lot of money to record it because we know what the end product is, that end product in music is what got us here. We would love to think it's our live performance, as much as we would love to think it's how hard we work at social media, our songs, people like and that's what has gotten us further than anything else. Tyler is going to give some advice.
Anzzia: Okay. /laughs
Tyler: I'd say get that drum set and play. Play as much as you can. The different styles of music that you listen to is going to influence your style personally. I started off listening to 90's bands like Foo Fighters and Nirvana. Then I started playing a lot of Death Metal and I kind of put those two influences together and then what you might hear on the songs now is kind of a little bit like, you kind of hear some of the double bass and the heavier breakdowns. It's practice. Practice, practice, practice. That's all I can say.
Anzzia: Yeah, that's great advice. You've got to practice to get there man. So, this might be like an off question but, is there like a season for touring? Like Summer? Is Summertime usually when you'll see more of the bands going out and touring and really getting into your face that way? Or, is it kind just the year long, anytime throughout the year you jump on the tour and your rock out?
Andrew: It kind of depends on a little bit one genre and festival type, like depending on your act. Warped Tour was a huge thing for the Summer. So, a lot of bands would avoid Summer tours because they knew it would be really difficult clashing with Warped Tour and stuff like that. So, they would do a lot of like end of Summer/Fall type of tours or like, early in the year type of things. Or, do like, big festival lineups or, even play the Warped Tour themselves. But, now with Warped Tour ending its current state, I think a lot of bands are going to start, we're going to start a lot of really awesome tour packages coming through the Summers as well. Because we've already seen bands announcing and prepping, I mean we're even prepping one for us.
Cory: I think it's reasonable too. I know us being from Florida we love touring in the Summer because we can get out of Florida. If we get up North where the weather is nice there and then I know a lot of bands from Canada like a band like
Silverstein from Canada and we're big fans of. Every time they're in Orlando it's in February. They try to get out of Canada for the Winter and come down to the States where the weather might be a little bit better. For us personally, our job just got better for Summer touring. It's easier for us to get time off and so that's what works best for us but, we're trying to get something going in the Spring and then it depends on, you know when we're writing music and what we have going on for the band's schedule. But, I think it definitely changes base don genre, based on what other big festivals are going on.
Andrew: Labels and booking agents have a huge factor because if a band releases an album their going to want to tour that album depending on when they release the album.
Damien: If I had my choice it would be year-round touring but, holiday breaks. /laughs
Andrew: No breaks!
Damien: Oh, right, no breaks. Sorry.
Anzzia: When you love what you do you will never work a day in your life. Let’s talk merch real quick. You mentioned merch earlier in a funny statement saying you guys had mercy really before you guys had anything else going. I know it sounds odd but, it’s a brilliant idea. It’s absolutely brilliant! So, now fast forward to where we are now, what march do you have? What’s up for grabs for when people come to your shows? What can they get?
Mike: It used to be just stickers. But, now it has evolved into a mini perch store. Andrew! Take it away!
Andrew: Most people don't realize it but, if you're in a band and you're going to make money you're basically a traveling t-shirt store. That's where bands make most of their revenue. The live performances are pretty undervalued. If you're a mid-level band you're lucky if you get a two hundred to four hundred dollar guarantee per show. Your talking splitting that between five guys for work for the day and then gas and food. Most of our tours we usually aren't breaking even. Sometimes we make a little bit of money, sometimes not. But, that all depends on the money on pre-sale. You can sell a handful of merch. In a night we would make a hundred dollars to play the show and then three hundred dollars on