Anticipating Days To Come

By RingMaster Review on February 15, 2019 • ( 0 )

Blending pop-styled vocal melodies with heavier, intricate instrumentation, Georgia, US based hard rock band Days To Come has increasingly made a mark on attention and success since emerging in 2014. We recently had the pleasure to get to the heart of the band exploring its origins, growth, latest release and more…

Hello and thanks for taking time out to talk with us.

Can you first introduce the band and give us some background to how it all started?

Justin – My name is Justin Goodson and I’m the vocalist for the Georgia based hard rock band Days To Come. Brandon Rix is our guitarist and Jalen Hall is our drummer. We try to blend pop-styles vocal melodies over heavier, intricate music.

The band officially formed in 2014. I met Brandon at a local music store one afternoon before a gig and we hit it off pretty quickly. Jalen joined us in early 2018. We’ve had a few line-up changes over the years but we feel pretty confident in the team we currently have.

Is Days To Come your first venture in music or have you been involved in other bands before?

Jalen – Nope, this is my first band.

What inspired the band name?

Justin – I thought of the name Days To Come one day while I was at my day job. I was frustrated because we had all of the pieces to form a band except for a drummer and it is always so difficult finding a drummer! I knew that we would eventually find one and everything would work out in the future, but that moment of frustration gave birth to the name.

Was there any specific idea behind the forming of the band and also in what you wanted it and your sound to offer?

Justin – I started playing the guitar when I was 17 and I started to take singing seriously in my 20s. I knew then that I wanted to be in a band. I played solo acoustic gigs for years trying to find a band or form one. Nothing really worked out until Days, which I’m thankful for.

I would like us to continue to blend clean, pop styled vocal melodies with heavier music. I don’t hear a lot of that being done in modern rock and I hope that it will help separate us (in a good way).

Do the same things still drive the band when it was fresh-faced or have they evolved over time?

Brandon – I would think so. One of the main goals is to get the band to become successful enough for it to sustain itself. That’s been one of our goals since day one.

How would you say your sound has evolved since the band’s early days?

Brandon – The sound of the band overtime has become more unified with the “song first” mentality. I remember my tone used to be whatever sounded good for me, and my solos were pure wankery. Now I believe I’m more meshed with the band, and my solos are more in line with the song.

Has it been more of an organic movement of sound or more the band deliberately trying out new things?

Justin – Definitely an organic growth… Brandon and I have been working together since 2013 and, I feel like, we’ve finally settled into what we’re pursuing, sonically speaking. Earlier on, we would write and “whatever happened just happened”. Now, we have a clearer vision of what we’re chasing with these new songs.

Presumably across the band there is a wide range of inspirations; are there any in particular which have impacted not only on the band’s music but your personal approach and ideas to creating and playing music?

Justin – Alter Bridge is one of my biggest musical influences. They’ve helped shape me as an artist so much. However, like most artists, I found myself emulating my heroes with my writing. I learned a lot through this, but it’s taken a long time to find “my voice”. I wanna use what I’ve learned to better my songwriting, not just write songs that sound like theirs.

Is there a particular process to the band’s songwriting?

Justin – Typically, Brandon and I will get together with a few acoustic guitars and work out the skeleton of the song. I’ll either have lyrics already written or will write some to go with the music. Sometimes they come really quickly and other times they’ll take weeks to finish.

Where do you, more often than not, draw the inspirations to that lyrical side?

Justin – I love melodies and stories. I started writing my first song when I was around 9 years old. I didn’t think it was very good, so I threw it in the trash. I didn’t start writing again until I was around 19…Pretty crazy how life works out.

I grew up in a military household and had the opportunity to move and experience a lot of cultures as a kid and teenager. I’m sure these experiences helped shape and influence my songwriting.

The lyrics are typically about the struggle of choice and doing the right thing in any given situation. Lyrically, I seem to continue to run back to that theme. I enjoy not necessarily having a definitive resolution in the story of the lyrics. I feel like this gives the listener the freedom to come up with his or her own conclusion and it’ll make the song more personal for them.

Give us some background to your latest release.

Brandon – Our latest release is our new single Siren (released January 25th). We’re always trying to expanding on what the Days To Come “sound” is and, when we were working on Siren, everything clicked. We knew that the feel of Siren was what we were after and what we would continue to chase in future songs. Siren is punchy, melodic, musical, and memorable. We hope that our fans enjoy it!

Could you give us some insight to the theme and premise behind Siren?

Justin – Siren is about a toxic relationship. The individual in the story continues to crawl back to what he/she knows is ultimately bad for them.

Are you a band which goes into the studio with songs pretty much in their final state or prefer to develop them as you record?

Brandon – We try to go to the studio with the final ideas established. However, we always tend to change parts of the songs for the better as we evolve. I can’t tell you how many times after we recorded Color we said, “Hey, wait. This sounds nifty. Let’s do this.” And we recorded Color years ago.

Tell us about the live side to the band, presumably one of the favourite aspects of being in the band?

Jalen – There’s just so much energy on stage that never falters. That’s by far my favorite thing about the band.

It is not easy for any new band to make an impact regionally let alone nationally and further afield. How have you found it your neck of the woods? Are there the opportunities to make a mark if the drive is there for new bands?

Justin – I believe there is always an opportunity to make a mark. It just depends on how hard and how long the artist is willing to put in the work. No one is gonna hand it to you. Like everything in life, if it was easy, everyone would be doing it.

How has the internet and social media impacted on the band to date?

Justin – Social media is such a wonderful tool – especially for indie artists and bands. We live in the golden age of indie artists. For the first time, indie artists are able to produce, distribute, and market their work completely DIY and without a major label.

This is huge.

Social media and the connection it brings just help that cause. Artists should take the time to learn how to use social media to better grow and connect with their audience.

Once again a big thanks for sharing time with us; anything you would like to add or reveal for the readers?

Jalen – We’re so thankful for all of the support we’re given. We can’t wait to get out on the road and support our single Siren.