Community State - Sound In The Signals Interview
First off thanks for the interview
Troy: Not a problem, always happy to chat about music.
You guys released your new EP Losing Balance not too long ago. What was the recording process like for the EP and how long did you guys work on it?
Troy: We recorded it all from home, after band practise. We went back and re-did things when they needed it, so all up, the whole recording process took about a month. We also did all the mixing and mastering too and that added about 3-4 months, though we did do ‘In The Wrong’ first as a single, so once that was done, it made things a lot easier.
Conor: The recording process was definitely fun, however it dragged on a little more than we would have liked. We have the tendency to procrastinate when there is no dead line and the perfectionist in me was always wanting to go back and change little parts. It’s always tough to know when to draw the line and say “Okay, this only going to get worse if I keep tampering with it.”
You talk about State Champs, Knuckle Puck, Real Friends and The Story So Far being major influences on your band. What about those bands in particular makes them influential to your band? If you had to pick an album or song from one of those bands that has particularly impacted you what would it be?
Conor: What drew me in about these insanely talented bands was the fact that they could actually sell emotion and aggression in their music, while still sticking to the melodic pop punk roots. It meant to me, not having to sound like this happy/cookie cutter pop punk band like earlier blink (Which, don’t get me wrong, I’m still a massive fan of) but actually branch out to a more progressive sound. ‘The Finer Things’ by State Champs is still one of my favourite albums to date. Derek’s voice will simultaneously astonish and depress me as a vocalist every time.
Troy: The way they manage to manipulate the genre to fit the tone of what their trying to get across really sells it for me. Nothing’s done by template and it all just matches beautifully. For me, ‘Playing the Victim’ by TSSF and ‘Mind Bottled’ by State Champs are definite favourites.
I like the EP title a lot. Why did you decide to use it for the EP and what is the overall meaning of it and how it applies to you guys as a band?
Conor: I guess when I was writing the lyrics to these songs I was in an uneasy sort of place, everything that went down on paper either had to do with lost relationships, being afraid of the future or blaming myself for things, so ‘Losing Balance’ was only a fitting term for the EP in it’s entirety. How it applies to the band I think, is the fact that we have all probably felt like this at one time or another.
One song that sticks out to me on the EP is "In The Wrong" can you tell me a little about that song in particular and how you guys came up with both the lyrics and the music for it?
Conor: I wrote in the wrong after coming to the realization that I had lost touch with a couple of good friends, family members and other relationships all in the span of a couple of months. It’s me kind of saying “maybe I’m the problem here”, sort of like the opposite of every Taylor Swift song ever written. I wrote the music a while after the lyrics as well, and it all sort of just fell into place.
Troy: Conor had the song pretty much sorted as he wanted it and we just came in, fancied some stuff up, embellished some parts and it came out as something we’re really proud of. The sample of Emma Stone from ‘Birdman’ was a late addition but we feel it really sets the tone for the song.
You guys are from New Zealand. What's the current music scene like in your area and what are some bands you guys are really excited about from your area?
Troy: The local alternative/pop-punk/hardcore scene is pretty good in Christchurch. We’ve played with pretty much every band in the Christchurch scene and the sense of community is great. We’re pretty good mates with Selfhood and Nervous Jerk in Christchurch, they’ve both got some really wicked music that you can find for free download on Bandcamp.
Conor: Christchurch where we live is pretty small, so for how many people here, it’s cool that there is a couple of bands in our genre that we can play shows with.
What do you guys have coming up for this summer?
Troy: We’re actually just heading in to winter in this part of the world! But we’re playing our first out of town show at the Never Silent festival in Auckland in June which we’re really looking forward to. We’re also looking in to being able to travel more to play more shows, we’ll see how that pans out. We’re going to jump back in to recording too, we’ve got about 7 other songs yet to be laid out, which will no doubt keep us busy for a while.
Conor: Yeah, like Troy said, playing shows in other cities is a big focus, also writing and releasing more music.
I guess that about wraps it up. Thanks for taking the time to answer the questions. Do you have anything else you would like to add?
Troy: Thanks for having us! For anyone interested, you can download all of our music for free at communitystate.bandcamp.com, you can follow us at facebook.com/communitystate and you can find us Spotify, iTunes and Google Play.
Conor: Again, Troy pretty much covered this one! Except he forgot to plug our Instagram (@communitystate_band), Twitter, Snapchat, pinterest and Tinder. (Disclaimer: We do not actually have any of the last four. Just a metaphorical swipe-right will do.)
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