions for Almost Hero! Or you can tweet your questions in advance to @BeyondSpotlight on Twitter with the hashtag #askbts

You can check out Almost Hero on Facebook; on their Youtube channels; and you can follow the band collectively or individually on Twitter: @AlmostHero @ChrisBeloudAH @BrandonMionAH @AndrewRogersAH and @DanielAguirreAH

Here’s their newest video, a cover of Taylor Swift’s “Red.” You can tell I wasn’t at this video shoot — Brandon’s singing. Every time I’m at a show, Brandon’s mic has problems.

FAMOUS, Singers - Interview

Signal-boosting for my friends in HOLLYWOOD ENDING tonight. You know. These guys:

I’ve had the pleasure of knowing these guys now for more of their career than I haven’t known them, if that makes sense. I first met them in November, when I interviewed them in their tour van at the end of Action Item’s The Stronger The Love Tour. They’d only been performing together for about four months at that point. That means the band is coming up on their first anniversary and although they didn’t win season four of Disney’s Next Big Thing, good things are happening for them. They toured with All-Star Weekend, and I got to see them twice and get to know Tyler and Dan’s moms and chat with the boys a bit individually, especially Tyler and Dan.

Tyler Wilson 

Dan Geraghty

The guys have been working on putting their first EP together, and have spent a lot of time in the studio the past few weeks with more time to come.

Their new single “Famous,” which I’ve heard them perform live several time, came out on itunes today as part of a compilation called “Have A Crappy Summer.” The compilation also features Allstar Weekend, Bowling For Soup, and 12 other bands. Give it a listen, and if you like HWE’s song, leave them a comment and tell them Anthony sent you.

You can also find their singles “I’m So Over You” and “You Got Me” on itunes by searching the band’s name, as well as their recent cover of The Wanted’s “Glad You Came,” which I personally happen to like better than the original

GLOPRY DAYS, Musicians - Interview

It’s Tuneful Tuesday (I’m not sure that’s really a Twitter hashtag, but maybe it should be!), and so another New Jersey-based band takes center stage on Rambling On.

Glory Days

GLORY DAYS consists of Andy Tongren (vocals), Dylan Scott (guitar), Julian Dimagiba (bass), and Steve Patrick (drums). I had the chance to chat with Dylan about the band’s influences and their sound.

 ANTHONY:  Hi Dylan! Thanks for taking the time to answer a few rambling questions.

DYLAN:  Awesome, thanks for having us.

ANTHONY:  I know you play around New Jersey, but where is everyone from and how did you come together?

DYLAN:  We’re all originally from NJ and grew up playing in different bands. With the exception of Andy who is originally from Ohio then moved to New York City to study music.

ANTHONY:  Has the band’s sound changed appreciably over the time you’ve been together?

 DYLAN:  Well yes, I wouldn’t say it changed drastically but the sound has definitely developed into something that we feel suits us as artists.

ANTHONY:  I don’t think I can pick a favorite song off of Living Room Sessions. What was recording the album like? How long did it take and where did you record? 

 DYLAN:  Recording Living Room Sessions was a pretty amazing experience for us. We were able to use various vintage instruments and had plenty of creative freedom on the product. We recorded a lot of the live stuff in a studio in upstate NY and the rest of it was done at a studio closer to home in Brooklyn. We did the entire record in under a week and loved every second of it.

ANTHONY:  What’s the song-writing process like for you? Is it a total group effort, or do you each bring completed ideas to the table?

DYLAN:  The song writing process is always different for us. Typically either Andy or myself will come with an idea for a song then bring it to the group and see what happens in an artistic environment. Various emails are sent along with phone calls, texts, and Skype sessions during the process.

ANTHONY:  For the songwriters in the group: how do you typically work? Lyrics first then music, or vice-versa? Or it is all sort of an organic process that changes with each song?

DYLAN: The songwriting process is definitely organic. We like to see the art through before it becomes something we release as well.

ANTHONY:  As a “Jersey Band,” does the rich musical history of the state influence you at all?

