If you are fans of Envy on the Coast, Say Anything or Circa Survive, I The Mighty is the band for you! I The Mighty is a progressive/alternative band from San Francisco, California. Their unique personalities and their passion for what they do was revealed when I had the opportunity to sit down with Brent Walsh (Lead Vocalist & Guitarist), Ian Pedigo (Guitarist) and Blake Dahlinger (Drummer) after opening for Forever the Sickest Kids and Anarbor at Slim’s in San Francisco.

The band’s catchy name, I The Mighty, was not their original name. A record label in San Francisco, that no longer works with the band, thought the band needed a new name.

Originally, the band name was Breakpoint. The guys had to make a quick decision and the name I The Mighty fit the bill. “The name I The Mighty actually came from one of our older songs called ‘I The Mighty Defeatist’,” says guitarist, Ian.

Brent explains how the band came together: “Ian and I were an acoustic duo for a while. When we were starting to look for other members, we met Blake at a show of ours and Chris was in a practice space next to ours. Chris would do some background vocals and some bass parts, we became friends and, well, here we are.”

I The Mighty likes to start the writing process with Brent’s lyrics. Blake says, “We like to describe our music in a view of a songwriter aspect. Brent’s lyrics are a really important part of our music; we enjoy story telling through our music.” As the process continues, band members contribute their own element to the song. As Brent said, they like to “jam it out.” Ian explains how they handle when creativity is blocked. “A way for me to get rid of it is when I discover a new band. Listening to new music inspires me to write new music. Also, going on vacation is a good way to get inspired. The different sceneries you see can really help.”

Ultimately, the band’s goal is to be able to connect to people through a rhythmic and melodic level. Their incredible stage presence and dedication to their music is inspiring for other musicians. I The Mighty has consistently shown their musical growth in the local music scene. They prove this by their recent signing with Equal Vision Records (Congratulations guys). This summer they will be releasing a new EP and going on tour with A Lot Like Birds in July. Check out their music on their website (It’s AMAZING): http://www.ithemighty.com

MYSPACE: http://www.myspace.com/ithemighty

TWITTER: http://twitter.com/#!/ithemighty

FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/ithemighty

YOUTUBE: http://www.youtube.com/user/ithemighty

Hey everyone. So several weeks ago, myself and a friend of mine had the amazing opportunity of interviewing Anarbor. We’ve been extremely busy for the last few weeks with a bunch of technological and academic issues, but we finally got it transcribed for you all to read.
Anyway, they are definitely some really cool guys. Check them out here! And also, buy your tickets now to see them on the rest of the Vultures Unite Tour with headliner VersaEmerge and supporting acts The Dangerous Summer and Conditions here.
So here’s the interview. I hope you guys enjoy it. 

So we read somewhere that your original name was Troop 101. Is that at all true?

SLADE: Yeah. That is.

Will you tell us a bit about that?

SLADE: Yeah. Well, when we first started out, we needed a band name. We didn’t really have a name, and it just sort of came up.
ADAM: We’re not very proud of that…
SLADE & MIKE: Yeah… haha.
ADAM: We were so young. We changed our name for a reason.

When did you change it?

MIKE: Back in 2003.
ADAM: No, no. It was in 2006.
MIKE: Oh yeah! We formed in 2003. That’s right.

So your first few EPs gave your band a lot of exposure and some awesome opportunities. How has this new full length been for you so far?

SLADE: Great! We got to go on Warped Tour, and we toured off of it. That was also our first U.S. tour off of it. So far, so good.

Have you guys ever done a headlining tour?

SLADE: No. Not yet.

Any plans for that?

SLADE: We hope so. Nothing’s for sure yet, though.

So seeing that you guys are on the Vultures Unite Tour, have you guys done any good tour pranks yet? Those are always fun to hear about.

SLADE: Not on this tour. You know, usually you do those at the end.
MIKE: Yeah. We usually save those for the last days.

Do you have one that’s memorable?

SLADE: We used to have wars where we would just chuck like Pepto-Bismol…
MIKE: Or like soda, cakes, basically anything. We would throw anything that we could at each other’s vans.
SLADE: It was really scary, because we’d be on the road.
ADAM: Yeah. We weren’t being very safe on the road.
MIKE: Yeah! We were, like, on the highway!

So do you have one place to play that you would call your “all time favorite”?

MIKE: I honestly love playing California. Anywhere in California is my favorite place to play. We always know we’re going to have a great show.
SLADE: Chain Reaction is great. We always love playing there.

