Issue I

32

If the logos to the left of the page bring back memories of Rocketown FL, Bringin' itBack for the Kids Fest, Warped Tour, and high quality photos of your favorite localbands popping up on your tumblr dashboard, the next few paragraphs may be a bit ofa hard read.

The staff of the website "What's so great about Florida?" have decided to move on,pursue other projects, and mature as photographers, graphic designers, andjournalists. While the website produced quality content for its readers, over time theyall found that the message and goal of the website became lost in translation due tothe name. Wanting to grow and move in a more professional direction the staff cameto an agreement that the publication needed a complete and total re-do. With thegoal of the site not being completely clear with the publication's previous name thatstaff chose a name that had a closer connection with its subject matter; music. With amixed response from various artists, the staff finally came to the largest conclusion ofthem all; their coverage of live music on the website was not doing complete justiceto the artists/bands. With all that said, Speed of Sound Magazine was born out of"What's so great about Florida?"'s death.

Speed of Sound is a monthly online magazine thats sole purpose is to recap andpromote on everything music related, whether it be the musicians that play it, venuesthat host it, or the people behind the scenes that keep it all going. Speed of Sound isdedicated to highlighting it all.

Speed of Sound's staff for the issue is:

Yaritza Rivera: EditorDylan Morse: Photographer

Nicole Stephens: Photographer, Writer, Co-editor

32

If the logos to the left of the page bring back memories of Rocketown FL, Bringin' itBack for the Kids Fest, Warped Tour, and high quality photos of your favorite localbands popping up on your tumblr dashboard, the next few paragraphs may be a bit ofa hard read.

The staff of the website "What's so great about Florida?" have decided to move on,pursue other projects, and mature as photographers, graphic designers, andjournalists. While the website produced quality content for its readers, over time theyall found that the message and goal of the website became lost in translation due tothe name. Wanting to grow and move in a more professional direction the staff cameto an agreement that the publication needed a complete and total re-do. With thegoal of the site not being completely clear with the publication's previous name thatstaff chose a name that had a closer connection with its subject matter; music. With amixed response from various artists, the staff finally came to the largest conclusion ofthem all; their coverage of live music on the website was not doing complete justiceto the artists/bands. With all that said, Speed of Sound Magazine was born out of"What's so great about Florida?"'s death.

Speed of Sound is a monthly online magazine thats sole purpose is to recap andpromote on everything music related, whether it be the musicians that play it, venuesthat host it, or the people behind the scenes that keep it all going. Speed of Sound isdedicated to highlighting it all.

Speed of Sound's staff for the issue is:

Yaritza Rivera: EditorDylan Morse: Photographer

Nicole Stephens: Photographer, Writer, Co-editor

21

21

Speed of Sound : So first off how’s the tour treatingyou guys?

John Stirrat (bass) : It’s good, it’s good.

Donovan Melero (vocals/drums): It’s awesome, lots ofdriving, more driving than we’ve ever done…

John Stirrat: Every day, really. [Laughs]

Donovan: and good crowds.

John: Yeah so far crowds are really good on this tour.

Donovan: Texas was awesome, we love Texas.

SOS: What’s it like touring with Dance Gavin Danceand A Lot Like Birds?

John: It’s awesome.

Aric Garcia (guitar) : It’s really fun because we’rereally good friends with A Lot Like Birds, so it’s justlike a vacation and we get to watch them play everynight.

Donovan: Yeah exactly, we’re all just a bunch of pals.

John: We really didn’t know Dance Gavin [Dance]before the tour, getting to know them has been aswell time. They’re fun guys, Tillian, the new guy inthe band and he’s been awesome.

Donovan: He kills it. He’s great. We all get along reallywell. They even let us on their bus some times towatch them be rock stars --

John: We sneak on their bus.

Aric: If we’re good boys they’ll let us on the bus[laughs]

SOS: How long have you guys been playing together?

