Interview

EP: First off, can you please state your name and position in the band?
John: I’m John Hoge and I play bass and do back up vocals.
Dan: I’m Dan Lyman and I sing and play guitar.

EP: Halos are a relatively new band; what is the story behind your formation?
Dan: I started demoing songs in New York about two and half years ago. Then our management moved me out here to California. Once we had the songs ready, we started finding people that wanted to play the songs and went from there. It’s been a slow process but it’s been a process where we have been picking and choosing the right people. It’s more than finding someone to play with.
John: It’s finding someone with compatible personalities.
Dan: Then we find out if they can play, what their goals are, and if they can make a commitment to the band. That is where we are at. We have John on bass.
John: I started in about January [of 2007]. Then we picked up our keyboardist Josh in March [of 2007]. Zak is our newest member. He plays lead guitar and started about [September].
EP: Is this a solid line-up right now?
Dan: Yes. We have a floating drumming rotation. We have a couple [drummers] right now that just fill in whenever we need them. We have been writing with a friend of ours, Sam, and another friend of ours Jared.

EP: What is the meaning behind the band’s name?
Dan: There isn’t too much meaning behind the name. I wanted something simple and easy to remember that also wouldn’t give away too much about our sound. Sometimes you can hear a band name, and you can pretty much estimate what they are going to sound like before even listening.

EP: Are there any previous bands you played in where you grew up?
John: I was in a band in Arizona called Morning Maxwell. We [had] a progressive rock feel. It was a little change coming to [this band] but definitely a change that I liked. I love the music we play. It gives a lot of room to expand.
Dan: I played in a band called Closed at Sunset from Long Island, New York.

EP: I first heard about your band through a bulletin from The Sound of Animals Fighting. What is your affiliation with the band, if any?
Dan: Our manager Charlie also manages The Sound of Animals Fighting.
John: From Golden Bear Group.
Dan: They do us, The Secret Handshake, and them. We aren’t necessarily linked with them.
John: We have kind of a little family. Everybody helps everybody in this family. We all like to promote each other and talk about what we are working on.
EP: Especially with such a small group, you need to help each other out.

EP: You recently released the “Helium EP.” Can you tell us a little about that? Where did you record it/Who did you record it with?
Dan: “Helium,” which is the first song on the EP, is the first time we ever wrote as a band together. We recorded that with a friend of ours, Pavan Grewall. He does live sound for Cartel, The Starting Line, and Motion City Soundtrack. He isn’t necessarily a studio engineer, but he’s really good with finding tones and helped us out with that. The next two tracks are called “Tinman and the Lion” and “Fool’s Paradise.” Those ones I did in New York so they don’t technically have the band on them but they represent us.
John: We got Helium mixed by Scott Silleta, and he also mastered the whole EP. “Spectres” is an acoustic track we did at home.
Dan: It’s actually a song from my old band that I felt never saw the light of day due to us breaking up. I felt it was a strong song that needed to be reworked and fit into our style. We did a quick demo of it knowing that it will only be a prototype of what will come out from the whole band process.
EP: How reworked is it from the original version?
Dan: It’s pretty reworked. Same idea and some of the same vocals but the progression has changed. The whole rhythm of it has changed to fit our style.
EP: It does seem to fit very well with what the three previous songs set out.
Dan: Yeah, that’s what we felt. It still sounds like us but it’s not what it will ultimately sound like.

EP: One thing I found very interesting about the EP is how varied each song is. Each song has its own sound/life yet it had a very cohesive overall sound. Is that something the band strives for in their music?
Dan: That ultimately has been the goal since the beginning. I have always thought of [our music] as a needle meter that goes from the most extremes and fill everything in between; a progression through all kinds of different types of songs. We have ten or twelve recorded songs now which span the spectrum.
John: They range from a country influence like a new song “Pool Hall” which is similar to a Johnny Cash style to “Helium” which is almost an indie/punk influence. Some of the newest songs we have been writing are very dark songs which contrast well with “Fool’s Paradise,” which is a very upbeat song. Ultimately we have talked about making an album with each song having a different feel. You can have a new feeling with every song.
Dan: Without sounding scattered. We want room to expand. A lot of bands who are popular today are stuck to a sound that they can’t break out of.

EP: What is the band’s writing process like?
John: We work on our own individual ideas at home but then come together at a practice and whatever comes to mind we’ll start to work with. Especially with keyboards it adds a whole different dimension of where you can go with a song.
EP: Does everybody come with their own ideas or is it a select few?
Dan: What we’ve done recently, which is a new process for all of us playing without a drummer, is we’ll go to Josh’s house and just hang out as friends but then ultimately sit down and discuss different parts. It can get really tense writing music.
John: Often time’s people will come up with an idea and they will get upset because their idea isn’t going where they want it to be. More so, we feel it is an open forum where everyone gets an input and then we work as a team to find out what parts are best with everybody else’s part. Sometimes you can write something awesome but it won’t work out with everything else. We have a good group which understands that.

EP: Is seems your lyrics are written in a first person, autobiographical style. Is that true?
Dan: I write all the lyrics, and everything I write is autobiographical. I write by free writing and then when we go to write a song I pull writings with the same theme together. Usually when I write lyrics it’s not to music. It has to be rearranged to fit the music.

EP: What are your musical influences? Were there any specific influences that inspired the sound of Halos?
Dan: Personally, I grew up listening to a lot of oldies and then progressed into the alternative rock movement of the late 90’s/early 2000’s. I love bands like Everclear, Smashing Pumpkins, Third Eye Blind, Goo Goo Dolls, etc. as well as tons of 50’s and 60’s music, and more contemporary acts like Keane, Bloc Party, Days Away, The Good Life. We don’t consciously draw on any particular influences when we write, but obviously they shine through at different times, and we draw certain comparisons on a regular basis, which can be flattering, but at the same time, it’s not intentional to sound that way. I guess it’s just inevitable.

EP: Do you have any other material written?
Dan: We just demoed four new songs and in January we will be recording them in a studio. Right now we have the luxury of demoing the songs on our own and picking through them to make sure everything is right.
EP: When you record in January, is it going to strictly be those four songs?
Dan: If new ideas come about then we have time to work it out but right now these songs are strong to us. We never try to rush a song.

EP: What are the band’s plans for 2008?
John: We are hoping to put out something else to go along with the EP and presenting that to labels.
EP: Are you going to hit the road first or are your sights more label focused?
Dan: The first goal is a label. Not because a label is the most important thing to us, but for us to get a good booking agent and tours we need to release something. That will take some other people behind us at this point, like a record label. That is what this project has been building towards for a long time.
EP: Is the next release going to be another EP?
John: The next release we want to be a full length. Possibly incorporate the songs from the “Helium EP” but also change them to fit for a full length.
Dan: We’re trying not to present too many songs at once because if people hear those songs as demos and they get attached, it won’t be the same for an album. Whatever is on that album people are going to hear for the next 2-3 years and that will define us in the first period of our lives as a band.
EP: Exactly; the dreaded demo-itis.
Dan: We’re trying to walk the line between not presenting enough and presenting too much and once the album comes out, that will be the last time you will ever hear those songs.

EP: Thanks so much for your time. Is there anything else you’d like to cover?
Dan: Keep an eye on us for the next coupe months as we lay low. When the New Year starts we will have new songs to present to you.
John: We will also be putting up some live videos of new songs and clips of us in the studio as we record these demos to let people know what we doing.


Thanks again to Dan and John for taking time to do this interview. Fans of Brand New or music fans just looking for a band that will keep it fresh, make sure you check these guys out. If justice has anything to do with it, this band will be making waves sooner rather than later.