At Fashion Meets Music Festival in Columbus, Ohio, QRO interviewed NGHBRS – guitarist Tommy Fleischmann, singer/keyboardist Ian Kenny, and drummer Jordan Schneider.
QRO: How did you three come together?
Ian Kenny: Through the Long Island music scene. We grew up kind of playing in bands that played shows together. Jordan and Tommy have been in a band for like twelve years and I met them through my old band playing shows. Our bands kind of dismembered at the same time and we were still trying to write music so we came together.
QRO: Did you have similar sounds before you came together?
Tommy Fleischmann: No
IK: No
Jordan Schneider: Honestly, not at all. Well, there’s kind of a Long Island sound. It’s not like we were playing, you know, ethnic African music.
QRO: No Chilean flute bands-meet-death metal then?
IK: Ha-ha, exactly. There’s some minor similarities. Similar influences.
JS: And that’s kind of our sound, it’s the mixing of the two. Tommy and I kind of come from a more technical background and Ian’s more straightforward simple songwriter kind of thing and that’s basically our band. Those songwriter fundamentals and a lot of simple song structures but with like a lot of technical–
TF: We’ve got some diddlies.
JS: Yeah, some technical diddlies.
IK: Diddly-dos.
QRO: You guys played last night at the Park Street Complex and are playing again tonight at the Stella Artois Stage.
NGHBRS: Yup.
QRO: Both of which are outdoor venues. Are you making any adjustments for all the rain we’ve been having?
TF: Fortunately, we don’t have much experience playing in the rain, to be honest.
JS: I think this is like the second time. I feel like at one point probably… maybe it’s the first. So I don’t know. We’re probably just going to wing it.
TF: There’s nothing we really need to communicate as far as changing our setup.
JS: No sound issues.
TF: Yeah, I think we just have to put on an even more intense show so people in the rain that are like, “Ah, I don’t want to be here,” are like, “We know you want to be here.”
JS: We’re playing at 6:30, which is when things are just starting to get packed.
TF: Is it getting sunny out?
QRO: I certainly hope so.
JS: Maybe that’s just what daylight is.
IK: It is what it is. You’ve just got to make the best of every situation.
QRO: Have you guys checked out any of the other shows this weekend?
TF: We watched Vacationer.
JS: We love them very much.
TF: Our dudes in Brick and Mortar we saw. Oh, we saw Twin Forks (QRO photos at Fashion Meets Music).
QRO: In the last four years you’ve put out three EPs and the album 21 Rooms. Are you working on anything now?
JS: We’re actually in the studio right now. Not sure what it’ll turn into, EP or LP, we’re just kind of working on it. We have two singles we just released that will probably be a part of that collection of songs. We’re thinking it’ll release this fall, probably October/November.
QRO: You had a successful Kickstarter campaign to go on tour in 2011. How do you think crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter and Indigogo are changing the music industry?
JS: It’s just taken the place of kind of the label.
IK: In a way.
JS: I think it’s good if you use it in the right way. It’s like a glorified preorder if you’re doing for a record or something. We did it for a van. If you have the fan base that really support you, as long as you’re giving them a good incentive, the right reason.
TF: You need to find the right balance because in my opinion there are right and wrong ways to do it and as long as you don’t abuse it I think it’s a great tool that fans have nowadays.
QRO: Do you see people using it the wrong way?
JS: Sure. In my opinion I don’t think you should do more than one Kickstarter. You use your fans for that one things, you raise the money, you say thank you, and you move on. Doing it more than once is abusing it. It’s abusing your fans and asking them for a little too much.
NGHBRS’ video for “Hold Up Girl”:
QRO: You’ve received a lot of praise for you “Hold Up Girl” music video that takes place entirely in Instagram. Who came up with that?
IK: I did. It was just a cool idea. It just came to me. We had shot a whole video that we ended up hating for that song and then we were kind of like “shit, square one.” We didn’t really have much of a budget because we had spent all the money on the first video. We had to think on our feet a little bit. I called him [Tommy] and he was just right away like, “I don’t know if we can do this but we have to do this.”
QRO: Do you have plans to do more outside-the-box music videos?
IK: Always. That’s what music videos are for. For our style, in this day and age, unless you have the greatest director who can get beautiful cinematography and make it look amazing, you need to do something creative and share-worthy. No one watches videos they’re not interested in.
TF: Definitely, no one shares them.
IK: I don’t think anyone wants to see me like lip-syncing my song in front of these guys fake-playing their instruments. That’s not what we’re about.
TF: Yeah, it’s just not our style.
JS: There are a couple seconds of that in the video.
IK: Yeah, but in a cool way. It’s like a dream within a dream.
QRO: The Inception of music videos.
JS: That’d be a cool music video. We do like some sort of dream sequence and we keep driving deeper to all these different levels. See? You’re sparking new ideas here.
QRO: Ha-ha, I’ll take my credit at bottom right at the end of the video. What are your thoughts on bands using Facebook and Instagram? Do you think it’s overwhelming talking to so many people all at once or do you find it rewarding?
JS: Oh, it’s definitely rewarding. It makes things so much easier.
TF: It’s the biggest tool any band has now.
JS: It’s just a direct connection between you and your fans.
QRO: Do you guys get a lot of feedback from your fans that way?
IK: Honestly, on Instagram is where we get the most feedback. We post photos and videos and get comments and feedback is great.
JS: Yeah, Facebook is kind of a dying medium now.
IK: Honestly, just because reach and them making you pay for advertising. Just because you have a certain number of ‘likes’, you don’t reach those likes on your posts unless you pay for it. So Instagram and Twitter I think are the best.
QRO: I think that’s about everything. Thanks for your time, guys.
NGHBRS: Yeah, sure. Absolutely.
