Pop punk hardcore act At Our Expense has been hard at work writing and recording for all new music that has been long overdue with shows and touring to follow through! Guitarist Danny Santamaria discusses the new tunes and future.
1. Introduce yourself; tell me what you do in At Our Expense, and how long the band has been together.
Danny: I'm Danny Santamaria and I play guitar in the band. With this current lineup, we have been together for about 3 years now.
2. Tell us the brief history of your band.
Danny: Originally we started playing together as students in high school under a different name. Our singer, Angel, organized everybody and set up jam sessions. From there we started creating our own music and realized that this is exactly what we want to do.
3. Where is the band based out of and what is your music scene like there? Are there any local bands you could recommend?
Danny: We are from the San Fernando Valley (we all come from different parts of it). As far as a music scene goes, there isn't too much of one here.
4. What type of band are you?
Danny: Pop Punk/Post Hardcore.
5. Why did you want to name the band At Our Expense? What does it symbolize and represent for the band?
Danny: The name comes from the "Do It Yourself" approach that we take when it comes to making music and being in a band. It takes a lot to commit to something like this and I like to think that we take pride in the fact that we handle everything ourselves. We write the music, we fund the recordings, we book the shows, we run all our social media sites, etc. We make sure that any success that comes to us is solely based on our own merit and quality of music.
6. Who are your musical and non-musical influences?
Danny: Musically, we all come from different places and the influences range from Blink-182 to The Gaslight Anthem to Underoath to The Cure and to newer bands like The Story So Far and Now, Now. We just try and take all the best pieces of everything we listen to and put it together to make it our own. Non-musically, the influences come from the situations that life presents us. Hardships tend to inspire art.
7. What are your songs about? (What specific themes do they cover?)
Danny: Usually the songs are about the things we are dealing with in our personal lives at the moment. Whether that be a relationship issue or the struggles that happen from within yourself.
8. Do you write your own songs? (Discuss the songwriting process in detail.)
Danny: Yes we do. Normally our other guitar player Danny L. (yes, we have two Danny's in the band) has a riff or song idea that gets worked on and hashed out with our drummer Duffy. From there, once the basic idea of a song is worked out we all work out the different guitar and vocal melodies as well as the arrangement of the song itself. Lyrically, our vocalists, Angel and Andy do most of the writing.
9. What's new in the recording of your music?
Danny: We have brand new EP that we recorded in Van Nuys, CA that is slated to be released sometime this summer. Currently the EP is being mixed and mastered at the Panda Studios in the bay area.
10. What are your dreams and goals?
Danny: We want to play to crowded rooms and write songs that people want to sing back at us.
11. What should labels/zines/promoters know about your band? Why should they be interested in it?
Danny: We feel like we have really come into our own regards to our sound and style. We don’t try and be anything but ourselves. The new material reflects that.
12. Where can we listen to your band and where can we buy your stuff?
Danny: Right here;
www.atourexpense.bandcamp.com
www.facebook.com/atourexpense
instagram: @atourexpense
Tumblr: @atourexpense
13. What plans do you have for the near future as a band?
Danny: Playing and promoting in support of the upcoming EP.
14. What is it you’d like a listener to remember the most when hearing your music for the first time?
Danny: The energy and the honesty
15. Any final words of wisdom?
Danny: Just would like to thank Natalie’s World for having us for the interview. Also please check out our teaser videos that have previews of brand new songs on our Facebook page. Stay tuned for more updates and thank you to everybody for all the support. It means the world to us.
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