Interview with Rachel
The interview was conducted last week - July 1st.
Mike Skehan: So how is everything going?
Rachel Taylor: Oh my God. It’s going. We just drove 25 hours to Utah. Like, we’ve been in the van for 25 hours straight so I’m a little tired, but we’re super excited for tonight’s show. It’ll be amazing.
M: How is the tour going so far, other than the grueling drives?
R: It’s going awesome! We’ve gotten to meet a lot of people. A lot of the shows have been super unexpected, like with the draw and stuff. It’s been a lot of fun and a lot of it has been really surprising but it’s just super exciting.
M: Surprising in what way? Good or bad?
R: Super good. When we went to, let’s see, Philadelphia, I had no idea that people knew us in Philadelphia. I didn’t even know we had any type of street team there, nothing. When I went and noticed that people were singing along, that was one of the craziest feelings ever. Just realizing that we have no idea how big of an impact we actually have. It’s crazy how many people actually know us and it’s just very humbling and scary at the same time. We don’t want to mess up.
M: Yeah. If you Google the band name, one of the top results is a fan site for you guys. People definitely know who you guys are.
R: It’s weird. It still doesn’t really process for me. I try not to think about it, it’s a little overwhelming.
M: We’ll get back to that. For now, tell us a little bit about yourself and the band?
R: I was home schooled for a while and music has been a part of my life since I was like, four years old. I was learning a curriculum through some different tapes and sing-along’s, stuff like that. That’s always just been a huge part of my life. My dad was in the military and he was also a part of the Border Patrol so we traveled around a lot and so I couldn’t really achieve much of a social life, so I was literally always writing stories or writing poems, stuff like that. I was very social, but I kind of had my own world and the way that I expressed myself was a lot different than the people around me. Then by the time I hit middle school I had notebooks upon notebooks upon notebooks of writing and then freshman year I wrote the song “Radio,” that’s on our MySpace and stuff. I wrote that song, and I guess that’s when I picked up a guitar and actually started writing music as opposed to just poetry. I started singing songs with my mom. Then when I was eighteen I moved to Tacoma and at eighteen and a half I met Trevor [Kelly] and then we started He Is We together.
M: So are you and Trevor the primary or only members of the band? On your MySpace it lists other band members but it seems like you guys are the main two.
R: Trevor and I are the ones that…we’re the original members. Then we decided that our songs…whenever we went in and produced a song or anything, we would put drums in or put bass in, so we thought, “OK, if we’re going to do that, we should have a band to perform it live.” We did a couple of acoustic tours, stuff like that, but we met some amazing people. Trevor is actually in a metal band so we took half of his metal band, and they joined He Is We, which is awesome. So we have our guitarist, Aaron [Campbell], and then our bassist is Carman [Kubanda]. Then Carman is in another band with someone else, and we took their drummer [Harrison Allen]. It was like a power team of musicians and so we all came together and started practicing and writing and TA-DA! Full band.
M: What types of music do you listen to? What is your inspiration musically right now?
R: I don’t know. I’m really, really big into….OK, I love, love, love hip-hop. The poetry of it. Like Eminem’s new record that just dropped…Insane! Like, that to me is such a huge influence, just writing like that. I’m impacted more by storytellers than I am by actual music, I guess. I like the sound of Top 40 radio, I love that, but I’m more of a lyrical person and so people like Eminem, to me, are amazing. Or Tupac. Where their music is just so inspirational and touching, you feel like you’re living that story with them. Those are definitely my inspirations. As far as musically, I really like Regina Spektor, Coldplay, Eisley, people like that. Jimmy Eat World…the old Jimmy Eat World. I love it.
M: Pretty surprising answer. I wouldn’t have guessed that Eminem would be the first thing to come out of your mouth.
R: Well he’s very talented. His writing is just incredible. I don’t know how to describe it. He’s an artist. A lot of rappers get a bad….you know, rap, for their inappropriate content or whatever, but if you actually read [the lyrics] or listen to him, he’s actually brilliant. His words are like daggers. You can’t NOT feel it.
M: Definitely. So where did the name of the band, He Is We, come from?
R: There’s several different ways of thinking about it. For me it was definitely about starting a project where we focus on the fact that we’re gonna connect with our audience. It’s about us, I don’t know. It’s hard to describe. You never know who you’re going to meet and who is going to impact you and if you have this front on….So, if Trevor and I went on stage and were like “Oh, we’re rock stars, you paid to see us [but] we’re gonna go backstage and we’re not gonna talk to any of you guys so that we seem untouchable,” we would never be able to be influenced by our fans. We would never be able to talk to them. We wouldn’t be able to learn about them. It’s like, I write for them. That’s why I write, so I can connect with them. So, He Is We is essentially saying Us, as a band, we are driven and connected to our audience in such a way that we’re no better or no worse [than our fans]. It’s like, we kind of feed off of each other. It’s the same for people in general. It’s not just with bands, but life in general. You never know who is going to impact you or affect you or push you to do something amazing or open a window of opportunity.
