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Early Warning System | ||
If you are looking for an Early Warning System, I think I may have the best early warning system for you. The Australian band that goes by the name Early Warning System is certainly proving that they have the right stuff. And with great talent comes great music. The band has an enormous amount of talent as they are definitely keeping rock alive. I recently had the pleasure to do an online interview with the members of the group. Here is the outcome:
MySpace Account:
http://www.myspace.com/ewsrocks
Dave McCallum- Vox/Harmonies
Kevin Windross - Guitars/Synth/Vox/Harmonies/ Producer
Nick Danser - Bass/Harmonies
Simon Waugh - Drums/Promotion
Isaac-Joseph: How is everyone doing today?
EWS: We're all doing well thanks mate. Great to be chatting with you.
Isaac-Joseph: You guys are from Australia. How is the music scene in your part of the country?
EWS: We live in Australia's capital city called Canberra. It’s a pretty small population of just under 400,000 people. In one sense, the music scene is really strong and competitive. It’s got two major Universities called Canberra Uni (UC) and Australian National Uni (ANU) which has a very strong live music scene. Many bands locally, nationally and internationally come to play at these two uni's which is where a lot of our support comes from. However the scene is dominated by pop rock and emo rock which seems to be the flavor of the month around Australia.
On a national scale, the scene is dominated by Australian Idol (like American Idol) where the successful or popular solo artists are signed to the majors (record companies) resulting from the TV show and large media/advertising interest. And because Australia is such a small market with limited majors and funding (only 4 or 5 major record companies), many bands are forced to look for interest and success overseas…which we believe is a good thing because there are so many more opportunities overseas anyway.
Isaac-Joseph: Who is Early Warning System (for my readers who are being introduced to you for the first time)?
EWS: We're a bunch of hard working, down to earth Aussie guys with a passion to play melodic hard rock to people who appreciate our sound and our honest songwriting. David (singer) and Kevin (guitarist/vox) have been friends for over 10 years. David and Kevin are the backbone of EWS and their unique style of songwriting coupled with their vocals, (melody and harmony that where made for each other) musicianship and stage presence are really starting to switch people on to the band's music. Our good friends and brothers, Simon (percussion/drums) and Nick (bass/backing vox) joined the band about 2 years ago after being involved in other projects before being free to join EWS.
Isaac-Joseph: You have named some of your influences as Kings X, Dreamtheater, Nickleback, and U2 to name a few. How have listening to these artists influence your own style?
EWS: Much of it has to do with the emotion, energy and virtuosity of the songs that have given us the greatest inspiration; Big vocals, big hooks, really strong harmonies - just kick ass songs. Bands like Dream Theatre, Kings X, Pink Floyd and Toto have inspired us to write in a "progressive" way to create more interest and dynamics in our music. We are now taking these ideas and forging our own sound, in a more commercial way. It’s the Billy Joel's and the U2's of the world who have shown us how to write passionately and poetically with catchy rock tunes that most people can identify with and relate to.
Isaac-Joseph: How important is it for your band to get your music heard by the masses? In other words, would you be just as happy if you had a small fan base as long as you could make music?
EWS: LOL...We've all had dreams of playing on big stadiums mainly due to our massive egos!! But seriously, we've talked a lot about this and came to the conclusion that if we did everything in our power to reach a large target audience and failed, we'd be just as happy drinking beer, writing and playing music in the local bar. We are close friends and enjoy hanging out with each other and our families. The music comes very naturally so we get a lot of satisfaction just hanging out and playing together. We all have jobs so it’s all good if things don't work out in the music sense. Having said that, we are an extremely determined and ambitious group and believe our passion, creativity and energy might just generate a larger fan base - if they want us!
Isaac-Joseph: Your album "Overworld" contains 10 really good tracks with a variety of different styles to listen too. Describe the process of making this album and what does it mean to have this heard by your fans:
EWS: The first 3 tracks on the Album were the last three we wrote. We are pretty happy with these songs because they take on a more progressive hard rock sound which is where we are taking our music- big songs with raw energy and emotion. Songs like "Bend" and "Shell" talk about believing in yourself and never giving up no matter the odds. They are very personal songs for us because they express our own experiences in a world full of challenges and disappointments. The third track Bipolar talks about depression and the ability to overcome darkness, fear and disappointment. So even though it has a melancholy title, the underlying message is about overcoming and having the courage to keep going.
