My American Heart Interview
Mark Barbour
Screachen Publications
Your bio says your debut album was put out when a majority of the members were 16. How long has the band been together, how did you guys join up to become “My American Heart” and what is the inspiration for the name and how you decided on it?
Well, we’ve been a band for about six years now. I mean, we started when we were like 14 and 15 as a cover band. From then on it just branched into something more serious. We were together for about four weeks, and we already had a show the fifth week. It was a “Battle of the Bands” between like, forty bands, and we had to write five originals. We were just freaking out. You know, we didn’t know each other that well. I knew two of the members really well, but the other two guys, I didn’t really know them that well. I knew them well enough, but not on a musical level. We were just pulling our hair out, and were like, “Oh my god, how are we going to do this.” It turns out we got four done and we did one cover. It was one of our favorite bands, the reason why we became musicians, this band called Larger Than Life. And so, it just worked out, and there I was in a band. So it was all pretty interesting. We used to be called No Way Out, and we put out an EP. It was just really amateur, but we wrote some more originals. We decided that we needed to change our name and become more mature. I had this web design firm called My American Heart which I got from a Piebald song called American Heart, which is one of my favorite songs of all time. We all thought it was pretty clever because we’re not of white or Caucasian race, we are a mixture or a variety. It’s funny, we’ll get “Oh!, “My Asian Heart,” but you come to me with any sort of American history, I’ll school you.
It has been expressed that you feel there has been vast improvement in the band between your debut album and your upcoming one, Hiding Inside the Horrible Weather. What are some of the things that, as a band, you all feel you have improved upon from then to now.
Back when we did the Meaning In Makeup, we had no time to write that record. We got thrown on the Taste Of Chaos tour, which was supposed to be our writing time, that 2-3 months. We couldn’t pass up that opportunity. You take kids that are used to playing in front of 60-70 people to 12,000 people, we thought, “we could make a name for our self, we could do something with this.” It just cut into a massive amount of writing time, which left us about a month to finish up the Meaning Of Makeup. It came out -- Honestly, you get what you put into it. This time, we had 5 or 6 months to write this record. We had a producer, James Paul Wisner, who is really hands on. He just knew what we wanted to do with this record – He has this ear. We’ve all grown as human beings in the time being; experienced a lot, and it’s a combination of everything we’ve been able to put into this record. We finally have the perfect members that fit and we are finding that groove.
In mentioning your upcoming album, where does the inspiration for the title, Hiding Inside the Horrible Weather come from, and how did the band come to agree on that particular title? Were there other suggestions that were considered? What factors persuaded the band from using some of the other ideas?
Hiding Inside The Horrible Whether is a metaphor for without out bad there is no good, and without good there is no bad. It’s like yin and yang, there’s this energy -- they both need each other. Behind everything ugly, there is always something beautiful. Yeah, it maybe raining today -- Yeah maybe not tomorrow, maybe not the next week, or maybe not the next month, but there will be sunshine eventually, and there is a sun behind the whether, you just can’t see it. We had a couple of other ideas, but it’s one of those things where, “Oh, I wasn’t feelin’ it;” like everyone has to feel it. If one person is not happy, then it’s not gonna’ go. And when we heard this one, it’s our title track, there is a lyric that says, “I found your love lost in the sky hiding inside the horrible whether.” We were just like, “Wow, that really hits us.” It’s a combination of what this record is about.
According to your bio, your debut album, The Meaning in Makeup, felt a little rushed.
What was the approximate amount of time it took to write and produce the album, and what factors, with respect to how the album turned out, do you feel were affected by this limit in time? If there were anything you would change about the finished product, what would it be?
Whenever you do a record you think, “Damn, this could have been better -- Damn I could have wrote that so much better.” That was the record where we felt, “Damn, we need to change that, that, and that.” With the time we were given, where was nothing we could do. We all feel we did our best and honestly, you put seventeen year olds on a label and give them only a month to write, that’s just what you get. I’m not going to say it’s a bad record, but I’ll tell you it’s not the best record we could have written. We’re still learning and improving, and compared to our new record, it’s just blown out of the water.
I’m understood that there was a rather long process in selecting the producer for your upcoming album and that you approached several potentials. What, with out naming names, were some of the reasons that prevented you from going with some of the other producers, and what are some of the strengths of James Paul Wisner that ultimately endowed him the honor of being your producer? Would he be considered for future projects?
The thing was, is we had a budget, you know, that’s how it goes. Get your manager to talk to people and see where you have connections. We sat down and wrote a list of people we would love to work with. A lot of the reasons why didn’t get some of the first choice producers were because of the time schedule – the time frame we had to make the record. It just so happens that James, who was definitely on the top three of the list, was down to work with the budget and time frame we had. We love every single record he has ever done. The sounds he gets, are just out of this world; the tones he gets are just out of this world. Production-style wise, he is amazing. I would love to just bring him a fat budget of like, $300,000.00 and go some where out of the country and write these songs together; record an album and put out a kick-ass record. I would love to work with James again. He has definitely been a good experience for us. His process was really on point. He had a set schedule and we would work with it, and if we couldn’t he would put in over-time. He’d be finishing stuff at four in the morning and we would come in at around ten. He was great and I would love to work with him again.
There is a suggestion that a band’s environment is a very large contributing factor to their music and who they are as a band. According to your myspace, the band is based out of San Diego, CA. What are some of the factors of being located there do you feel influence your music. Also, where were you raised, and do you feel that has any contributing factors to who you are as a musician?
