Chasing Down Sunset Interview

1. For those who don’t know you, can you state your name and your role in the band? Jimmy: My name’s Jimmy Fasulo and I sing lead vocals.

Jill: My name’s Jill and I play guitar and sing a tad.

Dan: Hey I’m Dan and I play drums, as well as Jimmy’s body.

Zion: I’m Zion and I play guitar.

Ryan: My name’s Ryan and I play bass.

2. If your band was trapped in a horror movie, what would each member’s role be and who in the band would make it to the sequel?
Jimmy: I’d definitely be the comedic relief, Ryan (bass) would probably be the ditzy cute one, Zion (Guitar) would probably be the resourceful character that somehow knows how to handle any situation, Dan (Drums) would be the one that the resourceful one taken under his wing as a protegé, and Jill would be the one trying to kill us haha.

Jill: I’d probably be the one panicking and not knowing where to go or what to do but end up coming up with a plan for all of us to not die, Jimmy would be the guy that makes jokes during some crazy things happening or escaping before everyone else and living to make it to the sequel, Dan would probably try to save us all but being really stupid about it, Zion would probably be the bravest one, and Ryan would definitely be the one to die first because he would be the ditzy or emotionless one.

Dan: Jill would definitely be the one to do something stupid to get us into the situation, I’d be the one to do something idiotic to make us more vulnerable, or I’d do something that lowers our chances of escaping to safety, Reggie would be the one to be attacked/possessed and then faint for the rest of the movie, Jimmy would be the man to solve everything by knocking whatever is terrorizing us out cold with his muscles and melodic voice, and everyone would live to see the sequel, except Zion. Cause ya know, “horror movies.”

Zion: Good question! To match with all of our personalities, I think Jimmy would be the leader in the storyline and try to think of ways to get out of this predicament. Jill would try to make a suggestion that would risk our lives even more, Dan would just disagree to something that we all agree to and get us all killed, and Ryan would be the quiet one and just try to listen to whoever’s in charge.

Ryan: Thanks Jimmy for calling me the ditzy cute one, I can’t argue with that. Dan would be the annoying one that everyone cheers for to die but doesn’t until the very end, Jill would die first for sure. Jimmy would actually get stuff done and kill zombies and everything. I’d just chill in the corner and let the rest of them do their thing.

3. You are getting ready to head out on tour soon, what are your top five must have tour items?
Jimmy: Hair gel to make sure the quiff is on pizzoint, tons and tons of cough drops, more underwear than you expect to need, *NSYNC cd’s, and I have a scrapbook with pictures of Wawa in it for when I get homesick.

Jill: A notebook and a pen because I like to write a lot, my red trucker hat that Jimmy once gave me because that’s my signature hat, immune booster packets because I tend to get sick just around every month, a blow dryer for my hair because I’ll look like a poof ball if I don’t have that, and bags and bags of snacks from Wawa.

Dan: My top five list of needed items would definitely start with a toothbrush. Don’t brush ya teeth, ya can’t play a beat, that simple. Anyway, the other four would consist of snacks, drumsticks, khakis, and a snapback to keep the hair out of my eyes.

Ryan: Ok, I’m gonna need my white polo hat, the signature frat boi item, I feel like I’ll probably need my bass, a ton of money set aside for coffee, extra set of guitar strings for Jill, and uh…

Zion: I would bring deodorant for those times after a hype show to prevent my underarms getting sweaty and start smelling like hamburgers. A few other essential items would definitely be my spare picks, my comb, phone, and wallet for fast food.

4. When people come out to a show on this tour, what should they expect?
We’re sure when people come out to shows they’re already expecting to have a great time and kick it to some good music, but if you hadn’t listened to us before you might be thrown for a loop with us. We’re a Pop Punk band but not really in the traditional way, we have Jimmy’s vocals mixing with Jill’s, and male/female co-fronting is a cool change up from the norm, and some of us tend to go a little bit crazier than we should when we’re on stage! We’re going to entertain you with a show that’s way more than just music, so expect your good time to be even better than usual, I guess.

5. In addition to the tour, you will also be releasing your upcoming EP soon. How would you describe this release compared to your last release And A Step Forward?
Jimmy: I wasn’t on the first record, but I was a big fan of it before I joined the band. I feel like this EP is a lot more mature, we found the right mix to take everything that was good about the first release and capitalize on it a little bit more. Ryan brings in a new level of playing on the bass side, and we’ve all worked hard to make sure Jill’s ability to craft hooks to shine through. It’s a more well rounded sample of what Jill, Dan, and Zion created on the first EP with a little more pizazz if ya feel me.

Jill: Compared to our last release, I feel like this one just represents how much we evolved from last year to this year in so many ways. Ryan and Jimmy joined since the last EP, we all became close as one big family, we started coming up with month plans/year plans for the band to get to the next step we want to be, we all got better at our instruments/writing skills, and most importantly I feel our entire image just came together and our sound on this EP is exactly the sound we were constantly striving for. Our second song on our new EP “Dear You” was also on the last one and I’m so happy we ended up doing that because the new version really shows exactly how much we’ve changed since the last version.

