The bass player from Love and a .38, who had a video for one of their songs featured by Universal Studios on a 40-foot screen at City Walk. The band has gone throughout the southwest and up and down the west coast of the U.S., plus they've performed at SXSW too. Working with the band towards a new EP at the time of this interview, Justin also talks about advocacy work that he has done through the NAMM Foundation both in Sacramento as well as at the federal level in Washington, D.C. He also talks about their being entirely indie/DIY, including landing an impressive list of sponsors.
"I actually met the band... at NAMM in 2009 and basically landed the audition for them right then and there, and about a week-and-a-half later I had my first audition with them. And, I think it was about two weeks after my first audition I was on the road in Arizona with them for my first gig."
"Here in Los Angeles, with a lot of those clubs closing there's not as much space for bands anymore. So I feel like it is a lot more every man for himself than it used to be."
"Now that clubs are closing and getting smaller or doing the corporate thing, there's less and less room. So I think people are either getting burned out and scared - threatened by that and just giving up on their hopes and dreams and just taking the easy way out, trying to find a different career and not follow their passion - or they're just getting very inward thinking, like, 'How am I going to survive'."
"I think a lot of people have this postcard dream of what it's like to be in Los Angeles or even just what it's like to be a musician. And once they get here and they see what the hustle and grind is really like, I think that fantasy just immediately gets shattered for them."
"We've also kind of just taken the approach that no one is going to work harder for you than yourself."
"We have an all-for-one, one-for-all kind of mentality in this band. Even with songwriting, any credits we have on records, no matter who puts more work into what song, everyone gets a 25 percent cut."
"We've been just so DIY that the idea of recording an album on our own just made sense."
"I look back on some of the highlights of my life and probably, five out of five, my top moments would be related to music. So for me it's really important that kids have that opportunity because I don't want to see them robbed of those cool opportunities that I've had."
"Just Like Regret"
"Get Up and Go"