Other songs like Light the way, Skin, In your Eyes, Rocketships, Big Yellow Sun (live track) were all written over a longer period of time when life was less pressured and more laid back. As a result, the songs were more introspective. The instrumental (last song on the album) was written and arranged by Kevin who had finished a tour with Phil Emmanuel (Tommy Emmanuel's brother) who inspired him to write about his experiences on the road. This is just a great melodic guitar piece in the vain of Satriani and Steve Lukather.
Obviously it's nice when people appreciate what you do. There's nothing better than getting mail on MySace or comments after our shows saying how good it made people feel. On the one hand, this is why we do this. On the other hand, we started out just wanting to write songs for our own enjoyment and fulfillment without any expectations. Now we feel lucky because what we started out doing as a labor of love is starting to resonate with more and more people who appreciate our songs. So, it is important that we continue to share our songs and experiences with our fans and in turn, our fans can share their stories with us. That's the magic of music. Everyone wins.
And of course, you can buy a copy of our album at www.myspace.com/ewsrocks...!!!
Isaac-Joseph: When you are making music, describe the feeling you get:
EWS: Great question!
Music is a tonic for us. We live to play music. It gives us this massive outlet where we get to express who we are and what we have each gone through as real people. Sometimes the music is upbeat and rocking. Sometimes it’s reflective and melancholy. Other times its just plain madness. Making music is about expressing our story which has been full of so many emotions - pain, bitterness, hope, laughter, freedom, unexplainable happiness, loneliness... We play music because it's in our blood, because it gives us a sense of community and brotherhood which is perhaps a spiritual experience to some degree? So to answer your question, it feels completely mind-blowing because of the sense of achievement we get, which in turn gives us a purpose and reason for being.
A good example would be our last rehearsal. We’d had such a great time joking around and being complete idiots even though we had this intention of writing a song together right there and then. But after a couple of solid hours jamming together our new single (for the next album) was born. "Shot From A Gun". It was a combination of hard work, experimentation and then breaking through. The song talks about being sick and tired of the 9-5 experience, getting to the weekend and just partying hard and letting go. It was just a fantastic creative experience. We believe in some sense we are created to create. So the feeling of accomplishment is what we long for as humans and musicians. Everyone is like this to one degree or another. This feeling is tenfold when we are blasting out our tunes live! It's a natural high, better then any drug and nothing else comes close for us.
Isaac-Joseph: What can we expect from Early Warning System this year and the coming years?
EWS: Well at the moment we are in no hurry. We are chasing a couple of Indie labels in the U.S. to get signed but it has to be the right partnership. A natural progression for us will be to organize a tour in the USA to showcase our talent, develop our network and fan base. Our desire is really simple. We just want to earn a living from music, so we need to go to where we are most appreciated and America has been so welcoming and supportive of our music - so look out America, here we come!
Of course we will continue to song write and promote so you can expect to hear more hard rock songs over the coming months. Everyday is a new experience and a new song. We really believe we will be pumping out songs in 10 years time. We’ve been through so much as a band over the years and yet our hunger has never been stronger. We’re in this for the long hall because of our bond and deep friendship which has already stood the test of time.
Isaac-Joseph: Final thoughts (the floor is yours):
EWS: We just wanted to say many thanks Isaac. It is these opportunities and support from organizations like Juniors Cave that can open so many doors for unsigned bands like us. It will be nice to keep this partnership going also. And when we're in town we will meet and go have a beer together or something. We are also looking forward to meeting all our fans in the States that support us hopefully real soon.
And for all your readers, please do not hesitate to drop us a line and say g’day on MySpace and if you want to, you can buy our album at www.myspace.com/ewsrocks
Thank you again,
EWS
Photo used in this story was provided by EWS.
