Interview: Best Not Broken

Hey guys,

I am really happy about the interview I'm able to release today.
The alternative rock band Best Not Broken from New England (US) sat down to answer my questions.

The band consists of:
Eric Jackson (lead vocals, guitar)
Nik Farr (guitar, backing vocals)
John Clifford (bass)
Chris Petropulos (keyboards, percussion)
Alex Petropulos (drums)

Find out what the Nik, Eric and John have to say about band practice, their future plans, toilet-paper guns and a lot more.

Let's just say it was a fun interview with lots of laughter! 

house in the sand: So guys, you play rock music, which is awesome, but let me know – what is the most rock’n’roll-ish thing you’ve ever done?

Eric: How clean do we have to be with this answer? [laughs]

Nik: By and large, we're pretty well-behaved. But we've gone off the rails a little bit on a few occasions. We played a 4-hour show at a motorcycle event for a bunch of bikers, and the audience was absolutely dead for the first 3-and-a-half hours. We're talking zero reaction, other than a smattering of polite claps after each song. Suddenly, during the last 30 minutes, these bikers' girlfriends all started going kind of crazy--dancing, getting kinda close... getting really close [laughing]. Honestly, some of them were so forward that I really thought we might get beat up or something, but everyone kept their cool.

house in the sand: If you could choose any band or solo artist to support you on tour – who would we be seeing opening for you?

Nik: Personally, I'd love to give that kind of spot to one of the great bands that are in our local scene. When we released our "Somewhere Good" EP, the Charlotte Locke Band opened for us and at our show last month at Tommy Doyle's near Boston, we had a band called Foxglove warm things up. Both shows were great. There are tons of other great bands in our area, like Megafauna, the Ready Relief, Redwing Blackbird, Mmoss, Tristan Ormand, Visions Visions, Down to the Well, and Tan Vampires. Not that they'd all be a great fit with what we do, but we'd be honored to work with any of those acts.

house in the sand: Let’s share some secrets: what does a Best Not Broken band practice look like?

John: Practice? Oh, man! It's funny because that's the hardest thing for us to do! We always go in with a plan, but something will always get in the way. Nik brainstorms, I make jokes, and Eric keeps dropping his guitar pick. Something will always distract us and take up 75% of the session, but somehow we find a small chunk of time to get down to business.

 house in the sand: Social media and music – a good combination? What do you think about Twitter/Facebook/Blog promotion? Is it the new way of sharing stuff?

Nik: Social media is HUGELY important to us, it's really driving a lot of what we do these days. The thing is, unless you're signed to a major label, it's really the only way to get your music out to people. The problem is that to do it right as an indie band with limited resources involves almost as much work as writing and recording new songs, shooting videos, and playing shows. It's a massive endeavor that requires constant attention. However, we pride ourselves on being a very interactive band when it comes to social media, so we encourage people to enter into a dialogue with us. We'll always respond, even if it takes a little while.

house in the sand: What tunes have you been listening to lately?

Eric: I'm a functional listener. It's sad but true! Given the volume of time we're investing in different shows and different songs, I've been listening with specific intentions to specific styles, and less focused on pleasured listening. That's been true for years, actually [laughs].

John: I'm really diggin' The Winery Dogs' release, as well as The Killers' "Battle Born." To be honest, there's so much incredible stuff out there that its tough to choose! And Nik's working on a rock opera about me. I'm sure that'll be my favorite, too.

Nik: "Remain in Light" by the Talking Heads and U2's "The Unforgettable Fire." Both are very abstract albums where the band members seem to have set aside their egos and tried to mesh in a very different way, where every musician's role was equally important and nobody's part really sticks out above anyone else's. It's an unusual approach. Also, discovering Sekou "Diamond Fingers" Diabate's work with Bembeya Jazz National has been a total revelation for me. That guy was doing things with echo, reverb and cool chord voicings decades before indie rock guitarists caught onto these ideas.

house in the sand: You seem to be very cool and chilled out lads so would you like to share the funniest (or most embarrassing) thing that ever happened to you on stage?

Eric: We had a stand-in guitar player for awhile who thought it would be entertaining to make a toilet-paper gun to shoot across an audience during a show. The toilet paper gun was crafted from a leaf-blower, a paint roller, and a machination of duct tape. When the moment came and he went to shoot it, he tripped on his guitar cable. He not only fell off the stage and landed face-first on the ground, he broke his invention with no toilet paper having been dispensed.

house in the sand: What can we expect from you in the future?

John: We might actually get a full practice session in! Ha! Really, we have great plans. We're dropping a free album very soon featuring some cool acoustic-style tunes. Some of it is new stuff, and some reworked Best Not Broken favorites, too!  Also, we're in the studio working on a new batch of brand new material. I think the future will see the new phase of the band. We've grown, become better musicians and writers... but we have definitely not matured in any way. 

house in the sand: Please complete the following sentence: We are Best Not Broken and we…

Eric: ... may not be broken, but we're broke. So please buy stuff! [laughs]

house in the sand: Is there anything else you would like the House in the Sand readers to know?

Nik: Yeah. What John said about me writing a rock opera about him is absolutely, undeniably true. I promise. [laughs]

house in the sand: Thanks a lot for answering my questions! It’s really lovely to have you featured!

Nik: And thank you so much for giving us the opportunity to be featured on House in the Sand. It's a wonderful blog, and this is a huge honor for us!


Best Not Broken online:
Website
Twitter
Facebook
Youtube

I hope you enjoyed! : )