A Q&A with Paper Route
Written by Ronak Ghorbani
Photo creditBand's MySpace
Date: September 30, 2008
After two month of being the openers for Paramore’s summer tour, ambient-indie band Paper Route finally gets to return home to Nashville, Tennessee. With two EPs released under their own label, and a full length album coming out under Universal Motown, Paper Route has a lot to be happy about. In between selling their merch, drummer Gavin McDonald and singer/sampler J.T. Daly talks to Ronak Ghorbani about their tour experiences and future plans.

Muted Magazine: You guys were just on stage with Phantom Planet, playing some percussion; it looked like you had a lot of fun. Do you do that often?

Gavin McDonald: I guess we’ve been doing it for every show in the past couple of weeks.

J.T. Daly: It kinda just came up in dresser room talk to add on to the set.

MM: Is this your first time touring with these bands?

GM: It is.

JT: This is our first time doing a tour outside of The States as well. But it’s been great; the response has been really encouraging.

MM: Is it intimidating being the first band to play?

GM: You know, it hasn’t been. Developing relationships with the other bands has helped along the way. We actually like being the opening band because it’s like a challenge every night to prove something to people.

MM: You guys have been on tour for two months almost, is this the longest tour you’ve been on?

JT: It has been, it’s going great. We’re really finding our road legs and trying to figure out how to come up with new ways to change the set around, pay attention to what the audience reacts to, and try to be a better band.

MM: How does it feel to be this far away from home?

JT: We’re used to it.

GM: It’s really, really a privilege to be able to do this; to travel and see other places and to have people actually come and hear you play.

MM: Your sound is similar to indie, but it has a lot of experimenting. How would you describe it?

JT: What you just said.

GM: That works for me. We all like what many people call indie music. We like to think we like good music and everyone’s individual tastes comes together and creates something that’s not necessarily going to go over everyone’s head, but it’s not necessarily what you’d hear on the radio.

JT: Kind of what you were hinting at is that we love melody. Especially being from Nashville, we appreciate song writing in the traditional sense. This band is shaped around pushing the envelope and trying to think of as many different ways we can write a traditional song, but turn it upside down.

MM: How does it feel to tour with a band as big as Paramore?

JT: It’s great. We enjoy going on there and knowing the people that connected with us that night, only connected with us because they enjoyed that set. It wasn’t because a friend talked about seeing the headliner, or somebody else gave them a CD, it’s really because we captured their attention and we enjoy that challenge. It’s great to have such an open audience.

MM: Last night you were in Montreal, and now you’re in Toronto. You’ve been in two of Canada’s most popular cities, how do you like Canada?

GM: Personally, I love here. It’s seriously incredible, we really love it.

MM: Did you get to see the cities at all?

GM: In Montréal yeah, we got to hangout for a couple of days. JT: I’m a little nervous to talk about how much I love it [Canada] because I don’t want The States, especially Nashville, upset with us. We just love the people. It seems like the cities are alive and the people are really open to new art.

MM: What music influences your writing?

JT: It depends on the day; today, Rufus Wainwright. Rufus Wainwright is a remarkable musician to listen to in Canada. I feel it matches the surroundings perfectly.

GM: I haven’t written any music today, I’ve been enjoying Canada too much! We’re really a visual band in many ways. Just kind of taking in what’s surrounding you and really what you’re looking at, and using that to inspire you to write.