Hillcrest Road Interview
QnA-
1. How did you first discover Hillcrest Road, the blog?
Tom: You know, it was almost a year ago I think... I was feeling rather narcissistic and tried Googling ourselves. Lo and behold, your blog popped up. At first I was a little confused, but the more I read and figured things out, the more interested I was. Heck, as a big MLS and in general soccer fan I should have already known about this. Regardless, I was happy to have found out and now find myself following the blog's updates fairly regularly!
2. What were your thoughts when you found out a professional soccer team could potentially have a stadium on a street with the same name as your band?
Patrick: I was excited to hear it! It's also somewhat coincidental, as most of us in the band grew up playing soccer. Even though I spent a lot of time on the bench, I still love playing the game and watching games on TV.
Scott: Hillcrest Road is actually a pretty common street name. We receive lots of messages from fans that live on or nearby a Hillcrest Road from all over the country. Although it is pretty cool that something big like this will be associated (at least in some circles) with our band.
3. Are you guys soccer fans? If so, who do you support?
Tom: We are all soccer fans, though Jake and I are definitely the biggest ones out of us all. Living somewhat near Chicago, I guess I'd consider myself a Fire fan... but that's more out of default than anything else since it's the easiest team for me to get tickets to. Having lived in London for a bit, I'm also a pretty big Premier League fan. And because of my ties to Jay DeMerit, I'm definitely a Watford supporter.
Scott:I don’t know where Tom got his sources but I’ve never really been a soccer fan. It’s a cool sport, just never grabbed my interest I guess. I was always more of a basketball, football (American), and baseball player.
4. Will you now support the Wizards, given your name ties to the organization?
Tom: I already do! This really is just the icing on the cake...
5. How did you chose your name?
When we were first starting out, one of the many songs that never made it onto our set-list was called "At Hillcrest Road and Francis Creek." We ended up dropping all but the Hillcrest Road and adopted that as our title. The actual Hillcrest Road that we're named after is about halfway between Green Bay (where three of our original members lived) and Milwaukee, where we like to stop for Subway sandwiches, gasoline, and take potty breaks.
6. What song of yours should Wizards supporters check out and why?
Tom: If I had to pick one track off our first album, Life After Liftoff, I'd suggest "It's Been You," because it definitely has gotten the most response from our fans. Two of my personal favorites off that album are "Postcards Lost (In the Mail)" and "Options Limit Actions," because they really show off the band's range and diversity. What I would really tell people, however, is that every single track off our upcoming album, The Definition EP is now my favorite. We'll start releasing new songs sometime in late December or January, and when we do those tracks would be the ones I'd suggest everyone checks out.
Scott: My personal favorite is Marvelous. It’s a slow and simple song but it dives much deeper than any of our others. In other words, I don’t like it because it’s popular; I value it because it has meaning.
7. Explain your style of music and musical influences to Hillcrest Road readers...
Our musical influences vary greatly, including everything from rock, to hip hop and pop, to jazz. While we are usually characterized as "pop rock," we like to include elements of the other genres we love to listen to. Probably the most important thing about our music is that we do not write anything we would not want to listen to ourselves. Some have compared us to Mae or Anberlin, others to Motion City Soundtrack, but really the comparison should be up to you the listener to decide for yourself.
8. What is the long-term ambition of your band?
Patrick: We absolutely love writing and playing music. In the long term, getting paid enough to support ourselves by playing music would be a dream come true.
9. Once Hillcrest Road is built, would you like to play at the venue?
We are always looking for places to play, and a venue that has such close ties to our name is definitely an exciting idea. The prospect of not only playing at such a fantastic facility on a road of our namesake, but for such an impressive organization is definitely something that interests us!
10. Anything else you want to tell fans?
The fans are important, but when it comes down to it, we use music as an avenue for self and group expression. Music has the ability to transcend boundaries that the spoken word cannot. It’s an art. It can be interpreted in an infinite number of ways and therefore can touch any person regardless of differences. But most of all it allows us to extract emotions that we otherwise wouldn’t know how to get out. Even if those emotions don’t reach anybody else’s ears, it’s more than worth it. In other words, there is always a reason to play music…even if you are your own audience.
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