Interview with Pedestrian

We got the opportunity to do an interview with Joel Shearer who is part of the band "Pedestrian". He talks about his current projects, the song which is most important to him, what he thinks about mySpaces and much more.

Foto:

© tanyakechichian.com


The interview is © myFanbase 2008. Please do not copy it to other websites or message boards.

1. How would you describe your music in one sentence?

Our music is beautifully dirty and peacefully volcanic.

2. Was there something like a light bulb moment when you were young, maybe a concert, a certain song or a record that made you dream about a career as a musician?

I grew up in a house full of music. My dad plays guitar and my mother was a music journalist so records from Flamenco to RnB were always being played at home and when I heard the sound of distorted guitar, I lost my mind... I grabbed a tennis racket and started to rock out in front of the mirror... Have never been the same since.

3. Are there artists that might have influenced you or inspired you some time?

My inspiration as a musician has gone through a huge metamorphosis... I can write a book about it... I guess the ones that still influence me after 25 years of playing music would be Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, the Beatles, Neil Young, Bowie, Ry Cooder, Daniel Lanois, Radiohead, Pink Floyd, Traditional World Music.

4. How do your songs develop? What part comes first, music or lyrics?

There is no pattern to song writing.... Sometimes a guitar riff, sometimes a melody, sometimes a chord progression, sometimes a lyric... I am a very erratic writer... Bits of ideas all swimming around at all times like in an atom smasher... Eventually they crash together and out pops a song.

5. What song is most important to you? Why and how did it develop?

OVERWHELMED. It is the most important song because I feel it is a well written song, a complete song... I am still a young writer and though I believe in my potential as a writer, I do not always feel like I have complete material... I feel like this bit is a good lyric, or that is a nice melody or that is a great riff but it is not always that they all meet as one - The way a Leonard Cohen song or a Dylan song is complete... OVERWHELMED was the first of my songs where I felt like I was heading in the right direction as a writer, a real songwriter... I love that song, I love to sing it, I love to play it... It makes me feel... I have other songs that I feel are good songs and I like them, but OVERWHELMED was the first... It developed because I hung in there with it... I did not set it down til it was done... I nurtured it and fed it and believed in it.

6. In what aspects did your music change compared to when you started to make music?

I matured... my taste improved and my ability improved.

7. What has been the best experience so far, together as a band?

Cramming the guys and gear into a van and traveling through the Northeastern part of the states in the dead of winter, freezing our asses off, 4 guys sharing a room, no sleep, no money and playing to empty rooms.....it was better than the biggest tours or shows that I have had the good fortune of being a part of.....why? Cause it was my own music with the guys who created it

8. What can you tell us about your current projects?

PEDESTRIAN have just finished our new record, SIDEGEIST......I also play guitar on various records with different artists, most recently Dido and a new artist named, Oksana....I have a record for the environment I am working on called Project G and a side band that I want to make a record with....so, keeping busy

9. And what are you aspiring to in the future, what do you want to achieve?

My dream future begins with a new American leader who can bring this country out of the hole it has fallen in and that human beings can find some balance in the world...learn to take care of it instead of destroy it.....as far as my little musical existence, I want PEDESTRIAN to continue to grow and be able to sustain itself and I want to continue to work with great artists on their projects and produce and write and grow as an artist .....my main focus is PEDESTRIAN but I will extend my creativity to other avenues....

10. With whom would you like to go on tour?

Any good band or artists that will let PEDESTRIAN open....as far as tour with as a guitar player, I am very picky so it depends on the artists, music and personality

11. What record would we find in your CD-player right now?

PEDESTRIAN’S new cd, SIDEGEIST

12. What do you think, as artists, about platforms like mySpace?

I think MySpace and Facebook are fine and easy and a quick fix, however, I do feel like those places breed a strange subculture... I like going out and bumping shoulders with people... I think as a band it is a free avenue for self promotion and you can go as crazy as you want with it... One note to those bands addicted to MySpace, just cause you have 30,000 "friends" does not mean you wrote a good song...

13. myFanbase is a website that is devoted to American television shows. Do you have a favorite show?

No television in my life, however I think Dave Chapelle is a genius.

Annika Leichner - myFanbase