Greeley Estates Interview

Interview
Ryan Zimmerman
Greeley Estates

Line-Up:
Ryan Zimmerman - Vocals
Dallas Smith - Guitar
Brandon Hackenson - Guitar
Brian Champ - Drums
Josh Applebach - Bass

Warped Tour
7/28/06
Interviewer: Maggie Solum

"They’re the only reason we’re able to do the music thing and tour and all that, so, we definitely appreciate all the fan support..."

What can I say about Greeley Estates? A break-through band from the sweltering deserts of Phoenix, Arizona that are quickly taking the Warped Tour fans by storm with their crashing life performances and harp-like melodies. Flying on the wings of their new album Far From The Lies, Greeley proudly, though very humbly, are making a foundation for themselves in this fast paced world. Vocalist Ryan Zimmerman recently stepped out of the rushing timeline to share with me some of their recent experiences.

Maggie: Hi! Could you please introduce yourself and where exactly you’re from? Greeley Estates Promo

Maggie: Awesome! I know this is kind of like a mediocre question, but I couldn’t find it anywhere while I was making questions today – where did the name Greeley Estates come from?

Ryan: It’s actually a road sign in Colorado, in Greeley, Colorado. Um, it’s just kind of random, it really has no meaning, none of us are from Colorado. We just saw it even before we started the band and we remembered it when we started the band so... (Snickers) Nothing too exciting I guess.

Maggie: So how’s Warped Tour going for you guys? Is this year the first time you guys have played?

Ryan: Ah, this is second year. We did this whole thing last year. It’s going really well, though. We’re having a good time. We’re almost done, because it’s kind of like the summer boot camp, you know, it’s a lot of work.

Ryan: When it’s over, you’re not super sad about it or anything. But it’s always a good time.

Maggie: I’ve heard that some bands, like I heard from Fall of Troy, that the bands on smaller labels are treated differently and have a harder time on Warped Tour.

Ryan: Well, we’ve toured with a bunch of these bands before, so... we’ve got some friends out here – the guys from Emery, Silverstein, The Stiletto Formal are good friends of ours. A Change of Pace and Scary Kids were both on here for a little while. There’s a bunch of bands that we’ve toured with before that we’re friends with still. It’s pretty cool.

Maggie: I’ve noticed you guys are very fan-oriented; you interact on your message board and I’ve read that you try to spend as much time with them as possible, which means that fans are very important to you guys.

Ryan: Yeah, definitely, we know that they’re the only reason we’re able to do the music thing and tour and all that, so, we definitely appreciate all the fan support, you know, and hopefully try to let them know that at the shows and after the shows and stuff like that.

Maggie: What’s the most touching thing you’ve heard from any of your fans? Is there any moment that has stuck out for you?

Ryan: Well it always means a lot when kids say that the music has helped them through hard times and stuff like that. You know, a lot of kids that have let me know that some of the lyrics in some of our songs have helped them through difficult times where they were really depressed or whatever, going through tough things. That’s probably the most meaningful thing.

Maggie: Have you ever been through something in your life where music has done the same for you?

Ryan: Yeah, I think just, like, you know, I don’t think I can think of one specific time, I think music has always been a part of my life. No matter what mood you’re in you can always, it always gets you through the day, so..

Ryan: I’ve been there too before, you know, where different bands have really influenced me and stuff like that.

Ryan: Um. Wow. The road, I guess. We’ve been on the road since the beginning of the year – since the end of December, so.. we haven’t been home.

Maggie: Oh jeez. What’s your favorite tour been this year? Or since you started in December?

Ryan: That’s probably my favorite tour that we’ve ever done. It was rad. It was awesome. It was our first time being on, like, an arena tour. Just being on the road with bands like Thursday and Thrice is, like, an awesome opportunity.

Maggie: Yeah. And there’s like a variety of fans at Taste of Chaos, isn’t there?

Maggie: A variety of fans, because there’s such a diversity of bands on that tour.

Ryan: Yeah, it’s a good place to find new fans and maybe be seen by a different crowd than you normally play for, so.

Maggie: Sweet. How did you start singing? When did you realize you had that talent?

Ryan: When we started this band, it was kind of a joke. Our guitarist was learning guitar at the time and was teaching our other guitarist how to play what little he knew, and I just decided to write some lyrics and try to sing. None of us really have a musical background, that’s kind of funny, so everything’s really raw. I don’t know, we’re still learning as we go here.

Maggie: To me, you guys sound really good for not having any musical background. (Laughs)

Maggie: That’s pretty awesome. Does everyone in your band contribute to your lyrics or is that part of the writing process personal to only you?

