EMQ’s with COLLEGE RADIO

EMQ’s with COLLEGE RADIO

Hi everyone! Welcome to our new EMQ’s interview with Seattle, WA based Pop Punk Rock band College Radio. Huge thanks to them for taking part.

What is your name, what do you play, and can you tell us a little bit about the history of the band?

What’s up we are College Radio from Seattle, WA.

Gordon: I play guitar and sing.

Taylor: I Play guitar and sing.

Evan: I play bass and sing.

Mike: The Drum’s play me.

Gordon: Brief history of the band. I started College Radio just after leaving a band called “Enterprise Earth” I’ve spent the last couple of years playing heavier music aka deathcore. Played in “I Declare War” from 2012-2016 then Enterprise Earth 2016-2017

CR originally started with former drummer Cody and former Bass player Dylan.  Taylor joined shortly after we played all over the PNW with lots of killer acts. Come the fall of 2019 Evan took over bass duties as well as shared lead vocals with myself. And now we have this amazing line up with Myself, Taylor, Evan and new drummer Mike.

Evan: My other band was actually opening for College Radio on Halloween, and we must’ve done a good job, because right after we were done, Gordon came up to me (and this is Halloween, so I am dressed like Scott Pilgrim and he is in full day of the dead make up) And he asked me “hey, do you do any other bands? Do you want to?” And the rest was history

How did you come up with your band name?

Gordon: Originally, I wanted to call the band “Growing Pains” but the style I first started writing in just didn’t fit and sorta just stumbled upon College Radio and it stuck!! We would eventually use Growing Pains as a track title. But that’s for a different time

What Country/Region are you from and what is the Metal/Rock scene like there?

Gordon: We are from the west coast/left coast/ Pacific North West and our music scene is freaking amazing. We have so many talented musicians in Seattle and Portland. Lots of love and lots of musicians who are working very hard.

Acts like “Avoid, Fiore, Into The Flood, Dragged Under, No Home, Amber Pacific, MxPx, Nedder, Green Lake Basement, Less Than Three, Kids On Fire, The Drowns, The Home Team, IDW, Moneta, The Classic Crime, Pretty Awkward, Midnight Movie…. the list is huge and that’s just some off the top of my head!!

What is your latest release? (Album, EP, Single, Video)

Gordon: Our latest Release would be our single ‘Shine On’, Dec/Jan music video as well. Still very fresh but we also have a new single ‘Untitled’ dropping this month (July) via Third String Records and more to come 😉

Shine On (Official Music Video)

Who have been your greatest influences?

Gordon: I will have to say Alkaline Trio, Green Day, Blink 182, NFG, Jawbreaker, The Clash….so many to name lol

Evan: The Bouncing Souls and NoFX for heavy bass and catchy sing-alongs, Big D and the Kid’s Table and Reel Big Fish, Because you can never be too poppy or fun, and Say Anything and Oingo Boingo, because I try to never let genre be a constraint. There’s always room to be weird, for a weird chord, or an orphan measure, or a time change.

What first got you into music?

Gordon: My dad used to quiz me on classic rock bands when I was little.

Taylor: I first got into music at the age of three or four when my parents would play me the Elton John greatest hits album in the car. I still blast that album in my car to this day lol.

Evan: My mom would play classical music in the car when she drove me to school every morning. It was cool how the songs were able to elicit so many feelings and evoke so many abstract concepts, without ever using words, just expressing those ideas through the music.

Mike: Same as Gordon my dad would annoyingly quiz me every time we were in the car with the classic rock station. He would also sit me down in the middle of the living room with surround sound and have me listen to record’s like Styx, Boston, Deep purple, T-Rex, Thin Lizzy and Supertramp etc. So grateful now that he felt the need to instil his love of music to me!

If you could collaborate with a current band or musician who would it be?

Gordon: Most def Matt or Dan from Trio or Travis from Blink!!!

Taylor: Mike Herrera of MxPx for sure

Evan: Fred Armisen

Mike: Tobin Abasi or Tim Henson

If you could play any festival in the world, which would you choose and why?

Gordon: I think for me either Download fest or any big open-air fest in Europe!!!

Taylor: I would love to play Riot Fest in Chicago because the hype is real over there

Evan: FYF (Fuck Yeah Fest). It’s in the middle of Chinatown in downtown LA, the sound is surprisingly amazing, and it’s super eclectic and fun.

Mike: Aftershock festival in my hometown of Sacramento, CA!

What’s the weirdest gift you have ever received from a fan?

Gordon: hmmm that’s tough when I was in IDW we would get some really weird things but nothing too weird yet in CR lol

Taylor: Back in the day I played an acoustic set at warped tour and after I was done playing someone gave me an old beaten up hat that looked like it was stopped on after a mosh pit, so I took it and said “thanks dude”.

