These days, New Jersey seems like the place to be if you are an upcoming band. With the Jonas Brothers skyrocketing to fame, Article A may just be in the right place at the right time. With a secret behind their name and a sound that isn’t like “any particular band”, they are sure to be successful.

Joe, Christian, and Evan joined Meagan Messina for an exclusive interview in their home state of New Jersey to talk about their debut album, their influences, and much more.

Meagan Messina: Thanks for taking the time to do this interview! Could you guys introduce yourselves and tell me what you play?
Joe: I’m Joe and I play bass
Christian: I’m Christian and I’m the lead singer
Evan: I’m Evan and I play drums

MM: How did the name Article A come about?
C: *laughs* We’re not allowed to tell you actually. It’s kind of like a pact we have in the band. We came up with the name, and it does mean something, but we are kind of keeping it under wraps until one day we’re gonna reveal it. I know that’s somewhat kind of corny, but we just feel really good about it so we’re not going to let the cat out of the bag

MM: How did you guys meet?
E: We kind of - all our friends are friends so we grew up together. We went to church in Paramus and we started a band out of that. We’d play on Sundays at other churches and stuff and then from that the three of us with another guitar player at the time started the band and we started playing coffee houses and high schools and stuff like that. From there we made a couple short demo CD’s and we got signed a year ago, and here we are done with our album and we’re going to start a tour in the summer.

MM: For those who haven’t heard your music, how would you describe your sound?
E: Awesome
C: Our sound is like, it’s definitely rock music like something you could hear on the radio. It’s fun, it’s serious, it’s everything. It’s awesome. It’s just fun, you know what I mean? It’s basically like a bunch of different sounds mixed together that come up with ours. We don’t sound like any particular band or anything so we can’t be like, “Oh, we sound like these guys or like those guys” it’s kind of like our different influences over the years coming together and we kind of just sound like Article A. But it is, you know, power pop, some pop punk in there, alternative rock music, that’s our genre right there.

MM: Who are your biggest musical influences?
C: I think we all love the Beatles first of all. I mean it’s kind of cliché but we all love the Beatles, and then it ranges from there, you’d have to ask these guys, but I love a lot of pop music, I love hip hop a lot, and rock music. But these guys have specific people they look up to a lot.
E: I don’t know, I think I like a couple of more obscure bands like Primus and some other bands I’m sure no one has ever heard of, but I’m a big Foo Fighters fan, a big U2 fan, I think those are more bands that kind of play into what our music is like.
J: I like kind of everything. I listen to Z100 all the time, but then I also like Sting and Dave Matthews and I like some bass player stuff, like there’s this guy Jaco. Just everything, just a lot of punk rock and just everything.

MM: So did you guys finish recording your CD?
C: Yes, officially

MM: How was that?
C: It was a long process. It was awesome like now that I look back at it, it was awesome, but it was the hardest thing we’ve ever done. It took a long time it took about a year from like since we got signed till now, but I think it came out really, really well, but I think all of us had our times when – Are you laughing at the person walking through? Yeah, we’re by a bathroom *laughs* - but it was, I don’t know if I’d ever want to go through this recording again, but I think through the whole recording we all learned a lot and definitely progressed in our instrumentation and me singing and all that, it just came to a point where it really got captured on this record like I really feel very excited about the music that we’re putting out.

MM: What has been the best experience in your careers thus far?

C: Pretty much tonight, right now, just being able to be on Musiqtone is the best experience ever, like for real I just want to throw that out there.
E: We’d just like to be in heavy rotation on there

MM: Oh, you definitely will be!
C: Everything, I think, to answer the question, we’ve had a lot of really cool experiences like a couple tours we went on, a couple shows we played in front of a lot of people, and doing a record, getting signed and all that stuff. I think every one of those has a special element that kind of makes up the whole thing of what we’re doing, so like I guess each of us could have a different experience that would be the best, but I think all around it just comes to like now, like today is the best one because all of it led up to this.

