Hellogoodbye and Ace Enders and a Million Different People came to Tufts on Monday to play the annual Fall Rock Show sponsored by Concert Board and WMFO. The concert took place in a transformed Dewick-MacPhie: with tables stacked to the side and a stage constructed with all the lights and speakers a band could need. Ace Enders began the show by playing a cover of "Bittersweet Symphony" by The Verve. The crowd went wild as The lights changed between shades of red and blue and Enders went flying all around the stage. Most of the songs played by Enders are featured on the band's new EP "The Secret Wars" (2008), which is currently being offered for free online.
The room was buzzing with anticipation before Hellogoodbye took the stage. When they did, the crowd erupted with cheers and excitement as they started with the song "All Time Lows." Hellogoodbye's set contained older songs off its first self-titled EP, and songs that are on its first full-length release, "Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs!" (2006). The Daily joined the bands backstage before the show to chat about their past, present and expectations for the future.
Hellogoodbye
When asked to describe the band's sound, keyboardist Joe Marro said, "Imagine being blind and being given the gift of sight, and experiencing all the beautiful colors that you have here in New England. Imagine the movie ‘Pleasantville' [1998] when they finally see colors for the first time. You can't explain those emotions that you feel. Imagine being conscious as a newborn. Basically, it's the opposite of that."
The dawning of 2009 will see the release of a new album for the group. "It's not quite as electronic, but there is still some of that electronic stuff," singer Forrest Klein said. Keyboardist Joe Marro added that a new song, entitled "The Thoughts That Gave Me The Creeps," from the new EP "Ukulele Recordings" (2008) has been added to the band's MySpace.com Web site.
Off stage, the band is fun to be around and loves to have a good time, regardless of whether the group is in an elaborate venue or a dining hall. Usually, the band will wear costumes on stage, or start playing covers of songs they really don't know how to play (they played Third Eye Blind's "Semi-Charmed Life" at the show on Monday). The relaxed attitude fared well in an audience eager for a break from their Monday-night studies and ever nostalgic for Third Eye Blind.
The band members agreed that the best advice for aspiring musicians is to "just play" and not worry about having a fancy Web site or manager before they have done any recording.
Ace Enders and a Million Diff-erent People
The Early November was one of the most well-known emo-pop-punk bands up until its dissolution in 2007. Former lead singer Ace Enders had had a solo project before (I Can Make A Mess Like Nobody's Business), but his newest path seems to be both promising and exciting.
Ace Enders and a Million Different People is a collaborative solo project from Enders; he teamed up with some of his friends from November, and has collaborated with Mark Hoppus (Blink-182) and Matt Thiessen (Relient K), among others.
As he sat down and introduced himself, Enders said, "[Bassist Sergio Anello and I] love to talk, so this is great." Friends since a young age, Anello and Enders began recording together about 10 years ago in New Jersey. "We did that for quite a while, then [The Early November] broke up," Enders said. "We definitely learned a lot, and learned the value of things. I guess you get to a certain point in your career where you just have to start over, and we have … you appreciate the little things. We have a new, fresh outlook on things this time around."
"The Early November broke up because of a ton of different things," Enders continued. "But you can basically narrow it down to one or two things. Let's put it this way: When you fall in love when you're young, everything seems great and everything is awesome … the little things don't really matter to you. But as you get older and farther along in your relationship and money becomes an issue … it starts to divide you, it starts to spread you a little thin, and that's what happened to everyone in the band. We pulled apart a little bit, and we were looking in different directions."
When asked if there was any possibility for a reunion, Enders was hesitant to confirm or deny it. "I say maybe we'll do a couple of shows for fun here and there to rekindle and do some for fun. Sometimes I'll throw in one of the acoustic songs into my set if people are really yelling for it," he said. Looking to the future, at least Enders can rest assured that no matter how many bands he starts, and no matter how long the titles of said bands may be, he can always find success.
