First off state your name(s) and role in Real Friends.
My name is Kyle and i play the bass guitar.
How would you describe your music to someone who hasn’t heard it?
I would say that it's kind of an aggressive pop punk. It's so hard to really classify every band under one general genre these days. But yeah, aggressive pop punk.
What would you say are your biggest influences?
There are so many bands that influence us. Pop punk, indie, and even some heavier bands give us good inspiration. We all listen to different kinds of bands, but i feel like it all comes together well when writing.
What’s the pop punk scene like in Chicago?
Honestly, we don't play the area much, so i can't really judge it. But i don't think there's a lot of pop punk bands, as compared to like the east coast. The east coast has an awesome pop punk scene as of late.
Are there any other bands in your scene that you could recommend?
Our good friends in Knuckle Puck! www.facebook.com/knucklepuckil
You recently released your brand new EP “Everyone That Dragged You Here”. It’s quite different from your previous work, and I personally love the direction you’ve taken. How did this EP come together?
Well, we kind of realized shortly after releasing our first EP that we wanted to go in a different direction. A little more aggressive, faster, and more emotional type stuff. We honestly only played 10 shows under our first EP. We just all talked and said we wanted to start from scratch again, even if it meant pretty much throwing away the CD we just took months and months to write. We weren't feeling the first EP like we should. Our hearts just weren't into it. We did spend a lot of money funding it and everything, but it's all about your heart being in the game or not. Money should never come before that. So we started from scratch, wrote the new EP, and self funded the recording and pressing of "Everyone That Dragged You Here."
Have you been in contact with any record labels yet?
Honestly, don't really want to answer this question in the interview. I would rather take this one out. No offense, sorry brah!
You guys have a way of writing straight forward heartfelt lyrics. How important are the lyrics to you guys?
The lyrics are very meaningful to us. I actually write a majority of the lyrics. Dan, our singer, also write some of the lyrics. But everyone as a band can relate to all the songs. This new EP is kind of cool in the sense that every song is about someone in our lives. So the title of the cd, Everyone That Dragged You Here, makes perfect sense.
What’s the best show you’ve played so far as a band?
We actually just played a show in a suburb of Chicago called Worth. It was a smaller show at this church, maybe 40 kids. It wasn't the biggest show, but just about everyone sang all the words to our songs with us. Everyone was pushing each other and having a really good time. It meant so much to us as a band. GOOD TIMES!
What’s the best show that you remember attending?
Ahhh that's such a tough question. There are so many. There's this acoustic guy from Chicago that goes under the name, Owen. Very underrated musician. I would say seeing him play with a full band was my most favorite show. Everyone reading this should check him out! I know most people reading this are more into the pop punk type stuff, but you should check out Owen for sure.
What’s the craziest thing that has ever happened at a show or while on tour?
We have yet to tour, so i feel like there will be some better stories after we actually do some touring. But we like to have a good time at shows and on our way to the shows. Just being in the van with all of us acting like idiots is a pretty crazy experience. Good luck to anybody trying to fall asleep. Brian, our drummer, likes to laugh like a demon. And our guitar player, Dave, likes to get naked. Crazy stuff.
Any upcoming shows/tours that you’d like to promote?
We are playing with A Loss For Words in De Kalb, IL on March 24th. We are pretty stoked on that. Besides that, we have a ton of shows coming up ! We play just about every weekend. So if you live in the midwest, chances are we are coming for you. Check out our shows section on the facebook.
Do you have any plans on playing in Toronto? There’s a lot of buzz about you guys in my scene, I know a bunch of people who would come out to your show.
We plan to do some east coast touring this summer. After summer hopefully we will be touring on somewhat of a regular basis. So i can for surely see us coming out there this year!
Thanks for your time, Any final comments?
Just thank you to anybody that has taken the time to listen to our music. It seriously means so much. This band is what everyone does. We don't have a plan B, this is what we do. And to get such an awesome response from our new CD is nothing short of amazing! Please come out to a show and sing along with us. We love you guys! Thanks for the interview!