DYLAN:  The rich musical history of New Jersey absolutely influences us greatly. We may not sound like Bruce, but we felt comfortable enough with ourselves as musicians to take such a powerful character and lend homage to him through our bands name.

ANTHONY:  Your cover of “Knocking on Heaven’s Door” has a different feel than the original songs off of “Living Room Sessions.” Why that particular song as a cover? Is it indicative of a change in the band’s sound overall?

DYLAN:  Bob Dylan is an American icon unlike any other. “Knocking on Heaven’s Door” is a song we felt could translate well to our sound. I don’t think it’s necessarily indicative of the bands sound overall, but it’s an eclectic effort towards greater change.

ANTHONY: What’s next for the band? New music on the horizon? A tour?

DYLAN:  Plenty of new music on the horizon along with tour plans. 2012 is going to be a very busy year for us.

ANTHONY:  My usual final question: for each of you, what’s your favorite book and what would you say to someone who hasn’t read it to convince them to read it?

DYLAN:  “I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell.” Read it. It’s fucking funny.

After we completed the interview and I inadvertently misplaced it for several months, Glory Days released a new EP which you can purchase on itunes: BROKE IN NEW YORK.

You can find Glory Days on Facebook and Twitter and of course on Youtube.

REVERSE ORDER, Singers - Interview

It’s MUSIC MONDAY, to steal a Twitter hashtag! It’s also the beginning of a week leading up to the one year anniversary of when I started running interviews here on my site. One interview every day, leading up to Saturday’s return interview with Evelyn LaFont.

Reverse Order

Today’s guests are REVERSE ORDER, a local NJ band poised for great things. The band is composed of brothers John and Cruise Russo, Drew Katsock and Frank Spangler.

ANTHONY: Hello, Reverse Order! Thanks for taking a few minutes to chat with me. I’ve had the opportunity to see you guys perform live twice now: opening for Action Item at Starland Ballroom, and opening for Allstar Weekend at NJPAC. And I have to say: you guys have fantastic energy on-stage. So, how did the band form, and how long have you been performing together?

 CRUISE: The band was formed by John and I (Cruise) we are brothers.  We had been child actors (I was on the Soap, As The World Turns as Casey Hughes) then when we got to middle school we got interested in music.  At the same time the movie School of Rock came out, and my mom found out there was one opening in NJ so we were the first students (Mike the drummer from Hollywood Ending was also a student there, we are good friends).  Then we decided to start writing our own music and Reverse Order was born.  I’d say we seriously formed in 2008.  We had some band members change due to school, work, girlfriends but Drew has been with us a year and a half and Frank is going on one year.  We really like this line up.

ANTHONY: Where did the band name come from?

CRUISE: John and I were trying to come up with a name for the band for a school talent show and at the time he was being homeschooled and there was an Algebra problem and the words Reverse Order were on the white board in our house, after much brotherly arguing my dad said “Reverse Order” that’s your name.

ANTHONY: You describe yourselves as “pop punk / pop rock.” Who are some of your biggest influences, and what inspiration do you draw from them?

 JOHN: As we’ve matured our inspirations have changed. When I first got into writing I would re-write lyrics to Linkin Park songs along with some friends. As I started writing and building full songs with my own music, lyrics, and melodies, I started drawing inspiration from a wide range of both Pop Punk and Rock artists including the teen anthems of Blink 182, the wittiness and catchiness of Fall Out Boy, and the powerful honesty of Alice In Chains.

ANTHONY: I’m always interested in the creative process. So: who are the song-writers in the group? What’s your song-writing process like? Do the lyrics come first, then melody and instruments, or the reverse?

CRUISE: Up until 2012 it was totally John.  Now, I’m writing too and we’ll have sessions with Frank and Drew to try to come up with their parts.  John is still the main guy.  John will have some ideas and he’ll play them over and over and I’ll keep trying different drum beats sometimes we hit on something and it falls in place and sometimes we have some really good parts that never get finished because we’re missing something.

