PipemanRadio Interviews Point North at Welcome to Rockville 2024

0:04 Hey, you have done to censure. I'm thumb for see Wow crazy young Rob. Whycoume America, It's time for the Adventures of Pipeman on W four C why dot Com with Pompings is number one Internet radio station. Here's your host, the HiPE Man. Have somebody that somebody you puts your summer so big, like a crushing like you say for your last play. It's nothing aboull that like a pressing side the five response. It's a cagement that your cravens what you want you But it's the pipe Man here on the Adventures pipe Man W four C Y Radio. And I'm here with John Lundine, stage weaver, Andy Hershey from the band it's called Point North. Nice. I like how you handle that. I'm glad they brought you in the band because we did an interview before. I don't think it was that smooth. I'm here now, Nice. So, first of all, what do you guys

1:34 think of this weather for Rockville? Man, I think it's a band. I'd be like so excited that there's a breeze and it's not. I was just in Costa Rica for three months, so I came back to Florida, I'm like, oh, it's nice and cool here. It's not that bad. We spent that the last couple of days in Myrtle Beach and it was warm. Huh, it was gorgeous. It was warm, but its gorgeous, right, and today I was expecting like tumultuous and hell basically not bad. Nice breeze we we caught this. Our set was like a little early on, so it wasn't like blaring heat yet there wasn't. I don't know, it was great. It feels great out here. You guys lucked out, man, because usually by now I'm like soaking wet just from sitting here sweating. We got stage and we were all drenched. I bet it was really bad, but I feel like the breeze mixed up for the humidity and the heats, and at least you didn't pass out because normal Florida weather.

2:29 I don't even know how bands perform in normal Florida. I don't either, and I'm in a band, right, I don't get it. Yeah, yeah, that's why I lived down near West Palm and nobody comes down there anymore, and that's probably why. Yeah, yeah, it's like nobody wants to go to hell. Right. I got the bus in, I was like, it's so hot, like it was. I was like, I tried any chance and getting the shade. It's it's so nice for sure. So yeah, And how cool is it to play in the Daytona International Speedway, Oh my goodness cool? First of all, shout out to Danny Wimmer, who, like, no matter what the venue is, always puts on an amazing production. But to have it in the middle of a fucking racetrack is so cool. I know it's about you know what's funny about it too, Like to Danny and what you're saying about Danny Whimmer, Like here, it really feels cool that you're in a racetrack, like you feel the vibe that you're in the daytime speedway. Yeah, but when I do something like download, which is also in a speedway, I don't feel like I'm in a speedway to wait whatever they do to transform that. Sure, I don't.

3:30 I like that I'm sitting here and I'm driving in the speedway to get to my parking, you know. Yeah, And I keep saying this during the interviews, but like last year, I was asking Christine up there, I'm like, you know, I got my skateboard with me. Do you think I'll lose my media pass if I go take it out on the speedway And she's like, yeah, I wouldn't do it, but I brit again this year. I was telling friends, Yeah, like, if I break my arm, it's worth it because look at that wall all like, you don't see that on TV. It's crazy, it's hard to climb. Yeah, I like, I'm joking about it, but I'm thinking myself, I'm definitely if I go up on that wall with my skateboard, I'm gonna eat shit. Period, There's no doubt about it. We like hitting it in the golf carts. That's the fun part for you. Yeah right, how fun is that? Yeah? So the question is, has any of the artists yet flipped a golf cart in the in this in the race way that we know of? I don't think. So that's gonna happen. You know, it's gonna happen at some point in time. It's probably gonna be Adam, if anything, our front of house guy who tends a little loose, So we'll see nice. Yeah. So for listeners, like we've talked before, but maybe there's new listeners or listeners that have not heard you guys before.

4:49 What would you want to tell them about Point North? I would say Point North has built an amazing community and fan base that is really feels special to be a part of. And I think that's a really big thing to look for when you're looking for new bands and musicians to listen to, specifically in this scene. And I think that's crazy Florida, Florida everywhere. And you know, I think we write music from a very honest place, and I think it's genuinely, like, really relatable, not in a cliche way, but in our own kind of way. And if you're looking for high energy and catchy, fun music and stuff that cuts deep, we're the band for you. We're this is like a new era and it's really cool because you know, we're we're about seven years old now, we're working on our third full length album, really catching a rhythm, I think sonically, so I think now more than ever, we feel like we found our pocket, we found our home, and we really get to kind of embrace the new sound and the heaviness, and it seems to be a place that we're really flourishing right now. So that's just exciting because it's I think it's tough for bands to evolve their sound a little bit. It's risky. You feel like you're gonna lose your fan base and you don't really know how it's gonna be received. I feel like we've been able to do that a little bit, and right now, where like finding where we belong, we're embracing it.

