We Want Our Music to Strike a Common Chord with Others - AngryLaughter

How and when did you start on your musical journey?
It started at a very young age. Not the performing of music, but listening to music. It started with Elvis. My mom bought me one of his records. I used to listen to his songs over and over and do the air guitar thing. I didn’t start playing guitar until much later near the end of high school. Though I was in the school band. Lisa is a classically trained pianist who refuses to stand up while playing. She also still uses printed sheet music for all of our performances. I keep telling her we’re not playing in church, but she still insists. Mark’s been in bands for a long time. They almost won the big battle of the bands competition in Utah. Sam just joined us. We needed a bass player so we handed him a bass and he jumped up on stage with us. And that was the first time he played the instrument.

What kind of music do you like to make? How would you describe your music?
We like to make music that says something but also does more. We want our music to strike a common chord with others. It’s a way that we express things that are deep inside us. Music can bring people together on a very emotional level and if we can help others feel they aren’t alone, we’re happy.

Who is your musical inspiration?
We’re influenced most by the classic rock genre – artists like The Who, Beatles, Neil, Elton. But the music we play ranges from that to alternative to acoustic singer/songwriter with a bit of punk thrown in here and there.

How do you distinguish yourselves from others?
We don’t need to. We’re all homely enough that we stick out in a crowd. Except for Lisa, that is. But seriously, we’re different in our approach to music. We don't have a uniform or specific "look" to our band, nor the music we write. The variety inspires us and rouses our creativity. No one, including us, really knows what kind of sound our next song will have!

Do you write your own songs?
We write our own music. Occasionally, we’ll play a cover. It’s probably a fault when we play out that we don’t have as many covers as some people would like. But when we play music, it’s our insides we want to come out. So we choose our covers carefully and we make them our own.

Tell us more about your album 'One Way Street' on Guitarati. What is the inspiration behind the album?
It’s been in the works for a long time. We had a large collection of songs written over like 10 years. Ironically, only ones written in the last three years made it onto the album. We recorded everything in our home studio on a Mac and Logic. We did all the engineering, production, artwork, and packaging ourselves. The album reflects the journey through life. You learn as you go, and though you can look back, you can’t go back.

Are you working on a new album?
Well, that may differ across band members, but for at least two of us, the favorite is "One Way Street". This song originally was recorded with just an acoustic guitar and vocals, paralleling the theme or premise of the lyrics. However, we decided to record the song with a full instrumental sound and now are torn between which of those two is our favorite! Overall, we love that song because of the simplicity of the lyrics that attempt to convey many complex life challenges. We have a very interesting idea in the works, but it’s so secret, we can’t talk about it yet.

What is a day like in the life of a musician?
So little time, so many songs to write…