SOCIAL MEDIA

TM - Hi, this is Amelia and Elizabeth and we're here with Aaron Of Mice and Men, Thank you for having this interview with us today we appreciate it.

AN - yeah, thanks for taking the time.

TM - so how has everything been going for you?

AN - It's good the rest of the album that we have been releasing all year came out, I'm Spending my day talking about music with other people that love music. I can't think about a better they to spend what is this a Wednesday.

TM - Yeah, that is awesome.

AN - I didn't know I had to look at my calendar, I knew it was the 8th I didn't know if it was a Wednesday or not.

TM - You have been progressively bringing out this album “Echo” so what inspired you to bring it out over the year?

AN - We wanted to spend our time working on songs, That were very honest and true expressions of What we were going through, our thoughts and feelings and emotions. We wanted to release them Episodically in a way that sort of matches up with technology and the way music is consumed now, where it's heavily digital media and ease of access of getting music to people, It's never been easier. People have more access to music now than ever and we just wanted to share these things and songs, artwork and music videos that we have created. We wanted to share them with our audience in a way where we are still sort of Living those moments. 

If you spend time working on a song and you are expressing your Self and then you've got to write 9 more and then that takes time doing things like music videos, artwork that takes time Sometimes when you release an album those thoughts and ideas Lived experience is that you are expressing. Anybody can hear it, Like yeah I relate to this or no I can't relate And for us it was sort of really important to Share those moments episodically. There wasn't just a ton of lag time If we do our due diligence and honestly expressed ourselves and what we are going through. We share that with our audience and somebody Goes I get that I connect with they're still in those lived experiences rather than having moved past them.

TM - You also self-produced this album, that's awesome, Can you tell us more about that?

AN -  We live relatively close to one another, an hour or two from each other. The plan even before the pandemic was to get together on Zoom and start writing. Everybody's pretty proficient with recording software and things like that and technology have got to a place now thankfully. You can do things like that remotely and a lot of it was just sort of we do all our pre-production on our own before we go into a studio to record albums. Usually, the entire album is Pre produced in demo versions that sound very close to the finished final products. When the pandemic happened and the lockdowns first started happening we just took it upon ourselves to say we are going to do as much of this ourselves as we can and when we can't that is when we will go outside the four of us to finish the process. We ended up completing the First ep and gave it to the label they love the way that we sounded day love that we were self-sufficient and proficient enough to do that. Then we just created two more and put them out through the year.

TM - Do you think it will change the way that's you create future albums Or do you want to get back with each other in a recording studio?

AN - I think we will self produce in the future. We are still working this way as of now But it's because we really enjoy it and the difference between us all being in a room and huddled around somebodies computer and getting these creative ideas out Vs us being in a zoom room and essentially doing the same thing. It's negligible as long as the zoom doesn't cut out which happens kind of frequently. 

We have all said that we would love to get back into a room together and to do this where we are all in person Because we enjoy it, we laugh a lot. If we spent 3 hours in the studio we spend two of them talking were a band. I feel like one of our strengths is our ability to able to communicate with one another and just how much we value that but it's nice to know if we can't do that we can still get together and make a whole album this way.

TM - The instrumental in your song mushroom cloud is awesome.

AN - Thank You that was Tino our drummer he had written that one on the last album and it was really funny because that song stuck in my Dropbox for a while. I did it no lyrically what to put on top of it till I had a mental breakdown. I was like oh well that's what this song is. A lot of the time the music comes first well a hundred per cent of the time the music comes first And then lyrics Melodies and vocals and things Come after the fact.

TM - Are you working on anything else now?

AN - We've already started working on a bunch of new songs. There are a few creative projects that have to do with the album still in development in the works. As soon as we are done with something we start something else immediately.  It's because we enjoyed the creative process and the collaboration that that brings.

TM -  How do you think the next album will be different from this one?

AN - It will just be sharing different experiences though. It's really hard to say a lot of times. We don't start with any predefined notion. We want to do it Musically. We almost start from the inside and work our way out, whatever the shape of the canvas ends up being is what it ends up being rather than setting those parameters before Knowing where your Boundaries are and working your way in. It's usually more self-limiting.

