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Presenting to you today an interview with Baltimore based pop-rockers 3PM. You may remember the guys from the interview I did with them back in 2015 at Warped Tour where the guys were the official catering band for that year's tour, providing food for all the bands working on the main stage that year. The band have a new lead singer in tow, Aaron O'Connor and the guys were nice enough to sit down for a chat to talk about how they found Aaron, how he fits into the current mold of the band, their experiences recording together, and their hopes for the future. Plus, we talk about that YouTube vid where Aaron introduced himself, and looked mighty fine appearing in the nude! Here is the transcript from our chat:
What have you guys been up to since the last time we spoke at Warped back in 2015?
A whole lot has happened since we last spoke. We have a new singer, we’re finishing up production on our new album that we did with Matt Squire, and we announced our OMG Tour in March.
Let's talk about the newest addition to the group: your new lead singer Aaron, how did you stumble upon him?
It was such a stroke of luck! We were searching for a new singer on every social media platform from every state. We were getting ambitious and searched #singer on Twitter and found a cover video of Aaron’s that someone shared. If we had searched 5 minutes earlier or later, we would’ve never found him.
Aaron, what was behind the idea of you appearing naked in a YouTube video, was that entirely your idea? A lot of people really loved seeing that!
That idea was a group effort. We got the idea while brainstorming for an interesting way to announce me as the newest edition. The “naked” idea came up as a joke at first, but then we all decided that it might be funny. We just like to have fun!
Has the overall sound of the group changed since Aaron came onboard or is everything pretty much the same?
Yes, the sound has definitely changed. We’ve always primarily been a pop-punk band but we were looking to do something different. When we created this new album with Matt Squire, who’s been very successful in the pop industry (producing albums for P!ATD, Ariana Grande, One Direction, etc.), we decided to shift our focus to pop-rock.
Give us a sense of how you guys normally operate when it comes to writing songs together, is it truly a collaborative effort?
It’s absolutely a collaborative effort. We’re all very strong creatives. One of us will bring a concept to the table and we will all come up with more elements to add to the song until it is complete.
You guys have been doing a ton of Facebook Live videos recently doing covers that fans seem to be enjoying it also, how did this idea come about?
We wanted a way to reach out to our fans more personally (other than promoting at shows. We decided that we could talk to our fans from home by doing live videos where they can ask us questions and talk to us about anything.
Give us a sense of what the music scene is like in Baltimore and what up and coming bands you've been digging?
Baltimore has a very active music scene and it’s only been getting stronger for the past few years. We’ve been really digging Others May Fall, The Great Heights Band, and The Stifled and we will also be playing with those bands at the Baltimore Soundstage on March 17th.
What is your top pick for favorite food around the Baltimore area and the best spot for crab cakes?
The Rusty Scupper is in the inner harbor and is known for amazing seafood in Maryland. Our top pick for favorite food would have to be Paper Moon.
What's on tap for the rest of the year, any shows planned around Boston sometime soon?
Well we actually have our tour coming up in March, called OMG We’re On Tour. As of right now we don’t have any shows for Boston planned, but sometime hopefully in the future.
Lastly, how much have you guys bonded with Aaron since he joined and does this chemistry really feel special?
We’ve literally been together 24 hours a day for the past 4 months, so we’ve bonded quite a bit. There’s nothing more special in bonding than chasing a dream together.
Thanks once again to Scott. Aaron, and Brandon for being so gracious in doing this interview! When I was told about these guys via e-mail a couple of years ago that they were going to be at Warped Tour, I knew that they had something special instilled within them, and I'm so glad that they are out there chasing their dreams and bonding together as musicians and as best friends as well. For more on 3PM, 'Like' them on Facebook at this spot here and follow their travels over on Twitter via this locale here.