Point Taken Interview 27/03/21
MM: Can you tell us about your Band and whos your biggest influences
Our sound is referential of classic punk/grunge outfits with hot, overdriven guitars and heavy bass tones. Our vocal arrangements and drum sounds, however, are much more modern. We take those ideals of looking back to the bands we all rocked out to in our rooms, and looking to the future of music technology. We're influenced by modern Alt and Hard-core bands like 'Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes' and 'Bring Me The Horizon', and Math-Rock groups like 'Covet', and 'Dance Gavin Dance'. Ultimately we try and combine technical, riff-driven arrangements with the aggression of modern Hard-core to create a sound that's an authentic representation of our lives in a small Irish city.
MM: Where do you draw your inspirations and ideas from?
(Jacob) Lyrically what I write is based out of self-reflection. I often use my writing to process events and emotions and convert them into characters and stories. A lot of it is drawn from the science surrounding space and robotics because I find them really fascinating. I spend quite a lot of time outside in nature and most of my guitar melodies come to me when there's less sound around.
MM: What would you say is your Band's favourite song?
(Evan) It’s hard to put a finger on just one, but if I had to pick, it would be “Prisoner” by Dance Gavin Dance. We all developed our own interest in the band separately but bonded over our love for them quickly once we found out we were all mutual fans. Dance Gavin Dance has been a huge musical influence on us in our most recent works and we often listen to their material during breaks at practice.
MM: Plans tour and festival wise for 2021
(Jared) Well it's hard for us to make any plans for 2021. Ireland is currently under a strict lockdown and we have no time frame for when venues will be allowed to open up again. A couple of festivals are going virtual this year so hopefully our applications go well. If everything is still closed when our album gets released, we're ready to put on one hell of a livestream show.
MM: What can we expect from Point Taken live?
We have a very dynamic live show - with Jared and Jacob regularly swapping between guitar, bass, and keyboard playing; and Evan layering electronic percussion and samples over acoustic drums. We like to put on a classic big'n'loud gig with a bit of flare - some lights, some fog, and the odd dash of make-up. Regardless of whether we're playing in a small venue, or on a big stage, we like to give our fans the real 'rock concert' experience.
MM: What do you like best and worst about touring?
(Jacob) For me the best part of touring is a combination of being in a new place every day and having the opportunity to show people new music. It's always changing and evolving so the energy is always at a high level and that's really satisfying. You want to do the best job you can every night so everyone’s upping their game and it's a great way for the whole band to grow. The worst part about touring, in my opinion, is how much I suffer from travel sickness if I'm anywhere near the wheel arch of a bus by the time we arrive at the venue the first thing I'm probably going to do is vomit.
MM: Which three Bands would be your ultimate touring buddies?
(Jacob) 3 bands we'd love to tour with would be Steiner from our hometown because they're absolutely crazy live and a super heavy local band, Slung From a Tree, because they have the dirtiest sound I've ever heard. Just pure filth. One day I'd love to be able to tour with Fang Club, after seeing them live so many times, their energy is so impressive and I'd love to be part of putting together a show with them.
MM: What's the most memorable concert you've been to (other than your own) and why?
(Evan) Myself and Jacob went to see Moose Blood, Neck Deep & A Day to Remember in Cardiff a few years ago. We got the ferry over and spent the weekend in Wales, while also going to see two of our favourite bands at the time. Although my taste in music has evolved since then and I’m not sure I would enjoy the concert as much now, the show those bands put on was fantastic. This coupled with the foreign trip definitely makes this the gig that’s stood out the most to me, though I have been to some other incredible gigs in my time.
MM: What do you feel has been your biggest accomplishment so far with Point Taken?
(Evan) Being completely honest, I feel like we achieve our biggest accomplishment so far every few weeks. We’ve made several big steps recently with the recording and production of our new album, and each little milestone we achieve feels like a huge accomplishment, since we’re doing the vast majority of the work ourselves. If I think objectively though, our biggest accomplishment has probably been releasing our debut EP “The Static Windup” around this time last year. It was the culmination of a lot of work and we were just about to start gigging and touring with it when the pandemic hit, but it’s an accomplishment I’m very proud of nonetheless.
