7-04-03
NIKKI SCHATZMAN
sonicmax
We sat down with rockers, Joe Sumner, Seton Daunt, Pete Wilhoit, and Dan Brown of Fiction Plane, and asked all the questions you’d want to know. Curious as to who has influenced their melodic rock style? How about what they think of the divisions the rock music genre has scene in past years? I suggest you read on.
Q: How does it feel to be on the road with the Juliana Theory, Something Corporate, and Vendetta Red?
Joe: It is very cool. It is our first show with them. We have played loads of little club gigs. We mostly play in front of people’s mums and friends and stuff. So it’s the first time to be serious people.
Q: Are you a big fan of the bands you’re playing with?
Joe: We are big fans of Something Corporate. They are really good.
Q: Have you made lots of friends out on the road?
Joe: It tends to be really good out on the road. You make friends very quickly. We played with the guys of Something Corporate in London once and then we saw them today and they were really cool. It’s really easy to make friends.
Q: Do you miss home being on the road now?
Joe: No, not at all. I don’t miss it at all. I’ve lived in England. But I went to high school in Boston so I’m used to living away from home.
Q: What CD’s are you listening to right now?
Joe: We were listening to Frank Ankus in the car today; they are very musical. We like the new Roots album, Coldplay, and System of a Down.
Q: What is the last show you’ve been to, other than your own?
Joe: I don’t know. It was probably Sigur Rós in New York. They play very long, drawn out music with lots violins and it just goes on. They don’t speak to the audience until the very end and they just bow and say thank you. It is very orchestral kind of music and they are from Iceland.
Q: Who are your biggest influences?
Joe: We have been influenced by Nirvana, Faith No More, Radiohead, Coldplay, and a lot of other stuff. Anything. Although, I don’t know what we sound like. If you’ve heard the record, it sounds like that!
Q: The album’s title, ‘Everything Will Never Be OK’, suggests a very negative outlook on life. How does your actual outlook compare to the album’s title?
Joe: I kind of have that attitude. I don’t mean that everything sucks, but I mean that everything will never be perfect and to more enjoy things as they happen. But there are other songs, which have worse moods that I’m sometimes in, that do say ‘the world sucks’ but everyone feels that way sometimes.
Pete: I am very easy going and I know that things aren’t perfect, but I am very grateful for all the good things that have happened. I know that bad things happen to good people but every day as a musician I really feel thankful because I know that there are lots of people that would love to be in this position that can’t be and its really fun to go out on stage and play music for a living. Especially with guys that you like and music that you like. I am just really thankful for all of this.
Q: Whom do you owe your success to?
Joe: Everyone who believes in me. My parents, the other guys in the band, everyone who has listened to us and said ‘you can do it’. It ends up being a lot of people. We were trying to do the thank you’s for the album and we tried to limit it to only anyone who has helped with the music and that is really everyone I have ever met.
Q: What do you think of the divisions and labels that the rock genre has seen in past years?
Joe: It’s kind of boring. It ruins music in a way. You say ‘what kind of band is it?’ and it is generalized as ‘this kind of band’ but for example, Slipknot may write a song which is really cool but it doesn’t sound like Slipknot so they cant release it because of the record label and what not.
Q: How big of an influence do record labels have in the songs that a band can release? Do they limit your music at all?
Joe: For us, we haven’t been pushed in any direction other than our own. I thought they would make us be like Blink 182 because the song that they signed us on was ‘Cigarette’ and that sounds a little bit like that but we were worried that they’d make the rest of the songs sound the same, but they didn’t. They were just like ‘whatever’ but maybe if this record really sucks and no one likes it, they will make us be like that!
Q: What is your favorite song off the record, specifically the one that is closest to you?
Joe: It depends on the day. Now I really like Soldier Machismo. But it depends on how I’m feeling. Sometimes someone will play a song on the CD and I’m like ‘uggh…that’s so annoying’
Pete: I like ‘real, real’. It’s very melodic, slow and melodic, but it still has a lot of backbone to it. As a drummer it is very fun to play that tone. It is very dynamic; it really rocks and also grooves in a funky way. It really grabbed me when I first had it and it has remained my favorite song. I really like ‘Cigarette’ also. That was the first song I’ve ever heard.
Q: Now Pete, you were not an original member of the band, tell us how you became the final link to Fiction Plane.
Pete: I heard Cigarette online and decided Fiction plane was the band I wanted to be in so I drove from Indiana to New York City and auditioned and we played a show together 4 days after that. It’s been great so far.
Q: Why did you decide to audition specifically for Fiction Plane?
Pete: I’ve been in bands before and I’ve been wanting to get in a band that I see eye to eye with musically and that’s ready to go on tour and so this is the perfect match. I like all the guys. They are all really cool, really easy going, with the same sense of humor, and it’s been really nice so far. It’s exactly what I want to do.
Q: How did you get started playing?
Pete: I started with a friend of mine in 4th grade. He played piano and id play drums and then id play piano and he’d play drums. It just seemed like something that would be really easy for me. I had a choice in 5th grade to play drums or French horn because we needed a French horn in the band, but I decided to play drums. I had some really good teachers along the way that have helped me too.
Q: What does drumming mean to you?
Pete: It isn’t just about to be able to physically play the instrument, rather learning what you want to express while using the instrument. It takes a lot of time, like anything in life that you really dedicate yourself to, that you decide can express yourself best. There is rhythm in life and within all of us, and tapping into it and disciplining yourself.
Although too modest to admit it, Fiction Plane, is filled with talent and good spirit that will take their music to very high places. Music is the drive behind their lives, and just by listening to their album; you will gain a deeper understanding into their lives, thoughts, and emotions, and perhaps learn something about yourself along the way.
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