An Interview with Chris Conley and Arun Bali of Saves the Day
Alicia: Please introduce yourself and the part you play in Saves the Day.
Chris: My name is Chris Conley and I sing and play guitar in Saves The Day.
Arun: My name is Arun and I play guitar.
Alicia: Tonight is the first night of your co-headlining tour with Bayside. How did this tour come about?
Chris: Anthony and I have been doing acoustic shows for years and we always talked about playing together with our bands and it finally happened overseas at a festival. Ever since then we really thought it would be a good idea to tour with our bands instead of just acoustic tours. It finally just came together because we both have new albums so it worked out.
Arun: We've all been friends for a while so it's, like whenever I go to Bayside shows it's all ways like 'We've got to tour together!" So it all worked out finally.
Alicia: Did you guys have a say in what bands you brought out? How did you guys decide what bands to bring out?
Chris: Yeah, we just emailed back and forth saying 'what bands do you think would be great' and we went back and forth for weeks and then eventually I Am the Avalanche and Transit seemed to be the perfect bands and we agreed on that quite quickly.
Arun: We knew Vinnie from when he was in Movielife and we have friends who have toured with Transit and have said nothing but really really nice things about what great guys and what a great band they are.
Alicia: You guys recently released you're much anticipated full length, Daybreak. How do you feel that the reaction has been towards it?
Chris: I think the reaction is great. It's the most positive reaction we've had in years and I think that's partially because the album is so uplifting. It's not an exploration of misery and that has a lot to do with people feeling like it's uplifting, people feeling like it's the most upbeat album we've had in ages. I think lyrically, our fans are excited that it's not just sort of venting about things that are awful. It's just trying to accept things the way they are.
Arun: It's kind of crazy. This is the first show we've done since post- the album release and just walking through the crowd, people pulling me aside are saying how much they're feeling it and how much they love it. It means a lot. It took us long time to make it and we knew that we had to do that to make it what we wanted to be and we're glad that people are sticking around and responding in a positive way.
Alicia: I know that when I've listened to it, the first song Daybreak sounds like it's a bunch of songs all round up into one.
Chris: It is, it definitely is. I had five songs that I was working on and one night, in a moment of inspiration, they all congealed. I was working on 50 or 60 songs at the time and one night I was playing guitar and all five of those ideas became one. One after another they all just fell out and I thought 'That's really weird, that could be kinda cool. If I put all that together it could be a really long interesting song.' It wasn't as if I thought 'I have to write a ten minute long song' it was just a moment of realization; it was just some sort of epiphany, 'wow that would be really neat to have all of those songs put together'.
Arun: I remember Chris being nervous the first time he played it for me because it's ambitious, it's a ten minute long song, and not knowing that I have a prog-rock background, I love hard rock, and me saying 'this is brilliant' and getting it.
Chris: It was a relief for me.
Alicia: Well it's definitely not one of those long songs where it's like 'okay, let's have this end, what're you trying to say here'.
Chris: Tonight was the first time we played it live.
Alicia: Well it was awesome. Did you guys feel any pressure to make Daybreak into a certain kind of album?
Chris: No, I think we put pressure on ourselves to make it be the best that it could be but I don't think we expected anything more than that.
Arun: When we started the pre-production for it we discussed music that we were referencing and sort of what the vision for the album was. I think, for us, we just needed to realize what it was so that we could sleep at night knowing that it would be what we wanted it to be, if that makes sense. Sonically, we were drawing from lots of different styles of music so that was like a challenge to make it sound cohesive but i feel like we pulled it off.
Alicia: Daybreak is the final installment of your three-part concept including Sound the Alarm and Under the Boards. Did you find it difficult to maintain the concept through three different albums?
Chris: No, I mean it just happened naturally for me. It wasn't as if I thought 'I need to write some really epic three-part album' it was just happening on it's own. I started writing songs and I could tell that they were all thematic and there were some of the songs that didn't fit the theme and realized that this was going to be an evolution and it wasn't going to stop with one album. It's something that just happened on its own. I think, looking back on it, I'm really proud that it came together so well because I was really just going off of my instincts. I felt like 'this is what I want to write and this is what I want to talk about' and I didn't know if it was going to work at the end of the day. Thank goodness it all came together.
Alicia: How do you decide what songs to play each night? Do you just stick with a basic setlist for the entire tour or do you try to mix it up each night?
Arun: We spin a giant wheel that has all the songs on it…
Chris: The other day we actually cut out all the song titles and we were mixing and matching like on the floor trying to build set lists. It can sometimes be difficult to figure out what songs to play when you have 100+ songs but in general, we like to keep it varied so that it's not all from one album or one era. There's some stuff that's old, some stuff that's new, and some stuff that's in between. It can be tricky but we try to change it up.
Alicia: What do you feel is the greatest issue in the music industry?
Chris: I think it's harder for bands to make money with the industry tanking. It's hard to say. Okay, I guess I'd say the biggest issue in the music industry is auto-tune because auto-tune makes it so that someone with a pretty face can go out and sell millions of records even if they don't have any talent. That would be my opinion, that would be the biggest thing. A long time ago, you actually had to have talent to be a 'recording artist', now you don't.
