Exclusive: On Call Heroes Interview

Out of Victoria, BC, Canada, On Call Heroes recently re-released their album, Brotherhood, via UK label Hang Tight Records and are also currently on tour in the UK. Though they've been around for almost 4 years, the boys are quickly making up for lost time, gaining new fans from all over with their catchy, hard-hitting Pop Punk tunes. I recently caught up with the band to discuss the re-release, their recent exposure, and what the future holds.

For the record, can you state your name and role in the band?

On Call Heroes: We are all cuddling around the computer answering together. Bronson, Blaine, Chris and Spencer!

So the band has been around for a few years now, but tell us how it all started and how the band name was chosen.

On Call Heroes: We were all best friends that started the band almost 4 years ago. We all went to school together. We all had the same job taming unicorns when we got really tired of the 9-5 grind. I (Bronny) picked the name and the other guys hated it. I was so bummed because I loved it so much haha. But it grew on the other guys and I'm a diva so I get what I want! [:P] Our drummer left before our Brotherhood release and then our little Spencer joined and we have been happy ever since!

Brotherhood, the band's second full-length, was released in 2010, though it seem to've gained a lot more exposure in 2011. Tell us a little about the album in general.

On Call Heroes: Our old drummer left the band a week before we released Brotherhood. He played the CD release but we had to cancel the tour we had planned. It held us back for so long because we had played with just the four of us for two years. We were three lost and confused little girls. But we found Spencer, got back on our feet and pushed forward! When we released the album we had a small local following from our first album. And after a while, with word of mouth, the following gradually grew, then our song That Guy blew up on the Internet. Then people just kept telling their friends and we reached people we never thought we would reach, from Canada, USA, the UK, even Indonesia. It was fucked!

A few months ago the band signed with the UK's Hang Tight Records and announced the re-release of Brotherhood, with 4 new tracks. First of all, congratulations! We couldn't be happier for the band. Now, can we expect a similar sound from the new tracks?

On Call Heroes: Thanks brother! We were and still are stoked as hell to be working with Joe and Hang Tight! We went back to Travis Saunders in Kelowna, BC to record Just A Boy and then recorded 3 acoustic tracks with our buddy Ben Erickson in our hometown Victoria, BC. The acoustic tracks sound cool as hell! We are super happy with how everything turned out! They're not just some cheap boring acoustic songs, so we think people will enjoy it as much as Just A Boy and our other stuff!



How did writing and recording the new tracks compare to the original album tracks?

On Call Heroes: Recording was pretty much the same, other then the fact that Spencer can sing really well, so we added some sweet three way harmonies in the acoustic tracks which really adds another element to our songs that people should like. Writing was totally different since we were writing with a new member, and that was totally weird for us since it had been the same people four over two years. But we hashed it out and finally clicked as a group. Now we feel better as a band then we ever have.

Were they left over from the original album release or were they recorded specifically for the re-release?

On Call Heroes: Two songs are brand new songs that we wrote specifically for the re-release while the other songs are acoustic versions of Shiver and That Guy.

Also, how did you guys get involved with Hang Tight? Being all the way over in Canada, it definitely seems like a great way to gain more international exposure.

On Call Heroes: Boss man Joe got a hold of us to do a split with another band he was working with, then we got talking, fell in love and we signed to the label. Then we decided it would be better to re-release the album in the UK but didn't wanna leave out all the people who had supported us over the last 4 years, so we recorded four new tracks.

Speaking of, the band will be touring the UK later this month, which I'm sure you're all super stoked for. Looking back a year or so, did you guys see yourselves making it overseas at this stage?

On Call Heroes: Hell no! This is the biggest thing we've done so we are super stoked! We would have group kicked anyone who said that we would be playing in another country in the balls for getting our hopes up so high!

Over the years, what've been some of the biggest highlights of being a band? Do you guys have any other future plans for this year?

On Call Heroes: The biggest thing for us is having people even remotely interested in what we have to say as a band. the idea that someone on the other side of the world is rocking out to our songs is totally surreal. And meeting new people and making friends all over is another amazing part in being a part of the music scene We take things one step at a time, right now our focus is on the re-release and our UK tour then we'll see where that takes us and move on from there. We are writing new songs all the time, so ideally we would like to put out a new album in the next year.

Thanks for your time, would you like to finish off with anything else?

On Call Heroes: We wanna thank people like you guys at Easycore for getting our name out there to places that we cant reach ourselves. It's all about word of mouth and you guys are a big reason for any success we have or may have.

Much love from all the boys boys boys!

Cheers!

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