TM - This was your first album with Sharptone records, congratulations on being signed with them So how did this come about?

AN - Our last full-length album before this one “Earthandsky” Completed our rise records contract and when we were talking with Labels before we signed with Sharptone. One of the things that we were discussing with everybody was the idea that we wanted to release eps and music throughout the year and short-term was very excited about it. 

I'm not just a way to say like yeah well allow you to do that or we give you our blessing because it's a very sort of non-traditional way of releasing music. They were excited about it and they were excited about just the sheer amount of creativity that will go into a project like that. It was really fun it kept us busy all year long Working with amazing people and creating something that will connect us with the outside world And connect other people. 

TM - If you could have any band play one of your songs what band would it be, what song would it be and would it be in your style or their style?

AN - Oh god I have never even remotely thought about that. You kind of just blew my mind with that one. Maybe Led Zeppelin Covering fighting gravity in their style. That would be pretty mind-blowing, I've never thought of anything like that that was a mental exercise.

TM - You are also playing Hellfest along with Grasspop next year so that is pretty exciting.

AN - I hope so knock on wood.

TM - Yeah touch wood, So we will see you at Hellfest then.

AN - yep I'm very excited and I hope everything goes according to plan. If I've learnt anything in this time period, Is that you can plan for 10 years in the future but you can't plan for the next 10 minutes or what is going to happen. We'll see and until We will stay in the studio working on new songs.

TM - Well if you do get out there what can fans expect?

AN - I don't know just a rock show play to the best of our abilities.

TM - What's your favourite memory of watching someone else perform live?

AN - So many of them, probably being on tour with Linkin Park And a few weeks into the tour they asked me If I wanted to sing on stages with them. I was like hell yeah at that point they weren't just a band that hugely impacted full on my life but they were my friends and any time you get to make music with your friends or join your friends to perform on stage. Their music is always a High honour, I used to just go to the stage early every day and I used to listen to my in-ear mix Which was Chester's in-ear mix but it had my microphone slightly Louder because I was singing the harmony. I just listen to the show As he would hear it It was incredible.

TM - That's a cool experience.

AN - Oh definitely.

TM - What was the first band you ever saw live?

AN - One of the first was Papa Roach because grew up in the same hometown as them. I used to see them at local shows before they were signed before the world knew “Last Resort”. It was sort of like an anthem in our hometown, So they were one of the first bands that I saw live.

TM - That's cool, I love Papa Roach they're awesome.

AN - They are fantastic great guys great band.

TM - Can you tell us about the album cover for “Echo”?

AN - The artwork was created by Derek. He's a brilliant artist. he's somebody who is very sensitive to the emotional content of things and he's very good at visually representing that. It's a faceless figure down at their chest opening an up and there is a bird and the bird is showcased on all the EP's that comprise the album. The bird represents the true self like soul or spirit Depart of you that Grieves loss Depart of you that laughs when you ride roller coaster or see someone you love it's kind of represent that Very true self.

TM - You also did some hand-drawn video clips that are pretty cool.

AN - Yes, Frankie and his team. He's a brilliant video Director and his team took a lot of Derek's artwork and created these beautiful hand-drawn animated videos out of it. The whole go with this release was we didn't want to make it about us or make it about the band or make it about our faces. It took a lot of convincing for me to even want to be in any of them. We wanted it to be about the connection and the human experience. We wanted it to be more about the listener than about us or being us or seeing us or being a band or anything like that. It was very awesome to work with such brilliant creative people.

TM - Is there anything else you want to say to your fans?

AN - We are thinking about you all the time. We hear you and we see you, we relate to you and we hope that comes across in our music because music is our way of connecting with the world. I'm not good at talking, I'm not good at actively communicating. Things that I'm thinking and feeling but music to me has always been more a complete way of communicating with the outside world and just that we are thinking about.

TM - It's awesome that you get to express it through music as well.

AN - Yeah just the idea that something didn't exist 30 seconds ago and now it does and somebody might Hear it and that might make them feel something. If anything it might make them feel less alone or more understood and I think that's the beauty of the music you know It brings people together.

TM - Thank you so much for this interview today we appreciate