Interview
Eye Alaska interview
- Author:
- Review Date:
- 12/18/2007
On the night of Eye Alaska's show at Chain Reaction, we met up with the Orange county boys to find out more about their EP and what is ahead for them in 2008.
Can you introduce yourself to our readers?
Brandon: I’m Brandon Wronski and I sing.
Cameron: Cameron Trowbridge and I play lead guitar.
Chris: Chris Osegueda and I play bass
Chase: Chase Kensrue and I play piano, guitar and some vocals.
What is the meaning behind Eye Alaska?
Brandon: I guess the word Alaska we derive from the Aleutian meaning, which means that which the sea breaks against, so Eye Alaska means to look to those to which the sea breaks against.
What makes you stand out compared to other unsigned artists?
Cameron: I’d have to say a lot because our music. Nobody is doing loops or orchestra. We try to stand out with our image too, trying to bust out those modeling pictures on our myspace.
Chase, do you think there is pressure from some people to live up to what Dustin has done in music?
Chase: No, I mean it’s completely different.
Brandon and Cameron- you both were in the band Dead Letter Diaries, what made you decide you wanted to create music that Eye Alaska is playing now?
Brandon: When we were doing Dead Letter Diaries, we were a lot younger and just wanted to rock out and go crazy.
Cameron: We didn’t care if we were out of tune.
Brandon: Yeah, we didn’t care if the guitars were out of tune. I guess, as we got older we wanted to do a different style of music that no one has done before. Even within the rock genre there are so many rock bands and even if you’re awesome there are still so many, so we wanted to do something that no one can pull off or do.
One of my favorite songs is “ My life Is Not My Own”, what is the meaning behind it?
Brandon: The meaning behind that song, wow I haven’t even heard that song in a while.
Cameron: I think the general direction we were going for basically was we really do not have a choice on our life space and how its going to turn out and kind of just going with it, that’s the kind of message we were trying to get across. This isn’t our life in terms of something- we believe in something bigger than ourselves.
Brandon: We all believe in a higher power and I think just a lot of the stuff that has happened, everything has definitely been out of hands and what’s in the future is definitely out of hands.
Cameron: So people know whatever happens in the future and down the road that is not going to be anything that we do, its going to be a blessing.
Chris: Its out of hands. No matter how much effort or time we put into it, if it’s glorifying ourselves its not going to happen.
How do you go about writing process?
Brandon: Usually I end up writing all the music first. Usually I do a string ensemble first, write out all the different string parts and then I usually put different kind of sounds and stuff, then do a beat over that and then I write the vocals and lyrics and stuff. After that is all done, these guys come in and do bass and guitars and all that.
Cameron: And back up vocals, whether it needs collaboration or not. We work on it to make it perfect and to where we all agree with it.
Beside music, what other things do you like to do?
Cameron: Not very much.
Brandon: We don’t go to school.
Cameron: Yeah we dropped out of school to focus on this and the opportunities.
Chase: The first thing that popped in my head was music. That’s about it.
*Everyone laughs*
Musical influences?
Brandon: A big one for me is Han Zimmer and Harry Gregson-Williams. Han Zimmer did Pirates of The Caribbean and a bunch of stuff. Harry Gregson-Williams did Chronicles of Narnia, Man On Fire. We all like Saosin.
Chase: A lot of the RadioHead stuff. I know Chris and I listen to stuff like Bjork. A lot of the stuff that is more ambient and out there, stuff that grabs from all different genres of music, anything from jazz to rock. We like to take all the different influences and join them together. Its kind of what makes our band different.
As a band, what is your goal for 2008?
Brandon: Well I think in 2008 its defiantly going to be a big year record label wise. We defiantly hope for something big in 2008 with record labels and probably go on tour, release a record.
Where do you guys want to tour?
Everyone: Everywhere
Chase: Even places as far away as Australia.
Cameron: we have quite a following in Australia.
Tonight’s show is your first heading show, how do you guys feel about that?
Everyone: Confident.
Cameron: We’re stoked. A lot of friends and new fans seem to be stoked. We’re playing with all our buddies’ bands and its just going to be a good night.
Brandon: It’s definitely going to be fun.
