Decorated Youth Magazine #8

DECORATED YOUTH ISSUE 7

CHRIS SCHOONOVER

DAVE MONKS KALEO BORNS YOUNG RISING SONS MELANIE MARTINEZ ZELLA DAY JESSE DEFLORIO POMPEYA

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ISSUE 7

DECORATED YOUTH

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STAFF: Heather Hawke Founder | Editor & Writer | Layout & Design | Photographer

SITES: www.decoratedyouth.com Facebook: facebook.com/DecoratedYouth Twitter: @decoratedyouth

EMAIL:

General Info@decoratedyouth.com Press heather@decoratedyouth.com

THANK YOU’S To the members in COIN, Lindsay Bailey, the members in Terraplane Sun, Bobby McGowan, the members in Smallpools, Greg Levitt, Greg Federspiel, the members in Echosmith, Ceri Roberts, Lauryn Caldwell, Jeffery David, Ryan Key of Yellowcard, Rey Roldan, Andrew Heringer of Milo Greene, JJ Corsini, Anto Boros of The Swellers, Lauren Marek, Haley Stark, Lily Golightly and Patrick Harbison for TBD Fest, Pierce The Veil, Heidi RobinsonFitzgerald, All the bands on the Fall GK tour; NFG, WATIC, Fireworks, Better Off, Becca Wilson, Dayna Ghiraldi, Hoodie Allen, Matt Vogel, and to all the readers who’ve been with us since day one (or who’ve just found us) thank you for supporting us!

EDITOR’S NOTE Four months in the making and issue #7 is finally out. The day we released our sixth issue was the day we took these press shots for this feature of Echosmith. Three days later we attended TBD Fest in which we took a majority of the live photos and the press shots of Smallpools. Somewhere in between those shoots and this release we also interviewed/ saw performances by Fall Out Boy, Cage The Elephant, Pierce The Veil, Sleeping With Sirens, Hoodie Allen, Yellowcard, Terraplane Sun, Lauren Marek, Haley Stark, The Glamour Kills Fall tour, and Milo Greene. Oh yeah, and somehow we managed to land ourselves in NYC for the first half of the year, thank you Alex Reside!

While in the city we’ve so far have gotten to attend (and do these press photos in the feature) of COIN, and we also go to catch Echosmith on their first ever headlining run. We have a few other projects in the works for the next issue, but don’t want to spill the beans/ jinx it so we’ll keep quite. Hope you enjoy reading this issue just as much as we enjoyed putting it together!

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THE COLOURIST - 4 ECHOSMITH - 6 MILO GREENE - 8 SAN CISCO - 10 ERIK HASSLE - 12 BROODS - 14 YEARS AND YEARS - 16 YOUNG RISING SONS - 18 HALSEY - 20

22 - BØRNS 28 - CHRIS SCHOONOVER 38 - DAVE MONKS 44 - JESSE DEFLORIO 52 - KALEO 56 - MELANIE MARTINEZ 64 - POMPEYA 70 - YOUNG RISING SONS 76 - ZELLA DAY

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Garret grew up in Michigan with a big, lush backyard that lead down to the sand dunes. His best childhood memories come from time spent making tree forts in the woods, and in the winter going cross country skiing with his husky down to the icebergs that formed in the lake.

At the age of ten he began to line up gigs at local children’s birthday parties performing as a magician, and since he grew up not too far from Colon, Mich., which carries the distinction of being “The Magic Capital of the World,” it wasn’t that odd.

Garret has been writing poetry and entertaining all his life, stating that being a musician “just felt right.”

Starting around the middle school/ high school age he started playing local gigs to support himself. He says that although he knew it would be a life long journey for himself, he never thought he’d do it as a career.

When it comes to writing he mentions he likes to be a bit distracted while writing songs so he can write from a subconscious place. Saying that his art exposes him to himself, “it's beautiful and painful and very healing.” He also feels that the best songs come out of silly concepts, he likes to write on the fly or with other people. His first single 10,000 Emerald Pools came about that way. “I wrote a song with my great friend/producer, Kennedy,” he says. “I was humming some melodies on an acoustic and he mentioned that his mother’s address in Vegas was "10,000 Emerald Pools". The song basically jumped out of the title.”

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“I've learned to travel light and collect things along the way. I've always been the kid to come home from school with so many rocks in my pockets my pants wouldn't stay up.�

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The music video for the aforementioned track had Garret hanging upside down holding his breathe underwater. Mentioning that after a while you stop knowing which was is up, which is not that different from the intensity one experiences when in love.

Garret prefers to let his listeners find their own meaning to his music and because of that he doesn’t go around talking about the inspiration behind these tracks, owing it simply to a muse that may or may not be real. He instead, prefers to talk about how location inspired his sound, specifically where he lived for nearly a year and a half– in a treehouse in Los Angeles.

The treehouse was an Airbnb rental that become a sort of permanent fixture in his life. With no plumbing, and an outdoor kitchen, the unguarded space allowed him to relax and listen to what was really going on, with no L.A. scene distractions.

From growing up in rural Michigan, to living in New York, to staying in Paris, to living in a tree house in LA. He says that new environments are the things that fuel him. “I've learned to travel light and collect things along the way. I've always been the kid to come home from school with so many rocks in my pockets my pants wouldn't stay up.”

Borns’ four-song EP “Candy” is filled with love songs, and although he doesn’t go around telling people he’s a romantic, he is. The lyrics, he says, came from sort of a fantastical longing for divine love. “I wrote the songs while living in a secluded shack in the canyons of LA so they emote a feeling of "singing from the treetops.”

He’s currently in the process of creating his LP and with the success of his EP he mentions that he does feel pressure from the public/ himself, but the pressure is a good thing. “It keeps me on my toes and on this planet.

My writing has evolved from many experiences over the past year. I look at writing songs like answering questions and I'm looking for more intimate answers this time.” As for what songs he says represent that band and if it’s going to change with the release of the LP, he says it depends on what kind of mood they’re in, “I envision the future being very... rousing.”

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BECOMING A PHOTOGRAPHER So back in college I took a black and white photography course and I liked it, but it didn’t really stick with me. After I graduated I worked for about 4 years as a Web Designer and front end developer at a magazine and later a design agency. During the time Instagram came onto the scene and I loved getting feedback on the photos I was taking. It became a challenge to see how many likes I could get essentially. It sounds lame, but I started to travel further and further for these photos. I started thinking about taking photos all the time. Every night when I got home from work I would try to throw something together.

I was going through divorce in 2013 and I think that really drove me. I couldn’t see any situation that would make me feel worse than I did at that time. So I decided to do what made me happy. I bought a professional camera that August and really started to see what I could do with it. Photography had become my therapy essentially. I was living with reckless abandon in the best sense of the phrase. I think back to those times and it’s really bitter sweet.

