June Divided
Austin, TX // SXSW
Interview by Jordan Fischels
Was this your first time playing SXSW? How has the experience been treating you? I know you also played Warped tour in 2011-12 – how does SXSW compare to that?
Actually our third. It’s definitely grown. The first time we were down here we played one show and didn’t really know what we were getting into. The first show doesn’t really count; it was more of an experience really. So legitimately, you could say two years. We are finally into a little bit of a groove where we actually know what’s going on. It’s still very overwhelming, though. We feel that it’s not as hard this year because we did Warped Tour this past summer and nothing is as hard as Warped Tour will ever be. Warped Tour is way harder than SXSW. This is nothing! This is one location. Warped Tour you drive overnight, roll in at 7, get into the venue say at 10, play all day, and then just drive overnight. At Warped Tour you are hustling all day long to sell CDs because merch sales are what gets you to the next show.
You guys also have a tour in the works for the summer! Any details you can give us on that?
We are working on it. We just got accepted to the Florida Music Festival in Orlando in April. We are going to do a couple festivals over the summer, and we are submitting for some tours right now. Nothing set in stone right now, but we have a bunch stuff that we are going to try to do.
So how did you guys form? I hear Craigslist had a hand in that! (Drummer; Keith)
Me (Melissa) and Chris met in college, going to school for music industry. Then we graduated and it was a really rough job hunt with the bad economy and all. So for fun, we wrote some songs and played a little bit. As a joke we put an ad in Craigslist. We had a bunch of crazy responses and we thought, screw this. But then we got a response that was pretty interesting and it was Keith.
What are you guys planning to do for the remainder of your time in Austin? Anyone you still want to see?
We have a show pending for tonight. We got a message that a band might be dropping off the showcase, so they are going to keep us on standby.
What has been the “Highlight” of your career? Personally and collectively.
Career… I was expecting you to say the highlight of SXSW. I like this question better though. Being a finalist in the Battle of the Bands which was kind of the catalyst for Warped Tour happening. The music video we just released on MTV has been really fun. That was a big highlight for us. Warped Tour is definitely one, especially since we used to go to Warped Tour when we were younger; but, also being able to share the tour with them now has been great.