Donovan: This line up, for three years. Me and Arichave been playing together for over a decade now,but Hail the Sun’s current lineup, for about threeyears [we’ve been] active and preforming together.

WSGAF: Growing up what where your influences thatmade you want to make the music you make today?

Aric: At The Drive In, The Fall of Troy, Circa Surviveany thing along those lines.

Donovan: Yeah, same.

Aric: Equal Vision records, anything they put out isgreat.

SOS: Growing up what where your influences thatmade you want to make the music you make today?

Aric: At The Drive In, The Fall of Troy, Circa Surviveany thing along those lines.

Donovan: Yeah, same.

Aric: Equal Vision records, anything they put out isgreat.

John: Reba McEntire.

Donovan: [laughs] John has a different --awesome, more awesome influences.

Aric: Yeah, [John] has got the funk side.

John: Yeah, [I’m definitely] funk influenced andwhen I joined it was definitely a new style ofmusic for me. So it’s fun to kind of bring in whatI grew up playing was The Red Hot Chili Peppers,Rage Against The Machine, so playing with theseguys is really fun to open up a whole new genreof playing for myself.

SOS: Other than the Texas date what has been yourfavorite date of the tour you have played so far?

John: Las Vegas!

Aric: Our show at the House of Blues gotcancelled, so last minute we were able to put onan impromptu show in Vegas at our friendSergio’s banquet hall. It was nuts, kids came outand it was crazy, it was super fun and superintimate too.

Donovan: Kids are always really cool aboutshows.

John: Very eager to watch music.

Donovan: Eager Beavers!

WSGAF: What’s your favorite song to play live?

14

Speed of Sound : So first off how’s the tour treatingyou guys?

John Stirrat (bass) : It’s good, it’s good.

Donovan Melero (vocals/drums): It’s awesome, lots ofdriving, more driving than we’ve ever done…

John Stirrat: Every day, really. [Laughs]

Donovan: and good crowds.

John: Yeah so far crowds are really good on this tour.

Donovan: Texas was awesome, we love Texas.

SOS: What’s it like touring with Dance Gavin Danceand A Lot Like Birds?

John: It’s awesome.

Aric Garcia (guitar) : It’s really fun because we’rereally good friends with A Lot Like Birds, so it’s justlike a vacation and we get to watch them play everynight.

Donovan: Yeah exactly, we’re all just a bunch of pals.

John: We really didn’t know Dance Gavin [Dance]before the tour, getting to know them has been aswell time. They’re fun guys, Tillian, the new guy inthe band and he’s been awesome.

Donovan: He kills it. He’s great. We all get along reallywell. They even let us on their bus some times towatch them be rock stars --

John: We sneak on their bus.

Aric: If we’re good boys they’ll let us on the bus[laughs]

SOS: How long have you guys been playing together?

Donovan: This line up, for three years. Me and Arichave been playing together for over a decade now,but Hail the Sun’s current lineup, for about threeyears [we’ve been] active and preforming together.

WSGAF: Growing up what where your influences thatmade you want to make the music you make today?

Aric: At The Drive In, The Fall of Troy, Circa Surviveany thing along those lines.

Donovan: Yeah, same.

Aric: Equal Vision records, anything they put out isgreat.

SOS: Growing up what where your influences thatmade you want to make the music you make today?

Aric: At The Drive In, The Fall of Troy, Circa Surviveany thing along those lines.

Donovan: Yeah, same.

Aric: Equal Vision records, anything they put out isgreat.

John: Reba McEntire.

Donovan: [laughs] John has a different --awesome, more awesome influences.

Aric: Yeah, [John] has got the funk side.

John: Yeah, [I’m definitely] funk influenced andwhen I joined it was definitely a new style ofmusic for me. So it’s fun to kind of bring in whatI grew up playing was The Red Hot Chili Peppers,Rage Against The Machine, so playing with theseguys is really fun to open up a whole new genreof playing for myself.

SOS: Other than the Texas date what has been yourfavorite date of the tour you have played so far?

John: Las Vegas!