M: So do you think that this fan interaction has helped get you guys to where you are now?
R: Oh yeah! Oh my goodness. I think so. I definitely think so. A lot of people have asked me, you know, “How did you guys get to where you are?” or “How did you get known?” To me, I always tell them, “Don’t try.” Just be nice, love what you’re doing and love the people that support you, you know? I think that because Trevor and I have been so grateful…. We’re grateful for every single person. Like, it was crazy, when one of our songs had sixty plays we flipped out, ‘cause that means that someone had to listen to it. If you keep that excitement I just think that the benefits are incredible. The interactions that we have with people have definitely gotten us to where we are because we stay excited about everything.
M: If you were excited when a song had 100 plays, how do you guys feel now about the attention? Last year, you were the number one unsigned band on PureVolume, over 2 million plays…how do you feel about it all now?
R: It’s overwhelming. My biggest thing is that I try not to worry about numbers and stuff, but you can’t really ignore that. It’s definitely…I don’t know. Overwhelming is the only word I can use. It’s showing me how important it is that I stay on track and that I keep to the roots of He Is We and that I don’t get lost in it and that I don’t start writing music just to entertain. I need to continue to write music because I have a story, you know? Because I have something to say. It drives me to stay focused and to continue writing what I really mean.
M: Do you think it adds any pressure at all?
R: That’s why I’m trying not to focus on the numbers as much, because I don’t want to feel that pressure, but it certainly does. You don’t want to let [the fans] down. I think that as long as we stay true to our roots, we’re not going to let people down. Hopefully they fell in love with the He Is We that they have now, not the He Is We that they are hoping for. So if we stay the same and sort of develop around our sound and grow our sound, I think that I shouldn’t feel pressure.
M: Do you find that it’s difficult making it as an unsigned band as opposed to having a lot of support behing you?
R: Do you mean unsigned label wise?
M: Yeah, sure.
R: Well, we were just signed, nothing has really changed.
M: Actually I did know that, I’m sorry.
R: The difference to me…it hasn’t really changed us. We’re still doing, you know, the same thing that we were. It just helps to have a label backing you. You just kind of feel like you have a net to catch you in case something terrible happens. It definitely hasn’t made our jobs any easier or harder. It’s just good to know that we have, I guess, a safety net.
M: How did that come about with you guys getting signed?
R: A lot of it was probably the Internet buzz. Honestly, I have no idea. I could not describe to you the first step; I have no idea how it happened. One minute I am in Tacoma, Washington sleeping on the couch and the next minute I’m in New York showcasing. It’s crazy. It’s all a blur; I have no idea how it happened.
M: Can you talk about the upcoming album at all? You’re working with Casey Bates, Aaron Sprinkle…why the decision to work with those people? How is that going?
R: Amazing! They’ve all been such a pleasure to work with. They’re all very talented and they all give different vibes to our music. Our little “Me Album” or whatever we’re gonna call it, it has a lot of different emotions, I guess. If you want a very raw, easy-going song, we have one. If you want one that has strings and is a little more produced, we have one. I think that with all of the different producers that we’ve gotten to work with, we have such variation of our tracks, and they are just incredible.
M: Will the new album be all new material or will it be some re-recordings of the demos or a combination of both?
R: It’s a combination of both. I think that we might be re-recording one or two songs, I think. I don’t know for certain. I think it was two. Yep, it’s two. Then the rest of them are all new ones.
M: Do you have any idea for a release date of that?
R: We’re saying it’s going to be late summer. I’m crossing my fingers for early August.
M: Back to the songwriting process. How does that work for He Is We?
R: It’s up in the air. Usually what happens is…Trevor and I don’t sit down and go “Oh my gosh, we need to write a song.” We just don’t do that. Either I will have a melody that I record on my phone and maybe a line or something. Then I’ll bring it to Trevor and he’ll write a guitar part around it. Or maybe sometimes Trevor has a guitar part that he really, really likes and I just put a song to it. Or sometimes I have a guitar part and lyrics or a piano part and lyrics…it just goes back and forth. We definitely play off of each other in that way.
M: Do you try to draw all of your lyrics from real-life situations?
