【Reid】04/10Interview With The Band Perry

KMJ: “Hip To My Heart” leans on the pop country side of things. On your new EP and on your upcoming album, describe your sound. What will we hear on it?
KIMBERLY: We have two adjectives to describe our sound and they work hand in hand. We’re definitely a modern throwback. It’s interesting that “Hip To My Heart” is the lightest and most p0ppy–and in our opinion, the only p0ppy thing–on the album. But we thought it had just so much energy. We’re 19, 21 and 26 years old and it had a lot of youth about it. It’s a great way to introduce us to the country music family. I am excited as we move forward for listeners to dig into some of the deeper cuts. We’ve actually decided on our second single, a song called, “If I Die Young.” We’re not close to hitting on it yet because we still have a lot more room on “Hip To My Heart.”
It’s getting warmer so it’s time to crank down those windows and crank up that song. But we’re really excited for listeners to dig into the rest of that album. We have some interesting layers and some interesting contemplations on this album. It’s such a romantic soundtrack. We touch on everything from talking about death, have a little small-town romance and bring out some sassy numbers like a song called “The Way You Lie.” It’s just a really cool project with flavors for everybody. The boys and I are steeped in old country. We absolutely love the history of this format. Neil, being the mandolin player, loves the bluegrass side of things. I’m just so excited for people to see our roots and see what we’ve cut our teeth on musically. So a modern throwback would be the best description.


KMJ: You guys have written or co-written nearly the entire album. I noticed one of the writers was American Idol judge Kara Dioguardi. Tell me about writing with her and your song “Postcards From Paris.”
REID: Kara was in town in Nashville writing with several country songwriters and artists. Our A&R lady at our label is good friends with Kara. She called us one day and said that Kara had a free afternoon and if we would care to write. That’s the funny thing about writing relationships is you don’t really know how it’s going to turn out. You could write a song or you could just end up going to get a coffee together. Luckily, it worked and we wrote a “Postcard From Paris.” Kara has been so great; she’s almost taken on a big sister role for us. She’s really given us a lot of advice and helped us out and all.
KIMBERLY: She’s just been so supportive and actually on the local Fox station here in Nashville, she actually sang a bit of our next single, “If I Die Young.” She’s just really loved that from day one. It’s just really cool to see her get into songs that we’re putting out. She really has become sort of The Band Perry’s big sister giving us advice. She’s even helped us so much in the songwriting room. Her songwriting prowess is just so amazing with the breadth of work that she’s done over the years. She definitely came into the songwriting room with a needle and thread and sewed the idea of the song together.


KMJ: Neil, on your website, you mention that each one of you bring a different songwriting skill and strength to each songwriting session. What are those?
NEIL: Reid is definitely the rock and roller of the group, being a bass player and all. He’s very particular about what he likes and what he doesn’t like in music. Reid will usually bring in a really cool melody of a bass or even a guitar–he plays great guitar as well. Kimberly works on melody as well–she’s actually a melody genius. She’ll bring in something romantic or something really sassy into the room. My role in the writing room is bringing in the lyrics and the string that strings all of our different ideas together. We work really well in the writing room together.
KIMBERLY: A lot of times a writing session will evolve out of a rehearsal because when the boys and I rehearse as three-piece, we just play the songs we’re going to play in the next set. Then that evolves into playing some old country songs and then turns into stuff for a writing session. So I really believe that the way we bring songs together is just an extension of us jamming. That seems to be the process that works the best for us. It becomes sort of effortless when we do it that way. Songs kind of come out of our fingertips.


KMJ: Things have kind of exploded on country radio for you all so far this year. Has there been any performance highlights for you over the last year?
KIMBERLY: Yes! We have two, actually. We had our first sold-out shows this year. The first was up in Portland, Oregon, back on February 13th. And then we had another sold-out show in Albany. That was just huge for us. It was really unexpected and we have just so much support from those two stations. The crowds were just wonderful. And the other cool thing that we’re starting to see is people singing out the lyrics to “Hip To My Heart.” When we’re doing some of these radio events, the people in the crowd are singing the lyrics of “Hip To My Heart” back to us. And that’s something that we’ve just never experienced before. You’re just not expecting it the first time and it was just a really cool moment for the three of us.
KMJ: What is country music to The Band Perry?
KIMBERLY: I’m so proud to be part of this era of country music. The three of us talk about this all the time. We feel like it’s the American format. If Tom Petty came out today, where would he fall? He would fall into country music. He would just fall into the rockier and edgier side of things. I think there’s room for everybody in the format. We’ve got things on the rockier side, things on the poppier side and just straight down the middle country music. It really is just a big country format. And what I love about it is each artist and each band are each unique characters. They each fill a specific niche and a specific mini-genre- they’re each unique characters. Miranda Lambert is a very different character than Lady Antebellum. But she fills her niche. Taylor Swift fills the poppier side of things. That’s what we love about it is everybody brings in their own spin and brings in fresh ideas. The Band Perry hopes to bring to country music a niche to be that modern throwback. We want to maintain the roots and traditions of the format–the songs we love. We want to update that in the 2010 era that we’re living in. We’re just so excited to be part of the big country music family.


=========采访结束==========