Aric: Our show at the House of Blues gotcancelled, so last minute we were able to put onan impromptu show in Vegas at our friendSergio’s banquet hall. It was nuts, kids came outand it was crazy, it was super fun and superintimate too.

Donovan: Kids are always really cool aboutshows.

John: Very eager to watch music.

Donovan: Eager Beavers!

WSGAF: What’s your favorite song to play live?

14

Donovan: To kind of just sum it up I feel like our firstalbum before “Elephantitis” was a lot of old songsthat me and Aric had written and all the guys learnedand added their own thing, and “Elephantitis” ismuch more collective because we were all already inthe band and kind of all helped each other outtogether.

WSGAF: If you could tour with anyone dead or alivewho would it be?

Aric: I think it’d be fun to tour with Glassjaw.

Donovan: letlive. I think it’d be fun to tour with them.

John: I think…so many bands some to mind! I thinkElvis Presley, just to kind of be like “We toured withElvis Presley!” Even though it’d be an awful lineup.He would open for us acoustic.

Aric: It’d be bad for him. Yeah, Elvis Presley would begreat.

WSGAF : Where do you see Hail the Sun in thenext two years?

John: In a trash can… [laughs]

Donovan: After our Vegas date two years from now.[laughs] I see more comfortable touring, with a fulllength.

John: Hopefully with a couple of full lengths, touring,touring, touring, and maybe one day headlining atour. If not we love playing with all these bands,hopefully we can keep this up and come back fromthe studio and talk to you again, maybe? Hopefully?[laughs]

Hail the Sun is currently preparing to head out ontour again with Jonny Craig, Kurt Travis, and The

Seeking! The band is currently fundraising onindiegogo to prepare for the tour.

Aric: My favorite song to play live is probably “Ow!(Splidao!) [I Like It, Though] ”

Donovan: My favorite song to play live…isprobably…"Will They Blame Me If You GoDissapearing”

John: I’d say for myself it’d be “Eight Ball, Coroner’sPocket” because I get to scream and mess up halfthe notes. That’s always fun.

Donovan: [laughs] without anyone realizing! Or exceptthey do realize, but they just don’t realize that theyrealize it.

WSGAF: You guys have really interesting song titles,what are your inspirations for these song titles?

John: We just come up with the most odd name thatmost people wouldn’t even think of.

Donovan: Yeah, just something that you’d reallyremember. Something that would make aninterviewer ask us the question that you just askedus.

[laughs]

John: Exactly!

Aric: That was our plan, and we’ve achieved our goalwith those song names.

Donovan: We accomplished it by you asking us.

WSGAF: What's the writing process like with thecurrent lineup?

Aric: It varies, sometimes one of us will write askeleton for a song and then build from that, othertimes it’s a complete collective experience. It reallyjust depends, and it’s hard because we all live indifferent cities too and that’s a big factor in that. Soit really just depends on where we’re at and thetime.

Donovan: To kind of just sum it up I feel like our firstalbum before “Elephantitis” was a lot of old songsthat me and Aric had written and all the guys learnedand added their own thing, and “Elephantitis” ismuch more collective because we were all already inthe band and kind of all helped each other outtogether.

WSGAF: If you could tour with anyone dead or alivewho would it be?

Aric: I think it’d be fun to tour with Glassjaw.

Donovan: letlive. I think it’d be fun to tour with them.

John: I think…so many bands some to mind! I thinkElvis Presley, just to kind of be like “We toured withElvis Presley!” Even though it’d be an awful lineup.He would open for us acoustic.

Aric: It’d be bad for him. Yeah, Elvis Presley would begreat.

WSGAF : Where do you see Hail the Sun in thenext two years?

John: In a trash can… [laughs]

Donovan: After our Vegas date two years from now.[laughs] I see more comfortable touring, with a fulllength.

