Concert Crap: What do you feel is the hardest part of being an up and coming band?
Alec Strickland: You know, it’s an interesting time to be creating and playing music in this space. On one hand you have more tools for music creation, distribution and promotion than ever before, but that also really crowds the space and makes it much harder to cut through the noise. I think the hardest part right now is to figure out a way to get people to pay attention while maintaining your integrity as an artist and songwriters. We could definitely benefit from trying to appeal to what’s trending but that would mean turning into something we’re not. I’m happy we strive and create music that we’re proud of and stand behind it on its own merit.
CC: What do you think is the most challenging part of creating an album? Do you ever experience any creative differences, or come across a writer’s block in the process?
AS: I think the most challenging part of creating an album is just the distillation of ideas. When you’re in a band with four opinionated dudes with all equally valid ideas, sometimes it’s difficult to weigh those out democratically. But that’s also what makes it fun and ultimately worth playing with other talented musicians. The other guys in The New Pacific are all great friends outside of the band and we do things together all the time. We just got back from climbing Mt. Whitney and had a super rad time pushing each other to the limit there. And it’s similar in the studio, sometimes you really have to push each other outside of your comfort zone and those differing ideas take a little effort to get to what’s ultimately the best for the song. I think we’re always striving for the best part to serve the song itself.
CC: What was tour with The Spill Canvas like?
AS: We actually just played the Roxy show out here in Los Angeles. But the show was rad and those guys seemed very sweet. It seemed like they had a good time out here and it’s always super fun to play Los Angeles. The Roxy was slam packed and sweaty. The best kind of show…It was a great night for rock and roll!
CC: Would it be fair to say that touring with a bigger band, you’d feel overshadowed by the headliner? Do you think that it’s important for more established bands to shed exposure, or elevate up and coming artists?
AS: Yeah of course, I mean when you’re there to support a band, the promoter / headliner’s idea is for you to warm the crowd up and get people having a good time. I think we try and get people really fired up. It puts us in front of a bunch of folks who wouldn’t have seen or heard of us otherwise so whenever we’re on a support slot we try and get out there and really crush it. It’s important to make a statement and we want people leaving saying ‘Damn, that band was on fire. I need to dig into their music.’ Then we’ve opened the door. We don’t just want to push it open, we want to slam it.
CC: If you could pick the lineup for a The New Pacific headlining tour, who would you choose to tour with?
AC: It’d be a much different answer depending on which member you asked. But I can safely say we’d love to go out with Thrice, Brand New or Jimmy Eat World. It’d be exciting to share the stage with those guys who have laid out the groundwork to what we do. Then, depending on who answered: Sigur Ros, Periphery, Kid Rock or Corey Feldman. That’d be quite a lineup.
CC: Who would you compare your sound to? Were you inspired by another album, or want to give a nod to any other artist?
AS: That’s kind of a tough one. We’re all just big fans of music. Outside of what you may expect, we all love hip-hop, Tycho, The Beatles, Radiohead and I’m a huge fan of bands like Metric and Feist. We try to bring in little pieces from all over the place. I’d say if you took equal parts Refused, Alkaline Trio, Queens of the Stone Age and Thrice, then threw them all in a blender and sprinkled some Blink 182 and MXPX in there, you’re probably getting close.
CC: Is there anything else you’d like to say to your fans or anyone else reading this interview?
AS: Yeah, we’ve got a brand new EP coming out here in the next month or so and can’t wait to share with everyone. Thanks for taking the time and we hope our paths all cross and we can all celebrate the power of music together very soon. Take care of each other!
All questions answered by Alec Strickland.
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Post and interview by Kayla Rojas
Photos by Ariana Rose
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