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KGRL Exclusive Sunshine State Interview
14 Below - 10.15.07
KGRL had a chance to go on a one on one comprehensive interview with the merry happy sunny shiny Aleza and James Bryan of Sunshine State. The interview was recorded after their show in 14 Below - 10.15.07.
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KGRL: Can you give us a background on who Sunshine State is? How did the two of you meet and how you both got into music?
Aleza: Well, I'm Aleza...
James: I'm James, and together we're...
Aleza: ...Sunshine State.
James: The long story, or the short story?
Aleza: Well the short story is that I've been a fan of James' for years...
James: Well not like a weird stalker way. I was in another band, The Philosopher Kings (a Canadian band) and we met at shows there, and became really good friends when she moved to Toronto, and then...
Aleza: And then, when James came out with his first solo album, as he was putting it together he asked me if I could sing one of the songs.
James: And it was awesome.
Aleza: And then I ended up being the singer for the band, which I was totally "Oh My God!" It was awesome awesome awesome! And then, while we were on tour for that band, we started writing songs for
Sunshine State.
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KGRL: How did you guys come up with the name Sunshine State?
Aleza: That is the brainchild of James Bryan, who can name anything (laughs). Basically he is really good with naming stuff.
It's a sunshine state of mind, and it basically refers to looking at something that on the surface might not seem like a positive experience, and turning that frown upside-down. It's a sunshine state of mind.
James: Awww, so sweet.
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KGRL: How long have you two been playing together?
James: We started playing gigs in Toronto about a year-and-a-half ago, and got some fans. We did an EP, and then finally we finished an album which now we're just trying to share with the world. This is our first time in California. We've had an amazing time.
Aleza: Yeah. People here are so friendly. I think this is the friendliest place in the world. They're not afraid to say "hello" and high-five you, and I love it.
James: Yeah. Lots of high-fives.
Aleza: Lots of high-fives.
James: But the Japanese are pretty cool too.
Aleza: Oh my goodness! That's actually been the biggest response so far. We haven't even played there and they have already shown a lot of love and we're hoping to go sometime this spring. So that will be something cool to do.
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KGRL: Have you guys had any formal music education?
James: I gave up almost all of my teenage years for music (laughs) so I've done too much training, and then went to university in Toronto for music. On the flip side...
Aleza: On the flip side, my teenage years were spent writing a lot of bad poetry to alternative music. I was
in a choir...
James: You actually got a degree.
Aleza: Oh yeah, I actually got a degree. Yeah, you left. I got the degree. I'm not using it, but I have it!
James: But not in music.
Aleza: Not in music.
James: We're learning together.
Aleza: Yeah, I'm learning from him and he's learning how to teach (laughs).
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KGRL: How would you describe your music and which genre would you categorize it under?
Aleza: Acoustic pop! (laughs)
James: Perfect.
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KGRL: Can you tell us about your songwriting process?
James: Songwriting is a lot of fun because it always just starts off with us hanging out at my house, and..
Aleza: Tea, baked goods and a story.
James: That's true. I'm quite a baker.
Aleza: Yeah, a really good one (laughs).
James: And she has a lot of great stories. Most of them are true, and thankfully they turn into great songs.
Aleza: Yup.
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KGRL: Going further deeper into the songwriting process, who does what mostly?
Aleza: Well, I never really play guitar.
James: That's true. Actually she usually starts the song trying to play the guitar. No, not yet... Whether it's a melody that comes first or it's just Aleza coming up with a specific lyric or idea that she wants to turn into a song, it's really organic and we just put it together.
Aleza: Yeah.
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KGRL: Where do you get the inspiration to write music?
Aleza: They call come from basically... it's storytelling, really. When I say "acoustic pop" I really mean it's kind of like storytelling with amazing melodies and guitar playing.
It normally starts... I call it "brunch dialogue" because I'll like crash into James' house and I'll be like, "Aww man, I'm really not happy but blah blah blah" and James will be like "Hmmm... ta ta ta ta..." and start to play something and then we'll have a song by the end of the day. I'll be happy and I'll go home being like "Okay, at least I got a song."
James: It's very cathartic. It's very cathartic.
Aleza: How many dates have I said "Well at least I got a song..."? Anyway, it's true. That's how it happens (laughs).
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KGRL: Can you tell us about your musical influences?
James: We both like The Beatles. We both like '80s New Wave stuff. The Cure, New Order...
Aleza: Oh yeah, totally.
James & Aleza: Depeche Mode.
James: Yeah, kind of classic songs. And I love George Benson, Santana, Tuck And Patti (another guitar/vocal duo which [is] inspiring).
Aleza: Definitely. Early Everything But The Girl, and...
James: Lots of good stuff.
Aleza: Lots of good stuff. Blossom Dearie, who I love because she's got a really simple storytelling manner of singing, and I identify a lot with her. But yeah, everything... all things.
