Interview: Genevive, Genevive, Genevive

The band Genevieve has only been in existence for a short time and they have already shown great success. Winner of WSU’s Battle of the Bands, opening for the Ying-Yang Twins at Springfest 2010, and playing in front of over one thousand people just to name a few of their accomplishments. I have been fortunate to have photographed them a few times and thought that people might want to know a little more about them, besides the fact that they are amazingly talented musicians. So sit back and enjoy this little interview I did with the band Genevieve.

1. How and when did Genevieve start?

The formation of the band Genevieve, creation of catchy and harmonious songs happened rapidly over a short amount of time and Kevin Wolford summed up the creation of the band pretty well. ”I’ve been friends with our guitarist, Jacob, for a few years now and have been in a couple of other bands together so it was just natural for us to play music together. I knew Jordan in high school but never really hung out with him until I got to WSU, but I did know that he was an MC. I met our bassist, Zac, at Alive and we said that we should jam sometime, but honestly didn’t think I would run into him again.

So Zac, Jordan, Jacob, and I ended up jamming one day in the dorm and thought that we should start a band, which is when we came up with our first song. I met our drummer, James, through the jazz combo I was in with Zac and asked him if he wanted to play with us at an open mic so he did, and then we asked him if he wanted to be in our band and said Yes.

Jacob introduced our female vocalist, Olivia, to us and collaborated with us on a song. We were trying to decide if we should have her in the band and one day we were playing music together and Olivia put the spotlight on Zac and asked him if he thinks she should be in the band. He said “I don’t see how it could hurt us,” so she was in.

I met our Saxophone player, Jon, when I had to accompany him on the piano for one of his convocation performances. We asked him to fill in for Olivia because she couldn’t make it to one of the open mic performances and remember him say that he was blown away by us, that we were so much better than he was and that he wanted to get to our level but didn’t know if he could. We never really asked Jon to be in the band, he just kind of added himself, but none of us were against it and it has made out sound better.”

2. What are your greatest musical influences when writing music?

Musical influences can have a great impact to the way a band sounds and the tones of each song. The more influences a band has the more knowledgeable they will be about different tones, melodies, and writing music. With six different instruments, ranging from saxophone and piano to bass and electric guitar, a wide range of influences is important. Some of Genevieve’s influences come from The Beatles, Billy Joel, Flea from the RHCP Whitney Houston, Jason McGerr from Death Cab for Cutie, Elton John, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Queen, Mariah Carey, Alicia keys, and Stevie Wonder. Chances are that they have numerous others and I bet they could have gone on for days with musical influences but these are some of the most important influences.

3. What were your first thought when you realized that you won WSU’s Battle of the bands and knew that you going to open for the Springfest concert?

Zac Reed thoughts “The moment I realized we won BOB I was pretty psyched, like They called the 3rd place and 2nd place bands I was worried we didn’t win, then once they called our names and we were in the band huddle it was a feeling that I cant really describe, haha. Winning the 500 bucks and learning that we got to open for the Maine and Ying-Yang twins was almost surreal being able to say, but its something I am going to remember for a while.”

Kevin Wolford thoughts “I was very nervous when they were announcing the 3rd and 2nd place winners cause I remember thinking, ok our name hasn’t been called so that means that we either did horrible and lost or won the whole thing. Then they announced “Genevieve” and remember feeling really stoked that we won. It was awesome that we won $500, but the best part was being able to play at Springfest.”

James Kasinger thoughts “My first thought after the retardedness subsided was that we were playing with the ying yang twins, and how absurd that sounded. I then proceeded to call my family and tell them the news.”

Olivia Thomas also made the point about the long term affect on winning, “I honestly just kept thinking about how drastically our crowd number was going to change. I mean in a span of 2 months we went from maybe the most being 40 to the most being 3or 4 thousand! In my opinion, the bigger the crowd the more fun the show!”

