I remember the first time I ever showed my parents a song that I had written. The content may have been a little darker than they were used to, or really introspective in a way that may have been uncomfortable. I thought they'd retaliate with some kind of judgment or concern about whether I was feeling all right, but they were proud of it.
Music can connect people on an intimate level. What Josh and I are trying to do is represent anyone who has some of the questions that we have.
When Josh and I are recording a record, we're very mindful of how the music will manifest itself live. That's where we have to live every day. When we tour for the next record, I imagine there will be a new story to tell, and we'll introduce new characters.
Even if it's a horrible venue - a bar that barely has a PA and no lighting - we're still there trying to get somebody to not forget us.
It's hard not to be affected by the live audience.
Live shows have been going on for so long, can you really do something that's never been done before?
If you really see how many live shows are going on... you can start to do things that are out of the ordinary.
It doesn't matter what we post about ourselves on social networks or how many times we play live TV, even. It's all about those people, those fans who are telling other people about us.
I think throughout the day; there are always lines or certain words, and I'll just keep notes in my phone. It might just be one or two words, and then that could inspire a whole song, lyrically.
There's so many people who have never heard of us, but I think what we've learned is you can't underestimate the power of a core fan base and people who believe what you're doing. I think they're the ultimate marketers. They're the ones promoting us.
By the time you do what somebody else is doing, everybody has moved on to something else.
I guess when I first started writing music, I really had no idea if anyone was ever going to hear what I was writing and almost no intention of people hearing it. So, it was kind of this journal. It was pretty unfiltered.
Self-awareness is a character trait that's horrible to have if you're a performer. I think that a lot of these performers that we see get up on stage and play music, there's a sense of them truly not caring how they're coming across. They are just themselves. I look up to a lot of people who are like that.
It is true that if you hear our music described, it sounds unappealing. I used to laugh and agree with people when they said it didn't make any sense.
We just want to outdo ourselves every time we come back somewhere.
You kind of have to celebrate the moment that you get to create something that you love that falls into the parameters of a 3-minute-and-20-second song, to try to be creative inside of those parameters.
Writing songs is kind of like a wrestling match to me. You have to pin it down and make it do what you want it to do.
We know in order to get where we want to be and do what we want to be doing, sometimes we have to do what we don't feel like doing. It takes hard work, and the band name is a constant reminder of that.
Even though there's only two guys in the band, when both of us are on the same page about something, you can't really change our minds.
One think that you notice about anyone that gets up on stage is that they don't really have a lot of self-awareness. It's kind of a trait that performers don't have because you just kinda just have to let go and do whatever you want to do on stage.