I started taking portraits of strangers wherever I went, but after a while I realized that I liked a little bit more control of the situation. I wanted to change the people, locations, clothing and the lighting to get the photos just right. In a way I was setting myself up to become a fashion photographer without knowing it. People would say “I love what you do with fashion” and I would stand there confused thinking about what photos I had taken that were fashion. I wasn’t really into fashion and hadn’t ever really looked at much to be honest. It sort of snuck up on me…I guess I like fashion. What I really like is how clothing informs the photo and the situation being photographed. It’s one of the many important elements of taking a photo.

In August 2014 I left my job and started working as a freelance photographer full time. I’ve gotten to travel and end up in places I feel like I have no business being. Two years ago I would’ve never thought I’d be living in Brooklyn working as a photographer or a camera owner for that matter.

WHERE HE LIVES/ GREW UP IMAPACTING HIS CREATIVITY I grew up in southern NJ and I think that forced my brothers and me to be creative. We didn’t live in a neighborhood with tons of kids or anything so we had each other. We had a band for many years, made stupid videos and eventually took photos together. Our parents were really supportive of whatever we wanted to do and did their best to get us what we needed to do those things. We didn’t have a ton of money, but they sacrificed for us always and I’m thankful for that.

I really like living in New York. Brooklyn has been great for meeting people to work with, but I don’t love shooting outside here. Outdoor locations that I like are hard to come by, because everything looks pretty grungy. I like a relatively clean aesthetic and it’s hard to find in NY. I spend most of my time wishing I could shoot in LA. It has forced me to learn more about shooting in the studio and lighting which has been great.

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ART- EXPOSE, PROTECT OR HEAL All three. Most of the time the photos I take unintentionally expose what I’m going through, but I’ve never really cared much about that. I’m an open book and I don’t feel like any of that information is incriminating. By putting the right photo or series of photos up at a gallery or web you can create whatever illusion about your life you want. I think I do this unintentionally as well. It can be a form of protection for me and others. We all put up a little bit of a front online for sure. Photography has definitely been a healing tool for me. It has allowed me to be productive during the hard times and focus on something positive. Making something new is one of the best feelings.

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MOMENT WHOLE LIFE HAD CHANGED

MAKING PHOTOGRAPHY HIS PROFESSION

I’ve had a TON of those moments over the last few years so it’s hard to nail one down, but I had one recently. I was flown out to LA to shoot for a large client. They booked an enormous LA studio. It was my first time shooting in a studio this large. I walked in and there were about 15 people setting up. I just stood in the corner by myself in awe. One of those “how did I get here” moments.

I had been thinking about doing photography full time because I was having to turn down jobs when I was at the design firm.

The time came and it happened.

It was a little unexpected and I wasn’t quite ready to leave, but it happened. That was in August of last year.

CONFIDENCE AND HUMILITY You should have enough confidence so that people trust you to get the job done. I don’t look at myself as over confident, but I am when it counts. Your work can speak for itself, you don’t need to let people know how good you are every time you open your lips. No one enjoys hearing that.

Clients like to hire people that know what they’re doing. Insecurity won’t get you far in this business. Photo is a flooded field and very competitive so you have to stand out in some way.

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CAPTIVATED AUDIENCE- FEELING PRESSURE AND STAYING INSPIRED

Of course, there is an enormous amount of pressure to stay relevant and cool, but I decided a while ago that I’ll just make what I like. I don’t post everything that I take. Curation of any gallery is important. I could post my favorite portrait I’ve ever taken on Instagram and it would get around 2,500 likes. If I post a photo of a beautiful sunset or a bridge it would get almost double. I’m not knocking landscape or urban photography, but I don’t personally love taking those photos. I know how to get likes on Instagram, but I think it’s important to take the photos of the things that I find compelling. I may not be going the popular route, but it’s important to me that I stand out for the right reasons. As far as staying inspired, I spend a lot of time looking at photo books, magazines and Tumblr.

It’s important to look at what the masters of your field are doing and not just at your peers.

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VISON OF PHOTOGRAPHY

Just like anything else I go through phases of what I like and dislike. Occasionally I’ll stumble on a photographer’s work that blows me away and I think “What have I been doing this whole time?” Those moments are great. They’re very humbling and inspiring.

SUBJECT MATERIAL

I started taking photos of both. At the beginning, for me, it was about discovering what I liked. I didn’t really know what caught my eye. I wasn’t really looking at lot of work so I had no idea what was possible. I’ve really love taking photos of people. A person adds such dimension to a photograph. There have only been a few times that I’ve looked at a still life or landscape and really been inspired to create one myself.

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STYLE OF PHOTOGRAPHY That’s a hard one for me just because I take photos of so many different situations. Some of it is photo journalistic in style where the subject is interacting with its environment and others are very cinematic.

SHOOTING FOR CLIENTS

It’s always a mixture of direction. You always have to be willing to take over if an art director doesn’t give much direction. A lot of the time I have a pretty good amount of say with how the photo turns out. Either way, I try to do my best and give the client something they love.

BIGGEST HURDLE

Occasionally there is someone on set that is very passive aggressive or talking about others while on the job. It’s very poisonous. I don’t stand for it.

The creative field is tough because you’re always dealing with things that people have worked very hard on. People get hurt very easily if you say something needs to change or it’s not working. It’s hard not to take criticism personally.

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MAKING PORTRAITS LOOK NATURAL

I guess I just know what I like to see. I’m a big fan of in between moments. Curation is everything. I definitely have TERRIBLE shots from every shoot, so it’s all about picking the best shot.

LOCATION SCOUTING

I like a very retro and clean aesthetic, so if the location is either one or both, I’ll shoot it. It’s happened both ways.

Sometimes I’ll happen on a location and I’m inspired and sometimes I’ll go looking for something specific.

HOW MOBILE PHOTOGRAPHY HAS CHANGED PEOPLES PERSEPTION

Phone photos are great and getting better, but they’re still no match for professional equipment especially in areas with low light. There are still some things you just can’t achieve with an iPhone. These apps have definitely changed the way we consume imagery. I think the images are considered not quite as precious as something hanging on a gallery wall.

GETTING INVOLVED WITH VSCO I met the founders of VSCO a few years ago at a gallery show I was in out in San Francisco. I had been using their app for a while and I was posting to their grid a lot. I liked what they were doing and they liked the photos I was making. I had done a few photography jobs for them and then I wanted to work on a project about pro wrestling. I wrote a proposal to them asking if they would write about it on their journal. I didn’t hear back for a while and then one day they asked us to be part of a new project called the Artist Initiative. My brother and I gladly accepted and we are now in the final stages of that project.

FAVORITE STORY BEHIND A PHOTOGRAPH

I took a photo of a man making sandwiches at a festival and he yelled at me and said I had to ask permission to take his photo. I asked if I could take his photo. He said no, so I took a few more because I really wanted this photo.

He started yelling all sorts of fun word combos at me. I could hear him all the way down the block in a huge crowd as I was walking away. That may have been a jerky thing to do, but I got a good photo.

PERFECT STORM OF PHOTOGRAPHY SNENARIOS (one artist/band, one venue/ studio/ location, gear, one city) I would love to shoot with Lara Stone, Freja Beha Erichsen, Lindsey Wixson or Daphne Groeneveld in either Palm Springs or a large NY Studio. Either would be a perfect setup.