Dan: as a band, we have definitely changed for the better since our first record. And a Step Forward was a lot of fun making, and definitely captured who we were and what we were capable of at the time, but it does not compare to the our new record, A Proper Introduction, in the slightest. Since the old record, we have changed our lineup by bringing in the beautiful Reggie Ross as our new bassist and the gorgeous Jimmy Fasulo as our frontman and lead vocalist. Our sound has definitely developed, as the songs we write definitely reflect who we are as musicians and how much more we’ve accomplished this past year. The material we will be bringing to the table this time will leave its mark, and no doubt will have people in the crowd, in their car, or in their room for that matter, jamming out and singing along.

6. What songs off of your upcoming release are you most excited for people to hear? Why?
Jimmy: For me I’m really excited about “Words/Phrases” and our acoustic track “Positivity in Transit”. “Words/Phrases” is the first song that Jill and I worked on together, and it’s a really strong song in both the punk and pop aspects of Pop Punk. We have a monster hook in it, but I get to attack the verses like storming the beach in Normandy, I really think people will eat that one up. “Positivity in Transit” is one of the most personal songs I’ve written, it’s a really honest reflection on where I was in my life a few years ago and I’m really proud of how it came out to sound so beautiful when I felt so bad. Rob Chiarappa (our producer) said it was the first song he’s produced to ever give him chills, and that’s one of the greatest compliments I’ve personally ever gotten.

Jill: For me, I’m most excited for people to hear our first track, “Words/Phrases” just because it’s just an awesome song to me in my opinion. It’s the most collaborative song we’ve ever written and I’m so excited to see what the public thinks about it.

Dan: The song I’m most excited to share with everyone is probably “Words and Phrases.” This song tells a really good story, and just writing and putting together the whole song was an adventure in itself, so I mean personally this song really hits home.

Zion: I would say for sure to check out “Words and Phrases.” That song really stands out to me the most, because it’s our first real song we all, as a band, collaborated and put in our ideas after all the x members left. Also our acoustic song on the EP, “Positivity in Transit,” as I think Rob (our producer) really did such an amazing job producing the song and his magic touches with mixing these types of songs never fail to impress me. There’s so many awesome harmonies and the chord progression between Jill and I’s makes me so proud of our sound.

Ryan: Like everyone else, I gotta say I can’t wait for everyone to hear “Words and Phrases.” That song is no doubt our best to date, and the energy between all of us even when we’re just practicing it is different from the rest. And everyone in the band already knows, I love the song “Copper Pulse” and can’t wait for everyone to hear it. It’s a fast song and definitely the most energetic song to play live.

7. On top of the upcoming EP, you are also releasing a music video. What do you want to say about the music video?
We’re so so stoked for the release of this music video, better yet our first music video. Jill came up with the idea of what it was going to be and then shooting the video was so interesting and fun because we actually got to tell the story of the song, and it’s going to translate reeeeaallly well, we think. It’s a song of empowerment but Jill managed to keep it from sounding like a cheesy “I hate my ex” song, and with the video to tell the story it’s going to work even better to do what Jill wanted it to do. We’re all so excited for our viewers to see this video. It’s definitely going to be a pretty entertaining music video.

8. Was there a moment while filming it that stands out the most to you?
What stood out the most to us while filming it was that our entire team that helped us out with the video are all really close friends to us and we basically paid nothing to get this video done. Robin Singh produced this and he’s such a great friend to all of us. We’re extremely thankful we went through such an awesome friend to do the video. The entire atmosphere while shooting was great, and Robin is such a brilliant filmmaker and has been our friend for a long time. Everyone who worked with us on it behind the scenes and on screen were friends of ours too. It was so amazing to see how many people are willing to take time out of their day to help us out, we all felt the love and support from everyone and it was really cool.

9. Why should people take the time to check out your music?
Jimmy: We’re bringing something new to the table that you don’t really see a lot of people doing. There’s kind of this whole dividing line between “female fronted” and “male fronted” pop punk bands and their fan bases for some reason gravitate mostly in one of those directions, but we’re bringing them both together and I personally love it, maybe you will too!

Jill: Although our genre is considered pop punk, we’re not going to strictly limit ourselves to the music we make that has to have all of the sound towards one certain genre. There are a lot of bands out there that will incorporate whatever parts they can to their song to limit their sound to the genre they chose to be. Jimmy and I write music because it’s like therapy and it’s a reflection on certain situations/subjects that happened in our lives, and we all play music in this band because we all have the same passion for creating music with other people, and our style of music ends up to fit the category of pop punk. My goal is to one day have people from all different types of fan bases that listen to all different genres of music that are a fan our music.

10. Thank you for doing this interview! Before we go, is there anything that you would like to say to the people reading this?
Jimmy: Thanks for having me! To everyone reading this thanks for your time, if you care to check out the EP when it drops that’s hecka tight, and feel free to drop us a line on Facebook or Twitter! See you guys on the road.

Jill: Thank you for having us, and thank you to whoever took the time to read this! I truly hope to see some of you at one of our shows on our tour this summer, I promise we’ll make sure you all have an awesome time at the show.

Dan: Stay tuned for some awesome stuff we have headed your way, thanks for having us.

Ryan: This is no doubt a dream come true, playing music for people is something I’ve always wanted to do and thanks to all of you I can finally do it. Stick around for more sick stuff to come.

Zion: Thanks so much to the people reading this, and viewers/listeners that appreciate our music. Our supporters help us make and show. Stay posted guys.