If you're from North Jersey, you've heard about Solfege Radio. The guys won Battle of the Bands last year, coming back from a measly 4th place finishing in the semifinals as the underdogs. They've got 2 new tracks on iTunes now, and are playing this Saturday, August 15, 2009, at Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, NJ. I had a chance to chat with Marco, Joey, & Jon about their new tracks, hidden secrets, and Marco's new cape.


Colleen: Alright, here we go… this is actually my first interview with Rain City Ambience, just to let you know. Just say your name, age, and instrument you play.
Joey: I’m Joey Nester. I’m 17, and I play guitar & sing backup vocals.
Jon: I’m Jon Stolpe. I’m 18 & I play guitar.
Marco: I’m Marco Torriani. I’m 17 & I do lead vocals.
Colleen: So this is 3 out of the 5. Who’s missing?
Joey: Matt Stolpe, Jon’s brother. He’s 14 & plays drums. Connor Wilson, who just turned 16, plays bass.
Marco: So we’re youngins.

Colleen: HA. 14? Wow. So, I know I’m not allowed to ask you guys about how your band name was formed, but how did you guys meet?
Joey: Me & Marco have been in the same grade since I moved here in kindergarten. Then, Jon started coming around. I remember going to his house the day after Christmas when I was like 8. Marco & I used to be in this band and that broke up…
Jon: Marco and I used to be in a band…
Joey: and then that broke up and they formed a band, and they formed another band…
Marco: It was just a whole collision of bands forming.
Joey: Then, we just united and became what is now Solfege Radio.
Colleen: Uniting forces…
Joey: Just like the Justice League of Floram Park Musicians.
Jon: We met Connor at East Hanover Park, which is where we go to high school, so we all go to school together.

Colleen: Awesome. So, when did you realize you wanted to be in a band with each other?
Jon: We’d all been in bands for the last couple of years since we were old enough and Marco had been talking to my brother, Matt, about starting a band. I started talking to him because I just gotten out of another band. The three of us decided, “Oh, well, we all need a new band now so we should start with the three of us.” I knew this kid named Connor from school who knew how to play bass, why don’t we just bring him in?
Joey: So what they did was they joined the New Jersey Battle of the Bands by accident. He didn’t mean to. Jon just clicked on something and the next day, Jersey Shows called him up saying, “Hey, so you want to do the battle?”
Jon: Yeah, it just said, “Click here to contact or Click here to register” and I clicked it, and it said “Thank you, someone will contact you shortly”. And I said, “Oh, we’ve been a band for like…. 2 weeks now.” February 10, 2008 was our first show at the first round of battle of the bands. We were a four-piece at the time. Joey wasn’t in the band yet. There was like a 50 ticket minimum show so, we put together like a 6-7 song set for that.
Colleen: By pure accident? Wow.
Joey: After that, the four of them went through the battle after winning a bunch of rounds… like four rounds… It was like, mid July, and Jon calls me up while I’m sitting in my basement saying, “Yo, dude, do you want to play guitar for Solfege Radio?” I was like, “Um that’d be pretty cool.” I actually went to see them play during a few of the battles. So, then Jon said, “Yeah, our next show is at Starland [New Jersey’s Battle of the Band’s finals] in a few weeks. Let’s start as soon as possible. We’ll teach you the songs.” I started practicing with them. Marco used to play guitar, and I took that over & added harmonies. Then the rest is history.

Colleen: Tell us about Starland & Battle of the Bands in New Jersey…
Joey: We went through the semi-finals of Battle of the Bands, and on to the finals, and from there on we won.
Jon: After getting 4th in semis. We played horrible.
Joey: It’s a wonder we won, actually.
Joey: Anytime we get to play there, we’re psyched. Marco & I have played with our old band there like 3 times. This will be our 3rd time playing there as Solfege Radio playing Saturday.
Jon: We’re actually playing twice as guest champions. This is like, the final 8 out of what… 300 bands?
Joey: We’re psyched to play because we’re playing at the spot right before they announce the winners. All the bands will be milling around.
Marco: There fans will be there & our fans will come down, so the place should be pretty packed.
Joey: And hopefully, like when we played last year, there was such a tension in the room while they were tallying scores. There’s just this animosity between bands.
Marco: Yeah, people are getting thrown out, like some of the parents. They’re yelling, “F*ck you, my son should have won!” Security had to come and kick them out.
Jon: Yeah, it gets pretty rough. There were some nasty words from other bands as well.
Joey: W e were in the merch area just talking to the guys, and there was this mom from this metal band who just goes….”GRRRRAAAAWWWWWWWRRRRRR”

