Hello to all readers on this week of July 4th. Even if you are not an American we can all use this Thursday to drink beer, play music, and grill with family! Before we start today I just want to commend Netflix on their show, ‘House of Cards’ with Kevin Spacey & Robin Wright. Not only do I love the show but I love how Netflix is creating their own show without a major network. It reminds me of independent artists releasing music without a major label. Today we have an awesome band from Danville, PA by the name of FARLEY. I caught wind of the guys after hearing “Eyes Wide Open” from their new EP ‘Squaring Circles’. I will have these guys on my July 4th playlist and so should you. Join us as Tim & Matt speak on everything from Aaron Hernandez thowing it all away, getting started as FARLEY, real life inspiration for songwriting, and much more!
Stoli: Where are we talking from today and are you excited for any summer vacations or cool trips outdoors?
A: (Tim) We are talking from my home in Danville, PA. My wife and I are planning a 4 day/3 night hike in the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon this August so I’m pretty excited for that. It’s our 5 year anniversary so we wanted to do something different and memorable.
(Matt) I’ll be traveling to Las Vegas in August for my pool league’s national finals. My team took first in the regional finals in the Poconos and now we’re on to the national finals in Vegas, so I’m really looking forward to that.
Stoli: A New England Patriot, Aaron Hernandez has thrown his life & career away on murder charges. Why do people make such bad decisions and risk losing everything over petty things?
A: (Tim) That is something I will never understand, so I can’t even begin to rationalize it. It’s just sad all around. He’s ruined more than one life, and for what?
Stoli: Offer readers a brief history on the band and how you guys all came together in eastern Danville, PA?
A: (Tim) I started writing and recording music as a side project while I was in another band called Panacea. During that time Panacea broke up and I turned my attention to FARLEY as my full time project. Matt was the bass player in Panacea and he decided to keep playing with me in FARLEY. He actually played drums and bass on this latest EP. Then over the course of the 2 years FARLEY has been around we sort of rotated people in and out of the line up until we settled on Jim Reynolds (guitar/vocals) and Mike Krebs (bass/vocals).
Stoli: Obviously the band name is based on Tim’s last name, Farley. Was Tim the driving force behind the band and how did you decide on his last name?
A: (Matt) Yes, Tim was certainly the driving force behind the band. He’s the songwriter/manager/booking agent/etc. We thought about coming up with another band name but it just seemed to make sense this way.
“Eyes Wide Open” (Official Video)
http://youtu.be/a5q7Osxr5po
Stoli: You guys released ‘A Good Problem To Have’ in 2011. Now you are back with ‘Squaring Circles’. Where did you write & record the new EP?
A: (Tim) We wrote and recorded the new EP in the same place we did the first one: Saturation Acres in Dupont, PA. Our producer Bret Alexander (The Badlees, Breaking Benjamin) was integral in the writing and recording process, and we then had the album mixed by Dave Goodermuth who is based in Franklin, MA.
Stoli: I love your song “Eyes Wide Open”. Who wrote the lyrics and what is that song about?
A: (Tim) I wrote the music and lyrics for that song. We were actually doing a live recording session and it just sort of came to me. That happens sometimes. The song has a few different levels of ‘meaning’ I guess. In one aspect it’s about only looking forward and having no regrets in life, but it also has some political undertones as well. I feel that the younger generations are truly the future of not only our nation, but of the world. We are in the midst of a great awakening that you can see happening all around us. Whether it’s LGBT rights, or the Turkish protests, or the legalizing of marijuana, or the uprising in Brazil; people are waking up to true liberty and equality. The song is about making your own choice and not following blindly. “On the threshold of a great wide open. To the future with eyes wide open”. That’s the message.
Stoli: When you look for inspiration for things to write about, how much of your real life do you use and expose to fans?
A: (Tim) Hmmm…that’s an interesting question. I guess every song has aspects of my real life, it’s more a matter of to what degree. Sometimes it’s directly about me or an experience I’ve had so there us a large degree of personal exposure, but other times it’s more of an observation of my surroundings. And still other times it could be more of a fictitious character(s) and I’m telling their story, but just drawing on certain universal emotions from my own life in order to make that story compelling for a listener.
