Neu Candy Hearts

It’s not often we come across bands from the super-cool New York scene that have the same ‘guilty pleasures’ as us - namely, lots of 90s / early noughties pop-punk, and a bit of Avril…

Tell us a bit about yourselves. From where did you spring?
We all met in college a couple of years ago. Kris and Greg were in a band together and knew each other for a really long time. They helped me make a record of my folk songs and from there, it took a lot of convincing but Kris and our other friend, Pat King, joined me for live shows. We started as an alt/country band, played a four day tour on our way to visit Pat’s parents. Two of the four gigs were canceled because of snow, and the other two were so bad snow-wise that I’m surprised anyone at all made it there. We kept sliding off the road on our way home. After that Pat left the band and so did our drummer. It was something that just wasn’t meant to happen. Kris and I weren’t really into playing country anymore, and we really were moving in a different direction.

Last summer we took a break from music while I prepared for my senior year of school. That’s when I wrote all of the songs off ‘Ripped Up Jeans’. When Fall came, we started a new band but decided to keep our name because of our websites - that and I may be a writer, but making up band names is not my forte. It’s a really bad feeling to start over from scratch, anyway - it’s so hard. After that we went through a bunch of drummers, and Kris played just about every instrument in the band that there was to play at some point or another. Greg’s band was in a lull while he was starting a new project, so he decided to join with us, and so did Christina because, well, she’s just a really good drummer and person all around. That’s where we are today, ready to record our second album as soon as possible, and we couldn’t be more thrilled.

What person, place, concept influenced you personally and as a band.
I am influenced heavily by the Suburbs of New Jersey - driving around in my awesome minivan, playing music in my friends’ basements, and the places we hung out in as kids, like when you really don’t want to hang out at home (parking lots, diners, the house of whoever’s mom worked latest). I think we are all influenced by our lives in New York City and life in your early 20s - finally having to pay rent, the noise of cars and drunk people yelling outside of bars, those long subway rides back home, and our friends. Most of our songs are about our friends, or even people in the band, which makes me very nervous to show them all songs for the first time. I always sort of mumble the lyrics, and that’s how they know it’s about someone who is close to us or one of us. No one is really safe.

Music-wise, we are super influenced by pop-punk from the 90s, hands down.

I love the title of your album, ‘Ripped Up Jeans & Silly Dreams’, where did that phrase come from?
It really comes from life in your early twenties, and I hope I’m not alone on this, but how at 15 we all had this idea of what we were going to be at 22. What I didn’t realize at 15 is that I still feel exactly the same as I did then -still feel awkward, still clumsy, still nowhere near grown up, still waiting to grow my womanly shape [Laughs].

Even though, career wise, I am where I envisioned my 22 year old self, I can’t help but think of that first memory where it really sunk in that I was older. I was 16 years old, sitting on the blacktop of my driveway with my best friend. We had just gotten ice pops from the ice cream man and were gossiping about something dumb, but the day was pretty much perfect. The blacktop was all wet because we ran the sprinkler since it was so hot that day, I was wearing this pair of jeans my sister had and she had tripped down the stairs and ripped the knee or something. I just looked at my best friend and thought in six years, would this all be the way it is now? Would this be the same, would I be the same, will we even know each other? That’s where ‘Blocking the Sunshine’ came from - the song that line came from.

What makes you want to write songs, what sort of things inspire you?
I know this is what everyone says, but I write songs because I really feel like I need to say things and I just can’t not say them. I’m not singing about a greater message or trying to change the world. I guess I just believe in people and the way things happen, like how something as meaningless as driving home with your friends and singing to some random song on the radio can make you feel like the luckiest person in the world. I write songs because I know someone out there feels that way, too. I know I’m not the only person who has felt invisible or not good enough or even the luckiest, and to reach that other person, it’s all I could ask for.

What kinds of things are you listening to these days?
Honestly, I still listen to the same stuff I’ve listened to since I was 15 - Jawbreaker, The Weakerthans. I could listen to their albums over and over and still find new things even if they came out years ago. It’s the same with Christina and Nirvana’s ‘In Utero’. We’re also really into Sundials, Dirty Blonde (a new band from Long Island) and Lemuria right now. Kris makes a big list of his favorite releases of every year so he listens to everything new he can get his hands on. He’s digging the new Leatherface, the Stephen Egerton solo record, and the new Hold Steady. Greg and I are also pretty into Best Coast right now. He’s got a thing for that chill-wave stuff that drives Kris up a wall - Beach Fossils and his old roommate’s band, Twin Sister. We also happen to be obsessed with girl pop (think Ashlee Simpson, Demi Lovato, Avril and yes… Lindsay Lohan’s ‘Herbie Fully Loaded’ song!). Sorry if we lost some cred there.

How do you feel about the state of the music scene?
Initially, we felt kind of lost in the music scene. There was too much, and too much that definitely wasn’t our taste. There was no real scene in New York - it was random bands booked at random times at cruddy dives that cared more about if the one drink ticket they gave you was worth letting your band play there. Everything was, and mostly is still 21+. Until a year ago, I had to fight to get into my own shows, but recently it seems like a pretty awesome punk scene has emerged. Kids playing in other kids’ apartments, which are always the most fun shows, and cool DIY spaces. People are really making an effort to create a community, and I’ve made more friends than I ever thought I would make playing shows in New York, or the even the East Coast. That’s what I like about the internet, there’s this whole scene that’s all over and I would have never known. A bunch of bands, a bunch of music, a bunch of love. With the good comes the bad though; Brooklyn is super cliquey, and sometimes it’s discouraging. There are a lot of people who are just trying to get ahead and don’t want to bother with you, but for each one of them, there’s a handful of people who are thrilled to just be in it together.

Do you listen to the radio and if so, what do you listen to?
We listen to the radio too much. I am almost ashamed to admit that on our last tour, we played Ke$ha almost on repeat for the whole trip from New York to Kentucky. Top 40 radio is the way to go when it comes to that stuff - Taylor Swift, GaGa, Sean Kingston. I totally have a crush on Michael Buble and Rob Thomas. Sue me. 90s pop will always be our favorite though, and when our favorite station discontinued 90s night, Kris and I were mega disappointed. I am revealing all our guilty pleasures here! Oh well.