Following their energetic performance, I was able to interview the band members Jordan (lead singer and guitarist), Corey (guitarist), Alex (bassist), and Joey (drummer) to get to know the band a little bit better.
Halfstack Magazine: How did you guys first meet?
Jordan: I met Corey at a party, I met Alex on the job, and I met Joey through our manager's assistant who booked us a set to play at his college early on. Joey's the newest member of the band, but it's been great since he joined. I've been friends with Cory for about five years now.
HSM: How did you guys first get started in music?
Jordan: I picked up the guitar at 8 and studied jazz. I got really into punk in high school. Then I went to school in New York for audio engineering.
Joey: My father was in a marine band and he had me playing the clarinet at the age of 8. I played the clarinet for a while and then moved onto different instruments. I had a whole lot of energy and was really loud so he said, "We're going to get you a drum set!" And I had drums after a Christmas when I was 11 and started taking lessons, and the rest is history.
Corey: My mom put me in piano lessons when I was 8 so I started with classical piano. From that, I also picked up the clarinet as well. Then I moved onto the saxophone and then eventually moved onto the guitar. And before I knew it, I was playing music like all the time. With jazz bands at school, with my own band in California. Music's been a part of my life for most of it.
Alex: I picked up guitar when I was 14. I got really obsessed with music really quickly and started spending a ton of time playing guitar. I really got to a new level of playing music when I joined this band. It became more of a serious thing.
HSM: Who are some of your musical influences?
Everyone: Anywhere from Michael Jackson to Minor Threat, The Cure, The Rolling Stones, The Clash, ACDC...
Jordan: ASAP Rocky. Well no, we just like to listen to him.
HSM: How are you guys liking the Chicago weather?
Joey: Not very much.
Jordan: It's cold!
Alex: We all [currently] live in New York, so it's not too bad.
Jordan: I heard horror stories about Chicago winters. My friend went to DePaul and said the windchill is negative 10! It hasn't been that bad though. It's pretty bone-chilling.
HSM: What's your favorite thing about Chicago?
Jordan: I love the music that's from Chicago. I'm a huge Wilco and Andrew Bird fan. It was cool to play this venue today because I walked outside of the venue and saw the buildings that were in the "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" album. That was cool. I also love the people in Chicago. They're really nice. The city kind of has a New York feel, like an old American city. It's a concentrated metropolitan city and they love rock music in Chicago.
HSM: What are some of your plans and goals for the future?
Jordan: Just reaching as many people as we can, impacting the world with our music, and releasing our album this year. I would love to go to England and play shows in Europe.
Corey: I'd like to do a huge festival circuit in the United States and play a lot of our favorite festivals.
Alex: Just traveling the world and playing music.
Jordan: I would love to play Europe, Australia, Japan, those are some long-term goals. I'd love to do a headline tour when we put an album out.
HSM: What's something you want people to get out of your music?
Alex: I hope people lose themselves in the music. When I listen to music, I kind of build a world around it. [Music] really enriches your life. I hope that happens to people when we release our album and they get to listen to the whole thing.
Corey: I hope that people feel more connected to themselves. It's easy to get distracted in daily life. I think that a lot of our songs are very relatable as far as the lyrics go. If you can relate, feel closer to yourself, and feel closer to us, people who have been through a lot of things.
Jordan: I'd just love for people to connect to the songs on a deep level and understand themselves better through listening to the music. And have the album there when they need it through the highs and lows of their life and just have it there when want to have a good time and forget about their worries and troubles.
Check out Mainland on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and on their website. You can listen to their music on Soundcloud, Youtube, and Spotify. You can also catch them perform this Friday at Thalia Hall when they open for Jukebox the Ghost. Lastly, look out for their album, which will be released later this year!
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