Interview w/ Will Tenney of Call Me Anything

Hey everyone!

Continuing on with our special series of interviews with artists that have been featured here on the blog. This week, I have an interview with Will Tenney, the lead singer of Call Me Anything. Call Me Anything were the subject of an Artist Spotlight feature here on the blog back in May and have been keeping really busy this summer, touring with the likes of Follow Your Hero (another Artist Spotlight alumni), and are gearing up to head into the studio to begin work on their debut release. Will was gracious enough to take some time after wrapping up their tour to conduct this interview, and here is what Will had to say:

- Give your name and what you do in the band?
Hey everybody! You can call me Will, and I play guitar, piano, and sing in Call Me Anything.

- How and when did Call Me Anything form?

It's a pretty long story to be honest, but the short version goes: Brandyn and I toured together for a long time in a band called White Rose. Then after about 3.5 years, we were approached by a management firm that really pushed us to be more serious. We signed, changed our name, changed our line-up, and BAM! Call Me Anything was born.

- Take us behind the bands' songwriting process and where you draw inspiration from to write your music?

That's a tough one. I really draw inspiration from all around. I certainly have my fair share of songs about girls and touring, but I write a lot about the weather/seasons as well. I think the calendar and forecast are such interesting things, and so often play into my mood. I don't know, that's just me. I'm weird. Did that answer the question? haha

- What themes and/or topics does your music cover?

Ahh buzzkill, I sort of just answered this one in the question before. But definitely the weather and seasons. I try to be really introspective and observing with my writing. I carry a notebook everywhere I go, and scratch down everything from lyrics to ideas to drawings of pigs. Whatever I'm thinking really. I'm secretly a huge oversensitive sap. Or not so secretly. You decide.

- What other bands in the pop-punk scene do fans liken your music to?

Haha well I'm not 100% sure we're in the "Pop/Punk" scene, but other bands that people compare us to? Hmmm, Jack's Mannequin we get a lot, A Rocket To The Moon, The Maine, etc. Sort of these more "on the edge" Piano/ Rock n' Roll bands.

- What means did you use to generate your fanbase and do you keep in contact with them?

A lot of people don't believe me when I say this, but the majority of our fanbase came from one thing: Touring. So many bands today are so artificial with 354,087 internet fans that they've never met, but I can honestly say that 90% of our fans came from the hard work we put in. I went on my first tour when i was 17 years old, and haven't stopped since. We've been as far South as South Carolina, as far West as Missouri, and everywhere in between. We do our best to stay real with everybody. If there's one thing that separates us from every other band in the scene, it's our work ethic.

- Tell me the inspiration behind your just released single "Let's Talk" and how all that came together?

Oh, man. Alright, here's the story. I had a huge crush on this girl all through high school, but we never really hung out in the same groups, or had any reasons to be in contact. So as soon as we graduated, I came up with some bogus reason to text her, and from there we started hanging out a little bit. About halfway through the summer, I left for a 3 week tour, and she, strangely enough, was getting ready for a 4 week cross-country road trip. Long story short, we left from our last show at 1 AM and drove straight from South Carolina to Connecticut so that I could see her. When we got there, she wouldn't come out of her room, and I haven't seen her since. So in the end of the song, i compare her to the rain and the sun, as in, She was good and bad. But finally decide, that no matter, I shouldn't let the weather bring me down. That's just the way I saw it. Sorry if that was really long, that's how it happened, haha.

- What do you guys like to do in your spare time when you're not playing shows?

Honestly, when we're not on the road, we're ridiculous human beings. That's not to say that we aren't ridiculous on the road as well, but our home lives are just absurd. Matt lives about 25 minutes north of Brandyn and myself, and Brandyn shares time between his mom and his dad. So since we're always together, the ongoing joke with this band is, "Which one of our 7 homes did I leave ______ at?" Because at any given moment, there's no saying whether your clothes are at Brandyn's house, My house, Matt's house, the van, etc. It's nuts. After this last tour, we spent 5-6 days living in a pool house together. It was pretty insane. We managed to only start a minimal amount of fires.

- What are the bands immediate plans for the rest of the year?

We're going to be doing a weekend tour with Floral Terrace and Atlantic Avenue at the end of August, then we have a headline show in Boston on September 25th at The Middle East Upstairs. We'll be releasing our music video sometime around then, and hopefully sealing up a deal with Second Chance Booking Agency.

- Is there anything that you would like to say to your fans that have supported you all along the way?

Hate to be cliche, but THANK YOU! We don't have fans, we just have a lot of really good friends that like music as much as we do, and that's more than I could ever ask for. I hope we continue to support each other in the coming years, and do great things. Thanks for reading, and hit me up anytime at facebook.com/callmeanythingband, I'd love to chat.

Thanks once again to Will of Call Me Anything for taking a little time after recuperating from a lengthy tour schedule to do this interview. These guys are ridiculously talented and are definitely a band to keep an eye on. This won't be the last you'll be hearing from them, that's for sure! Keep it tuned in here on the blog for more interviews all throughout the summer.