On The Run Interview

On The Run is an Alternative Punk-Rock band from East Freedom, Pennsylvania. They formed in December 2008 and became determined to break into the Pennsylvania music scene. They quickly became popular with the State College crowd after playing shows in their local area. By 2009 the band had recorded their debut EP, “Keep Me Here” and began touring round Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Over the past few years the band have expanded their repertoire of songs allowing them to perform with the likes of Bayside, Punchline and Sparks The Rescue amongst others. The band consists of John Ross Green (Vocals/Guitar), Tyler Miller (Bass), Brian Fisher (Drums) and Andy Mathias (Guitar). Their latest EP, ‘Departures’, was released on 25th March 2011 and is available from iTunes.

Thanks for taking part in this interview, how are you?

TM: I'm great! And I'm really stoked to be answering these questions for your blog!

JRG: I'm doing just fine! Very excited to be interviewed.

What is the story behind the name On The Run and if you had to change your band name, what would you change it to?

JRG: Tyler named the band, but I'm not sure he's even ever told me where it came from. What gives, dude?

TM: I basically just picked out the name for our first show back in 08, at the time i was listening to 1997's new album called "On The Run." Plus I had also just heard the Foo Fighters cover of "Band On the Run" 

For people who may not of heard of your band, how would you describe yourself and what makes you different from other bands currently on the music scene?

TM: I would say that we are just a rock band that tries our best to write good songs and have fun. We dont really worry about what's trending or trying to fit into any kind of "scene." Also we work really hard at putting on a good live show, we go into every show with a gameplan of how we are going to play. I think we put more time into what we are doing than most bands at our level.

JRG: What makes us different? I think we're a bit more level-headed than most band dudes. We're very down to earth and friendly, and we don't put on a fake "cool" persona when we're talking to people. We let our music and our live show do the work for us rather than relying on our cool hair and rockstar attitudes to form our image. We also work our butts off. When we play most places, lots of local bands will go up to us and ask us how we are so good, how we play so tight, and how we put on such a good show, and the answer is simple: we practice, and we practice, and then we practice some more. We try to be practicing all the time, and I think it pays off.

Who would you say, as a band, has influenced and inspired you the most?

TM: We all love the band Bayside. They write awesome music with amazing lyrics that we can all relate to. Plus they rock out live and put on an amazing show.

Personally my favourite song by On The Run is “I Deserve This”, but which song do you most enjoy to listen to and/or play?

JRG: For me, "Drop Out" is a very personal song, and even though we don't normally play it live because it's mostly acoustic, it's still one of my favorites. My favorite song to play live, though, is "Leave Me Alone" It's just got a nice energy to it that I can really get into. We always rock that song very hard.

TM: My favorite song to play every night is "Leave Me Alone." It's normally the song we close with so I get to rock out as hard as I can because we are done playing when the song is over. Also, it's a song about an ex lady of mine. So it's fun getting to play it in front of new people every night. It's a good way to vent.

Who is responsible for writing lyrics for the songs or is it a combined effort? If it is a combined effort then do you write as a group or separately?

TM: John Ross and I split writing the lyrics for our songs. We just email ideas and lines back and forth until we come up with something we are both happy with. Some of the lyrics were written 100 percent by John Ross like the song "Drop Out" and "Second Guess." I wrote almost all of the lyrics for "Dont Flatter Yourself" and songs like "I Deserve This" and "Leave Me Alone" we both worked on together. For both of those songs I sent John Ross a run through of the songs and he reworded and worked them into what they are now.

JRG: Tyler is definitely my partner in crime when it comes to writing lyrics. He comes up with a lot of the ideas that go into songs, and even though I end up tweaking things to make them fit into the songs, Tyler's always the one I check in with before I consider anything set in stone. When I'm writing stuff, Tyler is always the first to see it - I want to get his opinion on it before anyone else gets a look at it. If he isn't stoked about it, I usually scrap the idea and start all over.

Is there a phrase from one of your songs which you are particularly proud of writing and why?

JRG: I don't know if I would say I'm "proud" of any of the lines I wrote, because all I do is try to write as honestly as I can. I think that there's a lot of throwaway fluff lines in music these days, and we try to avoid those as much as possible. So I think that's one thing we pride ourselves on.

What have your experiences of touring been like so far and do you have any upcoming tours dates fixed?

JRG: We've been doing short local tours, and small acoustic tours ever since we formed. We're planning on doing some regional tours in the coming year. This summer should be a big one for us as we try to break through to the next level of touring. Nothing set in stone yet, though, so you'll have to keep an eye out for updates.

Do you prefer to play at venues in your home town or in other towns and states? What is your favourite venue?

TM: I like both for different reasons. When we play in our home town it's awesome to have our fans there singing along and really getting into the music, but when we play new places its fun to meet people and see them get excited about hearing us/meeting us for the first time. Sound wise the coolest place we have ever played would be the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, NJ.

Last year you participated in the Vans Warped Tour at the Pittsburgh stop, how was that in comparison to any other shows that you had previously played? Do you intend to play at Warped in the future, and if so do you plan to perform at more stops?

 JRG: Warped was a whole different ballgame from anything we had done prior to it. I would say that, in a way, it kicked our butts. It was hot, we were tired, I almost had a heat stroke in the middle of our set... by some standards, it was a total disaster for us. But it was a HUGE learning experience, and we had a great time, and I wouldn't trade that for anything in the world. We would love to play it again, and do several dates if possible. We're currently in the contest to play Warped again this year, and we hope we get another chance to get out there with the big boys and girls, and show them that we have what it takes.

Does anyone in the band have any annoying habits which may be irritating to the others whilst on tour? Be truthful!

JRG: Hahahahaha, oh boy. I can guarantee you that everyone in the band has the same complaint: I snore, and it's pretty bad. I get punched a lot in the middle of the night because I'm keeping everyone up. Other than that, we all get along pretty well. And we keep ourselves busy by playing stupid games while on the road.

If you could go on tour anywhere in the world right now, where would you go and why?

TM: I would love to play a tour in Japan. I always see videos of bands playing there for tons of people and they seem to really care about the music.

JRG: Japan would be great, but I'd really love to tour Australia someday. And Europe. And South America. Okay, I'll just say it, I want to tour everywhere in the whole world.

What would you be doing if you weren’t part of On The Run?

TM: I would probably be in another band that wasn't as good!

JRG: I'd probably be working as a public restroom Bible salesman. Just kidding, I'd be a professional skydiver. I don't know, haha, I guess I'd be somewhere miserable in college or something like that. Lame.

Are you working on anything currently, even though you released ‘Departures’ recently?

TM: We are always working on new song ideas, our goal is to release a full length album next.

JRG: We actually started jamming out ideas for a few new songs as soon as we got back from the studio where we recorded "Departures." There was some leftover inspiration from being at the studio, and so we let the creative juices flow a bit. But we're always coming up with new ideas and new things to try out.

What are your ambitions for the band over the next few years?

TM: I want to make On The Run a full time career. I want to be able to make this my job by touring the country and releasing albums on a label. So basically I just want to keep playing shows and pushing to be a better band.

JRG: The sky is the limit. I want to see the world, and I want to meet lots of people, and I want to get punched in the middle of the night, every night, by my best friends.

Check On The Run out on Twitter @OnTheRunBAND or on http://www.facebook.com/weareontherun