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Rock / Powerpop / Alternative
Band Members
Dave Cykert : Guitar
Chris Konstantinos : Vocals
Sarah McCalla : Bass
Travis Wilson : Drums
Record Label :
Dork Epiphany Records
Dave and Chris, you both are original band members, how did
Conshafter get started?
Dave and I were really good buddies in college. We met because we
were both on UNC's Varsity Men's Crew team. We were in the
same part of the boat, we were the bow pair. We had a little saying...
How do you like the bow? (laughs)
That's how we would pump ourselves up for it. We were in Philadelphia
for a big race and it was raining really bad. We were trying
to stay warm and dry in the van before the race. A Weezer song came
on the radio and I said how I love that song. Dave said he
liked it too and mentioned he could play it on the guitar. I didn't know he
played guitar. I told Dave that I sing and said we should
start a band! We could call it Conshafter, the name was from a guy on
our team, Mike Conshafter. We thought it was hilarious,
because the name is goofy and kind of phallic. Mike was a funny guy
himself. Since the band was an inside joke and we weren't
taking it to seriously, we decided to give it a funny name. Do you have
anything to add to that Dave?
Yea, all of that took
place in a Rent A
Wreck van. (laughs).
That’s symbolic.
Now we are a band,
but we don't rent it
and it's more of a
wreck than anything.
The band is
definitely a wreck.
For someone who has never been to one of your shows, what are they
like, describe your music.
Our music has been influenced by The Pixies and The Cars.
Somewhere between there with a post punk sound, with a little bit of
new wave influence to it. Those are the comparisons we get the most
often. Not that I think our music sounds just like those
bands, people say it reminds them of that style of music.
I always think that the artists are the worst people to ask, because we
kind of exist in a vacuum. We are biased and have an insular
view of it. What do you think Sarah?
It's modern and fresh, not like a lot of what you hear on the radio. Our
music definitely has it's own sound.
One of the things Dave and I talked about when we got started was you
know those horror stories you hear around Halloween.If you
are not careful you could get a razor blade in your chocolate bar. We
kind of always wanted our music to be like that. The outside
of our music can be easy to digest, its catchy and upbeat sometimes.
But if you listen to the lyrical themes and what the songs are
saying, there is a darker and deeper strain that goes through it. We
always wanted our music to work on two levels. First level is
people can put this on during a party and have a good time and dance
around the room. The next level is that from a thematic stand
point, every song tries to say something. We try hard not to just write
trite pop songs, but write songs with meaning. It's kind of like
the razor blade in the candy, you go deeper and you bleed. (everybody
laughs)
Conshafter has gone through some changes over the years with the new
additions of Travis and Sarah joining the band. To Dave
and Chris, what were you looking for in a new drummer and bass player?
drive and propel a record. A good beat can define a song. Travis
brought that in with amazing beats. We never had that at our disposal
before. From the bass perspective, we have a sparse line up with one
guitarist. So the bass has to be a very predominate sort of athletic
instrument and Sarah brings that to the table. Each were brought in on a
trial basis and each of them were head and shoulders above anybody
else that came in. They brought in everything we were looking for from
the energy to the unique sound, and pushing us. In Travis's case,
looking extremely adorable and cute. (everybody laughs)
With adding a female to the band, has it changed anything with the
formula or dynamic of the band?
It really has not changed the dynamic of the band all that much. Sarah
brings a ton of energy.
You would have thought it would changed our behavior, that maybe we
would act more mature. Sarah is the youngest person in the band and is
by far is the most mature. (laughs) You would have thought we wouldn't
be ourselves and try to act more like gentlemen around her...and its sad
that we don't. (everybody laughs) She pretty much knows the real us.
So true.
Sarah has an older brother and knows what crazy people guys can be.
When we brought Sarah in, her being female really didn't factor into the
equation, it was all about ability, sensibility, and personality. Sarah
brought that in spades. We knew that we had what we were looking for 5
minutes after we met her, in spite of being female and adorable. We
have definitely become a much better looking band with Sarah joining the
group, we thank her for that. (laughs)
To Sarah and Travis, did you feel it would be a challenge to win over the
existing Conshafter fan base?