MM: What is your favorite thing about performing?
E: I think crowd interaction – *Looks over* Wave hi! Wave hi when you go by! *Laughs* - That candidness. I think getting to feed off an audience is probably the best part and getting to share that experience that is a live show. We try to center our set together and make our show very centered around the audience so they can get involved, so I think at least for me that’s the best part.
C: Definitely the kids coming out just like the vibe when you come out on stage and people are singing the songs that you wrote and you put so much into doing that and having someone react to it and feel something, whatever they’re taking from your music, you’re just knowing they’re enjoying it, there’s like that connection even if you’ve never, ever, ever met that person, they’re like, singing your song, there’s like an automatic connection there, it’s just awesome.
J: Yeah, I love the feeling, like you said, the vibe, you can feel it before you even come out, just when you know there’s people there, we’re gonna have a show, you get that feeling, like it’s just awesome. I love that feeling.

MM: If you could tour with anyone, who would it be?
C: Wow
E: Reggie and the Full Effect, definitely.
C: I don’t know. I’d like to tour with the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
E: Well, I think I’d have two answers of who I’d like to tour with as just a band that I like and of who I’d like to tour with for our careers, like a step in our career at the moment. Probably the first one would be Primus, my favorite band of all time, we wouldn’t fit on that tour at all, but I love that band. And then probably right now for our career, like Yellowcard, hellogoodbye, like a next step in our career sort of move, that’s our audience.

MM: Have you always wanted to pursue a career in music?
C: Me, I have. I don’t know it’s just something in my blood, in my heart. I didn’t know if it was ever going to happen, but when I was little I always used to look up to the different artists that I would watch on TV or on MTV or something like that, just be like “Oh I want to do that, I want to do that one day”. Like every single step that I was into, like Michael Jackson when I was little because my dad liked Michael Jackson, and I’d keep going into like Nirvana and all these bands. I always wanted to do it.

MM: If you weren’t in a band, what would you be doing?
E: I’d be very sad
C: I’d be broke. But we’re broke now *laughs*. Nothing, I don’t know. If I wasn’t in a band I’d probably be trying to figure out something to do.
J: I think I’d be homeless. I’d be at a beach in California with long dreadlocks
C: Which he just shaved off!
E: I think if I wasn’t in a band, I’d be trying to find a band.

MM: What’s next for you guys?
C: I think next is, actually we’re getting the album together right now so we have photo shoots coming up. We’re hopefully going to be on a summer tour, we don’t with who or where yet, but we’re working on some stuff like that, and basically just to play as much as we can and where we can and have the kids come out and just hear the record and check it out on MySpace or wherever they can get it, and just play as much as possible and enjoy the music that we make.

MM: What is your opinion of the major artists dominating the music industry today?
E: That sounds like a trap. I don’t know, I think it’s probably more diverse than it’s ever been, I think as far as pop goes. I don’t know, I don’t think there’s trends but I think it’s probably a good scene to try to get into. Rock seems to be the thing now, and that’s obviously what we do, so, I don’t know as far as major bands, there’s nobody out there that I don’t like.
C: I think it’s changing. I don’t know if there’s major artists actually directing everything, like as I watch MTV more often or the internet like has totally come alive in the last 5, 6 years of distributing music. I think the kids or people are telling the music industry what to put out now versus the music industry telling the people what to like, because they don’t need to listen to the top 40 radio or anything. People are putting on their own tours, their own shows, selling their own CD’s. Record labels are almost getting scared of what to do. I think it’s a cool thing in a way, but if it goes too far it could get crazy.

MM: What is your philosophy on music?
C: That’s a deep question.
J: I’m not that smart, I don’t know.
C: My favorite thing about music is the emotion that it can cause in somebody. Me, personally, I can’t read music, I don’t really understand technical music, but I do feel music a lot, and I think that’s the thing that effects me the most is the drama or the emotion that is captured in a song that you can’t necessarily do just with words. If a song makes me feel a certain way, it really touches you, that person who created that did what they were supposed to do, and that’s my philosophy on music. I don’t know if that’s really a philosophy on music, but that’s an aspect of music that I absolutely love, is that it can make you feel something. It can shift your mood. You can be in such a good mood, and you put on music that kind of makes you feel more down and you just feel that sometimes. It’s amazing what it can do.

MM: Is there anything else you’d like to add or say to your fans?
C: Buy our record! It’s coming out in June!
E: Go to our MySpace for our shows
C: www.myspace.com/articlearock . We’ll see you out on the road!