Like a Movie

Posted May 14, 2008, by Meesh!.


Genre: Indie; Pop;
What's your myspace link or any other link you want to give us?

Our myspace link is www.myspace.com/likeamoviemusic. Also make sure you check out . It's a good time.

Who are you and where are you all from?

Jimmy Mowery, Jeff Wendle (That's me!), Jon Somerton, Andy Cosnotti, and Jeremy Jock. Those our real names. We're all from Altoona, PA, and its surrounding areas.

How was your band formed?

Jimmy met Jeremy working in retail and they started playing music together. Then I met Jimmy, and so on, and so on. I brought Andy in from an old band I was in. Jon's the only one whose story is half interesting; he was the sort-of ringleader of our local fanbase and from that he and I became friends. When we lost our old keyboardist I brought Jon in. Coincidentally, Jon used to be friends with Jeremy when they were young.

What band has influenced you the most?

This is a really hard and general question. We love a ton of music. Any list would do no good but for kicks I'll run some off: the Beatles, the Composure, Blink 182, Cartel, Brand New, Forgive Durden, Colour Revolt, Third Eye Blind - like I said, no good.

What do you try to have people get out of your music?

We want to relate to my kid sister and her friends. We want to relate to a 50 year old. We want to relate to ballet dancers, and we want to relate to NYC taxi drivers. We want our music to make people feel happy, thoughtful, calm, excited, futuristic, sexy, loving, sound-ey, or maybe even crazy, sexy, and cool.

What inspries your lyrics? What are they all about?

We are drawn to lyrics that are very descriptive and detailed but at the same time general and relatable. We want to obviously make people feel the same way that those types of lyrics make us feel. I would love it if a song of ours meant [one] thing to someone, and a completely other thing to someone else. Topics are usually factual and taken straight from our lives, including love, our families, our friends, or our band and its travels.

Any venue or area that is your dream to play at?

For now we really love coming home and playing to our home crowd and our friends and family. There's a comfort level there that allows us to really open up and have fun. I think as far as a dream place to play, the main stages at Warped Tour would probably have us all excited.

What makes you different from other bands out there?

Before I answer this one, I want to say that different and better are two different things, so that nothing I say sounds self absorbed. We have growing to do as a band and I think any band that thinks they don't have any growing to do shouldn't bother doing it anymore. For now, I think something special that we offer is that we cover a very wide spectrum; we're all across the boards. It's jazzy, dancy, dirty, fast, slow, poppy, there's some straight rock stuff, soulful, calm, hyper - you get the point. I think that there is something for everyone, which is really what we aim to do.

Have a CD out? If so how can we get it?

For now we have an EP out that we recorded when we were kids. You can get that on Smartpunk, Itunes and several online retailers, as well as personally from us at shows. We've been working on our new album intensely for about a year now. We have like 28 demos and about 7 of these that we're totally comfortable with. We're really trying to make the best album we can possibly make for everyone to enjoy, both inside and outside the band and our camp.

If you could give advice to a starting band or musician, what would you say?

Practice and write as much as possible. I read an interview with Howard Benson once where he said something along the lines of needing like 50 songs a year so that you can actually have a decent album's worth of songs a year. So write as much as possible; practice as much as possible. Also make sure you're listening. Don't close yourself off and stunt your growth. Make sure you're really listening to music. Make sure you're exploring new places and genres all the time. Let yourself grow. And the biggest advice I would give absolutely any young band is to WAIT! Every band, young and old, thinks they are the shiz. But don't be afraid to be wise enough to really assess your work and look in the mirror and say "You know, I think we have some growing to do yet." Like I said, if you don't think you have growing to do, you shouldn't even be practicing art forms at all, since they're all about growing, learning, and expressing yourself. A lot of bands, ourselves included, have felt, or will feel, at a young age that they deserve the world because they can see their own potential. But potential and present day skill are two different things. Make sure you're really stepping back and know that you are 100% ready to take your tunes to the masses! Like most things, we always think we know it all in the moment, and come to learn down the road that we really weren't ready for certain things. Make sure you're taking your time and letting yourself develop before you go trying to take on the world. You can really get yourself into some trouble and find some harsh critics or people who will bring you down if you go out unprepared. Also make sure you're having fun and feeling good about the things you're creating. Feeling good is what it's about baby!

What do you guys like to do on the road?

Drive. We drive on the road a lot. When we are off of the road you really can't get us off of our computers. We also like to sit, eat, sleep, make phone calls, and enjoy other forms of entertainment like television or music.

Do you have any upcoming shows?

We have a tour coming up with an awesome dude that goes by the name "Secret Secret Dino Club," and there's talk of some Warped dates this summer, as well as our first nationwide tour with the headliner TBA. If nothing else though we'll probably just finish recording our new album.

What do you think about UFOs?

UFOs look wicked fast. I've never actually seen one in person though.

What are your views on the war that's going on today?

While we all have some minor, probably incorrect, views on this, I don't think anyone I've ever met knows enough about this to even be talking about it. I don't know a thing about building a house, and so I wouldn't be one to walk around talking about building homes. The same applies to this probably for most of us.

What were some of your favorite bands growing up?

This varies, but I can think of some for each of us: Blink 182, the Ataris, Lagwagon, Nine Inch Nails, Limp Bizkit (FOR LIFE!), No Use For A Name, Third Eye Blind, and a million other things, like Cat Stevens, America, Bon Jovi, or the Beatles. Jimmy listened to a ton of 80s stuff, while I grew up on older folk singers: Bob Dylan was a big one. We're talking about 5 guys though. This list, like the one before, could go on forever and be all over the charts.

Describe your band in one word?

Astronaut

Anything else you want to say to fans or anyone reading this interview?

Thanks for taking the time to read this. I hope I meet you all some day.

Thanks for this opportunity. We really appreciate it.

Thanks again
Jeff

And we THANK YOU Jeff and all of Like a Movie!