Interview with Times New Roman

This is Pop Punk Promotions with an interview with Times New Roman.

Interview by: Branden Whitehead

Times New Roman is a pop punk band from Christianburg Virginia, you can grab their tunes here http://timesnewromanva.bandcamp.com/  

TIPPP- How long has Times New Roman been a band?

TNR- A little over 4 years.

TIPPP- When did TNR form and what is your hometown?

TNR- Billy and I (Elliott) started forming this band in the Spring of 2009 looking for a sound that resembled bands like I See Stars and Attack Attack in a little town called Christiansburg, VA. Brandon Deacon joined on as Bass, and Luke joined on playing the “Elmo Toy” (electronics?). But, then we decided to start playing Pop Punk. Luke moved to synth and we picked up Glen for a second guitarist. We played our first show August 2009.

TIPPP- How would you describe the type of music Times New Roman plays and what sets it apart from other bands and makes it unique?

TNR- We would say Pop-Punk, but there are so many different sub genres these days that it’s hard to explain, so we would recommend to just give it a listen and see what you think. I’m not really sure how to answer how we are different from other bands in our genre, but I do believe our sound is a lot different from most bands. On our latest release, we tried our best not to fall victim to music trends, which we feel guilty of in parts of our previous releases. Instead we write music we think is “Times New Roman.”

TIPPP- How has the release gone for your album A Place To Rest Your Head?

TNR-  Extremely positive! We’ve gotten many comments from those who support our band saying that we really “stepped up” on this EP. People have said we took a mature, positive step, and still kept it “Times New Roman”, which is what we were going for.

TIPPP- What has TNR been up to in the past few months (tour,shows,recording,etc.)?

Shows on shows on shows. We’ve done a good amount of touring pushing our new release A Place To Rest Your Head. We did a CD release tour with our good buddies in Bottom of the Ninth and a short run with our buds in I Time Bomb. We just recently played Songs of the South Fest in Greensboro, NC and it was AWESOME. Huge shout out to the Clockwise Collective. They did a great job with the entire event.

TIPPP- What’s the worst show and best show you’ve ever played before?

TNR-  WORST SHOW: Roanoke, VA at Happy’s flea market. We played to a new set of ears, played TERRIBLY, and Elliott did a guitar swing that almost killed Billy, who was our drummer/singer at the time. Elliott’s guitar simply flew behind him and missed Billy’s face by inches. We laugh now, but we were so embarrassed.  

BEST SHOW: Songs of the South fest 2013 FOR SURE! It’s extremely humbling to see people sing the words to our songs who we have never met before. Not only that, it was the largest amount of people we have ever played for, and we had our first stage divers. Most excellent!

TIPPP- What’s the favorite place you’ve ever played before?

Glen, Elliott, Matt, Billy : The Blind Tiger in Greensboro, NC

TIPPP- Where was your favorite place you’ve ever visited while on the road?

Elliott: New York City. I had never been there before. It was absolutely breathtaking

Glen: Broadway in Nashville, TN. I’m not the biggest country music fan, but I thought it was rad to see almost every single bar on that road (which seemed to be every other building) had a country act playing. Also, the street performers were creepy, but entertaining.

Brandon: Wawa.

Luke: Going to Sandy Hook beach in NJ at the end of tour last summer was rad.

Matt: Time Square in NYC

Billy: Sandy Hook beach was definitely awesome. Great way to end our tour last summer.

TIPPP-What has been the craziest thing to happen to you guys on the road?

Glen: Well I got Bottom of the Ninth’s trailer stuck between the ceiling and floor of a parking garage. That was fun...NOT.

Elliott: What Glen said, but one time in Johnson City, TN I placed our trailer lock where you couldn’t get the key in to unlock it. We panicked, but our buddy Shane who plays in the band Playtime Revenue, and our drummer Matt Wade beat the crap out of the lock with a baseball bat to make the lock accessible to unlock. We were afraid all of our equipment would be locked in there for quite some time. What a great way to start a tour!

