Sitting Down with Dayton's Life After Lifoff

We first met Dayton’s Life After Liftoff earlier this summer when the band was competing in the Canal Street Tavern’s Battle of the Bands. The band blew me away that night with their energy and charisma on stage. The guys have been busy since then making new videos, touring the Mid-West, and working in the studio. Lisa and I were able to catch the band a few weeks ago at W.O. Wright’s in Fairborn, OH for their Back to School Bash. What a show; the guys continue to set the Miami Valley on fire with their brand of Pop-Punk. So I was stoked when the guys invited Buckeye Music Magazine into the bands practice facility for an interview to discuss the new video, the Warped Tour, and the bands plans for 2012. In case you are new to the Life After Liftoff family let me take a moment to introduce the band.

Lee Weiss: Guitar, Vocals 

Jason Sigritz: Bass, Back-up Vocals

Dan Malloy: Drums, Back-up Vocals

BMM: I noticed that you reach a milestone for the Memory of You video, 2000 hits.

LW: We did, just this past Thursday we reached that benchmark, and it was exciting.

BMM: You guys looked like you were having fun shooting the video; was it fun?

JS: It was long! At times it was GREAT, but I think the best part was the pizza.

LW: I think for me just knowing that we had enough people willing to stay all day with us; we wouldn’t have been as energetic if it weren’t for them.

RC: The high school kids in the video were there for about 10 hours were there.

BMM: Really?

RC: Yeah! We threw a pizza party for them and we goofed around, played some games and tried to keep them energetic. And what was actually cool was that we have more kids at the end than we did at the beginning of the video because people were telling their friends you should come up this is kind of fun. But yeah it was a long day.

LW: It was fun!

BMM: I really like the video, I mean you had dancing girls and everything.

JS: Oh yeah, we went all out!

LW: Speaking of dancing, the kids ended up having a dancing contest in the middle of like the cafeteria.

JS: Yeah we are thinking of having another video; I actually have a lot of that footage, kind of behind the scenes stuff.

LW: It was one of those days that was long and hard but at the end it was totally worth it.

BMM: Did you guys produce the video yourself?

LW: We all kind of came in with the concepts and Taylor Foiles who directed and shot the video kind of came in and helped with little things here and there. So it was kind of a collected effort between us and Taylor.

BMM: He worked on the first video too didn’t he?

LW: He did, he’s done pretty much done all our videos thus far and our photography. Any of the official images you see he’s done.

BMM: He seems like a really talented kid.

RC: He is awesome; he has the driest, coolest since of humor. You don’t know that he’s joking with you until he cracks the tiniest of smiles. You’re like, Oh, Okay!

LW: You have to always be on your feet when you’re hangin out with Taylor. 

RC: Yeah he is a cool guy!

BMM: You guys have been receiving some amazing press the past few months from some great publications like the Dayton Daily News, The Sound Alarm, and Buckeye Music Magazine. Do you think part of the reason for that is your social media presence? I mean you guys are constantly online on Facebook or some other media platform promoting your video or your next show.

LW: I think that has a lot to do with it. I think everyone here has stepped up the past year and everyone is getting involved in it. If it’s not me it’s Dan or whatever on Twitter, or Jason on Facebook. I think that without social media it would be a lot different with press and things. I think it’s the easiest and fasted way for people to learn everything about the band.

RC: And Jen (Jen Appel) who like does our PR is relentless; as you probably know. She will send an E-mail to anyone who has an E-mail address. It seems like bands just assume that the Dayton Daily News is just gonna find them by accident someday. And with Jen really going out of her way to give them all details and things has really help people find us a little easier. She does a great job.

BMM: Do you think some bands fail to take advantage of social media.

RC: For sure, I was in multiple bands before this and but we never had this kind of press. And it’s amazing to have someone on your side whose sole job is that. We do a lot of social media and stuff but our job at the end of the day to make the music work. And it’s kind of nice to have somebody else who is kind of heading up that other realm of the band business for us.