6:09 It's embracing us and we get to just kind of be ourselves like we've never really been able to before, which feels so good. I love that, you know, it is a common theme I talk about too, because nowadays artists can and do experiment and go off of that you know, track a little bit. And I think it's important because if you're an artist, why do you want to play the same shit all over again? Why you want to write the same shit all over again? Totally like I'm looking at your shirt okay, And I'm from the beginning of Drie okay, And in the beginning before they crossed over, I couldn't go to a DRI show because I was a long hair and you weren't a loud At punk shows, that's a long hair and punks can go long hair shows. Yeah, And it reminded me that dri because dr is the reason we're sitting here right now, because they were like one of the first crossover bands. Oh yeah, that grew out their hair and showed the punks that, yeah, we're long hairs now too. It's crazy too, because it's like I feel like nowadays it has its own ways of changing. I feel like whether it's you know, it could be punk and hardcore and metal. I think now you find bands influencing more, like even like R and B and their music, Like metal bands are doing more R and B or they're doing more how do I see, just like electronic even hyperposta more. Yeah, more genres in pot and people can admit it too, Like as an example, Megadeth David Mustaine is majorly influenced by jazz. Yeah, and he never talked about it till now.

7:43 Yeah, exactly, Like, because god forbid you should say that in the eighties we're jazz metal band. I feel like nowadays like too, like people expect you to say something that's like totally out of left field. Yeah, I mean, and I think it's really cool. And I think also back then, like if you're punk venturing into metal, it was like you're kind of dipping your tone in the water. I feel like now it's like so not strange to go left field. Yeah, even see like metal and country like blending together, almost like encouraged to go more left field. Yeah exactly. Yeah, fans are like smart and they know when things are redundant and repetitive. Yeah following Well, not only that, but there's so many bands nowadays, especially in these genres, Whereas back in the day there were a handful and they didn't sound the same, okay, but nowadays I'm finding so many bands if they only have that one focus, sound exactly the same.

8:33 It's the bands that let other genres influence their music that have that unique sound that makes them to me a band. Also, like you can't like there's so you find so many bands to play, Like We'll play like the same type of gatara for ten years and it's like, okay, it gets old, you know what I mean. I feel like as you evolved as a band, you have to be so like involved to gain new fans to keep the old ones entertained. I think it's huge and crucial. I thought. I think we find ourselves doing that too, especially with the new album that we're doing. It's just like, just how far can we really push the mold to be a band that isn't afraid to experiment, Yeah, afraid to show also just pulling things that we like. I think it's great, you know. Yeah that and keeping everyone happy, that's like the big thing is true. Yeah, I left. I think bands nowadays going back to that theme is they're not as worried about keeping the bands happy, like you were talking about the fans. I remember when Metallica started like what we called selling out, and there were twenty five of us that were hardcore Metallica fans, like I went through her first show ever, and as soon as the Black album came out, like, fuck them posers, I'm never listening to them again. And they're still my favorite band to this day. But they took a huge risk. But here's what I found out what happened. I wish I was as smart as them. Why I as a teenager, because I remember saying, fuck this's with the music industry, meaning because of that, and then they did this and yeah, we twenty five of us left them for a period of time, and then they gained millions and we ended up

10:05 back anyway, you know, And so now you can have a festival like Welcome to Rockville, Like I was at the US festival on Heavy Metal Day. The headliner was Van Halen, Like Triumph played on Heavy Metal Day. Wow, you know, so like we have real metal festivals now because of the selling out, If you're gonna use that as the word, I don't think it was they really sold out. I think well, as a teenager, they sold now, but I was stupid teenager. Now I realize they were just being musicians that were experimenting with what they wanted to play, instead of US hardcore fans saying no, you have to stay a garage band, right, and then ultimately the fans caught up to it. Yeah, and it's like it's my I think the band that did it for me was Green Day, And so I found Green Day when they released American Idiot. I think I was like a been at the time, and so I think for that point in their career, if you were a diehard Green Day fan and you heard an American Idiot, you're like, oh, this band sold out?

