Band Interview: New Medicine while on the UPROAR Tour 2010

Edited and Interviewed by Morris Goodwin and Chelsey Goraczkowski of STILLCODA

While hanging out between buses and watching people put the Jager stage together, we sat down with all the boys of New Medicine. Needless to say, we love it when hometown bands play on National Tours this big.

(Jake: Frontman, Brady: Bass/Vocals, Dan: Guitar, Ryan: Drums)

STILLCODA: SO LET’S GET THIS UP AND RUNNING. FIRST TIME, FIRST TOUR…

J: First day ever, kickin off the Uproar tour. It’s pretty awesome.

STILLCODA: AND YOU GET TO START OFF ON A GOOD NOTE TODAY.

J: Yeah, we’re in the best town right here…Minneapolis (laughs)

STILLCODA: AND RACE TO THE BOTTOM IS YOUR FIRST ALBUM. HOW ARE YOU GUYS FEELING ABOUT IT?

J: We are very proud of the album. It took a long time for us to get what we wanted, but in the end we worked very hard and we worked with great producers. We recorded six songs at once and then took a year and half to get the best sound and the best recording that we really wanted. We feel that it is a demonstration of our dedication and we are very proud of that.

B: It’s definitely a record without filler. We came into it with something that was true to us and something you can listen to front to back. We recorded a year ago and were confident in what we made. It sounds great and we are really proud.

R: We’re excited we worked with a lot of great people and excited to get it out there for everyone to hear.

STILLCODA: TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOUR RECORD LABEL, PHOTO FINISH?

J: It’s owned by a guy named Mac Alley. He actually discovered My Chemical Romance when they were nothing and brought them to Warner Brothers and they blew up from there brought on a lot of other great bands that we can all name. We were looking for an agency and they kinda found us one day and was signing first time bands said you guys have a great sound and we hit if off right away. Every other label was so formal. We knew they (P.F.) were with Atlantic, which is one of my favorite labels anyway and we’re definitely a band that knew what we wanted and it was cool that we could go to New York City and he say, ‘I want to sign you guys right now.’ Now that’s how you do a record deal. (laughs)

STILLCODA: YOU GUYS HAVE 3 SINGLES OUT. TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT THEM, SPECIFICALLY LITTLE SISTER?

J: Well little sister is about my sister, she passed away when she wasn’t even a year old, so I wrote the song about her. This year would have been her 18^th birthday, so I wrote the song on what it would be like now and how it would be different and how she would have effected my life and have her be her own person.

STILLCODA: WHEN YOU ARE OUT ON TOUR, WHAT ARE A COUPLE THINGS YOU LOOK FORWARD TO AND THAT THE FANS TAKE AWAY WITH THEM?

J: It’s been really great. All the tours we’ve done in the last year, we’ve been the opening band and it feels like a lot of people go to shows that are really excited to see the headliner and some come for the whole thing and its our job to pump everybody up. It’s always really validating and exciting to be that first act.

B: We don’t want them thinking they can just sit there. We’ll say something, like “get up”

R: And that’s the cool think about touring. You find all these little pockets of people that are willing to rock out with you. It’s wild.

STILLCODA: SPEAKING OF PLACES, WHERE’S YOUR FAVORITE PLACE TO GO?

J: We love New York and California is awesome. The weather is great there. But at the end of the day we love the coasts, but the Midwest is it. We feel at home here and going to places like Oklahoma and Canada, Chicago, Kansas City, Minneapolis. That’s where we like

STILLCODA: WHAT WAS IT LIKE AT THE BEGINNING CREATING THE BAND?

J: We all split off from another band. I (Jake) started writing songs for a new band and Dan came from the same band and we decided to stick together. Brady came from another band. Dan and I used to watch him play (bass) and he’s also an awesome frontman. Ryan was actually tuning our old drummers drums and I was like ‘wait, why isn’t he in our band.’ (laughs) We are a hybrid of everybody and started this new band and its definitely better and got along right away.

B: The band may be new, but we’ve known each other for a long time. So it happened pretty naturally.

STILLCODA: HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THE NAME, NEW MEDICINE?

B: We came up with it in the studio. One of those last minute last day... We’re out in New York recording the album for three weeks. We decided that we wanted to keep it straight and have a name, so we all snap out pen and paper that first day and write every band name. We thought we had it and then the next day we’re like ‘that was bad.’ We’d go back and forth and it was a tumultuous process. We got down to a list of three or four and New Medicine just kept coming back up and coming back up and we figured out that was definitely our name in the end.

STILLCODA: TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT JOY 2 THE WORLD AND WHY YOU WANTED TO BE A PART OF THAT ORGANIZATION.

B: When I was in college at the U (University of MN) I did a study abroad in Ghana and it was a real wake up call to see these women work for less than nothing. I wanted to give back, so playing music and being there really made it happen for me.

We’re in the studio hanging out and went on the internet and doing research about Ghana, we found Joy 2 The World. So we started to bring some people in to work together to support Joy 2 the World and it’s a great opportunity for us to be a part of something larger. I went last January to Ghana and do some work down there with these women and it was just a great experience.

J: Maybe we should tell them what Joy 2 The World is (laughs)

B: It’s a small non-profit that gives loans to women in Ghana that they can use to start to create small businesses and gives them the means to empower themselves.

STILLCODA: IF THERE WAS ONE THING YOU WERE TO TAKE AWAY FROM THIS TOUR WHAT WOULD IT BE?

All: 3 meals a day…. Catering!!!

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