R: Oh yeah, definitely. A lot of them are based on my high school years and people that I’ve met. Some of the songs are not about me but about people that I’ve interacted with, people that have influenced me.
M: You guys are doing shows all the way through July 28. Do you guys have anything planned after that other than trying to get the album out?
R: Um, I think most of it is going to be focused on the album. I don’t know for certain yet, but I think our main focus will be putting the final touches on the album so we can get that released real quick.
M: Will you be heading out on tour in support of that afterwards?
R: Oh yeah, oh yeah. I hope so. I hope to do another national tour. I really want to do another East to West coast again, but after we launch the album. That would be so fun. It’s been amazing, it’s been super amazing, but I think it would be better if we actually had a CD to sell.
M: Anybody you’d like to go out on tour with?
R: I would have so much fun with Augustana or The Fray. Bands like that. Very easy-going. Or The Script would be amazing to go out with. That would be incredible, incredible. Katy Perry would be interesting.
M: That would be a unique choice.
R: I don’t see why not. I don’t know. Two girls, fun people. I can wear a bikini and…what are the shorts she talks about in her song? Daisy dukes?
M: Yeah.
R: I could work that.
M: What are some of your goals for the future of your music career?
R: I would really, really, really like to retire as a songwriter. Have a studio in my house and just write with artists all day.
M: Do you think that that’s easily attainable anymore with the way the industry is?
R: I hope so. I think that now with Top 40 radio as its going, singer-songwriters are so hard to find, so songwriters are becoming more necessary, because of the fact that I think radio and music in general is about having characters. It’s like, for example, Katy Perry is kind of like the pin-up girl character and then Ke$ha is like the rock star character and Rihanna is the bad girl character. It’s like, they have characters so they need songwriters to create that character. I think that retiring as one, I think that I would have plenty to do.
M: Is it safe to say that you consider yourself more of a songwriter first and performer second?
R: Oh yeah. I’m actually really terrified of spotlight. I’m really shy. On stage I’m a completely different person.
M: Really?
R: Yeah. When I’m on stage it’s like…I have so much fun when I’m on stage. Then right afterwards I’m really terrified to meet people. I don’t know why, I’m just so shy.
M: Well as long as on stage it’s cool I guess that’s what really matters.
R: Yeah.
M: Is there anything else you’d like to say?
R: I think I’m good to go. I think this covers just about everything.
Source - Michael Skehan for The Sound Alarm.
Mike Skehan: So how is everything going?
Rachel Taylor: Oh my God. It’s going. We just drove 25 hours to Utah. Like, we’ve been in the van for 25 hours straight so I’m a little tired, but we’re super excited for tonight’s show. It’ll be amazing.
M: How is the tour going so far, other than the grueling drives?
R: It’s going awesome! We’ve gotten to meet a lot of people. A lot of the shows have been super unexpected, like with the draw and stuff. It’s been a lot of fun and a lot of it has been really surprising but it’s just super exciting.
M: Surprising in what way? Good or bad?
R: Super good. When we went to, let’s see, Philadelphia, I had no idea that people knew us in Philadelphia. I didn’t even know we had any type of street team there, nothing. When I went and noticed that people were singing along, that was one of the craziest feelings ever. Just realizing that we have no idea how big of an impact we actually have. It’s crazy how many people actually know us and it’s just very humbling and scary at the same time. We don’t want to mess up.
M: Yeah. If you Google the band name, one of the top results is a fan site for you guys. People definitely know who you guys are.
R: It’s weird. It still doesn’t really process for me. I try not to think about it, it’s a little overwhelming.
M: We’ll get back to that. For now, tell us a little bit about yourself and the band?
R: I was home schooled for a while and music has been a part of my life since I was like, four years old. I was learning a curriculum through some different tapes and sing-along’s, stuff like that. That’s always just been a huge part of my life. My dad was in the military and he was also a part of the Border Patrol so we traveled around a lot and so I couldn’t really achieve much of a social life, so I was literally always writing stories or writing poems, stuff like that. I was very social, but I kind of had my own world and the way that I expressed myself was a lot different than the people around me. Then by the time I hit middle school I had notebooks upon notebooks upon notebooks of writing and then freshman year I wrote the song “Radio,” that’s on our MySpace and stuff. I wrote that song, and I guess that’s when I picked up a guitar and actually started writing music as opposed to just poetry. I started singing songs with my mom. Then when I was eighteen I moved to Tacoma and at eighteen and a half I met Trevor [Kelly] and then we started He Is We together.
M: So are you and Trevor the primary or only members of the band? On your MySpace it lists other band members but it seems like you guys are the main two.