Message to your fans?
Brandon: Thank you. Thank for believing right now. Let all the fans know that they were here first. They knew us first.
Can you introduce yourself to our readers?
Brandon: I’m Brandon Wronski and I sing.
Cameron: Cameron Trowbridge and I play lead guitar.
Chris: Chris Osegueda and I play bass
Chase: Chase Kensrue and I play piano, guitar and some vocals.
What is the meaning behind Eye Alaska?
Brandon: I guess the word Alaska we derive from the Aleutian meaning, which means that which the sea breaks against, so Eye Alaska means to look to those to which the sea breaks against.
What makes you stand out compared to other unsigned artists?
Cameron: I’d have to say a lot because our music. Nobody is doing loops or orchestra. We try to stand out with our image too, trying to bust out those modeling pictures on our myspace.
Chase, do you think there is pressure from some people to live up to what Dustin has done in music?
Chase: No, I mean it’s completely different.
Brandon and Cameron- you both were in the band Dead Letter Diaries, what made you decide you wanted to create music that Eye Alaska is playing now?
Brandon: When we were doing Dead Letter Diaries, we were a lot younger and just wanted to rock out and go crazy.
Cameron: We didn’t care if we were out of tune.
Brandon: Yeah, we didn’t care if the guitars were out of tune. I guess, as we got older we wanted to do a different style of music that no one has done before. Even within the rock genre there are so many rock bands and even if you’re awesome there are still so many, so we wanted to do something that no one can pull off or do.
One of my favorite songs is “ My life Is Not My Own”, what is the meaning behind it?
Brandon: The meaning behind that song, wow I haven’t even heard that song in a while.
Cameron: I think the general direction we were going for basically was we really do not have a choice on our life space and how its going to turn out and kind of just going with it, that’s the kind of message we were trying to get across. This isn’t our life in terms of something- we believe in something bigger than ourselves.
Brandon: We all believe in a higher power and I think just a lot of the stuff that has happened, everything has definitely been out of hands and what’s in the future is definitely out of hands.
Cameron: So people know whatever happens in the future and down the road that is not going to be anything that we do, its going to be a blessing.
Chris: Its out of hands. No matter how much effort or time we put into it, if it’s glorifying ourselves its not going to happen.
How do you go about writing process?
Brandon: Usually I end up writing all the music first. Usually I do a string ensemble first, write out all the different string parts and then I usually put different kind of sounds and stuff, then do a beat over that and then I write the vocals and lyrics and stuff. After that is all done, these guys come in and do bass and guitars and all that.
Cameron: And back up vocals, whether it needs collaboration or not. We work on it to make it perfect and to where we all agree with it.
Beside music, what other things do you like to do?
Cameron: Not very much.
Brandon: We don’t go to school.
Cameron: Yeah we dropped out of school to focus on this and the opportunities.
Chase: The first thing that popped in my head was music. That’s about it.
*Everyone laughs*
Musical influences?
Brandon: A big one for me is Han Zimmer and Harry Gregson-Williams. Han Zimmer did Pirates of The Caribbean and a bunch of stuff. Harry Gregson-Williams did Chronicles of Narnia, Man On Fire. We all like Saosin.
Chase: A lot of the RadioHead stuff. I know Chris and I listen to stuff like Bjork. A lot of the stuff that is more ambient and out there, stuff that grabs from all different genres of music, anything from jazz to rock. We like to take all the different influences and join them together. Its kind of what makes our band different.
As a band, what is your goal for 2008?
Brandon: Well I think in 2008 its defiantly going to be a big year record label wise. We defiantly hope for something big in 2008 with record labels and probably go on tour, release a record.
Where do you guys want to tour?
Everyone: Everywhere
Chase: Even places as far away as Australia.
Cameron: we have quite a following in Australia.
Tonight’s show is your first heading show, how do you guys feel about that?
Everyone: Confident.
Cameron: We’re stoked. A lot of friends and new fans seem to be stoked. We’re playing with all our buddies’ bands and its just going to be a good night.
Brandon: It’s definitely going to be fun.
Message to your fans?
Brandon: Thank you. Thank for believing right now. Let all the fans know that they were here first. They knew us first.