Sure! I'm Andrew, and I'm the
frontman. Lead vocals, and I write most of the lyrics.
Awesome dude, so how did you first decide you wanted
to be in a band?
Well for me, I've been singing and
listening to music from a very young age. When I started watching music videos
of people like Brendon Urie and Patrick Stump back in 2005 and 2006, I knew I
wanted to be like them one day.
And how did you guys meet, and what made you guys
wanna start Man The Helm?
Well, everyone but myself had been
in bands for some time before this one. Caleb, one of our guitarists, and
myself have been friends for years. After talking with him for some time, we
ended up getting together and jamming out some songs. It sort of just worked. I
met everyone through Caleb. Spencer and Greg have known each other for years. I
wanted to be a lead singer for years, and the other guys had been doing band
things for a minute when I came into the picture. Honestly, we sort of just fell
into place and everything worked.
Additionally, our current drummer
wasn't our first. Clark and Spencer played together in Breakdances With
Wolves for a few years, and even in more bands before that. Once Clark
decided to pursue other interests, we tried on a few hats before we got Kevin Fowler
(For The City) to jam with us. He fit right in, and we dropped our first
EP in January of 2019.
For those who haven't heard you guys before. How would
you describe your sound?
I would say alternative rock, but
only because that encompasses a lot. If you go off of our EP, we have songs
like "Change" and "FYE" that are incredibly
upbeat and pop punk, and then you have songs like "Six Feet Under"
and "For The Night" which hit a little harder/heavier. We've
been compared to Four Year Strong and A Day to Remember, if that
helps!
Are there any messages you typically try to get across
when your writing lyrics? Or something you want people to get out of your
lyrics?
Honestly man, nothing in
particular. I've always felt like an outcast; a bit of a floater in friend
groups that didn't fit one particular mold. A lot of the songs I write have
that same underlying theme when you listen to each lyric. It's all about dealing
with emotion, good bad or indifferent.
And for fans who are going through a similar feeling
and relate to your lyrics. What would you wanna say to them, or what advice
would you give?
First of all, thank you! Thats the
whole reason we make music, because we all have listened to people we look up
to for years now, relating with their music and relating with our favorite band
members. Without them, writing music would just be a fun hobby.
Secondly, as cliché as it sounds,
just be yourself. You don't have to fit into a particular mold. It's okay to do
different things and have different friends. It's okay to not be like everyone
else and pursue something greater than yourself. The sooner you are honest with
yourself about who you are and what you want, the better. That I can promise.
So, one of the first things I heard about you guys is
that your amazing live. Can you tell me what goes into a live show, and what
makes you guys stand above a lot of other bands?
Hahaha! Whoever told you must be
super nice... all jokes aside, we all give our absolute 110% to our live shows,
and that's probably why that person said that.
I think it all comes down to
preparation and mentality. I remember we did a show with so little practice,
and the day of the show over half the band felt like crap and was way too tired
- easily one of our worst shows. You'll have that; not every show is going to
be a banger. Our mentality is - if we've got ten people or ten thousand people,
we're giving both crowds the same energy and attention.
Hahaha right on. Well, we wrote
Crows in about three hours one day at one of our first ever practices, and the
chorus is about how I almost got my ass kicked at a house party.
Until the End talks more about what
I mentioned earlier, feeling alone and wanting to overcome that floater feeling
and build up a kingdom for myself and everyone in my life.
Can you tell me more about the house party story?
Well. Caleb had a party at his old
house in Union one night a few years back. We end up getting too drunk and
stumbling over to another house party in that neighborhood with a bunch of
people we went to high school with. Some people started stealing my beers,
which pissed me off. Then I see my girlfriend’s ex (total douchebag), and he
basically tries to pick a fight with me with the rest of the people on his
side, of course. So, Caleb tells me "hey man. If you want to fight this
party, we can. But it's me and you against everyone else." At which point
we went home because his wife wouldn't let us fight the party.
