[VIDEO] Artist Interview: Balance and Composure

One of the privileges of being involved with a site like The Record Rebellion is that we’re given opportunities like the one I was afforded a couple of weeks ago. I’ve been a fan of and listening to Balance And Composure (obsessively) since the end of last year, as I was exploring more of the burgeoning independent music coming out of the unlikely area of rural Pennsylvania. It’s not often we find ourselves with such a glut of passionate, talented bands. Even less common is it that these bands not only land on the same label, but decry label and genre boundaries in order to create a genuine community within our scene. Balance And Composure are near the center of this creative explosion and have shown, in no uncertain terms, that they are a band that will be looked up to and remembered for quite some time. I was able to sit down with the band on their recent stop in Cincinnati while on tour with White Wives and another predominant, upstart band Touche Amore. The show itself was breathtaking, and brought me someplace I very rarely venture to these days – the front of the crowd so that I could loudly (read: obnoxiously) sing along. After several tumbles, a few times having to recover my flip-flop, un-pile people from on top of each other, the 6 or 7 times I had to fix a mic/stand, and a little blood loss, I was hoarse and lightheaded, having witnessed something I could never successfully describe. It was one of the few truly transcendent experiences I’ve had in my 15 years of show-going.

As for the interview, we cover a variety of topics over the course of about 15 or so minutes, and have chosen to present it to you in two longer parts so as to let the flow of what turns in to more of a conversation move at its own pace. We hope you enjoy listening!

Tremendous thanks to Jon and Eric for their time, the band as a whole for an incredible performance, Derek and Chris at Solid, and to James Brooks for hanging out and being the camera dude.