Arun: I think that some of the business aspects of the industry haven't caught up to the technology of music and the way music is released and out there. I feel like everybody is sort of grasping a straws trying to figure out how to make it all work and bands also. I don't know, it can get kind of confusing. The world is changing so fast, the world's getting smaller, there's less record labels. I think for every band it's sort of different, some things that would work for us, won't work for somebody else. Some band could just release YouTube videos and make a whole living off that. Just figuring out how to adapt to how quickly things are changing and that's what I've noticed is sort of I guess an issue
Alicia: Have you guys heard of Spotify? What do you think of it?
Chris: I think it's cool, people sharing music. Isn't that what it is?
Alicia: Yeah, it's kind of like Pandora except you can choose what music you want to listen to. It's also hooked into Facebook so you can see what your friends are listening to.
Chris: I think it's cool. I think people are listening to a lot of music right now, maybe even more than they ever have before, especially with all the personally devices, iPods and whatnot. But I do think that there's a dearth of music that's actually valuable, I mean to human beings, not to record labels. I honestly think that there's not enough music that speaks to people. It's not about just going out and having a good night on Friday or worrying about what you did last Friday. I feel like so much of the failure in the music industry is just not being behind artists that are actually creating material that's worth wild and auto-tune's the reason that they can make that music.
Arun: I had a fan that told me that they discovered us through a friend who was like 'you should check out Saves The Day' so they listened to Saves the Day through Spotify and became a fan because of that. It's the same thing as people downloading records and it is what it is. It's just one of those things that you can't control but we hope that people like what they hear and want to come to a show. That's ultimately what we want to do, perform these songs for people in a live capacity. Hopefully those avenues are what brings more people to it and we reach a broader audience because of it.
Alicia: What advice do you have for bands just starting out?
Chris: Oh I've got tons. I think the most important thing is that you write as many songs as you can. Like write a song every single day even if you think it's no good. And then I'd say make a recording of your favorite songs that you've written and then as soon as you've done that you play as many shows as you possibly can. And then, Arun has a cool idea, which is that when you're a young band, you're sort of searching for connections with other bands so the more you can talk to other bands or even go to another band's show and hand them your recording. Connecting, networking and getting to know other musicians.
Arun: If there's not a scene, create a scene.
Chris: Yeah, make your own music, write as much as you can, record it and then go give it to people, go play shows and if there aren't any shows make the shows happen.
Arun: Whatever your craft is, if you want to be a songwriter or a guitar player or the drummer, just focusing on that craft.
Check out Saves the Day on their headlining tour with Bayside and also on the following sites: Website Facebook Twitter Soundcloud
Chris: My name is Chris Conley and I sing and play guitar in Saves The Day.
Arun: My name is Arun and I play guitar.
Alicia: Tonight is the first night of your co-headlining tour with Bayside. How did this tour come about?
Chris: Anthony and I have been doing acoustic shows for years and we always talked about playing together with our bands and it finally happened overseas at a festival. Ever since then we really thought it would be a good idea to tour with our bands instead of just acoustic tours. It finally just came together because we both have new albums so it worked out.
Arun: We've all been friends for a while so it's, like whenever I go to Bayside shows it's all ways like 'We've got to tour together!" So it all worked out finally.
Alicia: Did you guys have a say in what bands you brought out? How did you guys decide what bands to bring out?
Chris: Yeah, we just emailed back and forth saying 'what bands do you think would be great' and we went back and forth for weeks and then eventually I Am the Avalanche and Transit seemed to be the perfect bands and we agreed on that quite quickly.
Arun: We knew Vinnie from when he was in Movielife and we have friends who have toured with Transit and have said nothing but really really nice things about what great guys and what a great band they are.
Alicia: You guys recently released you're much anticipated full length, Daybreak. How do you feel that the reaction has been towards it?
Chris: I think the reaction is great. It's the most positive reaction we've had in years and I think that's partially because the album is so uplifting. It's not an exploration of misery and that has a lot to do with people feeling like it's uplifting, people feeling like it's the most upbeat album we've had in ages. I think lyrically, our fans are excited that it's not just sort of venting about things that are awful. It's just trying to accept things the way they are.
Arun: It's kind of crazy. This is the first show we've done since post- the album release and just walking through the crowd, people pulling me aside are saying how much they're feeling it and how much they love it. It means a lot. It took us long time to make it and we knew that we had to do that to make it what we wanted to be and we're glad that people are sticking around and responding in a positive way.
Alicia: I know that when I've listened to it, the first song Daybreak sounds like it's a bunch of songs all round up into one.
Chris: It is, it definitely is. I had five songs that I was working on and one night, in a moment of inspiration, they all congealed. I was working on 50 or 60 songs at the time and one night I was playing guitar and all five of those ideas became one. One after another they all just fell out and I thought 'That's really weird, that could be kinda cool. If I put all that together it could be a really long interesting song.' It wasn't as if I thought 'I have to write a ten minute long song' it was just a moment of realization; it was just some sort of epiphany, 'wow that would be really neat to have all of those songs put together'.