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DAVE MONKS

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In high school, before there was Tokyo Police Club, there was the band Suburbia and it was after the lead singer (Will) left when you became/ formed TPC and created a whole new sound. Do you think it was sort of a blessing in disguise that Will left the band?

Will (aka Will Currie and the Country French) actually has a new record coming out! I listened to a new song and I really enjoyed it. His voice sounds so familiar to me. It was definitely not an obvious plus when Suburbia stopped, we had written a lot of cool stuff near the end. I think we all learned how to be a band by supporting Will.

How did you know you wanted to be a musician? When did you first pick up an instrument/ start writing songs?

I never liked music as a kid, much less playing it. I actually had an argument with my Grade 6 music teacher because I couldn't hear the difference in a semi-tone and thought it was unnecessary! My friend in Grade 9 got a guitar for Xmas and so I got a bass, just trying to fit in really. Then I really liked learning songs on it and eventually figured out guitar. I still was pretty tone deaf for a while. I feel like Radiohead made music exciting to me and the Strokes made me want to play it.

How does where you grew up in Newmarket/ and now where you live in Brooklyn impact your creativity? Was creativity a part of your childhood?

Yeah I was always creative, Legos and painting etc. Newmarket is pretty awesome as far as suburbs go. It sheltered me from a lot of stuff and made it easy to dream about songs. Life was good. Brooklyn is obviously cool and exciting but it also plays a smaller part in my story. Thus far. Newmarket is always going to have a special spot. I definitely work faster living in Brooklyn.

Back in early 2011 you all filmed a live video session with The Wild Honey Pie outside in the back of a truck. How is it for you all to be a part of companies like that? Do you all like doing those live, sort of, Take Away Show style videos out on the streets?

You basically just want to not fuck up and look cool! So they can be stressful. That one was actually on my birthday, so it was all very eventful.

One of the venue’s you’re playing on your first run of solo shows is Mercury Lounge which is the venue Tokyo Police Club played for your first NYC show. Now that you call New York home how does it feel being able to play there again?

Mercury show was fun! It's hard for NYC to feel like a hometown show since there is so much going on. Whereas Toronto felt more like "my town".

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Do you have favorite venues to play and / or venues to see a show in New York City/ Brooklyn?

Mercury is one of my favorites! Also Bowery Ballroom and Radio City Music Hall (have not played there yet!)

During the creating of Champ you and Graham once had a frivolous songwriting challenge that was never intended to yield music for the LP. They put together a song every morning and send it to the other, the only rule being that it had to be entirely spontaneous. What came out of this competition was their song ‘Gone’ in which after Dave had sent it off to Graham, Graham liked it so much he brought it to the band’s attention. Although, it wasn’t until Greg came in with a beat he put together that made all of it fall into place. Has there been any other songs like that that have come from some kind of challenge like that?

Wednesday Songs is also a cool scrap book now. It's interesting to look back at the things we sang about and recorded. Recently we did these webisodes on tour which let us mess around the way we did with Wednesday Songs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Rcc29JnGVU

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I know you guys have said in interviews that you think Champ is closer in spirit to A Lesson in Crime, than Elephant Shell in terms of the headspace you were in while writing it. When you were writing songs for A Lesson in Crime, you were just hanging out, pleasing yourselves, not really thinking that people were going to hear them. Champ was a lot more like that than Elephant Shell; just in terms of doing things that immediately seemed exciting and interesting to you, and not really worrying what people were going to think when they heard them. What head space were you in when creating Forcefield?

Weird thing about Champ was that it was considered a flop for our label, ever though it did great stuff for our career. So with Forcefield we were trying to make something that would be a "success". Which proved to be a) impossible and b) not the point at all! Great stuff on that album but it was a really emotionally taxing process.

For your solo EP, was there an event or a specific timeframe where a large chunk of the lyricism came out?

Right after Forcefield all these songs came out of me, starting with Heartbeat Blues. I was so excited to not have to please anyone other than myself that I didn't even want to include the band. It was really freeing.

How long have you thought about doing a solo project? When you started writing these songs that are on the solo record, did you know you wanted these to be for yourself or were they intended to be for Tokyo Police Club?

I wish I did it earlier! I had a little solo Myspace back in the day but Tokyo was always my main focus really. I definitely have a few albums worth of old tunes sitting on my computer. These songs, I knew the whole time wouldn't be for Tokyo.

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“I like the dream. It all comes from the crazy dream that you going to make something and change lives and that people will suddenly understand you. Of course it never is realized the way you imagined but each album is a step closer. Dreaming every day.”

When you were writing for your solo EP did you have a different writing process than when you write for TPC? I guess there was just less of a process. Just wrote them, demoed a little, showed them to some musicians I met in NYC and recorded it. I did the vocals at home. That was new.

All Signs Point To Yes is the name of your solo album. How the title come about?

There is actually another song I wrote with that title. It didn't make the EP but the lyric felt like the right title.

Were you ever intentional when you sat down to write? Was there ever a “I’m going to write a song now” moment or was it more ephemeral, like you’ve been kicking something around in your head for days, weeks, months, and then suddenly it came spilling out?

Kind of both. I was writing a song a day for a good while last summer. Then sometimes they just happen.

Does it feel like writing music is something you’ve always had to do?

Yes! If you make stuff you should read Rainer Maria Rilke's "Letters to a Young Poet". It helped me recognize why I made songs.

What was your favorite part about the whole album creation process?

I like the dream. It all comes from the crazy dream that you going to make something and change lives and that people will suddenly understand you. Of course it never is realized the way you imagined but each album is a step closer. Dreaming every day.

Seeing your solo artwork/ promotional material, it’s very different than anything I can see the band as a whole doing. What is your perspective on how you want to be represented throughout your solo artwork, photos/ album design, and music video(s)?

Chris Schooner took the cover pic and sort of inspired the visual direction. He's a super talented photographer that I met very randomly. It's been great collaborating with him on visuals.

I know that that artwork of Forcefield was inspired by a room in a museum in Chelsea neighborhood of NYC called the infinity room. What about that room made you all choose to want to recreate that?

You stand in it and it's like your standing in space! So cool. I thought it would make a cool cover considering the title.

Last question, what are you most looking forward to with the release of this EP and your solo shows?

I'm really looking forward to getting this ball rolling and learning and growing as a solo dude. This is just the beginning!

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The time period that he grew up in New Jersey has greatly impacted his creativity. The local music scene gave him a place to go and shoot every weekend and he starting shooting punk rock bands like Against Me! & The Loved Ones pretty frequently. “The Loved Ones were the first band to ever tell me that I was good at what I did and should continue doing it. As a 16 or 17 year old kid that was pretty amazing to hear and kickstarted everything.”

Now most of the relationships he has with his clients can trace their own roots back to those specific shows and time period.

Earlier this spring he went out tour with Young Rising Sons and Halsey. Mentioning that as a tour photographer, you can’t shoot the same photos every night, because you have to capture every show differently. “I do my best to get different shots every night, and having different venues with different layouts really helps decide how I plan to shoot each night.”

