West Virginia alternative pop band A Story Told only released their debut album, Keep Watch a year ago, but they’re already looking toward the future, hard at work on a follow-up and excited to hit the road once more. The five piece kicked off 2017 with the release of their emotional music video for “Weather” from Keep Watch and are currently staying busy out on the road with You Vs. Yesterday. With tour dates wrapping up next month and plans to release new music and hit the road again later this year, A Story Told are not slowing down anytime soon.
Interview by Dom Vigil
Can you tell us a little bit about A Story Told for any readers who might not be familiar?
A Story Told is a five-piece alternative pop band from the Charleston, WV area. The band formed back in 2013 and has released multiple EP’s over the years. We recently released our first full-length album entitled “Keep Watch” last year. A Story Told has played shows all over the east coast including the Van’s Warped Tour in 2015 and 2016.
Last year, you celebrated the release of your first full-length album, Keep Watch. Now that it has been out for a while, what would you say your favorite thing about the album is?
Our favorite thing about the release of Keep Watch is still seeing our fans react to it. We’ve been totally overwhelmed by the positive response that we have received and we’re honored to be able to travel all over the place to share our music with new faces.
Did you have any goals in mind when you were working on Keep Watch? What would you like listeners to take away from it?
The main goal that we were going for when working on Keep Watch was to make the songs on the album a reflection of us as much as possible. With as much music and content as there is floating around these days, you can’t afford to model your music on anyone else. You have to dig deep and write the most honest and authentic songs you can. With that said, we feel as though we’ve accomplished that goal and put our heart and soul into an album that’s original to us. We’re really very proud of it.
You just released the music video for “Weather,” the final song on Keep Watch. The song itself is very stripped down and emotional. What meaning does it have for you?
“Weather” is a song that tackles the issue of past relationships and the “what ifs” that always follow. People tend to dwell on what could have been different and what went wrong. This song, at its core, is about understanding that in the end you must accept that people change. Sometimes things are out of your control, but you must accept that that’s life and you must find closure in order to move on.
The video for “Weather” is really emotional, as well. Where did the inspiration for the video come from?
The music video for “Weather” follows the idea of having to move on from a past relationship. Sometimes you aren’t in the same place in life as your partner and we wanted to convey this concept visually throughout the music video.
From the looks of it, you guys are already hard at work on your next album, too! Is there anything that you’d like to accomplish or experiment with on these new songs that you’re working on?
Yes! The new album is well on its way. Were all very excited to wrap it up and share these new songs with our fans. As with our last full length Keep Watch, we’re writing from a real and honest place about events and emotions we’ve experienced since or last release. We’re all in very different headspaces than we were prior to our last release, so expect to hear a slight change in tone with the upcoming songs. I feel as though fans of ours will really enjoy the direction we’re heading with this new album.
You also have some tour dates coming up alongside You Vs. Yesterday. What are you most excited about on these upcoming shows?
The best part about hitting the road is getting to see new places and meet new people that we never would’ve had the opportunity to do without the band. There’s no greater feeling than driving six or seven hours from home to play music and have people singing along. It’s really an amazing feeling and makes all the hard work and traveling worth it.
What can fans expect from these shows?
Fans can expect a very authentic and energetic live performance. We want the audience to have as good of a time as we are up there on stage.
Do you have any other big plans in the works for 2017?
We plan on continuing to hit the road, making it out to as many different cities as we’re able to in order to share our music with as many fans as we can. We’re also wrapping up our new full-length album that we plan on hopefully releasing later this year.
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