An Honest Year – Horizons

By starrymag | November 21, 2015

By: Jamie Steinberg

 

Q) How would you describe your sound?

Jon: I say we kind of cover a lot of spectrums like pop and then there is punk rock. Depending on the song, we kind of cover all the spectrums. We don’t really want to be labeled as one specific genre.

Matt: It’s like early 2000’s pop punk. That’s how I would best describe our sound.

Q) Who are some of your musical influences?

Greg: Yellowcard, for sure. We’re all big fans of groups like Motion City Soundtrack, Brand New and the list goes on.

Q) What kind of fan reaction have you gotten from your new single “Chin Up, Kid?”

Jon: That’s actually my personal favorite that we’ve done. We wanted the song to relate to fans what the band was about. An Honest Year has always been about doing what you love (and for us that is music) and to steer away from what everybody else wants you to do. Try to focus on what you want to do with what your life. We try to reflect that in the video as well. Fans seem to like it a lot.

Q) How does the message of song fit in with the video?

Matt: The protagonist is a young high school girl and had her friends, her parents, her boyfriend, her coach and teacher all telling her what to do and what she should be doing with her life. Throughout the video, you can read her facial expressions and see she is not happy about how things are going. She kind of breaks down from all of that and she realizes that it is good to take advice from people (like your friends or peers), but ultimately you need to do what makes you happy. She has this realization finally that no way is she going to be happy unless she is doing her. Do you boo boo!

Q) As a band, how do you keep you counterbalance all of your ideas for music?

Greg: The way a lot of our songs were written when everyone is in separate places a lot of the time. A lot of bands will write together at practice and improvise a bunch of stuff. We individually take down our own ideas and record it ourselves. We put it in the band email and then everyone checks it out. Most of the time we all love what each of us comes up with so it’s easy to collaborate and grow off each other’s ideas. It’s been working out great for us. We can be all together and write at the same time, but I feel like everybody’s individual creativity is able to come out more in this process because we’re able to give each other input on what everyone came out with.

Q) How much of a hand does the band have in the production of your music?

Stephen: Everything that we do is self produced so we have complete creative control. We all come from different musical backgrounds, but we work together and it blends really well. We have 100% say in the production.

Q) What songs are your favorites to perform live?

Jon: I’d say my favorite song is “Chin Up, Kid,” but I think my favorite song this tour to perform has been “The Upswing.” We have been opening with that and I think it is a really good way to set the tone. That’s been my favorite song to play on this tour.

Matt: I would go out on a limb (considering we haven’t done this song for two years) and say I’ve had a lot of fun doing “Don’t Leave Me.” We actually threw that in the set. It’s just acoustic and it’s a very intimate part of our set. It’s been great to come back to that song considering it got a lot of attention when we first released it. We haven’t played it on any of our tours so it is really fun to see the reaction of our fans hearing that song for the first time on this tour.

Greg: I would say I love “Liar & a Thief” live because we usually close with it. The ending is so much fun because it is just a giant breakdown of explosions. It’s tons of fun! I’m also going to say that on this tour, specifically, we’ve done a Twenty One Pilots cover of “Tear In My Heart.” That has been so much fun to do because when you hear a Twenty One Pilots song come on in our room and four people freak out. You do it live and everyone gets into it.

Q) How does your song “I Hope This Hurts” fit in with your set at shows?

Matt: Like Jon was saying, we have a mix of a lot of different songs and some are slow. We don’t have really any of those f-you songs. Every time though we play this song the crowd just screams and it is a good hype song.

Q) What makes Best Kept Secret a great group to tour with?

Steven: We met the frontman for Best Kept Secret on tour and he was filling in for another band. Obviously, we were immediately great friends with him so it has been great to be back on the road with him and his new project. I think it has been great touring with his band. The fans are sort of a similar fanbase, but it is just a really cool and great tour package.

Q) What can fans expect from one of your live shows?

Stephen: Our live shows we try to bring as much energy as possible. We like to try to keep it intimate and kind of connect with the crowd. We try to keep it pretty upbeat.

Q) What is it like for you when you play a show at home?

Stephen: I’d say our hometown shows are always some of the best shows. It took us awhile to develop that market. The fans are so dedicated.

Q) What can fans do to help promote your music?

Greg: Twitter! It’s the biggest way for us to promote the shows. On Facebook, we have a lot of photos tagged with us. Social media is such a big role today with fans. Fans go to show and tag us in photos and they’ll tweet about going to shows.

Q) You are a part of social media. Why is that such an important way for you to connect with your fans?

Matt: It’s how it is these days. If you are not on social media these days I don’t know how your stuff is getting out there. It allows for a much more personal experience with fans and with your favorite band. We try to connect with fans as much as possible. It’s a different experience than just being a fan and not really knowing the members.

Q) What would you like to say to everyone who is a fan and supporter of you and your music?

Jon: Thank you! A lot of the same fans still follow us and we’re doing our fourth tour now and about to head out on our fifth. Obviously, you can’t do that without a fanbase so thank you to the fans who have gotten us this far. You’re the bomb!