www.facebook.com/somewherebetweenmusic
From: Bend, OR
Sounds like: Hard Rock/Metal
1. How did you get started with music and how did you develop your sound? Who thought of the name “Somewhere Between” and is there any meaning behind it?
Greg and I (Brett) were starting an instrumental solo project that I (Brett) had been recording by myself for a few years. I (Brett) released a few Instrumental albums for fun and we had decided to start jamming them as a band. After only a few weeks, I (Brett) kinda felt like it wasn't gonna go anywhere and if we really wanted to be successful, we needed something better that had vocals. As far as our sound, we all have our separate influences that drive it. We are all huge Sevendust and Avenged Sevenfold fans, but individually our music styles are all over the place that can vary anywhere from John Mayer and tonic, to As I Lay Dying and Dream Theater and anything in the middle. When it comes to the writing process, I (Brett) write and put the songs together and through the riffs and structure are mainly ready to go, we all throw in our own flavor to make it the perfect blend of a Somewhere Between song. The name Somewhere Between was chosen because I (Brett) had written a song called Somewhere Between, which was about a friend who had issues with multi-personalities. After trying to figure out what our band name was going to be, I (Brett) threw the name 'Somewhere Between' on the table and we all immediately fell in love with it.
2. What do you want listeners to take away from your "Somewhere Between" EP?
We really want people to hear our potential and what we're capable of accomplishing. We want the listeners to almost feel like they're at a live show seeing us when they listen to our EP. Most bands try to reflect the power of their album in a live setting. We are actually trying to reflect the power of our live shows into our album.
3. What can people expect from your live show?
A purely raw and powerful performance. We leave it all on the stage every time we play. It's chaotic, energetic and almost like we're having a party on stage. We really want the audience to feel like they're a part of the show and get them involved as if they're a part of the band.
4. What's your favorite track to play live?
We all have our own picks as far as what our favorite songs are to play live. Ramz's favorite is a song that will be on our next EP called 'Deny the Darkness'. My (Brett) favorite song to play would have to be another song that will be on our new EP called 'Light the Sky'. Robert's favorite is 'Somewhere Between' and Greg's is 'Without You', which are both off of our debut EP. Our favorite as a group would probably have to be another one off of our debut EP called 'Smoking Gun'.
5. Who are three bands you’d like to tour with?
Damn, we only get three? Lol! I'd say for TOP three we would have to go with Megadeth, Avenged Sevenfold and Sevendust. BUT just for the sake of throwing out some influences, we'd also love to tour with Bullet For My Valentine, Trivium, Killswitch Engage, Dream Theater and HELLYEAH. This list could keep going though.
6. Any crazy show stories?
We played a show in Astoria, Oregon at the Astoria Event Center (Port of Call) and had an amazing time. We had such an amazing time that most of the band got smashed and we left some gear in the venue after loading. Just before we had left, we remembered we had left gear inside and went in and grabbed it. We usually keep everything secured inside a trailer to avoid anything possibly getting stolen. Well, of course the gear we almost forgot was thrown into the front seat of the truck and left there overnight. We woke up the next morning and saw our truck window was smashed in and the gear was stolen. It took over 2 hours for the police to arrive in the city we stayed in because of other thefts they were dealing with that night. We learned two very valuable lessons that night: Don't get smashed until all the gear is loaded up and don't leave gear in the front seat of a vehicle overnight.
7. What’s your take on the current state of Hard Rock?
There are a lot of bands coming out of the woodwork and most of them are pretty damn good. It seems like the hard rock scene is flourishing these days. Since the recent digital age, there are many more opportunities for bands to be successful and it is creating more variety for the listener to choose from. It's a very healthy situation for the music industry.
8. What’s the current music scene like there in Oregon both locally and state wide?
It's amazing! Central Oregon is loaded with talented bands and extremely talented people. Since Bend, Oregon has been growing rapidly, there has been a flood of talent coming in. The only problem with that is that this area is lacking in venues to play, so it's tough getting shows around the area. State wide, there are some pretty amazing bands saturating the Portland area, but every city seems to have it's local favorites. Oregon, in general, is a great place for music.
9. What’s your take on legal/illegal music downloading?
Legal downloading is great. It's a new way for people to buy a band's song or album and continue supporting the music scene. Some of us still enjoy buying cds for the artwork and lyrics inside and some things can never replace that, but there's definitely nothing wrong with legal downloading. It also let's the music fan better select their favorite songs based on their budget. As far as illegal downloading is concerned, it's something that's obviously not in the best interest of the artist and absolutely hurts the artist, but is also something that will never go away and will always happen.
10. What’s next for Somewhere Between?
We have plenty of new material and have a new EP planned to begin recording in early July (2017). We just became members of the "From the Depths Entertainment" family and lots and lots of touring is on the horizon. We have a plan to just be the busiest group of people we can be. Everybody knows that a busy band equals success!
11. Any shoutouts?
We would like to give a shout out to all the wives and girlfriends for being so supportive of our musical endeavors, all of our influences for shaping who we are as a band, all the fans who believe in us and our goals, all the local venues who still support hard rock and metal music and all the aspiring musicians out there who have big goals and dreams. Never give up and keep doing what you're doing.
