The Greater The Risk are a relatively new band around Richmond, but have done a lot in a short time to establish themselves at the forefront of their particular genre. The fact that that genre is emo might lead a lot of people not to give this band the time of day, but their excellent pop songcraft and driving guitars make a convincing argument for checking them out. They’ve recently released their second EP, Say What You Never Said, after a months-long delay that occurred when their original singer quit the band. This didn’t slow them down at all, though, and after a short woodshedding period to get into practice with new singer Dan Castillo, The Greater The Risk have jumped right back into the swing of things, and will be heading back out on tour at the end of the month. I’ve been really into this band ever since I saw them play at Strange Matter last winter, so I was glad to get a chance to do this interview with them. Lead guitarist Ashley Drewes answered my questions about the past, present, and future of The Greater The Risk.
The Greater The Risk are a relatively new band around Richmond, but have done a lot in a short time to establish themselves at the forefront of their particular genre. The fact that that genre is emo might lead a lot of people not to give this band the time of day, but their excellent pop songcraft and driving guitars make a convincing argument for checking them out. They’ve recently released their second EP, Say What You Never Said, after a months-long delay that occurred when their original singer quit the band. This didn’t slow them down at all, though, and after a short woodshedding period to get into practice with new singer Dan Castillo, The Greater The Risk have jumped right back into the swing of things, and will be heading back out on tour at the end of the month. I’ve been really into this band ever since I saw them play at Strange Matter last winter, so I was glad to get a chance to do this interview with them. Lead guitarist Ashley Drewes answered my questions about the past, present, and future of The Greater The Risk.
How did The Greater The Risk form? What sort of musical background do each of you have, and what effect does the combination of those backgrounds have on the music you play?
Almost two years ago I was sitting on all of these song ideas that I didn’t really want to let go. During the next few months I asked friends and hit up a few Craigslist ads to complete a five-piece lineup. After several lineup changes we stand here today, risking our futures to do something we love, hence the name. Four out of five of us have college degrees, and though it may be a little late in the game to get started, we think we’re making the right decision by putting off real life for just a couple of more years. We all have extremely different musical backgrounds. Some of us were classically trained or were involved in marching band in high school, while some of us had parents who were really into music so their kid just picked up an instrument and went with it. As far as musical interests go, they are all over the board. We all agree on a few bands that are huge influences, such as Jimmy Eat World or Anberlin, but that fact that we like such a varied amount of genres shows in our work. Anything from Gorillaz to Tom Petty could be heard in the van!
So far you have self-released both of your EPs. How has that gone for you? Do you expect to continue with the DIY route, or are you looking to sign to a label before your next release?
It has gone pretty well so far. We released the first EP in June 2010 to quite a good reception, but people were mostly interested in what we were doing next. We were just figuring out what to do, what not to do, and so on. Our new disc Say What You Never Said has actually not been released yet. We had some personnel changes during the summer that delayed the release until October 25th. Though we’ve had physical copies at shows we’ve been out to, only a handful of fans have actually heard it in its entirety. We are really excited for its release, as thousands of copies have been sitting in our houses since this past June, itching to get out there. As far as what’s in store, we are going to play it by ear. So many young bands jump at the chance to get signed and end up hating the industry several years down the road. We’re going to see who can help us do something that we can’t do ourselves, as we have already accomplished much DIY. Being signed would be nice, and probably push us forward, but we always remember in the back of our minds, “At what cost?” So we’ll just have to wait and see how this release does.
The scene your band is part of is often considered to be a bit of a boy’s club–have you had to deal with any instances of sexism or other weirdness centered around your being a woman playing guitar in an emo band?
The pop rock scene is definitely a boys club. 9 times out of 10, during load in I’m the only girl among 30 or so guys–but being outnumbered in the scene in general definitely has its advantages and disadvantages. Advantages: there’s not very many girls in the scene who play guitar, so I stick out pretty easily among bands who have 5 dudes in their band. Disadvantages: I handle a lot of things on the the business side of the band and in doing so I’ve found that I have to work a little harder to get industry people and other bands to take me seriously. I don’t take it personally, but it’s mildly frustrating.
In light of the success of bands like Paramore and Fall Out Boy, it seems like the scene is a lot more conscious of the possibility of corporate/mainstream success than most other underground music scenes. Do you feel like this awareness creates pressure for bands to take a more businesslike approach to playing music? How does this affect your experience of being a band?
It definitely does! We operate more like a small business than you would think because of this. The music industry is no longer just about talent and “waiting to get discovered.” Labels want to see that you are a successful band before even thinking about investing in you. We still have fun making and playing music, but we also spend a lot of time figuring out how we can market our music to certain demographics in hopes of actually making this a career that pays the bills. Running the band as a small business does take away from the fun aspect and sometimes we wish we could just focus on making the best songs possible, but for right now it’s a necessary evil.
What’s the future look like for The Greater The Risk? I just found out that your singer is leaving the band–how are you dealing with this setback?
Our former singer left due to personal reasons back in June, which did put our plans for hold for quite some time.Though it was very poor timing, there is no animosity between any of us, which is great because it allowed us to continue our personal relationships. We searched most of the summer for someone not just to fill in, but to continue writing and touring with us full time. We landed on an awesome guy, Dan Castillo, from about an hour outside of Richmond and we’re very excited to have him as a part our family. We feel like even though the disc has been delayed almost half a year, it is still a terrific sound and in no way has grown old to us. We all genuinely enjoy listening to it, not only because we are proud of all the hard work we put into it, but because we feel it’s a solid second release. As far as the future, we have an 11 day, 8 state tour planned at the end of this month and into November in support of the release that we are really stoked to be going on. After that more writing and some touring here and there will take place. The end of this year and 2012 will be a great time for TGTR, and we are excited to see what happens!
facebook.com/thegreatertherisk
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The Greater The Risk will be performing at the Canal Club on Thursday October 27 with Rookie Of The Year, Since Forever, Like The Stars, and Men Of Leisure.
Words by Andrew Necci
Top image by Hilary J. Corts
Live images by Billy Collier of Through It All Photography
