How did you get your start in music?
I got my start playing guitar after going to summer camp and seeing all the guys
there play guitar really poorly and still get lots of girls! I thought, surely I
can do better than that :) That and I was listening a lot to Jimi Hendrix.
Who are some of your influences?
Influences vary throughout the band are different, but my main influences would
be bands like the Beatles, Wilco, Elliott Smith, Switchfoot, and Arcade Fire.
What artists are you listening to these days?
My favorite bands right now are Elliott Smith, the new David Crowder,
Death Cab for Cutie, Sufjan Stevens, Wolf Parade, and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
What's the writing process like for the band?
It just kind of varies. Some songs will come during a sound check when we just
start jamming to stuff and Jenny comes up with lyrics on the spot. I write
some of the songs on my own as well, so those are usually done on an acoustic
at the house and then run it by the band to see if they like it or hate it.
How did Addison Road form and Where do you think the future of Addison Road is heading?
Jenny, Ryan, Travis, and I all met at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. We
started doing it for fun and then we just kept getting gigs and the songs kept
getting better. Jeff came down from Nashville a little over a year ago and
joined up then. Something funny I remember was that Jenny and I were in the
same beginning Spanish class our senior year with one month left before we
graduated. We had already booked recording time in Nashville to start recording
our Breaking Beautifully album and everyone was counting on us graduating so
we could go up there and record. She and I were so bad at Spanish, and we just
didn't study at all, so we pleaded with our professor to help us pass. It was
pathetic and funny and we did extra credit and passed, barely!
As for the future of the band, I think we are all equally excited about it.
We have been traveling a lot for the past two years playing gigs - good, bad,
and horrible ones. We have gone through a lot to get where we are. We have
definitely had times where being around each other was extremely difficult
and where we just didn't get along. But it was pretty cool about six months
ago we all just kind of sat down and said are we going to do this, and if we
are we have to love what we're doing and love each other while we're doing it.
Since that day the band has transformed and we have never gotten along better
or had more fun. I think we all have a sense of where we want to go musically,
whereas before we weren't totally sure which direction fit us best. Our goal
is just to write good songs that people can relate to and understand that we
all struggle, but that there is hope through the struggle.
So when your full-length album comes out, what can we anticipate from it musically?
I think musically it will be similar to our latest EP 'Always Loved You',
but hopefully with an even more defined, focused direction lyrically.
We play a lot of worship events along with playing concerts, so we've really
gotten to try out all kinds of different song styles. I think that has helped
us so much in figuring out what works best for us and what people respond to.
Ryan and Travis both play a lot of instruments that we have gotten to incorporate
live, so to use more of that on an album will give our sound some more textures.
Can you tell our readers a little about the song "Need You Now" and the thoughts behind it?
I wrote the song "Need You Now" when I felt pretty down about things. I felt
like I just kept trying and kept failing at trying to reach God. I felt like I
was the only one wrestling with understanding God and just didn't feel like I
could even come to him with anything because I felt so down about my sin and
struggles. But something clicked and I knew that while I would still struggle
and have doubts, that I could come just as I was to God and he's love me anyway.
So when the chorus says "Now, this is all that I am/ Now, with my dirty hands/
I'm giving you everything now", that was just me saying to God that I am ready
to be used if you'll take me, as messy and as dirty as I might think that I am.
What's your favorite part of playing live?
My favorite part is when you can see the people you're playing for getting into the
music. And especially when we're playing worship or a worshipful song and you can see
people singing to God - it's pretty cool to be able to provide a means for them to
communicate to God in that way.
What do you like to do in your spare time?
I love listening to music, writing songs, reading books, and watching a good movie.
Any other comments?
Thanks for reading, if you want to check out some of our songs you can hear them
at <http://www.addisonroad.com/> . Thanks again!
