OneRepublic has recently seen a lot of success with hits playing all over the radio.  Many people think they’re a band that came out of nowhere, but no one really sees the challenges they had to overcome to get to where they are today.  After touring on nearly every continent in the last year, OneRepublic has a new album called “Waking Up” that is going to be released November 17th and they are currently on tour with Rob Thomas and Carolina Liar.

Stacie Sullivan: Before we get started, introduce yourself and give a fun fact about yourself.
Zach Filkins : I’m Zach from OneRepublic and I grew up in West Palm Springs when I was young.

SS: You and Ryan were childhood friends, did you always know you wanted to start a band?
ZF: Yeah We did, we did.  We always knew that somehow we had to be involved in music. I think before we even met we already had that start. In high school, we talked about it and wanted to see what happened. We knew it would take awhile and wanted to be more prepared about it before we dropped everything and moved to LA and New York.  We had to get through college and everything before we could start and leave our lives behind and move to LA.

SS: Many people believe OneRepublic is a band that came out of nowhere.  How difficult was it really for you guys to get to where you are today? 
ZF: It was almost impossible.  It’s funny we worked so hard on the west coast in LA trying to start things and only the west coast knew about us for the longest time.  Then myspace happened, then suddenly we did the collaboration with Timberland and our label found us and we were able to release an album on our record label.

SS: What was it like working with Timbaland?
ZF: Working with Timbaland was such an interesting project He’s a funny guy.  He really is kind of in his own world.  I think that’s why we love his music as much as we do. It’s so different. He was able to bring us somewhere else.  It was cool.  It really was a cool project and it helped the band get out of LA and into the rest of the world.

SS: Your new CD, “Waking Up” is being released November 17th, what are some differences from “Dreaming Out Loud” to “Waking Up?”
ZF: “Waking Up” is very different.  The music from “Waking Up” was written in the last year.  “Dreaming Out Loud” was written 5 years ago.  So it’s really different.  We had been touring a lot and we started writing during that time. We were really touring from city to city, flying all over the place so a lot of our songs come from those experiences.  We really wanted to show another side to the band.

SS: What’s your favorite song off “Waking Up” and why?
ZF: My favorite song actually is “All The Time.”  I also love “All The Right Moves” because it’s special.  we wrote it last year and it was our first single off this album, and it was the first famous hit we made off this album.

SS: So You’re on tour with Rob Thomas and Carolina Liar, how has that been going?
ZF: It’s been really cool working with all of them. Rob Thomas is a very low key guy we see him just about everyday.  We talk and hang out, and share tour stories.  It’s cool.

SS: How has the crowd been responding to the new material you’ve been playing?
ZF: You never know how the crowd is going to respond so it is risky. We always look out to the crowd to see how they’re reacting and everyone has seemed to be very happy when we play the songs.  Everyone seems to be responding by either tapping their feet or bobbing their heads.

SS: What can the fans expect next from OneRepublic?
ZF: They can definitely expect us to keep putting out albums. We went to almost every continent last year touring off “Dreaming Out Loud” so we will definitely go back.

SS: Is there anything else that you would like to say to your fans?
ZF: I’m eternally grateful for them.  I’m so glad we’re doing what we’re doing and writing songs rather than sitting in a cubicle somewhere doing data entry.  So I’m extremely thankful for everyone that has supported us.