I had only played with Zerohour and so it was definitely a big change.
When I went to the audition, I didn't expect that I would make it. It has
been a fun experience and I have learned a lot from the band.
There are some
definite die hard
Conshafter fans
that hasn't had
any problems
with the switch
up. Just being a
drummer, you
are always in the
background of
things, as far as
visual sense. I
and Dave, that’s fine with me.
That’s fine with me too. (laughs)
To each of you, tell me about the first instruments you learned how to
play and who some of your musical influences have been?
I played piano when I was seven. I played keyboard in Zerohour and
switched to bass when I was nine. I listen to a wide variety of
music, Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Hendrix, Earth Wind and Fire, and James
Brown. All of that good stuff.
When I was seven or eight I played piano. My parents made me do it
and I hated it. My sister was my piano teacher. The first chance I got, I
quit. Now I wish I hadn't. It was right around that time that I started to
write songs. Growing up I was a huge hip hop and rap fan. I wanted to
be a white rapper back in the 80's before it was cool.
What was your rap name?
(smiles) MC Royal-T. (everybody laughs) I made these incredibly bad
tapes with a Casio keyboard that had a sampler on it. I think I still have
those tapes somewhere. My big hit was the Steve Urkel song. (laughs)
In terms of my singing, my sister is an awesome singer who sings in a
symphony orchestra in Ohio. She sings classical, so I have always been
surrounded by it. I sang in the choir growing up, I always loved to sing. I
listened to Buddy Holly, The Beatles, Elvis, and hip hop. It is really
bizarre, I went from listening to music of 1956 to 1968. My parents were
too square to be hippies and they did not like all of the drug influences.
So when The Beatles started being really cool, they stopped buying their
records. My sister got me into The Cure, The Ramones, and The Cars,
that post punk music of the 80's.
I started in music when I
was ten years old. My
Mom was a classical flutist
in the Greensboro
Symphony Orchestra. I
started playing flute....and
that got me beat up. (Dave
smiles, group laughs) I
switched to guitar in
Middle School. When I
was 13, there was this guy
with a Jackson flying V
guitar, with two strings left
on it. He taught me these
bastardized versions of
songs like Lela. I don't
know how I learned to play
with only two strings.. he
was a genius. (laughs). I
The first and only instrument I do play are the drums. I take that back, I
did take a class in middle school where I learned to play one of those
plastic recorders. (laughs) Those things are so stupid. I started playing
drums when I was 15. My family moved around a lot when I was
growing. I was bored and we had just moved again and my Mom
suggested that I take up a musical instrument. My Mom is also a flute
player. I took drum lessons for two years and joined the school band my
Sophomore year. When you play drums in marching band, if you keep
playing drums, it really does have an effect on how you play for the rest
of your life, because it is such a militaristic type technique. I have
retained most of that. I listened to Black Flag, Bouncing Souls,
Offspring, that whole music punk scene in the mid 90's. Riley
Breckinridge from a California band called Thrice was another influence.
What is the best part about being a musician?
The satisfaction you get from playing a really good show and you get
audience feed back. There are nights when you click really well with the
band as a whole. When what you wrote all comes together on stage.
The best part is being able to create without having to pay child support.
(all laugh) The adrenaline of being on stage, is like no other thing.
When someone spends their $5 and two hours of their time to come
watch me do anything in this world, it is an honor and a privilege. That's
the coolest thing in the world. It's a drug without ever having to take one.
The song writing
process and the
recording process
are secrete
favorite parts for
me. The highest
point for me is
when we are all in
the practice
space and
someone kicks a
new drum beat or
a riff that we
haven't worked
on before. It just
comes together
and we
write a song right
then and there.
The first time you
Hundreds of hours.
