BAND: Project 86
INTERVIEWER: Christian Behl (Christian@bandvibe.com)
INTERVIEWEE: Andrew Schwab of Project 86
DATE OF INTERVIEW: 06.05.07
BAND MEMBERS:
Andrew Schwab - voice, words
Randy Torres - guitars, keyboards, background vocals
Steven Dail - bass, background vocals
CHRISTIAN: So what can fans look forward to with the new release?
ANDREW: With every project release, we try to capture different facets of our
band's personality sonically and I think this one is our most diverse
release. Its almost hectic at times, definitely our most melodic, and
ironically, almost commercial.. although we didn't set out to make it that
way, there's a lot of really, for lack of a better term, accessible, songs
without sacrificing intensity.. It's definitely a new sound..
One thing we're also really excited about is the packaging, we tried to make
an interactive package and it came out really cool. We've had this idea
since we started the band, where.. you know when you're a kid and you
bought a G.I. Joe and you got a piece of red or blue paper where you'd have
to decode a message.. well, our whole package is like that, so there are
secret messages or lyrics you can decode with this blue jewel case, its
definitely our favorite package!!
CHRISTIAN: It sounds like this cd's been an evolution for you guys, has the
songwriting experience, or your experiences as a band evolved to inspire the
music, or how did that come about?
ANDREW: Well, Alex is no longer in the band, so that obviously makes things
different. We were all in different places geographically too, so we chose
to mp3 songs to each other and what that forced us to do is each take the
songwriting process on our individual shoulders. We had a lot more songs to
choose from this time around, some of those sounded like vintage projects,
and some of them sounded out-there, so we chose some of the more out-there
songs because we wanted to do something different.
CHRISTIAN: You guys have been doing quite a bit of traveling, anything you're
looking forward to as far as cities or dates?
ANDREW: We just got done with the Tooth & Nail tour dates which were really
cool, really fun.. We hit a couple of markets that are really good markets
for us, we played Minneapolis, Chicago, Denver, those are all great cities
for us.. We were stoked on that. For the upcoming run, I think we're
excited to hit Grand Rapids & Cincinnati.
CHRISTIAN: Can you tell us more about where the inspiration comes from?
ANDREW: That answer's different from song to song so maybe I'll just tell you
about some of the songs on the new record.. the themes are very diverse.
What made this record different for me is that I was able to tell some
stories with individual songs..
There's a song called "Put your lips to the TV," it's actually track 2 and
its pretty short lyrically, but its about growing up in a small town and
being told your dreams are too big, being told in a small town mentality
that you can never leave that small town, and the song's for anyone who's
left that small town & gone ahead and succeeded anyway. So this song's
about not letting anyone go out & dictate your goals & dreams.
The last song is called "Normandy," it's about a fatal car crash but it's a
metaphor, for the theme of the record, "Rival Factions." In the context of
the song & the record it's basically about a relationship or a friendship,
and when you're always in that friendship and you spend most of your time
fighting, or at odds, or arguing, and when you come to the end of the road,
which always comes when you least expect it, you look back and think why
didn't I choose to love this person and have more grace for this person and
be more understanding.. and I think that's the question we'll ask ourselves
when we come to the end of our lives,.. like why didn't I spend more time
with my family, why didn't I have more grace for my wife, or my husband.. ya
know..?
CHRISTIAN: What have been some of your highlights with the band so far?
ANDREW: There are so many to name.. my #1 show was about 3 years ago, we
headlined a show in LA on Sunset at the House of Blues. We sold the place
out & it was just one of those magical nights. Honestly, the tour we're on
now is the most fun tour that we've ever been on so far. Just the crew, the
guys in the band, everybody's having such a great time, I can't remember a
time when everything's run so smoothly.. the inter-band relationships have
been stronger. Honestly we're laughing more on the road..
CHRISTIAN: Anything you'd like to say to your Bandvibe fans?
ANDREW: We definitely want everyone to keep in touch with us on the web. We
love the people that support us. I tell everyone we come in contact with
that we've been a band for 11 years because of the really genuine support of
our fans who continue to come out to the shows, continue to be passionate
about what we do, and who seem to buy our records and t shirts and support
us and allow us to do this.. We owe this band to the fans, and we just want
everyone to know that. We definitely want everyone to visit us on the web
at Project86.com , RivalFactions.com!
For more official information on Project 86, please log onto:
http://www.Project86.com
http://www.myspace.com/project86
http://www.rivalfactions.com
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