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Interview: Brooke Hummel

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Brooke Hummel is a 16-year-old pop musician from Charlotte, North Carolina. With the release of her new and emotional song, “Cruel”, Brooke is looking to help others and bring awareness to bullying. Recently, Legendary Kids Press was able to speak with Brooke about the track and her beginnings in music.

How would you describe your music to those who have never listened to you before?

Compared to most other artist songs, mine are set apart because, whenever I do an original song of mine, I had to have been feeling that certain setting, atmosphere or vibe at the time. All my music if based off experience and times I’ve had.

How did you get your start in music?

When I was around 11-years-old, I told my parents I wanted to be a singer. My parents have always been very supportive of me and my music, so they set me up in my local church choir and I started singing there, gaining some knowledge and then posting videos to YouTube. After I had posted a few videos, my current manager, Jermaine Spencer, found me and reached out saying they wanted to sign me on. It’s been all uphill [and] really great since then!

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Interview: Tomo of Coast To Coast

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Coast To Coast are a pop-punk band from Nagoya, Japan. With the release of their debut EP, Lessons Learned, behind them and an upcoming appearance at Pennsylvania’s Launch Music Conference, the band are looking to make 2016 their biggest year yet, and Legendary Kids Press was able to catch up with Tomo to discuss it all.

How would you describe your sound to those who have never listened to Coast To Coast before?

We’d say our sound is a blend of driving aggression and swelling harmonies; equal parts poppy and fun, and heavy and hard.

How did the band come together?

The band originally came together in 2011, just from the members at the time being in the scene and having a common taste in music. Brent and I started the idea and the band grew to what it is now through meeting new people with better ideas.

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Interview: Heirsound

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Heirsound are a two-piece alternative group from Long Island, New York. Composed of former Love, Robot vocalist Alexa San Román and former Sink Swim vocalist Dane Petersen, they’ve steadily been gaining traction for a busy year ahead, revolving around their debut EP. Recently, Legendary Kids Press was able to speak to the duo before their first gig about what they have in store for 2016.

For starters: describe the difference between Love, Robot and Heirsound for fans of Love, Robot who haven’t yet ventured into this new project.

Alexa San Román: This band is a little bit, I don’t know, less just hard rock and roll than Love, Robot was.

Dane Petersen: It has more ambiance to it, despite the obvious things. I sing a little bit more - we switch off vocals. Overall all, it’s just more ambient. There’s a lot more going on.

ASR: Definitely. Things are more equal, more split-up. The big difference is how even we are in our vocals.

 What made you realize it was time to move on from Love, Robot?

ASR: I’ve been in Love, Robot since I was 15-years-old, so that was a nice 10-year stretch. I started feeling like I was hitting a wall with it and wanted to start a new thing, a new chapter. I just wanted that one to close because I grew up through Love, Robot and my music has changed through it. People got to witness me change through it too and I just kind of felt like it was time to start fresh and anew.

DP: As for me, I came into the band in its last year of existence. I had fun while it lasted. [Alexa] and I support each other; I support her decision every step of the way - it wouldn’t have been my place to tell her “no”.  I think we had a good idea of where we wanted to take it next and I knew we both didn’t want to stop playing music by any means. We weren’t worried about it, and it didn’t have to be the end of the world.

ASR: And it wasn’t the end of the world. We could still play a Love, Robot show if we wanted to.

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Interview: Chris Chu of POP ETC

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POP ETC are an indie rock band from Berkeley, California. Having released their new album, Souvenir, in January and a tour with The Moth and Flame and Banners underway, the band have been super busy. Recently, Legendary Kids Press caught up with frontman Chris Chu at the band’s show in New York to discuss the year ahead.

Hey Chris! How are you? Thanks for taking the time to do this interview.

I’m doing good. Thank you!

You guys have recently started your tour with Banners and The Moth and Flame. How are the shows treating you so far?

Yeah! It’s going great. It’s a really cool tour. I’ve never done one quite like it because the bands have just put out new records or EPs, so each night the line-up changes - sometimes we’re headlining or in the middle. It’s hard to explain.

When [you] always opening or headlining, you start to have this rhythm that you logistically figure out when exactly you have to get to the show and you set all your stuff up. But now it’s constantly changing, so it’s kind [of] fresh every show. So that’s cool. It’s a little weird, but it’s so early on in the tour, so we haven’t quite gotten into the rhythm of it yet. But it’s interesting.

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Interview: Brett Rasmussen of Ignite

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Ignite are a melodic punk band from Southern California. After a 10-year break, the guys are back with their new album, A War Against You, and Legendary Kids Press was able to speak with bassist Brett Rasmussen about the release.

How would you describe your sound to those who have never listened to the band before?

Well, that depends on who I am talking to. If I am describing the band to somebody who is schooled in punk rock and hardcore, then I usually say that we take influence from bands like Uniform Choice, Bad Religion, Bad Brains and some rock influences as well, like Quicksand or Helmet.