Over the summer, you were all on MTV’s Silent Library. How was that experience?

SLADE: That was funny.
MIKE: That was really, really ridiculous.

Well, you got everything, didn’t you?

MIKE: Yeah! It was awful.
SLADE: Yeah, but it was pretty good. It was definitely a good experience. I mean, we got the money, so we’re happy. We got a whole lot of money.

If you were to choose a part that you would absolutely never do again, what would it be? No matter how much money you get?

ADAM: All of them. Yuck.
MIKE: The eating ones were so gross and so hard. They were bad.
SLADE: Yeah, if we didn’t have to do anything with eating, it would’ve been a lot easier.
ADAM: If I had to do the fish one, I swear I would’ve barfed.

Who do you think had it the worst?

MIKE: Me! I had, like, 4 bad ones I had to do. I had to do the eating one that we all had to do. Then, I got picked, like, 6 times.
SLADE: I think Greg got out of the eating one. Maybe? I don’t remember.
ADAM: Yeah, and Tom had to do that shrimp thing.

The shrimp waffle?

ADAM: Ugh. Yeah. That was gross.

So anyway, you guys released a new lyric video for your song “Mr. Big Shot”. Whose idea was that?

MIKE: It was kind of a collective thing. The new Google app that they came out with, we all thought, “Wow, that’s kind of cool. We should maybe use this for something.”

How did you create it?

MIKE: Well, how it worked was we got all the clips by posting on our Tumblr something like, “Hey. Tweet us your favorite lyric from ‘Mr. Big Shot’.” And then we did all these different things, like posting pictures on our Tumblr, and we purposefully did that to set it up.

Do you run your own Tumblr?

MIKE: Yeah. We all log in; we all have access. It’s cool, because it has those applications for pictures and songs. We can just send them straight to our Tumblr.

On another note, do you all have any advice for budding artists?

SLADE: Keep at it. You know, you got to work for it.
MIKE: Don’t try to take the easy way out.

What would you define as the “easy way out”?

MIKE: Don’t always do what everyone’s doing just because it’s cool at the time. Do something that you know that’s right and something that’s going to last.

Awesome. Any last things you’d like to say to your fans?

SLADE: Check out our stuff.
MIKE: Check out the new album!
ADAM: Check out the album. Come see us at a show, and say hi.
SLADE: Yeah. Check us out on Warped Tour… on Warped Tour? What?
ADAM: Yeah. Go see us on Warped Tour!
SLADE: No! Vultures Unite Tour!

So that was it! Hope you enjoyed it.
CONTEST: Also, reblog this interview in order to win a free signed poster by Anarbor! Contest ends by the end of the week. You can reblog it as many times as you want. The more reblogs, the more likely you are to win!

Florida natives, VersaEmerge, have now released details for their new tour: The Vultures Unite Tour. This tour will also be featuring Anarbor, The Dangerous Summer, and Conditions. Dates are below:

10/21 Dallas, TX - The Loft
10/22 Austin, TX - Stubbs BBQ
10/23 Houston, TX - Meridian
10/24 San Antonio, TX - Sam’s Burger Joint
10/26 Tucson, AZ - Skrappy’s
10/27 Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour
10/28 San Francisco, CA - Cafe Du Nord
10/29 Anaheim, CA - Chain Reaction
10/30 Orangevale, CA - Boardwalk
11/1 Portland, OR - Hawthorne Theatre
11/2 Seattle, WA - El Corazon
11/3 Boise, ID - The Venue
11/4 Ogden, UT - The Basement
11/6 Denver, CO - Marquis Theatre
11/7 Omaha, NE - Sokol Underground
11/8 St. Louis, MO - Fubar
11/9 Minneapolis, MN - Triple Rock
11/10 Chicago, IL - Beat Kitchen
11/11 Grand Rapids, MI - MXTP
11/12 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick
11/13 Toronto, ON - The Mod Club
11/14 Montreal, QC - Underworld
11/16 New York, NY - Highline
11/17 Philadelphia, PA - North Star Bar
11/18 Hackensack, NJ - School of Rock
11/19 Poughkeepsie, NY - The Loft
11/21 Boston, MA - Harpers Ferry
11/22 Towson, MD - Recher Theatre

Get your tickets for their first headlining tour. Pre-sale starts Wednesday, September 15th at 4 p.m. local time! Can’t wait to see what they bring to the table.

-Megan