Matt Monroe
Webmaster
During their Free For All tour, The Maine has brought along a band by the name of Beach Weather to open for them. Beach Weather is made up of singer/guitarist Nick Santino (former frontman of A Rocket To The Moon), bassist Reeve Powers, drummer Austin Scates, and guitarist Ian Holubiak.
After their show at Lewis and Clark Community College, I got to go backstage and talk with the band about the show, their music, and The Maine.
MM: How’d you guys think you performed?
NS: I think we were okay, it’s our 5th show we’ve ever played before and we’ve only been a band for about a week and I think it’s going pretty okay so far. I think after tonight every show gets better and better for us, which is good, so.. I don’t know, I think it’s cool.
AS: I think energy-wise we felt a lot more comfortable playing with each other and the audience seemed to be really enjoying the music so that’s a positive sign.
MM: How has it been opening for the Maine?
NS: It’s been great. I’ve known those dudes for ten years now and I’ve been able to tour with them in the past and they’re definitely a band that I kinda look up to even though we’re the same age if not younger than me because they’re very loyal to their fans, they’re loyal to themselves, they play the music that they want to play and they do it all on their own. They don’t really have a ceiling on them, they just do what they want to do and they can make anything happen for themselves like this free tour for example. So, being out with someone like that, they’re the nicest guys in the world, so that always makes for a nice tour.
IH: I haven’t toured with this band before, but they’re the nicest band I’ve ever toured with. They’re obviously really tight because they’ve been playing with each other for so long and they’ve been touring for forever. So you know it’s kind of a band to look up to while we’re on this tour and they’ve always been really nice to us.
MM: Since this is the fifth show you guys have ever played live, how’s it been?
NS: It’s cool because these songs we recorded we didn’t actually play them together as a full band doing the EP [What A Drag] so right before the tour we had to get together and figure everything out and make sure it could sound good live and I think it does sound good. I mean, obviously there were kinks the first couple of shows that we had to work out but now I’m feeling pretty confident in what we’re doing.
RP: And these are first actual shows ever so I’m just stoked to even be here in the first place Powers and the band laughs.
MM: So are you guys enjoying the Lewis and Clark campus so far on your limited time here?
NS: It is a really nice campus. All we saw was the entrance to this building and we drove around the fountain area and it’s really nice. The theater’s really nice and it’s cool playing in a place like this. We’re not really used to playing in big theaters like this since it’s our fifth show so it’s really cool to be able to do that.
RP: I saw a 3D painting and it follows you as you walk by it and I thought that was pretty tight.
AS: It’s also straight up farm country on the way out here. It’s just desolate farm country which is actually really really nice. We were listening to Ryan Adams on the way here and that was actually a pretty great soundtrack on the way over.
MM: Anyways, who are some of your guys’ favorite bands or artists?
NS: I think we’re all over the place collectively, I listen to everything from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers to pop radio today to Drake and just a little bit of everything, but I think Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Ryan Adams are the ones I’m most influenced by.
RP: I’m pretty much just listening to anything from Bob Dylan to like early Kings of Leon and sometimes you might catch me bumping some Rick Ross in the old van and I’ll bump to that.
IH: There’s been a lot of Bob Dylan on this run, there’s been a lot of Ryan Adams on this run…
RP: Lord Huron.
IH: Yeah, Lord Huron and Temples, that band has been on sometimes.
AS: I’d say Buddy Rich, Jojo Mayer, Tom Petty, Dizze Gillespie are some good influences of mine.
RP: We just jammed the newest Tom Petty record Hypnotic Eye and that’s really sweet.
MM: So finally, where can people find your music?
NS: It’s up on iTunes, Spotify, and Apple Music and I’m sure it’s on torrent sites, too. Nick laughs. We have Twitter, Instagram, and Soundcloud too where you can listen to some stuff.
mmmonroe@lc.edu