Another one of his stops this spring was working at SXSW. He’s been working with Hype Machine at their Hype Hotel event for as long as they’ve been doing it at SXSW. He says that they are the best & most supportive client he has had year in and year out.

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“The Loved Ones were the first band to ever tell me that I was good at what I did and should continue doing it. As a 16 or 17 year old kid that was pretty amazing to hear and kickstarted everything.�

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Three of those photos he shot during SXSW wound up in Billboard’s print edition, he says that it’s always cool to have websites & publications you respect use your work and having his photos shared via Billboard has always been a goal of his.

Since the evolution of social media he mentions that it’s made people in general more used to the fact of being photographed. Although this is the case he still thinks the best way to go about things is to never shove a camera in a subject’s face and expect them to be cool with it. “Spending so much time around clients you learn that there are moments to work and moments not to work.”

Working with clients can be a bit of a back and forth. Sometimes he has the idea, sometimes the client has the idea, but he says “what holds true every time is that the work wouldn’t exist without both parties involvement.” While on set he says that’s he’s never had to work with an unreasonable client, “No one has even come close! We’re taking photos, it should always be fun!”

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For the on location shoots he usually has a few places stored in the back of his mind for future projects. It’s when a client gets in touch and he thinks he has the right location that he mentions it and they take it from there.

One of the most surprising stories about a particular photograph he’s taken is the cover photo for Young Rising Sons’ first EP. The photo they ended up using for it wasn’t taken during a photo shoot, it was taken during lunch.

If somehow the perfect storm of photography scenarios were to happen he mentions that he’d want to work with Bruce Springsteen. “Anywhere, anytime. I would cancel my own wedding to go to that shoot.

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David says, “I knew Rubin through a mutual friend who kept telling me he was a really good guitar player, I called him up and asked him to come to a rehearsal and he fitted perfectly.” They also thought up their band name (which means “the sound” in Hawaiian) and played a handful of well-received shows at the 2012 Iceland Airwaves music festival.

David got into music by playing around with the instruments that his family had at home and making songs. “All my siblings studied an instrument and at the age of 12 my parents just asked me what instrument I wanted to study, I picked drums and fell in love instantly, at that time I knew I wanted to be a musician, but that was still a teen dream. In 20132014 I became full time musician, it was a scary step but a really exiting one.”

With his family being so creative, he says that where he grew up in Iceland was also great for his creativity as a kid. “It’s really save. I grew up in small towns and it has nature everywhere, I would just go out and make up games and stuff to do. My family also traveled a lot when I was a kid, me and my siblings would make a lot of plays and songs to perform for the family. I have very creative siblings and I’m the youngest so they definitely influenced me a lot.”

Kaleo’s first two songs they recorded were “Rock N Roller” and “Pour Sugar On Me” in 2013. For “Rock N Roller” they all brought all of their instruments and sound system to an isolated summer cabin in Iceland where they just jammed for 5 days and nights.

That spring during a live radio show they covered the traditional Icelandic ballad “Vor í vaglaskógi” in which a video of that performance went viral. Not long after that they recorded a studio version of the song and after it was released it became number one in almost every radio station in the country.

David says, that moment was the one that changed his life. “I remember I was driving and kept changing channels because I didn’t want to listen to the song, it was playing at the same time on 3 stations in a row.”

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After signing to Iceland’s largest record label, Sena, in the fall of that year they recorded their self-titled debut album during the six weeks that proceeded.

Five of their singles reached number one and the album went gold. The year that followed sent them all around Europe performing shows and festivals (including an appearance on the biggest stage in their home country, Culture Night, where they played to 100,000 people and reached 90 percent of Iceland’s population in broadcast).

How their writing process usually goes is that J.J. comes with the songs and they jam them, work them and arrange together. “Sometimes they need a lot of work but sometimes they just click instantly.

We usually all write separately but we have also written together and that has been great as well.”

David says that J.J. writes most of their lyrics, however the ones that he’s written he can be inspired by the smallest things, happy or sad. “It’s great if you have a concept or something you really want to write about. When I sit down to write, songs or parts that have been sizzling in my head for some time usually comes spilling out.” As they’ve gotten more used to the studio environment, he says, it’s made the easier to picture the final outcome from the beginning.

The band always goes into the studio prepared to record, however things always get added once inside. David says that the most different thing about recreating the songs live after they were just in the studio is the fact that they write more parts than the 4 of them can play at once. “We have to pick and choose the most important ones and do it well. The fun thing is that you don’t have to do everything the same live as you recorded it, we often change, add or subtract when we perform, it also keeps us on our toes and has the element of surprise which is fun! It’s been going great so far. “

With their album artwork they worked with David’s brother so it was a really easy collaboration. “The whole band and my brother did one brainstorming meeting, and then he drew it out and we commented on what we liked or disliked.” (You can check him out at http://paacart.blogspot.co.uk) He believes that technology and the internet - downloads, socials and streaming changed the music industry. “It’s also so easy to record now, before only labels controlled what got released now anyone can record, release and distribute music pretty much for free.

Which moved the source of income both for the artists and Labels.”

Since music is so accessible now, you can find tons of music for any genre with a click of a button which opens up so much music for you to reach. David says, “When I was younger I would swap CD’s with my friends and if they or I had found something new or cool, we would tell each other, now the X amount of people that you have on socials are all telling you what they’re listening to, so the discovering process is so much easier.”

“All my siblings studied an instrument and at the age of 12 my parents just asked me what instrument I wanted to study, I picked drums and fell in love instantly, at that time I knew I wanted to be a musician, but that was still a teen dream.

In 2013-2014 I became full time musician, it was a scary step but a really exiting one.”

Although his vision of music as a whole since becoming a musician hasn’t changed, experiencing live music, he says, definitely has. “I'm rarely able to just get lost in the music and performance unless the band just completely blows me away.

I keep thinking about everything they’re doing and the technical part, which is fun as well but very different.”

It was in spring of 2014 that Kaleo recorded their hit song “All the Pretty Girls.” Now, they’re signed to Atlantic Records in the U.S. and have moved to Austin, TX. They are scheduled to record an EP due out this year with producer Mike Crossey (Arctic Monkeys, Jake Bugg) in London.

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At the age of 17 and not having a real idea that she was going to be an artist, or what it meant, she tried out for NBC's "The Voice." Although she didn’t win, she did figure out how to become an artist and is now making a name for herself as an artist in her own right.

To her, the hardest thing after the show was getting people to truly understand that she was a songwriter. She kept on her writing and performance game proceeding the show and in spring of 2014 she was signed to Atlantic Records. She began to work with producers Kinetics & OneLove and released her first EP, "Dollhouse," in May 2014, along with the video for the title track.

A year later she’s getting up to release her debut LP ‘Cry Baby’ this August 14. She’s already released her single “Pity Party” as well as the music video, directed by Martinez herself.

Even with everything going on she says that her life hasn’t changed much, aside from the fact that she just got busier and now gets to do what she love for a living. “I still have the same best friend I've had since Kindergarten, and am basically the same person, just grown up and more confident.”