John: Hopefully with a couple of full lengths, touring,touring, touring, and maybe one day headlining atour. If not we love playing with all these bands,hopefully we can keep this up and come back fromthe studio and talk to you again, maybe? Hopefully?[laughs]

Hail the Sun is currently preparing to head out ontour again with Jonny Craig, Kurt Travis, and The

Seeking! The band is currently fundraising onindiegogo to prepare for the tour.

Aric: My favorite song to play live is probably “Ow!(Splidao!) [I Like It, Though] ”

Donovan: My favorite song to play live…isprobably…"Will They Blame Me If You GoDissapearing”

John: I’d say for myself it’d be “Eight Ball, Coroner’sPocket” because I get to scream and mess up halfthe notes. That’s always fun.

Donovan: [laughs] without anyone realizing! Or exceptthey do realize, but they just don’t realize that theyrealize it.

WSGAF: You guys have really interesting song titles,what are your inspirations for these song titles?

John: We just come up with the most odd name thatmost people wouldn’t even think of.

Donovan: Yeah, just something that you’d reallyremember. Something that would make aninterviewer ask us the question that you just askedus.

[laughs]

John: Exactly!

Aric: That was our plan, and we’ve achieved our goalwith those song names.

Donovan: We accomplished it by you asking us.

WSGAF: What's the writing process like with thecurrent lineup?

Aric: It varies, sometimes one of us will write askeleton for a song and then build from that, othertimes it’s a complete collective experience. It reallyjust depends, and it’s hard because we all live indifferent cities too and that’s a big factor in that. Soit really just depends on where we’re at and thetime.

36

LB: Oh man...Probably Parkway Drive, but WarpedTour you can’t beat. Warped tour this past yearwas the best, insane, but you can’t count thatbecause it’s just too awesome. We did a ParkwayDrive tour in Australia once that was one of myfavorite tours.

SOS: There is a huge line of kids outside to seeyou tonight, how important do you think faninteraction is? Especially on bigger tours like thisone?

LB: Whether it’s a big tour or a small tour, evenwhen we first started touring in a little 8passenger soccer mom van, we were always justexcited to talk to all the kids and the fans becauseat the end of the day they’re the reason we’redoing all this stuff. No matter what tour we do orhow big we get we’ll always make sure we havefan interaction and make sure the fans are thenumber one thing at the end of the day. We’llnever push the fans away and be like “I don’twant a picture” , “I don’t want to do this”, like ifthey’re there we’d love to meet them.

SOS: Miss May I is a fairly heavy band, so growingup who where your musical inspirations thatmade you want to make the music you do today?

LB: I was really into The Used, Underoath, a lot ofHawthorne Heights, I know that sounds weird, butwe’d cover songs of theirs when we started. Thatwhole genre of music, but definitely The Usedwas my favorite band.

WSGAF: What was the recording process for “AtHeart” like?

LB: It was really weird. It was our first time doingpre-production so we had a couple weeks to sitand write the songs and listen to them and seewhat sucked and throw out the stuff that sucked.We had never really done that, we had alwaysrecorded and put out a record and sold it. So thistime it was nice to sit and listen to it and go to anew producer. He really helped us put a lot offeeling into the record instead of just having aperfect take. It definitely made a difference andat the end of the day the record has a lot morefeeling to it instead of having just a perfectalbum. Which anybody can do a perfect albumbecause it’s 2012 and computers are all over theplace. So it was nice to have a more real soundingalbum

Speed of Sound : First off how’s the tour beentreating you?

Levi Benton: The tour has been awesome, it’sawesome headlining especially doing the AP tour,which is such a mainstream magazine. It’s a reallyheavy tour so it’s been really awesome.

SOS: We heard you guys got to hand pick thebands for this tour, how did you guys go aboutthat?

LB: Us and AP handpicked them, we wanted to doour first tour that’s like metal/metalcore bands.It’s awesome because we haven’t done a tour likethat in a long time.

SOS: Describe your live show in one word.

LB: Headbang.

SOS: What has been the craziest show on this tourso far?