4. With so many instruments and people in the band, how easy is it to write music that everyone can agree on?

Olivia Thomas thoughts “I feel like with so many intruments it makes the creative process so much more fun. Its a huge building process you know, like if Zac makes a cool baseline then jake follows with a cool guitar melody then James creates a cool drum lick , and so on and so fourth.”

Zac Reed thoughts “when it comes to writing music, with so many people in the band its actually pretty easy. The reason for this is because since we all have somewhat different musical backgrounds, when one of us comes up with an idea, it gets passed from person to person and they each say what they think and how it can be better or if it should stay the same.”

James Kasinger “Well I really appreciate that as a band we’re very open-minded to all styles of music so it makes it much easier so cooperate. I really love the music the guys bring me, so I have never really had any complaints. I mean, we all bring something unique and special into the song writing process so I feel its pretty easy, but what do I know im just a drummer……..”

5. What were your thoughts and feels before, during, and after you played Springfest?

James Kasinger “Well a few hours before I feel like we were just concerned with being prepared making sure everything was in its right place and having a good sound check. It didn’t really kick in until after I returned to Beasley after soundcheck to see the huge line of people out there. Then I got siked, then I was like this is fucking awesome, and I just walked around feelin like I owned the place haha. It felt really natural and right. Personally I was very much in the zone. Just before we went on that’s when the nerves kicked in and I was just a big ball of nerves. I was a wreck haha, Got on stage, instinct took over and we did our thing and I was very happy with our set. Afterwards I just felt like I had walked on the moon hahaha, not really… but it was a very accomplished feeling. I slept good that night haha.”

Kevin Wolford “When we first formed the band I remember us saying how awesome it would be to perform inside Beasley Coliseum and here we were. What I remember before playing at Springfest was walking inside Beasley Coliseum and seeing how big the venue was and how many people we were going to play in front of. I can’t explain the feeling there was the moment all the lights in Beasley shut off and you hear the cheering of the crowd and see how far they spread out from the glow sticks around their necks. One of the greatest feelings ever. Then the stage lights turn on and I hear the response of the crowd to Jordan shouting “What’s up Springfest!!!!” My microphone was turned off for the first two songs so that really sucked but other than that the show went great. It was so much fun playing for all of those people but it was kind of a haze at the same time.”

Olivia Thomas “Seriously the best part of performing for me is when the crowd knows the words and they sing along with you. Hands down the best feeling in the world!”

Zac Reed “The moment the lights went off and everyone started cheering I got really pumped up and excited to play. Our set went by extremely fast to me, almost like a blur, but being on the stage and looking out and seeing a bunch of dark figures with Glow sticks everywhere was pretty cool. After our set was done we kicked it backstage and got to meet the guys from the Maine.”

6. What are the plans for Genevieve in the future?

“In the words of Jay Z, Its all about progression” – Zac Reed

For summer plans James Kasinger had a good idea of what was next for the band “Oh man future plans… were looking at being together for the long haul. So this summer were writing, trying to play shows, and deeefinitely become better musicians. Were trying to channel our drive up at WSU over to Seattle where it really counts. And when we get back next year its parties and shows all the time. Oh yeah trying to kick it with our buddy Logan next year!”

Olivia Thomas also added something important “…and continue to be about OUR music and nothing else.”

7. Where did the name Genevieve come from? How did you come up with your band name?

Zac Reed best answered this question, also offering some of the other names that the band came up with before Genevieve “Haha everyone asks this question, the name is from Jacob’s best friend back home in Parkland, her name is Genevieve and so he wanted to name the band after her haha, at first I was iffy just cause every time I spelled it I would mess it up, but now I think the name is pretty cool. Some other ideas we had were Kevin Wolford and the Wolfpack, J-mac and the Big Fries, and Zac Reed’s SuperFunk Highway express, but I think Genevieve is more suiting.”

I think that Genevieve is also the perfect name for the band. After listening to their music the name made more sense to me. Their sound really does fit the name Genevieve. See for your self. Check out Genevive on Mypace and Facebook now!! But only if you want to listen to good music, you should.