In this interview spotlight, I chat with American Spirits about their latest project, motivations, challenges and more.
Full Q&A along with links and music below.
Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)
We’re based out of Bowling Green, Ohio and make Rock Music ™. Honestly though I’ll just list off a bunch of genres other people have described us as. Shoegaze Punk, Indie Punk, Indie Emo, Emo, Shoegaze Emo, Kinda like 21 pilots, you guys sound just like blink 182, power pop, pop punk, alt rock, seriously sometimes i hear twenty one pilots, downer pop.
So uh… take from that what you will.
What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to keep going?
Well, Dillon (guitar) has been in bands for year and years, dipping in and out of the scene. Bails(Bass), Trey(vocals), and Conor(drums) have never been in a band before this one (we started in July 2017 or so). Bails has been listening to music his entire life and made the rounds as a music photographer before the band. Trey was(is) a rapper and has a few music videos on random sites if I’m not mistaken. Conor makes beats on FL Studio for Soundcloud and personal pleasure. All of us have definitely had our feet wet in the music scene for a number of years, and honestly the support from fans and desire to create are the main things that keep us going. We love hosting shows, we love playing shows and we love showcasing art in any form. Wouldn’t have it any other way!
How is this new release different than previous ones? Were you trying to accomplish anything specific?
Our first 2 singles we released were definitely a little more punk/grunge/garage feeling than our newer release. So Much Time Has Pabst is definitely our foray into a more emo/pop punk influenced sound. When we finished writing the song, as a band, we all knew this was going to be one of our favorites. The main point of this song and the entire EP (Nowhere Near Perfect) was to give people a sample platter of the sounds they can expect from our next EPs and LPs.
Name one or two challenges you face as an indie musician in this oversaturated, digital music age? How has technology helped you (since we know it does help)?
Paying for everything is definitely tough. We all work day jobs and finding the money for gas, gear replacements, maintaining our DIY space (The Summit Shack), food and travel expenses can be incredibly draining (on both your mental state and your back account). Technology definitely helps us with out exposure. We’ve been getting more fluent in running facebook ads and other sponsored media. We are learning more and more places to submit our music to playlists across all different platforms, and honestly have met a ton of friends and fans thanks to Twitter.
Where is the best place to connect with you online and discover more music?
We’ve got every social you could think of, but we are absolutely the most active on twitter.
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/mericanspirits?lang=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/americanspiritsOh/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/americanspiritsband/
- Bandcamp: https://theamericanspirits.bandcamp.com/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvuYNTGGsVjDfV5bTYP89xw
- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2VHOz11OcZGKF6VyZicbBW?si=e-Zi61a7RPOj0FQ2rtXPQw
- Apple Music/iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/american-spirits/1282465545
Anything else before we sign off?
Make sure to check out our Youtube for our 2 music videos we have released! Follow us on twitter, stream us on spotify and keep supporting blogs and websites like MTM that support indie artists like us! Much love <3
