Tell me about the best showed you have played to date.
Heather: That's a hard question to answer, haha! I feel like we keep getting better
with every show, so it's hard to say what our "best show" is. I can definitely say that
we had a totally crowded room, with people in t-rex outfits, at our most recent EP
release at The Bowery Electric. That was pretty hysterical, and also a LOT of fun.
Christina: I'm not sure if I can pin down one particular show.The T-Rex packed EP
release show was really fun. Our very first show at The Bitter End back in February
drew a great crowd, and the sound was crystal clear. I think one of our stand-out shows was last April at Muchmore's, where we played with Richey Rose, Samantha (now Nihiloceros) and Plastiq Passion... except the sound guy didn't show up. It ended up being an intimate but rowdy little show with cries of, "Fuck the sound guy!" We ended up being okay with the more sound-savvy folks twiddling knobs on the sound board instead.
Lizz: It depends on how you define ‘best showed.’ We had one of the most enthusiastic Crowds at our album release party at The Bowery Electric, but we played a venue called Mr. Beery’s out on the island recently where the two bands before and after our set dropped out at the last minute. The people running the venue told us we could play as long as we wanted so we literally played every song we knew and it was a lot of fun.
Crowd the Airwaves
Blurb from Dill: I had not realized how many typos I had in the questions I sent CTA until I received their responses. I decided to just roll with it because a certain member of the band was amused by it. Oh well.
Crowd the Airwaves, a killer band from NYC, is the subject of this interview and Killerbeat Dill is a big fan.
Where the name “Crowd the Airwaves” originate?
Heather: Well we were trying to come up with something, and were talking about it on our group chat at the time. We were even looking at band name generators haha! But eventually we got stuck on the word "crowd". So we start coming up with a bunch of word combinations with "crowd", until one of us (I forget who exactly) shouted out "crowd the airwaves", and it was just an "aha" moment. So it stuck.
Christina: A lengthy Facebook group chat discussion, several hundred terrible name ideas later.
Lizz: Idk. Hot Topic?
How does the “Crowd the Airwaves” songwriting process work?
Heather: Christina and I are very different in our approaches. I personally am not a multi-instrumentalist like her, and I'm a singer by trade. So the thing that normally comes first for me are lyrics, and a vocal line. Then I'll pull out my bass, write the outline of chords, and a shell of a bass line. After that, I normally present what I have to the band so I can pick their brains about the guitar and drum parts. My attitude is that they know their instrument better than I do, and while I can guide the direction I want them to go in, they know how to actually execute it. I trust my bandmates abilities enough to know they can make something killer to accompany whatever I'm doing.
Christina: We enjoy collaborating on our music as a group, but for the most part, the process begins with a single songwriter. Personally, I think of my own material in terms of the composition of each individual part. As a violist/alto player, I'm used to being a cog in the machine with the music surrounding me. I have a good idea of what I want to hear in my head by the time I present my work, but lyrics usually come last. "City Dreams" was mostly free-written. Heather tends to come up with lyrics, vocal melodies and basic chords first; the instrumentals will usually develop week by week in practice as we move forward. Since the start of CTA, we've also recorded really rough scratch tracks/demos that we would present to each other to take home and sit with.
What artists/bands would you consider to be among the biggest influences of Crowd the Airwaves? Also, who are some of each of your favorite artists/bands?
Heather: We all have such different tastes in music, but enough overlap that we still can totally reference things outside of our normal loop. Personally, Foo Fighters, Dead Sara, The Pretty Reckless, Devin Townsend Project, Will Wood and the Tapeworms, and Coco Tea are currently inspiring a lot of what I'm writing. The level of musicianship shown in their music is intimidating, and inspiring. I love how each plays with dynamics, lyrics, time signatures... I could go on, haha!
Christina: We started off pretty inspired by The Runaways, with a hard rock/girl power-type of influence. My biggest influences in my writing are Anberlin, Truckfighters, Pure Reason Revolution, Paramore, Celldweller, and a few others. Recently I've been inspired by Dozer, Dead Meadow, and Earl Greyhound. That's a good mix of alternative, progressive, hard and stoner rock. I live for compelling lyrics, catchy hooks, great melodies, dynamics, creative drum lines and killer vocal harmonies.
Lizz: Nickelback
How was the response to “All the Things We Don’t Say”?
Heather: So far the response has been really positive. We had a review from Divide and Conquer that gave us a 3.9 out of 5, calling our music diverse and distinctive. That's always what you want to hear as an artist, you know? That you're presenting something new to the table. A lot of people have also said that our sound has grown immensely since our first EP, Devil May Care. That was a really awesome feeling because it was validation that we keep growing as a band; something we strive for as individuals, and as a group.
