Q&A with The Potentials

What attracts you to dance/electronica music?

Having music you can dance to is very important to me. I’m a big fan of singer songwriter stuff…but when it comes to playing music, I prefer the energy (both as a performer and audience member) that goes along with upbeat music.

In addition, with electronic music, I feel that there is a more unexplored territory so creatively speaking, it is more appealing.

You made the decision to trade in your live drummer for electronic beats. Why the change?

Sonically it opens up a lot of doors that most rock bands can’t reproduce live (at least not without a huge production). Working with electronic beats allows us to have textures and layers that we were never able to incorporate before. As a fan of electronic music with a strong appreciation and preference for traditional songwriting, I’m able to create a happy medium. Pop songs with an alternative rock edge and an electronic back drop in under 5 minutes.

You have a similar sound to Cobra Starship. Are they an influence of yours? Do you have other influences (beside Skittles, The Justice League, and Screwdrivers, as listed on your MySpace page, of course)?

I’m not familiar with Cobra Starship other than their single and a couple songs here and there so I wouldn’t call them an influence at all. I think our influences draw from a lot of desirable parts from a lot of artists that don’t really sound like us as a whole. From a producer standpoint for instance, I would say the biggest influence would be producers like Williams Orbit, Trent Reznor, Jon Brion and even Timbaland for all completely different reasons. From a songwriting stand point, I would list Elliott Smith, Fiona Apple, Damon Albarn, Kurt Cobain, and the Beatles (again, all for different reasons). Drawing too much from any one influence I think would defeat the purpose of creating anything and I’m sure I could go on even further about even more influences here and there (i.e. singing style, performing, lyrically).

What makes you different from other bands within this same genre?

I’m honestly not too familiar with what our genre would be exactly or how we stack up. What I would say makes us different are our live shows and the energy we bring. I’ve seen some bands with ‘dance’ influence and it always amazes me how underwhelming the performance is. Why would you write and perform dance music if you don’t dance?

Another thing I think that makes us different is our dedication to melody which normally tends to get sacrificed when music is driven by a beat. In our case we are trying to marry the two.

My favorite songs of yours are The Next Attraction and A Whole New Brand of Hero, perhaps because both songs have a pop rock edge. Is this an intentional theme that you plan to continue as you progress?

Thank you!  Those two represent the direction we’ll be going for the foreseeable future but I’d anticipate delving even further into electronic music.  The interesting thing about those two songs is that they existed with a live drummer.  On one hand, “the next attraction” was relatively unchanged…showcasing that it was always the direction I wanted to go.  With “A Whole New Brand of Hero”, the original version was more straight-forward rock which I was never fully satisfied with.  It wasn’t until I started retooling the track completely that it started sounding the way I wanted it to all along.

You have a show on January 21st at the Velvet Lounge. What excites you most about this upcoming show?

The most exciting thing about the show is to have the chance to play in front of a D.C. audience. From my experience, Virginia has a much more conservative music scene and is a bit more difficult for strangers to embrace when a band is a bit more unconventional. With D.C., I’d anticipate a keener audience that can get past a rock band not having a drummer and just focus on the music. Fingers crossed.

Do you have a favorite DC or Virginia venue to play or frequent?

We’re still working on breaking in D.C. but I would say my favorite place to play in Virginia is Jammin’ Java. The people there are great and the size of the stage is better suited for our live shows.

Do you have any signature dance moves while you’re on stage?

I always gasp at the idea that I have “dance moves”. It sounds too formal like I’m an actual dancer (which I’m not) that has technical moves (which I don’t). But if I were to describe my “signature” style (if you can call it that)…I would say I move like the most graceful epileptic you’ll ever encounter.

For more on The Potentials, visit www.thepotentialsband.com.