Colleen: So, what/who are you musical influences?
Joey: Growing up, when I first started playing guitar, it was Green Day. They were the coolest, but now days I’m more into indie, more folksy, I’m still punk rock as hell. I pride myself on my musical taste.
Jon: We all listen to kind of the same stuff, a lot of different stuff as well. None of us listen to just one style, either. This band is what we all kind of agree on. Like Joey said, I listened to a lot of bad stuff back in the day, but now, lately, I’ve been listening to a ton of Anthony Green, Brand New… that goes for Joey & Marco too… We all agree that Brand New is one of our major influences. I remember seeing the Jude Law video back in the bay thinking, “I wanna do that. That looks fun.” I listen to a little bit of everything… A Day To Remember, I’ve seen them live a couple times. They always have a good show. Basically anything good & I can get into.
Marco: I love pop punk as much as the next guy. The past couple years, I’ve been getting into Radiohead, Interpol… Jon got me into Bright Eyes. I really like them, they’re pretty interesting. Oh, and also Animal Collective.

Colleen: Awesome. So tell me how supportive your friends & family have been through this journey?
Marco: So supportive.
Joey: Jon’s family especially. We’ve been practicing in their basement. They’ve been putting up with our noise for like… 3 and a half years.

Colleen: What did it feel like to win Battle of the Bands last year?
Joey: Surreal.
Marco: We pretty much sucked then.
Joey: We did really suck… But the judges saw the potential. At that point, I had only been in the band for like 2 months. Things really weren’t as tight as they are now. Since then we’ve grown so much as a band, especially in the way we write songs now.
Jon: We only focused on that one battle. It was all we had at the time. We weren’t like, “Oh, let’s play this sweet show over here or sell a bunch of tickets for this promoter.” It was more like we need to focus on this show and if it works out, the prizes alone will really help the band. It is a good way to get in with Jersey Shows.
Joey: When we won, it was just like a culmination of all the hard work we had done. Before that show, we had been practicing like every day. It was in the summer, in Jon’s basement, hot as hell.
Jon: That really guided our path after that. We were offered a recording contract with Danimal Records and Jersey Shows started booking shows throughout the state and in Pennsylvania. This summer we’ve been doing a north east sort of run, like we just toured to Massachusetts.

Colleen: Awesome! So, let’s get more specific. You guys have some tracks available on iTunes Tuesday, the 11th.
Joey: TUESDAY! Yeah, can’t wait!
Jon: Brand New’s single comes out that day.
Joey: And something else on Country Music… television.
Colleen: What?! That doesn’t sound lame at all…
Joey: When we were out in Massachusetts, all we watched was CMT.
Jon: There were only a couple channels to choose from.
Joey: There was one with an album out August 11, and we were like, “Oh, how fortuitist.”
Jon: A lot of THAT and a lot of shark week.
Joey: That’s now over, I believe.

Colleen: That’s always sad. So, anyways, tell me about the tracks?
Joey: There’s “Eleven”…
Jon: Which is out on myspace now, and on samplers…
Joey: and “New Jersey in Denial.” That was also put on some samplers. But, “Eleven!” we recorded first…
Jon: As a five piece. We had an old EP, but that was a long time ago, so…
Marco: Dude, let’s not talk about that.
Joey: They recorded it before I joined, and I told them, “Dude, that EP is not that good.”
Marco: Wow. Thanks!
Joey: Anyways, “Eleven”… a lot of people like that song…
Colleen: Now, who wrote it?
Jon: Oh, it was the three of us.
Joey: It’s a collective thing, actually. Jon came up with that riff in the beginning.
Jon: Then, Joey wrote a song kind of around it. Then, we worked with Marco on the melodies and the lyrics. As far as music goes, my brother comes up with his own drums, Joey & I work on guitars, and the bass just fits right into that. What that song is about is …
Joey: The night after Garden State! It was like, a couple months after the battle.
Jon: Our first show after the battle.
Joey: Yeah, at the Garden State Music Factory. It was only open for one night and we headlined it. We came back here [to Jon’s house] just partying with some close friends. It was a lot of fun. The whole idea of the song is tribute to having a good time with your friends.
Jon: Not have any worries. We did that after Starland as well. But, there really are no venues out here. There’s no scene. Being at a show, playing with bands… even if they’re bands you know… you love to play with and you’re cool with… There’s never after parties. No one says, “Hey, we’re going to so-and-so’s house after we go out and eat”. It’s not like that at all. It sucks. And for us to do that FINALLY, it was awesome. That’s the way it should be, but unfortunately, that’s not the way it is anymore.
Joey: Yeah, we got the world to save.