11:07 Yea, Like now they're now, they're doing Broadway shows, And it was it was the Green Day that I was really introduced to. So I'm like, what do you mean, like they sold out? This is like the greatest piece of work ever. And then right and so, and then as I got into their older stuff and like really what Douchie was doing and everything, like okay, I got to understand. But ultimately, like Green Day never sold outright, they just like it just takes time for their fan base to catch up to what they're doing. And wouldn't you as a band want to evolve anyway, And wouldn't you want to try to get as many people listening to your music as possible, Like I mean, that's it. That's the summer year. It's okay. So it's like the it's like the Puzzles oldest time. It's how you find your band or your artists sounds and make it in a way that can reach the masses. And that's like the bottom line. And I think that's what a lot of people call selling out is when you take mainstream or mainstream music influence and implement it in your music or somehow to where your music has the has the ability and the potential to reach three million people versus three hundred people. And of course, when you're like an early on fan that tends to be a little gatekeepy and as soon as you get to all the you know, the rest of the fan base in the world or country whatever, everyone's like, well, they sold out, and that's like kind of the bad taste in their mouth. But I was the same way too with like bands. When I when I heard their big new album that was the one that reached millions, I was like, sounds a little poppy, right, you know exactly. But I also grew

12:41 up and I also played music and did the same kind of things with my own music. And I understand and I get it. Like Andy said, like the fans figured out their way back to it, and you know, looking at those albums, here I am. And it's funny. He was making me think when he was talking about green Day that that's who I am. But bring me in a horizon, like I started getting it to bring me to a rise and add Danny Wimmer Festival already that was when That's the Spirit came out. So that's how late I came into it. And I love that album. I love sem Paternal and I like the older stuff, but I never heard the older stuff when I went back to him, like, oh that's badass. But there's a lot of bring me fans are like, oh sellouts, blah blah blah. And I heard, I heard all the interview. He's like, why do I have to Why do I want to write the same song all over over and over again, and the same song through the whole album, you know. And that's why when everybody's given him shit for, you know, playing different type of music and to your point, bringing other genres into it, you know, because he's a musician and an artist and he wants to see what he can do and how he can better himself as that musician and artists. I think a band like that too, Like for every one song that comes out, they have one hundred demos that all sound different versions of that, you know what I mean, right, And like think that they type a band where it's like when you write songs like they do, and the songs that you hear come out.

14:05 I think with them, it's like one of those things where they try every option possible on the table and go how far, like we're saying, take this to the left and take us to the right, and then when they do it, they make sure it's right so when it does come out, it's insane and I feel like from their concerts, I feel like you see a lot of people who are like love the older stuff are getting catching up to the newer stuff. Well again to the point what we're you know, Yeah, they're like me with Metallica, It's like they're coming around and then you know, they'll they'll release something old school type yeah, and it's like, oh, there they are. Yeah, they're still in the back pocket, you know what I mean? Right, totally? Yeah, for sure.

14:45 So what else do you want to tell people about going on after Welcome to Rockville that they have to look out for. Tell them your socials to web all that stuff and how they buy your merch. Absolutely, we got a brand new single out called bring Me Down. You can find us on all our socials at at Point North Band, Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, anything find bring me Down. We got merch for bring Me Down in our web store. You can find that on Shopify and Spotify as well, and yeah, stream bring Me Down. I don't know, Well, you guys didn't bring me down here at Rockville because you fucking rock And thanks a lot for giving us great music and thanks for being on the Adventures of Pipe Man. Appreciate it. Pipe, thank you man. It's great to be here again. Great to be And I've also been mean to ask you, like who did your nails? Because that is bad fucking ass. This is a creative touch in Encino, California. And this was sixty dollars, which is pretty crazy for some jails. And you can show them any fos what a great job like that crazy? Right? They are artists over there.

15:45 I tried to do the same thing in Portland and the lady did not know how to how to draw, so everybody got the Halloween ones that looked really bad. That's funny. I mean, like that one right there, like hat who would be that good to make that so detailed? And these like the race with yeah tiny brushes. Dude, I don't know. It's my it's my wife and I is like date day once a month and go get our nails done and we'll see. That's cool that. I'm glad I asked that question. That's good to hear. What what do band members do with their wives? There? It is kick it, kick it to get our nails done. Maybe I don't know, eat a lot of food. I love it, say, babe, listen to this rough mix. I swear it's not mixed yet. Is it a good song? That kind of stuff that it is? Well much it man. I can't wait to see you guys again. Thanks for being here. Welcome to rock though, Thanks Pipe.

16:37 Thank you for listening to the Adventures of plate Man on w for CUI Radio.