Probably thousands. The cool thing about the studio is that it is a
limitless canvas. The trick is to take this great song you have up in your
head and to try to get it to sound they way you have imagined it. Its such
a wonderful challenge to get the idea out of your head and onto a
recording. Usually the songs turn out completely different from the way
you originally heard it. Sometimes that is a good thing, its better.
Sometimes it's worse, but it's that limitless possibility you get from
working in the studio. When we wrote the songs for "Fear the
Underdog", I am not kidding when I say some of them have 80 tracks on
them. It's that layered.
Wow!
Yea, a rock and roll band should never be that layered, unless they are
Pink Floyd. We were just very meticulous when we recorded almost to
excess. Once we were done with that, we decided the next record was
going to be raw and honest and sound pretty much how we sound live.
That’s why we feel that our current record is the most honest and real
that we have ever done. When you go into a studio, you never know
what you are going to come out with.
I think everyone has touched on many of the greatest aspects. I enjoy
getting to play live and to feed off the energy from the crowd.
Showing everyone what we have worked hard to come up with.
Sorry, we took all of the answers Sarah. (everyone laughs)
What is the biggest challenge to being a musician?
Sitting for long
rides in the van.
Sitting in traffic.
Having the van
break down
somewhere
random.
Don't forget to
mention
Yea, I don't know why Chris and I were the only ones all ready to push
the van.
We are the most expendable. (laughs)
What motivates you all as band, what pushes you forward?
This is going to sound so corny and when I see it in print it will make
me cringe but, I swear to God it's the truth. What motivates me
as an artist is the idea that through some miracle that our music could
have some impact on someone's life, the way that all of the music that
inspired me, had on mine. We have had people tell us that our music
has helped them through bad times when they were contemplating bad
things and our music helped pull them out of it. That's the greatest
compliment they could have given us. That's what makes it all worth it.
When someone makes the remark, don't quit your day job or what are
you going do when you grow up?
We hear that a lot, that’s why we named our first album Don't Quit Your
Day Job.
Yea. When people ask, what are you going to do when you don't have
this band to settle on, what are you going to do with your career? That
motivates me, because I feel that this is a good one to have. I feel the
strongly that the four of are extremely good at. I hope some day they
are not all right, but we are.
My motivation.....
Is it the chics?
Or lack there of. (laughs) Constantly working knowing we are going to
meet that goal of next week playing it live on stage. It can be taxing to
go in a studio and play things over and over again. All of that work is not
in vain, but leads up to playing it out.
Conshafter has opened for major acts the Killers and the Von Bondies,
what did you take away from those experiences?
I can say we have taken away some autographs and some amazing
pictures. We have stories that hopefully if I kids someday to be able to
tell them about. The other thing is that you have to raise the level of
your performance to what ever they are doing. There are some people
who are on the road for years, they come in so polished and
professional and the first time you play with a band like that you
immediately realize the amazing opportunity you have to get to play with
these bands signed with major record labels. It is a validation and to
some degree successful.
We have played with a lot of major label bands and I don't think I ever
walked away without saying Wow! Whether you like their music or not,
they are like a well oiled machine. You realize that it takes great songs,
stage presence, but you also have to be able to play your ass off. The
other big take away has been getting to hang out with these people and
watch them and realize that they are no different then you or I. I fully
believe that could be Conshafter. I have been lucky enough to have met
and play with some of my heroes, like the guys from Weezer. Getting to
record with Keith Shockley, one of my favorite producers growing up. I
would have never imagined that I would get to know him or work with
him. Some of the nicest people we have met in the music industry have
been the most famous and wealthy. Sometimes the people with the
biggest attitudes aren't the rocks stars but are the wanna be
rock stars. That's the ironic thing.
What was it like getting to hear your music played on MTV's made?
Besides being a kick ass band, how did your music get picked
to be on the show, did luck play a part?