Gaining the confidence has helped her with the fact that her art exposes and heals her. “Exposes me, because I'm being vulnerable and in one way or another telling people a story that relates to a situation I've been through. It heals me, because writing music is my therapy.”

She loves being able to perform her songs live and how she’s able to recreate the songs and bring the stories to life in front of people. “It’s definitely difficult getting everything ready in such short amounts of time, I think. There are so many things I want to do, I just feel like I never have time to thoroughly prepare everything the way I want.

Hopefully I can get things to the way I want them to be for the "Cry Baby" album tour. It’s going to be so much fun!”

Inspired by the contrast between adult situations and little kid inspired themes/titles comes her debut LP “Cry Baby;” that she says was heavily inspired by toy sounds and her childhood.

For her LP’s artwork she says she contacted a photographer she’s loved since she was 15 and after she told her the exact photo idea for the cover, the photographer executed her vision. However, on her “Dollhouse” EP it was her herself who took the photos for the cover. “I used to be really into photography (and still am, but don't have as much time to do it anymore), so I kind of just use that as a way to put the visuals to the music.”

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“I used to be really into photography (and still am, but don't have as much time to do it anymore), so I kind of just use that as a way to put the visuals to the music.”

“My parents were always really supportive of me writing and creating art. I didn't have a lot of friends growing up, so I spent most of my time just at home doing things I loved.”

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She thinks the visuals are equally as important as the music it represents.

“I love telling stories/expressing myself in any art form possible, so I always make sure they all fit together. It has to be a package.” For her press photography, she says, right now she loves to be portrayed as this kind of dark, twisted little girl character she’s created on her album.

To her, Bjork is a great example of someone whose visuals are cohesive with the music. “She is a true artist and is so well spoken. Her music is innovative and she is a huge inspiration to me and many other female artists.”

As a kid she loved writing poetry and she thinks that it lead her to writing songs when she began playing guitar. “My parents were always really supportive of me writing and creating art. I didn't have a lot of friends growing up, so I spent most of my time just at home doing things I loved.”

She says her writing process is different every time, she gets inspired by sounds and melodies pop into her head first. “Then I'll think of a concept/title/idea and use that to tell whatever story I want to tell. The story is very important to me.”

To her, each song is a representation of a different thing that happened in her life, or a story she wants to tell. “Lyrics come at all different times for me, and I really just try to explain myself as best I can when I'm writing. I could be super angry about something, or super upset. I usually have writer’s block when I'm really happy!”

There are times when she can have planned out writing sessions when the goal is to write a song she’s happy with; or she says, “I can be in my bathroom and have a melody I keep singing, or lyrics I want to use in a song that I get back to at a later time when I sit down and write.”

Since she’s began writing songs, she says that’s she’s grown as a writer by now being more inspired by sounds she can hear in a folder on a producers laptop rather than before; when she would write songs on her guitar in her bathroom. “I think it’s just a different world. But, sometimes I'll come back to sitting down with my guitar and write like I used to.”

She feels like the songs that really represent herself, as a musician, haven’t been released yet, but she says, “I’d like to say the whole album I'm about to put out.”

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PO MP EY

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PATH TO BECCOMING A MUSICIAN As a “dream” I felt it when I was 12. We recorded a lot of lo-fi stuff (how we would describe it today), most of them was crap… so there is nothing to talk about, but the most important thing from that period was that I felt the process of recording and slicing the music. I edited it with recorder and tapes, put the layers of different instruments on each other. The feeling of creating was incredible and intimate. I kept this feeling for today when I playing with layers on my laptop now. Within the first punk and emo band, I acted as a guitarist and composer – I get the live experience and made just a little first money. POMPEYA began in 2006 and for now becoming the most important act that I took part in.

MOMENT LIFE HAD CHANGED I had the moments when I was 12, when I made first solo gig with the first band, when we released first video with Pompeya (Cheenese), when we got the full venue on our solo show for the first time… I would say - those kind of moments have happened a lot. And I believe we have a lot ahead.

BAND FORMED I was looking to start the band, but I was too lazy to put it on the sheets or whatever "magazine looking for musicians"… me and Nairi (our former drummer – left the band in 2014) met together through icq and just agreed to jam together without thinking of any specific project or the band. He took Denis (bassist) on the rehearsal – and what we jammed that night was so impressing and so organic unionic, as you said – so we decided to create the band the same day. Actually we just felt that we are the band after rehearsal was ended… the band name was created a few days later.

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RECREATING SONGS LIVE Our goal during the process of creating songs is to make them sound organic in studio as well as live. When you’re in studio or doing demo on a laptop it is always hard to not over-produce or over-compose the song.

You want to add as many instruments as many ideas appear. So within the first LP we had that problem of difference between studio versions and live versions of the songs. We fixed that issue on «Real» - the songs were recorded in the way most close to live performance. So we are having fun performing them now on tour.

WRITING PROCESS It’s both. From individual to a group and back. We always working on new material. Playing with different ideas. Sending emails to each other. I can do a demo and share to others for more ideas from them. Some ideas appear on rehearsal jamming or even at the soundcheck.

LYRICS I always do scatch lyrics first for the demo of the song. I sing the melody and whatever comes out – I’m trying to hear the ideas for the future lyrics. Later I edit them with help of my friend Shakri Amirkhanova and for the last album was also David Hartley as well as he produced my vocals. Lyrics don’t necessary mean the real stories but they always fit with me and what I feel and how I feel the song. So even though there are many lines written by the other people – I don’t feel it uncomfortable. All fits well.

INTENTIONALLY SITTING DOWN TO WRITE VS. HAVING IT COME NATUALLY Yes. It is a moment. Musically there is not a big deal to sit and write a song. We can sit, jam and have a cool demo ready in a few hours. But of course it takes time to finalize the arrangements, lyrics, production – it can take a few days or even weeks.

WRITING PROCESS EVOLVED

At some part it is the same since I was 12. The same feeling. The same excitement before you starting to do something new. But of course we getting new experience from gigs, studio process and with the next demo we trying to use that experience in a right way: to make better arrangements, tempo, melodies, singing etc. The better we work on a demo – the easier will be in the studio.

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WHERE THEY GREW UP /LIVE IMPACTS CREATIVITY My parents gave me piano lessons when I was 6. They’ve always supported any of my creative beginnings… but I wasn’t familiar with learning the music in a standard way, so even later at the school when I study classic guitar or electric guitar with personal teacher – I felt it’s something missing. I get real experience only making music on my own and later with the bands. So for now I keep learning.

ALBUM ARTWORK It’s all together. Usually we just playing with different ideas, designers etc. And choose the one that fits better than the other for the particular LP. It takes a lot of time. Yes. Process might get too far and too nervous for everybody but in the end we got the best result from any others.