Crash the party, fuck me around.
Damn dude that's insane
Yeah, it was a pretty crazy night.
We ended up getting pizza and shot gunning beers with the driver.
So are you guys working on any new material right now?
We are! We have a lot in the works.
Our plan is to hit the studio early summer and drop our second EP sometime this
year! Tons planned for it, too.
Well, it talks a lot about mental
health and anxiety, as that's a huge problem in society today, and something
I've personally struggled with a lot in the last year or so. It'll have some
heavy hitting songs, for sure. That's all I can say right now!
How about a few fun questions?
And always man! I love fun.
Who in the band would you say is the funniest drunk?
Caleb, for sure. He's a goon. I'm a
close second, only because I'm such a degenerate when I drink.
And if you could be any animal, what would you be?
I personally would be a monkey. Or
a dog. Maybe a lion. Not sharks though.
why specifically not a shark?
I hate sharks. I'm for sure scared
of them.
What is Man The Helms most over told inside joke?
Anytime someone says something that
ends in "er" we say "barely know her."
Its stupid, and it gets a laugh
like 2/10 times, but we like it.
And do you guys have any rad stage stories?
Ummm...I don't know if they're rad
or not. Before Kevin was in the band, and we played a show with For The City,
Kevin poured beer into Caleb's mouth while we were on stage and he was in the
crowd. That was pretty epic.
Thats pretty rad for sure! lmao
Can you tell me about Pointfest last year?
Pointfest was sick. Huge crowd, tons of energy, some of our
best friends and family in the crowd. We had a blast. The other bands on the
local stage killed it, too. We all (minus Greg) got drunk and had hot wings. No
complaints. It was a fun one!
if you could just hit the delete button on anything in
the world, what would it be?
Oh man, I don't know about delete.
Maybe just in general be a better friend or family member in the past. But I can't
even really say that in all honesty; everything I've done, good and bad, and
the choices I've made have led me to where I am today, and all of that took
place the way it did for a reason.
So what was it like doing vocals for "for the
city" and how did that come about?
That was such a fun experience. I
was honored to have the guys ask me. Wiley is a talented songwriter, so singing
those songs was a lot of fun, and being able to translate another writer's
emotion as my own was a cool experience. Not to mention those dudes are goofy
as hell and fun the jam with.
Can we expect any future collabs between the two
bands?
I'm not sure man! It would be a
privilege to work with them again personally, but I know both bands are so busy
working on new material and the like individually. Maybe a show with each
other, if Kevin is cool with losing all feeling in his arms and legs.
Ok so, on a serious note. Are
there gonna be any serious changes in plans relating to the mass isolations?
For us, not really. All of our
writing and practicing is already done in isolation, so we just need to stock
up on Busch Light and we'll be set!
Awesome dude. And I know there are alot of bands that
are doing Livestream gigs from home to combat the boredom alot of ppl have. Are
you guys gonna do anything like that
We are tonight! Maybe a Q&A
down the road.
Do you guys have any other live streams lined up? (At
the time of publishing this interview, that one will have passed)
Right. Nothing as of right now, but
definitely stay tuned to the page! We'll need to do something if we can't play
shows for a minute!
(interview continues
after the livestream)
I'd love to talk about that live stream dude.
For sure. Whaddya want to know?
So, is that what a normal practice is like for you
guys?
Pretty much! We drink some beers,
jam some tunes to get the juices flowing, and write what we've been working on
most recently.
Are you guys planning anything else like that?
Maybe when all this blows over,
yeah!
Awesome dude, I’m looking forward to it!
You can check out Man The Helm on:
IG: @manthehelmstl
Twitter: @manthehelmstl
Facebook: Man The Helm
And be sure to keep an ear out for their upcoming EP
at a TBA date! And don’t forget you check out their previous EP HERE. And don’t
forget to follow Eternal Scene Rising on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to stay
up to date on the latest news from Man The Helm, and to discover a new artist
every week.