JOHN: Sometimes the lyrics come first, sometimes the music. I start with whatever comes to me first and then work from there. Sometimes I just sit there for hours until something comes to me.  Sometimes I have a whole song and it is just missing one part and I can’t finish it so I put it aside.  Sometimes months later Cruise will say remember that song you were fooling around with let’s try to do something with it. So there are so many different ways we approach songwriting.

ANTHONY: You’re from Hackettstown, NJ, firmly up in the northwest corner of the state. Has living in the more “rural” part of New Jersey had any impact on the type of song you write, or the way your sound has developed?

CRUISE: For John and I our parents always took us to new places and even to concerts and plays to introduce us to new things. Some of our first concerts were Kiss, Billy Idol and Bruce Springsteen. We were born in Lincoln Park, NJ and then moved to the rural area in middle school. We live in a rural area but we’re more beach, or suburb type guys.

ANTHONY: I have to ask: you list “dancing in public places” as a band interest. Does this mean we can expect Reverse Order “flash mobs” around northwest NJ? And is it really the whole band that loves breaking into dance, or one of you in particular?

JOHN: We all love breaking into dance, but I’d have to say Frank and I are the worst offenders. We realized this at an H&M clothing store when we were on tour in Michigan. Frank and I started to dance in the middle of the store while waiting in line. There is also a video on YouTube of myself dressed in an afro and pleather pants ‘dancing in the 80s’ haha.

Reverse Order

ANTHONY: In terms of the band’s sound and energy: what does each member of the group bring to the stage that is uniquely “them?”

REVERSE ORDER: John is the front man of the group and has the ability to captivate an audience of any size. You can feel the power in every note he sings and plays. Cruise is the drummer but one of his greatest assets is that he is able to take over lead vocals as well. His drumming style is powerful and energetic and he draws from Pop/Punk greats like Travis Barker and Jason Lancaster. Audiences go wild for Drew as he struts the stage giving a dynamic and high energy performance, Drew and John really work well together getting right into the audience and grabbing their attention, they’re not afraid to do whatever it takes to make sure everyone is having fun and lost in the moment and Frank’s driving bass holds down the low end as he delivers a powerful performance.  Frank and Cruise hold everything together while Drew and John get the audience involved and pumped up.  Sometimes they just go right into the crowd.  One time recently the whole crowd just rushed the stage to jump and sing with them.

ANTHONY: You’ve got an album on itunes. How have sales been on that?

JOHN: Sales have been really good! It’s always exciting to get a new trend report every week, which shows where and when your music is being purchased or streamed. Sometimes we get really cool results and it says someone in Germany or Canada is listening to our music. It’s a great feeling to know you’re really getting out there!

ANTHONY: Is there another album or EP in the near future?

JOHN: There is another EP in the near future! We have been working very hard writing songs our fans will love. We have some really great ideas that we can’t wait to record and show the world! We were actually in the studio the first week of April to record. It should come out sometime in May J

ANTHONY: And my usual closing question: for each member of the band, what is your favorite book, and what would you say to someone who hasn’t read it to convince them that they should?

JOHN: I’m more of a wait till it gets to theaters kind of guy haha, but I do enjoy reading Graphic Novels and Stephen King books from time to time.  My song, Wake Me Up will actually be in this horror film “You Can’t Kill Stephen King.”  I love horror films so I can’t wait to see it.

CRUISE: Well I read a ton so it’s really hard to pick just one… But I’d say there are a lot of really good autobiographies from musicians. Both Clapton by Eric Clapton and The Heroin Diaries by Nikki Six from Motley Crue were hard to put down. The obstacles they overcame within the music industry, and just in life in general, are astounding and reading them was very insightful, I tell everyone to read them whether you’re a fan of their music or not.

DREW:  Harry Potter, I grew up with it so it is a very much a part of my childhood.

FRANK:  Don’t really have one.

ANTHONY: Okay, thanks again guys! Looking forward to catching up with you in person soon!

REVERSE ORDER will be playing this Friday, April 27th, as the headline act at The Croc Rock in Allentown PA and at The Canvas Clash in Boonton NJ on May 11th. You can buy tickets HERE. Tell them Anthony sent you!

