Persona – Indie Cowboy

By starrymag | June 17, 2018

By: Robert Warren

 

 

Q) When the band Persona does songs about events in your lives or overcoming struggles what seems to be the most difficult part? (Is it sharing your story, making your story relatable or creating music to match the mood of the story? Please expand.)

 

A) It’s definitely sharing our story, but it’s being shared in a relatable way. Everybody has their own story and some things are just more relatable than others. We write to relinquish and cope with our feelings, but we understand the impact a song could have on a person and their life. We want people to relate and put themselves in the narrator’s shoes.

 

 

Q) What is it about that 90`s nostalgia that inspires (or fuels) your band and the work the group creates?

 

A) We are all 90s babies. There is just something about that time period that is just so peaceful bright and beautiful. Our biggest influences musically stem from the 90s. To us some of those bands and songs are just so timeless. I honestly feel like the 90s was such a fresh time for music. It didn’t feel like the same watered-down stuff consistently overplayed on the radio. I don’t know, there is just something so beautiful about the 90s.

 

 

Q) Please tell us a bit about how the band has connected over time, as events happen like a car crash affecting Sam and the fire nearly destroying Costa’s home and the band’s recording studio. Is there a strong support upon band members? Are these moments anything that drive your sounds forward?

 

A) We all come from different paths and different ways of life. Sometimes it might be hard to find relation in that, but I think the chemistry between us just clicked. In any friendship or relationship, the dark moments and gloomy times are inevitably what makes or breaks that. When Sam [Trestman] was in that tragic accident, it made Tom [Spartinos] recollect on the last ten years of friendship and being in a band with him. It almost brought that, “I miss you, let’s do this again” type of feeling back. Since the beginning of Persona, we have been handed every reason to call it quits or let it go handed to us on a silver platter. But to us life is about overcoming those hurdles. We have all had our personal issues and problems and it definitely took a toll on us collectively. But the beauty is instead of pointing the finger or coming with judgement, we came with an open heart and mind. We came with a helping hand. The beautiful thing about hard and dark times is that when you overcome them, you them in a new light and I do believe that has a meaning in our music’s progression.

 

 

Q) What is the inspiration for your upcoming single “Indie Cowboy?” What deep meaning may lie behind it?

 

A) To us, this song is about being introduced and enveloped around chaos and problems – being surrounded by a cruel world, cold people and things you just can’t change. It’s about walking away even if that means walking alone. It’s about standing up for your morals, beliefs and ideas and isolating away from what you can. It’s about creating your road and not walking a broken path. It’s about taking the higher road.

 

 

Q) What you hope listeners take from it?

 

A) We want the listeners to know that it’s okay to stand up for what you believe in. It is okay to say no and walk away from what is hurtful, negative or toxic for you. There is no need to fall in line and follow suit. Walk your road and don’t let anybody put you down for it.

 

 

Q) Your band has two sides to it, up-tempo pop-rock and progressive indie-rock. How do you decide which take to have on a song? Do you choose a side for the sound and fill that with lyrics? Or do you start with the lyrics and direct the sound to match?

 

A) When we write, 98% of the time music comes first. One of us will introduce a riff or idea and we just branch off on it. To us, music is a universal language. Certain chords and melodies strike certain emotions. We typically take this music and the emotion it sparks most in us and expand on those emotions lyrically. Very rarely do lyrics ever come first. Lyric ideas do come, but usually sit stagnant until a certain idea matches the emotional feeling behind it.

 

 

Q) When you set a goal, like to impact people with your music, how do you work to achieve that goal? How would you advise other musicians work to achieve their goals?

 

A) When it comes to impacting people, the biggest impacts you can make on a person’s life cannot be forced. It is the same way we put together a song. Don’t force or rush it. Let it come to you. Some songs might take months while others might take hours. In my opinion, you can’t make an impact on someone unless you are real to yourself. Stay true to yourself, stay honest in the music and the impact is made by itself.

 

 

Q) In what ways has the band evolved since you started to where you are now and in what ways may you have seen an incline in performance?