R: Trevor and I are the ones that…we’re the original members. Then we decided that our songs…whenever we went in and produced a song or anything, we would put drums in or put bass in, so we thought, “OK, if we’re going to do that, we should have a band to perform it live.” We did a couple of acoustic tours, stuff like that, but we met some amazing people. Trevor is actually in a metal band so we took half of his metal band, and they joined He Is We, which is awesome. So we have our guitarist, Aaron [Campbell], and then our bassist is Carman [Kubanda]. Then Carman is in another band with someone else, and we took their drummer [Harrison Allen]. It was like a power team of musicians and so we all came together and started practicing and writing and TA-DA! Full band.
M: What types of music do you listen to? What is your inspiration musically right now?
R: I don’t know. I’m really, really big into….OK, I love, love, love hip-hop. The poetry of it. Like Eminem’s new record that just dropped…Insane! Like, that to me is such a huge influence, just writing like that. I’m impacted more by storytellers than I am by actual music, I guess. I like the sound of Top 40 radio, I love that, but I’m more of a lyrical person and so people like Eminem, to me, are amazing. Or Tupac. Where their music is just so inspirational and touching, you feel like you’re living that story with them. Those are definitely my inspirations. As far as musically, I really like Regina Spektor, Coldplay, Eisley, people like that. Jimmy Eat World…the old Jimmy Eat World. I love it.
M: Pretty surprising answer. I wouldn’t have guessed that Eminem would be the first thing to come out of your mouth.
R: Well he’s very talented. His writing is just incredible. I don’t know how to describe it. He’s an artist. A lot of rappers get a bad….you know, rap, for their inappropriate content or whatever, but if you actually read [the lyrics] or listen to him, he’s actually brilliant. His words are like daggers. You can’t NOT feel it.
M: Definitely. So where did the name of the band, He Is We, come from?
R: There’s several different ways of thinking about it. For me it was definitely about starting a project where we focus on the fact that we’re gonna connect with our audience. It’s about us, I don’t know. It’s hard to describe. You never know who you’re going to meet and who is going to impact you and if you have this front on….So, if Trevor and I went on stage and were like “Oh, we’re rock stars, you paid to see us [but] we’re gonna go backstage and we’re not gonna talk to any of you guys so that we seem untouchable,” we would never be able to be influenced by our fans. We would never be able to talk to them. We wouldn’t be able to learn about them. It’s like, I write for them. That’s why I write, so I can connect with them. So, He Is We is essentially saying Us, as a band, we are driven and connected to our audience in such a way that we’re no better or no worse [than our fans]. It’s like, we kind of feed off of each other. It’s the same for people in general. It’s not just with bands, but life in general. You never know who is going to impact you or affect you or push you to do something amazing or open a window of opportunity.
M: So do you think that this fan interaction has helped get you guys to where you are now?
R: Oh yeah! Oh my goodness. I think so. I definitely think so. A lot of people have asked me, you know, “How did you guys get to where you are?” or “How did you get known?” To me, I always tell them, “Don’t try.” Just be nice, love what you’re doing and love the people that support you, you know? I think that because Trevor and I have been so grateful…. We’re grateful for every single person. Like, it was crazy, when one of our songs had sixty plays we flipped out, ‘cause that means that someone had to listen to it. If you keep that excitement I just think that the benefits are incredible. The interactions that we have with people have definitely gotten us to where we are because we stay excited about everything.
M: If you were excited when a song had 100 plays, how do you guys feel now about the attention? Last year, you were the number one unsigned band on PureVolume, over 2 million plays…how do you feel about it all now?
R: It’s overwhelming. My biggest thing is that I try not to worry about numbers and stuff, but you can’t really ignore that. It’s definitely…I don’t know. Overwhelming is the only word I can use. It’s showing me how important it is that I stay on track and that I keep to the roots of He Is We and that I don’t get lost in it and that I don’t start writing music just to entertain. I need to continue to write music because I have a story, you know? Because I have something to say. It drives me to stay focused and to continue writing what I really mean.
M: Do you think it adds any pressure at all?
R: That’s why I’m trying not to focus on the numbers as much, because I don’t want to feel that pressure, but it certainly does. You don’t want to let [the fans] down. I think that as long as we stay true to our roots, we’re not going to let people down. Hopefully they fell in love with the He Is We that they have now, not the He Is We that they are hoping for. So if we stay the same and sort of develop around our sound and grow our sound, I think that I shouldn’t feel pressure.
M: Do you find that it’s difficult making it as an unsigned band as opposed to having a lot of support behing you?
R: Do you mean unsigned label wise?
M: Yeah, sure.
R: Well, we were just signed, nothing has really changed.