You can find Reverse Order online on Facebook and Twitter. Cruise and John have their own clothing line, Just Dance Apparel. And of course they’re on Youtube. In fact, here’s their video for THESE SUMMER NIGHTS:

BURNHAM, Singers - Interview

Today I’m very happy to be able to ramble on with the brothers Burnham.

Burnham

They’ve been performing together for half their lives, but after meeting producers Freddy Shehadi and Andy Marvel of Headspinners, things moved to a whole new level. A demo with Headspinners led to a meeting with Island Def Jam CEO Antonio “LA” Reid. Reid refused to let the brothers leave without being signed. The fact that youngest brother and lead singer Forrest beat Reid at pool before signing is bound to become one of those classic music industry stories. They’ve since worked with a number of well-known producers and songwriters on their debut, including OneRepublic’s Ryan Tedder (on the track “Catch Me If You Can”). They’ve also weathered Forrest’s voice change with the help of expert vocal coaches. In October, Burnham will open for All-Star Weekend at the Topsfield Fair in Topsfield, MA, and then go on a several month, multi-city tour sharing the stage with Action Item and Hollywood Ending.

Andre, Forrest and Alex Burnham, photo credit Timothy Peters

ANTHONY: I’ve been waiting months to be able to type this. Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome brothers Forrest, Alex and Andre, better known as … BURNHAM! Hi, guys!

BURNHAM: Hey. How’s it going?

A: It’s going well, thanks. The best place to start this is probably with a question about influences. Who do each of you count as your primary musical influences / heroes?

B: You probably heard this before but Coldplay, The Beatles, and Led Zeppelin, The Who and currently Bruno Mars, OneRepublic, Kings Of Leon, etc.

A: As a three-piece “band of brothers,” you’ve been compared to Hanson, the Jonas Brothers, and fellow up-and-comers Kropp Circle. We know what you have in common with those bands … what sets you apart?

B: Well, there are many brother bands even ones like Kings of Leon and Van Halen so it isn’t that uncommon. But every band is set apart by their uniqueness of sound. When you hear Kings of Leon you know it’s them. When you hear Hanson you definitely know it’s them. We hope to bring that to our audience.

A: Good point about KoL and VH. I first became familiar with you through the covers you were posting on Youtube. What goes into deciding which songs you’ll cover and what format you’ll use (acoustic vs. electric, etc)?

B: Usually, we decide to cover songs that we love and songs that the audience already knows and loves.

A: How much effort goes into making a version that is uniquely “Burnham” while still retaining what is loved and recognizable about the original?

B: We love playing acoustic. It’s how we got signed— with a couple of guitars and three voices. We think our front man brings uniqueness with his voice. A lot of effort goes into each song but after we learn it we hope that it becomes our own.

A: Will you be doing the “12 Covers of Christmas” project again this year, or will your upcoming tour with Action Item and Hollywood Ending interfere with that?

B: Well, we did that after the Bieber tour and it was “let’s learn this song quickly today so we can get it on Youtube for our fans.” We had to learn a song a day if we didn’t know it already. Forrest is a quick study. We might do it again. It was pretty fun.

A: I think it was fun for the fans as well. Okay: last, and possibly the most important, question about cover songs: When are you going to cover “Come On, Eileen” by Dexy’s Midnight Runners? Your mother wants to hear you do that almost as much as I do!

B: Ha ha. We joke about the 80’s to our mother. It is a cool song but we might try another 80’s song at some point. We mostly like to cover current songs though.

A: In other words, “Anthony, Stop Tweeting about ‘Come On, Eileen!’” haha Okay, now, let’s talk about your original songs. We’ve seen Youtube footage of Forrest working on a song at the keyboards, but what’s the full-band creative process like? How do you decide who writes lyrics, who writes melody, etc?

B: We don’t decide who writes what. Sometimes it’s Forrest or Alex or me, Andre. When you have a song idea you just start working on it. Sometimes it’s just the melody. Sometimes it’s making a track in our home studio. Sometimes one might come up with lyrics and then someone else has a better idea. Any original we have is all of ours together. It’s really an amazing feeling when you finish an original song.

