      |
JANUARY 8,
2018  ESSENGER
DOWN, how long have you been together and who makes up the band
currently?
My name
is GARRETT FOSTER and I released my first song as MESSENGER DOWN in
2012. I have a few friends who come help out when I play shows, but I'm
a solo artist so there's not really members of MESSENGER DOWN. It's my
stage name.
If
I'm
not mistaken, you have been through quite a few line up changes, in
what ways do you feel as though you have adapted to survive through
them rather than fall apart?It's
partially true and partially not, MD's had a weird history. In the
beginning I wanted to do MESSENGER DOWN as a solo artist in part to
avoid the drama and distraction of member changes. These days it's a
rare thing to find a band who hasn't had a member change or two, and
when you're on a smaller local scale that can seriously get in the way
of building up momentum and progressing. I have always loved writing
music on my own, so after being in a few bands I decided this time I
was just gonna do this on my own. After about a year and a half there
were a few guys who had been playing shows consistently and really dug
the music I was writing so we decided to try it as a band, but that
eventually became the revolving door of member changes we all wanted to
avoid in the first place. We were burnt out and that lead to a lot of
tension among us so it was just best for us all to go off and do our
own things. As of 2015 MESSENGER DOWN has just been me again, and those
dudes all have their own things going on now that I'm super supportive
of and into.
STORY
WiLL CONTiNUE
FOLLOWiNG THE ADVERTiSEMENT BELOW How
many albums or eps do you currently have released? Where can readers
find them to buy/listen to them?
I've
got three EP's out, and they can be found just about anywhere! SPOTIFY,
ITUNES, BANDCAMP, SOUNDCLOUD, AMAZON MUSIC... the list goes on haha
What
as musicians are your biggest influences whether it be other music or
general experiences?
I'm
influenced by everything around me from movies and pop culture to the
music I listen to, and a lot of it varies between different songs or
releases, but a few pretty consistent ones are PANIC! AT THE DISCO, THE
1975, THE WEEKND, BLACKBEAR, and anything that came from or sounds like
it came from the 80's.
In
what ways do you feel as though you stand apart from the rest of the
Charlotte music scene?There's
not really anyone else doing it the way I am here. There's a few solid
pop, hip hop, and r&b artists in Charlotte but most of them
don't incorporate much live instrumentation. There's a ton of guitar
bands playing everything from metal to soft indie rock, which early MD
music would fall into the category of, but so few of them even so much
as touch on electronic music or break out of the standard
guitar/bass/drums/vocals formula. What I do has a heavy dose of both,
it's electronic pop/r&b music full of live, rock
instrumentation, and at least here in Charlotte there's nobody else
doing it like I am.
Some
people believe that the scene is struggling, others say that it is
booming; what is your place in all of this?
This
city's scene is absolutely struggling. Don't get me wrong, there is
plenty of talent here, and there are a few bands or artists that have
found their perfect niche in Charlotte and are doing fine, but outside
of those few exceptions the rest of the scene is definitely in a rough
patch and I blame a lot of it on a lack of places that put on all-ages
shows. Without a place for high school kids to play and come see their
friends play it makes it that much harder for young, enthusiastic kids
to get involved and keep the scene alive. There's only so much the
existing scene can do to keep itself afloat without new people finding
their way in, and teenagers are a huge driving force in pop culture and
music. Without a place for those kids to experience local music,
Charlotte is being choked out from the ground up. I could go on about
it forever, but that's absolutely the biggest threat to the Charlotte
scene. Give high school kids a place to play and a reason to get
together in their garage and start a band and I promise the scene will
turn around in no time.
CHECK OUT THE MUSiC ViDEO FOR WORST APOCALYPSE EVER!!!
Are
you currently working on any projects for 2018? If so, when can we
expect them to drop?
I've
been recording new music for about a year now without any sort of
definite plan as to what I'm going to do with the songs. I'm always
writing and coming up with new ideas and of the 40 or 50 songs up my
sleeves I've got about 10 or 15 finished that I'm ready to release. At
this point I'm just trying to figure out a game plan as to exactly
what, how, and when I'm going to put something out.
What
comes next for MESSENGER DOWN?
Hopefully
figuring out what I'm gonna do with all of this new music, haha.
Do you
have any local bands or people behind the curtains that you would like
to give a shout out to?
Plenty,
haha. Shout out to my favorite Carolina musicians in YUGO, CUZCO, NEVER
I, DEION REVERIE, LOWBORN, EYES EAT SUNS, and THE SECOND AFTER. Shout
out to DIRT MAN, STEVIEDOESLIFE, and MUZ, some of my best friends since
middle school still kickin' it. Shout out to ROB ENDLING for helping
bring these new songs to life, as well as a shout out to his band
SIXLIGHT for everything those dudes have up their sleeves for 2018.
Shout outs to everyone at SOUNDLINK MAGAZINE and SHUTTER SIXTEEN for
doing what they do and helping to put the southeast on the map. Shout
outs to my favorite photographers and videographers BRIANNA STACY,
WHITNEY NEWELL, COREY WILLIAMS/SHOT BY YAMS, ASHLEY READY, and
SCARYKIND for helping make the Carolinas look so damn fine. Too many
venues to shout out, people in booking, press, and everything in
between so before I go on too much longer and start forgetting people
I'll just leave it at that haha.
To
conclude the interview, I would like to give you a platform to discuss
anything that you would like.....
I've
pretty much covered everything I can think of, thanks!
RELATED LiNKS: http://www.messengerdown.com 
  ello
my name is
Jeremy. I'm a
Virgo and like
long walks on the beach. I also have a tendency to be very crazy, you
could say insane. You know, restrained by a straight jacket with a
muzzle on my face but isn't that what ROCK N ROLL is about? Going
fucking crazy and having a good time despite what others may think or
even creating revolutions? This is why Rock N Roll best sums up my
life. If that bothers you then please feel free to write it down on a
piece of paper, fold it up real nice, and shove it up your ass!"
 |
