MINI MACROCK BAND INTERVIEWS

MACROCK is a DIY music festival that takes place annually in Harrisonburg, Virginia… and a highly anticipated event of the year. MACROCK celebrated it’s 20th anniversary this year, and the atmosphere was brimming with both positive energy and sleep deprived humans running to and fro various venues to support all the independent artists and musicians that made their way to this cozy mountain town.

Matt Rucker and I (Becca) came up with a few random questions to ask some of the bands we saw on Friday and Saturday after their sets. Here's what a handful of the following artists had to say!

ING

GrizzlyGround: Do you remember the first song y’all wrote together or played together and can you tell us a little about it?

Hannah: "You and Me” we did not play it today... almost did!

Will: Yeah we didn’t play it, we didn’t have time to play it.

Hannah: That song, we played in the summer, which is when me and Will were playing together. Although we didn’t really know it was happening and then all of a sudden we were playing in a band together.

Will: Yeah you kinda suckered me into that. You were like, “You wanna jam?" And then I came and you said, “I have these songs...”

So that song kind of brought y’all together as a band?

Hannah: Kinda yeah, in a weird way. It's this thing where we’re going back and reworking old songs. We’ve been playing it more again now. It’s a full circle kinda situation.

How did y’all write it? Is there a story behind it?

Will: She came with the rough structure and we flushed it out. Transitions were missing and we worked on that. And there was no ending, so we had to come up with that and we’re still coming up with that.

Nathan: And the middle section! We’ve been changing the song since we’ve been a band.

Will: We made it and it's been getting more detailed as time goes on.

Nathan: And harder to play.

Will: Yeah, harder to play.

If each band member had an article of clothing that represented their personality, what would it be?

Hannah: I personally would like to be socks.

Will: I was gonna say socks.

Hannah: We were just talking earlier about how much we’re kinda like shoes, we’re not a shoegazing band, but yeah. Socks, you can have fun with them and it’s not offensive to anyone else— they’re also serving a purpose because they protect your feet.

Nathan: I really like shorts cause they’re not offensive to people either.

Will: I am going to sign off on their answer: shorts and socks.

Check out more from ING here.

MAJJIN BOO

GrizzlyGround: If you could describe your MACROCK set you just played as a meal, what kind of meal would it be?

Zavi: An appetizer.

Megan: I was thinking nachos.

Zavi: I like nachos cause I feel like it was very messy and it got everywhere, but still delicious. Lots of toppings.

David: Fully loaded nachos.

Zavi: But vegan

Jesse: Sometimes

Megan: Half vegan

Zavi: Yeah maybe half vegan, half regular… but fully loaded!

Do you remember the first song you all wrote together or played together?

Zavi: The first song was David, Frank, and I. David and I have been in bands together before, but we met Frank through a mutual friend. The first song we wrote together was called "Raised by Kings" in my room and just recorded it. She went to JMU [Megan] brought her on. We met him [Jesse] on Craigslist.

Check out more from Majjin Boo here.

TRUE BODY

GrizzlyGround: Do you remember the first song that you wrote or played together? What was that experience like?

Kevin Painter: I do remember the first song we played together. We played at this place called The Parlor on Granby almost a year and a half ago exactly. And all I remember was feeling the most nervous I have ever felt in my entire life. It was crazy because like ten minutes before our set I got a gun pulled on me. That was ten minutes before the first set I had ever played. Then immediately they were like, “You guys are ready!" And I was like, "Okay! Lets go!” Then we played this song called “Tourist” and it was crazy and so cool.

What was “Tourist” about?

Isaac Moreno: I don’t know how to explain it. It’s basically about using other people as, uhh, fuckin' entertainment. Unhealthy relationships I guess.

If y’all could describe your MACROCK set you just played as a meal, what kind of meal would it be?

Nathan Byrum: Fast food! Fast food. We were fuckin' in there. It was good. It tasted good.

Isaac: It was a little bit bad for you.

Kevin: You feel bad afterwards, but you also feel great. You don’t feel any regret.

Nathan: It was like Taco Bell. You can kinda cheat and get a bean burrito with lettuce. Its got lettuce, so it's kinda healthy.

If each of you were an article of clothing to create an entire ensemble what would you be?

Nathan: I’m the sunglasses.

Kevin: It’s just one article of clothing? I’m the white Hanes socks.

Isaac: I’m the lipstick.

Check out more from True Body here.

QUINN CICALA

GrizzlyGround: How’s your experience been at MACROCK so far?

Jimmy Uzzel: Wild.

Quinn Cicala: It’s been amazing we were in a band that played fest in Gainesville a couple years ago and this reminds me a lot of that, but there’s like no huge, big bands or things like that. There seems to be a lot of people walking around and listening attentively and that’s pretty awesome.

If each of your band members were an article of clothing to create an entire ensemble, what would you be?

Quinn: Jimmy would definitely be the jeans.

Jimmy: I was gonna say Jackson would be the pants.

Quinn: Yeah, Jackson would be the pants. Greg would definitely be the shoes.

Jimmy: Absolutely.

Quinn: Jimmy would be the long sleeve striped shirt.

Jimmy: Cuffed.

Quinn: I would be--

Jimmy: You’d be the dad hat.

Quinn: Yeah, I’d be the dad hat.

If your band were a Tinder bio collectively what would it be?

Quinn: Jimmy's on Tinder, so he should know this.