Where you come from definitely has to be a part of you. You get used to the city and the environment. It really does contribute. When I grew up, my father was in the Navy. I definitely wouldn’t have moved to San Diego if my father wasn’t in the Navy because it is the largest Navy base on the West Coast. I wouldn’t have went to school with the guys from the band. We were all raised in San Diego, except for Dustin, our bass player, who is from Pittsburg, and Matt is from Waldorf, Maryland. But growing up in San Diego, we listened to bands like Noise Ratchet, Counterfeit, No Knife, The Black Heart Possession, Switchfoot, Unwritten Law – All these great bands that came from San Diego. Without a lot of those bands we wouldn’t have even thought about playing music. Just growing up in that scene was just great. I used to go to this place called Epicenter and I would go to shows there and thought, “Wow, how cool would it be to be on that stage.” Then the third time we played it, was our CD release show, we sold it out. It gave us the most intense feeling. Ever! San Diego has been good to us.
As far as influences go, another contributing factor, obviously, would be some of the music members of the band listen to. What are some of the artists that you feel have influenced not only the bands style of music, but your own as an individual musician? How do you feel your individual influences help you stand out in the band?
When we write, we don’t listen to music. We try to ban our selves from listening to music for a little bit. When we are feeling kind of dry we’ll go listen to some things. What’s crazy is you have Dustin, our bass player who is totally into New Metal like SevenDust and ICP, then you have Matt who has just been listening to Blues his whole life; people like Stevie Ray Vaughn, B.B. King, The Allman Brothers. Jesse – he loves Micheal Jackson. Myself – I will listen to like, Bjork or Radio Head. Our influences don’t always come from music. I could look at a piece of artwork and write down what it looks like to me. Inspiration is all around us. It could be anything, or everything. I wouldn’t say we’ve tried to sound like somebody, but we’ll look at how tight a band is with a metronome, and start using a metronome; or, “Check out their pick pattern, let’s try that.”
Going beyond, but still including your musical influences, who is the one person that you have not yet met, but really want to? How do you see that meeting taking place?
I, honestly, would love to get to know Bob Dylan. This guy started writing songs when he was like 18 and 19. I have this radio show he did in Minneapolis. He was just 20 years old and he just got signed. He is definitely a huge influence to me personally. He was a bold songwriter, for this generation and others. I just want to go fishing or have a cigarette with that guy; Have a bottle of whiskey and just hang out.
I am of the understanding that a majority of this band’s strengths come from the amount of experience and practice you have acquired over the past few years. Some of the experience being from tours, what do you feel your favorite tour has been so far, and how do you contrast that to your very first show?
Our very first show was the Battle of the Bands. I was sooo nervous about going against guys that were twice our age. It was unbelievable! I was only fifteen. I was on stage in front of all of these old guys who are in their 30’s just watching us and thinking, “What the hell is this?” Compared to now, we’ve met some of the coolest guys on this tour, which would be our favorite tour. It seems like on a lot of tours there is that one band who you don’t really care for, or they are just kind of there but you don’t ever talk or connect with them. Everybody on this tour – we have toured with The Audition a couple of times; those guys have been our best friends for a while, but to make more new best friends… The guys from New Atlantic are just wonderful people. The guys in The Graduate – if they lived in San Diego, those guys would be my best friends. Those are the people I would love to hang out with everyday. 1997 they’re just so free spirited and have really good energy and good vibes. Everybody has been so supportive on this tour. I could never imagine me from my first show ever even going on tour. It’s been a fun experience going out on the road.
In considering some of your tours and how they went, what sort of aspects would construct your dream tour? What cities would you play, what are some of the songs that would be on your set, and what other bands would be on the bill?
I’d love to do a world tour. Hit all of the major countries that goes on for like two or three months. I would love to have cinematics and projectors to be all around. I would have lights and candles everywhere. It would be like, as soon as you walk in, “this is an event, not just a show.” The bands would consist of obviously all of my favorite bands – If I had to pick and choose I think we’d bring The Audition, because being with those guys, it’s always definitely a good time; Daft Punk, just have a dance party and go nuts; Radiohead and Bjork. So that’d be my tour. I know it’s totally out of whack music-wise but it’s a dream tour. I wouldn’t want to headline I’d like to open.
Being a musician, I am sure that you go to other band’s shows, whether they be smaller grassroots types or internationally renowned artists. Considering that full range, what is the best show you have been to that you feel has affected at least one of your characteristics as a musician?
The best show that I’ve been that definitely changed my perspective on music would be Sigur Rós. I got box seats for my birthday last year in Columbus, Ohio. Watching them sing with emotion and the feelings I get from their music. It’s just the most beautiful music. If I were to die, that would be my soundtrack; listening to Sigur Rós. If I had to pick one song to listen to it’d be Untitled number 3 off of the Parentheses record.
With the release of your new album coming up very soon, do you have any comments for your fans as far as what they have meant to you,
not only throughout your career as a musician, but what their support means to you for your new album, as well as future projects?
We wouldn’t be a band without the fans. It depends on your reasoning and what you are doing it for though. I do it for the fans, but I also do it for myself. I mean, do I want to write a song that the fans want to hear or do I want to write a song that I want to hear. We’re gonna write what we want to write, not because of peoples’ opinions, and if they dig our art more power to us; more power to them. If they don’t maybe I’ll get them next time. I hope our fans appreciate our new record, they mean a lot to us. We worked really hard on it, I was as honest as could be and I want them to take what ever they want from it and if they don’t like it, we appreciate them giving it a chance.