sandiegopunk.com

A Midday Atlantic

What are your names and what instruments do you play? Miguel Ramirez - Vocals, strings. Ryan Lunde – Guitar Jasun Krebs – Guitar Cameron Austgen – Bass Kevin Weiss - Drums    How did you come up with your band name? MR - After going back and forth on names for a long time, our ex-guitarist came up with this one.  It was kind of a random thing, but we all liked it and it stuck. RL - Actually came up with it while he was shaving.  No joke. Haha!

Who or what band has the most influence on your song writing and why? 
 
RL - We have a ton of influences.  We all have different favorite bands.  We love Further Seems Forever, The Appleseed Cast, Jimmy Eat World, and a ton of others.  But we all have different tastes that we bring together to form the magic that you hear on our myspace.

MR - For me, I really could not say, there are so many great bands and stories and experiences that go into it, but I realize that may be a cop out answer, so I'll probably have to go with Snoop Dogg. 
JK – I was really into European metal for a long time and a lot of their lead techniques are very modal and scale orientated.  After Miguel and Ryan led me to indie music, I really just tried to incorporate that feel into the indie scene…I’m also really into the new Lydia record, new Radiohead record and the latest Brand New.  Those 3 are in constant rotation right now 
 
In the next 5 yrs where do you each see the band going? 
 
MR - Out of this state.  Somewhere else in the world.

JK – I’m with Miguel, hopefully touring the country somewhere, playing shows, writing…the sky is the limit right now!  I really want at least 2 full length records out by then. 
 
If you could open up for any band right now, which would it be? 
 
MR - Jimmy Eat World, definitely

RL - We would love to open for the The Applessed Cast.  We wrote them a while back but haven’t heard anything yet.  Hopefully we will soon! 

JK – I’m down with either of those!  Circa Survive would be pretty sweet too! 
 
How do you describe your sound? 
 
MR - Polyphonic glory....haha just kidding, I don't know, I've been around these songs so long it's hard to say.  Ryan and Jasun seem to like their delay pedals.

JK – It’s kinda whatever we feel like writing.  I try to infuse a mood into what I’m playing.  If a certain part sounds calm, write a calm lead part, if it more chaotic, write something for that.  Ryan and I play a lot off of each other.  Cameron and Kevin do that a lot as well.  They could be doing something completely different than Ryan and I and for some reason it fits, but there is two different feels going on.

RL - We are very melodic.  We are chill and heavy.  We don’t really like to compare ourselves because we don’t want to emulate anything.  We want to have our own unique sound.  We want to progress with our music into our own "A Midday Atlantic" category. 
 
Is there anything that you would like to change about the local San Diego music scene? 
 
MG - Yes, myself, because sometimes I complain about the scene, yet I need to be involved in it more.

RL - It seems that the indie scene kinda died with Noise Ratchet and Counterfit.  I wish we were what we are now back then so we could have played with those two bands.  They were freakin amazing.

JK – Yea, it’s a tough scene right now, at least for the indie scene.  The whole pay to play, presale thing is getting pretty old.  I would love for it to go back to the way it used to be with the promoter booking the bands, promoting the show and the bands showing up and playing.  There seemed to be more of a community effort a few years back…now its every band for themselves…we’re trying to make it happen with a few bands, but it would be sweet to get that back! 
 
Any big news items that are on the horizon? 
 
MG - Not anything to be making announcements about quite yet, but there are some reviews and stuff that are going to be coming out soon for The Difference E.P. so watch out for that.

RL - We’re shopping the record to labels and booking agents right now.  We’ll see what comes of that!  We’re hoping to get the phone call sooner or later telling us we get to do music for a living. 
 
What is the biggest thing about the band that you want to improve? 
 
MR - Musically, I would like to see us go places not only where we have never been, but places we don't even know about yet.  I want to see our creativity be more and more unhindered and be a true reflection of the passion, energy, joy, sadness, beauty and everything else that moves us at our core. 
 
Any last words? 
 
RL - Thanks so much for letting us be a part of San Diego Punk again!  We love this website and use it all the time to check out shows! 

JK – Definitely honored to be on here again!  Check our page, come on out to shows and hang out with us! 

MR - Thank you guys so much for the interview and for having us be Band of the Month, we are honored; we hope the best for you guys and for San Diego music.  And to everyone reading this, now it's your move to go check out the music on our myspace, friend us, and buy our E.P. either there or on itunes, it helps us out on so many levels. 

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