By Delia Paunescu
Hofstra Chronicle: You’re not shy about your influences. Do you ever worry that being so indebted to them traps you creatively?
Under the Influence of Giants: No because we listen to so much different music that I think that’s kind of why we created an album that stands on its own and has its own style, because we blend so many different genres that we love so much, we have so many different styles of songs that we still wanted to write an album that felt like the same band, but yet, have different avenues of songs and different emotions you could get from each song.
HC: So you don’t think it sounds recycled at all, being that you take so much from other bands?
UTIOG: Well everyone takes from other bands, just because our name is Under The Influence of Giants doesn’t mean that we’re the only band that takes from other bands. It’ just a matter of how you take that influence, if you wear it on your sleeve or you take it and change it to make it your own, and that’s what I believe we’ve done.
HC: What are your top three influences?
UTIOG: The Beatles is number one. For this record we were into the Talking Heads quite a bit, I don’t know if you can hear it or not. Rolling Stones, ELO, those were bands we listened to a lot listening to while recording.
HC: What caused the two of you (Aaron Bruno and Drew Stewart) to begin writing songs together?
UTIOG: Well we all three wrote this record. Aaron and I have been playing together since high school and we met – through other bands and formed up UTIOG and started playing music together.
HC: You and Aaron were together before as members of Hometown Hero. How have your prior experiences in the music industry affected your approach now?
UTIOG: WE just know what red flags to look for, we’re smarter about our decisions, we don’t take it lightly, we appreciate this 2nd opportunity to make an album, it means a lot to us. We’re happy just to be able to make an album and be touring and making music still. Don’t take it for granted, we enjoy every minute of it but we know what to look out for, that you have to be business savvy and smart about your decisions.
HC: What are some of the things the two of you have had to look out for?
UTIOG: Even though you have help and you know the label is doing their job, you always want to make sure you’re taking care of your side of the business, that you’re promoting yourself, don’t ever think that other people are doing all the work, because there’s always more work that can be done. It’s always just promoting yourself and appreciating everything, the shows and the fans, because we wouldn’t be doing any of this if the fans weren’t around.
HC: Do you feel that being signed to a major label has forced you to make any changes? Has it streamlined your sound?
UTIOG: Not really, I mean, being on a major label, you still have to have that DIY approach, just to make sure you’re taking care of your end of the bargain, no matter all the work that’s getting done with the label. Because Island has been great to us, they’ve taken care of us, given us a fair shot with promotion and everything. But you should always work yourself like you don’t have a label, that’s advice to everyone I would say.
HC: What do you feel the three of you contribute individually to the band?
UTIOG: We all come from the same place we all have the same goals when it comes to writing, but we also have little niches that we get into musically. Like each of us favors one style of music more than the other, so we all bring that in and it just gets twisted and mashed into our sound.
HC: What are your thoughts on Myspace as an outlet for distributing music? How do you feel the site has contributed to your success?
UTIOG: I love it. For the two years we were building our fanbase in LA, working on our sound before we got signed to Island, Myspace was very important. It was a good avenue to promote your shows, which in the past, getting people to hear about shows was a pain in the ass, but with Myspace you have more communication with fans, you get to get that outside perspective of what your band is being portrayed, because when you’re in a band it’s sometimes hard to see how people are accepting it. So it’s gratifying to play a show, go on our Myspace page and see what people are saying and just talk to fans. So it’s a great thing, it was a great thing before we got signed and it’s important thing now as it was then. After every show we’re on there checking it.
HC: What are three current bands you feel are important right now?
UTIOG: Radiohead definitely is one. Important? I don’t know about important but.. I guess Beck is important. I got the new album, I don’t know about the songs, but what he does with the package, how he brings new things to the table is important thing for music. He put out a video for every song on this new album, you can make your own cover because it comes with a package of stickers. Anything creative like that is important. I don’t know, that’s pretty much it.
HC: What are you planning next?
UTIOG: For us, its just pushing ourselves musically. We have a wonderful recording studio here on the bus with us, and we plan on writing songs, keeping it going, keeping it fresh, just pushing ourselves as musicians. From there, once we have the songs then we’d like to get creative with the videos and what not, but we’re excited to have a chance to do a second video on our next single, we’re not really sure when that’s going to happen, hopefully in the new year.
HC: How’s your tour going right now?
UTIOG: It’s great. It’s kind of a change playing to college students, rather than just regular shows, but there’s a good energy, a school spirit energy I guess throughout the whole campus, it’s a nice change from regular rock clubs.