I am sure luck had a huge role in it. The way we got selected for MTV
was when "Fear the Underdog" came out in 2004, we hired a PR firm in
New York City. We hired a radio promotions company that we got some
good contacts. One of them was Jen Schwartz at MTV. one day I got
an email form the radio promotions lady telling me that MTV was looking
for music for soundtracks and that she thought we would be good for
that. So we sent her some stuff, and we never heard from them. In fact
we forgot that we did that. Like a year later, fans were chatting on
message boards saying they heard "Sleep When I'm Dead" on MTV. We
had no idea. MTV didn't tell us they decided to use our music. The day
I heard, I went to their website and sure enough our name was on there
and what song they used. The feeling I got was interesting because you
build it up in your head. I can't believe my whole life I dreamed of having
a song be played on MTV, and there it is. Then you watch it and your
like, it is sound track work which they used 5-10 seconds of our songs
here and there. They always cut out the vocals before it got to the
lyrics. I never got to hear myself on MTV, but did get to hear the band, it
was cool.
I sounded great. (laughs all around)
Dave sounded amazing.
I got to see it on MTV one time, it was on a BMX biker episode for the
show Made. They had used a couple of our songs, but in this
particular instance they used a song of ours called "Maturity". The girl
learned how to ride the bike, it was cool.
Yea, she wiped out.
They edited her wiping out to the guitar stops, it was pretty neat.
I watched that episode, before even thinking about being in Conshafter.
When I found out it was these guys, I went back and
watched it again. It's really impressive.
Your band shot a music video at The Byrd Theatre, tell me about that
and the other videos that you have posted on the net.
We have a series of ''Assassin" videos that we made. My favorite one
of all time is there was this newspaper stand outside of a club
in Ohio and I absolutely took out this newsstand. I literally thought I
broke my sternum and bleeding internally.
It looked like he ruptured his spleen, it was awesome.
The music video we did at The Byrd Theatre was our first. We did it to
our song " The Big Set Up", which is off our current album
"Slow Drive Off A High Dive" We got real lucky, we were playing at a
bar in New York on the lower eastside called "Pianos". The
biggest reason we like to play shows in New York is because any
opportunity can up there, you never know who is going to be in the
crowd. There was a director there named Mike Fernandez, who works
for Wide screen Studios. He dug the energy and the sound of
the show. He essentially offered to do the video at cost. We put them
up and fed them, but in terms of bringing down the gear and
setting up, they did their time for free. They had an incredible list of
ideas, it was a blast to shoot. We had rubber chickens,
skeletons,..
We had 150 extras.
We were locked in
vet cages for some
of the scenes at a
vet clinic.
There were alien
abduction scenes.
Probing. (smiles)
That was my favorite part. We thought, we are not sure if we are ever
gonna get to do another video again so we stuck every stupid idea that
we ever wanted to put into a music video, we jammed it into this one. It
was shot like it was in the 1920's, half of it is an alien abduction, there
are toilet seats flying through the air, just bizarre stuff. That was my all
time favorite Conshafter experience. We got to pick the girl who was the
lead love interest, we got to choose from all of these models. That was
really fun getting like 40 girls in swimsuits and lingerie sending you there
pictures and stuff. We ended picking a model named Karen, she was a
genuine person and not some stuck up New York City model.
What was her last name??
Yes, her actual last name is Kumm.
Karen Kumm. (smiles)
It's her real name and not a stage name. We picked Karen and she did
a great job. Not only was she a kick ass person, but she has become a
really good friend of ours. Every time we go to New York City, we party
with her, she is awesome. If you would have told me when I was twelve
and listening to Buddy Holly, that some day I would get to do a music
video, I would have thought you were crazy. Making the video was like
one big party. The whole thing was such a crazy dream come true.
Dave, If Chris was no longer part of the band, what would be missing,
what does Chris bring to the table?
Chris Brings some of the best lyrics I have heard. Capturing a mood is
so important and he does that. With Chris, you could take away the
music and publish his lyrics as poetry or literature and not need us at
all. Luckily he hasn't figured that out yet. (smiles) His presence. When
you are looking at somebody who does not play any other instruments
and has to be the front guy, he does an amazing job of capturing the
crowd, keeping people's interest. I think the band would suffer greatly
with out him.
