Interviews

Interviews: Greyfield

Smother: Tell our readers how you guys came to be known as Greyfield? And how did you guys all meet and form the band?

JP: They already had the name before i was in the band, but it was from a street........or so I'm told. i heard their drummer quit, so i contacted them, tried out, and now were all in love....isnt that sweet?

Matt: Well...Greyfield is just a street name, there is no meaning behind it. We just liked it, and it stuck. Chris and I have been in bands together for like 5 years now, and we just knew of JP from another band he's in. We practiced with him one day, and he brought along his friend Steve, whom Chris and I ended up knowing for years also. It was all weird, but really cool because we knew instantly that we'd all get along.

Smother: Despite the fact that your band is only about a year old you have a pretty mature sound, what do you think the reasons are?

JP: I think we have a mature sound because we are all mature musicians and take our song writing very seriously. we all also have alot of experience which adds to the mature sounding soungs.

Matt: We're almost 2 now...we're getting old! Um...our sound is probably so mature just due to the fact that all 4 of us have been playing music at least half our lives, if not longer. That and 3 months after being a band, we went on a 2 month long tour, and that definately helped out a lot.

Smother: Being from Florida, what did you guys think about the whole Florida 2000 election snafu?

JP: Gore should have won?

Matt: I didn't pay much attention to that...I am not big on politics and stuff like that. It's all boring to me.

Smother: Usually a magazine or the label tries to define a band and they throw genres, and other bands at you. So what would YOU guys say you sound like?

JP: A cross between the Venga Boys and Ace of Base, before they had Ace in the band.

Matt: It's most easily classified as 'your two favorite bands, put together.'

Smother: What do you think is the most ridiculous "genre" out there? Mine might be skate-punk or nu-metal.

JP: Bluegrass, now thats funny.

Matt: Oh wow...I'm not sure...this is a tough question, because I don't want to offend anyone by saying their favorite type of music sucks or anything like that, because to them, it doesn't suck, but their opinion about my fav genre might be that it sucks, and then a whole scene-war starts, and I'm not motivated enough to deal with that. ha...

Smother: How's life on Search and Rescue Records? It seems like a pretty cool label to me even if there's only two bands on it right now. Are you guys going to shop to other labels eventually or stick with Search and Rescue?

JP: We'd def. like to shop to a bigger label, though search and rescue is awesome

Matt: Life is good. We are definately going to shop to bigger labels, but we wanted to get our name out there and get a little more exposure than what we were getting, and one of the best ways to do that is to sign with an indie label. We looked around at a few indie labels, and SNR offered everything we wanted and more, and Jon (the owner) is a really rad guy, and so we decided to sign with him.

Smother: What's been your favorite tour thus far?


Matt: It's down between two...either the one we did last summer, when we got to open for Goldfinger, it was also our first tour with our RV. Or the our most recent tour, it was for 2 weeks this past March. Our RV had broken down and we needed something to get around in, so we rented a Uhaul trailer and took my Explorer. It was so cramped, but so much fun.

Smother: What's your songwriting process? Do you write your lyrics based on real stuff or are you making shit up as you go along?

JP: Hmm, most of the new stuff has been ,made up as we go, though there is alot stored away that has already been written

Matt: Chris writes all the lyrics, and they are all real. Of course some things are going to have twists on them, but everything is structured off something real that has happened.
Smother: What do you think is your favorite song of yours? Why? And what song is the strongest?

JP: Breathe, it came to us in one big whirlwind and is just such a moving song, definately our best.

Matt: My favorite song is Turn Off the Sunlight, just because it's fun to play live. That and Sunrise, even though we don't play that much. I think our strongest song is the Calm Before or our newest one, Breathe. They're a little slower, but much more powerful. One of those songs that just grabs you, you know?

Smother: What do you think about our political climate? Between the recall, the march to war (twice), and the electric grid failing it seems like it politics are penetrating our lives even more so nowadays.

JP: Tell me about it, I wish theyd just go away.

Matt: Uhh...sure.
Smother: What's in your CD player/DVD player/X box/PS2/Gamecube these days?

JP: Thrice - the artist in the ambulance, Pretty Woman, and Marvel vs. Capcom2

Matt: CD player, lately it's been Jason Mraz, Count the Stars, Coldplay, Taking Back Sunday, and Gob. The last DVD I watched was My Big Fat Greek Wedding...and One Hour Photo. I don't play video games, so I can't answer the rest...although I downloaded Tetris on my cell phone and I play that a lot.

Smother: Any bands you guys think our readers should check out? Local or signed?

JP: 2 Left Feet and Far from Eden

Matt: Check out Dinkus 9, they're from Buffalo NY and AMAZING.

Smother: We ask this question of all the bands we interview just to see what the most creative response is. What would you do/say/act like if you met a guy named Carbomb?

JP: Yell Taliban and run like hell.

Matt: I wouldn't even notice probably. I'd probably end up calling him something like CB or C-bomb or something dumb, because that's what I do.

Smother: Anything else you'd like to add?

JP: Yellow is a fun color, shortbuses are yellow, I lost my short bus a long time ago.

Matt: I love Smother.net.


Links:

Official Site