M: Actually I did know that, I’m sorry.
R: The difference to me…it hasn’t really changed us. We’re still doing, you know, the same thing that we were. It just helps to have a label backing you. You just kind of feel like you have a net to catch you in case something terrible happens. It definitely hasn’t made our jobs any easier or harder. It’s just good to know that we have, I guess, a safety net.
M: How did that come about with you guys getting signed?
R: A lot of it was probably the Internet buzz. Honestly, I have no idea. I could not describe to you the first step; I have no idea how it happened. One minute I am in Tacoma, Washington sleeping on the couch and the next minute I’m in New York showcasing. It’s crazy. It’s all a blur; I have no idea how it happened.
M: Can you talk about the upcoming album at all? You’re working with Casey Bates, Aaron Sprinkle…why the decision to work with those people? How is that going?
R: Amazing! They’ve all been such a pleasure to work with. They’re all very talented and they all give different vibes to our music. Our little “Me Album” or whatever we’re gonna call it, it has a lot of different emotions, I guess. If you want a very raw, easy-going song, we have one. If you want one that has strings and is a little more produced, we have one. I think that with all of the different producers that we’ve gotten to work with, we have such variation of our tracks, and they are just incredible.
M: Will the new album be all new material or will it be some re-recordings of the demos or a combination of both?
R: It’s a combination of both. I think that we might be re-recording one or two songs, I think. I don’t know for certain. I think it was two. Yep, it’s two. Then the rest of them are all new ones.
M: Do you have any idea for a release date of that?
R: We’re saying it’s going to be late summer. I’m crossing my fingers for early August.
M: Back to the songwriting process. How does that work for He Is We?
R: It’s up in the air. Usually what happens is…Trevor and I don’t sit down and go “Oh my gosh, we need to write a song.” We just don’t do that. Either I will have a melody that I record on my phone and maybe a line or something. Then I’ll bring it to Trevor and he’ll write a guitar part around it. Or maybe sometimes Trevor has a guitar part that he really, really likes and I just put a song to it. Or sometimes I have a guitar part and lyrics or a piano part and lyrics…it just goes back and forth. We definitely play off of each other in that way.
M: Do you try to draw all of your lyrics from real-life situations?
R: Oh yeah, definitely. A lot of them are based on my high school years and people that I’ve met. Some of the songs are not about me but about people that I’ve interacted with, people that have influenced me.
M: You guys are doing shows all the way through July 28. Do you guys have anything planned after that other than trying to get the album out?
R: Um, I think most of it is going to be focused on the album. I don’t know for certain yet, but I think our main focus will be putting the final touches on the album so we can get that released real quick.
M: Will you be heading out on tour in support of that afterwards?
R: Oh yeah, oh yeah. I hope so. I hope to do another national tour. I really want to do another East to West coast again, but after we launch the album. That would be so fun. It’s been amazing, it’s been super amazing, but I think it would be better if we actually had a CD to sell.
M: Anybody you’d like to go out on tour with?
R: I would have so much fun with Augustana or The Fray. Bands like that. Very easy-going. Or The Script would be amazing to go out with. That would be incredible, incredible. Katy Perry would be interesting.
M: That would be a unique choice.
R: I don’t see why not. I don’t know. Two girls, fun people. I can wear a bikini and…what are the shorts she talks about in her song? Daisy dukes?
M: Yeah.
R: I could work that.
M: What are some of your goals for the future of your music career?
R: I would really, really, really like to retire as a songwriter. Have a studio in my house and just write with artists all day.
M: Do you think that that’s easily attainable anymore with the way the industry is?
R: I hope so. I think that now with Top 40 radio as its going, singer-songwriters are so hard to find, so songwriters are becoming more necessary, because of the fact that I think radio and music in general is about having characters. It’s like, for example, Katy Perry is kind of like the pin-up girl character and then Ke$ha is like the rock star character and Rihanna is the bad girl character. It’s like, they have characters so they need songwriters to create that character. I think that retiring as one, I think that I would have plenty to do.
M: Is it safe to say that you consider yourself more of a songwriter first and performer second?
R: Oh yeah. I’m actually really terrified of spotlight. I’m really shy. On stage I’m a completely different person.
M: Really?
R: Yeah. When I’m on stage it’s like…I have so much fun when I’m on stage. Then right afterwards I’m really terrified to meet people. I don’t know why, I’m just so shy.
M: Well as long as on stage it’s cool I guess that’s what really matters.
R: Yeah.
M: Is there anything else you’d like to say?
R: I think I’m good to go. I think this covers just about everything.
Source - Michael Skehan for The Sound Alarm.