Interview with This Years Finest!!!

Here are the members of the band:

Chad- Vocals

Clint- Guitar

Corey- Guitar

Tyler- Bass

Justin- Drums

Here are the questions I asked them and right below is their group responses:

1. What inspired you guys to play music?

That rush when your favorite band starts their set and the whole crowd is going crazy, plus it is so intense. That feeling right there just makes us want to all play a show right then and their. We all grew up seeing other bands have the time of their life on stage and we all have just been inspired by that feeling. If it was not for all the bands we listen to growing up we would not be where we are today. Thanks to them we are growing as a band.   

2. How has music changed your life?

Music has taught all of us a bunch of business lessons. We know when we need to be professional and when it is time to have fun. We have all meet some great people and friends in our adventures as a band. If it was not for music most of us would have never even met each other. Music has also helped some of us shape our careers. Chad has a degree in graphic design and screen prints shirts. Clint has two degrees one in music business and the other in audio engineering. We have all shaped our life schedules to work with our music career. We all hope we can keep it going as a career.

3. What bands do you guys listen to and how have they shaped your music?

Corey listens to a lot of The Wonder Years, New Found Glory, Trapped Under Ice, Killswitch Engage, and Terror.

Justin is a big fan of The Wonder Years, fireworks, Streetlight Manifesto, Four Years Strong, and NOFX.

Clint listens to Streetlight Manifesto, Big D and the Kids Table, For Today, lupe fiasco, and Nicki Minaj.

Tyler listens to The Wonder Years, The Fireworks, Blink 182, Killswitch Engage, Kid Liberty, and Latin For Truth.

Chad listens to nothing but Paramore, A Day to Remember, All Time Low, Artifex Pereo, and This Years Finest. Chad loves him some This Years Finest. This is why we all call him a douche. Just kidding....not. We all listen to a lot of the same stuff, but then again we also listen to a lot of different stuff.

When we come to writing our music it really helps us that we don't all listen to the same music because we want our songs to be original and unique.   

4. What advice do you guys have for others that want to pursue in music as their career?

Our advice to other bands would be to take it seriously. Its not all fun and games like you think it will be. You have to look at your band as if it is a business. You are starting with nothing and you need to build your name as best as you can. Don't just write a breakdown that you think sounds awesome and that reminds you of White Chapel, because seriously how does that make you special as a band? Keep your influences, but don't strive to be that band be your own band!!!

5. Where did you guys get the idea for the name of your band?

Our name came out of a very wide selection from a hat. We could not decide for the life of us what we wanted to be called. We spent a week getting a bunch of names together then put them all in a hat, This Years Finest won. It was a very close call between that and "one day I will defeat myself in combat" or "ODIDMIC for short". We are happy with the name This Years Finest, but sadly at the start of 2011 we had to change it to Last Years Finest. We just haven't got the memo out there. 

6. What do you want your fans to know about you that they might not know already?

We would like to consider that everyone new that listens to us and talks to us to be our friends. We try to be really respectful to everyone. We want everyone to know that we really do appreciate all of their support and their help to getting us on our feet as a band. We could not be doing that if it wasn't for them. So thank you. 

7. What is racing through your mind before you guys go on stage?

Please don't fuck up, don't fuck up. Did we pack everything, I hope I don't break a string, please don't drop a stick, I hope my voice doesn't crack like a 12 year old at a Justin Bieber concert. Those are just some of the bad things, but there are a bunch of good things as well. Like we are all so eager to play sometimes just takes forever to happen and then when it does its such a great and fun experience. When we are on that stage for 20 - 45 minutes it doesn't matter whats going on in life at the moment because that is the time you can drop everything and just have a great time.   

This Years Finest is a band that makes history because they are beyond all steryotypes, since they love music and write songs because they care about their dreams. They don't do it for the money, they do it for the fans. As a way to appreciate what they do for us, everyone should like their band page: This Years Finest as a way to thank them for all the things they do for us.