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KGRL: How long does it take for you to write a song from start to finish?
Aleza: Oh my goodness! It hardly... half an hour! No (laughs). It can take days sometimes.
James: No, but the really good ones are like half an hour. It's pretty quick, the writing process, and when we get to the studio and flesh it out, we'll figure out how we want the rest of the track to sound.
Aleza: "That's it! Verse number five does not need to be here!" Stuff like that, and it's very violent actually (laughs).
James: And I have black eyes.
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KGRL: How long did it take to finish this record?
James: Well, let's see. We finished it a few months ago...
Aleza: We didn't do it consecutively. We just finished it, but I also had a day job, like a full-time job, and James is in like 15 bands... So yeah, it was sort of like every other weekend, "Why don't we get together and maybe write a song?"
It took a minute, but the songwriting process itself didn't take that long, and then recording it also kind of took a minute. It would be after work, and we'd drop by Starbucks and get that latte. The whole album was recorded on lattes (laughs).
I only just now read somewhere that lattes aren't good for your voice. So, hahaha... next album....
James: Whatever works.
Aleza: Whatever works. Yeah. So it took... it didn't feel like it took a long time, but if you look at the calendar it took a minute.
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KGRL: Is Sunshine State dedicated to having acoustic instrument background or are you guys thinking of doing electric versions later?
James: The next album is probably going to be, you know, all-orchestral, plus six electric guitars, like heavy-metal guitars.
Aleza: And a choir.
James: But that's only if this one takes off.
Aleza: If this one takes off, then we're doing it right baby! That's right, where's the violin?
James: But it's hard to say.
Aleza: Sunshine State, we keep saying is James and I but there actually are two other people in the band. Dave Gouveia plays cajón, congos...
James: Marc Rogers, the best bass player in the world, is incredible. We just couldn't bring them to this gig.
Aleza: But they are an integral part of the band. They're on the album, and when the whole band is playing together live it sounds like we've got that orchestra going on. It's really rich and full.
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KGRL: Why did you guys pick Prince's Nothing Compares 2 U to cover?
Aleza: Well, we... okay, it's kind of hard to find people that don't love that song and have an immediate reaction to it. We both loved it, and I think at the time I was going through one of those "ones that got away" moments (laughs) and it just sort of worked.
James: We've done a few covers live. We'll try different covers and that one really stuck. It's like Aleza killed it every time. So, yeah it works for us.
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KGRL: Which amongst the songs in the record are your favorites?
Aleza: That's a great question! Sneaky!
James: What's your favourite song on the record?
Aleza: Well, you first! I don't know. You know what? My favourite song changes all the time. It normally happens right after we write something. I'll be like, "Oh my God! This song is the..." And now I really don't... What's your favourite song? (laughs)
James: Drug Dealer (A Love Song) definitely. Yeah.
Aleza: Yeah. There are still songs that give me chills when I sing it, and one of them is The Day After... Just because I like doing it, not because it's my favourite to listen to.
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KGRL: Any other songs you love performing live?
James: I think for me, it's hard to say.
Aleza: But actually I lied 'cause I get a chill when I sing that one. But I actually like singing Mas Que Nada most live. People sing along, people dance. I like the vibe.
James: It turns every totally relaxed coffeehouse gig into a party every time. Yeah. Mas Que Nada. Hopefully next time we can write one that does the same thing.
Aleza: Yeah, that's even as good. Well, we will.
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KGRL: Your CD is coming out in Japan soon?
Aleza: Our album, I guess CD, is going to be released in Japan.
James: In February. Yeah. We had some remixes of the song Day Job that came out there and in the UK a few months ago, and they sold out really quickly in Japan. From there we got interest to put the album out. So that's just been this amazing thing that happened by itself, and we can wait to get over there and play.
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KGRL: How would you compare the crowd in Toronto from the ones here in Los Angeles?
Aleza: [In] Toronto we know a lot of people, so it's packed and people are singing along, and they're like... I have some movements that I do when I sing, and they're doing it when I do it and so it's really sort of awesome, whereas here nobody had ever heard of us.
The beautiful thing that happened was, we had our first show on Sunday and our second show on Thursday, and people that were at the Sunday show were at the Thursday show.
James: Not only that, there's a better story than that. There's two people that didn't know each other, and we met them at the first show at the Hotel Cafe, and then they turned up together on a date to our second gig. So I think our tour is a success if for no other reason than that.
Aleza: Totally. I didn't hook up with anybody, but people in the audience hook up. It was awesome. People have been really warm and really awesomely cool.
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KGRL: Which other countries have you guys played at so far?
James: We've been to London twice. We've been to the UK, and we get a great response there as well.
Aleza: Awesome.
James: It's just like live music in general and I think singer-songwriter kind of music has a huge audience there. So...there are so many pubs that we can just go and play and the people totally get it, although it took them awhile to figure out what "booty call" meant.
