WAYS. - Interview - PETE'S ROCK NEWS AND VIEWS.COM

Interview with Pete Devine of Pete’s Rock News and Views (http://petesrocknewsandviews.com)

PD: How would you describe yourself or your band as an artist?

WAYS.: The band offers a powerful, dynamic and melodic music close to alternative metal and post-hardcore. We are most prominently influenced by bands such as Architects, Alexisonfire, The Ghost Inside, Thrice, Underoath and many more.

PD: Can you tell us briefly about your background – i.e. where you’re from, how you came to make music, etc.

WAYS.: All together, we grew up with a lot of great bands like Deftones, Killswitch Engage, Underoath, Linkin Park and many more. Metal music was always for us an inspiring thing, at the same time strong, melodic and sad. When you start playing an instrument, the first thing you do is to try to play some guitar riffs or drum parts of songs you love. We love Rock, Metal, Hardcore music and playing this kind of music is really great. We have all had many musical projects on our side and the line-up has recently evolved with the arrival of Etienne on drums.

PD: Who and what inspires you to make music, both in terms of musical and other influences? What do you like to write about in your songs?

WAYS.: Ours songs speak about a lot of things like ecology, global warming, poaching, animals mistreatment and human behavior.

PD: What are your aspirations as an artist?

WAYS.: We want to keep growing, creating and performing wherever is possible. There are two things we love in life, music and travel. So if we could do both, that would be great.

PD: What is the proudest moment in your music career so far?

WAYS.: We had the opportunity to tour in Cuba in 2019. It was clearly one of the best moments of our lives. We had never felt such energy and desire from the audience during the concerts. It was magical.

PD: Promoting one’s music is such a challenge these days, especially with so many new artists emerging from bedrooms in the day of the home studio. How is that going?

WAYS.: As you say, promoting music now is a constant challenge. If you don’t work with structures that do it for you, you have to do it all by yourself. And that’s where things get complicated. For the moment we don’t have the chance to work with these kinds of structures so we promote our music on our own by contacting a maximum of media, by trying to propose our music to playlists on streaming sites, by being present on social networks and of course by doing shows. Promoting music is a lot of work that requires a lot of time, patience and organization.

PD: And how do you book and promote your live shows and tours? Any performances coming up?

WAYS.: We are currently working on booking. Either we organize the shows by ourselves, or we work with bookers or associations.

PD: What do you think about downloading music online? What about streaming sites like Spotify?

WAYS.: Honestly, I’m not quite sure. On one hand, streaming platforms allow all artists to be present and share their music with the world, but on the other hand, it feels like streaming platforms have killed the industry, or at least completely transformed it. The way we consume music has changed over the years and, as a result, the way we engage with the music scene has also evolved. At a time when platforms didn’t exist, we listened to entire albums and went to concerts. Now we mostly listen to singles, and filling concert halls is more or less difficult.

PD: What song do you wish you’d written and why?

WAYS.: Honestly, I can’t choose just one song haha. There are so many. But if I had to choose one quickly, I would say ‘Firebreather’ by Thrice. There’s something powerful about this song on all levels

PD: Is there anything you don’t like about the music industry, which you would change if you could?

WAYS.: It’s really not easy to answer this question. At our level, the big challenge is visibility. The music industry offers visibility to artists who are already working, and that’s normal, but the problem is that emerging artists find themselves in an invisible situation. You almost always see the same bands at festivals, you always hear the same bands on the radio, streaming platforms always suggest listening to the same artists. The real challenge for an emerging group is to gain visibility and the industry doesn’t necessarily help. I don’t really have any ideas for improving all of this, but I remain convinced that the only people who can make a difference and give visibility to emerging groups are the public. If you like a group like us for example, put one of our tracks in your Metal playlist between two big artists. And if 100 people do the same thing, then you gain visibility all at once. You see the idea. It’s the public that makes a group alive, always.

PD: So, what are you working on at the moment?

WAYS.: We are actively working on our next EP. We’re taking our time to do things right and can’t wait for you to listen to it.

PD: Where can we learn more about you and buy your music/merch online?

WAYS.: To learn more about us, you can follow us on social media, especially on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. If you want to buy merchandise or CDs, you can visit our Bandcamp page.

Thanks for the interview and thanks for all the people who support us since all the time. Keep going to support your local artists, don’t forget that a small band can grew up thanks to your support.