A: When you’re starting to develop a song idea, do you ever think far ahead to how the song will fit into an EP or full album, or do you let each song tell its own story in its own way?

B: No. We never think ahead. A lot of songs get put to the side. You have to be able to say goodbye to a song that just doesn’t work or maybe you will use that idea later.

A: As a writer, you can imagine I’m not a fan of the “where do you get your ideas” question. But I do like hearing about tactics and tools. When you’re stuck for a lyric or idea, where do you turn for inspiration? What do you do to break a creative block?

B: It kind of just comes for all of us. Sometimes we get an idea for a song and it get recorded and sits there for months and then we go back and come up with a new lyric idea for it. We usually write words that just pop into our heads.

A: Have you collaborated with anyone on songwriting chores? And if you could collaborate with anyone, who would it be?

B: We have collaborated with many people and in the beginning before we ever got signed we collaborated with our two producers. We have collaborated with Ryan Tedder of One Republic, James Bourne of Busted, and many producers in the business that have collaborated with Katy Perry, Justin Bieber, and artists like that.

A: I know I have a trunk of story fragments that didn’t work out but might find a home in a story someday. Have you ever abandoned a song idea because it just wasn’t “clicking?”

B: Like we said before we abandon song ideas a lot. We even abandon whole songs. Well, not really abandon it’s more like put them away. We never throw them out.

A: Andre, you’re building amplifiers these days, right? How’s that going?

B: No. It’s me Alex building cabs. It’s going amazing. I am working on custom orders right now for Burnham Custom Amplifications and already made a cab and head to bring on The Stronger The Love Tour.

A: I’m going to just pretend it’s all the “A” names confusing me to explain why I aimed that question at the wrong brother. Forrest, I’d get in trouble with my nieces if I didn’t ask this question: when is your episode of BIG TIME RUSH going to air, and what was it like working on the show?

B: We are not supposed to say the date but I can tell you that it is in October sometime.

A: Alex, rumor has it (okay, it was actually Andre on Twitter) that Forrest recently dropped a motorcycle on your head. What was that all about? And will there be retaliation?

B: Funny. Yeah, Forrest was on our uncle’s dirt bike and it was in the garage. I was working on one of my cabs and Forrest lost his balance and the bike kind of fell on me. I had a headache for two days. I already retaliated but I can’t say what I did haha.

A: It’ll all come out in the Unofficial Biography someone will publish about you guys in a year or two. One of the many things that impresses me about you is your commitment to your fans. Your weekly ustream sessions have gone without missing a week for how long now? Tell my readers when and where they can find the live chats.

B: Yeah, we started the ustream in October of 2010 and we haven’t missed a Wednesday since then. You can catch the livechat here on Wednesdays at 7 pm EST/ 4pm PT

A: You’re about to head out on tour, as we mentioned earlier. What’s the most exciting part of touring, and what’s the most grueling?

B: The most exciting part about tour is performing and meeting the audience. We like the meet and greets before the performance because we can recognize the people in the audience that we just met. It was pretty cool. The grueling part is the long miles in between shows and getting up when you really just want to sleep in. Packing up in hotels is tiring too. You don’t want to leave anything in a hotel room because you can’t go back and get anything because the schedule is just that tight.

A: Since I travel about one-third of the year for my day job, I can relate to the “leaving things behind in a hotel room” problem. I don’t know how many power cords I’ve lost. Right now, three of your songs are available as an EP on itunes. When can we expect a full album to appear?

B: That’s the big question everyone wants to hear the answer to. As you know, Forrest went through a voice change so we had to rerecord some songs and it even inspired us to come up with a lot of new ones. We don’t know when we will release more songs or a full album. We just wanna release it at the perfect moment.

A: Well, I know your fans, including me, will be ready for it whenever it drops! I always wrap things up with this question: What is your favorite book, and what would you say to recommend it to someone who has never read it?

B: We argued back and forth about this one but we all agree the Harry Potter series!

A: Alright, well, good luck with everything and thanks for the chance to chat, boys!

B: You are welcome.