EVERYONE: WE GOT THE WORLD TO SAVEE!!!

Jon: The other song, “Jersey”, we recorded second. We actually wrote it before "Eleven". It’s more of homage to living in New Jersey. It’s a hometown favorite song where “Eleven” has a wider appeal to everyone.
Joey: Well, there’s a lot to appeal with “Jersey”. It’s really like 2 different stories intertwined.
Jon: There’s like a love story and an “I-need-to-get-the-hell-out-of-here” story.
Joey: Around here that’s all you have.
Jon: The people you know…
Joey: And the people you want to get away from.
Jon: Marco’s melody tells one side of the story, and Joey’s tells another. Then they since the harmony together.
Joey: The bridge is like an… climatic combo.

Colleen: Alright, so you’re all on twitter. Which one of you tweets the most?
Joey & Marco: Jon!
Jon: Really? You think so?
Joey: I had my twitter for a while before I was in the band.
Marco: I tweet the least.
Joey: It’s because Jon has his hooked up to his phone. I don’t. When we’re on tour, we don’t have access to Wi-Fi.
Jon: We try to stay connected with our myspace and our twitters online, but it’s hard when we’re [on tour] stranded without internet.
Joey: Internet networking… everyone around here just spends most of their time on the internet anyway. So if there’s a show, [that’s how we let people know].
Marco: In the industry, that’s all they’re looking at now, like myspace and purevolume.

Colleen: What’s the most embarrassing show moment?
Joey: When I broke my guitar….
Jon: We definitely have more embarrassing ones…
Marco: I used to do this thing, in Jersey it would work, but I would just jump down from the stage during Jon’s solo in our song “Take Me Back”. I would jump down to the barricade, into the crowd, push some kid, and start a circle pit. I tried it in [Philadelphia], and it didn’t work.
Jon: That’s when we found out that Pennsylvania suburb kids don’t like it when you call them “fuckers”.
Marco: Cause in Jersey, if you [tell the crowd], “hey, fuckers, come to the stage”, and the crowd yells back, “YEAH! YOU ASS HOLES!” That’s how it is in Jersey. In Philly, they’re like, “whoa… what I do to you?”
Joey: Most embarrassing show moment was when Connor got arrested before a show. I had to show up later, and I got a call saying that Connor got arrested. He had to get picked up from his parents. He stole a Powerbar.
Jon: No, a meal replacement bar.
Joey: He won’t let us forget that. But, he just put it in his pocket and got caught. I ended up playing bass, and Marco ended up playing guitar. It was just embarrassing because we had to explain that our bassist got arrested. It was cool show, though.

Colleen: Alright, what’s the craziest thing a fan has ever done at a show?
Jon: There were some bras thrown on stage at Get Heard Fest.
Joey: They were thrown just on stage, so I took one and put it around Marco’s neck.
Marco: I thought it was a cape.
Joey: Yeah, that night the Statelmen, who are playing at Battle of the Bands, came up and sang with us.
Jon: Yeah, gang vocals during a show…
Marco: That’s the thing about Solfege Radio shows… You never know what’s going to happen.
Colleen: Yeah, bras with capes.
Jon: Oh, Joey signed a pregnant girl’s stomach once.
Joey: The girl kept showing people her stomach. I was like, “No, that’s not cool.” Then she asked me to sign it. [Afterward] she was like, “Oh no! Is the ink going to seep into the baby?!” That was awkward, but whatever.

Colleen: Alright, we have some fan questions… I did not make these up… Coke or Pepsi?
Joey: COhhhhhhhhhhKKKEEEEE!!
Jon & Marco: Coke.
Joey: I keep Coke in business.
Colleen: Wow. Myspace or Facebook?
Marco: Facebook. I don’t have a personal myspace. For my band, it’s great. I love it.
Joey: For the band, myspace. We have a Facebook for Solfege Radio, but…
Jon: Who uses that? See, around here, no one uses myspace anymore, so it’s all on Facebook.
Colleen: Alright, Megan Fox or Angelina Jolie?
Marco: Angelia now or at her prime, like Tomb Raider Angelia?
Joey: Both. I mean, Megan is hot, but Angelia is a woman.
Marco: I’d say Megan Fox, man.
Jon: I don’t really know…
Colleen: Well, these ARE the fan’s questions. Oh gosh, Boxers or Briefs?
Jon: Boxer-briefs.
Joey & Marco: Boxers…
[there you have it, ladies!]
Jon: My jeans are tight, so, boxer briefs. Boxers get too bunchy.

