Interview – Count Me In

By: Amanda Hather

Kelowna, BC pop punk band, Count Me In formed in 2011. Influenced from pop punk giants such as Blink 182, Green Day, All Time Low, Fall Out Boy and Sum 41, the band aims to bridge the gap between old and new pop punk. Want to learn more about this band? Be sure to check them out on their social media as well as continue to read this interview.

What kinds of things inspire you to write new songs?

It all depends on what we have going on in our lives. As stereotypical as it is, we definitely write alot about girls. Good relationships, bad relationships and everything in between. We like girls. We also write about really deep stuff too like partying and hanging out with our friends. I know right? Whoa! That’s some next level pop punk right there.

If you weren’t in music, what do you think you would be doing?

Both myself (Jason) and Alex have a lot going on in our life that isn’t music related so honestly our life would probably just be the same… but without music haha I play a lot of video games and I’m a huge comic book nerd and Alex plays lots of sports so there would probably just be more of that.

If you could tour with any band or artist, who would it be?

I think blink-182 or New Found Glory are the easy answers for this question. Alex loves the shit out of Mayday Parade so he’d probably wanna throw that in there.

If someone hadn’t heard your music before, how would you describe it to them? What song would you suggest they listen to first?

I would say we’re kind of this shit mix of different variations of pop punk.. We’re kind of a cross between blink-182 and NFG but I also think there are elements that are similar to newer pop punk bands such as Man Overboard and Handguns. I would say, if you like pop punk then you would probably not hate us.

What is your favourite song off of ‘The Sharks Are Out’ to perform?

Probably either ‘Keep Your Friends Close…’ or ‘High School’ both are up beat songs that rarely slow down, also known as “Bangers”

How does your new album ‘She’s Your Problem Now’ compare to ‘The Sharks Are Out’?

Oh man.. To us, it’s like night and day. ‘Sharks’ was a good learning tool for us, our first real recording and it was great for the time but ‘She’s Your Problem Now’ in our opinion is light years ahead of it in terms of the quality of sound and song writing. With ‘Sharks’, we were striving for something that we couldn’t quite get to but with ‘Problem’ we defintely found what we were looking for.

When you’re writing songs, what comes first? (E.g. lyrics, melody, etc.)

Alex and I both usually write on our acoustics, usually just strumming a few chords and coming up with a melody that we like and then we just build from there. Alex and I usually write our own songs and then show them to each other once we have somewhat of an idea of a full song.

What advice would you give to someone trying to break out in the music industry?

Just do what you love and what makes you happy. There’s so much that you just can’t control so try not to get caught up with all the bullshit that comes along with the music industry. Just play music and keep yourself positive and everything else that happens will just be gravy. If you’re already happy doing what you love, then you’ve already won.

What’s coming up next for you?

CMI: Well after we release the album on July 15th, we’ll be gearing up for a cross Canada tour in August so watch out for that!! We’re going all the way to Quebec so if we’re hitting up a town near you, come out and say hi! We’re really nice dudes.

At Canadian Beats we like to throw in some fun questions so your fans can find out more about you:

What is the first song you remember listening to?

Growing up, I predominantly had 3 different albums playing around me at all times. The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Queen – Greatest Hits and a summer themed complilation CD called “Sun Jammin”. I would imagine the first song I remember is something from one of those three.

What is your favourite childhood memory?

That’s a tough one… I would probably have to say just hanging out with my friends around my neighborhood. We weren’t the most adventurous and didn’t really get into any trouble but we had fun and we were completely care free and it was the shit.

Any guilty pleasures?

See next question.

Go to karaoke song?

I’m a huge karaoke nerd. I’ll go to this local bar every Wednesday for weeks on end for wings and karaoke.
My go to would have to be:
Larger Than Life – Backstreet Boys.
Honorable Mention: Bad Touch – The Bloodhound Gang.

You’re stranded on a desert island, name three things you would want to have with you.

Bow & Arrow, a green tunic and Jeff Probst. A bow & arrow to hunt with, a green tunic to wear and pretend im Green Arrow with while I hunt and Jeff Probst to make cool Survivor challenges to do and stuff. “JASON WINS IMMUNITY” *throws hands into the air*

Favourite pastime?

Really crazy, exciting things that aren’t nerdy at all like watching TV, playing video games and reading comic books. I watch a lot of YouTube videos too.. That place consumes my soul sometimes.

If you could see any band or artist in concert, who would it be?

As far as bands I haven’t already seen.. Dead (Mostly): Definitely The Beatles
Still alive: The Starting Line.

Top three places you’d like to travel?

Australia because party. UK because party. Japan because パーティー (party)

What is something your fans may not know about you?

Our fans already know everything about us because our fans are our mother’s and friends who we’ve beaten into liking us.

If you were ever in charge of putting together a festival, who would you have playing at it?

Us.. Obviously. All our B.C. homies like The ‘I’ In Team, The Deadset, Trace The Sky, Map The North and Sharks! On Fire! would come out of retirement for it. Then we’d have some other bands like blink 182, Fall Out Boy and Paramore or something to play after us.

And finally, anything you’d like to say to your fans?

Thanks to anybody who’s ever checked us out at a show and not hated us, actually paid real money for something we created and just supported us in any way really.. we appreciate it more than you know!! Keep it sleazy ya’ll.

She’s Your Problem Now: http://countmeinpoppunk.bandcamp.com/
Our Review: https://canadianbeats.ca/2014/07/15/review-count-me-in/

Count Me In on social media:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/cmipoppunk
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/countmeinpoppunk/timeline
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/countmeinpoppunk