Interview with The Assembly Line @TheAssemblyLine

What do passion, MTV and Craigslist all have in common? These factors all led to the formation and growth of NYC indie rock band, The Assembly Line. Brought together by an ad on Craigslist and a passion for making music, the band has seen success in recent years with placements on MTV, rave reviews in the press and are ready to take on 2012 with their new video and song “Full Impartial.”

And now on to our interview with The Assembly Line conducted by Ced of Independent Music and Media

So are all of you originally from NYC? What areas did you each grow up in?

Josh: We all grew up in different areas of the country, actually. I’m from upstate NY, a town called Waterloo, near Rochester and Syracuse.

Thor: I’m from the midwest. Born in Chicago and grew up in St. Louis. Went to the University of Missouri. M-I-Z! 

Zach: I grew up just north DC in Bethesda, MD 

Chris: jersey guy

You all seem to mesh very well together, musically. Are you sure that you haven't met before forming the band?

Thor: Yup.

Chris: we met in phases. I joined first, then zach, then josh pretty quickly.

Josh: haha yep. one craigslist ad after another, that’s how we all found each other.

So what's the secret that keeps you writing awesome songs, working well as a collective, and still wanting to keep the music relationship together?

Thor: There’s alcohol involved. Which really helps a lot. That and we cuddle a lot. I think we all want to make music we’re proud to stand behind.

Zach: I think it also has to do with a shared understanding of what we want to accomplish with a song. I personally have always liked a layered sound, which is what Thor typically writes. It’s definitely music that I would listen to if I weren't in the band, and that helps to drive at least my contributions to the process.

Chris: I think we are all on the same page about the direction of the band, but we each have our own musical background which adds all the color.

Your band is definitely one to not be forgotten and you really seem to be growing in popularity. Do you guys have a system for dividing the business related aspects among each other, such as social media management, book keeping, schedule management, etc.?

Josh: It’s definitely tough to keep up with all the necessary work outside of the actual music itself, especially while trying to make a living in NYC. I do most of the social media and management type stuff, Zach does most of the booking, and we get help from the others when needed.

Thor: Yeah - Josh and Zach do a lot of the grunt work. I think both of them have a passion for what they do and they do it well. I typically boost our popularity by maintaining my stunning looks. It’s a full-time job. And I put together rough ideas for songs that we build on.

Your latest single, "Full Impartial" is really good. What was the concept and inspiration for creating that song?

Thor: The song is about a relationship I had.. It sounds like a song that’s pining for someone - but it’s not.. It’s about appreciating the good from that relationship even though it ended.. I think people forget about the positives a lot when they break up. They get bitter and angry. But let’s face it - you guys were together for a reason.. What’s the point of dwelling on the negatives. It just makes you cold and spiteful or super dramatic and depressed. There was a common ground and an attraction. So why not say to yourself - “I met an awesome person and we had a great time.. But it didn’t work.. I’m sure I’ll meet someone down the line.”

The music video for "Full Impartial" takes the emotion of the song to another level. What was your vision going into the making of the music video and did you achieve what you envisioned?

Thor: I’ll let Josh take this one. Wink.

Josh: Thanks Thor.. Personally, couldn't be happier about the emotion portrayed in that video. When we were talking about the concept, I just knew I had to reach out to my friend Jordan Gosnell to play the girl. She’s an amazing actress and really exceeded my expectations. She nailed every emotion. Originally, Thor presented this idea of taking the video concept in different direction than that of the actual song. The idea being that he was dead and just a ghost the entire time, but wouldn't be revealed until the very end. we liked it, presented the idea to our director, Timothy Bailey, and we worked closely with him to try to figure out a way to get the story across in 4 minutes. It ended up coming out a bit more “open to interpretation” than we planned, so we just went with it.. in the end, I think that was a good thing.

Enjoy Full Impartial

One of these days, you are going to capitalize on the Henry Ford relationship of your band name. We'll be calling it "The Assembly Line Swagg." Just don't forget the little people when Ford Motors give you an advertising deal to license your songs for their commercials.

Chris: haha. I don't think any of us has too much “swagg”. No matter where this takes us, we’ll still be a bunch of dorks offstage. 

Josh: yeah haha! the “little people” keep us going. We’d never forget them. They support us and are very loyal. From the fans, to organizations like Indie Music Bus that support independent artists, we have nothing but love. so let’s call them the important people.

Special thanks to Ced

 from Independent Music and Media

LINKS
https://www.facebook.com/theassemblyline
https://twitter.com/theassemblyline
http://www.youtube.com/theassemblylinemusic