Presence
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Interview
with Drummer
Nick Wells of Presence
OFG: You played at Livestock 13 in Zephyrhills, FL what was it like playing there?
NW: It was a lot of fun and it was actually our third year playing Livestock and its great to get out there they have really awesome fans, 98 rock does it right its a great festival and its a good time.
OFG: What are some of your favorite Venues to play in your hometown of Tallahassee, FL.
NW: Most definitely Late Night Library the club the staff the people treat us really well and every time we play there we get a really good turn out and they promote our shows really well and some clubs in town don't really promote at all Late Night does an awesome job for us.
OFG: How long has Presence been around?
NW: We've been around for about 6 years working the Southeast.
OFG: How did you come up with the name for the Band
NW: actually it thought up by EJ he wanted to be in the CD Rack next to Primus but it turns out we come right before Elvis Presley.
OFG: Anyone in the Band Married?
NW: No, but Dan is Engaged.
OFG: I was listening to your CD and "Tonsz of Fun" is that the song about heavy girls?
NW: Ah, yes indirectly.
OFG: What's your take on the song?
NW:
Really the song is about going out drinking and doing something you didn't
want to is the object of the song It just so happens to be a larger girl,
but it could an ugly guy or a stupid frat boy type of guy its really a
story
about doing something you didn't want to do.
OFG: When you put out your demo CD how many record labels did you have to contact before you were signed?
NW:
oh god we've been in contact with just about everybody. We've been doing
this for years and at some point our paths have crossed with just about
every
record company. We've found a really good home with Curve they really
like our music and they understood it and therefore has treated us really
well and giving us what we need.
OFG: Did you ever get to the point where we've been at it this long and we haven't been signed so lets throw in the towel?
NW:
No, I think the biggest thing about getting a record deal for a new band
is it's all about persistence, because your going to reach those people
who don't understand your music and they just don't get it so they're
not
interested but really you just have to persevere though that and just
keep writing, keep writing, keep writing it's all about your music and
just kinda progressing. We knew ultimately we were going to get to our
goal and it's just how we were going to do it you know.
OFG: If you weren't a musician what would you be?
NW: I'd be a cook for Carrabba's Italian Grill cuz that's what I have been doing. Actually, they've been really cool to me they wanted to make me a manager, but I told them I had other plans.
OFG: Where do you see Presence say 5 years from now?
NW:
5 years from now I hope were on our fourth album and were touring and
playing music really Presence is about 4 guys who get together and write
music and just do what they like to do its really a labor of love and
we love writing and we have a very hands on approach to writing and what
ever is good for the song and we want everyone writing and everyone contributing
and its very
encouraging environment and very conducive to us doing this 5 or 6 years
down the road.
OFG: What's the most difficult thing about touring?
NW: I would say being away from our loved ones, that's really hard. Outside of that we're having a great time out there (touring) we''re meeting fans every night and having a good time doing it it's all a labor of love for us.
OFG: What are some of your favorite venues to play in the states?
NW: Oh god, well, I can tell you we just came back from Denver where we played at Red Rock with Godsmack and it's kinda hard to top that. It's a great place to play its was unbelievable.
OFG: Did the thin air effect you at all there?
NW: a little bit I found that I had a little hard time catching my breath during the sets but we persevered.
OFG: Drummers probably work harder than any member of a band and go from one song into another and you never take a break and play for up to two hours do you have to do any special workouts or exercises to do this?
NW: Oh, we (drummers) definitely warm up. Personally, I warm up for about an hour and a half before our set and trying to get my head moving and stretching my upper body. All of us in the band have a warm up we do If you have seen our live show you know were a pretty active band jumping all over the place so we all stretch and work out before a show.
OFG: When I saw Presence at Livestock 13 I couldn't get over all the energy the band has and that really Impressed me and you guys are another great Band from Florida making it big.
NW: Thank you. I will tell you what there is a boom in Florida it was kinda quite for a few years but I don't know man the floodgates the last 5 years have completely opened and there are so many good, good bands from Florida its awesome and it's great to see.
OFG: Has Presence played in Europe yet?
NW: No, not yet we would love to play in Europe, I've got a couple of old school Pearl Jam Imports from when they were playing in like Colon, Germany and everything like that and I hear everyone is really embracing American music over in Europe. So, it would be nice to go over there and place some of the clubs and blow it up.
OFG: When your touring what are some of the things you do to kill time?
NW: Actually, me personally ... I've been reading the Harry Potter Books. I haven't gotten the new book yet, but I did go to a Harry Potter party the Saturday the new book came out and I got myself some Harry Potter Glasses and had a good time.
OFG: Did you see the Harry Potter movies?
NW: Yes, I've seen both of them and I thought the second one was amazing. I'm really curious to see what they will do for the next movie.
OFG: Do you play any Video Games?
NW:
A lot of video games. There is an intense rivalry between Jay and I. He
is a most defenitely a (FSU) Seminoles fan and I am a (Miami) Hurricanes
Fan
and we play NCAA Football 2003 an awful lot and there's a lot of James
Bond and Tony Hawk games going on.
OFG: Do you have any tour memories you would like to share with our readers?
NW:
Oh man, I can tell you there was a gig we played in up in Wisconsin a
couple of days we opened for Ra and the response we got was unbelievable.
It was our second time back and the first time there was 15 people in
the crowd this time back there was over 330 people it was unreal. Everybody
was singing the lyrics to our songs and that was defenitely a moment we
were like "This is why
we do what we do".
OFG: How do you react when you hear one of your songs on the radio?
NW:
Its nice, especially nice when we roll into other towns and hear our song
on the radio like when were driving in Denver and heard it on the radio
kinda
looking at each other and we're like damn that's cool.
OFG: Who are some of your music influences?
NW: Personally, I am a big Sevendust fan and all the guys that are really loud.
OFG: What about the other guys in the band?
NW: DJ is into Primus and things like that. Dan is very much into Punk and Jay actually came from a straight hip-hop background, all he listened to was hip hop. DJ heard him at a house party and was like hey man you need to front a band and from there he started listening to more rock.
OFG: Was there a drummer that made you want to become a drummer?
NW: I tought myself to play the drums playing to all the bad hair metal bands. I guess you could say my first real favorite drummer was Tommy Lee of Motley Crue.
I'd be back there learning how to twirl my sticks while I play, you know, trying to emulate that style. Anybody who can play a drum set that kind of spins around your the man.
OFG: One more question, Is there anyone in Orlando you would like to thank?
Nw: I'd like to give The Social a shut out we've played there a couple of times and The Social has always been a great place to play and we'd like to thank Orlando band, Naive. They came up here and did a couple of shows with us.
OFG: Nick it was a pleasure talking with you. We're looking forward to covering your next Orlando show.
NW: Thank you very much. Take care bro.
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