Artist Spotlight: Trees Above Mandalay

Today’s Artist Spotlight is on Trees Above Mandalay.

Tress Above Mandalay is the 5-piece pop rock band from New Jersey that I think you will all LOVE. To give you a quick idea of what you can expect, they have Coheed and Cambria’s guitar breakdowns with Fall Out Boys’ gripping tongue and cheek lyrics and distinct soulful vocal styling’s. They’re the perfect fit for our Emerging Talent theme this month. Get on board now my friends, I hear endless potential here.

Trees Above Mandalay just released a new EP this past February, Growing Pains and it’s fantastic. The 6-track EP is a wonderful introduction to what this band can do. My favorite track is, “I’m Leading, You’re Biting” – give it a listen.

Take a look at our Q&A with the band below to get to them a bit better. I’m going to be SHOCKED if you don’t dig this band. #musicrules

Who are your main influences?

My favorite part about this band is that there are 5 people that actively write and each has their own personal influences that come out in our songs. When you have 5 different sets of ideas going into a song you’re going to hear a lot of different influences, however subtle they may be. We all listen to a lot of different music, some tastes are shared some are not. As a whole, I think our main influences are Beloved, Secret Lives of the Freemasons, Coheed and Cambria, Anberlin, Forgive Durden and Gatsby’s American Dream. There’s so much that goes into each song and everyone would probably tell you something different.

Tell us about the newest release and what’s your favorite track we need to listen in for.

We just released “Growing Pains” on February 19th and I can honestly say we’ve never been more proud of anything we’ve done before. Both musically and lyrically, the songs are about everything we’ve gone through in the last couple of years, both as a band and people. It’s very personal but still very relatable and that’s what I love about it. I hope people can listen to the tracks and find some comfort in knowing there are other people going through the same struggle of growing up and trying to figure out life. My favorite track on the EP is “I’m Leading, You’re Biting.” It was the first single we released and besides being my favorite to play, it’s heartfelt and honest and that’s what I hope people will hear.

Won battle of the bands last year for Warped, any future Warped tour plans for the summer?

We did and it was a great experience. Unfortunately, it was only one day but I had a great time playing. To be able to do that every day would be a dream come true. At the moment, we don’t have any dates on Warped but hopefully that changes.

Who would be your ideal touring mates for a national tour?

This is one of those questions where everyone would probably answer differently. I’m going to be selfish on this one, mostly because I’d just want to see them play every night but I’d love to tour with Bad Rabbits. They’re an absolutely amazing group of musicians and to have the chance to see them kill it day in and day out would be incredible.

Seeing a lot of east coast dates on tour what about the West?

We’ve been neglecting the west haven’t we? It’s something we’re building up toward and would be lucky to get the opportunity to get outside of the East Coast & Midwest. There’s nothing booked yet but I wouldn’t be surprised if you see us out there real soon.

What are your goals as a band for 2013?

I think for us, we just want to keep growing as musicians and people. We hope “Growing Pains” does well and people enjoy what we’re doing but we’re not going to stop. We’re going to play as much as possible but we’ve also got so many ideas for new songs already and we’re so excited to expand on what we’ve done so far. One of the best things about music is you can always get better and keep moving forward trying different things. I think we have a lot more room to grow into and this is just the beginning. We’re going to be working hard to bring you something new and different on our end, we hope everyone is as excited as us.

What do you think of Trees Above Mandalay?

Let’s talk music, let me know your thoughts in the comments below.