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On Broken Wings



Myspace

Britany: Jon, tell us a little bit about yourself, what you do in the band and when you joined.
Jon: I'm the singer of On Broken Wings, I'm one of the original guys. There's really only me and Kev (the drummer) who are original members. Well, and Mike, but he hasn't gone on the past 4 tours or so, and he actually wasn't in the band for a while. But technically he's in still. He still writes with us and stuff.

Brittany: How would you describe the bands sound to someone who has never heard you before?
Jon: Umm, I guess I would just say were breakdown filled metal. I honestly think were one of the few bands that if you said the word "metalcore" to someone who had never heard that word before, they would get an accurate picture of what we sound like. A lot of bands with the Metalcore label are really just metal bands. I think we have a good amount of obvious hardcore in our songs. 'Really though, were just fight music for kids who want to come and act ignorant. Not that we're not a good band haha, I just don't have any delusion about what we are. We're an angry, heavy aggressive band, for angry, aggressive kids.

Brittany: What is your take on Myspace and Purevolume when it comes to promotion purposes?
Jon: Ahh, good question. I don't actually have much experience with Purevolume, but I do know what it is. Both websites, and the music website market in general, have their pros and cons. I like that it's so easy for me to find new music, or info on a band I like or saw one time. I really don't even check for dot com websites anymore. If there's a band I want to find out about, I just go to myspace.com/WhateverBandNameIs. I do feel like its over-saturating the market though. EVERYONE has a band now. Not to sound too old or jaded, but when I first got into music, there was barely an internet. I loved any heavy band that came to my area. I just couldn't find enough bands that were faster or heavier than mainstream bands. Now, with so many bands and with the ease they have to get people to hear them... there's too many different sub genres. Its so easy to say things like, "I like hardcore, not metalcore" or, "That band's too Nu Metal for me". Stuff like that boggles me, I feel like if a band like Madball came out now, people would just label them rapcore or something. Bands that get laughed at now, would have been the most refreshing thing ever to hear 10 years ago. I guess it's all just time and place for when you come out. The online music scene also bothers me because you have all these kids who like certain bands, but never come out to shows. There's so many bands that get big off of Myspace, they'll have 8 million plays, but when we go on tour with them, nobody is at the show for them. Websites like that are also killing record labels, which is pretty much fine with me. I remember when bands used to have mailing lists on their merch tables. If you liked a band, you would sign their mailing list with your address and they would send you something in the REAL mail, via post office when they had a new CD coming out, or were going to be in your town again. Bands used to have demos. Like demo tapes they would pass out and mail to other bands and to venues to try to get shows. Now you just give people a link to your Myspace page. I haven't gotten a real demo in so long. Everyone in the world has a recording setup, it's so easy to get a decent recording for your band (which is GREAT) and throw it online and get popular over night (which is NOT great). There's no real working for anything. You get big because you have a look and a lot of Myspace plays, not because someone heard your demo and it sounded different than any bands in their area. There's no such thing as "New York Hardcore", or "Boston Hardcore", or "West/East coast Punk Rock" anymore. Everyone sounds the same, there's no area influence. If that makes any sense. I'm not complaining about it really, it makes no consequential difference in the long run, just commenting on how websites like Purevolume and Myspace are changing the underground music "scene".

Brittany: What is your favorite venues to play when on the road?
Jon: Well the venues I would have picked a few years ago are different from venues I would pick now. The Showcase Theater in Corona, CA used to be awesome. It's been lacking the past few times I've been there, it is always a good show though. Vegas used to be great for us, but they lost a lot of venues all at the same time, and it killed a lot of their scene for a while. The Muse in Nashville is good. Thee Imperial (used to be Rock And Roll Pizza) in Jacksonville, FL. The Tigers Den in Brockton, MA though, is THE best place for hardcore shows in the USA.

Brittany: If you could put together a tour what bands would you put on it?
Jon: Oh I don't know. I'd pick all my friends bands. I don't care if the band is big or draws a lot. I just want to go on tour with people who have fun. A lot of bands are just regular people who happen to be in a band. That's boring. I want to go on tour with maniacs who know how to have a good time and live it up while we're traveling to all these different places. I've had grown men in bands we were on tour with cry, because they thought I was too out of control or something. 23 year old dudes who are in a band that's lucky enough to be able to go on the road and make enough money to survive are telling me to calm down and that they don't want to have fun. Most people in these bands who are screaming their heads off about hating everything and whatever they're saying, are liars. They don't hate anything, they're not even angry. They don't even want to have fun with their friends. They want to play shows and placate the crowd and appear like they're better than other people, and then go sleep in a hotel and sit backstage. That's not what tour's about for me. So, I would pick these bands to tour with... Black My Heart, Shipwreck, Cairo, Kids Like Us, Tigerstyle, Nervous Breakdown, Shattered Realm, COA... That's off the top of my head. I just know all those bands would love to have fun, sit at the merch table and meet new kids, stay on someones cold floor and get some good stories to tell when they're old and not in a band anymore.

Brittany: What is your favorite song to play live?
Jon: Probably A Lazarus Envy. I like that song, kids always have a good reaction. Most On Broken Wings songs are written SO they're fun to play live and get the crowd going though.

Brittany: What are some things you keep with you at all times when on the road?
Jon: The same things I keep with me at all times when I'm home. My phone, my ipod, my money. That's about it. That's really about all I own anyway.

Brittany: If you had the opportunity to change anything about the music business what would you change?
Jon: I don't really know anymore. The music business is less of a business for me then it is something to have fun doing. I don't really think the things I don't like about the music scene has much to do with the business side of it. Clear Channel owns the House Of Blues now. If you don't know, they also own most radio stations, and billboards and a good amount of clubs besides the House Of Blues. This pretty much means that Clear Channel could start a booking agency and book entire House Of Blues tours for their bands, get them radio play, advertising... whatever it takes to "make" the band big and get kids to the shows. Which also means any band that crosses them, or they don't like, gets left behind. That's why I LIKE websites like Myspace and Purevolume, because it will mean those bands always have a chance to be heard. But pretty much I think the independent promoter is going to be gone soon. Unless you want to kiss up to the "right" people or companies, you'll never get big enough to play anywhere besides a local VFW. Which is fine for some people, but it could kill independent bands and limit how much a band can tour.

Brittany: What is the best advice you can give someone about the music business?
Jon: I don't know. If you want to be involved in it at all, I'd say the best advice would be to play their games. If you piss off the wrong person, there's a definite limit to how far you can keep going. It's hard to stay a band if nobody will book you, nobody will tour with you, nobody will manage you, nobody will promote you or distribute your CDs. Trust me, I know ALLLL about those things.

Brittany: What can we expect from you guys in the near future?
Jon: Well, were recently on a hiatus from On Broken Wings. Mostly so we can focus on other bands we've started that haven't been able to get much attention from us. (Here's where I use myspace to plug my friends bands and do what I bitched about bands doing in question #3)
Mike and I are in Shere Khan (www.myspace.com/xsherekhanx, which should have a new CD out soon. Kev, Burke and Jerome are all in both The Confrontation (www.myspace.com/theconfrontation) and I'm Sorry New York (www.myspace.com/imsorrynewyork). Kev plays drums for a great new Boston punk band called Everybody Out (www.myspace.com/everybodyoutband, with some of the guys from The Dropkick Murpheys and The Freeze and stuff.
Just for anybody who might be wondering though, we do have a few On Broken Wings songs which never saw recording or pressing... So either look out for a new CD sometime, or some of us might record and release them under a new name.





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