Thank you, I think that is the nicest thing you have ever said to me.
Chris, If Sarah was no longer part of the band, what would be missing,
what does Sarah bring to the table?
Sarah has this wonderful youthful
energy that she radiates, that I feel
brought a whole new lease on life
for us. Musically speaking,
she is sick talented and her bass
playing ability is top notch. For
someone who is so young, her
writing ability to write melodies is
outstanding. That was a pleasant
surprise, that when we brought a
new bassist, we did not expect
someone who would have such
an impact on the song writing,
Sarah really has brought that. Her
Sarah, If Travis was no longer part of the band, what would be missing,
what does Travis bring to the table?
Travis brings a new sound that I have never heard from another
drummer before. Travis has a big impact on the songs we write,
many of them are rhythmically driven.
Travis, If Dave was no longer part of the band, what would be missing,
what does Dave bring to the table?
What would I miss about Dave...that’s a tough one. (all laughs) Just
joking. Dave's a great guitarist. His playing and how he holds down
everything with only having one guitar player in the band is impressive.
Dave's sense of humor, he has the strangest sense of humor. (laughs)
It's not like he tries to be funny, but it is funny in itself. You would have
to be around the band everyday, Dave does this little funny things that I
just laugh my ass off to.
Dave has the great straight face, dead pan sense of humor. If you don't
know Dave that well, your not sure if he is kidding. We laugh a lot, you
have to when you are in an indie band.
Where would you like to see the band go from hear?
You mean besides arena tours across Europe, Asia, and Australia? (all
laugh) I would like to se the band sustain our style and comfort of living.
This is our job, it never truly ever felt like one. It would be interesting, I
am not sure how long that could last, given the state of the music
industry now. I would love to be able to shoot the multi million dollar
videos. It would be great to have more choices as to how and who we
record with, that kind of increases success would allow us to open doors
to people that could enhance our sound and ability.
To be able to work on our craft 24 hours a day, 7 days and your only job
is to write great songs and perform them great. That would
be such a dream come true. We probably think more about music than
we should, given the other responsibilities we have in our
lives. Having that 100% of our time to give would be a luxury that
would just blow my mind. We get to do our next record in a big
studio with a big producer in New York City. We are going recording it in
the spring. It's exciting, that in stead of recording songs in
our buddy's den, which is how we have recorded previous records. We
are going to be doing it in a big studio with professionals
producing us. It should be interesting.
Conshafter's manager. Darrel would like ot know:
(Darrell Jones)
Would you rather A.) or B.)
A.) Live your complete rock star dreams out in one year, but after
that year suffer the rest of your life with a huge fungus mushroom
growing visibly on your forehead. (No you can't have surgery to remove
the mushroom)
OR
B.) Make $75,000 a year in an infamous Spice Girl & Billy Ray Cyrus
cover band for the next 20 years?
I cannot speak for the entire entity known as Conshafter, but speaking
from a lead singer standpoint:
A would be absolutely out of the question...I am much too vain to go
through the rest of my life with a mushroom stamp on my forehead, and
tobaggan caps don't look that good on me. Besides, I've already gotten
to live out about 35% of my rock dreams, and the remaining 65% to go
would probably shorten my lifespan considerably anyway.
Choice B is indeed humiliating, particularly when you consider that if
inflation stays around 2-3% yearly, that $75K is going to look a lot less
attractive in 20 yrs. But perhaps I could pick up additional supplemental
income by being a Cyrus stunt double in movies and serving as an
escort for rich English soccer players..
If you could make 2 animals mate, what do you think would be a cool
combination?
(example, whale & dolphin would be a "whaphin" named Flipper Dick
and it would blow flubber from its waterspout - yes, you can steal my
answer if you need to)
Whale/dolphin mix is hot, but I'd probably have to go for the
panther/shark combination, with an added plus if we could genetically
engineer fully functional machine guns and/or machetes for hands...that
is one intimidating, amphibious, perfectly evolved chaos machine.
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