Stoli: The reviews for ‘Squaring Circles’ have been positive. How does that feel and do you get nervous whether fans will not like the new tunes?
A: (Tim) Yes, so far reviews have been very positive which is really great. I don’t get nervous about how the music will be received. As my father always says, you can’t please them all. I don’t write songs with anyone’s personal tastes or preferences in mind because if I did no song would ever get finished. I am my worst critic in the studio and I’m always trying to push the envelope and do something I’ve never done. You can’t really take those chances and make those mistakes if you’re worried about making those mistakes to begin with. Life is about falling down, and success is about failing faster.
Stoli: Besides music do you guys have work/family/school as well and how much time per week goes to the band?
A: (Matt) Yes, we all have day jobs but none of us have kids right now. Most of us play with at least one other band/project as well so we’re all very busy. We try to dedicate one night a week to rehearsal and we’re usually playing shows 2-3 nights a week. We’d all like to quite our day jobs though.
Stoli: I was so impressed with how you completed an overseas tour in Ireland in 2012 and released a “Live In Ireland” album. How did that come to be and what did you love about Ireland and its music venues?
A: (Tim) Our former guitar player Patt Flynn was actually the brain child of they Ireland tour. At the time Pat way playing guitar in FARLEY and in another band Underground Saints. He has a lot of family in Ireland and he and I ended up arranging the entire tour with help from some of his contacts over there. We also went with a film crew that filmed a documentary which will be release…um…hopefully soon. It was certainly an amazing trip, but very tiring. We played 13 shows in 10 days, so it was non-stop.
The people are so warm and welcoming, and they LOVE music of all kinds. What I found to be refreshing was that they didn’t care that they hadn’t heard of us before, or that they didn’t know the music right away. They came to the venues, had a great time, were fully engaged and not watching TV at the bar while we played, they bought CD’s, then came to the next show the following night and were singing the words. They have a true love of music, culture and life. It was truly an incredible tour.
Stoli: Who are two other similar sounding bands that you listen to and where do you discover new music?
A: (Tim) Similar sounding bands….that’s pretty hard to say. There are so many influences in our music, but if I had to pick two I’d say somewhere between Kings of Leon and Mumford and Sons, but that doesn’t even cover it. I discover new music wherever I can. Could be online, could be TV, could be in a friends car; it can happen anywhere. I always leave room, however, for the old school 90’s rock I grew up with (Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana, Radiohead, Tool, etc.)
Stoli: You hear a lot about US government spying on citizens. Do you feel this is totally not cool or a necessary evil to keep us safe?
A: (Tim) I don’t think any evil is necessary. I think we should be more focused on the domestic and foreign policies that over the past 30-40 years have created the environment in which we now live and that the government now is trying to combat.
For instance: the clandestine economic exploitation of foreign governments beginning in the 60’s and 70’s (i,e. Ecuador/Saudi Arabia/Panama); the fueling of sectarian conflict via proxy wars and CIA overthrow operations (i,e. Iran/Iraq/Afghanistan); the creation, implementation and support of brutal dictatorships around the world so American companies can reap huge dividends by pilfering the natural resources of sovereign nations. And now we’re spying on the EU as well as our own citizens in an attempt to staunch the flow of the truth. What’s next, shutting down internet sites and rendition? Oh wait….that already happens.
History holds the key to understanding our present and shaping our future. Two wrongs don’t make a right, and decades of oppression, exploitation, and corporatocracy cannot be reversed with drone strikes and espionage.
Stoli: What is coming up for FARLEY and where you and the new EP @ online?
A: (Tim) Well we have a whole lot of shows over the summer from PA to South Carolina, all of which you can see at our website www.farleymusic.com. We’re also writing new songs for our next release, but that’s not gonna be for another few months or so…maybe 2014.
Meanwhile you can find our EP on iTunes, Amazon, CD Baby, etc. Just go to www.farleymusic.com and you can link to all the other sites. And check out our music video for “Eyes Wide Open” on Youtube.
Facebook: www.facebook.com/farleyband
CD Baby: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/farley
Reverbnation: www.reverbnation.com/farley