Colleen: Haha. What’s your daily routine like?
Marco: go to bed at 5 AM… wake up at 4 PM during summer. During the school year, I have something almost every hour.
Joey: I get up at a reasonable hour… take a shower. Like, 9 AM.
Jon: Joey is the only one that still works. Yeah, I wake up really late. I just hang out at my house, sometimes with my girlfriend for a while. We’ll practice. Most of us stay up, Joey likes to sleep.
Joey: They call me “the Grandpa” cause if there’s one person who will bail on plans to get more sleep it’s me. I still go out, but I love my sleep.
Jon: Tour is a lot different. Basically, we sleep in as late as we can, go find people to come to the show, play the show, then go back to sleep.
Jon: [At home], we all hang out at Starbucks too much.
Marco: Sometimes, when I’m bored, I’ll just go to Starbucks and see who shows up.

Colleen: Apparently, I’ve been going to the wrong Starbucks. So tell us, what pet peeves do you have?
Joey: I’m an easy going guy. On tour, I went 8 days without showering just so I could say I experienced that.
Jon: When I don’t get a shower…
Marco: When people leave my cabinets in my kitchen open. OH and bugs.
Jon: New Jersey Drivers!

Colleen: Some of these fans will be very happy. Alright, What’s the most embarrassing album you own?
Marco: I don’t know if I still have it, but Sisqo.
Jon: I don’t know my NSYNC albums went to… from back in the day.
Marco: Dude, that’s not embarrassing. That’s true music right there.
Joey: I don’t download embarrassing music.
Colleen: You couldn’t download albums when you were like… 10.
Jon: Come on… what’s the most embarrassing?
Joey: Uh, maybe…. I don’t know. Everything on my iTunes I will in fact listen to it. I’m not really embarrassed by anything.
Colleen: Someone’s gunna plant a Lizzie McGuire album on you after this.
Joey: I’ll be happy to talk about it.
Marco: I have a song by Ashley Parker Angel on my iTunes. I just like the song.

Colleen: Mmmmm, alright then? If Solfege Radio were like the seven dwarfs, what would each of your names be?
Joey: I’d be Sleepy. Hands down.
Jon: Can I be Doc?
Joey: Marco is Sleazy.

Laughter

Marco: Fuck you.
Joey: No, Jon, you’d be Girly. Matt would be Pimpy.
Colleen: But he’s 14…
Joey: Matt has a girlfriend who’s 16. All the girls in our high school love Matt.
Colleen: and Connor?
Jon & Joey: Jewy.
Jon: For the record, we don’t have a problem with Jews, but Connor can fit the stereo type. We’ll all go to McDonald’s and he’ll get everything on the dollar menu. Unless I’m on tour, I would never just want to go to McDonalds.
Joey: Dude, I would. It’s cheap. I’m a fan of improv order.

Colleen: So, are there any rumors about Solfege Radio you want to clear up?
Jon: We are not hermaphrodites. Did you guys see that myspace message?
Joey: What? No.
Jon: Some people think we’re assholes, but we’re really not.
Marco: There was a complaint at a place we played a show at because we didn’t hang out with the employees. It was like we were too “sick” for them. They looked like they always had something to do. But they complained that we didn’t talk to them.
Joey: We’re actually pretty nice guys.
Jon: I’ve had some good conversations with those Hottopic employees. We’ve showed up at clubs being obnoxious of guys…
Colleen: You’re teenage boys…
Joey: We’d rather be loud and obnoxious with you… There are always going to be people who think you’re assholes. To those who think it, it’s your fault because you didn’t take the time to get to know us.

Colleen: What’s next for you guys?
Jon: We have a show at Hottopic on Long Island. I liked playing there.
Marco: The scene is still strong there. Everyone knows each other. It seems like bigger bands that have come from Long Island help smaller bands get shows.
Joey: I wish that was more here, but that’s what’s next. Next up is Starland, and then we all go out to Connecticut. When school starts, we won’t go too far out. Expect to see us around Jersey… Beyond shows, we’re hoping to go up and record two more song, and then we could record an EP.

Colleen: I’d be more than happy to review it for you. Alright, do you have any qs or last thoughts?
All: GO BUY OUR STUFF ON ITUNES!