It's the kind of wisdom you might find in a fortune cookie: "You will achieve success only when you have stopped seeking it." And yet that has been the experience of The Great Unknowns, a band that has managed to spread what it calls "rock music for the open road" with a decidedly low-profile approach. We’re sure that their down-to-earth, heartfelt approach will win your hearts too. We recently had the chance to chat with frontwoman Becky Warren about her favorite gig, the best way to hear about new music, and where you can check out The Great Unknowns next.
When did you decide to make a career/focus of music?
I decided I wanted to focus on singing and songwriting when I was a senior in high school, but The Great Unknowns didn't form until about 4 years later.
What’s the best gig you ever played?
Definitely the string of dates we opened for the Indigo Girls in 2005. We played at a lot of amazing venues with them, but the most exciting one might have been the 930 Club in Washington, DC because that's now our home turf.
Back in the day, most people found music on the radio or MTV. Obviously, today there is a plethora of ways to hear about new music. How do you find new bands or artists that you like to listen to?
I hear about a lot of bands through friends and other musicians, but I also find great new bands just by going to lots of shows and keeping up with what's happening musically in DC, where I live. There are a several great organizations for musicians in Washington and they're all full of talented artists.
What’s the most challenging thing about being an emerging artist personally, for you?
Definitely it's all the non-musical work, like booking shows and promoting them and trying to make contacts with other bands and music industry pros. I think that's difficult for everyone, but I'm shy so I find it particularly challenging to approach strangers to promote myself. Actually, that's one thing I really like about Sonicbids; it makes some of that work a lot easier and less intimidating.
What’s your next big gig coming up? When/Where?
We’ll be playing at St. Elmo’s Coffee Pub in Alexandria, VA on October 8th. We're going to be playing an acoustic set. Acoustic shows are kind of a new thing for us and we haven't done many of them but we thought it would give us a chance to play in more and different places. I keep calling our setup for the acoustic shows "The Great Unknown Variables" since our instrumentation varies. For this show we'll be playing with our friends in the country band Busted Taillight.
Check out more on The Great Unknowns here.