Arun: I remember Chris being nervous the first time he played it for me because it's ambitious, it's a ten minute long song, and not knowing that I have a prog-rock background, I love hard rock, and me saying 'this is brilliant' and getting it.
Chris: It was a relief for me.
Alicia: Well it's definitely not one of those long songs where it's like 'okay, let's have this end, what're you trying to say here'.
Chris: Tonight was the first time we played it live.
Alicia: Well it was awesome. Did you guys feel any pressure to make Daybreak into a certain kind of album?
Chris: No, I think we put pressure on ourselves to make it be the best that it could be but I don't think we expected anything more than that.
Arun: When we started the pre-production for it we discussed music that we were referencing and sort of what the vision for the album was. I think, for us, we just needed to realize what it was so that we could sleep at night knowing that it would be what we wanted it to be, if that makes sense. Sonically, we were drawing from lots of different styles of music so that was like a challenge to make it sound cohesive but i feel like we pulled it off.
Alicia: Daybreak is the final installment of your three-part concept including Sound the Alarm and Under the Boards. Did you find it difficult to maintain the concept through three different albums?
Chris: No, I mean it just happened naturally for me. It wasn't as if I thought 'I need to write some really epic three-part album' it was just happening on it's own. I started writing songs and I could tell that they were all thematic and there were some of the songs that didn't fit the theme and realized that this was going to be an evolution and it wasn't going to stop with one album. It's something that just happened on its own. I think, looking back on it, I'm really proud that it came together so well because I was really just going off of my instincts. I felt like 'this is what I want to write and this is what I want to talk about' and I didn't know if it was going to work at the end of the day. Thank goodness it all came together.
Alicia: How do you decide what songs to play each night? Do you just stick with a basic setlist for the entire tour or do you try to mix it up each night?
Arun: We spin a giant wheel that has all the songs on it…
Chris: The other day we actually cut out all the song titles and we were mixing and matching like on the floor trying to build set lists. It can sometimes be difficult to figure out what songs to play when you have 100+ songs but in general, we like to keep it varied so that it's not all from one album or one era. There's some stuff that's old, some stuff that's new, and some stuff that's in between. It can be tricky but we try to change it up.
Alicia: What do you feel is the greatest issue in the music industry?
Chris: I think it's harder for bands to make money with the industry tanking. It's hard to say. Okay, I guess I'd say the biggest issue in the music industry is auto-tune because auto-tune makes it so that someone with a pretty face can go out and sell millions of records even if they don't have any talent. That would be my opinion, that would be the biggest thing. A long time ago, you actually had to have talent to be a 'recording artist', now you don't.
Arun: I think that some of the business aspects of the industry haven't caught up to the technology of music and the way music is released and out there. I feel like everybody is sort of grasping a straws trying to figure out how to make it all work and bands also. I don't know, it can get kind of confusing. The world is changing so fast, the world's getting smaller, there's less record labels. I think for every band it's sort of different, some things that would work for us, won't work for somebody else. Some band could just release YouTube videos and make a whole living off that. Just figuring out how to adapt to how quickly things are changing and that's what I've noticed is sort of I guess an issue
Alicia: Have you guys heard of Spotify? What do you think of it?
Chris: I think it's cool, people sharing music. Isn't that what it is?
Alicia: Yeah, it's kind of like Pandora except you can choose what music you want to listen to. It's also hooked into Facebook so you can see what your friends are listening to.
Chris: I think it's cool. I think people are listening to a lot of music right now, maybe even more than they ever have before, especially with all the personally devices, iPods and whatnot. But I do think that there's a dearth of music that's actually valuable, I mean to human beings, not to record labels. I honestly think that there's not enough music that speaks to people. It's not about just going out and having a good night on Friday or worrying about what you did last Friday. I feel like so much of the failure in the music industry is just not being behind artists that are actually creating material that's worth wild and auto-tune's the reason that they can make that music.
Arun: I had a fan that told me that they discovered us through a friend who was like 'you should check out Saves The Day' so they listened to Saves the Day through Spotify and became a fan because of that. It's the same thing as people downloading records and it is what it is. It's just one of those things that you can't control but we hope that people like what they hear and want to come to a show. That's ultimately what we want to do, perform these songs for people in a live capacity. Hopefully those avenues are what brings more people to it and we reach a broader audience because of it.
Alicia: What advice do you have for bands just starting out?
Chris: Oh I've got tons. I think the most important thing is that you write as many songs as you can. Like write a song every single day even if you think it's no good. And then I'd say make a recording of your favorite songs that you've written and then as soon as you've done that you play as many shows as you possibly can. And then, Arun has a cool idea, which is that when you're a young band, you're sort of searching for connections with other bands so the more you can talk to other bands or even go to another band's show and hand them your recording. Connecting, networking and getting to know other musicians.
Arun: If there's not a scene, create a scene.
Chris: Yeah, make your own music, write as much as you can, record it and then go give it to people, go play shows and if there aren't any shows make the shows happen.
Arun: Whatever your craft is, if you want to be a songwriter or a guitar player or the drummer, just focusing on that craft.
Check out Saves the Day on their headlining tour with Bayside and also on the following sites: Website Facebook Twitter Soundcloud