Phone Calls From Home is a three-piece band from Boston, Massachusetts. The band is comprised of: David Place on vocals and bass, Zack Gowan on vocals and guitar, and Jeff Amadei on drums.
The band is currently signed to Red Blue Records.
How did Phone Calls From Home get their name?
Dave: We had a local band before this one. Same members, different name. We wanted a better name so we decided to each come up with 5 names a day. We had about a hundred by the end of the week and this one stuck out the most by far. We all knew it. We love it because it sounds like it has emotion and reminiscence behind it.
How did the band start?
Dave: Zack and I have been playing together since we were 12. Jeff was in another hometown band and we always played shows together. We needed a drummer and his band had just broke up… and then the magic happened.
What are some of the band’s major influences?
Dave: Blink 182, Jimmy Eat World, Taking Back Sunday, Switchfoot
Where do you see the band in a couple years?
Dave: I want us to be happy and touring and making a living out of it. Of course I’d like to be a world-wide success, but we would all be content just being able to make a decent living out of it.
What’s the hardest thing about touring for the band?
Dave: It’s becoming easier and easier because the tours are getting better and the people we bring along are always fun. That and we meet more and more people so we have more nationwide friends. The hardest would still be eating. We are either too busy or too poor to ever have a good meal.
You recently did a cover of Akon’s “Don’t Matter”, what made you guys decide to cover this song?
Dave: We wanted a song that came out recently that everyone knew, but that someone didn’t do already. And we were looking at the best covers that people have done and we noticed that the good ones are people completely changing the style of the song (rather than just playing the regular song) and really making it their own. Since we are already pop-rock, it made it hard to play any radio songs people know because it sounds too much like us already. So we picked a Jamaican slow R&B rap song and changed it into a solid rock song. I like it!
If you could tour with any band, who would you choose?
Dave: Blink 182.
Who writes the songs for the band?
Dave: I generally write the melodies and structure for the song. I will write most of the song on an acoustic and show it to the others. They will put in their two cents and try to make it better. I always do lyrics after I right all the melodies, just because it’s easier for me to write a good strong melody than it is to write special lyrics. I’m no poet.
What is the band currently up to?
Dave: We are taking some time to practice for our next tour. I’m promoting at a few Blink concerts coming by. We are doing a new music video for Don’t Matter in LA so we are driving down there in a couple weeks and then touring all September and October on the “Screw the Party, Let’s Sleep in the Van Tour”. Also…. some good news… our music video for “Light The Fuse” will be on FUSE On Demand, Guess, Tilly’s, Foot Locker, Gold’s Gym, Powerhouse, Bally’s Fitness, and even hotel chains nationwide in September and our new CD hits stores September 29th nationwide. Please tell everyone you know. Thanks for the questions. Have a fun week!
A huge thanks to Dave for the interview and to the band’s manager Mike Krilivsky for setting up the interview. You can download the band’s debut album “Connected” on iTunes now and preorder the deluxe edition online, which is set for release September 29th.
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