Published: July 18, 2010 7:26 PM EST
By: Isaac Davis Jr., MBA (Juniorscave.com)
New Music Spotlight July 2010 Edition
TV Stole My Name
Music Now Artist/Band Spotlight Weekly Series
from top to bottom. TV STOLE MY NAME, Joshua Thornberry, Magic Olmos, Chris Sakacs.
Our Webzine recently interviewed a cool indie band who goes by the name TV Stole My Name (TVSMN). After speaking with Joshua Thornberry of TVSMN about the band’s music, their influences, and what drives them to make the fantastic music that they do, we were pleased with Joshua’s answers. If you are looking for a band that showcases originality, creativity, and raw talents, then these are all the things that would describe the music of TVSMN. Check out what all Joshua had to say about the band’s music in this week’s spotlight.
Isaac: I just listened to several songs off your new EP/CD. What was the inspiration for making your new album?
Joshua Thornberry of TVSMN: I guess the inspiration for the I'm SEXY...Kinda EP was just the people around me. All the different relationships I have with people and the relationships they have with each other that I get to watch and hear about, I kind of just took things from all that... and all the different experiences and feelings I was having while writing. Perfect example would be the song "So Here's To Tonight" I wrote that a few days after a crazy party that my friends and I had and it's basically just about that night and how insane it was.
Isaac: Who were your influences?
Josh: In terms of music...man there are so many bands that I'm into its hard to just pinpoint a few. I like all kinds of music. I'm influenced by it all like Duke Ellington, Prince, Blink-182, She and Him, oldies like anything Motown style and that's only stuff that’s popular. Lately, I've been listening to bands like Modest Mouse, The Black Kids, and The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, I'm really into YYYs. I just recently got into a band called Miike Snow they're way cool.
Isaac: What do you consider to have been the highlight(s) and lowpoint(s) of your career to date?
Josh: The highlights? I would have to say anytime I finish a song is always a highlight. Other than that probably the last few shows we played. Those were too much fun. We made a bunch of new fans. As for the lowpoints, we kinda got scammed in this one battle of the bands contest. It was super fun and we had a great time but on the final day of the contest we kind of found out that the whole thing was a big sham. Besides that the low points are not playing shows. I love to play shows especially with these guys and right now I guess we're in somewhat of a low point since we haven't played a show since November of last year. That's a real bummer, but I'm definitely working on that.
Isaac: Brief history about your background plus the style of music you play.
Josh: TVSMN started out as just me writing songs and putting them on MySpace. Then I started playing open mics doing acoustic versions of the songs. Then last January I got an opportunity to play at the Whisky A GO GO in Hollywood. Since it was just me, I needed a band so I asked my cousin (Magic Olmos) who plays drums to play with me. A few shows later I asked a friend (Chris Sakacs) who plays bass if he wanted to play with us and he said yes. So we have been playing shows together at least twice a month since then until just recently. I still write and record the songs alone, but when we get the songs ready for a show; we kind of make a few changes here and there so they aren't the exact same thing as what I recorded. That way it keeps things fun. The style of music is sort of indie/pop/folk rock, or at least that's what we say when people ask. It's hard for me to answer that when ever people ask cause I honestly don't know what to say.
Isaac: How easy is it to gets gigs for you as an artist? What is the live music scene like in your area?
Josh: Out here in the L.A., Southern California it's really easy to get shows. There are tons of venues and you can always throw a show in someone’s backyard. That's always fun. The only downside to the venues is they all require you to sell a crazy amount of tickets before the day of the show. So that kind of takes a lot of the fun out of everything. It's a little harder to promote when you have to worry about whether or not you’re gonna be able to sell all the tickets or not. Especially when all your friends have seen you a hundred times. The live music scene will probably always be alive in the L.A. area cause there are so many bands. Whether or not the shows are good is up to the people that go, but there is definitely a scene, you just got to be out there.
Joshua Thornberry, performing in Hermosa Beach.
ALL PHOTOS BY Nicole L. Alfonso (pooping is cute photography) www.poopingiscute.carbonmade.com
Isaac: What do you think of the state of Indie music at the moment? Do you listen to radio much at all? Has the Internet helped music grow or hindered it in your opinion?
Josh: I think that indie music has stayed pretty much what it started out being with the addition of being a genre somehow. Like it's a style sort of too which is cool and weird at the same time, but I think it's basically stayed the same. Indie music is, to me, the way people find independent artists just making music they love. It's still all a word of mouth thing, there are no big companies or labels pushing it, or shoving it down your throat. It's still an independent thing. That all changes though once a band gets enough attention. I think that's when indie becomes a style and I'm definitely not saying that's a bad thing. There is nothing wrong with someone making money after working so long and hard for what they love. No such thing as a sell out in my mind. As far as the internet helping music...I think it's good and bad.
The interweb definitely makes gaining exposure easier, getting music out faster, and getting it out to more people in a shorter period of time. Especially with sites like Pandora (I love Pandora!) which make finding music way easy. All you have to do is punch a band name in and you eventually find a bunch of other bands with the same style. Definitely a cool site. As for the more well known artists who make their living selling their music the Internet might be bad because they more often than not get their stuff passed around for free with no real protection, but it might be a small price to pay for more attention. Radio is great! I definitely listen to the radio. When your car is broken and you’re borrowing someone else’s you sometimes forget CDs and the radio is all there is. I know Magic (drummer) is in love with Lady Gaga. I actually like some of her songs too. I have nothing against the music on the radio. There are tons of songs that I'm in love with because they're so catchy it's hard not to like them. It's all a business and that's what sells the best so I can't hate them for doing what they gotta do. Besides it's what the companies paying for ad space want anyway.
Isaac: If you could create a fantasy band - what would be the line-up and why?
Josh: I don’t really know how to answer this but I'm going to do my best. There would definitely be a drummer, two guitarists, a bass player, a keyboard guy or two, and one main vocalist with everyone doing background vocals. The band would have to have all these things to make the live show crazy. I just think this set up would make for an epic experience to remember, this band would be able to do so many cool things at show. Everyone would love it. Now as for actual artists...definitely M. Ward on lead guitar and vocals, I'd wanna be in the band so I'd play rhythm guitar and vocals, I think Magic would be the drummer because him and I play so well together. On bass probably some hot chick that can hold it down. Maybe some wicked piano player to play three keyboards at once that would be cool. I don't really know about this question there are way too many options. The actual band would have a million different people!
Isaac: What CD's do you currently have available and where can they be purchased from?
Josh: There are two TVSMN CDs out right now. The first is an album called READ BETWEEN THE LETTERS and the second is an EP called I'm SEXY...Kinda. Both of them are available on the MySpace page (www.myspace.com/tvstolemyname) in a small digital music store right in the bio section. The album usually goes for $4.99 and the EP is $1.99 but they are free right now.
Isaac: Where can fans access your music, videos, blogs, and anything else about you online?
Josh: MySpace mostly because it's the easiest site for me to just throw everything up on. There you can find everything like the fan list the music to download links to videos and a blog. All three of us have Twitter [pages]. You can definitely find those there to follow us. There isn't one for the band but we each have our own. There is a Facebook. Lastfm.com has the CDs for free. So I would say definitely go check that out. I honestly would just Google TV STOLE MY NAME cause basically everything shows up right there at the top of the first page.
Isaac: Message to your fans?
Josh: Thank you! If there are actually people that like TVSMN, thank you. It's amazing to have people actually like something you make.
