Interviews
East Love – Unbroken
By: Jamie Steinberg
Q) How would you describe your sound?
We do our best not to write to one specific musical mold. In terms of genre, we probably fall into the “pop/rock” bucket, though we introduce flavors of folk, acoustic singer-songwriter and even funk in certain songs. Honestly though, we just focus a lot on vocal harmonies and on writing songs that draw inspiration from the stuff we like to listen to.
Q) Who are some of your musical influences?
Our influences are constantly changing and adapting. We keep learning more and more about ourselves and our music every day. We each take inspiration from tons of different places and everyone would probably have a different answer to this.
Robbie: I do enjoy venturing out into all sorts of musical genres, but in the end I always find myself being influenced most by a particular type of music. Some artists that come to mind are Guster, Dispatch, Matchbox Twenty, OAR, John Mayer, Kings of Leon, Maroon 5… and guys you may not know like Ernie Halter and Taylor Berrett. I’ve recently been listening to a lot of James Bay. That guy is ridiculously talented.
Q) Your new single “Unbroken ” is out now. Where did the idea for it come from?
All of us have had those experiences where we find ourselves in a relationship that can’t work, no matter how much we want them to. Sometimes in those moments, we delude ourselves into believing what we want to… because it’s easier. We wanted to write a song about that.
Q) What kind of fan response have you gotten to it?
We’ve gotten a lot of great feedback. People comment a lot on the emotional arc of the song, the way Lukas sings it, the general vibe. Some people really connect to the melody. I think it feels familiar and it’s easy to latch onto.
Q) What is it about “Unbroken” that fans have connected with?
I think that the intrinsic beauty found in music is that it gives people the ability to connect their own experiences to other’s experiences. There’s such an irony there because people are predisposed to thinking that their emotions are only really true to themselves, but music helps to show people that while we all deal with things in our own way, we’ve all been there before.
Q) What is your process like for writing music? Do you need the lyrics before the music?
It’s tough to really lock down a specific process or formula for something so dynamic like music writing. There really isn’t one surefire way that we write or come up with songs. Each of us have our own process and it really changes up from song to song. Inspiration can come up at any point, in so many ways. The more you try to streamline a process for creating or harnessing it, the less genuine and honest it feels.
Q) How much of a hand do you have in the production of your music?
We are actually very hands on when it comes to our production process. We have the privilege of working with some incredibly talented people. We never know if our amount of input shows that we care or we care too much. Nobody likes too many cooks in the kitchen, we try to toe that line. So far so good!
Q) Who would you most like to collaborate with on a song in the future?
The answer to your question varies tremendously from member to member. Everyone’s got their own wish list.
Robbie: It would have to be Taylor Berrett. He’s still up-and-coming, but he’s one of the most impressive songwriters I’ve ever encountered.
Alex Goldstein: A couple of new artists that would be great to collaborate with are Anderson East and John Splithoff. It would also be a dream to collaborate with Eric Hutchinson or Allen Stone.
Lukas: If I could write and record music with one artist, it would have to be John Mayer. If I could perform a song with any artist, assuming I could somehow learn his moves, I’d go with Justin Timberlake. The guy is the full package.
Alex: Ed Sheeran! He combines many of the elements and genres we like to play with musically and is undoubtedly one of the best songwriters out there right now.
Let’s just hope we get a chance to work with any these guys.
Q) Your upcoming EP will be released later this year. What can you tease is the feel and vibe for it??
Similar to the answer before about a unifying influence or inspiration for our music, we’re trying not to pigeonhole ourselves into one specific vibe or genre. We want the EP to flow, of course, but we also want to make sure we’re touching all parts of the musical spectrum. If we HAD to choose, I think an upbeat, warm and fun vibe. One that draws you in and leaves you feeling better than when you started.
Q) What can fans expect from a live East Love performance?
Our biggest focus when we’re taking the stage is to leave it all out there. We know how lucky we are to perform for our fans so we make sure that every night counts. To put it simply, we bring the fire. If there were to be a unifying saying or motto to perform by, it’s the idea that there is a big difference between reading a story and telling one. We try to tell a different story every time we get on stage.
Q) You are a part of social media. Why is that such an important way for you to connect with your fans?
The same reason millions of people check in on social media every single day! It gives you the ability to not only coexist with your fans, but to interact with them and connect with them. As we mentioned before, music provides such a unique avenue through which to connect and identify with people on such a different level. We may never have met someone yet our lyrics allow them to process their own experiences in a whole different way. Social media is great!
Q) What do you want to be sure fans know about about East Love?
The beauty here is that, pertaining to your question above, we’re pretty much an open book. We’re pretty responsive on social media too so they can always just ask. We want them to know that we love making music and we couldn’t be happier and more appreciative of their support.
Q) What would you like to say to everyone who is a fan and supporter of you and your music?
We are all music lovers at heart and everything that we write and play comes from an honest place. We love what we do, we’re excited for some amazing things to come and stay tuned. We’re just getting started.
Check out East Love’s new single “Unbroken” – https://soundcloud.com/eastloveband/unbroken
Follow East Love:
https://www.facebook.com/eastloveband
https://instagram.com/eastlovemusic
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1zGOD7sPA_p44TbPjl2SRQ
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