I recently chatted to Calvin Lauber of indie-punkers, Looking For Alaska.
Hi there, Looking For Alaska!
Hey Alternative Tone! Thanks for having us do this interview.
Who is Looking For Alaska, and how did you get together?
Looking For Alaska is: (me) Calvin Lauber (vocals, guitar), Joshua Cannon (guitar, vocals), Garrett Galtelli (bass, vocals), and Chris Chamoun (drums). We all played in different local bands in the past, and basically through a lot of people quitting a joining a band Josh and I started, it eventually became what is now Looking For Alaska.
How would you describe your music for the unacquainted? Loud rock n roll, sometimes we're quiet though. We try to be kind of catchy but can be known to throw that out the window and just yell a lot..
How has 2012 been for you guys?
Pretty crazy, really. We had a pretty huge line up change with our old singer leaving. This left us writing all new material and in a way starting over as a band. It's been cool though, we've been taking things in a direction I know Josh and I have been searching for for a while. Other than writing, we are about to release a new EP called "Sing Your Heart Out" on Sep 29th, as well as doing a pretty fair amount of touring the last few months, through florida and up/down the east cost. We're heading out on tour after we release the EP with a cool pop punk band also from memphis called The Summers. I think we're planning on going though Texas, it should be awesome.
You released the demo of Gainesville earlier this year. Want to talk us through the song?
Musically that song is one of those "aha" moments, where it actually came together pretty easily. Lyrically it really hits home for us, especially Josh and I. We had a past musically of being a pretty spiritually based band, and Gainesville basically addresses our departure from that, referencing "the river", which was a metaphor used on our last album for God/Christianity. Though we are in no way a "pro atheism" band or anything like that, if that's even a thing. basically everyone in the band has their own beliefs but we've decided to remove that from our song writing and focus more on personal, more worldly issues. Gainesville specifically addresses coping with leaving that state of spirituality and finding peace within yourself.
Can we expect any more material before the end of the year?
Yes definitely, new EP september 29th. Also we are already writing for a full length, which will hopefully be written by the end of this year.
What bands do you listen to? Who influences Looking For Alaska?
Balance & Composure, Colour Revolt, Transit, Title Fight, Brand New, Jimmy Eat World, Circa Survive, our families, people who love us, people who really don't love us.
Great band name, by the way. Big John Green fans?
Definitely. Josh named the band when we were like 16, but we still stand by it. Really solid book and John Green has written a lot of other great material as well.
If Looking For Alaska was a poem, what poem would it be?
roses are red
violets are blue
im not very funny
or witty
or good at writing poems
josh, garrett, and chris are all funnier than I
sorry
Final words?
Thanks for checking this out! We really hope you like what you hear. You can see us on various places on the interweb, including www.facebook.com/lookingforalaska , twitter @Looking4Alaska, instagram @looking4alaskaband, and our website www.lookingforalaskaband.com Get in touch with us and tell us where you want us to play, we'll try to come play in your city really soon. Thanks everyone, and don't forget to listen to our new EP "Sing Your Heart Out" available September 29th! <3
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