LB: The craziest show on this tour would probablyhave to be TLA (Theater of the Living Arts). I’d sayTLA in Philedelphia. It was pretty nuts. It waspretty cool to play such a huge venue, and it was aweekend so kids were just having a blast it wasawesome, like tonight. You can definitely tell theschool year has started because [at shows onweekdays] a lot of kids are like “I’ve got school, Ican’t really hang out”

SOS: Do you have any weird pre-show rituals?

LB: I have really weird warm ups and they soundreally stupid, so everyone always looks at mereally funny and I look like an idiot. Another weirdone I guess is that me and some of the guysstretch together, we don’t have like a huddlething, we just stretch and hang out before theshow like “I’m excited for the show!” and littlestuff like that.

SOS: What’s your favorite tour that you have everdone?

36

LB: Oh man...Probably Parkway Drive, but WarpedTour you can’t beat. Warped tour this past yearwas the best, insane, but you can’t count thatbecause it’s just too awesome. We did a ParkwayDrive tour in Australia once that was one of myfavorite tours.

SOS: There is a huge line of kids outside to seeyou tonight, how important do you think faninteraction is? Especially on bigger tours like thisone?

LB: Whether it’s a big tour or a small tour, evenwhen we first started touring in a little 8passenger soccer mom van, we were always justexcited to talk to all the kids and the fans becauseat the end of the day they’re the reason we’redoing all this stuff. No matter what tour we do orhow big we get we’ll always make sure we havefan interaction and make sure the fans are thenumber one thing at the end of the day. We’llnever push the fans away and be like “I don’twant a picture” , “I don’t want to do this”, like ifthey’re there we’d love to meet them.

SOS: Miss May I is a fairly heavy band, so growingup who where your musical inspirations thatmade you want to make the music you do today?

LB: I was really into The Used, Underoath, a lot ofHawthorne Heights, I know that sounds weird, butwe’d cover songs of theirs when we started. Thatwhole genre of music, but definitely The Usedwas my favorite band.

WSGAF: What was the recording process for “AtHeart” like?

LB: It was really weird. It was our first time doingpre-production so we had a couple weeks to sitand write the songs and listen to them and seewhat sucked and throw out the stuff that sucked.We had never really done that, we had alwaysrecorded and put out a record and sold it. So thistime it was nice to sit and listen to it and go to anew producer. He really helped us put a lot offeeling into the record instead of just having aperfect take. It definitely made a difference andat the end of the day the record has a lot morefeeling to it instead of having just a perfectalbum. Which anybody can do a perfect albumbecause it’s 2012 and computers are all over theplace. So it was nice to have a more real soundingalbum

Speed of Sound : First off how’s the tour beentreating you?

Levi Benton: The tour has been awesome, it’sawesome headlining especially doing the AP tour,which is such a mainstream magazine. It’s a reallyheavy tour so it’s been really awesome.

SOS: We heard you guys got to hand pick thebands for this tour, how did you guys go aboutthat?

LB: Us and AP handpicked them, we wanted to doour first tour that’s like metal/metalcore bands.It’s awesome because we haven’t done a tour likethat in a long time.

SOS: Describe your live show in one word.

LB: Headbang.

SOS: What has been the craziest show on this tourso far?

LB: The craziest show on this tour would probablyhave to be TLA (Theater of the Living Arts). I’d sayTLA in Philedelphia. It was pretty nuts. It waspretty cool to play such a huge venue, and it was aweekend so kids were just having a blast it wasawesome, like tonight. You can definitely tell theschool year has started because [at shows onweekdays] a lot of kids are like “I’ve got school, Ican’t really hang out”

SOS: Do you have any weird pre-show rituals?

LB: I have really weird warm ups and they soundreally stupid, so everyone always looks at mereally funny and I look like an idiot. Another weirdone I guess is that me and some of the guysstretch together, we don’t have like a huddlething, we just stretch and hang out before theshow like “I’m excited for the show!” and littlestuff like that.

SOS: What’s your favorite tour that you have everdone?

