QUEENS CLUB
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YOUR LATEST ALBUM IS TITLED “YOUNG GIANT”. IS GIVING THE ALBUM THAT TITLE A WAY OF SHOWING SELF CONFIDENCE AND BEING HOPEFUL THAT THIS BAND IS A “GIANT” IN THE MAKING?

Jake Ryan: It’s more like the birth of this entity that matures and grows through struggles and over time to be this full blown idea. In the stage that it’s at its small and goes almost unnoticed but has the potential to be great. Young Giant is also the name of a song that we didn’t release on this record and we liked the idea of that name for our record so we used it.

DO YOU FIND THAT FANS OF THE PREVIOUS BANDS ALL THE MEMBERS HAVE PERFORMED IN ARE SUPPORTING AND SHOWING THIS BAND JUST AS MUCH LOVE OR DOES IT TAKE SOME WORK TO CONVINCE PEOPLE THAT “THIS IS WHAT I’M ABOUT NOW AS AN ARTIST”?

Jake Ryan: Yeah, we have definitely received love and respect from folks that have been listening to some of our previous projects. Obviously, you are gonna have people who love what you do, and people who just don’t want to get it. We aren’t really out to try and convince those people to like what we do; we just are out there trying to make our music available for people to hear so that they can make that judgment call on their own.

THE ALBUM CONTAINS AN EQUAL AMOUNT OF PRE-RELEASED MATERIAL AND NEW UNRELEASED RECORDINGS. WHY DID YOU GUYS DECIDE ON TAKING THAT APPROACH AND NOT JUST RELEASE AN ENTIRE NEW ALBUM?

Jake Ryan: When we were heading out on our first tour post being signed to Tooth & Nail Records, both parties felt like it would be a great idea to be able to some how get some music into people’s hands. We’ve had our record done for near 2 years so we just decided to use some songs off of what would be, “Young Giant” and also release some songs off of a previously self-released EP. In short, basically just to give people a taste of our music in a studio recorded format.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE THE MOST ABOUT THE BAND’S NEW MATERIAL?

Jake Ryan: What I like most about the band in general is just the ability to stretch ourselves musically as songwriters. I write music non-stop regardless if it’s for the band or for personal reasons, but something about getting together with your friends to write a few tunes that you all enjoy is a pretty magical experience.

HAS THE WRITING PROCESS FOR THIS ALBUM GIVEN YOU EVEN MORE IDEAS OF WHAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO ATTEMPT MUSICALLY ON FUTURE RELEASES?

Jake Ryan: Well, like I said we recorded this record almost 2 years ago. These songs are literally like our very first songs for this band. But, I think everything we have done up till this point has helped give us vision about what our next release could/will be like. We basically never stop writing song and are so excited that people finally get to hear, “Young Giant” but we can barely wait to get in the studio to record our second record.

RECORDING AN ALBUM IS HARD WORK BUT PROMOTING IT CAN BE EVEN HARDER SOMETIMES. BESIDES LIVE SHOWS, WHAT OTHER AVENUES HAVE YOU GUYS BEEN EXPLORING LATELY WHEN IT COMES TO PROMOTING THE BAND AND SAYING, “HERE WE ARE HAVE A LISTEN TO OUR MUSIC”?

Jake Ryan: Well if you aren’t up on social networking sites then your band probably won’t make it past playing in your garage or basement. We definitely do our fair share of pushing our band through those free marking strategies ranging from having a telephone number that kids can all, all the way down to having blog sites and just the standard pages that everyone goes to listen to your music at. I think that videos are a big deal with getting people attached to your band. If they can take a step inside what you do for a couple minutes at a time I think its fun and it adds an element of personality to your band for your listeners.

YOU ALSO HAD A VIDEO MADE FOR THE SONG “LESS TALK”. WAS DECIDING WHICH SONG TO USE FOR A VIDEO AN EASY ONE OR DID EACH MEMBER HAVE THEIR FAVOURITE SONG THEY WANTED TO SEE BE MADE INTO A VIDEO?

Jake Ryan: I think we all had songs we thought would be a cool first single, but “Less Talk” is just one song that all of us agreed on very strongly. It’s a super fun song for us live and seems to be one that we have continually had a healthy response to from our friends and family and people who are probably tired of hearing about us back home. haha

WHICH BAND THAT YOU WATCHED LIVE MADE YOU THINK, “I WANT TO DO THAT ONE DAY”; AND WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU’VE LEARNED FROM WATCHING YOUR “IDOLS” OVER THE YEARS?

Jake Ryan: When I was in 5th grade I was at this theme park here in Kansas City and I saw this band Johnny Q Public playing. Their guitar player got up on his half stack during their set and jumped off of it and I remember thinking… “Oh man that is so cool! I wanna do that!” Well, here I am playing in a band, but little did I know I would just be hanging out behind drums all day long. Too bad no jumping off stuff for me… haha!I don’t really have any idols, but I think most of the musicians that I really looked up to are mostly dead…I’m not sure what that means really. haha.

IS TRAVELLING A LOT AND PLAYING MANY SHOWS IN A ROW AS COOL AS IT LOOKS; AND WHAT ARE SOME OF THE “PERKS” WHEN IT COMES TO BEING A BAND ON THE ROAD?

Jake Ryan: If you like to travel, don’t mind being sick, can hang out with people 24/7, can live without your family and friends from back home being near… then this is the perfect job for you! haha I think just like any job there are “pros and cons”, but to me personally the “pros” outweigh the “cons” considerably or else I wouldn’t do it. I love to travel and that is one of my favourite things, but what I enjoy best is just getting the opportunity to always make new friends everywhere I go. Getting to share your music in a new place every night and in front of new people is a pretty exciting experience as well!

DO YOU GUYS HAVE ANY HOBBIES OUTSIDE OF MUSIC OR IS QUEENS CLUB BASICALLY IT?

Jake Ryan: We play sports. When we are home we are playing sports with all of our friends. If it’s warm, ever weekend we are playing a big baseball game. In the colder months, basketball indoors twice a week. We play other stuff too but its usually just filler in-between, baseball and basketball are the ones we take pretty seriously.

That’s what we do collectively but all of us have personal hobbies that we do outside of the band, but it’s pretty cool that we can all share in one hobby together that is completely separate from what we do in the band.

ANY OTHER COMMENTS OR ANYTHING ELSE FANS SHOULD LOOK OUT FOR?

Jake Ryan: We are hitting the road to support, “Young Giant” so just look out for US!

INTERVIEW BY NEIL VAN ZYL