And now, the pop/rock genious of STILL PINK...
INTERVIEW
What is your music background? Did you play instruments growing up?
Mike and Eric have been performing together for the past 10 years, and Chris started playing 7 years ago. Mike and Eric took up their instruments together, and Mike and Chris played in school for a number of different school ensembles.
Where did the name Still Pink come from? How did the band get together?
Eric and Mike grew up together starting in kindergarten, and Chris moved here from Seattle and attended high school with Eric. The rest is history in that department. Still Pink was officially a band on September 27th, 2005 (our first radio interview, on the local rock station 96X), and the name Still Pink was generated to hint at our youth - this band started young, and the objective is to keep it that way.
Growing up, how did music play a role in your childhood/adolescence?
Mike and Eric were out on school nights playing gigs in Norfolk's dark little watering holes dating back as far as middle school, playing standard rock & roll tunes. It really is the foundation of our playing today. Chris has a slightly less colorful adolescence as far as the music goes, but he spent a lot of time at shows on 2nd Avenue in Seattle ranging from punk to jazz during those crucial formative years.
What other activities / things do you enjoy doing when not playing music?(hobbies, crafts, events, eating, family)
Like all American people we love cooking out and carrying on. We spend a lot of time playing music, and we spend a lot of time out on the road. We're all fans of touring and life on the road, and really enjoy travel in general. New places and people make all of it really worthwhile. A good drink with friends is always enjoyable. We're all fans of walking, and spend a lot of time out and about listening to music and taking a break from the crazy schedules. Whenever possible, we head out to watch our friends play shows, and try and check out a lot of the other art happenings in the area. Don't miss Mookapalooza if you know what's up.
Who are your favorite musicians?
Bono and The Edge.
How did the band start? Who had the idea and why?
This band started as a reaction to all of us sitting down and looking at our influences, and what really got us motivated to play music. When we all realized the rock & roll was the common thread, we decided to take that and run with it. Eric came up with the name, and really the foundation for what we're trying to accomplish. Applying pop influence as of late is really just a continuation of our trying to stay dedicated to our influences. It's got to be from the heart, and that's really why we started this band.
How would you describe your music to people?
Pop music that rocks…sometimes.
Are you happy with the direction the band is going right now? What is the current goal of the band?
Absolutely. We have a lot of things in the works right not, including a new single release for our song "Crushed", a new clothing/apparel collection we're working on with Dumskeme (some of the hottest designers on the planet), and a lot of touring opportunities for 2008. Our goal is essentially to make this our life. We're working hard to earn support and make this a full time thing, and be able to tour and keep making music for a long time. We'd love to work with a driven label who wants to work us as hard as we want to work at this. As long as people take time out of their day to come see our shows, or money out of their paycheck to buy our music, we want to keep up our end.
How do you balance your music with your other parts of life (job, family)?
We don't. Fortunately our loved ones understand that this is what we do and we do our best to balance everything. Things tend to get a bit crazy with us.
What is the greatest compliment anyone has ever paid to you regarding your art work? What about the greatest insult? How should an artist respond to such compliments and insults? Is it easier to talk about the compliment or the insult?
A fan of ours who just stumbled across us on Myspace recently used our song "Airing" as her wedding song – that's a pretty big complement. And a newspaper in Georgia compared us to Queen in a CD review. As for insults, there really haven't been many to our face. I'm sure we get railed behind our back, but who doesn't. You have to take things like that in stride – art isn't really art until you offend somebody (I think Picasso said that, right?). It's obviously easier to talk about the compliments, but I'm sure we'll be pretty enthusiastic to talk about a really original or particularly vicious insult when we get one.
What causes artistic blocks? What do you do to solve them?
Johnny Rheznik. Turning on the radio tends to help straighten out artistic blocks.
If you could play a show with any band, past or present, who would it be? What music would you want them to perform?
Our friends from Invo. We miss playing with those guys, and when the finish up recording and get back on the horse, we're first in line to play with them. We would want them to perform stuff from their new album because we haven't seen it live yet.
What are trying to do to people with your art? Inspire them? Move them? Educate them?
We are just trying to be an excuse for people to let their guard down and have some fun.
Where do you see the band in the next few years?
Having just as much fun with a lot more friends.
How would you like to see the local music scene change? (venues, fans, other bands) Do we need to have better venues? Better ways of booking shows? Which way do you find best to get fans to come out to shows? (word of mouth / internet / flyers)
This scene is a bit lacking in the venue department. It'd be great to see a mid-size music venue pop up around here to bridge the gap for the local music scene between the NorVA and the smaller bars/clubs that sometimes feature live music. This scene can support a seven-day-a-week music venue, and we certainly have the bands to get the ball rolling. To take words out of Dennis Spence's (of Jackmove) mouth, "Someone bring back the fucking Boathouse". Our fans are fantastic, but it will always be great to have more of them come say hello out at our shows. It's a privilege to do this, and we love to meet the people who help make it possible. Word of mouth definitely gets the most people out, but you can't discount the affect of the Internet on that note. That's a huge reason why we try to make our shows events, and leave people talking about them the next day.
LINKS
Still Pink @ myspace
Still Pink's official webpage
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