I Was A Hero Interview (New York Pop Punk)

First off, state your name and role in I Was a Hero.

 My name is Brandon, and I sing. Where did the name I Was a Hero come from? It came from our drummer, Nick, who was watching Star Wars one day and said something about Anakin being a hero, but then turning evil. Which means he WAS a hero. So... Short answer is Star Wars.


How would you describe your music to someone who has never heard it?

I would say we're a pop punk band that gives a fuck about what we sound like. We try our best to have a healthy balance of the right things in our songs. But part of me wants to tell them we sound like the song "Call Me Maybe"


What’s the pop punk scene like in New York?

It's great. With bands like State Champs, With The Punches, Doses, Such Gold, Pentimento, and Young English doing so well recently, it definitely has a bright future as well. I wouldn't want to call any other place home, and I think that the current pop-punk music scene has a lot to do with that.

You recently released your EP entitled “Youth and Defeat”. How did that album come together?

We began writing it last winter as our first "official" release. We had put out a demo before this, but the songs were all written by either myself or Nick before the band had really gotten together. These songs were all a collaborative effort by every member of the band, and are definitely better in my eyes.

On Tuesday you played Syracuse with The Wonder Years, and you sold a t-shirt with Josh Martin on it. How did that idea come about?

The Wonder Years have been very cool to us ever since we started this band. When they invited us to play that show, we decided it was time to print a run of new merch. My dad had always noticed that Josh's twitter profile picture was of him eating a sub sandwich, or as they're sometimes called, a "hero". We decided it'd be funny to print a limited run shirt for that show only, after getting Josh's permission. American Icon Screen Printing managed to hook us up last minute with them and they came out beautiful and funny as hell.

What’s the most memorable show you’ve played so far?

It's probably a tie between Tuesday with The Wonder Years (Syracuse really set it off) or a basement show I threw recently thrown with Handguns, Young English, Casting Call, Far From Proper and I Can See Mountains. There was so much friendship at one show and it ruled.

What’s the most memorable show that you’ve attended?
I saw The Foo Fighters when I was 12 with my Dad, and it totally changed the way I looked at music. Definitely the most memorable for me at least.


Do you have any upcoming tours on the horizon?

Yes! We go out for 2 weeks with the band Doses from Buffalo NY. We'll be going down the East Coast then coming up though the Midwest. We'll be posting finalized dates soon. We've also got some plans for fall, but nothing finalized yet.

What can we expect next from I Was a Hero?

We're all taking off from school to do this full time, so expect us to be on the road as much as possible. I book the band currently, and will be working my ass off to try to get us to where people want to see us. We're also looking into starting the recording process for a new release before the end of this year.


Thanks for taking the time to do this interview. Do you have any final comments for you fans?

I want to thank everyone so much for all the support. We put the EP up for free - or - name your price, and still managed to get all the way to number 4 on bandcamp's top sellers during our release week. It's that kind of generosity and support that makes me want to continue doing this for the rest of my life. Thanks for everything, and see you soon!