If (insert 80's rock band here) and Katy Perry had a baby, they would call it Amee…CHASING AMEE that is. With a musical style blending everything from 80’s rock to indie pop, they’ve built a unique and infectious sound that is sure to be your next guilty pleasure. Slowly but surely CHASING AMEE is well on their way to moving out of their parent’s basements and claiming their spot as the band to watch out for in 2011. We recently caught up with guitarist Ryan Faist to chat about USB keys, forging a unique sound, and where they’re heading next.
What do you hope listeners will get from your music?
We can only hope that our music transcends to each person in its own unique way. It would be kind of bland if everyone took the same meaning behind our songs. We write it for ourselves from what were feeling and our own experience, and we hope that when someone hears it they can translate it into a form that they connect with. We have always felt that those were the songs that always interested us the most, and now we are trying to do the same, and hopefully accomplishing that. Not to forget that we also hope people will come have a party they won’t remember the next day.
What’s the best gig you ever played?
That’s like asking us to pick our favorite food. Pizza is a close contender. Back to the gig, we are going to have to go with an annual Festival in Ontario, Canada called Beat Rocks The Block. We played early on in the day alongside some of Canada's biggest bands/artists. We hit the stage right before a massive thunderstorm and had about 600 people rush the stage before this dark lord of a storm took over for a remainder of the day. We've always managed to be on the rains good side, and for that we thank...someone.
What’s your prediction for the next big advancement in how we find/listen to/share music?
We laughed at someone who told us this a few years ago, but now I think its brilliant. USB Keys. It seems what’s left of physical music has become smaller and smaller, literally. We went from Vinyl, to 8 track, to cassette, to CD, to minidisk, and now we feel USB keys/sticks are going to take over. Think about what you can pack on the stick the size of your baby toe. You can put your album, lyrics, photos, videos, even a documentary on it if you wanted and its something people can stick in their pocket and go.
As far as finding music goes, we feel like its a cycle and its currently circling back around to how things were in the late 90's / early 2000's. We feel the days of the bands getting discovered from their Myspace play count are a dying breed, and we’re glad. The focus seems to (or at least we think) be back on the music itself. I still remember the exact place and time that I heard my favorite bands to date and they were all in traditional methods of getting your music out there such as music videos or performance on your national music station, or a song in a movie you go to see at the theatre on a Friday night, or lets not forget the thing they call radio.
What’s your favorite way/tool/site for you to interact with your fans in the digital age? Do you recommend anything to other artists?
Facebook, no doubt. Zuckerberg is finding a way to put everything anyone needs to do into a one-stop shop, and that shop is Facebook. To be honest, we have stopped using our Myspace (don’t tell Tom), especially after the latest revamp. It’s just not practical and easy to use. People spend all day on Facebook anyways, so it just makes more sense for them to be able to access everything they need about a band from there as well. And let’s not forget how easy it is for the band to communicate with people. Facebook did something great for bands, because they took what Myspace was doing and put more focus on the social networking aspect. Myspace was great, but only for a flashy website for free if you knew some HTML.
What’s your next big gig coming up? When/Where?
We are set to hit the studio with acclaimed producer Greig Nori to record our next EP, before heading out to play every summer festival we can get our hands on.
Check out more on CHASING AMEE here.