If I am talking to somebody I am sitting next to on an airplane who watches American Idol as their means of staying current in music, then I simplify it down to something like a mix of the Offspring and Metallica.

You guys formed in 1993. 23 years is a long time for a band to stay together, especially in a climate where being musician isn’t necessarily the easiest job. What would you say is the secret to Ignite’s longevity?

It really comes down to the songs. Our songs seem to strike a chord with people and that has given us our longevity. I mean, if the people out there in the world didn’t connect with our songs then we wouldn’t be able to tour and keep the band going. People would stop coming to our shows and thus make the band irrelevant.

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Interview: Lancaster

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Lancaster are a rock band from Spain. With the release of their new single, “Dig Me Up”, set for the near future and a UK tour behind them, the band are gearing up for their biggest year to date, and Legendary Kids Press was able to speak to the band about it all.

How would you describe Lancaster to those who have never listened to your music before?

Passionate. very passionate. Lancaster is what you need when you’re claiming to help. I’ll always try to make therapy from my lyrics, for me and for the listeners, so it’s a way to escape from anxiety and overthinking. The world is mad, but only [we] can save us from ourselves.

How did the band come together?

Lancaster came together in 2011, but we had many replacements due to our economical and time efforts. We wanted to make something different because there’s not too many bands like us in Spain. We wanted to be a Spanish rock band touring abroad.

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Interview: Joel Beckwith of Maple Hill

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Maple Hill are a pop-punk band from Ithaca, New York. Having released their debut album, Headspace, earlier this month, the band are looking to make 2016 their best year yet. Recently, Legendary Kids Press was able to speak with bassist Joel Beckwith about the album, as well as the band’s plans for the future.

How would you describe Maple Hill to those who have never listened to the band below?

In a nutshell, Maple Hill is a young, vibey alternative rock/pop-punk band whose sound is [somewhere] along the lines of Mayday Parade meets The Wonder Years. We focus on energetic and hard-hitting instrumentals with catchy melodies, as well as lyrics about relatable human experiences and emotions.

You recently released your debut album, Headspace. How has fan reaction been thus far?

The reaction to our debut album, Headspace, has been great so far! Some awesome music blogs and websites have taken the time to review the album and that’s definitely helped with the internet promotion especially. We’ve also been getting some responses from people all across the world who we didn’t even know our music was reaching. We’re all just really happy that people can finally hear this album we put so much effort into.

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Interview: Rosedale

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Rosedale is a pop-rock act from Toronto, Ontario. Real name Mike Liorti, the Canadian musician is gearing up for the release of his self-titled album later this month, and Legendary Kids Press was able to speak to him about the record and his plans for 2016.

How would you describe your music to those who have never listened to you before?

I’d describe my music as aggressive power-pop, but I think genre titles are distracting opinions.

Who were your musical influences growing up?

Blink 182 and all their side projects, Radiohead, The Ataris, Coldplay, Underoath, Postal Service, The Starting Line, The Used [and] Moneen, just to scratch the surface. I’d been to so many concerts growing up and those bands were the most memorable.

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Interview: Chris Thaung of Like Pacific

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Like Pacific are a pop-punk band from Toronto, Ontario. With the release of their new album and a tour with scene heavy-weights Neck Deep and State Champs slated for this month, the band are gearing up for a pretty busy 2016. Recently, Legendary Kids Press was able to speak with bassist Chris Thaung to discuss the year ahead.

How would you describe your music to those who have never listened to the band before?

Melodic and angry.

How did the band come together?

Jordan [Black, vocalist] actually started the band in 2010 with some friends from the area of Durham region, about 40 minutes from Toronto. They had some tough luck finding a dedicated bass player and, at the time, I had just come off being an inactive musician for two years. I threw up an ad on Craigslist, as did they, and we just kind [of] found each other. Both guitarists and drummer left about a year and a half ago, so Jordan and I relocated to Toronto and decided to take another stab at this, and here we are today.

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Interview: Corey Skowronski of American Standards

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American Standards are a punk band from Arizona. With the band winding down the touring cycle for their EP, Hungry Hands, and a new album in the works, the four-piece are sure to have a busy 2016. Legendary Kids Press caught up with guitarist Corey Skowronski to discuss what fans can expect from the new release.

How would you describe the band’s music to those who have never listened to you before?

I, personally, tell people that American Standards is a punk band. I say that because I feel it embodies who we are and our aesthetic. But I also believe that when I say we are a punk band, people automatically think we sound like Green Day or something - we’re louder than Green Day.

Who are the individual influences for each member of the band?

We pull influences from just about everywhere. In my opinion, Brandon’s [Kellum, vocals] big one is Tom Waits, Mitch [Hosier, drums] loves Converge and The Fall Of Troy, Steve [Mandell, bass] has Rod Stewart and I’m completely inspired by Ryan Adams.

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