ARTWORK – CONVERSATION BETWEEN ART AND MUSIC VS. COOL PACKAGING Trying to balance all of it. The process is more intuitive as we are not always can say what the main idea of LP is. For example – Tropical – is just the name of the song. But with the artwork it gave the meaning to the whole album and people use to get us as an easy summer music band. Which we didn’t meant in the beginning…

PRESS PHOTOGRAPHS We had the photoset at el matador beach with Brandon B jones – which is perfect match with the late 80s look. I also love the way we doing with Alexey Kiselev in Moscow – kind of a documentary shots. Always cool!

WHO CHANGED THE MUSIC INDUSTRY

Oh… hard to say. Are we talking about trends or the artists who became legends? Trendy band can change the music but lost in the history…for me there is some bands that is probably didn’t made a revolution but left a big footstep in history: such as Prefub Sprout or Sade etc. This is hard question to me. I am not a specialist in music industry and theory.

SONGS THAT REPRESENTS THEM 2009-2012 era: Cheenese, Power, 90, YAHTBMF, Slow 2013-2015 era: Satellite, Real, Liar, Pasadena, Tell me Tell me 2016 era: more new to come…

VISOION OF MUSIC EVOLVED

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Yes. It always changes. It adds something new every year as we keep opening for ourselves a lot of new music from past and from these days.

On the other hand I see the strong lifeline of our music style, I see how it develops from year to year

“Our goal during the process of creating songs is to make them sound organic in studio as well as live. When you’re in studio or doing demo on a laptop it is always hard to not over-produce or over-compose the song. You want to add as many instruments as many ideas appear. So within the first LP we had that problem of difference between studio versions and live versions of the songs. We fixed that issue on «Real» - the songs were recorded in the way most close to live performance. So we are having fun performing them now on tour.”

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YOUNG RISING SONS

Interview with Andy Tongren

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Already packed to near capacity within 15 minutes of doors opening, people secured there spot as close to the barricade free stage as possible. Standing off to the side of the stage where the bands get on is also where all of the musician’s friend’s/ TM’s / and people who didn’t want to be crowded in stood. Being in this close proximity allowed for some insights that not many others in attendance witnessed. There was the few moments before Young Rising Sons went on stage when all of the members, their TM, and friends were all standing right there feeling the excitement of the crowd and getting hyped up. There was the friends when Young Rising Sons being to play Turnin’ were talking about how amazing of a song it was. There was the tour photographer who during both Halsey and YRS sets would be there with a camera in hand the exact second he needed to be.

There was sweat. There was booze. There was cigarettes.

There was Rock N Roll. Words and photography by Heather Hawke.

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Three of the members Dylan Scott, Julian Dimagiba and Steve Patrick all grew up in New Jersey playing in various bands together. After playing for nearly ten years together and nothing having fit quite right, they came upon Andy Tongren who they met in a bar in the city playing an open-mic night.

All of the members knew from a pretty early age that it would be music or bust, Andy says. “We each respectively began playing around 11 and ever since, music has been engrained in us.”

For him, the move from growing up in Ohio to now living in New Jersey led him the ability to immerse himself in a huge music culture built around Bruce Springsteen. “We didn’t necessarily have an icon like that growing up in Ohio. To go out to bars in New Jersey and see literally everyone at the bar screaming every Bruce lyric was such a cool thing for me, and I think that certainly plays a role in our music.”

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Their music to them allows them to experience exposing, protecting, and healing with their art. Andy says that they are constantly exposed, that’s a part of any art and you have to be willing to throw yourself into the fire, but in return you heal through songwriting and it’s about having the resilience to rebound after putting yourself in a vulnerable position where things may not have gone the way you had hoped.

For their writing process the four of them work together in order to write the best songs they possibly can. He says that it will always stem from an idea that someone brings in initially and they work together to finish it until it’s something they can all stand behind and be proud of. Occasionally there can be small tweaks they make here there, but for the most part he says things remain intact.

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As for where the lyrics come from he mentions that if you go out and search for inspiration you most likely won’t find it, you have to let it come to you.

“At times that can be frustrating, but you can certainly tell when a song is coming from an honest place and we don’t like to write music that doesn’t come from that place, because what’s the point? It will come in waves, but when you know you have an idea worth writing down, whether you’re on tour, at the grocery store, or half asleep in bed, you know.”

It would be difficult not to see how aware and careful these musicians are about the aesthetic they put out, so when it comes to album artwork it’s very important to them that they have full say in the artistic vision and are a part of the entire process.

Andy says that they work with a very good friend of theirs who shares their vision and together they bring that vision to live. “For us as a band it, our artwork has to match our brand, our message, and our sound. I think that cohesiveness is what at the end of the day makes an ‘aesthetically cool package.’

Another friend of theirs is Jesse DeFlorio, who’s their tour photographer. “I think his biggest strength is capturing & documenting very specific moments and feelings, and having that is such a vital part of our vision and aesthetic. ‘Almost Famous’ is one of our favorite movies of all time, and Jesse DeFlorio is the William Miller to our Stillwater. Fingers crossed he doesn’t write an article for Rolling Stone that makes us look bad.”

Their new album isn’t out yet but they’re already playing three unreleased songs from it. To them being able to play the songs live and see the reaction from the audience, for songs that aren’t even out yet, has been incredible. Although it’s unreleased, the last track of their upcoming album, Andy says, sums up just about everything they are, and everything they wish to achieve as a band.

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One of the things they want to achieve as a band is getting to interact with their listeners outside of them being onstage. Andy says that although Chicago has always been a favorite of theirs to play, their last trip there (while on their headliner at a sold out Park West) was a night that really sticks out. “It was freezing outside and fans had camped out overnight in line so we brought them hot chocolate.

Moments like that really stand out to me because I think it allows fans to see us as fellow humans rather than through a phone screen while we play on stage.

I think that went on to make the show just that much more special.”

As everyone is constantly changing and evolving, he says, so has their vision in music, which is the beauty of life in general. “Life would be boring if things stayed stagnant. We have learned quite a lot since we first began playing and we still have quite a bit to learn. We play music because it’s constantly evolving and challenging us in new ways.”

“It was freezing outside and fans had camped out overnight in line so we brought them hot chocolate. Moments like that really stand out to me because I think it allows fans to see us as fellow humans rather than through a phone screen while we play on stage. I think that went on to make the show just that much more special.”

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She’s been playing music since the age of nine, and as a kid she was always waiting for Friday night open mic nights at her parent’s coffee shop to roll around. Since music has always been a part of her life, she says, there was never a deciding factor to whether or not she’d do this as a career, though she has had moments of validation along the way that’s kept her going.

It was her move to L.A. when her life started to shift, saying that opportunities are endless if you look in the right places. “I somehow fell into a circle of people who have helped further my career. I'm still doing the same thing but my positioning in the industry has changed.”

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“I've had melt downs because somebody airbrushed my face without my consent. I rarely take makeup on tour with me because I find it silly to waste time trying to create something pretty for other people to look at. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with putting on a little blush but there's a line where insecurity and beauty gets too blurry. I want to empower women.”

She’s always wanted to write music because singing other people’s work never interested her. Don’t get her wrong, she’s all for collaborating, but for her there's a certain point where it starts to feel contrived. “I will always keep working my songwriting muscle, the more you practice the better it gets.”