MM: Which are your Two favourite Albums of all time?
(Jacob) That's a really tough question. It's so hard to specifically nail down which albums could even be my favourite, but two that are outstanding to me are Billy Talent - 2 and Linkin Park - Hybrid Theory. I can still remember the very first time I heard Hybrid Theory, I was at a friend's house and he would have been a couple of years older than me. He put it on in the background when we were playing video games and all of a sudden my attention completely dropped and all I could focus on was that record, it was unlike anything I'd ever heard. Billy Talent - 2 is just rock-solid and has some of the sickest guitar tones I've ever heard. They're both records that I don't skip a single track on.
MM: Can you remember the first time you ever played live and how it felt to have people watching you?
(Evan) Definitely. I was barely a teenager and had just finished a week long mid-term band workshop for kids my age. The workshop put us into bands and we had to work on a performance over the week to do a concert for our family at the end. I remember being utterly terrified. I was surprised at how hard it was to see the crowd while up on stage, that definitely put me at ease. I remember the feeling of all the hours of practice and rehearsal I had put in flying out of my head, and me scrambling through the performance, definitely messing up once or twice. On top of that though, I remember the rush it gave me, having the attention of all these people who had given up their time to come watch a bunch of us play very mediocre-at-best cover songs. If people were willing to listen to that, surely more would come if the music was actually decent! I’ve been playing in bands ever since.
MM: Growing up which Bands posters did you have on your bedroom wall?
(Jacob) I was an enormous fan of music publications so if I went through them all I'd be here forever. Some of the most standout posters in my bedroom from when I was like 10 to 15, which is almost 10 years ago now, were Paramore, Green Day, Billy Talent, Avenged Sevenfold, Biffy Clyro and A Day to Remember. Telling the truth, there was basically no space on my wall at all - every inch of it was either an artist or a band and I spent most of my time looking at them, hoping that eventually I would end up on one.
MM: Who do you think influenced the world of Metal / Rock more than any other person?
(Jacob) Dave Grohl, without a doubt, although there have been huge pioneers in the genres who fought super hard to ensure their success and survival from the very start. To this very present day Dave Grohl is just an outstanding representation of rock music .
MM: What's the most important thing to the band right now?
(Evan) To keep working. Pandemic guidelines are always changing here in Ireland, which makes it very difficult to plan a lot of things for the future, and so we need to be very flexible with the type of work we can do at any time. I think we’re all motivated to do what we can while we’re locked inside at the moment, but we also have a lot of studio work to do. So I think the most important thing right now for us is to stay motivated and work away at what we can until restrictions are lifted.
MM: If you could do a cover of any song which one would it be and why?
(Jared) - At the moment I think I'd have to say Kingslayer by Bring Me The Horizon. The song is a fusion of metalcore and hardstyle drum-and-bass and I think it would really suit the atmosphere at our live shows. Covers should always show a side of your band that doesn't get the spotlight during your originals, and I could see Kingslayer coming in halfway through a set after a fairly chill song and just blowing the socks off the audience. Blending the speed and energy of that song into our more guitar driven world would be a real challenge, and something we'd all enjoy.
MM: Tell us why we should buy and listen to your Band.
(Evan) Our music has a piece of all of us in it. We really put our heart into every part of our music and everything is done independently by us. All purchases would support us directly and go towards supporting a local band trying to get their message across. Although we make somewhat heavy music, we’d like to think it’s a bit more complex and has some good harmonic information and some nice melody. More than just noise, though we all enjoy a bit of fuzz. We’re a hard rock band in a very heavy-metal and hip-hop centred local scene, so any outside exposure we could get would be very helpful. I also like to think we make good music.
MM: Four words to describe Point Taken?
More than just noise.
