Give us your names and what you do in the band?
Ben: My name is Ben Meyers and I play drums.
Zach: My name is Zach Nelson, I sing and play guitar.
Jeff: I'm Jeff Kinsey, I play bass and do backing vocals.
Dave: My name is Dave Colicchio, I play guitar and sing backing vocals as well.
Can you take us back to the beginning and how the band formed?
Ben: Yeah, well it actually started with me and Zach at Berklee the first week of school, we met each other and then very soon after, we met Jeff and Dave and became friends and kind of started a little thing.
What was it like to be at Berklee surrounded by countless musicians?
Zach: It's awesome, you get to collaborate with alot of people. I came from a small town so there's not a ton of music going on. For me, it was cool to be able to always see something going on that you feel supportive of what you're doing.
Dave: It's a really great environment for any musician to be in, everybody is really supporting each other and you just learn even if you're not trying to learn, you're just learning so much from the talented people around you.
Jeff: It's a really cool perspective to have so many people that are passionate about more or less the same thing, but so stylistically different to see how so many different people go about essentially as far as careers go.
Can you recall what your earliest experience was with listening to music and how has that helped shape you today?
Dave: I think my earliest memory was my dad is a music teacher and he used to teach at summer camps and I would be going to the camp, he would show me Billy Joel songs, Beatles songs, he's a huge Beatles fan and I think these are the first songs I knew, one day he says that I told him to go to the next song because the song that was playing "Fool On The Hill" by The Beatles was making me sad and he says that was the moment he realized I probably wanted to become a musician, he knew I was getting it.
Zach: The first time I ever sang in front of anyone, I was a terrified, shy kid and my mom and dad convinced me to sing "Yankee Doodle" as a part of this church musical, and I was this shy, awkward kid in suspenders in front of 2,000 people at my church and I was terrified, but I didn't stop singing after that.
What is the one thing you enjoy the most about playing live and how it makes you feel?
Ben: I would say probably the crowd, the main reason of playing live is the crowd and the energy that you get from watching their energy and their smiles, and just how excited they are to watch you. That's probably one of my favorite parts, and the sound obviously in the venue is so much better than the practice space, so those are two of the most exciting things for me.
Jeff: I think definitely the emotion behind music, we do this essentially so we can help people feel the emotions they're trying to express and so to do that, and basically get a room full of people that are feeling the same thing hopefully, the energy that comes through that, you can just feel this tangible energy at the same level and the emotion.
Take us behind the recording process of your latest EP "Begin" and what the whole experience was like?
Zach: We met this guy named Tom Schleiter who was formerly in a band called Bad City on Atlantic and a band called Powderspace on Fueled by Ramen, two of our favorite labels, so we went down to Chicago, wrote a couple of songs and recorded all 4 in 5 days at Groovemaster Studios in Chicago. It was alot different from our first EP recorded in Ben's dorm, this time we got to go to a major studio, it was just a totally different experience, it was really fast too so we had to be on our game, it was kind of scary, we're all really happy with how it came out.
What themes and/or subject matter typically run through your music and how well does it resonate with your fans?
Zach: I sing alot about heartbreak and hope, seeing light at the end of the tunnel. There's a song called "When You Are Broken" which we haven't played a whole lot live recently. It's alot of lyrics about hope, and not giving up because I think there's alot of younger, confused teenagers and letting them know they're not alone and how they feel. Then just musically, we can be there for them.
Have you had any memorable run-ins or experiences with fans after one of your shows?
Dave: Every show is a different experience. There's always someone who hasn't seen us before and it's funny there's this one girl that moves stuff for us and does merch for us a whole lot, she brings her younger brother to a show and he's very quiet most of the time, he's helping us out a whole lot and at one point after the show, we bring all the stuff back and he stops us and says, "Guys, I just have to say this is my first concert and other than seeing 3 Doors Down, this was one of the most wonderful experiences of my life and thank you guys". And he was just so happy about the show and we were like "Oh my god, I thought you were bored"!
Ben: And I'd say on top of that, we had this one show where we just had so many baked goods from fans, we feel so fat and happy, I'm talking alot of pounds of food.
What do you guys like to do in your spare time when not making music?
Ben: Well, I edit all day. We all kind of have different things we do all day, so yeah I pretty much edit.
Jeff: I spend alot of time going from rehearsal to rehearsal. As a bass player, I can get work for some of the other members of the Berklee community as well. I get to do alot of playing which is fun and I'm studying production so I spend alot of time in recording studios.
Dave: I love movies and I love songwriting, I'm just constantly trying to get better at songwriting and one day maybe doing some music supervision for movies. I think that just would be a dream job of mine, meet some of my favorite actors, you know being involved in the process.
Are you guys planning on playing any more shows or releasing any new music this year?
Dave: Oh yeah, a whole lot of shows. We're lining up a whole bunch for the summer, not really a tour per say, shows here and there, March 7th in Hamden, CT is a big date for us, going to be a whole lot of fun. And April 13th is Love You Dance Machine's last show at The Middle East, it's going to be great and then we've got a whole bunch for the summer, we're just trying to book more, trying to have fun with it and have a good time.
Lastly, why do you think guys should check you guys out in concert or listen to your music?
Zach: I think that there's hope in our music, and I think it makes you feel good and there's other songs like a song called "Alone", which is about you know being pissed off and depressed when you've been screwed over by someone you care about. So I think there's a range of emotions that you can experience, not just listening to our music, but any music.
Ben: I just want to add on to that, I think it's kind of cool we're kind of one of the few bands on the scene kids just kind of look up to us individually. I feel alot of the other bands there's a lot of substance abuse, a lot of things that aren't good for kids to be looking up to, so that's kind of a cool thing, if people should listen to us, that's a reason.
Jeff: We're pretty much about community and inclusion, showing the positive side of the rock world to kids and anyone who wants to listen and hang out.
Thanks once again to the boys in Me vs. Gravity for being so gracious with their time and letting me hang out with them before the show! If you want to pick up their latest EP, "Begin", you can download it right now on iTunes or pick up the physical CD from their Big Cartel site right over here.
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