The best medicine and teacher when she’s needed guidance has been music. She writes when she’s searching for clarity. Saying that, “It's a powerful force that moves people, exposes emotion, and changes lives. It's my healer.”

Recreating the songs live has never been hard for her to translate, because she wrote them with the intention of playing big stages. “I knew from the moment I wrote the first song off the record (Sweet Ophelia) that the music was going to demand a type of live performance that I had not yet experienced. Luckily, all the guys I'm my band are extremely talented musicians that have made the transition painless.”

Although the writing process is always different, she says she tends to mumble her way into a melody and the lyrics follow shortly after.

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Her lyrics for this album have two sides; lightness and darkness. The first half was written when she was exploring her new home of California with a sort of naïveté. “The prospective was beautiful as I was reflecting on the place I had come from and discovering myself in this new world as a young woman. Getting out of my hometown allowed me to take a closer look into who I really was with a new found inspiration.” The second half of the record was written after a year in LA when she fell into a toxic relationship with a person that pushed her into a dark place. “I was losing it a little and had to fight my way back out of a black hole. There are a few songs on the album dedicated to the fighter in all of us. "Sweet Ophelia" as the good witch and "Hypnotic" as the wicked witch.”

She mentions how common it is with musician’s to have all the time in the world for their debut album, but the second one being weighed down by expectation. “I had the luxury of having only my most inspired songs make it on to the record. I don't like every song I write because sometimes that special energy isn't in the room. Songs pick you.”

Since, she says, different head spaces call for different types of songs, she likes the fact that there's no answer to the equation of music, it’s only the best idea being put forth. “My expression doesn't speak to some people but to others it connects.”

Connecting her music with her album artwork is one of the things that she aims for and since her first release she’s been collaborating with her friend, Brock Lefferts, from Arizona. “We have an incredible creative process that has greatly impacted the music visually by keeping everything cohesive. He's taught me so much about the importance of visual consistency.”

In the artwork she’s had a bit of both, a conversation between music and art and also an aesthetically cool package. “I've had pieces where I start off with a very strong aesthetic vision to convey a message and others where I've wanted to simply capture a feeling using vibrant shapes and colors.”

She feels very strongly about natural beauty so when it comes to her press photographs she wants to be represented as so. “I've had melt downs because somebody airbrushed my face without my consent. I rarely take makeup on tour with me because I find it silly to waste time trying to create something pretty for other people to look at. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with putting on a little blush but there's a line where insecurity and beauty gets too blurry. I want to empower women.”

As a musician who wants to empower women, she says, Patti Smith was one to change the industry when she proved herself as a rock and roll star amongst all the men during a controversial time in music. “John Lennon changed the industry when he asked people to imagine. Freddie Mercury changed the industry when he wrote the arrangement for "Bohemian Rhapsody" in his head. Michael Jackson changed the industry when he decided to moonwalk.”

All in all she says, “My message is becoming more fluid as I continue to write more music and lose myself in performances.”

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Interview with Kevin Duquette

I want to start from the beginning. What was the defining moment that laid the foundation for your passion for the music industry? Maybe after a specific concert or an encounter with somebody in the industry.

I played in a band for a little while with some friends.

We started freshman year of high school and more or less all learned how to play our instruments together. Once that ended, I realized I still had an itch to participate in my local music community. At the time, I had decided I wanted to go into graphic design as a career and was entering college intending to declare that as my major. I hadn't really messed around with web design or development too much, but I had built a simple website for my band and had the thought that I might be able to parlay what I learned doing that into something useful for the local scene or whatever. So I started building an event listing / artist index / forum for local music. I learned a lot about how to code and web design in general from that — kinda boring and not really a "moment", but it laid the foundation for me that I could be involved in music — and feel valued; feel like I was contributing — without actually playing in a band. That was an important realization and one that would serve as the basis for getting Topshelf started, I guess.

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“We didn't feel like the bands we cared about locally really had much of a wider audience outside our general geographic region and wanted to be in a position to help amplify what we were all doing to reach a wider audience. It took a while to get to that point, though.”

You two started the company back in 2005, as a means to release your own band’s music. During this time is when social media was just becoming prominent and creating and maintaining websites was still basically for experts only. Back then if companies were online it was a plus to their company, but now having your company online is an absolute necessity. From your point of view how do you think the digital age has helped or hurt somebody trying to start their label/ business?

So, I guess, like I just touched on, I taught myself how to code with all these little music pet projects I had (including building a website for our fledgling little label). So it was pretty cool to have a "good" (ish) website that really kinda stood out at the time when most everyone else was on Angelfire or Geocities or just using a Myspace. I think as how you market or present yourself on the web has grown and evolved, it's only become more helpful.

Things are accessible now in ways unimaginable even a decade ago. Though there's considerable more noise and I feel people's attention spans in general are shorter than ever, I still think it's pretty awesome. I feel like you can get started with a new idea or "business" so, so quickly nowadays. I'm actually super jealous of it, haha! But I guess all the labels of the 80's and 90's must feel the same way about us starting in 2005, haha.

How long was it from when the idea of a label like Topshelf first came into your mind and the time of you actually pursuing it?

Oh, like the same week! Seth and I met in the summer of 2005, actually, and upon our first time actually hanging out is when we kind of conceived the idea out of a mutual love for music — particularly what was happening locally. We didn't feel like the bands we cared about locally really had much of a wider audience outside our general geographic region and wanted to be in a position to help amplify what we were all doing to reach a wider audience. It took a while to get to that point, though.

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Braid by Katie Hovland

Did you feel as though you sort of had an obligation to start Topshelf Records?

It didn't feel like an obligation or duty or anything I would ever consider "work" — it was just something we wanted to do. We felt inspired by what a lot of our peers were doing and along with our own band's music, wanted to give it a bigger audience. We didn't really fully understand what a label does back then. I think we approached it more of a "collective" or "collection", even (a mindset that hasn't changed too much over the years). Early on it was absolutely thankless, haha, but we really did just see it as something we were doing because we simply felt like and enjoyed it.

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When did Topshelf Records transition from a hobby to a career?

I wish there was a single moment to point to here, but it's more correct to say it happened gradually, over many years. As it ate up more and more and more of our personal time, we slowly started to have things like our cell phone bills or rent paid for by the label because we were out of school now and simply couldn't keep it going any other way. We weren't making nearly enough to pay ourselves livable salaries so we kept rolling all of our profits back into the label to support and pay bands and cover all the label-y things labels do while working 9-5 day jobs.

Probably the closest thing to a "when" for when this transition occurred is when I quit my day job in 2011 and Seth quit his later in 2014. Over those three years, we really got more organized and productive and finally felt like a real "thing". It's funny how you can do something for half a decade before it feels like it's truly what you actually do.

Frameworks by Mitchell Wojcik

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Can you identify the moment that made you realize your whole life had changed?

The first day after my last day of my 9-5 job. I woke up and just worked from home — on stuff for the label! All day long! Haha, it was incredible.