Aleza: Yeah! Apparently "booty call" isn't an expression in England, so I would always introduce the song by saying "So, who out there knows what 'booty call' means?" And there would be one, lone brave soul. "Woohoo! This is for you."
James: But the great thing is that they figured it out and they totally got all humour.
Aleza: Yeah, it's not like they don't have booty calls in England.
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KGRL: What was your best experience playing live?
Aleza: Oh, I know for me. Well, you say yours first.
James: No, you go.
Aleza: Okay, well for me the best experience ever was the CD launch because that...
James: Me too.
Aleza: Okay (laughs). That was good for me because I had family come in from out of town to see it, and it was just full of friends and family.
James: And we worked, you know... whatever. It was the end of all that work on the album.
Aleza: I bought pink champagne (laughs). I made everybody in the band a card.
James: It was a good show. Lula lounge. We thank you, Lula Lounge in Toronto.
Aleza: Lula Lounge was amazing. Oh, the sound was amazing. We all looked great, sounded great.
People danced.
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KGRL: For Aleza: Are you involved in any side-projects?
Aleza: Well... I'm glad you asked...
James: You do other stuff. That's what I was saying.
Aleza: I do other stuff. Outside of singing, I'm getting more and more involved in working with my voice and doing voice work, voice-over work, jingles for television. So far I've done some spots for diamonds, and station IDs. I'm hoping to pursue that more, and get into cartoon voices and other...
James: Yeah. Our next album may be a kids' record (or a side project). We both love that stuff.
Aleza: Kids love us (laughs). They do!
James: Especially Booty Call, which is the strange thing.
Aleza: I know, unfortunately. When you have the four-year-olds singing along... but it's great. Warms my heart.
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KGRL: For James: You have a lot of projects going on, which of them do you focus on the most?
James: You know, I just love music, and I have so many diverse tastes in music that it looks weird when you look at everything I've done -- the different styles -- but really, when each project is happening that is the only focus. Right now, honestly I don't have more fun than when we get on stage and do this.
Also, you learn more as you go through about writing and about performing. I think right now when we get on stage it doesn't matter where we play, we're going to have a great time and totally connect with people. To me, that's why I do this every day. I'm loving it.
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KGRL: Any new artists you both listen to?
James: A recent album we both liked, we both like Bloc Party.
Aleza: I love the Bloc Party!
James: Okay... I'm ok on them.
Aleza: (shocked)
James: Arcade Fire we both love. Great Canadian band.
Aleza: Yeah.
James: We have a lot of stuff we agree on.
Aleza: I like Elizabeth Shepherd (the remixed album and the original album). I really like Elliot Smith.
James: Okay... See now, those are her likes. But we have a couple in common.
Aleza: (laughs) We do. We do.
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KGRL: How much of a challenge is it for both of you being independent?
James: I think...these days we're in a great position, where we can create the project from start to finish. My experience as a producer came in handy with this. It's like you can totally make a record together. The challenge is that now you're kind of responsible for selling it. With my first band, we got a deal after a couple of gigs. That doesn't happen as much these days.
But I think it's really about great music and great bands connecting with real people playing live, which I love. So, it's really an exciting time. And you know, we wouldn't have met you if you hadn't heard the music and lots of great things are happening just naturally with Sunshine State.
Aleza: We're not going to mess with perfection but one show at a time, one fan at a time... love it!
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KGRL: If you both did not get into music, what do you think you will be doing?
Aleza: Oh I know for sure. Accounting. (laughs)
James: I think I would be at the UN. Yeah.
Aleza: Oh, actually I could see you there though.
James: Ok, maybe we'll see if I can get there still.
Aleza: He's really diplomatic and got a good head on his shoulders. I was joking with the "Accounting." You know what? If I wasn't 'in' music, I would be doing music somehow though. Yeah, you would too. There's no way that we wouldn't be in it. Actually, I've had day jobs or other means of supporting myself my whole life and now I'm trying to make music what I do every day.
James: You wouldn't have had that song if you didn't have a day job.
Aleza: No, I wouldn't have had Day Job if I didn't have a day job. So thank goodness for that. However, moving right along... probably a writer. I love words.
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KGRL: What are we to expect of Sunshine State in 2008?
Aleza: World domination.
James: Global domination!
Aleza: (laughs) Failing that, some great shows!
James: We'll definitely be back in California, in LA, early in the new year to do some more shows. We're going to be back in London again, and like we said, when the album comes out in Japan first we'll probably be there for a tour. So there's lots more of touring and more songs to come and more sunshine for you!
Aleza: That's right. (laughs)
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Special thanks goes to Sven Amsterdam and Sunshine State - James & Aleza.
Transcription was done by our good friend, Flour (E.S.).
Sunshine State Links:
Official Website: http://www.sunshinestate.ca
MySpace Page: http://www.myspace.com/wearesunshinestate
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