Evan: I haven’t gotten a lot of gifts, but after a show one time, a fan told me I had “ The best feet in pop punk,” and I’m still trying to figure that one out.

If you had one message for your fans, what would it be?

Gordon: Go support local music cause without the fans supporting their local scene there would be nothing.

Evan: Thank you so much for listening to us! We would still be doing this, even if no one was listening, but the fact that you are makes it a lot more fun

If you could bring one rock star back from the dead, who would it be?

Gordon: Freddy Mercury

Taylor: John Lennon

Evan: John Bonham, the drummer for The Who. Not only was he hugely influential in the formation of heavy music, but he basically made the blueprint for so many staples of rock ‘n’ roll culture, like smashing instruments, trashing hotel rooms, and acting like a complete maniac. He’s a personal hero of mine.

Mike: Bonham played for Zeppelin Evan and the drummer for The Who was Keith Moon.  I would personally bring back a visionary like Jim Morrison or Jimi Hendrix.

What do you enjoy the most about being a musician? And what do you hate?

Gordon: I enjoy creating the most and a have a love hate relationship with recording lol.

Taylor: I’ve always loved playing shows and meeting new people to hang out with as well as the other bands I would play alongside with. I hate that being a musician doesn’t pay well, but that has never bothered me too much.

Evan: I love that music gives me a chance to communicate my thoughts and feelings to people. I’m terrible at talking about what’s going on with me, but for some reason, if you put a beat behind it, I’m more than willing to tell people all of my deepest darkest secrets. My least favourite part is carrying stuff. Why do so many venues have stairs??

Mike: I love the inexplicable joy I get from progressing at my instrument and hate that I don’t get to do it for a living…yet.

If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?

Gordon: Maybe more back to the bands.

Taylor: That record labels take better care of their artists.

Evan: I wish what we do was valued a little more. If I made more money doing this, I could focus all of my time on it, and do it more, and better.

Mike: Wish we could revert back to listening to entire album’s as a whole vs living in a “single” driven industry.

Name one of your all-time favourite albums?

Gordon: “Maybe I’ll Catch Fire” – Alkaline Trio.

Taylor: “Pet Sounds” – The Beach Boys.

Evan: “Shed Some Skin” – Slow Gherkin.

Mike: “Out Of The Blue” – E.L.O (Electric Light Orchestra).

What’s best? Vinyl, Cassettes, CD’s or Downloads?

Gordon: Vinyl all the way!!!!

Taylor: Vinyl’s are good just to have and listen to sometimes but CD’s are good to blast in your car so I would just go with both.

Evan: Vinyl, baby.

Mike: I prefer Vinyl, but they all have their place.

What’s the best gig that you have played to date?

Gordon: Sure, we all will say this but sold out Croc show this Jan w/The Classic Crime, Assuming We Survive & Pretty Awkward.

Taylor: Definitely our first sold-out gig with The Classic Crime in February right before the stupid pandemic took place. I would say it was all in good timing.

Evan: The Crocodile show with The Classic Crime and Assuming We Survive. It was sold out, they had Diet Coke in the green room for me, and I saw a dog stage-dive and crowd-surf. You can’t beat that.

If you weren’t a musician, what else would you be doing?

Gordon: Pro Wrestler:

Taylor: Working as a desk monkey for some big corporation like Microsoft or some shit lol.

Evan: Either a Marine Biologist or a Strip Club DJ. No in between!

Mike: I’ve lost sleep over this question when I doubt my career path and still don’t have an answer so I must be on the right track.

Which five people would you invite to a dinner party?

Gordon: Chris Farley, Stone Cold, Matt Skiba, Bruce Willis and Bill Murray.

Taylor: Jim Carrey, Kurt Cobain, Brian Wilson, George Harrison, and John Wilkes Booth.

Evan: Noel Fielding, Eric Andre, Andy Falkous (McLusky), Felix Biederman (Chapo Trap House), and Fat Mike.

Mike: The 95/96 Chicago Bull’s starting line-up.

What’s next for the band?

Gordon: We have our single ‘Untitled’ dropping in July and let’s just say a brand-new EP which should be announced sooner than later via Third String Records!!!

Evan: and we’re already a few songs deep into writing our next album!

What Social Media/Website links do you use to get your music out to people?

Gordon: We use pretty much all forms of social media, FB, Twitter, IG, Spotify, YouTube etc

Evan: MySpace, LinkedIn, local news comments sections…

www.collegeradiopnw.com/
www.facebook.com/collegeradiopnw/
www.twitter.com/CollegeRadioPNW
www.instagram.com/collegeradiopnw/

Jaffa Cakes! Are they a cake or a biscuit?

Gordon: Wait what’s a Jaffa cake?!?? Lol

Evan: I mean, it says cake in the name… but I’ve also never had one or seen one or know what the hell they are, so I guess you tell me.

Disclaimer: This interview is solely the property of Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this interview, unless you have the strict permission of said party. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.

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