I know back in the winter of 2008- 2009 Topshelf was going through a rough process and you two had second thoughts about the label, but then after discussing it with each other you two decided to keep on the pursuit. What changed in those few months from rock bottom to releasing some of the albums that have basically built the foundation that Topshelf sits on, (i.e. Pianos Become the Teeth’s “Old Pride, My Heart to Joy’s “Seasons In Verse”, We Were Skeletons’ “S/T”, Big Kids’ “Hoop Dreams”, Defeater’s “Travels” and Rooftops’ “A Forest of Polarity”)?

I think this goes back to your first question a little — we both really had a desire to be involved in music. So, even though we felt we had kind of hit a wall, taken a few wrong turns or missteps or whatever — and even after a little falling out between the two of us (totally my bad btw), we still came back to that. So we re-grouped and talked about some bands that had us excited — most of which you've listed!

How has growing up on the East Coast and now moving to the West Coast area impacted you creatively?

I'm not certain yet, honestly. I don't know if this will wear off or not, but I feel guilty if I don't go outside and at least enjoy even a small part of the day here — whereas in Boston, haha, I recall sometimes not even leaving my apartment for literally days at a time. One thing I've noticed is I don't go to as many shows out here (Boston just had more shows coming through than San Diego does). Also, shows out here have a different vibe. Overall, I'm finding that I'm using the internet more to keep in touch, to keep tabs, to follow things I care about, to be involved... whereas on the east coast I might have been a more active participant. This is new for us, though, so I'm sure we'll find our niche here too — even if we have to make it ourselves.

“I don't know if this will wear off or not, but I feel guilty if I don't go outside and at least enjoy even a small part of the day here — whereas in Boston, haha, I recall sometimes not even leaving my apartment for literally days at a time.”

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“I can turn party mode and business mode on or off pretty quickly. I want this to be fun, though, so if I'm at one of our band's shows I'm gonna have a good time and geek out or whatever, but you can also catch me sending emails in between sets.”

Why did you two decide to take Topshelf to San Diego?

There are a variety of reasons (many of which I touched on here: http://kevinduquette.tumblr.com/post/104870931302/ive-lived-in-my-apartment-in-boston-for-the-past) — but mostly this was the only city standing in the proverbial Venn diagram of places Seth and I (and his wife) all mutually agreed upon moving to. They have some family here; we all have some friends here; we wanted a change of pace, scenery and lifestyle; and we all felt LA was too oversaturated both from a business standpoint and a personal. We felt like we could really do our own thing our way in San Diego.

Being the owners of Topshelf you are the final deciders when it comes to what bands/artists gets signed, so needless to say you two both love them. Working with all of these bands that you love, is it hard or has it ever been hard to separate being a fan and being a professional?

I should preface this in saying that most days I'm working while in my pajamas until about 1pm or so. But all the same: yes? https://youtu.be/IjYZtlt9rTM?t=11s. I can turn party mode and business mode on or off pretty quickly. I want this to be fun, though, so if I'm at one of our band's shows I'm gonna have a good time and geek out or whatever, but you can also catch me sending emails in between sets. Worrying about "being professional" is why I quit my job to do this five years ago so I'm psyched that it's not something I'm really required to think about anymore.

What do you look for in a band/ album (beside their music) for you to think about signing them?

I don't know if this makes much business sense and I don't know if it's something that people even appreciate or whatever — I just want it to be something that I connect to or really enjoy or be something that has meaning for me, personally. If those things are present, I don't have to trick you or pound you repeatedly over the head about it — it's ubiquitous. Facebook numbers and all that junk are 1,000% irrelevant to me.

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With the internet making both finding bands and making music so much more accessible, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by all the music out there. What is your routine of scouting for bands? Is it on the internet, word of mouth, or a mixture?

So, like I touched on earlier — out here, I feel slightly less physically engaged in the music community on a national level, but I feel more tuned in to things online than ever before. There's more bullshit to filter through than ever before too, but the same shit I did back in 2005 is still largely what I do today. It's a fucking absolute joy to seek out and discover new music. I check a lot of blogs I've followed for years, a few message boards, take the word of a select few friends whose opinions I hold in high regard... I also love Bandcamp and SoundCloud and still love last.fm after all these years.

Toe courtesy of Topshelf

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You must always be thinking of ways to improve and to evolve to stay ahead of the game with marketing ideas. Do you feel pressure or inspired with all the other music/ labels out there?

This comes and goes. There are some days I wake up feeling completely devastated about where we are and where we are headed and what we're doing and not doing, etc. And then a week later I'm riding this high of "I AM THE UNSTOPPABLE KING OF EVERYTHING EVERRRRR!!!� Haha, it's funny like that. There's a lot of behind the scenes that can get you kinda bent up; things you get emotionally invested in that don't pan out, etc. There are also so many incredible things that happen, like, all the friggin' time to offset those though, haha! Increasingly, I feel constant pressure and am constantly finding inspiration. I think it's the most exciting time for music in decades.

A Great Big Pile of Leaves by Shervin Lainez

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Happy Diving courtesy of Topshelf

Is there a moment that sticks out in your head that made you realize that this is the perfect job for you?

I don't remember when, but at some point I must have realized I could marry my passions with my professional experiences and not have to do shit I don't want to do for people I don't want to do it for — and my parents didn't think I was a fuck up for doing it!? Perfect.

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InďŹ nity Girl courtesy of Topshelf

What do you see happening for the future of record labels?

I think there was briefly a period over the last half decade where artists sort of felt like — with the advent of inexpensive means of recording coupled with services like Kickstarter, TuneCore, Bandcamp, etc. — they felt like, "well, what do I need you for?". And, while many are succeeding and thriving in that environment, I also think it contributes to a lot of the static. So, I feel like labels are important again because we maintain relationships, have the attention of broad audiences and have distribution networks in place (not to mention more traditional and obvious aspects like PR, marketing, radio, promotional and financial muscle). I think now more than ever, labels serve to curate, cut through said static and amplify / broaden the reach of the artists we work with.

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Nai Harvest by Ed Crisp

Last question, what do you hope to contribute through Topshelf?

Good question. I've actually been thinking about this a lot of late. I think music is important and people obviously connect with it in many different ways — come at it in different ways and from different places. It's important, for sure. I also feel like, sometimes, that I have an opportunity to be able to do more to help with issues that I care about — social issues, environmental issues, animal rights issues, etc. — so we've been internally discussing ways we can build that into our day-to-day. This is like, our own business that we started from scratch, so we get to decide what we want to do with it and what kind of things we think we can help raise awareness of, or get behind with this platform that we've built over time. We make pretty sizable donations to the MSPCA, V-Day, Doctors Without Borders and The Ally Coalition through portions of proceeds from sales, eBay auctions, pay-what-youwant compilations, etc. But we'd really like to have this more ingrained into what we do. In much the same way I felt a sense of pride very early on for being involved in DIY in my local music community, I'd like to grow that and re-apply it here for doing something more meaningful than simply releasing records people can buy.

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DECORATED YOUTH 94 | Decorated Youth Magazine

ISSUE 7