39

that would just be awesome.

SOS: Any parting words>

LB: We just released a new video for “Day byDay” it’s definitely the most intense the videowe’ve released. Check out our new record, it’sgot the new sound of what we’re hoping to gofor, it’s [called] At Heart it’s in all stores, comecheck out our facebook it’s got everything we’reever doing on it, it’s /missmayimusic, and otherthan that follow us on twitter and instagram andall that stuff and see the stupid stuff we do ontour.

the end of the day the record has a lot more feelingto it instead of having just a perfect album. Whichanybody can do a perfect album because it’s 2012and computers are all over the place. So it was niceto have a more real sounding album .

SOS: Speaking of albums what are some albumsyou’re currently listening to and wouldrecommend to your fans?

LB: The new As I Lay Dying album “Awakened”, Ilike a lot of hip hop stuff, the new Mackelmorerecord “The Heist” is really good, I’m trying tothink what else – Oh the new Texas in Julyrecord is very very awesome too.

SOS: Do you have any guilty pleasures musicwise?

LB: Probably listening to pop music is my guiltypleasure, because I’m in a metal band and I jamto Katy Perry, Usher, and all that, I love it.

SOS: Will you guys be recording anytime soonor are you guys going to tour on this albumcycle for a while?

LB: We’re trying to figure out a time to record,we’re making like little demos here and therewith the ideas we have and me and B.J writestupid riffs on our phones recording our voices.We’re just messing around, but I think the nextalbum is the one we’re most excited to write.We’re really excited just because we had somuch freedom on the last record and peopleactually liked the stuff we did, which we didn’tthink people were going to agree with becauseit was just so different. We’re excited for thisnext record because we have all that free willdo just do whatever we want.

SOS: Where do you see Miss May I in the nextthree years?

LB: Hopefully we’ll still be touring, just doingwhat we’re doing now. Every day we’re justhappy to be where we’re at, so if we’re evenclose to what we’re doing now in three yearsthat would just be awesome.

39

that would just be awesome.

SOS: Any parting words>

LB: We just released a new video for “Day byDay” it’s definitely the most intense the videowe’ve released. Check out our new record, it’sgot the new sound of what we’re hoping to gofor, it’s [called] At Heart it’s in all stores, comecheck out our facebook it’s got everything we’reever doing on it, it’s /missmayimusic, and otherthan that follow us on twitter and instagram andall that stuff and see the stupid stuff we do ontour.

the end of the day the record has a lot more feelingto it instead of having just a perfect album. Whichanybody can do a perfect album because it’s 2012and computers are all over the place. So it was niceto have a more real sounding album .

SOS: Speaking of albums what are some albumsyou’re currently listening to and wouldrecommend to your fans?

LB: The new As I Lay Dying album “Awakened”, Ilike a lot of hip hop stuff, the new Mackelmorerecord “The Heist” is really good, I’m trying tothink what else – Oh the new Texas in Julyrecord is very very awesome too.

SOS: Do you have any guilty pleasures musicwise?

LB: Probably listening to pop music is my guiltypleasure, because I’m in a metal band and I jamto Katy Perry, Usher, and all that, I love it.

SOS: Will you guys be recording anytime soonor are you guys going to tour on this albumcycle for a while?

LB: We’re trying to figure out a time to record,we’re making like little demos here and therewith the ideas we have and me and B.J writestupid riffs on our phones recording our voices.We’re just messing around, but I think the nextalbum is the one we’re most excited to write.We’re really excited just because we had somuch freedom on the last record and peopleactually liked the stuff we did, which we didn’tthink people were going to agree with becauseit was just so different. We’re excited for thisnext record because we have all that free willdo just do whatever we want.

SOS: Where do you see Miss May I in the nextthree years?

LB: Hopefully we’ll still be touring, just doingwhat we’re doing now. Every day we’re justhappy to be where we’re at, so if we’re evenclose to what we’re doing now in three yearsthat would just be awesome.

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