Fans Interview Bands: McAllister

To begin our Fans Interview Bands feature, we asked top Texan band McAllister if they would place themselves at the mercy of fans for an interview… they said yes!

Instead of us as music journalists asking what we think you want to know, we asked fans to send in questions for McAllister that they want to know the answer to.  Here are the top ten along with responses from Ty McAllister (TM), Kelsey Barker (KB), Steven Baker (SB), Seth McClure (SM), and Jordan Green (JG).

OSR:  How do you keep yourself motivated?

TM:  Staying motivated is a particularly difficult thing to do, to be quite honest.  My ability to stay motivated will sometimes fluctuate as swiftly as my emotions.  Defining the core of what you want and why you want it is SUPER important in regards to staying motivated.  Why do you want to do this?  If you don’t know, you will quit at the first sign of difficulty.  What do you want to do?  Have you really defined it?  These things helping me to stay motivated, even when I am a wreck.

SB:  For me, I have to know who I am.  I’m strange, anxious, eclectic, and artistic.  So, in whatever I do, the goal becomes to create something representative of who I am.

JG:  My incredibly overwhelming fear of being a failure.

OSR:  Who is your favourite character in Friends?

SM:  I don’t watch Friends very much, but I always remember they had some dude who lived in the building across from them who was always naked.  They would all stand on the balcony and watch that dude get into situations in the nude; that dude deserves a Daytime Emmy.

KB:  Chandler is my fave, but Joey is a close second.  I wish Ross wasn’t a thing tbh.

SB:  Phoebe.

JG:  Chandler.

OSR:  I wanna be a cowboy.  How do I become a cowboy?

TM:  Step one, come to Texas.  Step two, buy cowboy hat and boots.  Step three, realise that nobody wears that crap in the city you flew into.  Step four, buy some cows and horses; then move to the middle of nowhere, Texas.

OSR:  What is your favourite album of all time?

TM:  That’s a tough one, but here are three of my all-time favourites:  Unsongs by Moddi, Mylo Xyloto by Coldplay, and Symphonicities by Sting.

JG:  Blue Album by Weezer.

SB:  Right now a tie between To Pimp a Butterfly and Every Nothing.

SM:  This one is easy!  Mmhhhhmmm by Relient K.  This was one of the first records where I noticed how awesome the production and writing was.  I can still probably yell every word to every song.

KB:  Oh man, so many.  Viva La Vida by Coldplay will always be near and dear to me, but Odd Soul by Mutemath (or anything by them really) had a big impact on me as an artist.  Check it out!

OSR:  How do you get dreamy eyes like Ty?  What store did you buy them at?

JG:  Hannibal Chew made me a set.

TM:  Cry once per day in the school bathroom from age six to fourteen.  I got them at Claire’s.

OSR:  What song did you guys have the most fun writing/producing?

JG:  ‘Stay’ was a lot of fun because we really spent a lot of time on the bass parts/sounds.

KB:  I loved working on ‘Better Off’!  I enjoyed nailing down all those piano parts, and the song really helped us take a new direction as a band.

SB:  My favourite was ‘Confidence in Sadness’, but that may change.

TM:  My favourite, so far, has been the one that we haven’t released yet.  It is a huge step forward for us in the way we produce.  It has been a massive team effort and it is truly beautiful.

OSR:  Do you sleep with a stuffed teddy bear at night?

SM:  I sleep with my corgi pup at my feet, which is way better than any stuffed bear!

JG:  I can barely sleep with myself at night.

KB:   I did in my formative years, but I never gave it a name.  I’ve been told that this is odd and disturbing.

TM:  Mind your own business.

OSR:  Why did you decide to make music?

TM:  Honestly, it doesn’t feel like a choice.  I think it’s an unstoppable force for me, and I’m sure it’s the same for so many that create.  I love it, and it loves me.

KB:  I really enjoy the process and the thrill of getting to create something from scratch with my best friends.  Love working with these dudes.

OSR:  Why are you so awesome?

TM:  The perfect alignment of our habits, tendencies, sense of humour, and (lack of) fashion/tact with the socially accepted norms of the culture in which we reside.  In other words, it’s your opinion, but thank you.

OSR:  Why are blueberries blue?

JG:  Anthocyanin.

Thanks to the guys from McAllister for getting involved in Fans Interview Bands and answering your questions!  To enjoy more of McAllister’s awesomeness, you can engage with them via their Facebook or Twitter.