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10 Questions with ... Judah & The Lion
December 5, 2016
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1. What are some words you would use to describe this year? What have been some of the highlights for the band and your music?
Excitement, roller-coaster, freeing, growth. One highlight was playing at Bonnaroo this summer; it was a longtime dream of ours, and to have thousands of crazy hippies dancing and singing along with us was a cool moment.
2. Growing up, did you all always want to be musicians?
I think we all did want to be musicians from a young age. Nate's (Zuercher) parents play in the Symphony in Colorado Springs, so they always encouraged him to pursue music. Judah (Akers) had family members who sang and played growing up, and he started writing songs and playing guitar in high school. Spencer (Cross) "came out of the womb wanting to hit a drum" and Brian (Macdonald) watched his older sister play piano at a young age and wanted to learn for himself.
3. How do you think your latest album, "Folk Hop 'N Roll," compares to your previous album?
"Folk Hop N Roll" blends more of our genres into the album. We live in a generation that takes in a lot of information at once, and people find themselves listening to so many different genres since it's so accessible. We are very much that way as a band. Each of us have very different tastes in music that intersect on some level, and we hope to capture that in our music.
4. Has what motivates you all to create and write songs changed over the years?
Creativity is so fluid, so our creative motivations change over the years and even day to day. It just has to do with what we are going through at the time, as a band and as individuals. Our first album, "Kids These Days," had a young and free vibe to it. A burst of happy energy. In "Folk Hop N Roll," we definitely still have moments like that, but we also explored some of the human condition.
5. What if anything has surprised you about the music industry?
It's surprising how quickly things can change for bands. Constantly, we are looking back on the six months behind us and the six months ahead thinking, 'Wow how did we get here ... what were we thinking back then?'
6. What has been one of the band's biggest challenges?
It's fun to be on this journey as a band. One of the biggest challenges is staying true to ourselves. We are so thankful that we get to do what we do. We don't ever want to take that for granted, and we always want to make music that is true to us not music based on our success or what people or expect from us.
7. How do you keep up with your social media outlets?
We try to stay as active as possible, and spend a lot of time studying our socials. It is definitely challenging, but very rewarding. We get to connect with our fans in so many different ways and that is special.
8. Who are some of your favorite artists and what bands continue to inspire you and your music?
Like I mentioned earlier, we have a ton of influences. They include 50 Cent, Coldplay, Billy Joel, Manchester Orchestra and Chance the Rapper, among others
9. When you aren't performing or working in the studio, what do you guys like to do for fun?
We all have different individual hobbies, running, songwriting, coffee, books. Lately we've been playing a lot of home run derby and pickup baseball when we've been home in Nashville. That's been a ton of fun and a good way to stay active.
10. What do you hope listeners take away from your songs?
Hope. We want people to come to our shows and then leave happier than they came. We want to bring the party and create an environment where people can totally be themselves.
*Thank you to Leah Adams who conducted this interview.
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