Christina: Pretty fantastic, actually! The general consensus is that we have matured
since our first EP, Devil May Care, which was released in 2013. People are really
loving our vocal harmonies. I heard someone say that our final track,Unknowable,
brought them to tears; not out of sadness, but because the music was that powerful.
The response from my family was pretty wild. My aunt has a well loved, very beat
up CD copy of the EP and says it's the first thing she puts on every day before going
to work. My cousin told me that she hadn't downloaded Spotify until our music
began streaming there. I've also gotten some great reception about the artwork (all
CTA visual art is created by yours truly).
Lizz: You tell us. We’re too busy working on new stuff to dwell on the past.
What are your thoughts on collaborating with other artists?
Heather: I'm all about that. I'm a very strong believer in music bringing people together, and we have had the pleasure of working with some truly amazing artists. I would be honored to keep it going, and even get to work with them beyond sharing a bill.
Christina: My time in CTA is probably the biggest collaborative effort I've underwent as a creative person. As intimidating as it is to show people your art, it's still enjoyable to bounce ideas off of other artists. Gaining new perspectives is imperative to personal growth, especially with creative fields. It has been a pleasure working with producers, photographers, videographers and fellow bands over the years because we get to watch them grow and improve alongside us.
Lizz: People who hate collaboration are self-centered idiots and they’re usually too high to know what good art is. The only way to have art is within a community. We always welcome collaboration.
Favorite foods? Favorite drinks?
Heather: Tacos. All of the tacos. And tequila. ...I'm a healthy person.
Christina: Whiskey sours, cherry vanilla coke, beef sticks, Kraft mac n cheez, lox, and value fries.
Lizz: There is a certain fast food chain of which we are frequent patrons, but we refuse to name her name until she offers us an endorsement deal.
If you guys could choose one artist/band to perform/tour with, who would that be?
Heather: Foo Fighters. Foo. Fighters. FOOOOOOO FIIIIIIIIIGHTEEEEEERS. I hope they read this, and make my fan girl dreams come true.
Christina: Pink Guy.
Lizz: Elvis Presley
What are Crowd the Airwaves plans for the rest of 2017?
Heather: We are trying REALLY hard to start playing more frequently outside of NYC. While we have an amazing group of fans out here, and on Long Island, we want to start to play more in Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania. We feel it's time we took the band on tour, and showed the tri-state area what we can do, especially now that we have a new EP we feel very confident in pushing.
Christina: We would like to start branching out into the tri state area, if not for a little weekend warrior group of shows. We will continue to work on new material in order to build our new catalog as the year goes on. Our goal is to start working on our very first full-length album! There's even been some brainstorming regarding ATTWDS, now that we have gained so much momentum after its release. Maybe a single? A concept for a new video? Who knows?!
Lizz: Play more music?
Thanks for taking the time out of your schedule to participate in this interview.
Some links for Crowd the Airwaves!
Who are all the current members and what are their rules?
Heather: Heather Lee Marvin is the lead singer, and bassist. At this point she has written most of the catalogue of music. Her rules are to not play fucked up on stage, and not to fuck with the band.
Christina: Heather Marvin is on lead vocals and bass; I am on guitar, vocals and occasionally viola; Lizz Hudman is on drums/percussion.
Lizz: Rules? Do you mean ‘roles?’ Heather is the bassist/vocalist, Christina is the guitarist/vocalist, and Lizz is the drummer/personality. All three of us individuals have rules by which we live our own lives but like we never actually wrote a book called “Band Rules” if that’s what you’re asking?
Lizz: It’s pretty fascinating to be a part of because Heather always
comes into the studio with a piece of music that has been floating
around in her head—sometimes just a bass theme, sometimes with
full lyrics—and presents it to the rest of the band so we can
improvise with it and experiment with different variations until it
clicks and then we have a full song. Christina is usually a bit more
calculated and waits until she has a full arrangement in mind before she brings it to the studio to tell us what she wants the song to be. It’s interesting because both approaches to songwriting work for us and it challenges our communication skills as musicians.
Please feel free to share any comments you have with Killerbeat's readers.
Heather: Thanks to all who have read this. You're important to us, and we really hope to see you all at a show soon! Our next gig is Friday, August 25th at The Well in Brooklyn with Castle Black for their EP release. We go on at 9 pm, and you should come through! If you can't make that one though, we have another gig at The Bowery Electric with Petra Jarrar for her EP release as well on Sunday, September 10th. We go on at 7 pm, so it is an early show, but well worth it!
Christina: Check out our stuff! All the Things We Don't Say is available most everywhere online. We also released our music video for The Truth last month, if you're looking for some eye candy. ;)