TIPPP- Do you guys have any particular influences and favorite bands?

Glen: It’s hard to say what influences me today, but back in middle school and early high school, I took a lot of influence from bands like Underoath, Silverstein, Story of the Year, etc. I could go on forever. My favorite band always changes, but over the past year or two, I’ve really been digging The Story So Far.

Elliott: Influences usually change for me year to year, but Relient K and The Wonder Years have always been huge influences of mine. Band’s that have influenced me over the past year are With The Punches, Last Call, American Scene, Fireworks and The Early November.

Brandon: Recently.. Rotting Out, Modern Baseball, Prawn, Gorilla Biscuits, Mixtapes, The Front Bottoms.

Matt: Influences would be The Wonder Years, Four Year Strong, New Found Glory. Favorite bands The Story So Far, Citizen, Four Year Strong, and Emarosa

Billy: Citizen, Balance and Composure, Fireworks, Such Gold, old Fall Out Boy, Into It. Over It., Owen and probably a ton more that I can’t think of at the moment!

TIPPP- What’s your favorite fast food?

Glen: Cookout faaaa shhhhhhooooooo! Or Chipotle

Elliott: Definitely Cookout or Zaxby’s

Luke: Are you kidding? Bojangles!

Matt: Subway without a doubt!

Billy: It’s a tie between Sheetz and Cookout!

TIPPP- What are all of your hobbies to do outside of music?

Elliott: Facebook or watching Digimon. I’m lame.

Glen: I enjoy playing Fifa ...a lot. Also, pick up soccer with my friends.

Brandon: I dabble in Pokemon from time to time.

Luke: Does school count as a hobby? I like school.

Matt: Skateboarding, slaying dragons, video games, and taming wild unicorns

Billy: I enjoy creating art. Primarily in the area of screen printing.

TIPPP- What is your favorite movie/ tv show?

Glen: Billy Madison......”STOP LOOKING AT ME SWAN!”/The Big Bang Theory

Elliott: Favorite Shows are NCIS (Mark Harmon rules) and Community. Favorite Movies are definitely Billy Madison, Pineapple Express, and 21 Jump Street.

Brandon: LOST. WATCH LOST.

Luke: Movie: The Princess Bride, TV Show: Community (except the 4th season blows)

Matt: Movie: Pulp Fiction, TV Show: Adventure Time

Billy: Movie: I have no idea so I’ll just say Kill Bill for now, TV Show: Game of Thrones!!!

TIPPP- Have you guys been touring? If so hows it been, and how are touring experiences?

TNR- Yes we have! It can be rough at times, but overall we’ve had a blast and had some really good experiences. It’s great to visit places we have never been, to make new friends, and to see friends we don’t get to see as often as we would like.

TIPPP- What do you recommend to smaller bands trying to establish themselves?

Glen: Take your time with writing.  Make sure it is something you are proud of. Nothing is worse than recording and releasing a song/songs that you later regret releasing. Also, do not settle on cheap recordings. Save up the money and go to a professional. The rawness of your songs can be great, but certain recordings can kill it. Record with someone who knows what they’re doing and understands your genre.

Elliott: Make sure you’re playing lots of local shows at first. Make sure your local scene knows who you are, that way you have a support group. From there expand by playing shows out of town. Make sure you advertise your band through any media outlet you can. It takes time, but it’s worth it.

TIPPP- Was getting to where you are now in your career difficult?

TNR- The first two or three years of the band we took somewhat slow and mainly played in our hometown. The past year or so we have really started to make a serious effort in playing out of our area. In all of the traveling we have done, there have definitely been some bumps in the road, but rewarding nonetheless. The main point we can make is that being in a band isn’t always easy, yet it is still our passion and we have a lot of fun with it.

TIPPP- What's next for Times New Roman as a band?

TNR- We’re are continuing to play out of our area and plan to keep doing so to push our band more and more. We will also most likely begin the writing stages in the near future for new material.