BMM: Speaking of the music, the Memory of You video shows folks a glimpse of what your live show is like. How would you guys describe your live show to someone who hasn’t seen you yet?

JS: I would definitely use that word. That’s the word I like to use anytime we are asked that question. That’s what we try to bring to it, you know our music is up-beat and energetic to begin with, and we really like to get people involved and show them how excited we are.

DM: I think that interactive and fun is what I usually say. Because we definitely try to get the crowd into it and I think it is pretty easy to tell we have a lot of fun when we’re playing around and hangin out.

RC: I would say it is non-stop. We are in the process of really ironing out our live show. We haven’t really finished it yet, it’s gonna be a full production. The idea is that once we hit play for the whole set it will go all the way to the end. And the energy just will not stop. We try and make it as much fun as possible. It hurts the next day but it’s totally worth it.

LW: Its fun, I think that if we can’t have as much fun on stage as we do it wouldn’t be fun for the crowd and everyone watching. We want to make sure that anyone who comes out is having as much fun as we are.

BMM: So where does that energy come from?

JS: Honestly, I know this is gonna sound cheesy, but I think that it is the love we have for the music and the love we have for sharing it with people.

DM: If were being cheesy on that too, I think that whenever someone s getting excited about what you’re doing it makes you get excited too.

RC: It’s really important for a concert to have that kind of energy because when you’re putting on a concert you are putting on a show and you are an entertainer at that point. If people just want to hear your CD they can probably just stay home and hear it. But they are coming for that experience, they want to see our attitudes and personalities shine through when we’re playing.

JS: And to make sure we can play!

RC: Yeah and to make sure we can play. But yeah they want that interaction and fun. I’ve seen lots of bands that sound good and stuff but they just stand there. I don’t ever want to be that band.

LW: I don’t know I think it just kind of happens you know the feeling we all get when we step out in stage and we see it through to the end.

JS: That’s the cheesiest one!

LW: Whatever! I think I’m the one who when it’s over can go another couple of hours. I don’t think any of us really have a time to rest before a show. It’s always school or work two hour before we get ready for the show. Then we are on till the bar or venue closes.

BMM: What’s been your favorite venue? 

RC: Warped Tour, does that count?

JS: Yeah Riverbend, even with the heat it was still incredible.

RC: Yeah I think for the overall show Warped Tour at Riverbend was amazing. Tons of people, not the biggest stage, it was crazy hot, I think we all almost died from heat exhaustion but it was just so much fun! It’s an experience that a handful of bands get to experience so for me that’s the coolest stage we have played on.

BMM: You guys had to be voted on right?

JS: It was a mixture between voting and judges. You pick the venue when you sign up you would like to play at and through fans and other bands voting for you; if you get in the top 100 in that area then a panel of industry judges go through that top 100 and pick the bands. So it was really cool to get that recognition from people who are in the business. We all took it as we are doing something right.

LW: But I think for local area venues W.O. Wright’s is one of our favorites just to go and play. It’s always a bunch of our friends and a family that shows up and that’s always fun.

RC: It’s a cool bar; they have all kinds of great lights, a great atmosphere, and sound system.

BMM: They have a great staff there as well.

LW: Oh yeah, Dan and all the girls; everyone there is incredible. We are very lucky to have that venue in Dayton.

BMM: So what can fans expect from Life After Liftoff in 2012?

LW: We plan on doing a lot of touring; we’re going to be doing a video for every song that we put out for our records and we have two EP’s coming out in the next 12 to 14 months.

BMM: You guys also have a big announcement coming up here in a few minutes too right?

 LW: Yeah it’s happening tonight. Once everything is said I think all press and media are going to have an update so everyone will have all the details to talk about. But we received some news that’s really kind of cool for us. I think it’s the first thing since Warped Tour that we all are really excited about.

BMM: Well I know you have your announcement coming up soon so I want to thank you guys for taking the time to sit down with us.

LAL: Thank you for coming out.

BMM: It was our pleasure.