Owner Christine talks with Taylor Stillwell of Heart To Heart after their set at Santos Party House in New York City. Catch Heart To Heart on the rest of this tour here : http://wp.me/p16Hhg-W1.
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Twitter : @HeartToHeartCA // @TaylorStillwell
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Not familiar with Heart to Heart? Earlier this year, I featured the Pismo Beach, California natives on Your New Favorite Band; when their tour with Forever Came Calling and Last Call stopped in Lansing, Michigan last week, I met up with the band for an interview before the show.
Read on for the interview, where we talked about the current tour and the making of and reactions to their self-titled record!
CIRCLES & SOUNDWAVES: First off, can you all tell me your name, what you play in the band, and a random fact about yourself?
HEART TO HEART:
Justin: I'm Justin, I play bass, and I like video games.
Jonathan: My name's Jonathan, I play guitar and sing, and a random fact is I'm left-handed but I play right-handed guitar.
Nick: My name's Nick and I sing in the band. A random fact about myself is I love pro-wrestling and magic tricks.
Taylor: My name's Taylor, I play guitar and sing in the band, and I 100% believe I was Abraham Lincoln in a former life.
C&S: What's your reason for believing that?
Taylor: There's too many to say.
[Justin, Jonathan, and Nick laugh.]
Jonathan: I hate when he brings this up…
C&S: Oh, is this a regular thing?
Nick: The thing is Abe was honest, and you're far from that. He was taller, and you're far from that. He had a beard…
C&S: [Laughs.] Yeah, where's your top hat?
Taylor: It's in California!
C&S: So you're on tour with Forever Came Calling and Last Call right now; how's the tour going?
Taylor: Awesome.
Justin: Good.
Nick: A few minor setbacks; we're a week in, and since then we've blown a trailer tire and fucked up the rim on a wheel. We peeled the top of our trailer off, not making clearance. Last night we got stuck in mud slush- off-roading in the van.
Justin: We were just doing donuts…
Nick: We were stuck until, what was it, 5?
Taylor: [Nods.] 5 in the morning, we finally left. We were in Grand Rapids. It sucked, being in the freezing cold and waking up neighbors and cops coming… it was a mess.
C&S: But you're here now.
Taylor: Yes, we're stoked.
Nick: Other than that, it's been going awesome. We're having a blast.
C&S: I'm glad to hear that!
You'll be playing the Mixtape Fest pretty soon, are there any bands you're really excited to see?
Taylor: Giants at Large. [Ed.- Taylor later said he's also excited to see Pentimento.]
Nick: Hostage Calm for sure. I definitely slept on the Hostage Calm record; I listened to it for the first time a few months ago and I was like, "Whoa."
Jonathan: There's just a lot of friends of ours at that festival.
Nick: Definitely.
Jonathan: Friends from California and friends that we've made.
Taylor: I'm stoked to see Misser.
Justin: I'm excited just to be there and be a part of it; it's pretty awesome.
Jonathan: Apparently it sold out.
Nick: Day two sold out.
C&S: I went last year, when The Wonder Years played- I've been to the venue before but I've never seen that place as crazy as Mixtape Fest.
Nick: Sweet.
C&S: You put out a self-titled record, Heart to Heart, in October, which was your first full-length; how does it feel to finally have a full-length out?
Justin: We're a band! We're a band now, guys.
Nick: Awesome. I mean, it's a lot of hard work; it's crazy how much time actually goes in to writing and recording a record. It was long for us- it took 88 days to actually make the record, because we were recording down in LA, which is three hours away from us, so we had to make trips in between work and what-not to get it finished. But we couldn't be more proud. It's awesome finally having a full-length record out. I'm ready to hop back in and start recording some more songs, to be honest.
C&S: How have fans and critics reacted to the record?
Jonathan: It's been ups and downs. Like with everything, you know, there's always gonna be people that like it and people that don't like it.
Taylor: Not everyone liked the Beatles.
Nick: A lot of people say that we're like a 2002, 2003 kind of band, which is cool! While we were writing the record, a lot of the stuff we were listening to- Thursday, Glassjaw, Senses Fail- we always try to mix in something different, but you know- for the most part, it's been a good reaction. It's lead us in to some awesome opportunities.
