Handguns Interview

 Handguns is a pop-punk band from Harrisburg, PA. The band is made up of Taylor Eby on vocals, Jake Langley on guitar, Nate Bobb on bass, and Marco Florey on drums.  They were added to a tour with the band With the Punches. They are all about hustling, hard work, and their love for music, which is awesome. Here's a little quote from their Myspace page that I think is rad: 

"We don't have famous friends we are not critically acclaimed and no one in this band was ever in some famous band who's name we could drop or coat tail we could ride. But we will get up earlier than you and work longer and harder. That has to count for something. If it doesn't then at least we had a hell of a good time trying and made some amazing friends along the way."

You can't argue with that! I was lucky enough to get an interview with Jacob, who plays guitar.

How would you describe your sound?
We play pop punk. Its what we grew up on kinda like a mix between The MovieLife, Saves The Day, and Blink 182

How would you describe your live performance?
 We put everything we have physically into our live shows. I feel like if I don't get done playing and have to wring my shirt out then Iike I have ripped off everyone who payed to see us play.

I actually have the t-shirt that says “Handguns cuddles on the first date” and I’m just wondering, is this really true?
 Yeah, we snuggle! :) but that shirt was made to poke fun at this hardcore band called Bracewar they have a shirt thats says "Bracewar fucks on the first date". If you have that shirt you are lucky we only made 25 of those in that color and won't ever make the same ones again. EBAY GOLD

Haha, awesome!
What is your favorite song (not from your band) ?
 I really don't have a favorite song I have so many. If I where to pick my current favorite song it would have to be "I saw Behemoth and it Ruled" by Man Overboard

How stoked are you to be going on Warped Tour this summer?
 Pretty stoked we are not actually playing at warped tour we are selling cds in the line then leaving to go play a show. Its going to be a lot of fun and a great way for us to get our new record into peoples hands.

Would you rather have the power to teleport, or the power to freeze time?
 Teleport hands down. Touring would RULE if we could teleport. Tonight England tomorrow Punxy Pa.

What advice would you give to a band that is just starting out?
 WORK WORK WORK WORK Don't worry about any of the other stuff. Like the hardcore band Modern Life Is War said in their song "dead ramones" "we're not pretty and we're not rich we're going to have to fucking work for it" That is the mindset we have when it comes to the band. We know that we are not by any means "heart throbs" and we are FAR from rich nor do we have rich parents to foot the bills. And we don't have some "in" by being friends with the "right" people. We just play, practice and tour as much as possible. Also when you love what you are doing as much as we do it doesn't feel like work. Oh and play music that means something to you. So many bands right now start out and write music that they think people want to hear. The songs we write are what we love and what we want to play.

 Any exciting tour stories?
Taylor and I wrote the song "Anywhere But Home" about the full U.S tour we just did. The song was written after we had just made a 1,237 mile trip from Wa to Az with NO money after 12 out of 14 of west coast shows were lost due to bad planning on my part / a "booking agent" and I use that turn loosely screwed us over. Coupled with being robbed at the house we were stupid enough to sleep at in Wa.  We had not eaten in days and were totally broke. We did EVERYTHING we could to make that trip we ate out garbage cans. Begged on highway exit ramps. Even played acoustic on the Hollywood Blvd. With all of the bad things that had happened we all agreed that even though we had just went through one hell of a hard spot that would leave most bands running home or calling Mommy to wire them money. We were happier in the back on a van running on fumes and spare change than we would ever be at home working.

I would like to add a side note to that story. We made that trip from WA to AZ to meet up with our friends in The Wonder Years to play three shows that they got us on last minute and in a very real sense saved us from being absolutely screwed without them and those street corners and many trash cans we dug food out of we would most likely still be stranded out there. True friends are hard to find! Dudes who you can call from 3500 miles away who care enough to do what they not just hard to find but they are once in a lifetime.

Anything else you’d like to say?
Yeah, find happiness wherever you can. Don't let the people in your life or the world tell you how to make yourself happy. We are on this planet for like 70? maybe 80 years if we are lucky. When you find something that make you happy choke the hell out of it don't let it go. For us its being in this band. And thank you so much for taking the time to do this for us!

Thank you!

♫  Go check out the band's Myspace at www.myspace.com/handxguns

♫  Follow them on Twitter

♫ Read the Handguns blog which has lyrics for their music.

♫ You can read a review for their EP Anywhere but Home here on Alter the Press and you can listen to it here !

 What have you been listening to lately?