EAOT pt, 9 (Interview with Spells with Guidelines)

Underlined questions are optional (only if it applies to you as a band)

1. What type of music do you play? Could you describe a little bit more what it means to you to be playing this genre of music?

We play rock music! Our style of music revolves around alt rock and indie rock, but in the future we plan to explore psychedelic rock, post rock and math rock. All of grew up listening to rock music, so playing rock music feels right for us. We’ve often viewed pop tracks as empty and repetitive, but playing alt rock and indie rock allows us to properly express ourselves.

2. What instrument do you play?

I (Ajith) play bass and keys, Jeevan plays the lead guitar, Erwan plays the rhythm guitar, Edmund plays the drums, and Sharif sings.

3. In what fashion group would you consider yourself? (if you are in any)

All of us sort of just wear casual clothing, jeans with t shirts and stuff.

4. During a performance do you feel that your appearance must expresses the type of music you’re playing? Why?

Honestly, not really. Most bands throughout the world dress up in lieu with what they play, because that’s the impression they want to give people. But there are some bands who dress up absolutely differently from what they play. For instance, in some of Weezer’s early concerts, they used to wear full dress shirts, buttoned all the way up, with ties tightened all the way as well. This became known as the Weezer style, and really set Weezer apart from some of their peers at the time.

5. How would you say that your appearance reflects the music you play? Why does it (or does it not) reflect your music?

Honestly rock music doesn’t really have its own specific appearance. Take a look at bands like Blink-182 and Green Day, their members usually dress up in smart casual attire on stage. Then take a look at Pierce the Veil, who are almost always dressed in tshirts, ripped jeans and baseball caps. All 3 bands are loved by their fans. By chance, my band and I are dressed pretty casual most of the time, and I think our fans like it like that. When we performed live during a formal event in 2017, we were dressed formally, and everyone loved that as well.

6. Do you feel that you have to dress up a certain way for the fans? Can you explain a bit more how it feels? Does it pressure you or make the experience more enjoyable and how?

It differs from band to band. If at the peak of your career as musicians, you dressed up a certain way, then of course your fans will expect you to dress up the same way throughout your career. This could potentially create pressure for musicians, but not for my band. We just wear what we feel like, wear something comfortable so we don’t feel terrible performing on stage, but we do switch up our fashion from time to time, depending on occasion. This keeps the fans guessing, and prevents them from putting too much pressure on us.

7. How does it feel to be able to appear in front of an audience with your sense of fashion there? Does it excite you that you can express yourself so openly? Can you talk about maybe the effect that it has on the audience if it does make them react?

Honestly it feels great! It does feel good being able to express ourselves as we are, because that’s us in our natural environment. And it definitely has an effect on the audience! As my lead singer Sharif put it , “your fanbase is always going to be known as your subculture. So when a fan dresses up like their favourite band, it creates a deeper sense of belonging within the same culture”.

8. Does it make you question yourself that you have to be different on stage and when you’re not on stage? (if this is the case)

Fun fact, musicians are never able to be 100% themselves on stage. When we do hour long gigs, most of the time after the first 3 songs we’ll feel extremely tired. However, we’ve got to keep the energy the same throughout the gig, because that is what our fans want, and it is our duty to fulfill that expectation. Most of us are out of breath after performing a few songs, especially the vocalist, but we’ll power through the gig and give the fans an amazing night.

9. Has the appearance of your band ever helped you to gain more attention? Can you explain any situation where this happened?

Only slightly, because people are always amused that Jeevan performs wearing a turban eventhough he has the longest hair amongst all of us(we all have long-ish hair except Edmund).

10. Do you think that your appearance as a band is a must or is irrelevant and why is it so?

If we’re talking about appearance such as professionalism, then of course, because people always expect a certain standard from us. Also we never know when there are A&R representatives lurking in the audience, and if we are unprofessional this might discourage them from approaching us. But from a fashion perspective, then not really. As long as none of us dresses vulgarly/ illegally, we wear whatever we want.

11. Have you ever used your appearance to make a statement at any point in time both as an individual or as a musician/performer? Can you describe it?

I think the only statement we’ve made is “rock musicians with long hair are cooler cause their hair flies everywhere when they headbang on stage” haha. Theres nothing to really describe about that to be honest.