Interview by Rachel Jablonski
This could be a possibility: Valencia is refreshment in an overindulgent splurge of pop/punk acts. Without quandary, the band from Philly displays a fresh sound on their debut album which sets them apart from most bands in the genre today. A couple of days after their album release and a few days before Halloween, I spoke with guitarist Brendan Walter who revealed just enough to spark intrigue for people who don’t know too much about the band. Que Sera Sera: Valencia.
Rachel: Your new record, This Could Be a Possibility, was released on Tuesday. Congratulations! How does it feel to have a debut out?
Brendan: Thank you very much. It feels really good. We haven’t ever released anything this professionally done; this is the first “real” release so it’s really exciting.
Rachel: What else have you released independently?
Brendan: We’ve just done demos and stuff like that – burned CDs we’ve done ourselves, but nothing "real" so far, so this is it.
Rachel: How did you get hooked up with Rob Hitt [founder of I Surrender Records/drummer of Midtown]?
Brendan: When we did our last demo we sent it to probably 15 to 20, maybe 25, labels and he responded. It was weird because he said he never listens to demos – just like most labels they get too many demos and can barely listen – he just happened to pick up ours and listen to it. So he called me at like three in the morning so excited about hearing our CD. He’s like, “Hi this is Rob from Midtown.” And I was like, “No it’s not.”
Rachel: That’s funny! What did you do to celebrate release day?
Brendan: We had a show on Sunday at the Pontiac Grill in Philly where we play a lot; it’s pretty much our home away from home. We played there, all our friends came out, and different bands from the area came out and played.
Rachel: You possess a musical presence unlike many in the pop/punk genre. The record has a good aura to it. What do you attribute your uniqueness to?
Brendan: We were in another band, George, JD, and I, and we wanted to make some changes. We didn’t think everything was going so well, so we were looking for some new singers and new drummers. As soon as we heard Shane’s voice we loved it. I think that’s one of the things that set us apart, I love his style. Another thing is that we don’t write songs like everyone else. We all give input; it’s not just one person writing a song. Everyone is putting everything into it, so I think that’s something that really sets us apart.
Rachel: Do you all sit down together at the same time to write or do you do your own thing and then pull ideas together later?
Brendan: It’s a little of both. We all just put in ideas and it evolves over time.
Rachel: My favorite song on the album is probably “Tenth Street,” it has such a great feel. Is there significance to Tenth Street in Philadelphia or did it just sound like a good street name to pick?
Brendan: No, it’s actually where... we were all in school last year. Shane went to Temple and Tenth Street is where his apartment building was. We spent a lot of time there writing songs, hanging out, and partying. It was a good year; we had a lot of fun there.
Rachel: What’s on Tenth Street? A bunch of other apartment buildings?
Brendan: Yeah, it’s the ghetto pretty much, but it was good.
Rachel: The song “Que Sera Sera” is of interest to me since it shares a name with the song sung by Doris Day in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much – I’m a big Hitchcock fan.
Brendan: I forget who wrote the original song. Ours is not from that, but we heard that a song existed after the fact.
Rachel: The song title seems kind of contradictory with the album title because I know “Que Sera Sera” means something like “what will be, will be.” Do you actively pursue choices and possibilities in life or do you accept that what is and whatever happens is just the way it is and go with the flow? What is this song about?
Brendan: The album title refers to our music career – we’re trying our best and working our hardest every day to try to make this happen and make this a possibility. But “Que Sera Sera” the song actually refers to relationships with other people. I think that you can’t change what other people say and do, but as far as your own destiny you can change it. That’s the way that we thought of those two things.
Rachel: That’s a good answer. Have you tried Burger King’s new chicken fries?
Brendan: I’m actually a vegetarian, so no, I have not. But they look good. I like the commercials.
Rachel: You played Warped Tour this summer. What was it like? What will you most take away from the experience?
Brendan: We were only on the Philly date this year, but it was a lot of fun and we got to meet a lot of people. Many people we knew were also there. I hope next year we can get on a lot more dates. It’s a lot of fun. I mean it’s a really good experience.
Rachel: You have a video out for “The Space Between.” What does the video entail? Who is Casey in the song?
Brendan: Well first of all Casey is a friend of ours who went away to school in North Carolina. She’s one of Shane’s best friends; we’ve all become friends with her. We wrote the song because she really meant a lot to us and helped us out a lot. The video, we actually rented out the Pontiac Grill which is the place I told you about before. At Warped Tour we gave out like 1500 flyers just telling everyone free show, come out and be in the video. We had a whole bunch of people come out and had some of our friend’s bands play. We played the song over and over and filmed it. Then we filmed us just hanging out and messing around in Philly. There’s no concept behind it. We’re actually going to do another video later, but that’s what it is for now.
Rachel: For the same song or a different one?
Brendan: I think we’ll do the same song. We really like that song, it’s my favorite off the album, and we’ll do another video with a concept when we get to California.
Rachel: You’re going to California?
Brendan: Probably early next year we’ll be heading out there on tour.
Rachel: You’re moving out there? Or you’re touring out there?
Brendan: Touring out that way. We’ve never been to California yet on tour.
Rachel: Have you been to the Midwest?
Brendan: Our first Midwest show was in Kansas City this year.
Rachel: Do you have big plans for Halloween?
Brendan: Halloween... we have four shows, one tonight, one tomorrow night, one Saturday, and one Sunday. None actually on Halloween, but for these shows leading up we’re going to be dressing up and putting decorations on stage. George, Max, and I stayed up all night the other night making some stuff and we’re pretty excited about it.
Rachel: Cool, that’ll be fun. What do you have planned now that the CD is out?
Brendan: Now that the CDs out we’re going to tour as much as we can. We leave November 4th and we’re out until December 6th or something like that. Then we plan on staying out until Christmas, come home for Christmas, and then stay out as long as we can. Just keep touring.
Rachel: Are those dates up on the site yet? I don’t remember seeing them.
Brendan: Not all of them are up right now, but most of them are up through November.
Rachel: Thanks for doing the interview! Good luck to you and I hope to see you in Iowa.
Brendan: Alright, thank you very much!