Jimmy: We’re all on Tinder except for Quinn. Oh my goodness. Um... I think the opening line would be “Hey, what’s up? I’m Jackson.”

Quinn: Yeah, that’d be a good line.

Jimmy: That could be it pretty much. Jackson is the forefront of our identity.

Quinn: Actually it would be, "follow pictures of Greg Dudley on Instagram."

Jimmy: "Follow @picturesofgregdudley on Instagram. What’s up? My name is Jackson."

Check out more from Quinn Cicala here.

COLD BEACHES

GrizzlyGround: If y’all could describe your MACROCK set you just played as a meal, what kind of meal would it be?

Connor Wood: This question is loaded.

Sophia Nadia: Ooooooooh. I think it’s like comfort food. I think it’s warm-- gravy, mash potatoes, but its also got a little bit of spice. It will bite you.

Connor: Half-eaten shark fin.

Do you remember the first song that you wrote or played together? What was that experience like?

Sophia: “Crushed” it's like... Cold Beaches is all me. Connor has his own band and he was helping me out and so he decided to help me with drums. So “Crushed” was the first thing. That was when I first started Cold Beaches. Then we did our own respective things, then we ended up being together again anyways.

If each of you were an article of clothing to create an entire ensemble what would you be?

Sophia: Oh my God, I think Connor would be boots. I think I’d be the bandana. I got the silk bandana on.

Connor: You’d be the cool bandana! I’d be a pair of fuckin' Cuban-heeled boots. Black leather. No question.

Check out more from Cold Beaches here.

HAYBABY

GrizzlyGround: Do you remember the first song that you wrote or played together? What was that experience like?

Leslie Hong: Well, we’ve went through a few drummers [and] Jeremy we’ve been with for like a few years now and hopefully will be the last one. So I’m originally a guitar player. We kinda rotated for a while and Sam is a guitarist and we brought him in as a bassist. He plays bass like a guitar and I play guitar like a bass. We had a moment of, like, this is weird and cool— let's try it. Jeremy, when he joined, I don’t know. We played with a couple other people, but we really wanted someone who would be a writer with us. We kinda write all our songs together, so the previous drummer would be like, “What do you want me to do? Just tell me what to do and I’ll do it.” That’s not really what we’re interested in, so it’s really cool to work with him [Jeremy].

If you could describe your MACROCK set you just played as a meal, what kind of meal would it be?

Leslie: Lasagna… Lots of vegetables. Maybe like a surprise meat!

Jeremy Duvall: Wow, lasagna?

Leslie: Yeah cause there’s seven songs.

Jeremy: Oh yeah.

Leslie: The most basic, duh.

Jeremy: Alright, so, my mom always said I had to have a vegetable. So you can’t just have lasagna there’s gotta be some sort of extra bread, right? Like garlic bread and butter. Then a vegetable like broccoli.

Leslie: You can do layers!

Jeremy: In the lasagna?

Leslie: A broccoli layer, the squash layer—

Jeremy: I meant that on the side.

Leslie: The bolognese, the Alfredo, you can do all sorts of—

Jeremy: Those are the different layers of the lasagna. I’m talking—

Leslie: A side?

Jeremy: Yes, yes a side dish.

Leslie: We can go on forever.

If each of you were an article of clothing to create an entire ensemble what would you be?

Leslie: I think the thing these days is—

Jeremy: Speedo, boots, and tank top?

Leslie: No, it’s like the denim jacket! We all got the fuckin’ denim jacket. Every single person. For a long time, these guys [Sam and Jeremy] had the same sweatshirt.

Jeremy: I intentionally didn’t wear it this tour.

Leslie: Also last tour we went on, Sam only brought one pair of pants the whole month. We were on tour for one whole month. He didn’t bring pajamas. He didn’t bring like a second [pair]. Just the one pair day and night.

Check out more from Haybaby here.

GOLD CONNECTIONS

GrizzlyGround: How’s your experience at MACROCK been so far?

Will Marsh: It’s been good. Just got here like two hours ago. It’s been pretty alright so far.

If your band were a Tinder bio collectively what would it be?

Will: Oasis or Blur?

Last question. If all of your band members were an article of clothing, what would they be?

Will: Bryan would be the gloves

What kind of gloves?

Will: Like burglar gloves. I’d be the socks.

Any particular style?

Will: Just boot socks. Uh, Patrick would probably be the boots. And Brad would be the t-shirt.

Check out more from Gold Connections here.

BLUE SMILEY

GrizzlyGround: Do you remember the first song that you wrote or played together? What was that experience like?

Bryan: I jammed with Tim first like three years ago and then started playing with Mike a couple months after that. Josh joined like a year ago. So I don’t know because it’s kind of all over the place.

If y’all could describe your MACROCK set you just played as a meal, what kind of meal would it be?

Josh: Tacos. Like the tacos we just made lettuce, cheese, rice… We took everything that was on the table and put it in the taco shell.

Bryan: Peanut butter cookies, hot sauce, really spicy hot sauce. Josh likes it spicy, so we put lots of hot sauce.

If each of you were an article of clothing to create an entire ensemble what would you be?

Josh: I’m a cummerbund.

Michael: Dirty pair of boxers with a hole in them.

Timothy: I’d be a pair of socks or a fanny pack.

Bryan: I’d be a watch cause I’m always on time.

Check out more from Blue Smiley here.