*give me the basics - how and why the roman candles formed

-Basically, the story goes... Matt had a band. It fell apart. Armed with only the remnants of a band (himself and a drummer) he played a show, calling it the Roman Candles cause everyone else was gone and they were the only two left. He then formed another band, with a different name. That band also fell apart, but Matt had already formed a side project that was going well. Some other people joined in on the fun, and the Roman Candles were reborn. That band split up after a year of shows, band lineup changes, frustrations, and normal stuff like that.

Matt moved. When he moved back, armed with all sorts of new songs, he ended up jamming with Brandon Hafer (lead guitar), who drug along his friend, Jon Bowen (drums). Those three hit it off. All it took was a quick phone call to friends Mark Barnette (bass) and April Cowell (keyboards) to put the Roman Candles back on the map.

We are striving to not box ourselves in with our music we let it speak for itself. Some of it is real poppy, some of it is real folky, some of it is really spacey, some of it is really hard rockish. We dont care what it sounds like as long as it has good melodies, lyrics, and we enjoy playing it and singing along with it after its recorded.

*describe each band member in a word

-Matt: masterplan
Jon: heartthrob
Brandon: mellow
Mark: goof-off
April: moody

*what exactly is the music scene in alaska like? and what do people do for fun there, typically?

-The music scene is just like any other scene... We have tons of punk bands mainly who are always complaining about nowhere to play. We have the ever popular hippie jam bands. We have the bands that play for money in bars and only do covers. We have our female singer-songwriters, lots of bluegrass and folk music. We have industrial, techno, electronica, emo, pop, rock, and anything else you can think.

WE DO HAVE A MUSIC SCENE. We just lack a lot of the people who do the behind the scenes work. We don't have a local label that invests time into the bands, we don't have a lot of managers actively promoting bands, we don't have a lot of touring bands coming through to carry on the word that Alaska rocks and its music is thriving. No one really pays attention to us cause we're not all in your face like any
band that gets an album out in music town USA down there in the Lower 48 (that's what we call it). I used to think that maybe I could be that person to bring our music to the world, but then I just decided to do my own band first and see how that goes. It's funner when it's your own projects anyway.

One thing I've noticed from any music scene I've been to is that they're all the same. There are people with negative attitudes who think everything around their center of gravity sucks, and they do nothing or little to change that. And then there are those people who are the movers and shakers, people with vision who build something out of nothing because they love what they do. These people are what make a music scene, and we are getting more and more of those coming up through the ranks. What do people do for fun? Same things you do probably. Go to the movies, ski, skateboard, snowboard, party, dance, hang out at bars, go to
coffeeshops and book stores, shop, travel, camp out, hike, go off roading,play board games, have sex with each other, eat ice cream, play guitar, record music, put on shows, create art, play video games, chat on the phone, write lots of e-mail, make fun of other people, go swimming (indoors, of course), hang out, order Chinese food, go to the circus... The list could go on and onif theres one thing that non-Alaskans should know (and I hate to burst their bubble) Alaska is no different than any other place in the world. It's just a lot prettier here.

*something you dont take seriously enough

-Recording our songs to the best of our abilities. We dont have like, tons of money, so being in a studio is really hard for us. We have to move quickly and therefore dont take it seriously that like, thousands and thousands of people are going to hear this piece of crap that will be on our record for eternity. We need to work on a song until it is perfect and ready to be released and not to rush things. We dont take it seriously that we have the potential to be successful at what we do I think.

*a book worth reading...

-The Perks of Being A Wallflower. Someone suggested it to me and I read it and I like it so much I sent it to a friend in hopes she would send it to another friend and so on and so forth. It had a familiarity to it I could relate to certain aspects of it and it was just a quick, fun read with some parts that really made me break down and think.