About the band: Storyline is an up-and-coming Springfield band with some uncommonly awesome summer plans. The pop-punk band has collected 58,000 MySpace.com friends and they’re about to embark on a summer tour that includes stops at a Springfield library, a premier music festival (Cornerstone), a youth camp, and an amusement park (Six Flags). They’ll be supporting their debut CD, “Welcome Home”, which came out last week. Catch them at the Springfield Park Central Library tonight for free! When: Friday, June 12 at 7 p.m.
About the show:
Storyline
Where: Park Central Library
Interview:
I just found out about you a couple weeks ago, and then I check out your MySpace page and you have 58,000 friends. So I have to ask the stock question: what's the story behind your band?
Geno Valloni: Well, as you know, three-fifths of this band use to be One Star Story. Once OSS broke up, Bryant and I were left wondering what to do with the songs we had written that were scheduled to be on the next full length album for OSS. But in September I got an email from Ashley wondering if we were interesting in starting something up with her, and after sitting down and talking with her, it just made sense to start collaborating. Meanwhile, Bryant had moved to Los Angeles, and Zack had moved back to Kansas City. But when they heard a couple of the demos with Ashley's vocals, we decided to start things up again. Bryant decided to move from bass to guitar, so we when it came to finding a new bass player, Bryant and I knew there was really only one person we wanted to ask, and that was Mike. So that’s how we got started.
What's the biggest difference between One Star Story and Storyline?
GV: Well there’s two obvious differences between OSS and Storyline. First, Storyline is much more pop than OSS was. OSS was influence by bands like Anberlin and Paramore, whereas Storyline is influenced by bands like Jimmy Eat World, All American Rejects, Third Eye Blind, etc. We still have that rock flavor to our sound, but it’s not what’s driving our style like it was with OSS. The other difference is obviously Ashley. It’s amazing how Ashley is able to make the songs we have just that much better. We've gotten compliment after compliment on how well her vocal stylings sync up with the energy or emotion of each song. I don't think what we were doing vocally with OSS would have translated to pop successfully without the addition of Ashley.
Tell me about your new CD. Where did you record it? What are you hoping to accomplish with its release?
Ashley Morgan: Our new CD is titled "Welcome Home". We recorded here locally with the amazing Jeff Smith at Studio2100. If there are any bands reading this right now and contemplating where to record, we can't say enough about Jeff and the amazing abilities he has as an engineer, producer and musician. Jeff had so many fresh ideas for our songs and took each one to a whole new level... we couldn't be happier with the album and we owe it all to him. It's our first album as Storyline, so on top of putting out an album that introduces us to the listeners, we also wanted to put out an album of songs we were all proud of and represented us collectively as a band. Like Geno mentioned, some of these songs were songs Bryant and he had written last summer. But others are new songs we were all able to collaborate on and add our individual styles to. We also had some collaborative help on songs as well. The song "Almost Over" was co-produced by Stephen Christian of Anberlin and "We Know The Ending" was written by our good friend Dan Seawel of the band Hello Madison. Like I said, we are so proud of this record, and we just ultimately hope listeners will love it just as much as we do.
Are you looking for a record label or will you continue to self-release your music?
GV: We are open to whatever happens at this point. We do have a manager who is helping us get our name out there, and that does include talking with labels. One of the biggest things to learn in this industry when it comes to labels is you always want them pursuing you to reap the most benefits from them, but you also have to let them know you exist. Ultimately we would love to work with a label if the right opportunity presented itself.
You guys have a really unusual tour schedule this summer (playing at Six Flags and a youth camp). What shows are you looking forward to the most?
AM: Yeah, we do have a random schedule. Right now we are taking anything thrown at us really. With the economy the way it is right now, it’s hard for newer bands to tour even regionally when promoters and venues aren't willing to take the risk to bring them in. So we have been lucky to get the shows we've gotten by utilizing Sonicbids and our booking agency. We are really excited to play every show honestly. Every opportunity to perform and meet new friends is one more opportunity to get our music out there.
Since Storyline is a Christian band, is it ever an issue to play bars like the Outland Ballroom?
GV: Well first off, Storyline does not label itself a "Christian band." Just like The Fray or Lifehouse, we are believers in a band. We want to put out music people enjoy listening to and build friendships with our listeners. With that said, we do play both churches and bars, but we see no difference between the two. Both provide the opportunity to perform the music we love to play, and provide us the opportunity to make new friends with those who enjoy what they hear.
What are your favorite things to do in Springfield?
Bryant Babbitt: Wow. We like to do a little bit of everything. We all enjoying going out to eat at Hong Kong Inn, grabbing coffee at Rendezvous, learning to wakeboard at the lake, catching a show downtown, or just barbequing at Geno's and playing washers.
If you had to film your next music video at a Springfield monument, where would it be?
Zack Person: Well, plans are currently in the works to shoot our next video for our song "Welcome Home," and one of the ideas that has been tossed around would be to film part of it at one of the local skating rinks. Does that count? If we had to pick a monument, I would think it would be cool to shoot on the roof of Hammons Tower. Haha.
Anything else you want to add?
AM: We just want to thank all of our friends and fans for listening and giving us your support. The only thing we love more than playing music is getting to talk to all of our friends both online at shows.
