Before their show in Nashville, TN and inbetween
sound check and talking with a Pearl Drums rep,
I sat down with Socialburn's new drummer Syrus
Peters to talk about the band and their current
tour with Sevendust and Nonpoint.
TuneLab Music: You're currently on tour
with Sevendust and Nonpoint. How have the shows
been?
Syrus Peters: A lot of the
shows have been great. Probably about 90% sold
out. It’s been really good; we're bonding
extremely well with Nonpoint and Sevendust.
They're basically like family now. We've been
on the road with them for a little over seven
weeks now and we've got about four left. They're
a little bit heavier bands that we are, but
the crowd seems to like us and we've been getting
a great response. It’s been a great tour.
TL: It is kind of an odd pairing. How'd
you guys hook up with them?
SP: We’re all from the
south. They’re based out of Atlanta and
a couple guys live in Florida and we’re
a Florida based band. That’s kind of how
it went, they really liked us. They like the
diversity of the music and don’t want
three bands on the bill that sound exactly like
them. That’s kind of what we bring, a
little diversity to the tour.
TL: What's it like touring with Wicked Wisdom?
SP: It’s different touring
with them. Jada is already a celebrity so there’s
already more security around her and more media
attention. But it’s been cool, we get
along with them great and they’re great
people. It’s been interesting. Defiantly
interesting.
TL: The band was originally signed to
Elektra Records. Do you know what happened with
that?
SP: That was before I was in
the band, but I know the story. Basically things
got crazy around that time and labels started
folding and now there is no more Elektra. So
they [Elektra] opted to buy Socialburn out of
their contract so they took that money and did
the next record on their own, which is a highly
admirable thing for a band to do.
TL: The band is now signed with IRock
Entertainment. Do you know how that deal came
about?
SP: Their old management was
looking for a deal. Everyone was leery of signing
with another major just because of all the uncertainty
with what was going on with the major labels.
It just seemed like the right thing at the right
time. It wasn’t a regrettable move, we’re
out on the road with Sevendust, the record is
in stores everywhere and it’s selling.
It doesn’t have the big money that a major
has, but at the same time we have the same distribution
just maybe not the same marketing dollar. It
was a good move for the band to do.
TL: Was it harder to get labels show
interest after being signed then dropped?
SP: It always is. Speaking
from being in other bands that with through
the same thing. It’s always harder because
people are like “Well it didn’t
work the first time”. It wasn’t
really that it didn’t work; the first
record sold a couple hundred thousand records.
Trying to get any label to show promise, or
actually stand behind a band, especially a rock
band. It’s just hard. That’s why
a lot people are going to indie’s or sub-groups
of labels because they can actually show support.
That’s basically what a band in our position
needs, support.
TL: What's the biggest difference in being signed
to an indie label compared to a major?
SP: Indie’s don’t
have the money. They rely a lot more on fans
to find them instead of mass promotion over
radio and stuff like that. We really rely on
our fans to spread the word. Playing live and
getting on the road is really the thing to promote
a band. Trying to get as much radio play as
possible without having a major label behind
you is defiantly harder, but at the same time
a little more gratifying.
TL: The new album has been out for right
at five months now. Are you guys satisfied with
the response it’s gotten?
SP: Yeah, honestly the response
has been extremely well for the amount of money
that IRock has put into it, which is not a lot
at all. Defiantly being on this tour helps promote
the record. We would like the numbers to be
bigger but right now we can’t really complain.
Hopefully over the next five months, we just
dropped a new single “Cold Night”;
hopefully we’ll get more push out of that.
Right now numbers aren’t the greatest,
but they defiantly could be worse, could be
better.
TL: Speaking of the new single. How
is it doing?
SP: From what we know, honestly
I don’t know how it’s doing. In
certain markets it’s doing extremely well
because when we get to the cities kids are singing
every word that don’t have the record
yet. That defiantly helps. From what I understand
it’s doing really well.
TL: The new album also includes "I'm Happy"
from the previous album. Do you know the story
behind that?
SP: You know I’m not
really sure why they did that. I think they
weren’t exactly happy with the way that
“Happy” came out on the first record
and wanted to re-do it. That’s kind of
the statement song for this band anyway. I think,
I might be wrong, but I think that’s why
it came about.
TL: In addition to the new album, they
also have a new drummer?
SP: Yeah! Me
TL: How did you come about joining the
band?
SP: Well I was in another band
called Still Naïve and we had done some
touring with Socialburn. We had been friends
for a long time and when Brandon stepped down
I got the call, and was extremely happy to get
the call. This is a great band and a great opportunity
for me. We geled extremely well and we kinda
knew it would. I’ve been in bands for
half of my life. It was the right thing.
TL: Did you have to go through the whole
audition process?
SP: Oh no, there was no audition
process. We had three rehearsals and bang we’re
on the road...
TL: What are the bands plans after this
tour wraps up?
SP: We’re not really
sure. We’ve got four more weeks left with
this. We’ll be doing a bunch of radio
festivals over the spring and back on the road
over the summer. Not really sure where or when
or with who, but that’s the plan for right
now.
TL: That's all I have man. Thanks!
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