C&S: Going back a little bit, what have been some bands that have influenced you? I know you mentioned Senses Fail, Glassjaw…
Nick: The Starting Line.
Justin: Brand New.
Nick: Alkaline Trio.
Taylor: The Movielife.
Nick: Poison the Well… blink-182, New Found Glory.
Justin: Bayside.
Taylor: A lot of Drive-Thru bands, that's huge.
C&S: So definitely the 2002, 2003 kind of thing, maybe that does make sense.
Nick: Yeah.
C&S: Heart to Heart goes in to a lot of deep, painful topics; why go so deep? Why not just make it something that's a fun, dance-y, kind of thing?
Justin: Cuz everyone does that.
Jonathan: It's just what we feel; the lyrics come from real life experiences. It's not sugar-coated, it is what we are.
Nick: Exactly, and it was more of- I didn't have anyone to talk to, so I put pen to paper. I didn't want to beat around the bush or be fake with anything. We're just normal dudes, you know? We've been through some shit and that's what this whole band is based around- pain- so we like to share our stories through our music. It's hard for us to open up face-to-face, but…
C&S: But through music, you're able to do that.
Nick: Exactly.
Jonathan: It's kind of why our record is self-titled; we're having a "heart to heart" with whoever listens to it.
C&S: Going along that theme, you said music has been an outlet for you, and I'm sure that has connected with a lot of people who have been listening to the record and at shows. What would you say to someone who came up to you and said that they had been having a rough time, and your record had helped them a lot?
Nick: It has happened. It's been happening a lot lately.
C&S: I saw on Facebook, someone said, "I just listened to your record on the way home and I cried the whole time."
Nick: Stuff like that, it's so… I don't know, it's very weird.
Taylor: It's a good weird, though.
Nick: Yeah, it's awesome.
Justin: The first thing we do is hug them and say thank you.
Nick: Yeah. And I try to let them know that we're here to talk, we always are. All I can do is give my advice and share my story. But just seeing that makes me realize- whoa, we started this band in our garage…
C&S: And now you're having an impact on people.
Jonathan: Something that I wrote in my room, someone across the country is listening to it and taking something from it. That means a lot to me.
C&S: You're from Pismo Beach, California, what are some other bands from your hometown area that you want to give a shout-out to?
Nick: Night Rides, formerly known as PK, they're an awesome band.
Justin: The Mighty Fine.
Taylor: Betrayal.
Nick: Sadly, you know, we don't have that many local bands around us. There's some, but not as much as there used to be…. Sherwood is from where we're from. I used to see Sherwood in front of ten kids when they were called A Long Story Short.
C&S: You've got Mixtape Fest and a few more weeks of this tour, and you said you're ready to go in to the studio; do you have anything planned for after this tour is over?
Nick: We've been writing here and there, just messing around with a few riffs; nothing is really set in stone. We do have summer plans that we can't really talk about just yet.
Justin: We have ambitions, we'll put it that way.
Nick: Just stay posted. We're definitely going to be staying busy this year.
C&S: Awesome. If you weren't in a band, what do you think you'd be doing, career-wise?
Jonathan: Nothing. Working.
Nick: Uh, either playing professional poker, or I work with adults with mental disabilities, and I'd like to move up in that field because I have enough experience now; it's just due to the commitment to the band, I can't really commit to a full-time job. Something like that, or a pro-wrestler or magic.
Taylor: I'd probably just be skateboarding every day.
C&S: What's your response to haters or anyone who doubts your band?
Jonathan: Thanks for checking us out!
Nick: Yeah. It keeps us going. I mean, we're gonna do what we're gonna do regardless. We've had tons of haters before, and-
Jonathan: We're gonna have more.
Nick: Yeah, we're gonna have more and it doesn't slow us down. Personally, it's pretty entertaining, so thank you for listening! You can't please everybody.
C&S: Anything else you guys want to say?
Nick: Stay posted. Check us out on hearttoheartca.com, and if we don't see you guys now, we'll see you soon.
C&S: Thank you very much!
Nick: Thank you, Molly!
Thanks guys!
You can see the remaining dates for the Road To Mixtape Tour here, and be sure to keep up with Heart to Heart on their Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and official website.
