Interview: Local Band, DecembeRadio, Gaining National Attention

With a Grammy nomination, a Dove award, and named one of the top 10 artists to watch in 2006 by Billboard magazine, the band DecembeRadio from Blacksburg is causing a buzz in the music industry with its self-titled debut album.  However, this success has not gone to the heads of the band members.  Eric Miker, Josh Reedy, Brian Bunn and Boone Daughdrill are still just four friends who love to rock out together in their garage, which is where they sat down with Planet Blacksburg recently for an interview.  The following are selected excerpts from that interview. 

Q:  I know that your website (www.decemberadio.com) says that several of you guys grew up in the New River Valley area; however, out of all of the music hubs around the country, what has brought you all to Blacksburg, Va.?
Bunn:  “It’s just where we were born.  Honestly, our job requires us to travel and basically it doesn’t really matter where we are located … because we are usually out on the road anyway...  We like the area, the small town feel.  We like just being able to get in your car and go to Wal-Mart if you want and not have to wait in an hour of traffic.  We’ve been to a lot of different places, but we still like this one a whole lot.”

Q:  How surprising was it to have your debut album nominated for a Grammy? 
Miker:  “It was definitely a surprise for us.  Brian even mentioned that his guitar teacher asked him, ‘do you think you guys will get nominated for a Grammy?’ and he said ‘no way,’ and when we did, we were blown away.  …  We really didn’t know what to expect, we just know that we are here, we are making good music, and hopefully people like it, and they seem to.  We will be around for a while hopefully. 

Q:  On the band's website, you guys talked about how you felt like you learned a lot from the Grammy experience and were challenged to improve in some areas for the next album.  What do you guys feel can be improved upon? 
Bunn:  “I think the thing that we are always trying to work on is songwriting. …  A lot of us in this band are… musicians first; we really love to just play.  In the past the songwriting may have suffered a little bit for that.  You know, we would rather practice guitar than write a song, but that’s changed in the last four years.  There is really a focus now on song writing.  We have written with hit song writers in Nashville and we have enjoyed doing that and learning from other people.”

Reedy:  “I definitely think that for the new record we are trying to communicate through the album.  I am not really sure what the theme of the record will be yet or what we are trying to say with the album, but we are definitely trying to hone it all into one thing, one cohesive package.  That was our fear of the last record, but its ended up doing great and having all kinds of accolades attached to it.  We want an album that represents us… that doesn’t compromise anything … or water anything down.  We still want to rock people’s faces off.”

Q:  What is your goal as a band?
Daughdrill:  “Just to continue allowing God to use us.  That is our number one calling, ministry; being able to share with others what Christ has done in our lives.  Whether its through our music our just our life style.…”

“Also, we want to continue making good music.  Great music can last a lifetime.  We listen to things from the ‘60s and ‘70s.  Great music was written back then, that’s what we feel like.  Now, everything is so jaded by the industry that half the time, its not even a real band playing the part or its not even a real vocal part.  Everything has been so fine-tuned by machines that it is not real music anymore.  We just want to continue doing what we are doing…”

Reedy:  “And just enjoy every step of the way.  Not always just wanting to get to bigger and better places, just enjoy where we are at the moment and take it day by day.”

Q:  On your website, you guys say that "we are not interested in selling out to the industry to be famous and we're actually concerned with being technically on top of our game" 
What does it mean to "sell out to the industry to be famous”?
Daughdrill:  “Sometimes people write songs just to get on the radio… We just feel like we want to do what we enjoy doing, just playing rock music.  Rock Christian music right now is not a huge thing, there are not a lot of bands doing it, not a lot of bands that have the same kind of sound we do.…”

Bunn:  “Yeah, its not always just doing what’s popular right at the moment.  Its not like ‘hey, Matchbox 20 is famous, lets write a song that sounds like Matchbox 20 and put it out on the radio.’  Let’s do our thing. … It may take a little longer to rise to the top, but you will be there a whole lot longer.”

Reedy:  “A lot of bands will put out an album and it will sound one way and you can tell that it came from the heart and that it is who they were.  And then, depending on what kind of success they’ve had, a lot of times, they will change the sound completely to try and fit some mold.  That is something that we want to stay away from.”

Q:  Why do you feel that it is important to be technically on top your game? First of all, what does that mean to you?
Bunn:  “Just knowing your instruments well, being able to play well.  It used to be that music was an art, it was appreciated.  Now it seems like its just about being cool and being in a band.  So, people buy guitars, learn a few chords and start a band.  Its changed.  … For us, its important to play well and sing well. … Just like anything else, if you are an athlete, you want to be good at what you are doing.  You want to get all your shots and not double dribble or throw away the ball.  The same is true with musicians.  I just want to be good at what I do.”

Q:  Are there any interesting personal stories behind your lyrics? 
Bunn:  “… I had a cousin who was wrapped up in drugs and it was tearing her apart.  It was making her so sick…she would get away from it for a week or so, and then she would go right back to it, even though it was still destroying her.  That’s the way that a lot of things are in our life.  The things that destroy us, we continue to run back to.  And … the song ‘Can’t Hide’ … [is] about how we continually go back to things that hurt us.”

“For the song ‘Drifter,’ I think at one time in our lives, we’ve all felt like we are out on a dead end road or out there drifting somewhere.  For us it was getting back home to God and back to our roots…”

Q:  When is your next album coming out?
“We are not sure yet, we are still writing songs.  It will be sometime, probably late fall, at the end of this year or early next year.”