Ryan: I would say that that’s something that’s personal to me, but on the new album I tried to write more from the band’s perspective, you know. We’re on the road year-round together so instead of writing stuff about what I’m personally going through I wrote a lot more stuff about what our band is going through at the time, so... but when it comes to writing, I’m the one who writes the lyrics for sure.

Maggie: Oh okay. That’s awesome. It’s just I know some bands reflect off of everybody.

Maggie: That would be awesome. I’m going to ask you about a couple of songs from your new record, and if you could just give me some background on them from your own standpoint, that would be great.

Maggie: Um. “Where Did You Go” kind of caught my eye, because it seemed to reflect on someone who was sort of lost in the greed of fame. Where did the idea from that song come from?

Ryan: You know, I get asked that all the time. It’s kind of something we keep on the down-low when it comes to who’s the song about, but in general hopefully the listener can get something out of it. There are always people that you think are kind of your friends and end up turning their back on you once things get tough, so that’s kind of how we felt with the person who we wrote the song about, in that situation, you know? There’s always going to be people like that in your life and stuff like that. I guess when I was writing the lyrics, I guessed that most people can kind of relate to that too.

Ryan: “Through Waiting”, that’s actually one of our oldest songs, it was actually on our first album outside of this, and that album is mostly like relationship-type songs. I tried to get away from writing about girls on this new album and write about the things going on in life, so that’s one of those songs. That’s probably our most popular song we’ve ever written. I think most people can relate to that, they’ve gone through heartbreak or whatever.

Ryan: Yeah, we do. This is like our first real release, though, we recorded two albums on our own back in Phoenix, and just kind of self-released them. This is like the first one that’s really getting out there and being promoted.

Ryan: Yeah, we do. We’re starting to work on a new one. We put one out a while go, I think now it’s only available online. SmartPunk and stuff like that. We actually don’t even sell it at shows anymore.

Ryan: I think it’s because we’re just kind of working on new stuff now. That DVD is kind of old-school.

Ryan: Yeah, it always works.

Maggie: I thought I’d ask this because I’ve wanted to hear a musician’s point of view on it, and no assuming your band is in this genre; but what do you think of “emo” music and “emo kids”?

Ryan: I don’t know. We’ve never really worried too much about what label we have, what genre of music we’re in, you know? There are a lot of bands, we realize we aren’t the only band doing this and we get influenced by a lot of bands that have become a part of this scene. We’re just kind of playing the music that we like, we never really worry that anybody’s going to call us “emo” or “screamo”. Some bands just want to be called “rock” or “rock and roll”. We’re just down with whatever. (Laughs) Whatever anyone wants to call us. It’s never been that big of a deal to us.

Maggie: On the site I write for, there’s a thing called Speed Round questions. They’re more directed toward the artist on a personal level and they’re pretty random. Are you ready?

Maggie: If you had to choose between singing for a jazz band for the rest of your life, or a bluegrass band for the rest of your life, which would you choose?

Ryan: Um. Probably a jazz band. Because, you know, jazz – those clubs are pretty sick.

Ryan: The nightlife would be a little more fun than a bluegrass – whatever they do.

Ryan: Wow, what is my favorite food...? I think I like cinnamon rolls more than anything. I don’t eat them too often, but when I can I’ll definitely get them.

Maggie: Who has made the biggest difference in your life, or who has influenced you most, as a person?

Maggie: Well that’s good. Because I know a lot of kids’ parents don’t dig the kind of music they play, if they get in a band. I always year parents say, “Why is your music so angry?”.

Maggie: Another good answer. What record can’t you get enough of right now? What have you been listening to?

Ryan: What have I been listening to? I don’t listen to a lot of music on this tour because you just hear music all day long. I do like the new Underøath, a lot. I like The Stiletto Formal record a lot. Adair is another band I really like. A lot of people haven’t heard them or Stiletto Formal yet but in the next year a lot of people will be, they both have really good albums.

Maggie: Awesome. That made me curious... who have you been watching while tagging along on Warped Tour? Like, their sets?

Ryan: Let’s see here... there’s this band called Mute Math that are probably one of the most incredible bands on this tour. They’re so off-the-wall, like, I don’t even know how to describe it, really good, experimental-type music. They’re amazing. Underøath always puts on a really good show. Chiodos always puts on a really intense show. I don’t know, there’s just definitely a lot of good music out here. Thursday. I try not to miss Thursday.

Maggie: That’s very sweet. Where is somewhere you’ve always wanted to visit?

Maggie: Well, thank you! Do you have anything you want to add for the people who will read this?

Ryan: Um, check out the new album “Far From The Lies”, it’s in stores now.

We'd like to thank Ryan for interviewing with FourteenG and to the band's hardworking publicists for making it happen!