 

A) When we started out, we were writing and performing as a three-piece. It was almost eight months down the line we became a four-piece. We started this band in our early 20’s and like any 20-year-old we were stubborn and foolish at times. All the gloom that we consumed definitely helped us grow. As the years went on we became tighter musicians and our bond as a band became tighter as well, which in term opened up this comfortable state in writing and relations. Our live show today is so much more energetic and tight then it was in the beginning. We are being ourselves and not trying to be something we are not. We know who we are and we strive to be the greatest versions of ourselves, individually and collectively.

 

 

Q) What has it been like going through concepts for music videos, band artwork, t-shirts and photography? Is there any energy the band drives through seeing these concepts come to life? Please describe.

 

A) It’s been such an amazing time. We love the creative process. Concepts for videos are so much fun putting together. It starts with an idea and an explanation of how we could utilize it. It only expands from there. Then, our video dude James Morano comes and captures exactly what we envision.

 

When it comes to band artwork and t-shirts, we kind of just started breaking away from our conceptual story and trying different things. We have never really had any disagreements when it comes to choosing. Our new Lion logo is a way of saying we are strong, proud, brave and ready.

 

Photo concepts are usually drawn out weeks in advance – what we’re going to wear, scenery or backdrop, happy or sad. Depending on what we are working on and what we are getting set to release is what drives the concept behind the promos.

 

 

Q) When you are around your songs all the time (developing, recording and performing) do you find yourselves listening to them frequently on your devices often after completion or do you try to listen to other music to mix it up?

 

A) We have probably listened to each one of our songs thousands of times. Expanding on them is always what is in mind, trying to hear something new or see what we have done that we might want to deduct. By the time the song is actually released, we have definitely collectively listened thousands and thousands of times. Funny story, I was going on a date one night and I had new mixes on in the car. When my date got into the car, she asked what I was listening to. When I told her it was my band she said, “Wait, you actually listen to yourself?!” Duh!! How do you expect someone to listen and love something if you cannot love it yourself?

 

 

Q) Reaching an audience can be hard when there is so much music out there, how does your band work to reach a specific audience?

 

A) We feel like our sound does not cater to one type of person or audience. We try and reach as many people as possible. Put it in the ears of many people as possible.

 

 

Q) When does you band usually find peak performance in creating a song? Do you find most of your inspiration by night or by day?

 

A) It usually varies, but this last two years of writing I’d say the peak performance is from the hours of 8pm-12am.

 

 

Q) Being an artist can sometimes lend itself to a busy schedule, what does a typical schedule look like for you all?

 

A) We have our day jobs and careers and we have this band. One of the most important things is finding a healthy balance between everything that makes you whole. You cannot have too much work and no play, and you cannot have too much play and no work. Between work, the band, friends and family it was a struggle in the beginning finding a healthy balance for all, but luckily we have figured out a schedule that appeases mostly everybody in our lives. Tom and Costas own and operate businesses and have their hands full with that, but they also have family, friends and other priorities they have to cater to. Sam is a nurse practitioner and can find himself working long twelve-hour days and sometimes graveyard shifts and CJ [Kostaras] is a full time DJ and fill in touring drummer. It can be rough getting things together sometimes, but we love what we do, and we love who we do it with so we will always make it work.

 

 

Q) What has been your favorite part about who you have become as a band?

 

Costas: This sacred bond, this growing friendship. We have been through so much and we are still here fighting the good fight. I wouldn’t want to be doing this with anybody else. You guys are my brothers and I love you all dearly. We have come such a far way since the basement in Bethpage, and we have such a far way to go. But I am enjoying this journey and I am glad to be by your sides.

 

Tom: The empathy we have when we play together and the connected feeling we have accomplishing each milestone. It’s the feeling in the music that drives us together.

 

 

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

 

A) Thank you so much. We truly love and appreciate you. I don’t want to say we would be nothing or these songs would be nothing without you because to us, Persona, and this music is something truly special. But you guys give it a whole new light, love, meaning and feeling. We love that you can relate to what we are saying, and we thank you for listening. We hope we complete you just as much as you complete us. Once again, thank you for listening and giving us your time and attention. So much love.